Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
Lol. Pretty easy to spot I guess. Where did you see me?
1973 Wagoneer - Full Size Camping Goodness
- Thread starter Dr. Marneaus
- Start date
Lol. Pretty easy to spot I guess. Where did you see me?
locrwln
Expedition Leader
As you were heading home in the 'hood. I saw you on Estates. I live in Golden Valley also. I thought you lived in the neighborhood, but wasn't sure until I saw you heading up Estates and yes you do have a very distinct setup.
I'm over off of Knob Hill Dr.
Jack
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
I have been to antelope, but it was last fall. It was nice, one of the few lakes in the area thats actually full. Getting up the mountain is a bear though, even in my 5 speed dakota I was in 2nd gear doing like 25 up the mountain. I seriously question the wagoneer's ability to make that climb with the camper.
That being said, we got a late start and ended up at Davis because we didnt want to try an unknown trip since we were about 2 hours behind schedule.
The cheap trailer harness on the wag broke, the ground wire failed, so it took me a good 25 minutes to diagnose and then jury rig it, then we hit the road.
The trip to he lake was uneventful. It was hotter than the hinges of hell. Well, for Reno at least. It was upper 90's and I was grumpy. Truck pulled fine, albeit weak. It runs mostly right around 190* cruising. When we turned off the 70 to climb the grade to Davis the truck never passed 205*. I was going fairly slow though, about 35mph, and it was slowing down a little even though I was in 2nd gear. Its been so long since I've towed the camper and I'm not sure the steepest i've gone with it, but it felt weak. Climbing the mountain I was dumping gas out the gas cap. I've got a plan for that. I need to install a proper vent and then a better sealing gas cap, no worries.
Made it up to the camp ground, dumped more gas as I was unhooking the trailer, then that was the end of the drama.
Set up camp, drank a bunch, cooked some pork chops, went to bed. Woke up, had some coffee, eggs, bacon, went to the lake up past where the pavement ends, had the beach to ourselves. did a bit of back roading, drove over the hill on dirt to crocker campground located on Beckwourth Genesee road. Returned to camp. Drank more, cooked some bomb-*** cast iron enchiladas, played some giant Yahtzee with the wife, petted the dog, drank more, went to bed. Woke up, cleaned up, packed up, headed home! Again, hotter than two rats making love in a wool sock, but no issues.
Long story short, almost no vehicle drama (I'm not going to count the fuel spillage) which is a major advancement. I cannot say with certainty that this trip would have caused my prior issues to present themselves, but all of the criteria was there. Hot. Hills. Load. Elevation. Towing.
Here's some pitchers. Some by me, some by my wife. none by the dog.
jeepdreamer
Expedition Leader
Your life sure doesn't suck. 
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Shapeshifter
Restless Adventurer
mmmmm. Enchiladas....
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
Sounds like a great camping weekend!
Nice to get away to somewhere cooler.
Nice to get away to somewhere cooler.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
BLAM!!!!!
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
Nothing special, just summit's house brand .
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
Summit usually makes a contract with a solid company to "private label", so most likely it's a very good unit. :beer:
In any case, that is very pretty!
Pretty clean, pretty nice looking quality, pretty plug and play.
In any case, that is very pretty!
Pretty clean, pretty nice looking quality, pretty plug and play.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
Summit usually makes a contract with a solid company to "private label", so most likely it's a very good unit. :beer:
In any case, that is very pretty!
Pretty clean, pretty nice looking quality, pretty plug and play.
Definitely
Looking forward to getting it in once we all get the idle situation sorted out.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
Have another camping trip planned for this coming weekend, heading up towards Lassen National Park, not sure exactly where we will stay just yet, or if I'm going to bring the camper or if we'll tent it.
Thinking about Crater Lake, CA (no, not THAT crater lake) which is 7 miles removed from highway 44 up a dirt road, CA website says its steep and rough, "large" trailers aren't advised, but i'll take that to mean "rickety *** old popup's are not advised" as well. Otherwise We may stay at Lassen NP....or maybe in Susanville at Eagle Lake. So many decisions.
Thinking about Crater Lake, CA (no, not THAT crater lake) which is 7 miles removed from highway 44 up a dirt road, CA website says its steep and rough, "large" trailers aren't advised, but i'll take that to mean "rickety *** old popup's are not advised" as well. Otherwise We may stay at Lassen NP....or maybe in Susanville at Eagle Lake. So many decisions.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
here's some pics from early august when I went on a little trip with a buddy.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
Whats the point in owning it if I don't drive it right?
So after a recent round of tweaking the EFI, it was running pretty well so decided it was a good weekend for a bit of a trip.
I worked on Labor Day so I could take Friday off instead and avoid the crowds, which was probably a pretty good idea. Wife and I weren't too sure where we wanted to go, but we knew we wanted to head north toward Lassen National Park. Unfortunately we had the dog with us and that gets difficult in national parks since you cant take them on any hikes or anything.
We set our sites on a campground just past Susanville, CA, called Crater Lake. It's about 6 miles up a dirt road from route 44. I didnt know the condition of the road so I didnt bring the camper, we tent camped. It's a good thing because the road was about 4 miles of awful washboard and some pretty steep areas. Would have beat the crap out of my little rickety pop up.
So, woke up Friday morning, finished loading up, and off we went. Filled up my tank with the odometer showing 6612 miles and hit the highway. First stop was Susanville to hit the brewery and grab a snack before heading up into the hills. This was about 70 miles from home, with about 30 miles to go to the campsite. I picked up a cargo basket the other day because I knew there was no hope of fitting firewood in the truck if we are tent camping and have no trailer. It made life really easy. Kept the truck clean inside and I was able to carry way more wood than needed.
Left Susanville and got out of the desert. Susanville is at about 4000' so its lower than where we live. We headed from there up to about 6800' at the campground. I always enjoy watching the terrain and plant material change as one gains elevation.
Made it to the campground around 1 or 1:30 and realized I lost a few chunks of wood on the washboard, haha. Its okay, I found them all the next day. Figured we should get set up.
It was a small campground with pretty secluded campsites, and the road leads down to the very small and pretty low Crater Lake.
It was frustrating because I have never seen so many yellow jackets in my entire life. Unless you were wearing waders you couldn't get close to the water or go in. the shore line was literally thousands and thousands and thousands of wasps. Our campsite had a lot of yellow jackets as well, but they werent too much of a bother. just had to keep food and beers covered, etc.
It just belongs....
These two have it rough, let me tell you.
I noticed that apparently the US Forestry Service thinks Grand Wagoneers (on 20's?) are responsible for trampling the local vegetation....
So we had our campfire and dinner, and i broke the last functional zipper on my tent. That was fun. Rigged it together and went to sleep. woke up, had breakfast, then decided to head out to Lassen NP to see what we could see. Stopped at an overlook about 25 miles up the road from our campground. It was probably about 45-50 degrees out. I fired up the jeep and man it idled well....but popped a damn transmission line for the 4th time. I'm gonna get that fixed...I promise! I lost less than a quart this time. Scooped up the ATF/dirt and threw it away later when I was in town.
We stopped at the Subway Lava Tube near Lassen (Lassen Peak is a volcano, last erupted in 1914). Was pretty neat to walk through it.
Drove another 30 miles up the road and went to Burney Falls. Couldn't walk down to the bottom because of dog. Couldn't leave him in jeep because it was like 90* out.
Ate lunch in the park since we paid to get in.
After all that, I grabbed a few gallons of gas and headed back to the campsite.
I creeped my way past the yellow jackets and waded around in the water for a bit. While small, it is a beautiful lake.
So after a recent round of tweaking the EFI, it was running pretty well so decided it was a good weekend for a bit of a trip.
I worked on Labor Day so I could take Friday off instead and avoid the crowds, which was probably a pretty good idea. Wife and I weren't too sure where we wanted to go, but we knew we wanted to head north toward Lassen National Park. Unfortunately we had the dog with us and that gets difficult in national parks since you cant take them on any hikes or anything.
We set our sites on a campground just past Susanville, CA, called Crater Lake. It's about 6 miles up a dirt road from route 44. I didnt know the condition of the road so I didnt bring the camper, we tent camped. It's a good thing because the road was about 4 miles of awful washboard and some pretty steep areas. Would have beat the crap out of my little rickety pop up.
So, woke up Friday morning, finished loading up, and off we went. Filled up my tank with the odometer showing 6612 miles and hit the highway. First stop was Susanville to hit the brewery and grab a snack before heading up into the hills. This was about 70 miles from home, with about 30 miles to go to the campsite. I picked up a cargo basket the other day because I knew there was no hope of fitting firewood in the truck if we are tent camping and have no trailer. It made life really easy. Kept the truck clean inside and I was able to carry way more wood than needed.
Left Susanville and got out of the desert. Susanville is at about 4000' so its lower than where we live. We headed from there up to about 6800' at the campground. I always enjoy watching the terrain and plant material change as one gains elevation.
Made it to the campground around 1 or 1:30 and realized I lost a few chunks of wood on the washboard, haha. Its okay, I found them all the next day. Figured we should get set up.
It was a small campground with pretty secluded campsites, and the road leads down to the very small and pretty low Crater Lake.
It was frustrating because I have never seen so many yellow jackets in my entire life. Unless you were wearing waders you couldn't get close to the water or go in. the shore line was literally thousands and thousands and thousands of wasps. Our campsite had a lot of yellow jackets as well, but they werent too much of a bother. just had to keep food and beers covered, etc.
It just belongs....
These two have it rough, let me tell you.
I noticed that apparently the US Forestry Service thinks Grand Wagoneers (on 20's?) are responsible for trampling the local vegetation....
So we had our campfire and dinner, and i broke the last functional zipper on my tent. That was fun. Rigged it together and went to sleep. woke up, had breakfast, then decided to head out to Lassen NP to see what we could see. Stopped at an overlook about 25 miles up the road from our campground. It was probably about 45-50 degrees out. I fired up the jeep and man it idled well....but popped a damn transmission line for the 4th time. I'm gonna get that fixed...I promise! I lost less than a quart this time. Scooped up the ATF/dirt and threw it away later when I was in town.
We stopped at the Subway Lava Tube near Lassen (Lassen Peak is a volcano, last erupted in 1914). Was pretty neat to walk through it.
Drove another 30 miles up the road and went to Burney Falls. Couldn't walk down to the bottom because of dog. Couldn't leave him in jeep because it was like 90* out.
Ate lunch in the park since we paid to get in.
After all that, I grabbed a few gallons of gas and headed back to the campsite.
I creeped my way past the yellow jackets and waded around in the water for a bit. While small, it is a beautiful lake.
