d.shaw 2012 DCSB build

Afternoon arts and craft project:

With the @Dometic in the back seat I think that occasionally it works harder than it needs to when camped. Whilst driving we keep the cabin climate controlled - but it gets warm in there quickly at times when stopped. I have had some reflectix laying around the house for a while, left over from my mates van build out, I decided to line the inside (at least top and two sides) of the fridge cover. Ensured to keep the vents well clear



I then decidied to make some covers for the rear windows. I made a quick stencil and cut them out, the second one was better than the first but it'll be alright. I 'sealed' some of the edges with a 3M aluminium foil tape

 

I have an uncanny knack of damaging the antenna in the Midland MXTA25 ghost antenna (damaged the one on Sally's truck when I installed) - and managed to solder this one back together as well as having my mount fall off for the actual radio (VHB tape for a couple years) I realised I needed to screw the thing in (this area was less flat than I thought)


https://midlandusa.com/products/mic...M5_N-_KxgRL1wAw8FYrVAeR1r3_XMKBYaAsP_EALw_wcB

 

Quick camp - with Sally's brother in town -

 

Might say how impressed I am with this Cascadia 4X4 VSS system, San Diego has been in full "May grey / June gloom" weather pattern lately, lots sunless days under some clouds / marine layer - I have checked on my battery a few times during this (and yes nothing running off the battery) but battery sitting right @13.5V sitting in the driveway. 90W - it seems to be able to get to work when camping (the little bit we have done lately) in the mornings no worries, so yeah very happy with the system and money spent (they are decently spendy)



https://www.cascadia4x4.com/collections/vss-system-hood-mounted-solar/products/2nd-gen-tacoma-vss-system-90w-hood-solar-panel?
variant=35028468072600

 

That's a great idea for the fridge, I have the same cover and am not sure it adds much insulation. Have you been able to determine that it actually made a difference?

 

The Dometic cover is unfortunately 'just a cover' although I would have got one anyway as I like black over their usual grey - we did use it on an overnighter and it appeared to be helpful - the fridge cooled quickly when turned on and I didnt notice it running a crazy amount when we were camped - we are off for a week soon so I’ll know more. Also as I had the Reflectix laying around it cost me not much - although it is not too expensive - adding the window covers cut a lot of heat from the truck
For reference I usually run the fridge at 32-34 when driving and then turn it to 38-39 when camped -
- random photo cause photos are cool !!

 

NickLeeCreations @theolee with this pretty sweet looking truck on this t-shirt design.. @prof.jones asked if I was now going to 35's (maybe 37's according to the graphic)




https://nickleecreates.bigcartel.com/product/nlc-2gen-ii

 

Haha do it!

 

A few years ago, I saw this spot on instagram, don't remember who had posted it, but I had started doing research into where it might be, and after probably figuring it out, saw a trip report from @turbodb https://adventuretaco.com/trip/mid-winter-mojave/ that would confirm any doubt I had.

A couple weeks ago whilst away on a work trip (lots time in hotel rooms at night) I did some research, writing things down in a notebook, stoked to be able to get there even thou my time was limited, but I was going to be able to take my son on a 4 day trip.

After loading the truck we set out early on a Wednesday morning aiming to beat traffic thru Riverside - and were lucky to make our way to Las Vegas with no problems. Filling up all our gas cans (we carried 15 extra gallons) there where fuel was quite a bit cheaper than it would be further north I was feeling good about what was happening. I had decided to enter the area thru Mesquite and had made a route from there. Mistake number one I guess you could call it. The road thru Lime Kiln Canyon was 'spirited' and as Oscar was driving was def the most rugged road he has driven, wasn't crazy or anything, just had us at 5mpg and a fairly slow pace - given we had a 90 mile off-road drive to get to our intended destination



As things got a bit easier, we settled into enjoying the surroundings and playing the 'get a better mpg average' game.



Mistake number two would now start to take effect - somewhat - check the route you have chosen a bit closer. We turned off a very nice dirt road to eventually have our route become a two track - complete with ever longer grass in the center, this would slow us down a bit, and with each intersection, seemed to get us a bit slower each time. We decided that - in the words of Helen Keller (or so a birthday card I once got said) 'Life is a daring adventure, or nothing" as we pushed on. The grass would cause us some small problems later on but for now we were just trying to ensure we didn't set any of it on fire as we stopped to open (and close) farm gates



Around this time - now several hours in and having only covered 30 miles or so, I started to realise my routing may not be what I thought it was, and we started planning a 'connection route' to what would appear to be a better road, with several of these farm roads just ending - and our diversions having us reroute a couple times



We would eventually find what all the smart people would use to get to where we were going, a dirt 'super' highway of sorts, our pace increased - which also started our average mpg to really start climbing towards the brilliant score of 10.......
I now started to realise my other classic Duncan mistake, I left all the notes I had written behind at home, sitting in the work notebook I had used, in the cool breeze in San Diego (rather than the 95* plus we were driving in) perhaps I will start doing these on my phone from now on...but we came across the classic spots to stop along this route, after checking out the old school house, really cool history and a great spot for everyone who had grown up in the area



Still with some miles to put in to our destination, and eager to get there before sundown (what if someone was in the spot....) we pushed on, although I had to stop for photos along the way....

 

Oh, that's always a classic! I've been guilty of that SO many times.

 

he said he could change mine from 33s to 37s!

https://nickleecreates.bigcartel.com/product/nlc-ac-i

 

I think I will start using notes on my phone, as I am less likely to leave it behind........not 100% thou

 

Im waiting for @theolee to show up at my house with some new 37's, and a big old hammer, some beer (and some bigger brakes.......etc etc )

 

*Side note. Parts, labor or beer not included. Individual results may vary. 100% satisfaction hopefully guaranteed. For a small fee, I'll be more than happy to beat the shit out of your wheel well for you.

 

We made it, 13 and something hours after leaving the house - and no one was there. It was pure magic. I levelled out the truck whilst Oscar read the sign about Lava dams and all the info, and we settled into a quite pleasant evening of a cold beverage (thank you @Dometic) some sausages and bacon with the most pleasant view. It was hot but there was a light wind blowing which helped make the evening most enjoyable.



As always I woke up right at the crack of ass, got moving to snag a couple of early morning pics.



Then we were greeted by some folks in a couple SxS - who had cruised down from St George UT. We chatted with them and most of them set off on a walk down the hill to the river (about a mile - 1000 ft) we watched and chatting to the local older gentleman who had stayed behind, got a scoop on some places to maybe go and about some of the local families...

We had planned to hike down ourselves but waited until these guys were almost back to the top before departing, another mistake on my part as it was now about midday. It's quite hot here in summer....and lots of the rock along the hike is Lava, which had left behind some incredible formations, my favourite being this '5B pencil' formation



At the river we stood and cooled ourselves off for a bit, with Oscar jumping (out of his skin) a couple times, saying something was 'hitting his leg' - I immediately assumed it was some weed tapping him and we laughed it off, until (I assume) a fish nibbled on my toes (talk about jump out of your skin). A series of kayakers floated past - and one of them said to us 'have you been to check out along the river bed' - to which I replied 'no not yet, why?' and she responded with 'artefacts'..... we were now half way thru our water and decided to walk along - once or twice complaining that she was possibly just someone who had done a tour on the river one other time and her 'just over there' indication was actually 3 miles downriver, when we stumbled across some fabulous pictograph’s



Having decided we had seen them all we started back up the hill, by now @2pm and we had one water bottle left (32oz), and everything was boiling hot, every lava rock, pebble, grain of sand, bush was 150*f and with not a smidge of shade, it was miserable. I was laughing at myself as I slowly cruised back up the top, then put out our awning and sat in a small amount of shade drinking water until we felt somewhat alive again (we did bring 15 gallons of water with us) - we decided to stay in this spot for another night, something Oscar has never done and even I have only done a couple times (excluding my time as a kid with my Dad) - one camp Two nights. Just before sunset we got some new visitors, a family of 4 in a Jeep Gladiator - who decided it was too much work to level their truck at a spot a bit away from us and instead set up fairly close. Were they nice - yes, from Oklahoma and they had traveled far this day, Arches National Park I think they said - so we decided 'so it goes'(Kurt Vonnegut) (I have packed up and left spots before when people set up closer than Id liked) and so another first for Oscar, camping with people close by.

I did get a favourite photo of the spot and Oscar and I enjoyed a good evening of steak and salad:



a micro burst wind storm whipped thru - hence we changed the positioning of the truck, this would prove to be a bit of a stink one for sleeping, as we no longer got the gentle breeze flowing into the sleep area, leaving the 'wedge' to be a bit toasty (mistake number 569, forgot to bring small portable fan) of course everything is hot, my pillow was hot even, nothing really cools down

 

Waking up the next morning I was treated to some great light as the sun hit the canyon, and am pretty stoked on this trio of photos....



We had decided to go explore and move camp, possibly to stay at a camp along a route the https://harkeroutdoors.com/ guys had shared with me a while ago - so we packed up and got rolling, first wanting to explore an area I had seen on the map, we turned off a the main drag and took a two track for a while, unfortunately the road began to get more narrow and 'spirited' (off camber into some small canyons) being that we are pretty heavy (6500 - 6800lb I would guess at this point) and alone I decided that we would turn around, the view was good thou



We stopped to check out more pictograph’s, again if I had my notes I could have saved us an hour clambering around the rocks, but was fun regardless, the 'tidal wave' rock was super cool and contained some fun images, some I assume are of spaceships beaming things up.....



We continued on, checked out the local 'Pa's pocket' a great old hut and found out how the 'pockets' are used (they hold water)



There was another area I had wanted to check out, along yet another 'spirited' drive, this one causing our transmission to get a bit hotter than I wanted so a couple long 'photo breaks' we took, but after a solid hour of driving we had to turn back as the area was closed - a bummer but still the views were amazing, this also started us thinking perhaps we could camp along the red rock cliffs we had been driving along, so after making judgement on 4 spots - we decided to stop at one, on red rock, a few feet from the cliff - with some trees for shade, and views in both directions. Win win




The camp was cool - we also checked off another first for Oscar, watch a movie - he had brought along 'the Big Lebowski' - couldn't think of a better setting to watch such a classic



This brought an end to our trip, fortunately the 11.5 hour drive home was easy, and shorter than the way there....must work on my routing. it was a good time to hang with my son - and again - see some neat stuff



Thanks for reading

 

great shots
great trip
thanks for sharing!

 

Cheers mate - thanks so much.

When Oscar arrived out here for this trip (he lives in NYC) he was talking about all the trips we have done, and where we had camped etc, which was really cool for me to hear.

 

Man those spots are epic! Love your truck and the vibes!

 

Cheers mate, I appreciate it -