Foy
Resident Geologist
The Missus and I will soon set sail on our return to Montana after a 4 year absence and we're most excited. This will be the first time she's participated in the highway slog out and back from North Carolina and I'm very happy to have the company this time. She came of age pulling gooseneck tandem axle horse trailers with a 454 Dually/4-speed manual, and she's translated that experience to the single rear wheel pickup and single axle pop-up quite readily.
We'll head northwest as quickly as 65-68 mph will carry us, which I figure is going to be 4 full, long days, with the 4th including stops in Wheat, MT for baked goods and pancake batter and in Dillon, MT for 4 days' provisions for the Big Hole/Beaverheads (and a stop at the Taco Bus!). We have Federal and State Gummint campgrounds just off of I-24 and I-29 reserved for quick overnights for the first 2 nights and a pretty short list of likely targets for the 3rd. We expect to overnight in Iowa with many headed for the 2015 RAGBRAI starting point just 25 miles from our CG, so that should be kind of cool--the RAGBRAI is on our to-do list in the next 2-3 years.
The hardside popup is only a year old so it's pretty much squared away. The old Ford, well, that's another story. She turned 250,000 last weekend and she's had a long list of routine maintenance, (including a complete ATF change-out and two ATF filters) and a repair of a damaged rear axle hub which was causing the axle seal to fail prematurely (and repeatedly). Add new left side ball joints and new front sway bar links and an entire new cooling system (radiator, all hoses, thermostat housing, thermostat, water pump--cooling system stuff replaced in September 2014 but with very few miles over the winter and spring), and the old girl is nearly ready to roll. Drives like a new truck. Only an oil and filter change, cleaning the K&N air filter, and installing the snap-on bug screen over the grille are still on the list. Well, I'll wash her nicely before putting her on the highway.
We've got InciWeb bookmarked but so far, so good on the MT, ID, and WY fire season. We have enough paper maps and map books to confuse Magellan (largely Benchmarks and DeLormes and a number of NF maps) and I've looked at them so often as to have the off-highway traverses memorized.
The point of all of this is just to say that for many of us, the planning is a big, big part of any trip. I personally get to a "zone" a week or two before departure which is very pleasant since it means everything is pretty much ready. Excepting a few cast iron odds and ends for the camp kitchen still trickling in, we're pretty much there. We're keeping the 2 year-old grandson for the weekend upcoming, and most of the final truck and camper prep will fit nicely in between his playtimes, naps, and repeated readings of "Hop on Pop" and "Go Dog Go". In the not-to-distant future, that little guy will be accompanying us on some adventures, too. Won't those trips be fun to plan?
Foy
We'll head northwest as quickly as 65-68 mph will carry us, which I figure is going to be 4 full, long days, with the 4th including stops in Wheat, MT for baked goods and pancake batter and in Dillon, MT for 4 days' provisions for the Big Hole/Beaverheads (and a stop at the Taco Bus!). We have Federal and State Gummint campgrounds just off of I-24 and I-29 reserved for quick overnights for the first 2 nights and a pretty short list of likely targets for the 3rd. We expect to overnight in Iowa with many headed for the 2015 RAGBRAI starting point just 25 miles from our CG, so that should be kind of cool--the RAGBRAI is on our to-do list in the next 2-3 years.
The hardside popup is only a year old so it's pretty much squared away. The old Ford, well, that's another story. She turned 250,000 last weekend and she's had a long list of routine maintenance, (including a complete ATF change-out and two ATF filters) and a repair of a damaged rear axle hub which was causing the axle seal to fail prematurely (and repeatedly). Add new left side ball joints and new front sway bar links and an entire new cooling system (radiator, all hoses, thermostat housing, thermostat, water pump--cooling system stuff replaced in September 2014 but with very few miles over the winter and spring), and the old girl is nearly ready to roll. Drives like a new truck. Only an oil and filter change, cleaning the K&N air filter, and installing the snap-on bug screen over the grille are still on the list. Well, I'll wash her nicely before putting her on the highway.
We've got InciWeb bookmarked but so far, so good on the MT, ID, and WY fire season. We have enough paper maps and map books to confuse Magellan (largely Benchmarks and DeLormes and a number of NF maps) and I've looked at them so often as to have the off-highway traverses memorized.
The point of all of this is just to say that for many of us, the planning is a big, big part of any trip. I personally get to a "zone" a week or two before departure which is very pleasant since it means everything is pretty much ready. Excepting a few cast iron odds and ends for the camp kitchen still trickling in, we're pretty much there. We're keeping the 2 year-old grandson for the weekend upcoming, and most of the final truck and camper prep will fit nicely in between his playtimes, naps, and repeated readings of "Hop on Pop" and "Go Dog Go". In the not-to-distant future, that little guy will be accompanying us on some adventures, too. Won't those trips be fun to plan?
Foy
