I have to say, all that Milwaukee stuff plays together nicely, holds up, is well designed, and seems to have the extra power and durability you sometimes need in the trades!
2025-04-03
Another van project with Andy
He figured out another place to build some packout into his truck. So we spent some time together over the weekend figuring it out and making it happen! I think he just wanted an excuse to drive a stick shift again, hahahaha.
It works nicely again! Just needed a hammer and crowbar.
Closes, seals, maybe even better than before ;)
Remember the notch in the rocks on the waterfall?!
Well, physics won and pushed me into that notch in the rocks I pointed out… So off I went to figure out how to take the door apart, get some access from behind, and pound & pull it back into shape. You could still close the door, but it took some effort and there were gaps all along the top. Fingers crossed, I can make it good enough. I guess I am adding Rube Goldberg body work to my Jeep skills… Right pic shows the "improvement" after I beat on it a bit. Going for return of function first, haha.
2025-04-02
My used GoPro came with a remote
Now I can start and stop both Jeep camera views at the same time with one button. It should be fun to play around with.
I might have sampled Julie’s roasted pecans…
…a little to close to their coming out of the oven! It kind of melted my plastic cup!
My next Jeep project…
So, you might have seen my doors don't like bouncing off rocks too much. I'm going to try to gain some access from behind and bang it back into shape a bit. My plan is to get it functioning smoothly again, then re-paint it to keep rust away. I'm sure you'll still see it a little bit. It would be wrong to remove all the character from trails…
2025-04-01
I mounted my doors to my camper…
I've been trying to find a way to easily carry my doors along on a trip, but be able to have them off the Jeep if I wanted. Maybe for some of the trip, or when going between parks. I came up with this idea to use the hinges and wondered if they would still fit on my camper. It worked PERFECTLY! Now I have more options on a trip! I can even use the latch part to “lock” them on. I will use a cable lock through the window frames for extra safety and security.
Correcting my handwriting misspellings…
While taking sermon notes, I spelled difficult wrong by mistake and my iPad corrected it in a version of my own handwriting… Crazy AI stuff going on here…🤪
Being there early paid off!
Alton Brown showed up 25 minutes before hand and we suddenly got to meet him for a few minutes. He signed Julie's copy of his latest book (that she was reading while we waiting in line). We were the first ones, and got out of there before the huge line had built up, so we had time to get back home, and enjoy the evening together still. She credits him with all her food science knowledge and being able to create all the great dishes she concocts. So he's my food hero too! Hahaha.
2025-03-31
“You look like the kind of people that can hold a line”
If you've gonna meet your food hero, you better get there early. We created the line. It wasn't long before it looped all through the store, and THAT was just the group with the latter A and B…
The staff came up to Julie and said, "You look like the kind of people that can hold a line"?! "Don't let anyone past you or let them make another line, hahaha.
My lovely wife on the way to meet her food hero!
Of course, I had to pause to appreciate the architecture :)
Do YOU have a cat rectangle?!
I wonder if they'd make a good pillow? Hahaha. Pepper and Bitty enjoy a good snuggle sometimes.
Stumbled across this graphic
It's really cool that we saw both of these from two of our favorite spots in the country❣️
2025-03-15 AOP and Coalmont Kilted Trail Guide Jeep Off-road Day 3
Ok, you’ve reached the end of my chronicles of the offf-road trip I took with John. We had a great time. Here you can see the last day which started out with amazing views and precise driving. Then the day continued to get better and we ended with a wild climb back up to the parking lot. I have to say, the Kilted Trail Guide hit it out of the park! Way to go Jeff Foley and Jackie Lee! Looking forward to next time!
2025-03-30
John and I had such a great weekend together!
Just fun to catch up, enjoy the views, and each other's company. Here we're headed back out of the park. The Kilted Trail Guide, had one last fun climb in store for us to finish off the weekend perfectly!
Going over the falls…
…This was as much I wanna tip (middle pic)!! The bottom pic shows what it looked like from the rear facing POV.
2025-03-29
Proof that my flex isn’t just for show?
Thinking back to the day one lunch shot where I was shoring that you could flex the front one direction to max and the rear the opposite direction, you might have wondered when that would happen of why you'd need it. Here you can see a couple pics a few seconds apart. Not only do you flex the max in each axle, but in the first shot it's maxed out one way, and in the second it's maxed out the other way. Quite a lot of off camber tipping in the first shot, but that flex allows you to keep all four wheels in contact with the ground and keeps you stable through the obstacle. If you didn't have that flex you could roll over.
Amazing views on a beautiful day 3!
Lucky for you, we are at the end of the last day, so you don't have to put up with my pics for very many more days…
2025-03-28
Climbing back up the other side of the valley
What a pretty view on the edge of the hills. It was nice to see all the maintenance the park had done to keep the trails in good shape in spite of the rain.
Where’s Waldo?
After the climbing, we got to enjoy another waterfall. This time, John sat on the tree that had fallen over it. In the top pic, you can see a little bit of him peaking out from behind a tree. In the bottom one, he took a selfie while sitting there.
Can you find John?!
He jumped right in to help by climbing up the hill to anc hour our Jeeps to a tree so we could make the muddy, slippery, hairpin turn without sliding into the creek. He loved it, and everyone wa thankful to have him along!
Wide angle capturing Johnny capturing it
It was a pretty and cool waterfall to run over in our Jeep.
An amazing start to day three of our trip
We went right across this waterfall. We got a good look up (left), and down (right) it.
2025-03-27
A little bit later…
…and we were looking back on that little plateau where we had just lined up our Jeeps for a pic.
Dropping like flies…?!
By day three, we were down to only four rigs (from 10). We started off with a nice pic of the group overlooking this valley where we would spend the day wheelin'
Physics doesn’t always do what you expect…
Looks like I need to figure out how to do some minor body work now… Playing in the river and unexpectedly sliding into rocks leads to dents. Everything still works fine, I just need to pretty it back up…. Funny that John and I ate at this restaurant both nights. You nearly had to have 4WD just to get into the parking lot, haha.
2025-03-26
Camo vibe
Johnny, my iPad screen and the woods all match in their color theme. :) He made a great copilot and really enjoyed the trails from there.
John got some good shots of me coming back across
Everybody thought I made it look easy… Notice that chute cut into the rocks in the top pic just off my driver door to the right…?
“Have fun”!
But not too much fun… Our trail guide brought us to these falls where he told us we could play around. :) I started something by being the first one to jump in.
The rain gave us some nice river crossings
My mom described day two as "water, water everywhere!" When she saw my video highlights :)
2025-03-25
More cool under carriage shots from John
I would say it's the soft under belly, but that isn't true here. That's where most of the armor is, haha.
We all took turns climbing up on this rock for a pic!
It is really cool all the places you can go with the right vehicle :)
2025-03-24
Another couple great views from Sven
It was really pretty rolling down towards this creek and little waterfall. In the top left, that's the same one from my previous post.
John got a great shot looking back at the Saturday crew
The level of difficulty along with the rain meant people were dropping fast… We started with 10 on Friday and ended with 4 on Sunday. The guide knew what we were up for by then and REALLY delivered a great experience!
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