Apr 20th, truck cleaning at home

 
April 20th Saturday, truck pressure wash in my driveway

And one last thing.   Once I got home (around 6p.m. Friday EST), the next day the truck’s undercarriage really needed a good cleaning.   I found a  few pockets of dried on mud and gravel.   the dust shields on the rotors trapped a lot of dirt too, so I suspect that was the source of the rotational squeaking that was driving me nuts.

First I used a floor jack to jack up under the rear diff’s cast iron cover.   Then I carefully dropped the rear axle onto 2 jack stands.    Removed the rear tires, but I don’t have more jackstands, so I could only remove one front tire at a time.   Maybe next time I go harbor freight, I’ll get 2 more stands.

Once the tires were off, I’d fire up the pressure washer and really clean off the rotors and brake calipers with the small pressure washer gun.   Using the creeper I rolled under the truck and clean things.   It was a wet dirty job, even wearing my rain jacket and pants.

The driveway is normally asphalt color, so all the brown mud is from Arkansas

Note from the future! 

I thought the squealing i was hearing occasionally was clay/dirt stuck in the leaf springs or something weird.   Turns out the rear brakes were already shot..   Only 30,000 miles!    Maybe i left the parking brake partially engaged at some point.   The Ford Ranger uses the rear brakes as the parking brakes too.

First few photos showing my fabric blocker trick for keeping water/dirt from getting in the back of the truck through the tailgate gaps.

Apr 19th, Ok4wd visit, then home

April 19th Friday, Ok4wd in Stewartsville NJ
Stopped by this overlanding store/shop on the drive home

bought this heavier winch line blanket.  You can also put rocks/sand in it so that if the line snaps, it drops to the ground instead of whipping back at you






This gadget is a propane water heater and pump for showers.    Works better than anything else from what Mark told me.

A different brand roof top tent (Alu-cab).   has an interesting port hole for this lithium battery powered air conditioner.    The tech only sort of works right now, but someday soon, it’ll work great.

 

 

and as I was leaving the store this Toyota Tacoma based GFC camper showed up.   His name was Hans and he had the version 1 GFC, I’ve got the v2.   but good to see their builds last.




and the rest of the way I went home.   Basically up i-287 through New Jersey, to i-84 south of Newburgh, then i-84 east home.   Going through Danbury and Waterbury on i-84 suuuuucked.   All the NYC and NJ people trying to get to the Berkshires I assume, via RT 7 north, early Friday afternoon.     My own fault, probably the worst time to try and go through there.   May have made more sense to go 87 North to the Mass Pike, oh well live and learn.

added a couple hours to the 4.5 hours Google promised

Apr 18th, still hanging out in Maryland

 


April 18th Thursday, Maryland
9am
Going to hang out at the horse farm today, and the plan is to head home tomorrow.    There’s a overlanding place that’s sort of on the way.   Ok4wd.com

going to swing by there on the way home tomorrow.   Will try not to spend all the money I’ve saved on this trip.

Even with what I spend on gas and food on the road, I ironically usually spend about half what I normally do at home.   Probably because I’m not buying computer gadgets, sewing stuff, woodworking stuff.    Gas and food are cheaper, lol


Mark is also a very talented stone wall mason.   He teaches classes on it and is almost always working on projects for clients in the area.  

This is just an example of a wall he did with students.

Kitty roll call, oldest to youngest.   They also have horses, but didn’t get photos of them.

9pm
It was a fun day today. Mark helped me remove the heavy metal hook on the end of my winch line and make a loop with the synthetic winch line instead, which is safer to use.   You just need more straps and soft shackles.

I don't have to worry if the winch line breaks free while pulling something, and then  having the heavy metal hook come flying back at me or the truck.

Apr 17, Mark and Teresa's Maryland, different fit pit option

 
April 17th wed 9:30am kingsport cb
slept kind of meh.   lots of engine braking from the semi’s, but I slept plenty to drive.

getting breakfast at CB then heading out.  almost sad about it being the last CB breakfast for awhile.   sad face…😢
 

April 17th wed 4pm, Maryland 
Made it to Mark and Teresa’s !

Just got some very good Mexican from the local place in Hampstead.   then hung out for the night enjoying a campfire down in their local pasture.   Teresa keeps horses and has an awesome small business helping kids on the spectrum.   Horse Therapy.   Helps them come out of their shell.

Mark was just adding wood, the photo looks more dangerous than it was.   I like his fire pit though.   May have to get one.   Pro’s and Cons vs my Ranger Solo stove.

Pro’s

• Lots of heat
• You can stare at the coals
• Lightweight and packs up smaller than my solo stove
• Easy to add more wood

Cons

• Uses more wood than my solo stove to generate a similar amount of heat
• Can’t use in fire bans
• Can’t put on an ember cover, or heat deflector like the Solo Stove
• Doesn’t burn wood pellets
• Slightly more smokey than my solo stove, assuming I’m using the solo stove correctly, which often isn’t the case with firewood I buy roadside.

https://a.co/d/cp9QiRN

 

 

 

Apr 16, heading home, Kingsport TN CB

 April 16th Tuesday 9:30 p.m  Kingsport Cracker Barrel Tennessee i-81 
Long day.   woke up around 5:30 a.m. in the Ouachita woods, and couldn’t fall back asleep.   So I packed up and headed out.

uneventful drive out of the forest.  aired up the tires with the air compressor mounted in my truck bed and headed off to civilization.   

Not sure I ever mentioned that in the blog before.  but on the back roads, I let about 50% of the air out of the tires.   You have to drive slower (<= 25mph), but the half deflated tires eat up all the bumpy back roads much better.     You don’t want to drive highway speeds with half-full tires though.   They’d get really hot, get damaged or explode,  the vehicle would not steer well at all, and you’d get horrible mileage.

Anyhoo,  after a quick breakfast at the Lake Sylvia beach area, I got on route 10 east and followed that for about a half hour to i-40 east.  

Little Rock traffic on i40 is not bad at all.   The disconcerting rotational squeaking at slower speeds was still noticeable.  Worst betwee 30-45mph.    On the rt 10 drive I tried to find a self-service car wash, but they only had the automated or touchless ones.   with the ski box on the truck, I’m too tall for those.   So I stopped at a truck wash made for semi’s.   It cost me $40, but they did a great job.  8 guys with pressure washer spray guns.   I’d do it again tbh.   Sadly though, the rotors are still squeaking.   I think if it was a wheel bearing it’d be loud at highway speeds, so I’m guessing a small rock got in between a disc pad and a rotor.   I’d guess the rear driver side.   Vehicle brakes fine though, and you don’t hear anything at highway speeds.

Anyhoo, stopped at the big Bass Shop Pro pyramid in memphis.   well worth a walk through if you’re ever  in memphis.   Got some good rain gear for ½ off from the clearance racks.    My ratty, cheap Frogg Toggs rain gear for camping were worn out.

The pyramid is bigger than it looks in the photo.  

 

 

 
There’s a hotel in there too, who knew?   They have giant Spanish Moss trees (fake?) and even an area where they keep small alligators!   Why?   who knows?   Maybe so they can threaten unruly kids with getting tossed into the alligator pit if they don’t behave!

After I killed enough time for my BBQ place to open, I got lunch at Bar B Q Stop in memphis;.    so good.    Tough choice between them and St Louis.   Both are way better than anything I’ve ever made.  

I went into the Bar BQ Stop place with my stainless steel take-a-way containers.   I felt zero shame.    I ordered a huge dinner, ate maybe half, and took the rest to my truck’s fridge for lunch/dinner another day.

Anyway, continuing east.   never, EVER drive i40 through Nashville, take the i840 beltway around it.   just do it.   The time estimate signs lie.   It is NEVER faster to go through Nashville via i-40 during the day.     Only go into Nashville if you’re doing something in Nashville.   the highway committee were drunk or high or both when they did the highway planning there.

through Nashville, i40 expands to 4 or 5 lanes and you’ll have to cross over at least 3 times in monstrously heavy, stop and go traffic.   Sometimes to stay on i40 east you have to be in the 2 leftmost lanes, then the 2 rightmost lanes, then back to the 2 leftmost lanes.   Awful!!!   at the very least take i440 to go around the mess.   it’ll be worth it.

Continued on and 5 hours later I was at the Buc-ee’s in Crossville Tennesee.    loaded up on gas and had a “light” dinner.   Then onto Knoxville.   At some point around there I lost an hour to the changeover from Central time to Eastern timezone.

Got through that then onto i-81 north for an hour until I found myself at the Kingsport Cracker Barrel.   I’ll get some pancakes in the morning and head up to my friends in Maryland.    They’re about 7 hours from here, but add an hour for gas, food and biobreaks.   Should be an easier day tomorrow.  Today I did the 10-11 hour drive.

Talked with Jacqui, might stay at Mark and Teresa’s Friday too if we’ve got stuff to do.   Then I’ll have an easier drive home on Saturday.   I might drive to ok4wd.com in new jersey.   Just have to leave early Saturday, they close early at 1:30p.m., and they’re 2.5-3 hours from the Maryland place.

Apr 15th, Hotsprings, bent bike derailleur backing up

 

April 15th, Monday 2:30 p.m  Hotsprings then back Ouachita National Forest, forest road 132 arkansas.  

 

Woke up this morning and went into HotSprings.   I guess there’s supposed to be 26 miles of hiking somewhere, but I was on a mission for a beer and a pizza.   Timed it well, only getting there 5 minutes early.

After finishing half of the pizza and the entire beer, I carried the rest of the pizza back to my parking spot.  I splurged and did the paid parking even though there was plenty of free parking.   I could have found a free spot if I tried harder, but I didn’t want anyone hitting my bike on the back.

Turns out I should have been worried about my own driving.   After getting back to the Ouachita woods, at my campsite I backed into a small tree (thankfully small, the main section only being about 3” thick.   Short tree which is likely why I hadn’t noticed it.

Anyway, it’ll only cost me a $10 derailleur hanger for the bike’s rear derailleur.   no biggee.   Just more of a D’oh!   moment.   Thankfully it happened on the last day of my trip so that I don’t have to go find a bike shop.   and odds are I’d be waiting for a part to arrive.   very lucky on the timing.

Tomorrow I head back out onto the highway.    Hoping to drive through some rain to clean off the truck.     If I dont’ I’ll drive to a self service car wash place and give the wheels and suspension a good cleaning.    At low speeds I have a rotational squeaking that’s very annoying.   Have to drive around with the windows up on the back roads.   could be a stuck caliper or something.    

My truck shop guy says you’re not really overlanding unless you’re breaking stuff so mission accomplished!   At some point I want to upgrade my front brakes anyway.   hopefully it’s just dirt in the leaf springs, but if not, it’s on my upgrade list anyway.

I may also need a new antenna for the weboost if it doesn’t survive the drive home.    if it does, I can epoxy a fix with some leftover fiberglass tape, and paint it black when done.   If not, another $100.   Also from the small tree incident.

All in all, a very fun outing.   Traveling alone I’d say that time slows down more.   Feels more like a month where it’s only been a couple weeks.    I like solo travel though, it’s not a bad thing if I have to head out on my own.    Now I know where to go around here too.   so next time, I may zip here, and start off with bikepacking before doing the comfy truck camping.

going to enjoy my last few hours in the woods.   that’s all for now.

derailleur hangers are intended to be the sacrifical part and to bend.  I should order a spare.  

the lower bit is supposed to be inline with the gears above it.

 

 

 
weboost antenna damage….
if you look closely from the top down, where it starts to get thin, that’s where I broke it. 

I put on some all-weather, gorilla-brand duct tape 

and cinched the tape down further with 3 black zip ties. 

The plastic enclosure wasn’t cracked all the way through. it just needs some reinforcement.

 

 

another shot showing the antenna at the tippy top.   Part of why it works so well is that the GFC tent gets it up higher off the ground when the tent is up.

 

 

Apr 14th, forest road 788 off 122 west side of rt 7 AR

 
April 14th, Sunday 4 p.m  Ouachita National Forest, forest road 788 off 122  west side of rt 7 arkansas.  
 

I spent most of today driving through the southern trails around Lake Winona.   not nearly as many campsites.   most of the campsites were on forest road 132.      Plenty of spots to pull a vehicle just off the road and go pitch a tent in the woods, but not many establish pull off spots on the road around the lake..

Heading back North, I hit one majorly gnarly section, coming up forest road rt 2.    there was a toyota 4runner without a winch in front of me.   They backed up.   The washouts had taken out all the soil and gravel leaving large ruts of sharp rock.    Coming the other way I saw a modded Jeep with 37” tires clear it, but his buddy behind him with 35’s got stuck.    Glad I didn’t try,  I only have 1 skid plate up front.  I need one to cover my 4wd transmission box thing behind the front wheels.

On our side another vehicle showed up but this one had the works.  winch and full skid armor underneath.   So he was going to go down the crevasses after the 3 jeeps finished coming up.    A tricked out Land Cruiser I think

I wussed out and looking at the topography and took a side road that was level but went around the small mt/hill.   other than mud puddles.   it was far, far easier.   Saved me from having to double back out to rt 7.   I was trying to avoid that road so I wouldn’t have to air up the tires just to drive 5 miles.   So happy to have achieved that.

I may just air up before leaving camp tomorrow.   the gravel roads are pretty smooth and I won’t be far from Hot Springs.    My mission tomorrow, other than some hikes, is beer and pizza.   looking online Hot Springs is the only national park with its own micro brewery.   My kind of park!

if any of it’s good I’ll get a 4pack for the road.   After a week of no beer, I miss my liquid bread while camping.    it hits the spot like nothing else after biking a couple hours.   And I do like the stronger beers, but I’m just a 1 and done kind of drinker.    No interest in getting drunk.   Too old for that.

Whelp.   Tonight may be cowboy spaghetti.   I’ve got left over chili to use up, and some spaghetti sauce too.    We’re hitting the dregs of what’s in the mini cooler now, but it’s all good.   Might make some hot cocoa tonight too, I’ve got half and half to use up.

oh and without the weboost I’d have no cell signal at all.  with it I get 3 bars of LTE, but i have to have the puck figuratively taped to the back of my phone.   Still worth it.   I can get online and get more info about Hot Springs tomorrow.   I thought about going today, but it’s Sunday, so I figure it might be less busy tomorrow.   Doubtful, but I can hope.

 

rough plan for the return trek home
monday Hot Springs Nat Park exploration.   find a camp site for Monday night back near Lake Sylvia (northeast corner of Ouachita).
Depending on how long I take in Hot Springs, I may overnight at the nearest CB on i40.   The truck desperately needs a wash.   

Tuesday, start driving back via i40.   Probably stop for lunch at the memphis bbq place I found last time.   Will skip the nashville chicken and just hit the buc-ee’s before I get on i81north.

Wednesday,  drive up to northern Maryland to see Mark and Teresa.   Will hang out with them Thursday if they have time

Friday drive home to Jacqui

 

Anyway, did a lot of driving today, here are some photos