Unfortunately Organ Pipes campground was shutdown a few days ago, so we headed towards Phoenix. We ended up in a small campground in a small surrounding town which is pretty quiet. Since the truck is setup for more remote camping we are parked at the edge of the property next to a horse coral.
We did a bit of a hike today into the Tonto National Forest. So far the roadside dispersed camping is still open, so once this week is up we will move out to a campsite we found today in Tonto.
Here is a pic from the hike today, the desert wild flowers are in bloom. We took the motorbike to get to the trailhead, at this point we are really glad we decided to bring a motorbike along.
Just so you don't think we are just playing around having fun we are also working on a few projects. We bought the motorbike used and one of the issues it had was rust in the gas tank. I was told there was a new carb on the bike and an aftermarket plastic tank was on it. Since the plastic tank really did not fit well I had the original steel tank cleaned out using acid at the local radiator shop, they then coated the interior with some sort of red tank liner. Looked good. Well the day before yesterday we left a trailhead parking area and pulled out onto a highway. While accelerating I lost power, just able to idle. We limped back the 3 miles to the campground. Yesterday I pulled the carb apart and the float bowl had a heap of rust and crud in it, and the main jet was plugged. So cleaned the whole thing and am now back in business (guess the timing with the "new" carb was before the plastic tank). Once the bike was running we switched gears to truck projects. Rear upper clearance lights have been on my list for a while, just not really looking forward to it as you need to snake the wires thru the corner extrusions. Most people with Total Composites boxes do this prior to bonding on the corners (smart). Well since we were being chased out by winter at the time we skipped the lights. Also on the list was the backup camera. Well it took the rest of the day to get the wires thru the extrusions. This morning we completed the install of the lights and the camera (except for the wire tidying up, I am lacking the rubber self sealing tape I want to use).
Now of course once the backup camera was installed I realized it would be nice to have 2 cameras up there. One pointing down to act as a backup camera and one pointing more horizontal to work as a "rear view mirror". Our interior monitor can accept up to 4 wireless cameras so I just need to tap into the power from the other one. Only problem is getting the second camera with all the current restrictions. Also want to add a camera to the passenger door for a bit of a blind spot camera.
So, we will spend the next few days doing projects and going for hikes. Still need to plumb the second fuel tank and hopefully finally resolve what seems to be my never ending quest for the correct fuel sender. Also want to wire one of our charge controllers to automatically heat the hot water. We have a 12v DC water heater element and if we are at the truck we run it. In about 4 hours we have plenty of hot water for 2 showers. Our charge controllers have a feature to have a divert load for when the batteries are full. Plan is to take advantage of that. Then of course I want some led flood lights on the back of the truck. I think I will mount them to the top of the motorcycle lift and wire them to a dash switch. There are more projects but that should keep me busy for a few days.
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