kalieaire's expo build

Well, I haven't really done anything for this build yet beside a set of Demello Bolt on Rock Crush Sliders which ended up being incorrectly ordered, but I should at least share a photo before I begin.



The vehicle was purchased in July 2012.

Current mods so far (plus to be installed or on order):

Armor:

• BAMF LCA Skids
• BAMF Trilogy Skid set
• Demello Rock Crush Sliders
• Pelfreybilt Front Bumper
• Pelfreybilt Rear High clearance Bumper w/ Tire Carrier + NATO Cans

Bed Mods:

• Adventure Trailers (AT) Habitat

Brakes:

• (TBI) Stainless Steel lines from octaco

Communications:

• CB - Uniden BearCat 980 SSB
• CB - BAMF Driver side antenna mounting bracket
• CB - Firestik II 4' Whip
• HAM - Kenwood TM-V71A
• (TBI) HAM - Diamond AZ507RSP
• (TBI) HAM - Comet Radio 3D4MB
• (TBI) HAM - Relentless Hood Latch Antenna Mount

Electrical:

• Odyssey 31M-PC2150T
• InPower ABS 200 Auxilliary Battery Switch (On Order)
• Renogy Monocrystalline Folding Solar 100W Panel
• Eco-Worthy 20A MPPT Charge-Controller
• EdgeStar FP430 43QT Portable Fridge/Freezer
• (TBI) ARB CKMTA12 Compressor
• Warn Zeon 10-S

Navigation:

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro (Android Phablet phone running APRSDroid w/ Offline Maps build) + GoogleFi Data
• iPad 4 Mini (running GaiaGPS)
• Birddawg Industries TechDeck

Suspension:

• Icon 2.5" Remote Reservoir Coilovers w/ 700lbs Springs
• Icon 2.0" Remote Reservoir Rear Dampers
• BAMF Shock Relocation Kit
• All-Pro Offroad Expedition Leafpack

As you can see, a fair bit of parts are either on order or waiting to be installed. Free time is a tough one since I split it between my photography, friends, adult education, and other shenanigans. But hopefully everything will be ready for a big trip my friends are planning this winter.

Went from nearly stock looking for a few months, with the exception of the Icons in the front, Expo Leaf Pack in the rear, Sliders in the middle. I spent a week installing bumpers and a new topper in November before our huge Arizona trip.



You can read Victor's writeup here: And more Pictures from @247daryl

https://247daryl.smugmug.com/Automotive/Grand-Canyon-111916/

 

reserved for documentation

 

Tumey Hills 11/25

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzf8roFwQL0

Eclipse Trip 8/18-8/27

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/riphtz/sets/72157688253461695/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/28766617@N03/sets/72157688340418365/
• https://dejavuphotography.smugmug.com/Cars/TFS-Eclipse-Trip-Wy-to-Co/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/62183083@N00/sets/72157688311778575/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericzhanphotos/sets/72157688370953745

Joshua Tree National Park

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/62183083@N00/albums/72157679745557201

Thanksgiving Grand Canyon Trip (11/18/2016-11/26/2016)

• https://247daryl.smugmug.com/Automotive/Grand-Canyon-111916/

Eagle Lakes (8/21/2016

• https://247daryl.smugmug.com/Automotive/Eagle-Lakes-082116/

Big Sur

• https://247daryl.smugmug.com/Automotive/Big-Sur-043016/

 

reserved for future links, reps, shouts, and all that fun stuff.

 

I missed your Arizona trip Let me know if you ever make it back out here! I'm always down to meet TWers from other areas. I'll actually be in Northern CA this weekend, but no free time unfortunately.

 

So our trip was finally posted on Expedition Portal!



https://expeditionportal.com/the-grand-adventure-the-north-rim-of-the-grand-canyon/

Though it wasn't the trip I planned, I feel compelled to add some detail for those who are interested in recreating the path. That and the fact that my account was slightly different because different point of view.

Victor, Erwin, Daryl, and Andy had left the evening before us, getting a jump on the weekend. Though I had taken Friday off, I hadn't been able to pack or get anything ready up until that day.

-- DAY ZERO
Two weekends before the trip, I had driven down to San Diego to pickup new bumpers from Tyler. The following weekend, I painted and mounted the bumpers. The Wednesday before the trip, I called in to take a day off from work and drove to LA to get the Habitat installed at Goose Gear, Mario from AT had graciously driven it out from Prescott all the way to Orange County just to make it in time for the trip.


(a quick stop in Lemon Grove)


(prepping before the trip, you know what this means)


(Busy myself, but never too busy to help a friend. Getting in Daryl's sliders in under the wire)


(Mounted and almost ready!)


(Wednesday before the trip, a brief visit to Goose Gear in Westminster)


(Me Thursday morning after I got back from LA, 4am. I still had to be at work in 4 hours!)

After getting back, I somehow managed to do a full day at work, breakdown/vac pack/freeze a sub primal ribeye, then smoke a whole brisket, change my oil, shop for groceries, fill up four jerry cans, and fuel up the truck.


(needless to say, I've never been this productive before in my life)

I was completely drained before Friday even came, and I still had to pack!

However, leaving Saturday instead of Friday wasn't just my sentiment alone. The rest of us elected to wakeup at the ass crack of Saturday morning. For me that was 4AM *and* our meet up time was scheduled for Gilroy at 6am. I ended up spending the nearly the entire night before packing and barely got in 3 hours of shuteye.


from ~7:30PM Friday night


to 4:30am the next day (Alex and MJ are in frame, Alvin is a bit further ahead)

Somehow I made it.

(..to be continued)

 

-- DAY ONE

Waking up at 4:30am was not the easiest feeling. Especially spending my day off until well past midnight to pack and not only that, we had a 18 hour drive ahead of us to get to camp in Arizona.

As the previous post was pic heavy and this was basically a traveling day, this will be story based rather than picture based.

For group 2, @MJonaGS32 @w3tw0rks @sytfu510 and I, 5:00am was the proposed and set meet time at the Gilroy Shell station right off 152 and 101 an hour out from where I lived. I barely had enough time to pickup a snack from MCD. Group 1, comprised of @.45 JHP @errweezy @jAndyMendo @247daryl, had left on Friday and had been at camp 1 by nightfall, we tracked them throughout Friday over the APRS system we had configured in Victor's Kenwood D710GA the previous weekend. The four of them had an entire day to get acquainted, and likewise, on each others nerves before we even got there.

Speeding down 101 through Morgan Hill, I see MJ, Alex, and Alvin roll past me at 75mph. I quickly picked up the pace to get in line. There's nothing quite like watching the sun creep up slowly from the eastern hills, with 3 heavily modded Tacos, you literally just saw last weekend, rolling through the middle of the freeway two car lengths apart. These three old-timers have been in the game before Expo and Overland were a thing, literally 37 years of collective experience "camping". We quickly stop at Gilroy for gas, and meet some of our new passengers in person for the first time -- MJ's HS friend, I'll call Smokey, and Alex's friend photographer friend I'll just name Guy with a Camera (GWC short). Through the usual chatter we kept on moving forward til our first stop in Lost hills.

It's kind of funny because while we were filling up and had the standard banter about cars, trucks, camping, girls at the gas station, this guy comes up to us trying to sell us AR15 parts. "you look like gun guys" were the first words out of this guy's mouth. Must have been Alvin, MJ, and Alex with the Oakley Operator look because the rest of us looked like normal guys in t-shirts, sweatshirts, and seven for all mankind jeans. Well except for Smokey lighting up a spliff. But yeah, apparently he was affiliated with Solar Tactical and tried to sell us some bullet button magnets. SOOOOOOOOOO RANDOM.

After that choice interaction and making fun of Alvin, we took off for Barstow through 58 and Bakersfield.

I have to say, it still sucks to have to deal with Kramer Junction and the single lane traffic to and from. I still have plans to go through Pipeline or Farmington road that runs parallel to 58 as a bypass. California could either have put an overpass there like everyone else in the world, or continue to suck, it's literally 40 years in the making because of the operators of the powerlines, NextEra and property they stand on, DoD's Edwards AFB are too lazy to care at everyone else's expense. Driving the 500 miles to LV would be up to 2 hours shorter w/o that junction BS and the potential accidents that can cause so much traffic.

Finally at Jack in the Crack in Barstow, we were finally able to get ourselves some damn food, , and Smokey can roll up another spliff. GWC tells us stories about his adventure company in the bay area and how he takes out privileged silicon valley tech workers on these elaborate trips where these city slickers wouldn't be able to figure out how a sleeping bag worked if their lives depended on it (hyperbole, but you get the point).

After bouncing was the long drive to Vegas where I actually ended up having to ditch the group for a few hours because I needed a nap. I stopped at Valley Wells Rest Area to recuperate from the previous evenings lack of sleep. Six cups of coffee in the form of MCD Coffee, Star Bucks Doubleshots, and legit coffee didn't do anything but raise my heart rate to 120bpm. Sometimes there's no replacement for simple bed rest.

An hour's downtime was all I needed to make the next hour to Vegas for dinner (jack in the box for a second time) and more rest. The leg to St George was a cinch after Vegas. At 6pm, the next 3 hours (2 + 1 for time change) found us in St George picking up necessarily supplies, beer and firewood at the gas station, wet wipes at walmart. The last stop at the Chevron in Fredonia was a trip because at 10:30pm, the place was practically abandoned save for us 4 Tacomas getting fuel and being greeted by this crazy old west sign that said "Lotto", "Guns", "Ammo", and "Beer". A hold out from the old west considering its age.

From there we immediately departed for the trail getting lost a few times. Finally, after checking maps on gaiaGPS, we were able to start on the correct path and eventually make radio contact with the group. Considering the large winding path of flat land, it was immediately useful to have dust lights and light bars. On no other trip would roof mounted light bars be remotely useful because of the awful glare they put on the hood of our vehicles. An hour, or so, later we were greeted by an overly happy Victor since we finally all made it. We chopped it up and quickly got ready for bed as it was well past midnight again for me. And for Smokey and Victor, they really hit it off.

Tune in next time.

 

Labor Day Weekend 2018

Halfdome

Tioga Peak

Tioga Pass