The Shake Down Trip – November 2009

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After cleaning up after the Thanksgiving feast, the Lady and I decided to just take off. We had to do it. We had put so much work in the rebuild/remodel of the used Ranger II camper we bought in late August. It was loaded on the truck and as anxious as we were for the maiden voyage.

We awoke at four Friday morning feeling like excited twelve year olds unable to sleep. "Let's have breakfast at the Hays Street Cafe in Bridgeport and ramble around the east side of the Sierra,” the Lady suggested.  Sunrise on Monitor Pass was as awesome as ever. We fed on the Hays Street Café cinnamon roll as we continued south of Bridgeport on highway 395. Friday afternoon found us in one of our favorite places, the Alabama Hills.

It was a gorgeous late fall afternoon.

We took an evening walk over to the climbers camp.

It was a cold beautiful evening with an approaching storm. Being able to stay here, among the granite formations, under the eastern escarpment of the High Sierra; this alone was worth all our efforts on our camper project.

The storm arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning. With rain and snow hitting the camper and us parked full broadside to the wind, the Lady asked on our first night sleeping in the camper, "Do you think this could blow the truck over?" We were going to find out  but there is almost nothing better than a storm blowing through.

More of Saturday morning.

We headed back north and up into the volcanic tableland area north of Bishop. More wind and snow but a promise of clearing overnight. Our remodel worked very well in "real life".

We headed toward home on highway 120 with new snow and long stretches of icy road.

It was a great inaugural trip and we hope for many adventures to follow.

Post script November 4, 2013 - These were the first two nights in our first camper. Over the course of almost four years we totaled 236 nights, nights well spent, in our home away from home. Our last trip in our first camper, and the last two nights, was the last weekend in October 2013. We traveled to Upper Summer Meadows.

Our First Camper

 

 Update October 2013 - BIG NEWS! We are getting a new All Terrain Camper! Here is a link to information on Wander the West:

We Are Getting a New Camper!

Update November 2013 - BIG NEWS! Our current camper has already found a new home!



I added an update below - May 2013

We have always been hikers, backpackers, back country skiers, and mountaineers. That remains our focus. Car camping or the social aspect of campgrounds or large groups holds no interest for us. Getting to a trailhead or end of the road is the start of our adventure. We seek out places far from any sights or sounds of modern man. Quiet, solitude, and the natural processes of untrammeled wilderness feed our souls and refresh us.

Our current camper accommodations are a tool that we use and enjoy.

We first saw a Four Wheel Camper at a nearby lake. It was a base camp for a float tubing fly fisher. Later we saw one in a grocery store parking lot. The owner was kind enough to give us a quick tour. We thought it was a great idea, a relatively light weight pop up camper with an aluminum frame. The amenities were spartan compared to how some Americans look at "camping" needs, but just right for us. We started looking around and doing our homework.

One website that was a huge source of information was Wander the West. We found the people who posted and shared information helpful, respectful, just nice people.

We started watching craigslist, looking for a possible deal on a used camper. We discovered the good ones go quickly. They have a very good resale demand.

Then we heard about All Terrain Campers in Sacramento California. This is a small company started by craftsmen who were once associated with the original Four Wheel Camper Company. I cannot say enough about the service, helpful advise, and quality of these folks' work. They have a wealth of knowledge about these campers.

If we hadn't found a good deal on craigslist, we would be proud owners of an All Terrain Camper. Actually with all the help they gave us on renovating and remodeling the camper we bought, we feel that we are.

In August of 2009 we brought home a used 1994 Four Wheel Camper Ranger II model.

It was in fairly decent shape and definitely worth what we paid. But, as we dug into it, and also inspired by some of the modifications we saw people on Wander the West had done, we figured now was the time to make it the way we wanted.

We gutted the sucker.

We pulled out the sink, stove, and cabinet style 3 way refrigerator. Then the cabinets went.

We had the guys at All Terrain replace the sideliner (tent) material, repair a couple of problems with the roof, and replace one of the inside roof lifting panels.

We then replaced all the cabinets with our own design, got a new countertop and table top made, and ordered a new SMEV sink and propane stove. We also redid all of the wiring, plumbing, and propane lines.

It was a learning experience but also rewarding. It has the added benefit of us actually knowing where everything is and being confident about taking on repairs down the road.

And, I again thank the guys at All Terrain Campers for helping with information and needed materials.

By the middle of Fall 2009, our camper was about ready.

There are some luxuries that we like, such as the nice stove and sink, but we also like to be simple with one item doing more than one job such as no cushions because our pillows work just fine. Also this is a small camper with limited storage space so out went the refrigerator - that uses energy on the road - and that space went to storage. Our old reliable Coleman ice chest sits on the floor under the cab window.

There have been a few changes and improvements that we have made over the last couple of years. We are contemplating a couple more. But, our priority is using our camper, not working on it.

We have been really pleased with how our truck and camper have served us. I believe that is reflected in the wonderful adventures we have enjoyed.

 

Update May 2013

After getting an incredible amount of use out of our camper, we have made a few improvements. We built our own "Arctic Pack" liner for the inside of the vinyl sideliner material. This adds a dead air space that helps hold in heat in the winter and keep out heat in the summer. It also helps with condensation on the inside of the vinyl. I posted how we did it on the Wander the West forum. You can find it by clicking here - Arctic Pack  

After using our old Coleman ice chest successfully, we did find a couple of downsides. We found it increasingly harder to find block ice (especially in Death Valley, of all places!) when our frozen water jugs melted. A bag of ice cubes only lasts a day. This was problematic for planning our longer trips. We decided to go with a high efficient/low amp draw 12V portable refrigerator. The good ones are expensive but worth it. The issue is battery drain, you want one that uses only a small amount of power. We went with a 51 liter chest style refrigerator with a danfoss compressor from Truckfridge. This is an Indel B refrigerator. It sits on the floor in the same place our old Coleman did.

Since we were dependent on our camper battery for food storage - the new refrigerator - we went with a larger amp hour deep cycle battery. We started with a 55 amp hour blue top optima. We replaced it with a 100 amp hour die hard platinum deep cycle. Buy Sears batteries when you find them on sale, and they usually go on sale.

We added a 100 watt solar panel to the roof and installed a simple solar charging system. It is light weight and has worked well keeping our new battery fully charged. Here is a link to how I did the wiring - Wiring For a Solar Panel Roof Mount.

For leveling out the truck suspension with the weight of the camper, we initially went with airbags. These can be filled separately to raise the height and adjust for uneven weighting side to side. These campers tend to have most the weight on the driver's side and that is also were the truck's gas tank is located. Concerned about possible failure of this system in the remote and rugged areas we visit, we decided to go with a new custom set of progressive rear leaf springs made by Deaver Springs. The truck preforms very well on rough roads and we have a great deal of confidence in its ability to get us to the start of our adventures.

The Day We Didn't Die

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April 8, 1988 was the day we didn’t die. Yes, I remember the date.

This was the Lady and my first desert trip together. I had run around this area with a buddy in the late 1960’s so this trip was a chance to look back, remember, tell the Lady stories from when I was younger, and make new discoveries, the two of us.

I hadn’t been up this canyon with my buddy, but we had looked at it, talked about it. There were stories about a small settlement that dated back into the 1800’s. At one time there had been a road. It had been continuously washed out and destroyed. It was now about an eight mile walk up this canyon, hard to get to, maybe untouched. Who knew what the Lady and I would find? The adventure of it all called to us.

It was a beautiful cool spring day. We saw bighorn sheep as we walked. The small settlement was tumbling down, old looking. We were surprised to see a couple of sixties era vehicles and a newer small shed. At one time someone must have tried to make a new start up here but the wild debris flows and floods had stopped them too.  It looked like the new inhabitants hadn’t even made it back to retrieve anything.

The main workings were high up the mountain side marked with a trail of rusted cable and remains of tramway towers. After poking around the buildings we decided to make the climb. We followed a steep switch backing road that was washed out at every crossing of the gully. It was cool as we sat outside the main tunnel. We don’t take chances by going into these mines. We enjoyed our perch in the sun, looking for warmth, and took turns exploring. Just off to the side was a smaller opening with a swinging rusted plate steel door. It was partially open, no lock. I stepped inside.

The entering shaft of light first hit the boxes of dynamite. This caught my interest. As my eyes adjusted, I could see more, much more. This was a serious explosives cache. In the shadows on pallets were stacks of blasting powder. The pile was as tall as I was. There was a big pile of long narrow plastic covered packages like sausages. I figured these were explosives packaged up, ready to slide into drill holes in the rock. There was detonating cord.

This was scary, but not scary enough.

I walked over to the dynamite. One box was lying open. Most of the sticks were in an open clear plastic bag. There were several outside the bag lying on top. There were also about six on the bottom of the box outside the bag. These looked old. Crystals were growing on the outside of the tubes. This looked bad, really bad. I did not have experience with dynamite but I had grown up on a diet of westerns, especially Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti western days. I had heard about dynamite sweating, the nitro coming to the outside, oozing out and forming crystals. At least that’s what all the movies and stories told me. I was not going to touch those. I picked up one stick from the top. 

I walked back out into the sun and called to the Lady. “Hey, you’ve got to see this.”

She popped up and came over. We walked together into the cache.

 I handed her the stick and said, “Have you ever held a stick of dynamite before?”

“No, so this is dynamite?” She really wasn’t that interested and I didn’t get the jump I was expecting.

And then she threw it.

This remains a vivid memory. I still see it, the stick in slow motion, cart wheeling through the air, end over end, on a direct trajectory into that open box of dynamite. It was a direct hit. Nothing happened.

“My god, you don’t throw dynamite! There’s a bunch of unstable sticks in that box. This whole place could have blown! They would have heard the blast in Vegas! Nobody would have found even a little piece of us but they sure would have found the hole!” I unloaded. I was shaking.

With complete calm the Lady said, “I don’t know anything about dynamite and I expect that you would not hand me anything that was not safe.”

The Lady has a knack for getting right to the point, a quality that I have grown to love.

If marriage is lessons in compromise, this was an easy one for us. I no longer hand the Lady dynamite and she no longer throws items I hand to her.