2000 ford Excursion camping/backcountry vehicle

[elpoffroad]

yeah skip the hitch rack at all costs. Find room in the interior / cut supplies / and if necessary run another box or something on the roof. How many kids will you be carrying?

I will be taking 2 kids. I'm figuring out sleeping situations so all of us stay inside the excursion. Wife and I in back part of sleeping platform kids in the front half of the sleeping platform. I am managing to cut out a lot of gear.

I did think of taking the utility trailer but sometimes it fells so much trailer for such little stuff.

 

[Chris Cordes]

I will be taking 2 kids. I'm figuring out sleeping situations so all of us stay inside the excursion. Wife and I in back part of sleeping platform kids in the front half of the sleeping platform. I am managing to cut out a lot of gear.

I did think of taking the utility trailer but sometimes it fells so much trailer for such little stuff.

If you're trying to fit four people inside the X I would recommend checking out a kids hammock solution that can be deployed easily. you and the wife can put your heads near the front seats and the kids can have hammocks over your feet near the back running side to side is theyre young enough.

 

[Chris Cordes]

To clarify something like this

http://www.cabbunk.co.uk/

 

[2025 deleted member]

I think a hitch rack would work. You may need to buy an extra receiver hitch that is a plus 8" then mount it to that to get it a little higher. Hitch racks don't look the part but they are handy.

 

[ExplorerTom]

If you do end up going with a hitch rack, play attention where the exhaust pipe is- I'm not sure where the exhaust is on an Excursion, the Excursion may be wide enough for it not to matter. But I've seen it do bad things to whatever is right behind it on other (narrower) vehicles.

 

[elpoffroad]

So I re organized the container in the top and got to see how everything was going to go this weekend. My friend and I decided to go to the lake to go fishing and spend the night seeing how in car camping with out trucks went. We are both interested in RTTs but we are not ready to make the commitment. So onto how the trip went this weekend.

I decided to take out the rear seat and organize the truck to were a full size 4in memory foam mattress went in the excursion perfectly. I slid it in and wow its like it was meant for it almost. It is a little cramed towards the middle seats but once they are folded down and I set up the kids sleeping area it fits great.

After the sleeping area was set up we got to fishing and relaxing. The night went well. It was fairly chilly in the low 40s but with we stayed nice and warm in the truck.
Morning came and got out again to see if we had snagged anything during the night. The morning was beautiful.

After a little longer of hanging out by the lake we decided to hit to road back home. The Excursion rode, performed and was a perfect size for the style camping I wanted. 4 more weeks till we get a chance to go out again and explore some more and experience nature once again.

By the way that is my friends Land cruiser I helped him score it like 6 months ago and he loves it.​

Well it was a short trip to test out how sleeping arrangement is going to be. We are getting ready to do a the long trip so we will be taking more short trips to see how any additional mods that get added work and if they need fine tuning. Woot-woot getting excited for the long tip we are planing, we already have a Map route layed out.:wings:

 

[elpoffroad]

https://www.mapquest.com/embed/directions/from/us/texas/el-paso/79935-2526/2109-escarpa-dr-31.772716,-106.333484/to/us/new-mexico/oliver-lee-memorial-state-park-265775745/to/us/new-mexico/bottomless-lakes-state-park-363197186/to/us/new-mexico/business-santa-rosa/santa-rosa-lake-state-park-353025085/to/us/new-mexico/business-newkirk/conchas-lake-state-park-265776149/to/us/new-mexico/clayton-lake-state-park-304327889/to/us/new-mexico/sugarite-canyon-state-park-363146478/to/us/new-mexico/business-las-vegas/storrie-lake-state-park-350804123/to/us/nm/manzano/to/us/new-mexico/caballo-lake-state-park-10602738/to/us/texas/el-paso/79935-2526/2109-escarpa-dr-31.772716,-106.333484?center=34.397844946449865,-105.31494140625001&zoom=6&maptype=map"

 

[elpoffroad]

This is the itinerary/route for the 14 day trip. We are super excited.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Have you seen this?
http://ridebdr.com/NMBDR

 

[elpoffroad]

Have you seen this?
http://ridebdr.com/NMBDR

Awesome page, I had not see it... I will for sure be often visiting this page to plan the trip. Thanks Tom !

 

[elpoffroad]

Well camping season is upon us once more and my friend and Loaded up out trucks and made our way to the lake. Not to long of a drive approximately 130-140 miles there plus return trip. Hit the road with out gear ready to do a little driving. We left mid afternoon and were there in no time. The excursion did great on the road. Once we hit the little dirt path the excursion felt right at home.

My boy was excited to see water and cast his rod so as he headed out to fish, I set up camp and got the fire going. What a view we had we were approximately 20 feet from the lake and it was the perfect place to spend the night.


Started getting windy and cold quickly so the bundeled up and got ready for a chili night. We called it a night around midnight, the wind wasn't letting up and the temp started to drop. It probably only dropped to 39 degrees so it wasn't that bad.


Even though it was dark I decided to take a picture to show how close we got to came to the lake and how we got to wake up to the mountains and lake.
Next morning we woke up ate a simple breakfast and fished till around 1 pm. At 1 pm we decided to hit the road back and hit up Sparks's in Hatch NM, if your ever by there it's a must try. I got more photos of the fishing part than the rigs so I won't bore you guys but man we had a blast. I have made a few improvements to the interior of the excursion to maximize space. I will get some pictures soon of interior. No doubt about it I love my excursion !!! We are planing to head out to do some camping by the Rio Grande next weekend. Plus just added a butane stove to make warming up our food and coffee easier.

 

[elpoffroad]

Well decided to take a Sunday cruise and look for good fishing spots near the Rio Grande in NEw Mexico. Took my wife the kids and my dad with me. We just got to hang out enjoy the nice weather and cast a few lines. Also my dad suprised me with a Coleman thermal jug so added that to my excursion equipment.

Found a nice place right by the river I'm going to try out next time

Had a chance to take a few pictures of my excursion by the river.

I will be heading out this Friday to Leasburg dam mainly to camp out enjoy the weather with my dad and one of my buddies. I been considering of getting a dual sport motorcycle like a klr 650 so I can take shorter trips solo easier and be cheaper on the wallet. Just a thought though.

 

[Buliwyf]

I been considering of getting a dual sport motorcycle like a klr 650 so I can take shorter trips solo easier and be cheaper on the wallet. Just a thought though.

You must mean a Suzuki DRZ400 when you say KLR, right? LOLz.

DRZ's are way more fun if you can handle staying on back country roads less than 60mph. Mine does well over 100, but I never take it on any highways, that would be miserable. 70mpg at 45mph, 62 at 55mph. Stock tank is OK for 130ish. Aftermarket tanks are available, but avoid them unless you really need the range. DRZ's are best as light as you can get them.

If I travel and camp with mine. Back country gravel and dirt roads, with some mixed in 55mph paved roads, I dump all of my gear at my campsite and do most of my adventure stuff without the weight. Usually I have a little back pack, gps, tire plug kit.

 

[elpoffroad]

Im very new to the idea of dual sports, my friend has a klr thats why I said it. I will look into the drz's if they are in my price range I might snag one for that motive. I am looking for something that can get me more in the proximity places around me so I can frequent them more often. Im hoping I can explore more of the local scene so that way I know where to take the family out to and get out in the wild.

 

[elpoffroad]

Well due to an incident at work I didn't get to go camping over night this past week but on the bright side I did get to go fishing with a few of my friends in the river again. It was a boys day but it was fun. Got to enjoy a beautiful New Mexico day. The breeze was just right, the sun was warm but not hot and the drinks were nice and cold. We stayed till night fall and headed home to BBQ. Here is a few pictures of the day it was relaxing and just what I needed from the week events.

I had my seat and rod set out right by the river

Another day enjoying outdoors with friends and family.