rkj__'s Ramblings

ericnliz · July 2018

@rkj__ , As always, a great write-up on your adventure, accompanied by some great photos!
I've resorted to taking two lengths ~4ft long, and 2ft wide 1/4" pieces of plywood for such terrain as you described to make it easier to move my T@B around, unhitched. Lay 'em on the ground & just keep flippin' 'em for as long as necessary until you get to the position you desire. They don't take up hardly any room (I put 'em directly behind my tailgate for easy access), and come in pretty darn handy for a variety of things. Just a thought.
Keep up the adventures & stay safe out there. Most of all, have fun!

Homebodyatheart · July 2018

@rkj__ someone here way back when suggested a great solution for backing up in the dark. Put a flashlight or lantern, etc, on the ground, drivers side of the spot you want to end up at. Then you can see it in your side mirror to halp you navigate. We actually did this the one time we came home in the dark and didn’t want to smack the shed doors rolling the Tab in. Worked very well!

rkj__ · July 2018

While it is 0% T@b content, I'm pretty sure it's my rambling thread, and I can ramble about whatever I want. So, I'll share a few tent camping trip reports. Hey, if it had not been for the T@b sparking our sense of adventure, none of this would have happened. So there, it's related.

Two weekends ago, the Adventure Crew headed to Silent Lake. This time, we departed without our trusty T@b trailer in tow. Instead, we had our new MSR Elixir 3 tent, stowed in a big backpack. The purpose of this trip, was to test out some new gear, and a new style of camping, in order to prepare for our upcoming multi-night backpacking trip in Algonquin. We needed to familiarize ourselves with setting up our tent, packing all our gear, and testing some new gear for the first time. We chose to do this, so that we could identify any problems, before we hiked 8km away from our vehicle.

We had been working on gathering gear for a few weeks, both through borrowing, and early birthday gifts from generous family members, as well as making a few new purchases. We tried hard to invest a minimum, in order to try out backpacking. But, it's been a challenge. We knew it would not be any fun if we each had 50lb on our backs. Some of the gear we had available to us to borrow was purchased with canoe tripping in mind, where weight and size is a little less critical. A day or two before leaving, was the first time we gathered all our gear and food, and loaded up the big packs. When all was said and done, our packs looked a little like this:

Erica's: Major items included: tent, chair, hammock, tarp, rope, personal items, sleeping bag, sleeping mat. 33lb.

Ryan's: Major items included: food, stove, dishes, personal items, sleeping bag, sleeping mat. 40lb.

I was pretty disappointed with those pack weights, especially the bag containing the food. My pack was over 20% of my body weight. We reviewed our list of packed items, and felt pretty confident that we were not bringing too many useless items. We opted to taunt the weather, and leave our rain coats behind. Going through the list, looking for additional weight savings, we checked for low hanging fruit. One that jumped out, was our borrowed self inflating sleeping mats. At about 7.5" diameter x ~24" width, and ~5 lb each, they were not exactly made for backpacking. But, for this trip, we would not be hiking with the full weight of our bags for more than a few minutes, so it was a problem we could defer solving.

With just two bags, a bin of dog food, and an extra jug of cold drinking water, we hit the highway. The truck accelerated and braked much more quickly without an extra 2,000 lb behind it. Lane changes were a breeze. Top speeds were higher. Leaving the trailer behind is not all bad.

We arrived in our usual Friday night darkness. We were aiming to change sites from our electrical site, to one of Silent Lake's non-reservable Granite Ridge walk-in sites. The gate house was closed, but the wardens that greeted us were able to let us know which sites were note yet occupied, and circled them on the map for us.

We headed down to the parking area designated for the walk-in sites. For ease, we left our food in the truck for the night. We put our bags on our backs, and headed down the nearest thing that looked like a trail. We noticed a lack of signage. After a few minutes, we concluded that we were not heading to campsites, and that we needed to return to the parking lot, and try again. As a bonus, we saw a cute raccoon in a tree. Arriving in the dark often seems to challenge us. We found some sites, but the map was not making a lot of sense to me. We put our bags down, wandered a little more, and found the rest of the sites tucked away into the woods. We selected one up a little hill, with good privacy, a fairly smooth spot for the tent, with only a slight slope. The site would have no vehicle, bicycle, or even foot traffic going by it. It was only about a 5 minute hike from our vehicle. Excellent.

The night was actually quite cool, especially considering the hot humid weather we had been having. We pulled out our tent, and began the setup. We had previously set up the tent part in Outdoors Oriented, before making the purchase, but we had not done the full setup with ground sheet, fly, and pegs. So naturally, it took us a little longer to sort out, but we got it up without too much struggle or disagreement. Erica rolled out the mats and bags, then we all crawled in.

We were very happy with the internal volume of the tent. The brow pole keeps the sides of the tent fairly vertical, so it is easy for two people to sit up side by side. The dogs seemed ok with the arrangement, though I think the Adventure Mutt wondered why we did not pack her a sleeping mat too. Diva. She quickly drafted a plan to take over mine.

Erica drifted to sleep pretty quickly. Myself, I never sleep all that well in a tent on the first night. But, I got to listen to some owls, who had a lot to say that night.

In the morning, I was up first, and got the dogs breakfast around 7am. I then set up our new hammock we got off Amazon. The title for the product is: "FYLINA Hammock Double Camping Hammock 2x Hanging Straps Fast setup Easy Nylon Parachute Hammock With Portable Hammock Carabiner Set For Backpacking, Travel, Beach, Yard(8.9'*4.6'/1.94Lbs)." It's definitely not a double, but I knew that. I chose it for its reasonable weight, included tree straps, and low price. It arrived in a plain zip-loc style bag, and a made in China sticker. Perfect. When I went to set it up, I was very pleased with the quality of the tree straps. In no time flat, I was swaying in the woods, feeling relaxed.

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When the gate house opened, I checked us in. Moving off of the electrical site even saved us a few dollars. Nice.

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After Erica arose, we made breakfast. This was the first time we fired up our MSR Pocket Rocket 2 stove. What a gem! This stove weighs almost nothing, takes up almost no space, and can boil a litre of water in only 3.5 minutes. What a nice early birthday gift for me. Our instant coffee was ready in no time, and our English muffins we nice and toasty. The dehydrated peanut butter tasted good enough.

Once fueled up, we loaded everything but our tent, mats, and sleeping bags into our packs, and hit the Lakeshore Trail. The description for that one reads:

"15 km, 6 hours round trip, moderate to difficult.
This is a wilderness trail designed for the more experienced hiker. It is rugged, challenging and very rewarding. A supply of water is highly recommended. Sharing the same beginning segment of the Lakehead Loop trail, the Lakeshore Trail roughly follows the undeveloped shoreline of Silent Lake. Along the way you will pass through beaver meadows, hardwood forests, and cedar-black ash swamps. The spectacular lookout points will be the highlight of your hike."

15km was longer than either Erica and I had hiked before, but we had time, food, and gear to take a break. The reviews of the trail sounded positive.

We departed on foot from our site, and picked up the trail. It began very closely following the lakeshore, and offering plenty of views. The weather was good. The bugs were not annoying us too much. Things were good, and we started knocking off a few km, while taking frequent breaks to enjoy the views.

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We were aiming to take an extended break a little past the half way point, probably around km 8 or 9. However, after 7km, the trail really changed, and not for the better. Suddenly, a few words from the trail description stood out more. "Roughly follows... the shoreline." "Swamps." Km ~7-10 were not the kind of hiking we were hoping for. The trail turned into the woods, away from the lake. The woods were not particularly interesting. The trail was not great. Fortunately it was dry, because you could tell that earlier in the year, it would have been very swampy. By this point, the bugs were being pretty annoying. I was fully geared up, complete with bug net. Even Erica pulled out her bug net. I typically reach for mine far more often than she does. There were mosquitoes, but the deer flies were being particularly annoying. Constantly buzzing around our heads. Obviously, we did not want to stop for lunch in a bug infested swamp, on the "Lakeshore Trail."

So, feeling a little grumpy we pressed on until we got about 10km in, where we were finally greeted by another lake view, and a nice rock feature, which gave us a natural countertop to make lunch.

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We rested up for a bit. Again, the hammock was pure win. We also had our Woods Expedition Powerlite Chair. It is also a nice little piece of equipment. Pack size and weight is not too bad, ease of setup is ok (you have to wrestle the cover on a bit), and the ergonomics and comfort are good for a little packable chair.

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Unfortunately, due to our late morning start, we could not linger too long, because we did not want to use up our buffer of daylight. If we got delayed, and night fell, we would not be too happy, because at this time we realized our headlamps were left in the tent.

So, we packed up, and headed on down the trail, feeling a bit recharged, but a bit disappointed, as the map showed a little bit of distance between the shore and the trail for most of the remaining distance.

With our bug nets engaged, and deer flies circling, we pressed on through the woods.

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With about 3km to go, although our dogs still seemed to have plenty of pep (despite plenty of bug bites), fatigue was starting to hit Erica hard. She can rally very well, but she was not finding the somewhat uninteresting terrain, and numerous hills very motivating. We were not in trouble for time, but the sun was getting lower.

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We took plenty of breaks, and finally emerged out of the woods. With Erica about spent, we finished the last couple sections of road and trail, to make it back to our campsite. I was very proud of our Adventure Crew. Erica's fitness is miles (like, over 5) ahead of where it was last year. She continues to impress me. I think it's fair to say, that even though the experience was not exactly like we dreamed it would be, we both got a good sense of accomplishment from finishing the hike.

When we got back to the campsite, I basically just wanted to sleep. We both hit the tent. I was pretty much too tired to eat. But, Erica knew that if we did not eat, empty stomachs would ruin our sleep, so she got me up, and we ate some food, before packing it in for good that night. We both slept pretty good that night.

Sunday morning was pretty slow. We made no big plans. We did practice hanging our food bag in the trees, since we will not have a vehicle nearby for our next trip. Other than that, we just ate, lounged a bit, packed up, and hit the road.

What did we learn? We were pretty well prepared, but we would like to reduce our pack weights. One way to do that, would be to pack less food. We took a ton of food back home. We ate way less than we thought we would, and some of our snack options will be revised.

On the way home, we stopped for some delicious Subway sandwiches, and also made a stop at a big city MEC. Unfortunately, traffic delayed our arrival, and we did not have much time to browse. But, Erica was able to decide on a MEC Reactor 3.8 self inflating mat. It's less than half the size and weight of what we used on this trip, so that is a nice upgrade / early birthday gift. I liked the Therm-a-Rest Z Lite, but I can't make decisions that quickly. Being a closed cell foam pad, it is bulky, moderately comfortable, and very light. I'll keep thinking about it. After I select a mat, we'll try to trim a few grams off of a few other items that we can obtain cheaply like cutlery, knives, etc.

All in all, I'd say it was a successful trip, which achieved it's goal of getting us ready for our first backpacking adventure.

Look out Algonquin we're coming.

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Image: https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1828/42385247125_8415d97b65_c.jpg

rkj__ · July 2018

After our Silent Lake trip where we tested some new gear, and some borrowed gear, we made a few revisions. The biggest change was buying new sleeping mats. Erica had her new Reactor 3.8 pad from MEC, and I decided to go with a Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite closed cell pad. I chose the closed cell pad, for its light weight, decent price, and ease of set up and stow. This saved us near 8 lb of weight. Since we decided we needed a second chair, Erica picked up a Term-a-Rest Trekker chair. It’s a clever little piece, which is very small and light, and with a little bit of set up time, basically makes your sleeping pad into a comfortable low chair. We also made a few other small revisions (cutlery, towels, tools) to drop a few more grams. All in all, we saved around 10lb of total weight.

After a few weeks of planning, procuring gear, and validating lists, it was finally time to embark on our first backpacking trip. We would be hiking the Eastern Pines trail in Algonquin, which is accessed from Achray, in the North East section of the park. To make the driving more manageable, we made an overnight stop at Silent Lake, where we stayed just one week earlier. This time, we had a traditional car camping site. As a bonus, a previous camper left us a nice reflective Sea to Summit clothesline. Without much drama, we set up, and settled in for the night.

I was not expecting to sleep well. I never do my first night in a tent. Part of it is comfort, and part of it is my brain being on high alert for every rustle in the woods. On this night, I slept exceptionally poorly. I was picking up on some definite raccoon activity around my truck. I thought that was strange, because there were no animal attractants under the tonneau cover, and the food was securely stowed in the cab of the truck. A little rain fell overnight, but not enough to be a concern.

Eventually, morning came. We wanted to get out early, to maximize our time at Algonquin. When I crawled out of the tent, I got an unpleasant surprise. The front driver side door of my truck was open! Oh no! I quickly went to explore the nature of the disaster. Very fortunately, our main food supply was unharmed. It was in a dry sac, inside one of the backpacks. There was no damage from attempted animal entry. What a relief. Though not an epic disaster, not all was well. The scavengers did snag a Cliff bar, and some leftover cheese curds. And of course, those dirty scavengers got my front seats fairly dirty.

Now, my immediate reaction was that the raccoons opened my door. I was confident I had closed, but not locked it. However, since this happened, I have not been able to convince any sane people that raccoons opened the door to my truck. I understand their logic. The handle is not low to the ground, close to the cab, or close to the bed. How would a ‘coon open it? I don’t know.

I closed the door. That’s my story and I’m s-stickin’ to it! Erica, as always, was a super star, and stayed calm while I vented my frustrations relating to the situation. I was going to eat that Cliff bar, but since it was gone, that was enough of an excuse to stop at a Tim Hortons for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

We continued on driving towards Achray, and very slowly, I started to leave the troubles behind. The drive up north was fairly nice. Nice, if you like rural roads anyways. There were lots of curves and bumps. Some of those bumps splashed coffee onto my seat. Sigh. But without a trailer in tow, the driving was enjoyable. Before we had even arrived at the trailhead, Erica was planning grand backpacking adventures in Northwestern Canada.

After wrapping up the final stretch of gravel road to Achray, we a parked the truck, and grabbed our bags. With our Adventure Mutt by our side, we began our march down the trail. The adventure Poodle stayed behind for a few reasons. One of the leading reasons being that he eats a lot. At a tender age of 7 months, we did not want to burden his young joints with a backpack to offset the weight and volume of food he would need.

Erica was leading, and set the pace surprisingly high. I think she was excited to reach our campsite. It was plenty warm, and we knew a swim at High Falls would be refreshing. The trail started off easy. The mostly pine forest had a fairly smooth floor, with some rocks mixed in, and a significant amount of undergrowth. There were many easy steps, with only a few significant climbs mixed in.

To navigate, we had our paper copy of the trail map, as well as the All Trails Pro app on my iPhone. I took a picture of the paper map on my phone for ease of handling. The phone effectively used GPS to track our location. The version of the map on the app had a few extra trails shown, that perhaps were a result of a user uploading a track with some bushwacking adventures. Overall though, the trail was very well signed, which made navigating fairly easy.

So, without a lot of drama, we reached the campsites. We checked out a few different ones, before making our selection. We were tired from the fast hike in, and cooked up / re-hydrated some food.

Though our site had access to water, it was a little marshy, so not good for filtering or swimming access. So, we headed to the popular high falls area for a swim. We first dipped in a little private spot, but knew we were not yet in “the” spot, because we heard voices in the distance, and we had not yet spotted the scene we had viewed in pictures. So, we hiked just a little bit further, and then found “the” spot.

It was the epitome of natural summertime fun in Canada. The view was wonderful. The water was warm, yet still refreshing, and a wonderful treat after hiking with heavy bags for a few hours. The only thing that could have made it better would have been total privacy. While it was later in the day, and there were never too many people there, we were not alone for more than a few moments. Even the Adventure Mutt got in on the swimming fun, when she just could not bear how far away Erica had swum away. Feeling refreshed, we all headed back to our campsite, and after tidying up, tucked into the tent for the night.

We were not quick to get going in the morning. We did not feel we had to hurry, because we had slightly less distance to cover than the day before, which we hiked pretty quickly. We were aware that we would have to navigate a “Glacial Boulder Field” on this day, but did not expect that to slow us down too much. Eventually, we got to tidying up our campsite. Erica dashed out to High Falls again to filter some water, and met some friendly folks along the way. We did not interact with many people on this trip, but everyone we did talk to was very friendly.

While obviously not as fresh as the day before, we felt pretty good. Some of the trail sections we started with were quite overgrown. Perhaps fewer hikers bother to go beyond High Falls? The trail remained well signed though, so we had no struggles following the trail. It did not take us too long to realize there was a consequence to starting our hike late in the morning. Heat. It was a very hot day, and we were hiking through the hottest hours of it. I don’t know exactly how hot it was, as we had no thermometer or access to weather reports. However, I estimate it was around 30C +/-. We were sweating, more than we usually do. Being in the woods, refreshing breezes did not reach us too often. Probably about 40% of the way through the hike, we stopped to filter more water, and have a very hearty snack. We were probably stopped for around 20 minutes.

When we got going again, things did not get going too well. We did not make it much more than 150 meters, before Erica said she was not feeling well. At this point, we were at a “campsite” on Bucholtz Lake. However, it appeared to be more boulder field than campsite. In any case, there were occasional light breezes coming off the lake. So, with plenty of daylight still available, I simply offered to set up the hammock, and let Erica rest until she felt better.

Don’t believe the smiles, they are fake! Personally, I did not mind the break either.

Hilton offered to carry my pack if needed, but I declined.

This episode turned into a fairly short delay. It did not take us to long to get going again. Yay for magic hammocks. We once again turned our focus to completing the day’s hike. Even with the big packs, the boulder fields we encountered on the day were not too troublesome for us. We were through them at a reasonable pace, and then it was back to smoother trails.

We were both very excited when we saw the sign, indicating that we had reached the trail to the campsites on Johnston Lake. The first campsite we stepped foot on looked perfect. It had a nice flat spot for our tent, shade, and great water access. Perfect. We’ll take it. Before you could say “great Canadian weekend” we were both swimming in the water. Oh it was nice. The water was again quite warm, but it still provided the relief from the heat that we needed.

We really enjoyed our time at this site. There was a pair of hikers camped on the same lake, but they were quiet, and left sooner than we did. So, it was incredibly peaceful and quiet. Spots like that, are why you go backcountry camping. It is so wonderful to find the natural peace that can be so hard to find near our cities.

When morning came, we did our best to not dilly-dally too long, since Erica had to work a night shift that night, and needed to get some sleep in the early evening. We had a very short hike back to our vehicle that morning, as we chose to forego the Berm Lake trail section. We completed the trail without issue, and arrived back at the truck, which looked just as we had left it.

On our exit, we took a quick drive around the Achray campground. While nice, we would probably not choose to haul our trailer there, due to the long and sometimes rough drive. We were not done our adventure yet though. I still wanted to see the Barron Canyon. It would be just silly to drive right by a canyon, which you can access via only 1.5km of hiking.

So, after driving just a couple minutes, we popped out of the truck at the trailhead, and set off, unburdened, for the short hike. The trail was mostly uphill, and did deliver the views I was looking for. Again, we did not linger too long, but I was glad we stopped.

We had one final stop to make before we arrived home. We were both craving an ice cold, carbonated, sugar loaded drink. So, we stopped at a chip truck in Bancroft, and refreshed ourselves with a canned beverage, and also put back some salty and greasy food. Oh yum. The skies turned dark, and we hopped back into the truck for the final stretch home, as it began to rain and thunder.

Image: https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1802/43518853661_c462a55846_c.jpg

And that’s about a wrap for our first backpacking trip. We both enjoyed the experience, and I suspect Erica will be planning more backpacking trips for us in the future. We both had a good time, and felt we were pretty well prepared. Moving forward, one of my top priorities will be trying to figure out a way to get better quality sleep, as I struggled with that through most of the trip. I’m thinking a better pillow, and maybe some whiskey would be a good start.

Happy Camping

SweetlyHome · July 2018

Great ramblings, enjoyed them both. Brought back great memories of backpacking and fly-in trip of years ago in the Adirondacks. Today we enjoy finding spots for the T@B where we have good day hiking opportunities.

We visited Algonquin back in the Silver Shadow teardrop era. Enjoyed several hikes and a day of canoeing.

Keep the ramblings coming!

Ratkity · July 2018

Amazing ramblings again!!! I love them all. It reminds me of my younger days in SC going up into the hill country and walking the FootHills trail. I wonder if it's still there. There were many sections of it, ranging from easy to difficult. My first German Shepherd (named Patience) was my ever vigilant protector from raccoons at night and refused to sleep in the tent. My friend and I used to have contests at how light we could make our packs and then we added ONE thing that was a luxury. Mine was usually a small book or sketch book. I can't remember what his was. I also had trouble sleeping the first night.

I still have trouble sleeping the first night in the camper. I think driving with the camper in DC metro traffic is a bit unnerving. I do better if I can take a Thursday off, but illness and family illnesses have used all my leave. Alas!

Again, love the ramblings!! Keep them coming!

jgram2 · July 2018

Yes! Please keep rambling and reporting. I’m trying to get my exercize vicariously along with my Canadian travels. You two (3) are amazing!

cmac · July 2018

Hi rkj!

Just finished reading all 7 pages of your thread and really enjoyed it. I found it especially interesting since Cheryl and I are planning our first big retirement trip this Sept. and Oct. to Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and then into New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island (Cher want to see the Ann of Green Gables house while we are there! Then maybe - along the St. Lawrence Seaway on our way back south to Oklahoma, if we have time?

Is interesting to match the dates on your posts to the scenery in the background, especially in the October postings. We may need to be careful the second week of October regarding the temps and campground closings, we'll see.

I also notice that you are towing with a 2008 Canyon, how does it handle the T@B? We just acquired a 2018 Colorado with the 3.6L engine and tow package to tow our 2006 T@B Clamshell (Dutchman). (the Colorado replace a 2000 Silverado 2500 with the 6.0L engine, but the Colorado has as much horsepower and almost the same torque ratings as the old Silverado)

Thank you for your postings/comments! P.S.: I also have the Ther-a-Rest Zlite that I use when I go on Disaster Relief deployments - fits well in my footlocker - also used it while an Assistant Soutmaster on our monthly campouts with the boys and it has held-up very well.

Regards,

John

rkj__ · July 2018

cmac said:

Hi rkj!

Just finished reading all 7 pages of your thread and really enjoyed it. I found it especially interesting since Cheryl and I are planning our first big retirement trip this Sept. and Oct. to Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and then into New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island (Cher want to see the Ann of Green Gables house while we are there! Then maybe - along the St. Lawrence Seaway on our way back south to Oklahoma, if we have time?

Is interesting to match the dates on your posts to the scenery in the background, especially in the October postings. We may need to be careful the second week of October regarding the temps and campground closings, we'll see.

I also notice that you are towing with a 2008 Canyon, how does it handle the T@B? We just acquired a 2018 Colorado with the 3.6L engine and tow package to tow our 2006 T@B Clamshell (Dutchman). (the Colorado replace a 2000 Silverado 2500 with the 6.0L engine, but the Colorado has as much horsepower and almost the same torque ratings as the old Silverado)

Thank you for your postings/comments! P.S.: I also have the Ther-a-Rest Zlite that I use when I go on Disaster Relief deployments - fits well in my footlocker - also used it while an Assistant Soutmaster on our monthly campouts with the boys and it has held-up very well.

Regards,
John

Hi John,

I'm glad you enjoyed my ramblings. If they help even a little bit with your trip planning, that's a good thing.

If you read all the reports, I'm sure you picked up a few towing impressions regarding the Canyon. The short answer I always give is that it is a very good match for the trailer. The 2018 is even more powerful, and more refined. I'm sure it will serve you well.

Happy Camping

rkj__ · July 2018

For this trip, I took a vacation day, so that we could make it a long weekend. That made a longer drive worthwhile. So, we planned to head to Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, which we really enjoyed last year. We did not have a specific itinerary for the trip, but we made sure to keep all our options open. So, on Thursday night, I loaded the truck with the canoe, bikes, and hiking day packs.

Friday around noon, Erica called me, and introduced a change of plans. Instead of travelling North to Samuel de Champlain, we would be heading East to Murphy’s Point, so that Erica and her parents could spend some much needed time together. Anybody who knows me, knows I don’t always deal well with changing plans. But, I specifically mentioned in my marriage vows, that I would take Erica home any time she asked. So, I did my best to accept that the trip would be different from the one I was looking forward to.

We had also been to Murphy’s Point last year, and it is located only about 20 minutes from where Erica grew up. We were able to change our reservation, and give us a pull-through site near the water. Clearly somebody else’s plans must have changed, making this site available. So, with the bookings re-calibrated, we headed East.

We arrived late at night, and pulled into our site. It was surprisingly sloped. But we got the trailer near level. I then went to connect the electrical hookup, which was something we have not had since early in the spring. Not being used to this step, I forgot to check the location of the electrical pole before leveling the trailer, and un-hitching. It turned out my 50ft of cord left us about 3ft short. Doh! I had checked the stated distance at the site we had originally booked, and 50ft would have been fine there, but I did not check the distance at the new site. So, I hitched up the trailer again, and rolled it back about 5 ft. It was a 5 minute mistake. No big deal. After that minor hiccup, we settled into the T@b for a comfortable night’s sleep.

When daylight came, we checked out our surroundings. Being camped amongst a bunch of trailers was a little different for us, since lately most of our sites have been non electrical, which usually surrounds us with more tent campers. The campground was quite hilly, and that helped create nice separation from other campers. It also meant that when returning to the campsite, I had to use 4 wheel drive to back the truck up the steep road, into our campsite, since 2 wheel drive just dug holes in the loose gravel. Overall, the campground was very quiet and peaceful.

I won’t ramble on too much more about the rest of the trip. Instead of adventures, it focused on relaxation and quality together time. We finally got to meet Stanley, the newest canine addition to the McFadyen farm. He is a very cute Collie mix. For whatever reason though, the Adventure Poodle was not a fan. We had a couple breakfasts at Erica’s favourite breakfast spot, and we all had a wonderful buffet together by the fire on Saturday. This was a nice treat, since many of the parks further north are currently under a fire ban, as many active forest fires burn, due to a dry summer.

It was nice to be back in the T@b, after several trips in the tent. We even got to enjoy all of its luxuries, like the electric fridge, and air conditioning, since we had the electrical hookup. Summer is blowing by, and we’ll be seeing “back to school” ads soon, but there is still lots of summer fun ahead.

Happy Camping.

dragonsdofly · July 2018

@rkj, thanks again for sharing.

ericnliz · July 2018

@rkj__, Looks like an enjoyable outing! You're building quite the camping scrapbook. Thanks for sharing yet once again, & be safe out there, but have fun!

rkj__ · July 2018

ericnliz said:

@rkj__, Looks like an enjoyable outing! You're building quite the camping scrapbook. Thanks for sharing yet once again, & be safe out there, but have fun!

Even when I don't think I have too much to say, I still can manage to surpass 600 words of rambling.

jgram2 · July 2018

@rkj__ That word count reminds me of an Oregon Public Broadcast series entitled 800 Words. Your ramblings are much less drama filled (unless you edit the drama out? ) and much more relatable! Such fun.

rkj__ · July 2018

jgram2 said:

@rkj__ That word count reminds me of an Oregon Public Broadcast series entitled 800 Words. Your ramblings are much less drama filled (unless you edit the drama out? ) and much more relatable! Such fun.

Our trips are usually pretty low on drama, and I don’t edit out too much. Of course, if there are actions or events that would only paint somebody in a negative light, I might edit that out.

rkj__ · August 2018

The T@b and Adventure Crew spent the weekend at home. I took advantage of the time, and shot some grease into the wheel bearings.

I used the only jack I have, the bottle jack from my tow vehicle, and placed it under the T@b frame to get the tire off the ground.

The hub caps were on quite firmly, and required care to remove.

It certainly took a lot of pumps on the grease gun before I saw old grease start to make its way out.

Overall, an easy job, that anybody can do.

I did not make any adjustments to the brakes though, as they still seemed fine.

Since I had the grease gun out, I did the u-joints and suspension bushings on my truck too.

Ready for more safe travels.

rkj__ · August 2018

After our last trip, I rambled on about changing plans. We swapped a more adventurous trip, for a more social and relaxing one. That was fine, but it created a new problem. The next trip on our schedule was set to be a more relaxing one. At the time of booking (5 months ago), we figured it would be nice to have a nice relaxing weekend, close to home, at Rock Point. However, heading into the weekend, we found ourselves wanting more adventure than relaxation. After considering a few options, Erica decided Algonquin would be her top pick, because there is so much to do there; a fine choice. In my mind, Algonquin is kind of like an amusement park, for those who like outdoor recreation, in a natural setting.

Of course, Algonquin is no, secret, and is incredibly popular. We were there twice already in 2018. So, summer weekends are typically booked solid, 5 months in advance. But, I have learned that plans change, not only for Erica and I. So, I started checking for cancellations early in the week. Sure enough, I saw numerous sites become available, many of which got snatched up pretty quickly. Of course, booking last minute, I was prepared to have to settle a bit on site quality, but I did not want to jump the gun either. Fortunately, a wonderful site (#225) in Canisbay campground became available. Erica and I had not camped in that campground before, but it came highly recommended. The site had all the bells and whistles too; large, flat, some privacy, and electricity. Sign me up.

We tackled the Friday night drive without making any stops en-route, which helped us get there at a reasonable hour. Towing the trailer, my truck does not go much more than about 350km before telling me it is low on fuel. But, I packed a 25L jerry can, just for that reason, so that we had the option to drive straight though, and then still have enough fuel to drive around the park on the weekend. I also made sure to bring tons of extension cord, so we could position our trailer anywhere on the site, without worrying about distance to the electrical pole. So, when we arrived, I backed in to our large site without stress. Without any significant snags, we were tucked in to bed quickly.

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Saturday morning came, and over breakfast, we discussed which trail we would hike first. We wanted something in the 7-10 km range, so it was between the Centennial Ridges Trail and the Track and Tower Trail. We had hiked to the Whitefish Lake lookout on the Centennial Ridges Trail last year, without completing the full loop. But, I decided on the Track and Tower Trail, because we had not touched that one yet.

The trail proved to be very enjoyable. It featured some nice terrain, complete with plenty of rocks and roots. There were some nice bridges, streams, and even a tiny waterfall. Erica’s least favourite part was a long set of stairs, that gave the elevation gain needed to get a wonderful lookout. The lookout was very nice, though it did get somewhat crowded while we munched on some sandwich.

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After logging over 8km on the trail, we headed back to the campsite for a rest. Erica and Willard ducked into the T@b, while Hilton and I enjoyed some time in the hammock.

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We got just enough re-charging time in, to feel up for another small hike. So, we headed to the Whiskey Rapids Trail for an evening stroll. While we did not observe much in the way of rapids at this time of year, it was a lovely walk by the Oxtongue River.

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We also spotted this signal tower masquerading as a tree.

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After our evening hike, we decided to check out the Portage Store on Canoe Lake. We browsed the gear selection, on the lookout for any gear that would be a good replacement or addition to our backpacking kit. We did not see any gear we had to have, but did take home a dehydrated breakfast that sounded yummy. And, well, since we were there, we had to have an ice cream cone on the deck. Yummy! A great selection of food on site, is just one of the many reasons one might choose to start / finish their backwoods canoe trip on Canoe Lake.

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After our ice cream, we headed back to our campsite, and quickly set out to take advantage of the fire ban being recently lifted, after several weeks. We grilled up our favourite pie iron pizzas. Usually, that would be about the point of the night where we would pack it in. It had been a day jam packed with adventure. However, since the sky was pretty clear, we grabbed a blanket, crossed the road, and headed down to the water to try and observe some of the Perseid Meteor Shower. We were both glad we did, because even though we were a little ahead of the peak, we spotted seven “shooting stars” streak across the sky, in the about half hour we watched. It was a wonderful treat.

Saturday night, I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling awful, like I was going to hurl. Neither Erica nor I could come up with a good reason why. Fortunately, nothing too horrific happened, and eventually the feeling passed. By morning, I was feeling about 90%. Good enough for more adventure.

With our hiking legs a little beat up from the day before, we switched it up, and decided to do some cycling along the Old Railway Trail. On our June trip to Algonquin, we rode the section between Pog and Mew Lake. This time, we decided to again start from Pog Lake, but instead head to the Rock Lake end of the trail. We rode along the trail happily, and discussed how Erica was like a train. She likes her bike trails like trains like their tracks. Not too bumpy, and not too steep. Personally, I’m happy with almost any terrain under the wheels of my bicycle, but like some bumps to keep things interesting. This trail is well suited for us to ride together. Without drama, we reached the end of the trail, the Rock Lake campground. My boss and his family were actually staying in the Rock Lake campground. We rode by his site, but did not spot him. I will go on record and say that we were very happy to NOT be camped in the Rock Lake campground. No, not to avoid my boss, he is a nice enough guy, but because of the campsites being very open, dense, and noisy.

Anyway, after reaching the end of the trail, we pointed our bikes back towards Pog Lake, and the end of the day’s ride. Hopefully sometime soon, we can finish up the last section of the trail between Mew Lake and Cache Lake. There was talk of riding the full trail end to end, and back, for a 32km ride. But, I knew that maximum fun would be had if we kept the ride a little shorter.

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After our ride, we had to be quick to have lunch, and pack up, so that we could be off of our campsite by the two o’clock checkout time. We divided tasks and were able to eat a delicious meal, and roll out just on time. But, as with our June trip to Algonquin, this was not the end of our adventure. We were in no rush to leave. It’s a good thing we were not in a rush, because our next stop was the trailer dump station. Algonquin only has a single dump station for all of the campgrounds in the park. This is not ideal. The layout is also poor, in that the potable water fill is in the same line. So, at the end of a weekend, it can get quite backed up. There was a long line, and once you’ve turned in, there is no escaping it. We did our best to be patient. Honestly, it’s surprising we don’t get caught up in long dump lines more often. I’ve noticed some parks are working to improve, by at least adding a separate potable water fill station. Algonquin needs to improve too.

Anyway, next up, was a quick stop at the Art Centre. But, we did not stay long, as not much was new there since our last visit. After that, we headed to the Hardwood Lookout Trail, to sneak in one last little hike. In the parking lot, we met a young Standard Poodle puppy. That was a delight. We had considered a slightly longer hike, but after losing a little time at the dump station, we chose shorter. Our legs were thankful for that choice too, as the climbs and descents were packing quite a punch by this point. Our weakened legs did get us to the top, where there were a few nice benches, that we took full advantage of, while enjoying the view, without a crowd this time.

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After the hike, we headed to Algonquin Outfitters, to check out some more cool gear. They have a great selection. We picked up some GSI Pouch Spoons. The long handle will be great for eating dehydrated meals out of those tall pouches they come in. On our last trip, we found our sporks a little short. Live and learn. We also got some GSI Infinity Stacking Cups, to help us save weight and space in our packs, vs the heavier, non-stacking mugs we used previously. The measurement markings also allow us to shed the measuring cup. So, we got out of there with a couple small improvements, for not a lot of cash.

All of these adventures and stops made us a bit hungry. So, we made one last stop at Pita Pit in Huntsville. Their delicious food put us in a good mood for the drive home in cottage country traffic. We drove non-stop from Huntsville, and arrived home without incident.

Thanks for another great trip Algonquin. We’ll see you again.

Happy Camping

DougH · August 2018

Inspiring photos and description!

jgram2 · August 2018

Looks like a great park!

ericnliz · August 2018

@rkj__, Sounds like a great time was had by all. Thanks, yet once again for sharing your adventure!

Ratkity · August 2018

Amazing!!! OMGosh that ice cream looked yummy. What a great way to stay in a hammock

Love your adventures!

rkj__ · August 2018

Ratkity said:

Amazing!!! OMGosh that ice cream looked yummy. What a great way to stay in a hammock Love your adventures!

The banana flavoured ice cream was some of the best I've ever had!

Homebodyatheart · August 2018

@rkj__ thanks so much for your wonderful wandering narratives! It is a treat to "armchair camp" with you both when we can't go camping! Your pics are really nice, too!

rkj__ · August 2018

Homebodyatheart said:

@rkj__ thanks so much for your wonderful wandering narratives! It is a treat to "armchair camp" with you both when we can't go camping! Your pics are really nice, too!

Thanks. :-) Lately, my pictures have been taken 100% with my iPhone 7. Dealing with the mixed lighting you get in a forest is always a challenge, but I do my best. Most get a few adjustments in post processing, but nothing too advanced.

rkj__ · September 2018

When I get back from a trip, I usually try my best to crank out a trip report as soon as I can. But this time, I had to take some time to let the emotions settle. When I finally got home, it felt like the story was not yet over. Dun dun dun!

Forget about snacks. Go have dinner, then come back and read this long ramble.

So, let’s start at the beginning. We planned a 4 night stay at Charleston Lake Provincial Park. This location had some significance to the both of us, because it was where we took our very first camping trip together, when we were dating. Erica even booked the exact same campsite, which I thought was pretty sweet, both for sentimental reasons, and because it was huge.

Flashback Photos

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Anyway, we had a few minor delays when trying to depart, so we did not hit the road as soon as I was hoping. But, when we got rolling, we heard a slight noise from the truck that we had not heard before. I pulled into a gas station before hitting the highway, and checked the wheel nuts for piece of mind. No issues there. No leaking fluids or obvious signs of issues, so we pulled out, and hit the highway.

Very quickly, you’ve probably got some good guesses as to how this story will play out, don’t ya?

As we continued to drive, we heard a few different sounding noises, that were not exactly consistent, or repeatable. About 35 minutes from home, I pulled into a gas station for more inspection. I jacked up each of the front wheels, and checked for play. I checked the rear driveshaft for play. Again, I could not detect any issue. I deemed the problem as “not a safety issue” so Erica and I decided to carry on.

We were now further delayed, and Erica fell asleep for much of the drive, while I battled lane closures, traffic, and darkness.

By time we reached our destination (yes, we did reach our destination!), the noise had gotten pretty loud, and repeatable. Upon no drivetrain load / deceleration, there was an awful buzzing gear sound. Rear differential was one of my best guesses.

We did start this trip on a Wednesday night, so we planned to get the truck looked at asap. Our campsite had no cell phone service, but we were able to get a call through in the area of the gatehouse. We called my father in law, who lives in the area, and asked for his recommendation of where to take it. He figured our best option was Mike Fair Chevrolet in Smith’s Falls. We called, and they were able to get us a 10am appointment. Good.

We drove the truck to the dealer in the morning, and it was sounding pretty awful. I went for a test drive with somebody from the service department, and they thought pulling off the rear differential cover was a good place to start. So, they lifted it up, and did just that. A short while later, he came back with an oily rag, that had a pile of metal shards and bearing rollers in it. Oh dear, that ain’t good.

I was pretty upset and frustrated, because I’ve spent quite a few maintenance dollars on the truck already in the last 12 months. I was planning for this vehicle to be our T@b tugger for a few more years, but with a 3,500km road trip through some remote areas planned for September, the reliability of the truck I love so much was called into question.

So, what will it take to fix this one? Swapping in a used rear axle was deemed to be the best option. More dollars I did not want to spend. Any other options? One option was to abandon / trade it in on a new Canyon. We quickly drafted up a number for a gray extended cab they had on their lot. Erica did not find the 2018 very comfortable, and neither of us wanted that gray truck anyways. I had a grudge against the full size trucks, because I test drove one, took it to the mall to try and park it, and got annoyed with its width. So they were out as well. So, in a bitter mood, after some debate, I decided that at the moment, we absolutely needed to get the truck repaired, since it was fairly worthless broken, in any scenario.

So, I gave a go ahead, for the dealer to source a used axle with 100,000 km less. The bad news was, that they could not get that axle in time for our scheduled Sunday departure. Erica and I were both supposed to be at work on Monday. We chose to focus on one problem at a time. The truck had to get fixed. The trailer needed to get towed home.

So, my father in law gave us a ride from the dealer, back to his place. I moped around a bit, but we continued to talk about how we would reshape our trip. Again, we tried to consider one thing at a time. With my father in law graciously loaning us his Silverado 1500HD, we headed back to our campsite. We would spend one more night there, and cancel the remaining two nights of our planned stay. We did not get up to much, as our spirits were still a little low. Erica was pretty tired, so she laid low for the evening. I hopped on my bike for… wait a minute. I forgot a part.

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When leaving the truck behind, we tried to grab everything we needed from the Canyon. I forgot my sunglasses, but that was no big deal. There was one other oversight though. Before taking the truck to the dealer, we unloaded the bikes, and locked them to a tree on our campsite. We left the dealer the keys to the truck. The lock for the bikes was on that same key ring. Doh! Add that to the list of fails for the weekend. It was really feeling like things were just not going my way. But, this was also a solvable problem we figured.

We went to the campground office, to ask if they might be able to help us out. The warden was able to swing by our campsite with some massive bolt cutters. My bike was free. So, back to that bike ride…. I just toured around the campground a bit. I did feel my phone buzz, signaling that I had a signal, which was rare in this park. I stopped by the lake, and used my two bars to browse a few new truck options, as daylight faded.

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The next day, I was determined to do one of the things we set out to do on the trip. Hike the 10 km Tallow Rock Bay Trail. Erica and the dogs were up for it, so we packed up, and headed to the trailhead. We also used this hike as an opportunity to test out a new piece of gear, a Ruffwear backpack for the Adventure Poodle. At 9 months old, we don’t want him carrying any significant weight, but we did want to make sure that he was comfortable with the pack. So, we just loaded a pair or rain jackets for testing purposes.

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The trail was quite lovely. It provided a nice medium level of views and challenges. We also scoped out one of the backcountry campsites, which was unoccupied. We stopped there for a snack, and commented on how we might like to backpack the trail, and camp there. Erica was not feeling at her best on this day, but we took a few extra stops, and were able to complete the trail in the expected amount of time.

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But, we did not have a ton of time to pack up, so we hustled as much as was reasonable, so we could make our 2pm checkout time. We ate lunch, and got all packed up. As expected, neither of the ball mounts we had available were quite the right height for the old Silverado. Mine was way too low, and the other choice put the tongue too high, but seemed like the better of the two options. So, we hitched up. Lights? Check. Let’s roll.

When we tried to roll out of the campsite though, we ran into a snag. Because the rear of the trailer was now pretty low, the rear stabilizer got hung up on a rock. Do to spatial constraints, I was unable to change my course at this point. The only option was to find a way to get over the rock. The stress of the situation was increased by the fact that the truck was mostly blocking the road. After quickly considering the options we had available to us, I decided the best was to build up some fire wood on the one side of the rock, to keep the trailer tire higher, and above the rock, and clear the obstacle. Erica has many strengths, but being a spotter, is not one of them. So, I put her behind the wheel of the truck, while I watched things unfold, and gave her instructions.

She was able to get us past the obstacle, with only a slight scrape on the foot of the stabilizer. Ok, we’re in the clear now. Out on the road, things were fine. We were both very comfortable in the Silverado’s big leather seats. The V8 had a wonderful sound, and the RPMs stayed nice and low while tugging the tiny T@b. This truck is probably rated to tow the weight of 4 or 5 T@bs. I was enjoying the big truck, and was thankful that we did not break down far away from kind familial support. It could have been worse.

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Before long, we pulled into the farm. When the dogs saw Stanley, the Collie mix, they both went a little crazy. We let them out, to go greet their dogger friend.

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But, when we did that, we noticed Willard was struggling to put any weight on his front paw. He was limping real bad. We did not see what happened, but our best guess is that he twisted a joint when getting out of the truck. Nooooo! Why is everything going wrong!!!!!

We continued to keep an eye on him, but he was definitely hurt. It made Erica and I so sad to see him injured. We both love that Poodle so much. All we could do though was keep him in the T@b, away from excitement, to get some rest. Sigh.

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Ok, so, let’s recap. So far, we broke the truck, our bike lock, and the dog. Swell.

Part two coming up. Apparently I've exceeded the character limit on a post!

rkj__ · September 2018

The next day, we filled with a boat ride on my inlaws’ Carver 32. Some fresh air, open water, and lunch at Erica and I’s wedding venue helped improve spirits a little.

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That brings us to Sunday. Since we both were supposed to be at work Monday, we figured it would be good if at least one of us made it back. So, I dropped Erica off at the Via station and she took the train home. For me, it was a pretty quiet day hanging around the farm. Willard was still on bed rest in the T@b, though his spirits had improved.

Monday came, and finally Willard’s limp had improved a lot. I had some time to kill, so I hopped on my bike for a ride. I took a scoot down the Cataraqui Trail, which ends right near the dealership my truck was sitting at. So, I stopped in around 11am for a follow up. The axle had still not arrived, but they said they expected it around noon. Ok, I hoped they would get it soon enough to get me on the road that evening. I spent some time that day helping my father in law with some home renovations.

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Thankfully, near the end of the business day, I got the call that my truck was ready to roll. I got dropped off at the dealer, paid my bill, and hopped behind the wheel. I was very happy to be rolling again.

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I then hitched up the T@b, packed my things, and hit the road as soon as I could. I had a 5 hour drive ahead of me. After stopping only for fuel, twice, I arrived home before 11pm. No weird sounds on the way, just my killer playlist coming through the speakers.

I made it in to work for Tuesday, but my focus for the rest of the week was poor. I was distracted. Erica and I decided that it was time to get a new T@b tow vehicle, and it would be best to do it before we take our longest road trip yet, which would take us very far from home, car dealerships, and family. As a positive side note, Willard felt like he was ready to return to normal activity. His limp was gone, and his energy was normal. We did our best to keep him from getting too crazy for the rest of the week, but he seems to be as good as before now, which is a relief.

Anyhow, we came to the conclusion that a full sized pickup truck would serve us best. I think driving my father in law’s Silverado helped warm me up to the idea. Erica has always loved the comfort the big trucks deliver. I definitely wanted a truck. The only other vehicles that can deliver as much versatility at a reasonable price are vans, and Erica is not a fan of the van options. I always figured my next truck would be a 2015+ Canyon. But, as mentioned earlier, Erica did not find them that comfortable. Another issue was that I did not like how neither the extended cab, nor the crew cab offer a flat or even flat-ish floor for cargo or dogs. Finally, the midsize trucks never see the same discounts as the full size trucks, so pricing ends up being very similar.

So, the GMC Sierra 1500 jumped to the top of the list. But, Erica figured we should do our due diligence, and at least look at the Ford F-150, which I had previously admitted, is a very sharp looking truck. So we did. We took a quick look, but while the trucks were fine, the pricing and finance rates were not hitting the target.

So, it was back to the GMCs then. We headed to our local dealer, and met with a salesman who Erica and I both found to be good to deal with. We did not really know how much truck we could get for our budget, but I expected not too much. When shopping for this truck, my must haves were:

Double Cab
4x4
Integrated Trailer Brake Controller
Carpet floor

I was open to a V6, but the local dealer did not even have one to test drive. They are not that common on dealer lots.

I tried looking at very basic, bottom of the line trucks. After ruling out the depressing looking work trucks with vinyl floors, I found anything that had all my must haves, and the basic appearance package (window tint and shiny wheels), typically came with a few other options, and the price was very close to the Elevation Edition, which they had several examples of on the lot. The Elevation checked all the boxes, but the pricing was a little higher than I was hoping. We were out of time on the day, so we agreed to meet again the next day.

After failing to find exactly what I was trying to find on dealer lots near the end of the model year, we shifted back to the Elevation edition, to see if we could make a deal. They had a gorgeous blue truck on the lot. Elevation is an option package on the "Base" trim level. On the outside, it looks like a high end Sierra, similar to the All Terrain package. The interior does not have many luxury features, and has basic cloth bench seats. Yet, it still has a fancy 7” touch screen auto 4x4, power windows and door locks, and numerous other modern amenities that my Canyon did not have, including WiFi. Our salesman was very patient, and after a few hours, we finally shook hands, and made a deal. Sure, it will be a bit of a beast to park in the city, and I won't be doing any hardcore off roading with it but I look forward to many comfortable drives in it, and listening to the V8.

Without further rambling, here is the new T@b tow vehicle!

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I love the truck. It’s my first brand new vehicle. Similar to our T@b, it seem too nice, like I should not have it, or don’t deserve it. But, the bank says, as long as I keep making payments on the 0% loan, I can keep driving it. It is huge. I’ll get used to it. The backup camera helps with the parking.

The Canyon has been a great vehicle, and served me well through my 20s. In 6 years, and 212,000 km of driving, it never left me stranded on the roadside. But, unless Erica chooses to make it her daily driver, it will be sold.

Here’s to making new memories, and holding onto old ones.

Photomom · September 2018

rkj__, I’m enjoying reading about your adventures. I had a pocket rocket and it was a great stove. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of backpacking gear, but if there’s anything you need, do let me know as I still have tents, packs, thermarests, and even a very cool alcohol stove that weighs almost nothing.

Ratkity · September 2018

Oh boy @rkj__!! Did you and the wifey drop one of the leaves off your 4-leaf clover? You did get some trails in, but the truck fix looming overhead was probably a damper on it all. I'm glad you had folks in the area that could help. I have to agree about the full-sized truck. I drove a new 2018 Ford Lariat F150. Wow. My 2015 GMC was comfy, but I had some bad memories associated with it. I've never owned a Ford truck. This a new thing for me.

Sister bought a Ford F150 at the same time got the top trim level (I envy two of the trim items of hers, but not deal breakers or wanted extra price).

The truck that broke my heart when I had to let it go was a 1994 Chevy Silverado. Lots of camping memories. It was 13 yrs old when I traded it in. Its maintenance was costing more than a year's truck payment. Still sad to say g'bye. I was NOT sad to see the GMC go. I think I am happy with the Ford. Fingers cross as I only have 2000 miles on it! My only wish was that manufacturers would use Garmin navigation in their vehicles. Stock nav is horrid no matter the TV.

jgram2 · September 2018

Well, as my father the volunteer EMT used to say, it went just fine, no one died. AND you are safely ready for your long trip! Congratulations!

ericnliz · September 2018

@rkj__, WOW! Reminds me of some of the adventures I've had with one of my long time camping friends, and our yearly get-togethers at Swan Lake. For 3 years running, one, (and once) and, or both of us had vehicle issues. I can absolutely empathize on the stress involved. The last time his older Chevy one ton had overheating issues, and going over Sherman Pass was a true adventure when it blew the coolant cap clear off & Old Faithful was definitely present. While helping work on his truck, my wife shut my overheated truck off, and mine also decided to boil over. Finally we got both going again ( thank goodness we both always bring tools, extra water & antifreeze, along with a sundry of other vehicle extras.) My friend actually coasted down the opposite side of the pass to avoid any other overheating issues. After overheating so badly, we managed to band-aid it back together, and he immediately sold it & bought a one ton diesel.
I'm glad you got things resolved, and have a new truck to boot! Enjoy & Happy Adventures to both you, Erika & the camping pups!

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