Locrwln's Truck and Camper combo.

[locrwln]

Since this is a new section and we will need some traffic, I will get started with a short write up on my system. We currently have over 50k miles on our set up. The basics are:

2002 Ford F350, crew cab, long bed, 7.3 psd, 6spd manual, 4x4. XLT, with the camper package which includes the rear overload springs and swaybars front and rear. It also has the "offroad" package that added the skidplates for the t-case and fuel tank, as well as the steering stablilizer. Bought new in 2002.

Mods: AirLift air bags. Rancho 9000 shocks, rubber bed mat and the bed has been lined as well. AIS intake, Walker BTM muffler, Oil Crossover, Fuel Rail crossover and an oil bypass filter (built by me). Extra sound deadening in the cab. Aftermarket stereo and speakers. Other than that it is stock and will probably stay that way. Unless it will improve the longevity. Average about 12 mpg with the camper on.

2002 Lance 1010, 10'1" camper. Shower (both internal and external), refrigerator/freezer, stove/oven, microwave oven, hot water heater, heater, bathroom2 Golfcart 6volt batteries hooked up to an inverter, that supplies power to camper when away from shore power. A solar panel to help keep the batteries charged. Other than that, it is pretty much stock as well. We do a lot of boondocking with it. Also bought new in 2002.

It has been to the tip of Baja three times, to Prudoe Bay, Alaska and almost every state west of the Mississippi. On to the pics.

Baja 2006, Sea of Cortez


Artic Circle


Caribou Inn, Prudoe Bay, 2010


Central Nevada, North of Dixie Valley


It is our preferred mode of vacation, if we had our way, we would take it everywhere with us.

Jack

 

[805gregg]

Nice I have a very similar Lance, on a similar truck but Dodge. We love the camper, we've had class C, a chassis mounted class B and 2 class A's, but the truck camper is the best.

 

[Capt Eddie]

How do you like the SRW?

 

[locrwln]

Nice I have a very similar Lance, on a similar truck but Dodge. We love the camper, we've had class C, a chassis mounted class B and 2 class A's, but the truck camper is the best.

I agree, my In-laws have done the Class C and A. Both are gone now. When they need a camper, they borrows ours. We have even done a couple of 2 week trips in the cabover with the in-laws (yes it is very tight, but doable).

How do you like the SRW?

Love it. So far in 50k plus miles, I have had one flat and that was because I was on a small dirt road in Idaho and the tires were getting pretty old and a rock found it's way into a rear tire. Was able to get it fixed in the next town. Of course I will probably loose a couple of tires going to Death Valley this next weekend.:sombrero:

I have even ran a little heavy a time or two. Went to Moab and back (over 1600 miles round trip) like this. My wife drove quite a bit on this trip, we came back on US 50, so plenty of hills and curves. Averaged about 10mpg on that trip.



Jack

 

[locrwln]

Just a little trip this weekend.

Headed out for the weekend in the cabover.

So we headed out Friday night to try and get as far along as we could. Since my day started at 4:00 am and Darcie's started at 4:30, we weren't going to be pulling an all nighter. We drove down 95 and called it quits about 9:30 pm at 95 and the junction with US 6. We pulled in behind those old motel buildings away from the traffic.

We got up on Saturday and headed south. We stopped in Beatty and topped off the fuel tank ($4.04/gal vs $5.77/gal in Death Valley). We headed in, planning to give Titus Canyon a try, unfortunately, it was closed. We drove down to Furnace Creek, we decided to make Furnace Creek our base because everything we were going to be doing was on that side of the park. As we were getting there we noticed that two of the CG's were full. We decided to grab a spot in Sunset CG. It sucked, $12 a night for no hook ups, no electricity, nothing, so yeah we paid to boondock. One night was enough.

Once a spot was secured, we drove down the Badwater road, hooked a right onto the West Side Road and turned right again onto the Trail Canyon road. We drove up a couple of miles until we felt like we had reached the sensible limits of the truck/cabover, stopped, had lunch and went for a walk. We hike up and turned left into a canyon marked Wilderness and had the area to ourselves.

Lunch, looking up into the Trail Canyon.


The canyon we hiked into.


Some wildlife we ran into in the canyon.


This is were we called it quits on driving up the canyon, looking back down towards Badwater.


We drove down and went for Dante's view.

Looking down at Badwater.



Looking towards Furnace Creek.


That's it for day one.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Day two.

We got up and headed out early for Golden Canyon. We went for a great hike up and around the canyon and ended up coming down some spines that were only as wide as the footpath.



Didn't get any pics of the spines, but at the top we found from fresh scat and hoofprints from a Bighorn.

Next we drove down to Badwater and walked out to the "lowest point" in North America. Had to get obligatory picture looking up toward "Sea Level."



We continued down the Badwater road and turned left and called it the end of Death Valley. We drove through Death Valley Junction and back into Nevada. We noticed and decided that we had never been to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Really cool little oasis.

These are the whole reason it is protected, the Devil's Hole Pup Fish. It's only about 2" long and the males are bright blue. Very cool.


Another pic.


One of the springs, located in the area.


We finished up and rolled out to Beatty to refuel and head north. We found a little road that went west from US 95 north of Scotty's Junction and south of Lida Junction. We turned off of that and found a spot for the night.


We had turned around at that point.

That was it for Day two.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Day Three.

We got up and wanted to follow the main road up to a town site that was at 7000'. Back to the main road.



We got denied due to snow.

After that, it was time to head for the barn.

Made it home after a great weekend of hiking, walking and sightseeing.

Gotta love it.:cheers:

Thanks for looking.

Jack

 

[805gregg]

How do you like the SRW?

I love it, my buddy had a dulie he spent 6 months in Baja with, he found he got lots of flats when rocks got stuck between the 2 back tires. Plus only 4 tires to buy instead of 6.