Overlander at large

I took Monday off so Koda and I could see the total eclipse. I knew it would be cloudy so I had to do some digging to find the best spot. Perfect opportunity to finally do the easy Texas Hill Country Trail, since it is very close to the eclipse’s path of totality.

The trip was about 300 miles of mostly high speed highway, so it was easy to get there. Worth it, since since the weather in that area was expected to be clearer than the Plano, TX area. We got lucky. The clouds cleared up enough to get a great view, and thanks to my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I was able to zoom in to get some good shots (even if a little grainy).

The trip was mostly all highway miles, so we got there fairy fast. Left early Saturday, rested up that night, then left early Sunday to do the trail. The trail is 148 miles. It’s a mix of dirt roads, gravel roads, some easy few water crossings, and some pavement.

We went through several water crossings, but since there hasn’t been much rain, the water was maybe 1-2 inches deep. However I got to one water crossing that was a little scary. I couldn’t tell how deep it was. So I grabbed my CB antenna and started poking around. I was poking around the right edge of the pond, figuring it was where the road would have been if there was no water.

After a few minutes of poking around, a family in a Kia drove through the center, as if it was nothing. I was poking around the wrong area, where I found the depth to be 1-2 feet deep. Which was doable but a little sketchy. I swear I was going to do it. But I swallowed my pride and followed the Kia.

The entire trail goes through private property, but the county owns the roads, so while we can travel the route without any restrictions, there were no opportunities to cook or camp. Luckily the half way point is in Mason, TX.

I stopped for lunch at Cooper’s Original Pit Bar-B-Q. Perfect briskets, some tasty sausages, corn, mac n cheese, and some REAL CocaCola. 🙂

There were about a dozen ranches. I stopped to take pictures of some of the nice entrances.

Lots of historical markers, too many to photograph. The trail is rated 1.5-3 days. I was determined to do it in 1 day.

If you don’t have a mapping app, there are a number of them out there. I use Trails Offroad, since it can work entirely offline, and you can download all the trails in any of the states at the press of a button. My iPad Mini 6 only has 256G of space, and having all the states in the US took up maybe 10G of space. OnX, Gaia GPS, and others have more features, if you like complexity.

Quick trip on a cool Presidents Day weekend with Yet Another Jeep Club. I passed a subway car on the highway. 😉

I stopped along the way from Plano, TX to Hot Springs, AR for a couple meals. First time eating with a couple outlaw deer. I was lucky enough to reserve the same cabin this year. It’s in the perfect location and has the most vehicle room.

I wasn’t there when the group found a flipped JKU on Sunday, but the vehicle joined us on Saturday. Apparently the driver was not very experienced, and was on a demanding trail. Glad nobody got hurt. I hear it is a total loss.

I replaced my Yaesu FTM-400DR (discontinued yet in huge demand) with a Yaesu FTM-500DR. I thought about it for a few months, but made up my mind when I got a chance to try on in my buddie’s Jeep. Sure the screen is smaller, but the difference is overrated. The new radio has much better navigation, a fantastic speaker in the head unit, the mic attaches to the face plate (or the body), and the menu system is very well designed. IMO huge improvements over the older radio.

RT Systems software makes a macOS version of their programming software, which makes programming easy peasy, even more so given the Yaesu FTM-500DR has a microSD slot. Pulling in all repeaters for a location, with a max distance, was a button press away. Brilliant use of API to connect to repeaterbook.com. #integrationFTW

RT Systems’ support is excellent, quick responses and fixes to a couple issues I found and reported. They’re a great company, providing a solution better than Yaesu’s own software. CHIRP doesn’t yet support the model, so too soon to say how it compares to RT Systems’s software.

The menu system is much easier to navigate, who would have thought navigating though well designed menu options could be better than using the older radio’s larger screen. Updating the firmware with the new radio is so much easier than with the old radio. As expected, the new radio arrived with the newest firmware versions.

Very happy with the FTM-500DR. I was able to find a couple locals here in Hot Springs who I was able to do some testing with. Happy to report the Tram 1181 antenna worked fine after switching the radio. I did have to find a good quality Cat6 Ethernet cable, since Cat5 doesn’t seem to work on newer radios. I was able to get the right length to run from the radio body (under the driver’s seat), to the radio head (mounted to the passenger grab bar using a CMM 1″ ball mount). Sad to say after two years of requesting a rubberized version of the ball mount, no response from CMM. Likely due to patent issues with RAM Mount (who won’t make a grab bar ball mount).

Not many pictures today, feel free to check out my previous trip blog.

Chilling today with Koda, and heading back tomorrow. I’ll circle back with an update if anything exciting happens.

Not many action pics, was having too much fun!

Below is some of yesterday’s prep work.

I saw this event was close by so I joined the group, signed up for the event, paid the day pass fee, and bought the required TX OHV sticker online. It’ll be the first trail ride of 2024!

Looks like there is a GMRS repeater at Bridgeport OHV, though you’d need a repeater capable GMRS radio to use it. More info on GMRS channels and device compatibility and limitations can be found here. The latest version of CHIRP supports macOS Sonoma and Apple Silicon computers. Kudos to the developers who provide the drivers for this free Mac solution.

Unfortunately I forgot to buy the Wouxun programming cable, so I had to manually add the repeater to my Wouxun KG-1000G and KG-935G. I have all the current repeaters for the surrounding states in a file, ready to copy/paste into CHIRP when the time comes.

I may have finally decided on my favorite iOS mapping app. Not only is TrailsOffroad a completely offline app, you can download any or all of the States, and you’ll have all the trails for all the downloaded states!

Add your favorite GPS Bluetooth accessory, and your iOS device can say goodbye to cell towers completely, and will enjoy true GPS speed and accuracy. Powerful feature, especially considering Gaia GPS and OnX Offroad both require you to select and download map sections. That is so 2010! Of course TralsOffroad is Car Play compatible, and so much more user friendly. The other two apps are IMHO way over engineered, and overpriced

I still use my Garmin Overlander, since it does what it is designed to do, and very well. Not to mention, I finally mounted the Garmin BC-35 camera. So I can see the boulders I am about to go over.

Running the wire for the Garmin BC-35 was a contortionist exercise. Luckily automatic Jeeps have a very useful 2” firewall opening for running wires from the engine compartment to the cab. So once I ran the wire into the cab, I tucked the wires under the trim and wired them to my fuse block.

The off grid power kit that I had Mainline Overland build for me has continued to pay for itself. Off grid power is such an important part of an off-road build.

Next on my todo list tonight was to mount the five gallon NATO fuel cell to my spare tire, I’ll fill it tomorrow on the way to the meetup spot in Denton.

Well, after all the work I did on the Jeep today, I’m exhausted. My last todos were to pack up a couple extra GMRS handheld radios, incase any FRS users can’t communicate.

I’m going to down a few Aleve tablets and enjoy the latest Reacher episode. Then Koda and I hit the sack. We need to be on the road by 0600 to meet the group in Denton.

I feel like Schleprock. All the work I put into running the Garmin BC-35 camera wire, and I busted the Garmin Overlander power buttons just before I went to sleep last night. Anyone know a good circuit board repair person who can recommend solder this thing back in place?

UPDATE: Francisco of 3D Electronics soldered the power button chip back on in minutes. If you need any electronics work done, this is the place to go. Highly recommended! — at 3D Electronics.

When I heard The Great American Crawl was coming to Hot Springs Offroad Park in Arkansas this December, I signed up right away. The event included guided trail rides for mortals, and serious competition for sponsored highly modified rigs.

I probably should have paid closer attention to the weather forecast. Friday wasn’t too bad, but it made for some really scary slick rock climbs. Our group all got to the top of a sketchy stretch without having to winch anyone. But someone in another group slid downhill and flipped over. I heard there were a number of other flipovers, but so far nobody posted any pictures.

I should have taken more pictures, but with the rain and slick trails, I needed to pay close attention. I was happy that we did all four of the Badge Of Honor trails. I already got those badges, but I was able to get 200 points per trail. I ended up heading back Saturday morning.

The event included a Clash Of The Clubs competition. Unfortunately I left because of the rain. But check it out at Clash Of The Clubs.

I always wanted to attend this event. Now that I live in Texas, I finally joined the event! The trip to Galveston was pucker worthy on some stretches, but we got there safely.

What a blast. The caravan had a couple hundred Jeeps. Every model you can imagine, every color, and every mod you can think of.

Koda loved the many dogs that were there. He even met The Grinch! He got his feet wet, but I’m not sure he is old enough to swim in it yet.

Rubicon Ridge is an awesome trail! Lots of technical stretches, steep inclines and declines. I found myself alternating between lockers (makes both wheels spin at the same rate) on the inclines, where it was easy to spin and slide: and the rubber ducky button on descents (modulates hill breaking so you don’t lose control) where it was easy to slide if you miscalculate. It definitely demands your complete attention.

No mechanicals or face-plants to report today. Lots of dust, more than yesterday. It was cooler but more humid. Koda had a blast meeting the other Jeepers. We headed back after this morning’s trail ride. The group is going to tackle a couple very difficult trails this afternoon. That translates to “highly modified else body damage”. Erm, I’m ok, calling it a weekend. 🙂

I stopped at a self service car wash and got all the mud and dust off the Jeep. One day I plan to strip down the Jeep and vacuum the inside. One day. Not today. Provably not tomorrow. 🙂

This was my first trip with Yet Another Jeep Club (YAJC) and I plan to pencil this in as an annual event! Thanks to all who made this Hot Springs OHV trip fun!

UPDATE: Koda and I are back home. After bathing him, he finally had a chance to chill on his dog park chair, as we plan our next long weekend.

Today was exciting and interesting. We started the day with Snake trail. It was the only trail I did when I came here by myself on the way back from Moab last year. As it turns out the only difficult part of the trail had a bypass I wasn’t aware of. One of my favorite trails, it includes some tight switch backs and endless rocks.

We also did the Fun Run and the new Quartz Canyon trails. I bottomed out and thought I needed to be winched, but with all the experienced Jeepers on the ride, I was guided off the rut with little effort

A few minutes later a Jeep snapped its rear drive shaft. That took a few hours to sort out, since the Jeep was on a steep incline, and involved winching in two directions using two highly modified Jeeps. Happy to report the Jeep got back safely using only the front drive shaft.

During the wait three of us (yes me too!) did our impression of Swan Lake. The ride leader lost his footing and slammed into my Jeep. I heard a loud thud in the back. I turned on my rear view camera and saw our ride leader face planted. He quickly flipped over and assumed the dead man pose. He said it was his way of getting right with God. I think it was because of all the women who were watching.

The second guy lost his footing on an incline and somehow didn’t fall, but he did yell some Irish obscenities. I stepped into a hole and did a minor face-plant. No humans were harmed during our clown acrobatics.

Koda and I took our time getting to Hot Springs OHV Park. By the time we got there the sun was going down but we had time to settle in and have dinner.

The cabin is nice. No bathroom or kitchen, but there is a 17” TV mounted high on the wall. 🙂 Air conditioner works.

I signed up for this trip a few months ago when someone in a highly modified Jeep asked me if I go offroad much. I pointed to my 20 BOHs (3 more from the recent CO trip) on my rear window coupled with lots of dents and scratches. As I transition over from trail riding to overlanding, I’m scaling back the trail difficulty dial, hoping to avoid unnecessary damage, as I inch my way towards retirement. I’ve been to Hot Springs OHV, but I was alone so I only did the Snake trail. I hope to get the three remaining BOHs this weekend. Rubicon Ridge, Fun Run, and the newly added Quartz Canyon.

I’m staying in a cabin at the Hot Springs KOA, so I’ll be cooking breakfast and dinner. I’ll be grabbing snacks and sammiches for lunch. I finally set up the drawer dividers so all my kitchen/bathroom/doggie stuff is well organized, and there shouldn’t be any rattling (I filed the gaps after the photos were taken). I cleaned the fridge and packed it with a 1 gallon water (will fill my , Gatorade, tea, and ice coffee. I won’t forget to bring cooking oil and seasoning, and I finally have the utensil holder for the stove drawer so I won’t forget those important things.

The 5 gallon gas can is filled with fresh fuel, since I always empty it on my way back from trips. The propane tank is at about 75%, so should be good. I filled my 2.5 gallon water can, so I’m ready to clean after meals. I packed Koda’s king size bed cover, and his harness, and oh yes, a number of his toys. 🙂 I started packing early this week, hope I don’t forget anything.

Ok, time to sleep, so we can get an early start in the morning.

If my Colorado trip taught me a lesson, it is to make sure your winch is in working order before heading out on your trip. Apparently the synthetic rope in a new winch needs to be unwound and rewound to be tensioned properly. Maybe it was mentioned in their manual. Who reads those things?

So last Sunday when we did Poughkeepsie Gulch, I needed to be winched at the wall. My tires were a little wet and muddy, that made for some wheel spin, even though I was feathering the throttle in 4L with front and rear axles locked.

With my tail tucked between my legs, I agreed to get winched. None of us knew there were two winch points at that spot, but now that I know, my ego is intact. One of the guys attached my synthetic rope to his Jeep and told me to go to 1st gear and let the Jeep pull itself up.

Thanks to the incredible crawl ratio on Rubicon models, my Jeep slowly pulled itself up and in a minute or so I was at the top. I couldn’t get to my winch controller so I wrapped the synthetic rope around my bull bar off road lights, and we were in our way.

When we got back to the trailhead, I started to pull the synthetic rope out so I could wet it down and wind it properly (with tension, going side to side). I found that I wasn’t able to pull it out all the way. The rope only came out 20’ or so. This never happened to me before, so I thought the synthetic rope was fubar.

When I got back home, I posted to some Jeep forums, and got a pretty consistent response. Wet the rope down, attach the end to a tree using a tree hugger, disengage the clutch so the rope spins freely, and slowly go backwards until the rope is fully unwound. Then detach the tree hugger, letting the rope lay on the ground, wet the rope down to get the dirt out, engage the clutch, and slowly retract it going side to side with some tension.

Koda hasn’t seen his friends for a week, so off we went to Windhaven Meadows Park. There’s a huge parking lot there. I can use my tree hugger to do the thing.

Within an hour the task was done. The rope is ready for our group trip to Hot Springs OHV Park in Arkansas on Labor Day weekend. I hope I get the chance to repay the favor and winch someone (hopefully not me!).

I’ve been using RotoPax plastic gas cans since I bought my first Jeep. At first they looked cool and were easy to use. When I started to do cross country trips, I started to notice some issues. The fuel cap got harder and harder to remove. It got so bad that nobody in my group was able to remove it. I decided to look for a more reliable solution.

Plastic fuel cans might be durable, but as weather and altitude changes can cause them to become convex or concave, they can be a little scary. On hot days, or when you’re at high altitude, pressure builds and the fuel can bloats (convex). On cold days, pressure drops, and the fuel can walls will start to get pulled in (concave). These pictures were taken in Moab during Easter Jeep Safari 2022. The convex shape happened during the afternoon when the temperature was in the 90’s on a clear day. The concave shape happened in the morning, when the temperature was in the 40s.

There were several concerns with the above scenarios. I was unable to stack two of the 2 gallon RotoPax gas cans, an issue since my goal is to have 4-5 gallons of spare fuel. Without a pressure relief valve, it was difficult if at all possible to remove the cap. I’m not sure if wear and tear over several years made them unusable, but I decided to look for a new gas can solution.

After exploring other options, I decided to return to using a Jerry Can, as we did in the US Army. Wavian is the oldest and most trustworthy brand. 5 gallons of fuel in a metal container, durable enough for the military, and reliable. Unlike cheap knockoffs, the welds are as perfect as you can expect, the inside is treated to be rust proof, and the nozzle design is time tested and tough.

The only issue I found with the Wavian fuel can is the terrible CARB compliant nozzle that they’re required to sell it with. They’re difficult to use and result in fuel spilling all over the place. Luckily usable nozzles are available on Amazon for $29. They’re pretty easy to install and they’re so much easier to use.

The CARB nozzle and the flexible nozzle share the same base, obviously, and they’re both very secure when mounted. The CARB nozzle is a little longer, since it has a convoluted spot that causes fuel to spill, negating any environmental benefits. The flexible nozzle is so easy to use, not a drop was lost when I first tried it. Unlike the spills I had with the CARB nozzle.

To install, you’ve got to remove the existing clamp, and replace it with the new clamp. The old clamp is held in place with rivets. A good pair of diagonal pliers is all you’ll need to remove the rivets holding the old bracket. Once the old bracket is removed, the new bracket takes a few seconds to install with a Phillips screwdriver. Don’t tighten the screws down too much, remember you’re screwing into plastic.

Once the new bracket is on, the new nozzle can be pressed into it. Here are images of the old and new nozzles. They mount onto the can the same way. The flexible nozzle seems to be a little lower profile when it’s in the bracket.

I picked up a Wavian Jerry Can holder for $70. I removed the RotoPax mount from the driver’s side Rock Slide EZ Rack plate that I use to mount my fuel cans and propane gas tank. I went to Home Depot to get five sets of Class 10.9 bolts, nylock nuts, and washers that were as big as could fit in the holder’s recessed holes.

It was easy to put this all together, and wasn’t expensive. The can and mount cost less than a single 2 gallon RotoPax fuel can. The Wavian holder has a padlock hole to keep the can from growing legs. I haven’t figured out how to secure the gas cap so nobody can siphon out my gas. I also need a way to secure the nozzle. I’ll look for a cable lock to take care of that. Oh well, I’ll sort all that out before my August trip to Colorado.

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Update 20280325: I just got back from a week long trip to Colorado. The mounted Wavian 20L NATO fuel can worked flawlessly. Very well designed can and mount.

Perfect day. Blue sky, temperature in the 70s. Not much to say, but some pictures to post. I had to be winched today, no shame in that. My synthetic rope got damaged, so I’ll be ordering a new one. I’ll figure out how to swap the rope at some point, might need to have a shop do it.

I packed up before heading out today, so I could get a head start on the trip home.

When I saw that Jeep’s BOH app rated Holy Cross as 7-9, I knew I would have to be prepared. Lots of sleep and a huge breakfast; and a dozen Hail Marys at the trailhead.

I didn’t take many pictures, since the trail was both scary and fun. When we got to this sign, I made an adult decision. That’s where the trail ends for me. I’m too close to retirement to destroy my Jeep. 🙂

I wish I took more photos, but I’ve come to terms with the high altitude effects. I decided to play safe and not exert too much energy to avoid any mistakes.

I plan to do Poughkeepsie Gulch tomorrow.

We got up early and headed to the Imogene Pass trailhead. As I was airing down, a guy in a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4Xe. We ended up doing the trail together. I really like the trail, very scenic, with enough technical spots to make it fun.

Jeep’s BOH app says Imogene Pass is supposed to be the second highest drivable pass in Colorado. I didn’t know that when I was there. That explains why I was out of breath all the time.

On the way up we passed a white Toyota Corolla. I asked him if he is using Google Maps. 🙂 He was all giddy, having the time of his life. About two hours later we saw him surrounded by some people trying to get him rescued. You can’t make this shit up, folks.

I was tempted to ask the driver if it’s a rental, but his passenger looked like he wanted to toss him off the mountain.

We went into town to eat, and planned to connect again the next day, to do Holy Cross. Knowing it would be a tough trail, Koda and I went to bed early.

My plan was to do Black Bear Pass, Holy Cross, Poughkeepsie Gulch and Imogene Pass. Well, Black Bear Pass was a nothing burger, closed hopefully only for the season, but likely forever. Shit.

As I posted on Tuesday, the San Miguel County Sheriff wasn’t able to get Black Bear Pass open for the season, I decided to do Imogene Pass on Friday, Holy Cross on Saturday, and Poughkeepsie Gulch on Sunday.

The trip from home to the Ouray KOA was about 925 miles, via US-287 N and I-40 W. Nothing exciting happened, so I did the tourist thing and took pictures of the state crossings.

Along the way I stopped at a Camping World to get my 5 gallon propane bottle topped off. There were 8 employees hanging out near the entrance, but the counter person told me they had nobody available to do it. I guess filling a propane bottle requires some sort of certification. I ended up filling it at the KOA. Along the way I saw my first wet microburst. It lasted less than a minute but it was unbelievable.

Along the trip I stopped at some landmark “restaurants” that weren’t really restaurants, but due to historic zoning laws, the businesses couldn’t change the signs. Believe it.

A Bugatti Veyron went past me. It wasn’t speeding, but it caught me by surprise. What I didn’t know was that it is owned by Ralph Lauren, and that he has a sprawling property in the area named Double RL Ranch. Most of the locals that I spoke to told me “Ralph has two of those”.

I guess they don’t know about his 1938 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic. Apparently only four were ever made, and only two are known to exist today. The other one does not have matching numbers and was sold at auction for around $30-40 million.

The one Ralph owns does have matching numbers. A prominent classic car expert stated “it would sell for a terrifying $100 million or more”. I doubt Ralph drives that one around.

I found a cool feature in the Uconnect navigation unit. As is the case with all devices that have true GPS (not A-GPS that Apple and other companies try to fool their customers into believing is true GPS), it has a GPS summary screen that shows you how many satellites you’re locked into, signal strength for each one, coordinates, and elevation.

I reserved a primitive camp spot, since I have an off grid power kit and a 2.5 gallon water can in the Jeep. I was expecting a gravel “pad”, but got grass instead. It took 10 minutes to set up the tent. Then I fed Koda, cooked dinner, washed and put away all the kitchen stuff, reorganized the stuff in the Jeep, then I headed to the shower.

I learned that Koda doesn’t like being in my tent. He was happier in the Jeep. Since the temperature was in the 70s, I didn’t have to worry about him being too hot or cold. I got to sleep around 10PM.

I can’t wait to get my iKamper repaired. Once that happens, I’ll just need a hand mounting it before every trip, since it has to be schlepped outside (garage clearance is only 7′). I’ll be fine using my tent for now.

I was hoping to post video or pictures of a (brown) Black Bear we drove past. It was going through someone’s trash cans. I asked Siri to record the precise time, so I can grab the footage. But the BlackVUE dash cam that I have only has the 32 gigabyte MicroSD card, so the clip was overwritten.

I also came close to hitting a deer, but thanks to my Jeep’s heavy duty brakes, I has no problem stopping in time. It went back into the woods. Same issue, the footage was overwritten. I should have pulled over to download the clip, like I did when Ralph went by in his Bugatti. Oh well.

Tomorrow we’ll do Imogene Pass.