The Official XV-JP Fetching Thread

[cshontz]

Hey everyone. Another brief update - I ran Mosquito Pass and took some very nice pics. Incredible view from up there, not to mention drifting snow and a 9 degree wind chill according to some folks I met trekking at the top. I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to post pics today, but I'm eager to show them.

After completing Mosquito Pass, I drove to Earthroamer to make the delivery and spent the night outside their facility. I am currently inside the XV-JP, inside their enormous shop. They have a very impressive operation, and the quality of their business is clearly reflected in their product.

I'm going to try to get home a little early - to spend some time with the family and maybe even make the company picnic on Saturday. Mike, I'm going to shoot you an e-mail after this. Thanks for this opportunity - it has been an incredible adventure for me, and I hope you enjoy your XV-JP.

I'll post more when I can.

 

[adventureduo]

I am currently inside the XV-JP, inside their enormous shop. They have a very impressive operation, and the quality of their business is clearly reflected in their product.

Grab a full size XV-LT for the way home :bike_rider:

 

[mhiscox]

And now, the intermission . . .:lurk:

I think we can all agree that Chris did an outstanding job of both getting the truck from Philadelphia to EarthRoamer and of documenting the trip with some really nice photography of the Rockies. If you haven't seen the larger collection of Chris's trip photos, they're at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cshontz/sets/72157607932395617/

and worth looking at.

Now, pretty much nothing happens for two weeks. EarthRoamer is going to check the vehicle over and bring it up to current specification, and then I'll pick it up from them on Halloween. It'll take me 2-3 days to get back home to Portland.

Thanks to everyone who's followed this journey and helped make me feel good about getting hold of this truck. And special thanks to Chris for delivering the vehicle, and with considerable flair.

 

[77blazerchalet]

Wow! For some dumb reason 17 years ago (before the era of internet searching), I thought those concentric tunnels were on the SE side of Buena Vista. They're on the north side of town on CR 371, now I know I can easily check them out next time I'm in that area.

 

[cshontz]

Be impulsive. Take a chance.

I'm back home, sitting comfortably on my living room sofa next to the cat watching HGTV and catching up with my e-mails. I still have a few more pictures of the shop at ER to process, but everything else is already on Flickr.

Thank you, Mike - for the one-of-a-kind adventure. We get so caught up in our day-to-day routines, that I think we forget that there is alot of living to do out there. I hope my adventure has inspired you guys as much as it has inspired me.

 

[kjp1969]

Far more than any official promotional materials, this thread has made me fall in love with the ER/JP. Its brilliant. A bit of an ugly duckling from the rear view, but awesome.

 

[mhiscox]

Far more than any official promotional materials, this thread has made me fall in love with the ER/JP.

Me, too, actually. Chris's photographs and adventures once he got to Colorado really have me excited about the potential of the XV-JP. ER materials tell about driving the thing around Central America, and there's the group headed off to South America next year, all of which is just great and gives me bona fide bragging rights, but I'm not going to be doing those trips. Instead, I'm going to be traveling the same kind of places Chris was this week, and his reports and excellent photos have really helped me bond with the little trucklet.

All in all, gonna be hard to wait the two weeks 'til pickup. :jumping:

Thanks for everything, Chris. As Hannibal Smith used to say (the noise you hear is the younger half of the list going, "WHO?"), "I love it when a plan comes together."

 

[Rob O]

Excellent!

Great shots ...

 

[adventureduo]

What went wrong with the sway bar??

 

[mhiscox]

What went wrong with the sway bar??

Sway bar? Sway bar?! Something's wrong with my sway bar!?

Ummm . . . it broke. Actually, the sway bar didn't break. One endlink broke and the other one bent. Chris said something about a 12-foot drop off.

No he didn't. He was off-road going over Mosquito Pass with the sway bar disconnected, but otherwise doing nothing demanding. And with the sway bar electronically disconnected, there should have been no load on those endlinks. Chris guesses that maybe when the suspension extended, the sway bar ends became hyper-extended, and when the suspension compressed, the sway bar inverted, and caused the endlinks to go Tango Uniform.

It's a puzzle though, and anyone who has an opinion is encouraged to contribute. Kind of a Murphy's Law event, though, to break something that wasn't even in use at the time.

 

[cshontz]

What went wrong with the sway bar??

Honestly, I think it inverted while flexing. That's my best guess. A bit of misfortune, but relatively trivial.

Here are some bonus pics!

 

[mhiscox]

Here are some bonus pics!

Let's see . . . where's the drool smilie? Ah, here it is . . . :drool:

Quite a facility. Could solve my storage problems if I had one like it.

Thanks for the ER pictures, Chris. Stayed on the job right to the end, the sign of a dedicated photographer.

 

[mhiscox]

Cue the Twilight Zone theme . . .

I'd totally forgotten about this until just now, when I was going through my desk drawer looking for a staple remover. Three months ago, after getting it with my Chinese meal, I saved the fortune I got:

"Something on 4 wheels will soon be a fun investment for you!"

Cosmic, no?

 

[Momrocks]

"Something on 4 wheels will soon be a fun investment for you!"

Considering your stable, that fortune can have a number of meanings. How long ago did you pick up Dave's 80?

 

[ujoint]

The ER facility looks awesome! I can't wait to stop there next month!! It will be the highlight of my trip.