Overland

If you go back to my oldest posts here, you'll see that the Chaco road was one of our guides in deciding what kind of trailer and tow vehicle we needed. It's one of those roads that pretty much any decently maintained vehicle can do if you don't mind the wear. But if you're unlucky, or not careful, or just go at the wrong time, it's also a road that has multiple ways to take out even the toughest truck. Water crossings, sand, clay, ruts, holes, washboard, soft shoulders, etc. Regardless, it's guaranteed to rattle you around for an hour or so. But worth it if you're a romantic - Chaco has a scale and mystery that are unmatched by any other archeological site in the US. It's a place that will stick in your mind.

No, not Tuzigoot. It’s Chaco. They’re dreadfully understaffed and ripe for vandalism and pilfering - which is one reason why they don’t improve the access. If you go, it’s definitely NOT a place for collecting anything. But there’s at least one Ollie that doesn’t mind the roads, we’ve been twice… It’s been hit and miss the past few years - no access due to tribal Covid rules, washed out roads, and an impending rock slide in the campground that’s keeping half of it closed. I was told that Airstream at the entrance is permanent. Someone drove it in and didn’t want to drive it out so they gave it to the park for camp hosts to use.

Personally I prefer symmetrical numbers, so 1001 is the one to have.

Looks slightly more complicated than the Webb Telescope. Does it take as long to deploy?

My wife drives a plug in hybrid now, and so far it’s been ideal. It runs on electric for her trips to work and back, but the engine is there for the occasional long trip - which we now do in her car since it uses so much less fuel than the truck. For larger vehicles and towing, I guess more torque is always better, but the high output ecoboost in our truck provides ample power for an Elite II, regardless the altitude or incline. I’d appreciate the range of a diesel, not so much the power, and definitely not the fuel or upfront costs. I’d take a hybrid version of my raptor long before I’d buy a diesel.

Nice find. My great uncle was a rock hound. I didn’t inherit his passion, though I did get a few odd rocks. He was a bit of a fossil himself, as I remember.

Congratulations to both of you. Jeez, almost to #1000. If I were you I’d stick around a few days - surely there will be cake.

Yes, filter functions and at the top it will say ‘advanced filters’. Tap that and there’s a whole list of things to add. I don’t know if we have the pro version or not - I assume if you paid for the app, you’ve got it.

We take bottled water to drink, so the onboard tank is for showers and dishes. That helps consumption and eases most concerns over questionable water sources. You’ll find that a lot of owners do the same. Some people connect an inline filter even if they aren’t drinking from the tanks, in an effort to reduce the potential for mineral build up in the lines and faucets. I should probably do that but don’t. As for where to find water - typically, even if the water is shut off in the campgrounds, parks will keep a functioning tap at one of the ranger stations, so that’s our default water source. We carry a couple of large 7 gallon jugs that stay in the truck and we’ll make a few trips if needed. Even if we’re not camping inside a park, we’re usually near one, and have never had problems popping in to get water. We plan ahead and know how long our water lasts, so we’ve never been without. You might download the Allstays app and under the advanced settings you can have it display water and propane availability. It’s not always accurate and definitely not exhaustive, but it’s a start. Truck stops with RV lanes are a good bet. Some tourist areas will have water vending machines (last resort but we’ve used one once). We’ve also gotten water from commercial campgrounds that we pass. If you ask nicely at the desk they’ll usually say no problem. I think we had one charge us a few bucks.

Yeah, I agree. It's a neat tool, but a beaker bar (or a long pipe for that matter) is less expensive and more versatile. And easier to tuck away somewhere.

Perhaps this has been around for a while, but I've never seen it before. It's a geared lug nut tool with an adjustable arm to gain leverage against the opposite lug nut. It would be a bulky single-purpose tool to carry, but it's interesting and I could see it being useful to many. I guess you could use it to install the nuts, too; though you'd probably have to be careful to not over torque them. https://garrettwade.com/product/geared-lug-nut-remover

Like Mossey said, I think we were the first, and at the time, Battleborn (Dragonfly back then) was the only game in town when it came to batteries with a built in BMS. Victron was an extremely expensive option at the time, even more so than today, and then our other choice was to make our own battery pack from individual cells and add a separate BMS. We’re only talking five years ago but even then there was a lot less info and fewer choices out there than today. So Battleborns were definitely the easiest to do. As it turned out I could have gone the DIY route, which had been my first choice, but that’s a longer story. I’ve had a 50% failure rate on the battleborns, fwiw. Maybe that’s just bad luck, or maybe I’m hard on them, or maybe they aren’t as tough as people say. (One thing I’ve learned about the RV community is that they are very reluctant to admit problems with their setups until after they’ve replaced it and can then brag about how smart they are for having done so.) Regardless, 50% of my batteries have met expectations, and 50% did not. Their service on replacing the ones that went bad was less than exemplary, but they did replace them. I still might recommend them, but not enthusiastically, so I’d say weigh your options. It’s a good package and quite possible that their quality or quality control has improved since I bought mine. The risk of being an early adopter perhaps. But were I to do it again, I’d spend for the Victrons. That, or build my own, just because it would be fun to do. I would definitely not buy Oliver’s package - you’ve got to work hard to make Victron gear look cheap, so fair credit to them for doing so. But that’s me, you may find it worth the price to not have to worry about it and to have Oliver’s warranty and service.

Delayed again… https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/13/22881646/tesla-cybertruck-production-date-2022-removed-website

Another route, as an alternative to electrical tape which I don’t like to use for anything exposed to the elements, is self sealing silicone tape, like this. It’s great stuff to have on hand regardless. Personally, electrical tape to me is sort of like a pair of pliers: versatile, but there’s nothing you can use it for that another tool can’t do better. Of course, I have a drawer full of pliers that I use all the time. I also have a few rolls of electrical tape, but I can’t remember when I last used any.