Mauka2Makai - Our Quest Begins...An 80 Series Adventure

Mauka2Makai

Explorer
Excellent practical mods with great execution. Your rig is so clean! Great work.

love your 80 series; good luck in Florida! When do you plan to move? Have family down there and visit frequently on the gulf coast; lots of nice beach stuff and fishing spots to go wheeling.

Nice updates. Adding two BlueSea dual USB power ports was one of my better mods too, so now the family doesn't have to negotiate who gets to charge their phone/iPad first. Especially on long highway trips when the mobile devices see heavy use.

The CB looks to be in a good spot. It looks like you could make use of those microphone holders that replace the little console coin holders, like I use for my CB and ham radio mics.

For the new per filter, I really like the roof rack brace. Instead of a nyloc bolt, have you considered using a wing nut with a steel lock washer? Then you could undo it to clean out the prefilter without the need for a wrench.

Good stuff as always. Well thought-out, practical mods and quality work. I think most people never check or adjust SWR, for example, which is often a big mistake... Go you! :D

I have been meaning to ask, how are the seat covers working out over time? I am thinking of going this route, new leather is not in the budget at this time for me.


Thanks compliments guys... Installing USB and 12 v charging outlets was definitely worth the wire. Can't believe I waited so long to do this. Looks like we'll be heading out beginning of July and be in Florida near the end of the month. We're in the planning phase of determining all of our destinations and routes to travel. Just ordered a Yaesu FT-2900R 2M radio from HRO... with the advice of a friend from work, I opted for simplicity of a single band rather than additional complexity of a quad band. Plan on taking the Tech. license test soon as well. We'll see if I decide to keep the CB in its current location or locate the 2M there, I'm going to try and fit both on the driver side of center counsel though. As for the seat covers... One day I'd like to fit Wet O'koles or even better new OEM leather, but the current seat covers are doing their job just fine. They started fraying at the outboard seam of driver seat, but haven't broken seams or become any worse. The fit is getting a little loose and tend to slide at times, otherwise for the price for them they are way friendlier on your wallet than the pricier alternatives. New leather would be ideal. :drool:
 

Mauka2Makai

Explorer
Salton Sea, Salvation Mountain, Bradshaw Trail, and Blythe

Sad to say, but our four year tour is nearly up in the city of Angels. Our last family vehicle dependent adventure (hehe) in California would bring us to Salton Sea, Salvation Mountain, Bradshaw Trail, and Blythe for four days of unbearably dry desert heat... even breaking well over 105*+++ while on the Bradshaw Trail. We originally planned to end our week with three days in Joshua Tree, but the heat just proved to be to much to handle. Coming from a beach side community with cool ocean breezes throughout the day... it was no help in preparing us for the unwavering HEAT :sunny:. Well what did you expect in going to the desert in June? Funny... my wife asked the same thing.



All geared up and ready to go. Next stop Salton Sea.



Our boys ready to do some amateur bird watching.







Crazy to think that the Salton Sea was formed as an irrigational accident fed from a swelling Colorado river in the early 1900's. It's now California's largest lake well over 300 square miles, over 200ft. below sea level, and directly over the San Andreas fault.







As we walked the shores it was lined with hundreds if not thousands of dead tilapia... the lakes only resident fish, well preserved sea birds, and what appeared to be actual sand... just like at a beach. The high salinity and dry desert heat is what helps to preserve the dead fish and birds washed ashore. Surprisingly the stench of dead fish was very minimal if not non existent, just the smell of salt in the air. We were told that the sand was from barnacles that were brought over on military sea planes conducting training for WW2, the barnacles have just flourished since.



With some new found knowledge of the Salton Sea and meeting up with a bud from work we were ready to head for Salvation Mountain.



Stay tuned for vivid colors in a real desert.:26_16_2:
 

Mauka2Makai

Explorer
Salton Sea, Salvation Mountain, Bradshaw Trail, and Blythe contd.

Next up was Salvation Mountain in Niland just before Slab City. Salvation Mountain is the creation of Leonard Knight... a man that has selflessly devoted most of his life constructing Salvation Mountain out of adobe clay, straw, auto body parts, and thousands of gallons of donated paint to spread one simple message... God is Love.

My mind was blown... It was a pretty magnificent sight for all of us to see.









Boat, tractor, and car... not sure of the meaning for them, but added to the feel. Oddly enough we will see another boat in even a stranger place.



Mini mountain.





Follow the yellow path to the top.







Following the yellow path to the top affords a breeze to help cool off and panoramic views of Salton Sea and The Slabs.



The Slabs... All thats left are the concrete slabs of the barracks and quonset huts of the dismantled and abandoned Fort Dunlap World War II Marine training base. To best describe the "The Slabs" was a graffiti we read as we were later leaving "The Slabs" it read, "Beware you are now entering reality".





The water tanks... best viewed from a distance.



Boys enjoyed being able to touch and explore... the caves as they called it, were their favorite .





The Hogan and The Museum... Interior areas that provide shelter from the constant heat. Amazing use of a tree for support along with bales of straw and clay. Hard to decide what was a greater accomplishment... The mountain or the interior areas.





Salvation Mountain is a beautiful place that's full of vivid color in a drab desert, a feat of engineering made possible by only one man with one message... God is Love.
A Biography of Leanard Knight is a great read for the whole story and history of the man behind Salvation Mountain.





Stay tuned for The Bradshaw Trail.
 

zelseman

Observer
Im so jealous of your location and your ability to get out and enjoy the wilds of the world with your family. I hope to some day have that ability and to some day have a purpose built rig like yours.
 

Bretthn

Explorer
Once you are on this side of the country we will definitely have to share in an adventure sometime. I hope what we have to offer in the east is not too disappointing.
 

Mauka2Makai

Explorer
Im so jealous of your location and your ability to get out and enjoy the wilds of the world with your family. I hope to some day have that ability and to some day have a purpose built rig like yours.

We are definitely very fortunate as a family... Thank you

Once you are on this side of the country we will definitely have to share in an adventure sometime. I hope what we have to offer in the east is not too disappointing.

Sounds like a plan... I think the south east is going to be a good change in scenery.
 

Mauka2Makai

Explorer
Bradshaw Trail

I know... It's been some time since my last post and I've got lots to catch up on.

Rewind back to the month of June in sunny California with temperatures peaking out around the hundies. We left Salvation Mountain to refuel and locate the trail head of the Bradshaw Trail. My boys were super excited to see all the bomb duds... and I think were just ready for the sun to go down. Finding the trail head was bit trickier than expected, my plan was to head towards the Coachella canal and follow the fence line to the trail. Easier said than done. I swear I could see the start of the trail, it was just a dang maze getting there. I left my Garmin in my wife's truck and the both of us were using our cells for gps... bad idea with minimal coverage. My maps on my tablet were freezing up and I didn't bring my mac, so navigation was left to paper and landmark recognition throughout the trip.





Alas we made it. Everyones happy



My friends stock v8 4Runner sport and my LC just pass the train trestle.



Doing around 30mph when a couple of deer ran out in front of us. Definitely a good reason for the ARB front bumper.

With night fall quickly approaching we set out for a spot that I had only seen in pictures. I wasn't sure of it's exact location or how far it was from the trail head... just a hunch that it was within an hours time from start or so. I wasn't even sure of where the bomb duds were, My boys were anxiously waiting to see them. I was hoping that they would be off the trail within site or a sign or other markings on the trail pointing us to the right direction. It was what ever came first for us that night... camp or duds we would stop for.



Camp it was. Location found just off the trail a bit on the left... look for the micro mountain in the sand. Great place to camp for the night with natural wind barriers.



My oldest getting some early morning sun.

We awoke to the very early morning sun shining ever so bright and quickly heating up the tent and to the sound of our tent zippers being opened and shortly there after the sound of pebbles hitting the top of our tent from above. It was a sign that out boys were getting restless and ready for us get out of bed.





While climbing the rock formation on the left or as my boys referred to it as "The Pyramid" or "The Micro Mountain" my co worker found a geo cache. What a cool find... my boys really got a kick out of it. After explaining to them what its all about, maybe its a hobby we might get into... sounds like a great way for more family fun. The cache... an ammo can, was filled with all kinds of cool nick nacks, bullets, and other neat things that kept the boys well occupied while we packed up camp. When we were packed and ready to go we put every thing back in the can along with an additional goody for the next group or geo cachers that come along.





Back on trail with the Chuckwalla Mountains in the background. Did I mention that it was Hot.





Thinking back on it... I'll take the summer desert heat any day over the east coast summer humidity. The LC doesn't seem to mind though.



Trail side carnage, your guess as to make and model is as good as mine. Probably better. I'm thinking a Plymouth of some sort?



******T like this really pisses me off. Auto parts, filing cabinets, machinery parts, scrap metal you name it. Anyone with a couple of 5 tons with trailers want to do a trail clean up and make some extra money recycling to donate to a good cause?







Yes... It gets weird now. How did this boat get out here? When was it brought out? Who brought it out here? And most importantly Why? Was it from a film set? Someone going to sail the Salton Sea? Once again your guess is as good as mine. Look and the third pic as relation to size to me, it was a good size boat. We all got a good kick out of it. Am I upset over this? No, because personally I feel that it ads to the experience, even if it was left here. The scrap metal from earlier is just flat out disrespectful... it was fairly recent and could have been easily recycled. This boat, I'm sure has a pretty interesting story as to why and how it's here. I'd be pissed and confused if another boat was left trail side though.



We stopped by Wiley Well campground for lunch. It was vacant with no one around, kind of eerie. Wow 40 ft. till water, that's a long way down digging by hand. After lunch we stopped at Coon Hollow campground to check it out... was vacant as well. Both were decent campgrounds that would be way better suited during the cooler months.
Next up was finding a location on BLM land for letting some rounds loose.
 
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Mauka2Makai

Explorer
We found a nice spot out of view, with a good back stop, well off the Bradshaw Trail, and on BLM land that looked as though it was used often. An AR, 1911, and G19. Oh Yeah, git some... 'merica, pew, pew. :)







Boys had a great time... wife, not so much. Even with hearing protection, in the canyon it was getting a little too loud for her. So she went on an hour long hike. :Wow1: It was so nice to get some trigger time, It was like the Triple Crown for me... camping with the family, trail time in the LC, and shootin' guns... all I needed was a nice clean shoulder high right and I'd be in Shangri-La for the day.



My friends 4Runner is all stock and he's gone with me to DV multiple times with no problems for our kind of travel. All stock, but where's the fun in that.



Our spot for the second night of camping. It's well off the trail and we followed some tracks back here thinking that maybe we would find some nice Palm trees or something, nope just lots of brush.



We did find a large white X on the hill side. Why was it there? Is that the spot for hidden treasure? Can you find it on Google maps? Do helicopters land there? More questions asked while around the camp fire.





As night grew among us... the temperatures finally started to cool. We flowed through 13 gallons of water that night washing and cooling off between the four in our family. It was literally a treat... I wasn't planning on using all the water, wanted to save some for worst case scenario, but I had another 5 gallon water container for emergency use plus half a case of water bottles. That night we slept well and woke early to head to Blythe.



As we were on the very final leg of the trail that morning my oldest asked about the bomb duds, I knew that they were a big highlight for him while on this trail and that they were long past. We asked if he had fun even without seeing them, and he said Yes. Missing things always gives a reason to come back a second time. Interesting to see how this trail will be in 4 plus years. Next time will definitely be done in the fall or spring rather than the start of summer and I'll have to find out where the bomb duds are. Any idea?

Stay tuned for Blythe, Intaglios, and Dinosaurs. What about Joshua Tree?
 
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Mauka2Makai

Explorer
I'd say the night temps were in the mid 80's. Warm enough to be sleeping on the bags rather than in them. A whole lot cooler than during the day time that's for sure, Yet still uncomfortable.
 

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