2011 Adventures & Trips in pictures: Lots and lots of BIG pictures!

[Larry]

It seems the 2011 Adventure season is all but a memory now. 2011 brought two major upgrades to my old rig which made the 5,000+ miles of playtime much more enjoyable this year. The first upgrade being a NV4500 5 speed manual trans with overdrive and the second being a new 2011 custom built Phoenix camper. Over the past 7 months the camper racked up some 21 sleeping nights on the trail in temperatures from over 120 degrees this summer down to the teens in the Colorado high country this past weekend.

Phoenix Camper’s maiden voyage – Deweese reservoir, Westcliffe, CO May 2010

First night in the camper. Just an over night trip

Utah Trip – Late June/Early July with ColoradoBill and 1leglance

Dewey Bridge at the beginning of the Top of the World trail

Top of the World

ColoradoBill

ColoradoBill’s rig

Cactus Salad. Very appropriate side dish for this trip

First night we met up with 1leglance we camped outside of Moab a few miles in preparation for our trip to the White Rim trail over the next few days

Nothing like camping in a mosquito infested flood plane

 

[Larry]

Beginning of the White Rim Trail

Bill and Lance on Muscleman’s Arch

Washer Woman

Trailboss Bill frying chicken!

 

[Larry]

Valley of the Gods

Almost home. Only 8 more hour to get there

The only carnage from the entire 7 day Utah trip

North Fork Reservoir - Chaffee County, CO Mid-July

Beautiful sunset!

 

[Larry]

Hermit Lake – Near Westcliffe, CO August

Nature’s own leveling blocks

Summit of Hermit Pass

Returned to North Fork Reservoir a few weeks later with the wife and in-laws.

Wife having fun with the camera and playing on the kayak.

Father in-law sacked out after a day of fishing

 

[Larry]

Rainbow Lake – Near Westcliffe, CO September.

This lake is dang near dry! The story goes that firefighters sucked the water out to fight the Duckett fire this summer.

Haha, my slightly overweight buddy got stuck! I offered to wrap the winch cable around his neck

I finally caught a couple decent fish! Took all dang summer it seems.

Deweese Reservoir again for a quick over nighter with my neighbor and his buddy.

Check out my neighbors buddy’s old camping rig. He bought it new in 1971. Late September

 

[Larry]

Last trip of the season. Chaffee County, CO – October 6th though the 8th

Airing down the tires at St. Elmo as we prepare to cross Tin Cup Pass in the snow

Summit of Tin Cup Pass, Continental Divide 12,154 ft. Dig the shorts and flip flops? Hehe, it was 75 degrees when we left Canon City

Camp at Mirror Lake. It was a chilly night but warm inside the Phoenix

Mirror Lake Friday morning

Tin Cup, CO

Leaving Mirror Lake headed to the Taylor Park General Store then onto Spring Creek Reservoir

Spring Creek Reservoir Friday afternoon

Spring Creek Saturday morning

Airing up the tires. Time to head home.

That’s all Folks. Hope you enjoyed the pictures of 2011 as much as I enjoyed taking them! :sombrero:

 

[1leglance]

I gotta say having run the White Rim Larry your rig is amazing. Classic looks, killer drivetrain, and that Phoenix Camper is sooo nice.
Great pics by the way

 

[Rot Box]

Again love the rig and great pics. Thanks for sharing! :wings:

 

[Lostmanifesto]

I want your truck!

 

[JamesDowning]

Great pics man. Glad you had a good time out there.

Nice truck too!

 

[Ford Prefect]

Spring Creek Lake... Is that near Spring Creek Trail? I had not previously thought there was a lake any where near by... It would be a shame if I had missed the turn off all that time. (Outside of Idaho Springs, etc.)

Great photos. Looks like you had some nice trips.

 

[Foy]

What a great ride!

Larry,

Newbie Foy here, newbie at least as far as ExPo is concerned. I've been around 4WDs of one kind or another since the 1960s, and I don't think I've seen a nicer K-10. I'll bet you're lovin' that beefy 5-speed.

I had a '73 IH 1110 4WD with the NP 205 tc standard. Was the 205 OEM equipment on your K-10, or was that swapped in at some point, too? My feeble recollection tells me GM was putting a lighter-duty chain-driven tc in half-tons back then, but then again I've learned not to trust my recollection but so much.

Foy

 

[Larry]

Ford Perfect,

This particular Spring Creek Reservoir is between Gunnison and Taylor Park (Taylor Reservoir).

Foy,

Thanks! Welcome to EXPO! Yes, I am loving the 5 speed. Overdrive is a beautiful thing! There isn’t much on this truck that is OEM equipment except for the body. It was originally built with a 400 small block, TH350 automatic and NP203 full time chain driven tcase. A buddy and I swapped in a gear driven 205 back in 1997 as well as the ¾ ton axles. Then in 1999 I swapped in a SM 465 manual trans with a different 205 tcase (I am not a big automatic trans fan). Around 2003 I swapped in a 454HO crate engine which I ran until 2008 when I got tired of dealing with carburators (not a fan of carburators either) and tossed in the fuel injected 8.1L. Last winter the SM 465 was upgraded to NV4500 5 speed.

The chain drive 203 tcases weren’t really divided up between ½ tons and ¾ tons but more by transmission type. Manual transmissions trucks got 205 gear driven tcases while automatics got 203 full-time chain driven tcases but there were some early years (’73-’75) where you could get a full time 203 behind a manual trans then in 1980 all fullsize GM 4x4’s got the 205 regardless of transmission type. 1981 brought many changes when the chain driven aluminum tcases came on the scene and 205’s were only available in 1 tons through 1987 (1991 on chassis cabs and crew cabs).

Here is the interior

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

When the hell did the dewey bridge burn?!?!?!?

 

[Foy]

Those older trucks.........

Larry,
Thanks for the details. We here in the East never saw (or see even now) many manual trans trucks, even in the 3/4 t and 1t configurations. Now that you mention it, I knew of a small company here w/ a fleet of 3/4t Suburbans, early/mid 70s vintage, and I believe they were 203-equipped. An outfit in Tyler, TX I used to contract for geophysical work ran mid-late 70s 3/4t 'Burbans with the manual (SM465 I suppose) and 205 tcs.

Two of my old Scouts (a 65 and a 67) have twin-stick tcs. That gets the kids the ages of our sons (28 and 24) to rubbin' their heads real quick. I had one look along the dashboard of the 67 Scout for the knob to switch on the 4WD. A while back, I had a Scout with factory overdrive, and a long shifter for that, giving that one FOUR shifters on the transmission hump. Looked like a dang backhoe cab.

With the high elevation wandering you do, I don't suppose you're a fan of carbs one little bit. Those old 400s were nice powerplants, though. I ran a company truck for a short time, a GMC Jimmy, w/ the 400, 4-speed, and a 205. It would have been about a 76 or 77, I think.

When I went to hunt up a used diesel pickup about 8 years ago, I quickly gave up on finding a manual--they're rarer than hen's teeth around here. As a result, I've got a right nice 7.3 liter IH powerplant twisting an unreliable 4r100. But, it's got 218,000 miles and hasn't melted down yet, so I can't complain. Whenever she goes, I'll be looking for a ZF6 to replace it with.

Nice talking old trucks with you, Larry, hope to see you on the trail some time.

Foy