Having it all - JTRD sun buggy, trail rig and overlander

[John in the Woods]

I've written about the electrical power challenge with my EcoFlow/Iceco VL60 dual fridge setup before. Remembering those, before heading this time I ordered a second 110w solar panel from EcoFlow along with a cable to connect it to my year-old 110w panel, and a few extension cables. Unfortunately (due to when I ordered them and not EcoFlow) the cables didn't get here in time. Armed with just one short cable, I went out with the Iceco getting juice from EcoFlow River Pro (a little more than 700w), with that battery taking power from the cigarette lighter while the truck was diving, and one 110w solar panel when I was at camp.

The short version is there must be some kind of cycle that runs sometimes on the Iceco that really sucks power, or the EcoFlow has an occasional glitch, and it gets masked when the panel or the truck are supplying power. I kept a detailed log of power input and levels throughout the trip. There were a few days when I drove and the battery didn't gain much, but the big losses came at night when there was no inputs. Typically, I'd leave the fridge closed for about 12 hours overnight, and I added an insulating cover on this trip to help hold the cold in. About half the nights, with air temps from the low 80s to mid 60s, the fridge would draw the battery down about 10-15%. But the other nights, with similar outside temps, power would dive from 40 to 50 percent. That puts you behind the 8-ball as far as charge recovery after that, since with the truck running the EcoFlow takes in about 90w and add 10 percent an hour, and at best I could get the single panel to produce 85w, and that only lasted through peak sun.

I made this a bit of an obsession during the trip, and if it wasn't for my buddy letting plug into his house power for an overnight about halfway through the three weeks, I definitely would have had to shut things down at some point.

If I was breaking camp every day and making an 8-hour drive, I'd be fine. But stay in a spot or get a cloudy day, and things quickly get too close for confidence. If I added some camp lights or other power needs, this system would be sunk.

So, if your thinking about doing this, here's a few lessons I've learned and now relearned:

• An EcoFlow River Pro simply cannot keep up with a good-sized fridge for an extended period, unless you're driving 8+ hours a day or running multiple 110w solar panels (actually, I can't vouch for that last one, but it seems to make sense. I'll test it next time out in a few weeks).
• Even with the insulated cover, which is tougher and more substantial than I expected, the Iceco VL60 can sometimes (not al the time) suck power pretty aggressively.
• I'll also note that in "eco" mode, I still had to up the temps on both sides to 41 degrees to even limp through 10 days remote at a time. Because the fridges can be a little uneven in their cooling, I lost a good porterhouse during this trip. That was a sin. If you want frozen stuff, you're going to need a better power equation.
• Drawing from the car battery through the power plug (aka cigarette lighter) just does not recharge the EcoFlow fast enough.
• I couldn't get the EcoFlow to feed off the Jeep inverter in the back (something kept tripping), but as inefficient inverting DC to AC just to convert AC back to DC might seem, it looked like the EcoFlow would allow much more power to feed in that way. If you can work that out in your rig, feed it that way.

Since coming back, I added about 50 feet of solar power cable extension to keep the panels in the sun, and the harness to run two panels together and double input. I'm hoping with 220w of panel (maybe 180w actual at peak sun) I can turn the corner on the EcoFlow/Iceco setup and get on solid ground.

But, the smart way still seems to be some DC-DC house power system with a Lithium battery that can take a charge much faster from the truck and store electricity deeper than the EcoFlow. I'm looking at a 100ah house power setup install as soon as I get back to my garage up north.

I like my Iceco fridge, and i was surprised at how tough and solid the extra cover was. It has a no-skid bottom, vents where they're needed, a side pocket, and zippers and hook-and-loop that's very easy to deal with. I assume it helped as a thermal blanket, but it wasn't a game changer that way.

Because it's too tall to fit under the tonneau cover, the fridge gets a ride in the cab. Easy to access, but getting it in or out require taking off the door.

The new EcoFlow 110w panels are easier to set up, and hit the upper 80s in watts under midday Florida winter sun. Before 11 or after 3, or if even a small shadow ran across one of the panels, and the power output drops significantly. As pictured, about 90 minutes before sunset, All I could coax was about 10w.

Sponsored

 

[John in the Woods]

I've spent about 15 nights in the Roofnest Condor Overland so far, and taken it through some pretty punishing trails at Ocala National Forest, and I have to say I like this tent.

It's comfortable and roomy, stood up very well to high winds when they rolled through, didn't leak a drop in a few rainstorms, vents through the door, two windows and the sunroof to stay cool in the heat, and is surprisingly dark when everything is closed up. The full aluminum case stood up to a beating on the BoH trail at Ocala, including snapping tree branches and shedding thorny brush. Closed up it stayed dust-proof on the trail and waterproof on the highway (and in the car wash).

I like it. I'd buy it again.

That said, there are definitely a few things I either wish I learned beforehand or have learned first-hand since:

• The biggest lesson (which I talked about more here) is that you need to think about the RTT, the rack and the awning as a package before you settle on a plan. I went with a 3/4 height rack because I wanted a clear view out the rear window but also wanted to limit how much of the tent sticks up above the cab. The @KB Voodoo 14" rack with the raised mounts to allow for the tonneau cover is the perfect height for this. I've also baked more than a few times when a campsite didn't offer any shade, so I was determined to add an awning. I picked the OVS Nomadic 270 because the coverage is amazing, I can add walls if I ever went them and the price was rock solid. Separately, three smart decisions. The problem came when I put them together. The awning extends well forward beyond the back of the cab, and with a 3/4 height rack that means it has to be out far enough to clear the side of the cab and up high enough to at least be over the door. That meant special brackets, which I worked out using the very stout OVS brackets in conjunction with a very tall and strong set from The Bush Company. But all of that put the awning right in the way of the side-rising Roofnest tent, which has a 9-inch high aluminum lid that needs that much clearance to its backside when it opens. I worked it out, but it created this odd 10x9" empty space between the closed tent and the awning that makes it look like I was on my fifth beer when I installed at least one of them. I think I'm going to add a 8- or 10-inch tube up there for storing fishing poles and camp poles and such, but it will have to be light and detach easily since it will need to come down at camp before I can open the tent.
• The space on the inside of the RTT is generous, and it was easy to lay down and stretch out (I'm 6' and 200 lbs) with plenty of room on all sides for gear. Two friendly people side by side can definitely sleep in it, but after that the room would get tight -- either less gear or more cuddling. Two things I had to adjust to coming from my ground tent:
  • Understand that a RTT means you cannot stand and get dressed. Not even kneeling. You've got to do the worm on the floor.
  • Also, the way the Roofnest Condor Overland is designed, you get plenty of room to stretch your feet out when you're sleeping, but there's a pretty steep slope on the wall with the entrance to make that possible. Reaching down to zip and unzip that door requires a belly crawl or more shoulder and back flexibility than this 60-year-old dude has.
• It's great to be in the RTT. No mud, No snakes. Nice view of the site. Getting in and out sucks. That steep wall means you have a blind butt-first exit, which requires a little faith every time. And, if you're a guy around my age, assume you need a sealable bottle with a wide neck to avoid trying that exit in the dark. If you're a lady not practiced in hitting a bottle, or a gentleman trying to impress one, stop drinking liquids around lunchtime.
• The Roofnest comes with an LED light strip built into the tent. It's wonderful. An absolute must if you're getting one of these. I've got a pretty basic rechargeable fan, and it can power the lights for several nights no problem.
• Lifting the sizable aluminum lid on the Condor Overland is not for the meek. My truck has a 2" lift and 37s, but it's also just a 3/4 rack. Still, at 6' tall, I can't just lift it high enough to get the struts to take over and finish the job. It either needs a very energetic toss upward, or I need to use a spare awning pole to give me the extra height I need.
• Speaking of poles, keep one around for stuffing material in the sides. Even with the hard shell and the elastic pulling the fabric sides in, there's still a good deal of stuffing to get the seals on the sides clear to close. Since that heavy cover drops at the end, I had to use something to prop it about 8 or 10 inches open (usually my hiking shoe), then go long both sides stuffing and pulling the rubber seal clear, before taking out the shoe and finishing the job.
• Set up and breakdown is way easier than my ground tent, but it's not as easy or quick as the marketing material and sponsored YouTube videos suggest. Opening requires that stout/assisted lift of the cover, then a trip up on the bed gate to unhook the elastic that pulls in the sides and fetch the ladder to fold it open. Once it's open, you'll be back on the bed installing rods in the window awnings. There are also hook-and-loop patches that cover the hinges that need to be pulled into and out of position every time you fold it. Setting the ladder to the right height and angle, which gets a lot of attention in the videos, is actually pretty easy. You'll have that down by the second day.
• Specific to my Roofnest experience so far, which I'm very happy with, I will note that the hinge side of the aluminum base for the tent has already started to bend down a little in the middle. Again, I'm only 200 pounds and I haven't had the pleasure of company in the tent just yet, but I've learned to always sit toward the hard back on the RTT, and not let too much weight rest atop the side where the hinge is. Not a hard adjustment, but good to know before you have a bent lower edge and the seal doesn't fully close anymore.

Alright, enough words. Here's a few pics ...

The open Roofnest lands right against the inside of the awning when both have to be above the rack. That means a gap between them and an odd lopsided look when the tent is closed.

Room inside the tent is generous, and the built-in LED dimmable light strip is an added blessing.

After some routine use, the bottom edge of the lower frame started to bend down in the middle, making it impossible to close the seal even when the cover was locked in place. I may add a latch near the handle just to pull that tight. So far, no apparent water or dust infiltration, but unsealed seals are never a good thing.

The big selling point of this RTT was the all-aluminum case, and it earned its keep during more than 100 miles of famously narrow Ocala National Forest trails. This thing battled some branches, snapping too many to count along the way, and came away with nothing but some light pinstriping. After a good wash, they're almost impossible to see.

 

[wachuko]

I see that like a great challenge and possibly an easy problem to fix...

1. Install square tubing across the rack where each of the brackets can slide into.... use securing pins to keep the brackets in place.
2. Move tent to center of rack, eliminating that gap.
3. When you need to deploy, just slide the brackets out with the closed awning, getting back the clearance needed.
4. Insert securing pins so the brackets do not come out while using.
5. Done! Enjoy your setup as intended.

 

[John in the Woods]

I see that like a great challenge and possibly an easy problem to fix...

1. Install square tubing across the rack where each of the brackets can slide into.... use securing pins to keep the brackets in place.
2. Move tent to center of rack, eliminating that gap.
3. When you need to deploy, just slide the brackets out with the closed awning, getting back the clearance needed.
4. Insert securing pins so the brackets do not come out while using.
5. Done! Enjoy your setup as intended.

I like this. I like this a lot. Let me take a hard look at the rack and see what I can come up with.

 

[John in the Woods]

I'll do this one with more pics and fewer words ...

As I already mentioned, going with the big OVS Nomadic 270 awning on a 3/4 rack meant the awning ran across the top of the rear door when mounted. I fixed that by adding a Bush Company heavy duty L bracket mounted inside the very heavy duty bracket that OVS provided. Gave me the height I needed and, with two very stout brackets working together, there's not a spec of flex in this on the trail. As a bonus, the Bush Co. bracket let's me use four mounting bolts, rather than two, which makes me feel much more confident when only using two mounting points for that long awning.

This may get modified again if I can map out a way to close the gap between the RTT and the awning (thanks @wachuko for the inspiration), but here's what I've got so far.

The brackets that come with the Overland Vehicle Systems awning are very stout, and among the generous bag of possible mounting hardware OVS included were these plates with welded bolts. These are perfect for spreading out the load. Using them only required a slight modification to the aluminum @KB Voodoo rack, and KB did me the favor of including a paint pen to touch things up.

Ignoring how far to the right the RTT has to mount so the lid doesn't hit the awning when it opens, which is really an accidental collision of rack height and RTT choice on my part, you can see that with the OVS brackets alone I could get out far enough to clear the cab, but I couldn't get enough high enough to clear the top of the rear door.

I looked into getting aluminum C-channel to extend the height of the brackets, but it was hard to source locally and had me concerned about flex on the trail. The solution I came up with was to add a set of Bush Co. HD and extended brackets to the inside of the OVS bracket. These are steel and very, very stiff. Great design. I could probably use them alone, but the OVS brackets were already on so I just opted to extend and reinforce the system. Bush Co. brackets needed only a minor modification in the base half to fit the same bolt spacing as the OVS brackets. I've bounced this around hard and there is absolutely not flex. I'll trim the tops off the Bush Co. brackets when I get up north to my garage.

Here's how it sits now. I'm gaming ways to close the gap between the RTT and the awning when the tent is closed, but aside from that I'm very pleased with hoe this came out. Perfect height. Very stiff. And the folks at The Bush Co. were very good to deal with.

 

[John in the Woods]

OK, last review update for now, until I get past a hopefully uneventful trip through the American medical system and get set to head out on my next trip.

(I had hoped for an Atlantic-to-Pacific trek, but I may end needing to make a run up the East Coast first.)

I wrote a little about the @KB Voodoo Max Modular rack with tonneau brackets and a Cargo Max storage box when I added it all back in January (that stuff is here). Key takeaways there: Their stuff is US made, very stout, and engineered and packaged very well. It mounted up clean and very solid in an easy afternoon.

I've now put about 10 weeks and 4K miles on it, about half of which was with a 165-pound RTT and 80-pound awning attached, and I can say this thing is a stud. No shakes, no rattles, no bends or deflections; no major problems at all. I've run it hard over corrugated sand and gravel tracks, bounced it through ruts and mud holes, and smacked it off more branches than I should admit. It took every ounce of every beating and hasn't shown one bit of wear. I'll be in Western New York where they make these things later this summer, and I might stop by and buy the crew a few beers.

So I like it. I'd buy it again, and if you're thinking about one, I recommend you take a look. They have design and height options galore. Party on.

But there are a few minor points that I thought I'd note for those who are thinking of pulling the trigger. It could be that the folks at @KB Voodoo are ahead of me and already on these, and all of them can be fixed with a trip to the local hardware or big box store. But so you know ...

The Cargo Max storage box runs 46" from leg to leg on the rack. It's solid, and bolts into those legs with a bucket-load of hardware that makes it all even stronger. But a few things have needed some love. The locks (there are two with matched keys) and the center latch are a little on the lighter-grade side, and feel like they'll break sooner than later on the trail. The keysets have already jammed up from dust and sand and needed to be cleaned and lubed. A better more weather-resistant set would be more inline with the overall quality of the KB stuff.

Also, the top seal on the storage box is foam and compresses well across the top from end to end. But beneath that, along the sides and bottom, is just a thin strip of adhesive cork. With the rack locked closed the cork doesn't fill the gap, so dust and water can get in. Over a few weeks, chunks of the cork has been blown out by rain and wind on the highway (you can see it up top and in the detail below). There's easily room to use a foam or rubber seal, and I'll be upgrading it to that before I head out again.

Lastly, there's no strut or rod to hold the cover open when it's up. If you're trying to get a few things out in the dark or in a hurry, you're going to drop that lid on your head more than a few times. One or the other should be an easy addition, but I would have loved to see at least a rod to prop the door up come from the factory with the box.

One other things to notice about the box, is it's a good size, which is a very good thing. Lots of room in there. But the downside, particularly if you order a 14" or smaller rack and want to roll your tonneau cover, is that the box comes down low enough to make rolling the cover a bit challenging. You can do it for the promo shot or to win a bet, but day-to-day you'll find yourself just sliding the cover up and letting it fold accordion style. And remember, you can't push the cover further up than the inside of the front leg. I find that this works just fine for me getting access to stuff in the bed, but if you're shorter, or just shorter-armed, getting stuff in the middle of the front might be challenging.

If you look at the top picture in this post, you can see that the tonneau brackets for the Gladiator include an upper half that cantilevers the load from the rear leg out beyond the back of the lower half. Even torqued well to avoid any drooping in the back of the bracket, the leverage that the cantilevered upper bracket puts on the much more narrow lower bracket causes it to significantly compress the factory plastic bed rail cover on the rear side. It's hard to see in the pics, but at just 10 weeks there's already almost a 1/8-inch difference and you can see it on both sides. It may end there, or it may keep unequally biting into that bed rail cover, time will tell. I can't even say if it does that it will create anything more than a cosmetic issue. But I think a wide bottom plate on the lower bracket -- one that had as much surface area on the bed rail as the upper bracket has across the top -- would spread the load better and reduce the unequal compression of the rail cover.

One other thing worth stressing if you use the tonneau bracket: KB recommend you add some weatherstripping between the brackets to fill in the gap that gets created by the tonneau cover going over the lower half. Take them seriously. I played it a little loose on this step, and the wind and flapping on the middle of the tonneau cover, which you'll never notice as you drive, ripped out all the foam pads under the crossbars on the cover. That's on me. They told me. I just didn't listen. If you buy one, you should.

One thing worth separate shoutout is the traction board brackets KB offers. They give you a little extra distance to the outside, which turns out to be handy for not hitting the bed rail with the boards. They also are adjustable on two planes, which makes it easy to fit the boards right in the sweet spot between the RTT and the bed. For the record, I used MaxTrax locking pins for my ARB Tred Pro boards, and they worked just fine. I think the slotted mounting holes in the KB bracket helped with that too.

 

[Fcmalie]

If you decide to upgrade to a dc/dc charger and lithium battery, I went with the KickAss battery box and a 100ah battery. It runs our 63L ARB fridge for almost a week without any charge. I haven't gotten a solar panel yet, but it comes pre-wired for everything and you just hook up to it with Anderson fittings.

I still need to reorganize my wiring, but it has had no issues at all so far.

 

[John in the Woods]

If you decide to upgrade to a dc/dc charger and lithium battery, I went with the KickAss battery box and a 100ah battery. It runs our 63L ARB fridge for almost a week without any charge. I haven't gotten a solar panel yet, but it comes pre-wired for everything and you just hook up to it with Anderson fittings.

I still need to reorganize my wiring, but it has had no issues at all so far.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I'm leaning toward a Renogy system in the cab next to the fridge, but I'll take a hard look at this. No one knows offroad power better than the folks down under, and a prewired plug-and-play portable setup has some serious plusses.

 

[John in the Woods]

I see that like a great challenge and possibly an easy problem to fix...

1. Install square tubing across the rack where each of the brackets can slide into.... use securing pins to keep the brackets in place.
2. Move tent to center of rack, eliminating that gap.
3. When you need to deploy, just slide the brackets out with the closed awning, getting back the clearance needed.
4. Insert securing pins so the brackets do not come out while using.
5. Done! Enjoy your setup as intended.

OK. I've been thinking about this, and I've given the setup a hard look with this in mind. In the end, I think you're right, this is a problem to conquer; but I may go at it from the opposite direction -- setting up the RTT shift rather than the awning mount.

My reasons for going that way are ...

• I'm worried about the stability of the awning on the trail and at the campsite. The mount already cantilevers a bit off the end of the rack, and I think I'm lucky to have found the double-bracket solution that I did. It's out to the side and up high enough, and there's no wobble in it. I don't want to introduce any points into that system where necessary DIY tolerances might make things sloppy and have that thing bouncing like mad up there when the trail gets entertaining.
• I think the RTT, even though it's twice the weight, can be set up to move with more stability and security. It attaches at 4 points instead of 2, so the load on each point is at least similar. And if I adapt your suggestion for the RTT, I think I can find a boxed aluminum tube that fits over the hefty aluminum crossbars for the @KB Voodoo rack. I can bolt the existing RTT brackets tight around the added tube with no new parts needed, then use some UHMW plastic (which is cheap) inside the tube to allow lateral movement and fill in any slop between the pieces. I can then drill one hole in each added sleeve and two holes in each cross member, and use a trailer hitch pin to hold the RTT either in the centered position for driving or in the passenger-shifted position for deploying at camp.

With the brackets firmly mounted to the boxed aluminum tube, which is captive on the beefy aluminum crossbar, there's no way the RTT can lift, shift to the rear or escape to the side. Even if the pins fell out, the worst the RTT would do is shift with a thud and I can pull over and put the pins back in place.

I'm feeling pretty good about this idea. Provided I can find the right dimension boxed tube (a big if, but there's a ton of sources and I only need as little as two feet of it) this could be an inexpensive and highly functional fix.

So, am I nuts?

 

[AlpineChip]

Great write ups and pictures on your build... looking forward to further modifications and trials.

 

[Benbean66]

Hey John, thanks for the awesome write-up on the Condor Overland tent. I have an older Smittybuilt RTT, and despite it working great, I've been thinking about replacing it with this one from Roofnest (or the XL model ) simply to cut down on setup and tear down time.
Nice build, and I enjoyed reading about all of the thought processes that went into it.

 

[mx5red]

Hey John, thanks for the awesome write-up on the Condor Overland tent. I have an older Smittybuilt RTT, and despite it working great, I've been thinking about replacing it with this one from Roofnest (or the XL model ) simply to cut down on setup and tear down time.
Nice build, and I enjoyed reading about all of the thought processes that went into it.

You have such a kick ass trailer setup. Well done.

 

[Benbean66]

You have such a kick ass trailer setup. Well done.

Thanks! It's been a work-in-progress over the past year and a half, but we love it.

 

[John in the Woods]

OK, so I have about a year to catch up on. I'll try to keep it short and useful, and stick to the build and the lessons learned.

Since last winter's Florida shakedown tour for the overall system, I put on more than 30K road miles and a few thousand more trail miles going up the East Coast, all over the Northeast, then across to Southern California, back to Florida, up the East Coast once more, now settled into my temporary home in Southwest Virginia. During that, I lived in the Jeep full time for about 6 months.

A few takeaways, in no particular order:

• Everything held up very well. Nothing got off easy, except my Hi-Lift jack which thankfully never saw combat. I was most impressed with three things ...
  • The Roofnest tent. I spent more than 100 nights in it, and it was dry, dust free and comfortable every time.
  • The Mopar lift and the Gladiator suspension overall. I pushed this rig, over, under and more sideways than common sense would suggest. I never felt like the rig was overwhelmed or unstable, even with probably 300 pounds mounted above the bed. That surprised me
  • The Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT tires. They're at 45K now and still look great. I ran highways at 80mph, rock ledges at 1mph, and never flinched at sand, mud or snow, and they saw a lot of all of them. Definitely going to buy another set, although I don't think I'll need them for another 20K or so (note: I'm doing a five-tire rotation, full-sized spare under the bed)
• The OVS 270 awning may be my favorite addition. Huge coverage. Excellent in rain and intense sun. Hold up to the wind very well. Out in a minute. Away in 2.
• I never built the DC-DC house system I wanted, and spent the money on more travel instead. For me, the way I traveled last year, it worked. I kept using the EcoFlow River Pro that I had. Once I learned that it's smarter to charge it from the DC-AC inverter than direct from DC truck power, I never had problems with getting a full recharge when driving between sites. I bought a second 110W solar panel to stay ahead of power loss, but since I rarely stayed still more than 3 days in one place, I never needed to use it.
• There is definitely a downside to a RTT, even a good one. It's the nature of what they are. If you drive to a site and then want to explore the area during your stay, you have to breakdown and re-setup every day. It get's time consuming and annoying, and once a park ranger took all my gear away because they thought I left without it. By midsummer I started bringing my ground tent with me. If I was staying in one location for more than 2 days and nights, I set up the tent (30 minutes up and down). It was very nice to have camp still set and ready to occupy after a long day exploring trails. When the market matures and prices return to earth, I might explore a small trailer.
• I don't understand expensive water and fuel storage systems. I never felt like I needed anything more than two plastic 5-gallon water jugs and a 20L gerry can. Cheap, easy and can do it all.
• I do understand a nicer camp kitchen though, ideally one that can be on the tailgate or stand on the ground. I'm still old-schooling it with a Coleman stove and a tub of cooking gear, and I found that I was restricting myself to cold cereal and burgers just to avoid kitchen set up and breakdown. I wouldn't spend a ton, but there are some great examples on this forum of people using relatively inexpensive tool draw systems and DIY slides to make nice little kitchens. I'm adding that to the list.
• If you have a diesel, pay attention to fuel quality as you travel. Not everyplace is up font about the blend, and some remote places don't bother to differentiate between highway diesel and the stuff for your old John Deere. I got a tank of junk somewhere in western Nebraska, and ended up derating on the interstate outside of Denver. I went all the way to Oceanside CA in limp mode, and had to skip two days of planned trail riding in Utah along the way. Not cool at all.
• Which reminds me -- don't travel anywhere beyond a day from a dealer or shop you trust without something to read and reset codes. JScan, Tazer, whatever works for you, but have it and know how to use it. When I threw an exhaust code after getting bad fuel, there was not a shop or a dealer I could find anywhere from Denver to Southern California that would agree to look at my truck any sooner than a week. And then I had to leave it, which makes living in it a little challenging. I drew on help and advice from folks here, ordered the hardware and software I needed, and had them waiting for me when I got to my buddy's place in Oceanside. I was reset and running fine inside of 30 minutes.
• Most of all, just get out there. It's a bit cliche to say you'll discover things you can never anticipate and meet people and see places you'll remember forever, but it's absolutely true. These trucks are incredible. Days in the sand and on mud and rocks can immediately be followed by days on cruise control rolling down the interstate, and all of it from a soft seat behind the wheel. If you've got the perch and can find the time, get out there.

Enough of all that. I didn't happen it there aren't pics, so here goes ...

Free beach access (people, not trucks) in Vero Beach, FL.

Up the East Coast, some remote quiet camping in a NY State Forest.

Three days of steady rain alongside the Delaware River Gap. Awning made it easy.

Camping in PA before hitting Rausch Creek with an eager rookie in a Wrangler.

Always stay hydrated.

Basic short-stay camp setup. I learned to love the folding grill.

When digging in for a few days, the ground tent comes out and chef gets ambitious.

A great remote spot in Upstate NY. I keep it simple and level with rocks. I learned that anything more then a few degrees nose up or down made sleeping in the RTT challenging. I also learned to always keep my head on the high side to keep from getting a stuffed-up nose.

Six months living out of the Jeep, and dinner looked like this at least 100 times.

Waterfront beach camping in Nebraska! Someone on this forum recommended Lake McConaughy. I absolutely second that. Nice folks, and complete freedom to camp wherever you want. I did have to turn the truck around at about 10, when the wind off the lake started lifting the fold-open part of the RTT. Awning never missed a beat.

Western Colorado. Just endless beauty.

The Oceanside Strand, maybe the most dangerous place I drove the truck.

The joy of three weeks in Southern California is not a drop of rain, and no need for doors.

Following the pink Jeeps up trails outside Sedona, Arizona.

I camped not far from here on the Gulf in Louisiana. Only guy with NY plates in the zip code. Counter to my uninformed expectations, everyone was stunningly welcoming and I was treated to the best seafood stew I've ever imagined. I also enjoyed some of the largest flying insects I've ever seen.

This may be my favorite stop during an almost 7,000-mile circuit around the country. Uwharrie National Forest in North Carolina. I ran solo and did all the "D" trails and a bunch more on a very quiet October weekday. The rig, even with that load up top, never flinched. If you go, stop at the Eldorado Outpost for a local map and some trail intel. The ladies there knew everything.

Back in Upstate NY, stripped down for the winter and already covered in frost.

Barney Rubble trail at AOAA in PA. I tested the rock sliders pretty well in here, running the Badge of Honor trails and more with a few gents I met on this forum. Great day.

Found this in the middle of a wildlife management area in central NY. The local kids have the right attitude.

The view from near Butte Mountain in Southwest VA. Miles and miles or trails in the George Washington and Jefferson national forests. I just pick off a new place every weekend I can.

The well known Potts Mountain Jeep Trail was closed in early March, but scores of miles of nearby trails were open. I marked this site for some camping once the RTT is back on. Past that rock is an open view more than 1,000 feet down to the valley below, when it's not shrouded on late-winter fog.

 

[TheOpa]

Awesome pics and download of your experience with different choices John, and pretty cool to spot myself in one of the pics! Glad to see all is going well.

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