My 2WD F150 adventures

[InZanity]

Thanks guys!! Some of the pictures (the larger dimension pics) are shot with my cell phone; LG G6, which is a line of phones I have been on for a while due to the camera quality. It actually has 2 rear facing cameras, one wide angle and one normal which is awesome and the HDR functionality is really good. The detail high def pics (somewhat smaller dimension) are shot with a Nikon D5500 and a Sigma 17-50mm wide angle lens + polorazier filter. I learned to shoot in manual when I got this camera and it makes for some fun and sometimes frustrating shooting! I actually used the D5500 to record more video than pics this trip which I need to compile here in the next few days.

I had always wanted to try that phone but never knew anyone that had used them, may consider it next time i change phones though haha.
Cant wait for videos then. I have D3300 but haven't really gotten into photos. But you've inspired me to bring it next time i go camping or something.

 

[TantoTrailers]

I had always wanted to try that phone but never knew anyone that had used them, may consider it next time i change phones though haha.
Cant wait for videos then. I have D3300 but haven't really gotten into photos. But you've inspired me to bring it next time i go camping or something.

Oh man, just wait till you get into long exposure! That's where the cool pics are at. The sky wasn't up to par this weekend for night shots but those are some of my favorite. Also anything with moving water looks ************** with long exposure but sometimes you need filters for that. I got into it a few years ago, took a few months to learn everything I could about my camera and it stuck so now I can shoot everything in full manual, RAW, and do basic editing (non-Photoshop) on the back end. As for the phone, the camera has only gotten better since the LG G2 that I started with many years ago but the rest of the functionality has suffered so I cannot say whether or not I will get the next LG Gx phone when I am up for renewal. I hope they iron out the kinks, but this phone has a hard time keeping up with processing all of the stuff I have running on it (might be 90% my fault for having too much)...takes about 10 seconds to pull up directions on google maps and start navigating which for me is not fast enough in 2019 hahaha...Like a nice lady once said: "Ain't nobody got time for dat"!

 

[dougrz]

Nice to see you started small by keeping the 2wd. I've found the pursuit of gear and vehicles becomes an "in and of itself" situation that runs from the reason for going out: enjoying the outdoors and leaving modern life and its pursuits behind. Just get me out there.

I'm in a Jeep TJ mildly modded for offroading fun originally, now over landing and exploring with minimal stuff. But to each his own, no knocks on the glamper overlander. There's joy in that, too.

Have fun.

 

[InZanity]

Oh man, just wait till you get into long exposure! That's where the cool pics are at. The sky wasn't up to par this weekend for night shots but those are some of my favorite. Also anything with moving water looks ************** with long exposure but sometimes you need filters for that. I got into it a few years ago, took a few months to learn everything I could about my camera and it stuck so now I can shoot everything in full manual, RAW, and do basic editing (non-Photoshop) on the back end. As for the phone, the camera has only gotten better since the LG G2 that I started with many years ago but the rest of the functionality has suffered so I cannot say whether or not I will get the next LG Gx phone when I am up for renewal. I hope they iron out the kinks, but this phone has a hard time keeping up with processing all of the stuff I have running on it (might be 90% my fault for having too much)...takes about 10 seconds to pull up directions on google maps and start navigating which for me is not fast enough in 2019 hahaha...Like a nice lady once said: "Ain't nobody got time for dat"!

Night landscapes are what i really want to do but haven't put the motivation into it yet.
i feel like when i get to editing it no longer feels fun. More like work or something.
Really need to do some more night shots where i live. No city light pollution.

 

[TantoTrailers]

Doug I enjoy the 2WD simplicity and challenge if that makes sense. 4WD has more gears to break. I have owned 5 vehicles and 4 of them have been RWD with 2 having 4WD option. I burned a front diff twice on one and the other eventually would stick in 4WD for a while and it would be a PITA to get out. I eventually just got good at RWD and I don’t plan on doing any rock crawling (yet). I also like to think of my truck as a sleeper wheeling vehicle. I do want to add a minimal lift kit to level it out but besides that I enjoy the girl the way she is. As in mountain biking I upgrade as I break

Night shots:






This is 10 second exposure with a full moon, basically daylight in camera

 

[InZanity]

That camp trailer is cool as heck.
Do you know the approximate height the Awning part is?

 

[TantoTrailers]

It's adventure time again and I have been working hard the past 3 weeks getting ready for the longest road trip I have taken my trailer on so far. Heading out to Colorado and back for a 7 day trip with my buddy and his trailer. We will be doing some mountain biking and hopefully camping in some "overland-ish" spots.

Updates not pictured:
-Replaced rear light bar on the trailer, the old one had an LED out and I couldn't let that fly
-Painted tongue and fenders after they got beat up with some rocks off my tires in Wisco
-Replaced axle U bolts with heavier bolts/hardware
-Installed mud flaps on the rear wheel wells of my truck
-New brakes for the truck
-New matching spare tire for the truck
-New brakes, tires, and shift cable for my mountain bike
-Hitch stabilizer for the truck
-Fire extinguisher for the rig
-Crescent tool kit for everything!

Updates pictured below:
-Removed valance panels + installed chrome tow hooks
-Made and installed a mega-mud flap for protection from rocks (to prevent re-painting hopefully)
-Installed retractable bed hooks
-Acquired DualGPS unit for iPad for navigation - ran wiring through my dashboard
-Made a new license plate holder for the trailer
-New tires for the trailer

SO ready to hit the road!

 

[TantoTrailers]

Colorado tour 2019 is complete and it was an overwhelming success! Maybe aside from the hurricane we drove through for 8 hours in Kansas. Total mileage for the trip was 2,943mi with the trailer hooked to the truck and I covered 6 new states that my Tanto has not yet been to. We never once paid for camping and scored epic spots just outside of the Badlands SD, Steamboat Springs CO, and Crested Butte CO. I have never been to Steamboat nor Crested Butte and Steamboat was very familiar to me as it matched the rest of the mountains I have seen of Colorado on my various snowboarding adventures. Our site in the Badlands was on this hillside with a pretty decent drop off where we parked. It overlooked the outskirts of the badlands and I was able to score an amazing sunrise the next morning. The route was maybe 1 mile of off road driving but it was pretty awesome 1st time boondocking. The drive from SD to Steamboat was longer than I hoped but it was beautiful and we were able to yet again find an amazing campsite at the end of a fire road. It was a few hundred feet above 10k altitude. Plenty of space for both of us and our gear and literally no one around except for an almost full campground (9 sites) about 5 miles down the road. Amazingly enough the morning we were leaving there was a moose right behind my camper which my buddy caught a picture of as it strolled away slowly. On the first day I decided to take us on a slightly more technical tight road with loose rock while on the way down the mountain to our biking destination near the ski hill. It literally took about 2 hours to get down the mountain which was maybe 15-20 miles. The road was more than rough and not what I was anticipating time wise. My buddy got quite frustrated with me for it haha but I had a blast and so did my truck. Mountain biking was amazing and we decended the entire vertical of Steamboat resort...that was unreal. The next morning (moose morning) I decided to take my camper on the first few miles of the techy stuff to see how it would handle and it was awesome, got some sweet pics and video that I need to work through later. The drive from Steamboat to Crested Butte was quite long but beatufitul so I didnt mind. We stopped in Leadville for a beer and headed on. Our buddy was traveling the country and decided to meet us in the Butte so he got a head start on looking for boondocking sites. This proved to be a challenge as the easy roads were pretty well settled with campers, vans, and tents and the rough roads proved to be rougher than I was comfortable driving my rig through at this time. We were going to camp near a creek along the bike path but I had a feeling it would be heavily trafficed so I took one last ditch effort up a road I was going to try to loop anyway and we scored the most epic campsite of the trip (and definitely top 3 campsites ever for me). Huge site with lots of parking, albeit quite rough. There were a few small streams that came together to form a loud creek which was great background sound for the 2 nights we were there. We set out to bike the 401 trail which was absolutely gorgeous and so much fun. Seeing our campsite from overhead was unreal because I had no idea there were so many small lakes just on the other side of the creeks up a bit from where we camped. The route I had originally picked out had us complete this loop around a mountain but it was not passable due to about 100 yards of soft snow still on the road. I wanted to reverse the loop and reach the snow from the other side but time was running out and we were going to get another day of biking in before heading home. I will be coming back as I was learning Gaia GPS on this trip and found so much more I want to explore. I tagged 10s of boondock sites for future visits. Colorado was beautiful as it always is when I go but this was a totally different experience. I paid for gas, firewood, 1 lunch, 1 dinner, and a few road snacks...everything else was off the land or brought with me. We saw a fox, mountain goats, pronghorn, buffalo, a moose, cows, horses, mule deer, white tail bucks, and hundreds of squirrels and other ground dwellers not to mention all the birds. A hummingbird visited our Crested Butte site jetting from one colorful object to the nest seeking something sweet. Thank you CO I will be back!

 

[TantoTrailers]

 

[TantoTrailers]

More pics

 

[TantoTrailers]

And BIKES!

 

[TantoTrailers]

Another weekend another adventure! Labor day weekend marked the 1 year "birth" day of my camper. I finished building it just in time for the trip last year! Since then it has been upgraded all year long and I brought my truck up to speed too! So far the stats on the trailer for the past year are 18 trips, 12 states, and 10,001 miles!!! I cant believe I reached 10k on my little home built already =) Anyways...my buddies and I are now on our 2nd annual musky hunt in the north woods of Wisconsin. We have a good site picked out right on a lake loaded with monsters within a stones throw of great rivers to float as well. We lucked out 2 years in a row with no one next to us so we were semi private in our little hideout, even though it was not boondocking. The musky were feisty, I caught 2 40"+ fish in 2 back to back casts which was a first for me. Funny how a 2" bigger musky feels like a 20 LB heavier fish! Getting pulled around in my huge kayak up through current was kinda fun and sort of unsettling as I carefully balanced my ass. Great times!

A shot of my Tanto before the maiden voyage last year, oh how far we have come!!

 

[TantoTrailers]

Obligatory fishing pictures!

 

[TantoTrailers]

New gear day! Got a WaterPORT tank for the rig. For now it will be free floating between sitting on the roof of my camper at camp to hitching a ride in the bed of the truck on day trips to the woods. I’m looking forward to giving this a real world test the next 2 weekends! Camp on!

 

[TantoTrailers]

A few trip updates from the past 2 wet weather weekends! I have been taking my parents camping in the fall for the past 3 years to get them involved in my life more and it has been awesome. This year we headed to Mississippi Palisades State Park in IL. The weather was crap but we made the most of it with hiking, apple orchard, and fireside talk! Parents stayed in the camper while I resorted back to my tiny backpacking tent. The awning served us well to stay out of the rain.











I finalized my solar setup (for now) and got a fridge to replace a cooler. It ended up being large enough to replace both coolers and cleared up some much needed counter space in my galley! I love it. Keeps things cool and doesn't run too loud for my sensitive sleeping.



I also got out for a camping weekend down in Indiana to do some fishing, but again it dumped all weekend. I did get a good chance to test the solar though! I will post those pics a bit later.