We really haven’t taken our rigs on anything more than a weekend camping trip, so the trek from Calgary all the way down to Flagstaff, AZ and back–in one week–is making for an interesting planning process.
For the most part, this trip is not too far from civilization–aside from a detour to a remote area of the Grand Canyon–so it’s a good chance to evaluate how much we need to carry with us, what can be bought along the way, and get a clear picture of what our gas mileage is like. That last part is really important for the JK… Not a lot of fuel capacity to play with.
This round is really an experiment to see how what we have works, what we need to add, what we don’t need, and what just doesn’t work.
One thing that did work great is our new Wind River quick setup tent. After years of setting up a little 4-man dome tent, we were looking for something that we didn’t have to crawl into. Trouble is, it seems a lot of larger tents that you can actually stand up in require a degree in structural engineering to set up. This one? Not so much. Our first test run had us set up and torn down in 30 minutes. That includes several rounds of reinterpreting the directions… So we should be in good shape–at least until we get set up with rooftop tents.
After a fairly seamless dry run with the tent, Kevin was smitten….
So with the camping gear assembled, now it’s time for last minute upgrades to the trucks. Then Flagstaff hand Overland Expo here we come.
Post Expo Edit: Quick set up tents are CRAP! Despite Kevin’s above love for what seemed like a great setup, the main hub snapped in the middle of the first night during a wind storm…
The Nooblanders 