New Shoes

I'd expected to get more miles out of the Goodyear LT265/70R17E tires that came on the truck than I did. I could have stretched a few more miles, but with the Alaska trip rapidly approaching, it was time to bite the bullet.

I fully intended to install what Michelin now calls the Defender LTX M/S because I'd had incredible experience with them on the Tacoma, but the tread life warranty was now only 50,000 miles on the LT version of the tire even though I'd gotten right at 100K on one set on the Tacoma.

I ended up going with the Michelin LTX A/T 2 tire. The tread is more aggressive than the Defender (about the same as the Goodyear LT tire from the factory) but the tread warranty is 10K better while Discount's prices were essentially the same for the two styles, making my decision easy.

The Discount Tire location I use didn't have the A/T 2 in stock in my size but I had a call from them the next morning that they'd come in, so I stopped by and within an hour (in spite of not having an appointment) the tires were going on.

The tread is about as aggressive as the Goodyear tires the truck was delivered with, but they are quieter running.

Meanwhile, I pulled the wheels on the Scamp to check the brakes and bearings but figured it wasn't worth a bunch of pictures. The Timkin bearings that I put in 33,000 miles ago when we returned from our last Alaska trip still look good so they were cleaned, packed, and reinstalled with new rear seals.

One month until we head north.

Which Side's Up?

When we went to Alaska in 2013, I decided we needed a bit more storage space. There are some very nice, purpose-built containers, complete with brake lights, but we used a Harbor Freight ATV carrier and a large Action Packer. Turns out it was overkill, and we never used it after that trip.

Note that the carrier never sat level!

This time, our Honda generator is making a one way trip to Alaska and I didn't have a secure place for it in the truck. I made up a smaller base for the main arm of the HF carrier. Among other things, it fits the smaller Action Packer that our generator has been stored in for years. Since we installed the solar system, we've had no use for the generator.

There are two holes in the base (and the Action Packer) - one on either side of the main support arm. A security cable will wrap around the hitch receiver and the hitch before routing up into the container and through the carry handle of the generator may slow down some thieves.

The loop style cam straps are from Northwest River Sports and are well known to rafters.

The other reason for building this carrier was that I wanted a simple way to carry our Rhino "Blue Boy."  We have a couple places that we often go where the internal black tank isn't enough, but it's a hassle to break camp to visit a dump station.

Thanks to the offset on the ATV carrier arm, I can flip this adapted carrier over, giving me about 8 inches of ground clearance,

which will make it much easier to load a blue boy for the trip to the dump site

without breaking camp.

It still doesn't sit level, but I was too lazy to cut and re-weld the stinger to get it squared up.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the other parts of the old carrier. Maybe they'll turn into part of a geocache.

All Washed Up

Over a year ago, BJ and I hiked to the lime kiln in search of a First To Find on a geocache near there. The other day, I was approached by a couple other folks about going past the lime kiln to log another cache on the hill past the kiln. We parked at Blue Point and headed downriver before the sun started dispersing the shadows.

The spring flowers have been extra special this year and because our temps have been sane, the flowers have lasted longer than usual.

Even some of the cactus were starting to join the party.

 

The vast majority of the hike was in a variety of sandy washes.

After Bob signed Pizza-Pizza (near the kiln,) we headed up a wash. Turns out the wash we chose headed in a reasonably appropriate direction, but was blocked in several spots by brush, creating more work for us.

Eventually, we spotted a pile of rocks that seemed like it deserved a geocache, but nothing there.

Apparently, we need to go "that a'way." The last 1000 feet or so was a total bushwhack.

The views to the north were part of the reward,

and the smiles when we found the rarely visited cache were another part of the reward. After some snacks and liquid, and replaced the cache with three more signatures on the log, it was time to head back down the hill.

We elected to gamble on a different wash on the way down the hill,

since the uphill wash wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

The downhill wash wasn't straight, but it also wasn't choked with brush which made it a much better choice.

All told, about 6 miles round trip for just one cache, but a delightful morning with friends and a chance to visit another area I'd never seen before.