Post build ..uh.. build thread.
- Thread starter ericvs
- Start date
givemethewillys
Jonathan Chouinard
I think what I like the most about this rig is just how useful it is for "doing stuff". As much as I'd like to take off and see the world, I'm not in a position to do that. However, I like to mountain bike, and kiteboard, and get out to the lesser driven places of my locality when I can.
This rig is an everyman's camper, and as you've shown is just as good at daytrips to the beach as it is for a weekend getaway with Seatle's finest coffee. Every time I see an update on this thread I find myself spending the next hour looking at flatbeds for my f250, and pondering replicating your camper in fiberglass. Keep posting updates, we love pictures!
This rig is an everyman's camper, and as you've shown is just as good at daytrips to the beach as it is for a weekend getaway with Seatle's finest coffee. Every time I see an update on this thread I find myself spending the next hour looking at flatbeds for my f250, and pondering replicating your camper in fiberglass. Keep posting updates, we love pictures!
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
I'm the same way. This cab would suit me perfect for everyday life!! I lust after it especially since I already have a flatbed on my F-250!!
ericvs
Active member
Yes! Currently my longest trips are reasonably 5 days or so, but the majority are just short day or overnight trips. I can also just have a big open cavern in the back. When I was first looking at doing this and looking at money and return for investment etc, I was nervous that I wouldn't get the full use out of it. I fretted about it not being the right thing for me, maybe it is too much for what I need, maybe it will just sit or be a funky daily driver.
Ahh, stress!
After 2+ years of use, however, it has turned out to be fantastic. I have shuttled muddy mountain bikers to the top of the trail (6 people + 6 bikes!), I have moved a ton of sandy kite gear from the landing to the launch area and back home, I have hauled many sups and surfs to and on the beach, but two of us have also camped for 5 days out of the back. It also cruises at 80+mph when needed. I have also moved twice with the rig, it just swallows gear and doesn't really care. Easy as a daily driver and it is sort of unassuming (sort of!) when it is all closed up. Kind of like a work truck. Stealth camping is also no problem. It has taken me to some pretty awesome places too:
Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island, San Juan, Wa
Pretty fun view, it can make you sort of giddy:
and a tiny taste of the WABDR (more on this to come!)
have fun with your search! Here are some of my fav flatbed trucks: :drool:
oh and of course this one
But really, thank you everyone for the really kind words! Makes me feel even better about my decisions!
Ahh, stress!
After 2+ years of use, however, it has turned out to be fantastic. I have shuttled muddy mountain bikers to the top of the trail (6 people + 6 bikes!), I have moved a ton of sandy kite gear from the landing to the launch area and back home, I have hauled many sups and surfs to and on the beach, but two of us have also camped for 5 days out of the back. It also cruises at 80+mph when needed. I have also moved twice with the rig, it just swallows gear and doesn't really care. Easy as a daily driver and it is sort of unassuming (sort of!) when it is all closed up. Kind of like a work truck. Stealth camping is also no problem. It has taken me to some pretty awesome places too:
Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island, San Juan, Wa
Pretty fun view, it can make you sort of giddy:
and a tiny taste of the WABDR (more on this to come!)
have fun with your search! Here are some of my fav flatbed trucks: :drool:
oh and of course this one
But really, thank you everyone for the really kind words! Makes me feel even better about my decisions!
Gatordoc
Adventurer
Thank you! The reception to my rig is, frankly, a bit overwhelming. haha. Just took all the things I didn't like about my past vehicles and tried to make this one better. I am very happy that everyone is digging it and I hope it is inspiring others. Awesome!
To your questions.
1) No, I actually haven't used my maxtrax even once, (not even happily). I think that is either good or bad depending on your current situation. During my research, the maxtracks seemed like the best option for me as they are very flexy so the weight shouldn't be a problem. My main stuck situation will most likely be sand, so I thought these would work great, I will post up once I have to test them.
2) Yes, very happy with those fuel filters. No drilling installation and standard filters you can buy at any cat dealer. They are tucked up nice and high above the bottom of the frame, so they are protected a bit more from danger. They were also very well priced and the quality, fit & finish was above my expectations. A friend installed one on his dodge and he re-worked one of the hard line hoses that came with the kit. I didn't do this with mine as it seemed to be ok as was, but he likes to tinker.
3) The thing I sometimes think about with mine is maybe building the camper right on the frame of the truck instead of putting it on a flatbed. During my design phase, I wanted it to be removable so I could still utilize the entire flatbed if needed. What I have been finding, however, is that the camper is much bigger inside than I thought so I can put much more gear inside. This has allowed me to leave the camper on and still get the stuff from A to B that I needed. That being said, however, I am very happy with the set-up and have actually used the removable part a few times for some maintenance stuff, so it has worked out in the end.
We got a small leak in the front window from one of the window seals failing. VMI warrantied the work (awesome!). You can see here it was very easy to access the window, so I think having it easily removable still is a good thing:
Another solution for really big things was to just buy a small trailer to handle any other tasks. :victory: This works too:
Good luck with your rig! Post pictures!
Thanks for the feed back, much appreciated!
I'm in Michigan, which is basically nothing but sand, so my expected use is pretty similar to yours; please let us know how the maxtrax do, whenever you do eventually use them.
Your truck has the updated in-tank lift pump, I believe? Mine still has the original lift pump that's mounted on the engine block at the fuel filter bowl, so I may need to add an inline electric fuel pump, as well. 160k+ miles is pretty long in the tooth for those pumps, as I understand. CP3s handle a dead lift pump better than the VP44s, but it makes me a bit nervous, regardless.
I am really fond of the flatbed camper concept in general, so I'll almost certainly go that route, eventually. You'rs is pretty innovative, very reminiscent of the ute tray boxes that you seen on Aussie rigs pretty frequently. I like how it's all aluminum, and seems to be built hell-for-stout, as well as simple which seems to suit your needs very well. I've got a wife and kids to drag along on my adventures, so I'm leaning towards something with a cab over in order to sleep 4 somewhat comfortably. I'll also probably go with either foam insulation w/fiberglass or composite panels since I want to build it myself and can work with those materials much more easily than I can metal, but also because those materials offer built-in insulation, and I want to be able to use it year-round in weather that regularly gets below zero.
Here's my "build thread", such as it is; the most current pictures are in post #45, and are from 2012! :Wow1:
Clearly, I haven't updated it in a long while, and to be honest I haven't really done much worth documenting, so it's nothing special. Basically just an early 3rd gen just like yours pre-flatbed, but in blue. I haven't done much to it other than the tires, PM and regularly change the fuel, but that really kinda sums up the attraction of these trucks - while you can go nuts with mods, even in stock form they are great all purpose vehicles for everything from DD duties, towing/hauling, cross country road trips, and so on. About the most exciting thing I've used mine for, aside from occasional weekend trips, is move across the country a few times, and tow a 27' travel trailer when I lived in it full time for about a year. I have removed the fiberglass tonneau cover and added an aluminum contractor's cap I found cheap on CL as a stepping stone to self contained camper, but that's about the only difference from then to now, aside from more cracks in the dash and the odo reading.
givemethewillys comment really hit the nail on the head, and illustrates why your build, along with the countless similar here on the forum, is so popular. The vast majority of us are more weekend warrior that "real" overland traveler, myself included, and cannot justify sinking many tens of thousands of dollars into dedicated overland vehicles that we couldn't possibly get our money's worth out due to everything else we have going on in our lives. I drive my truck to work, run errands, chauffeur the kids, do weekend projects, haul friends project vehicles, etc... When I have the opportunity a couple of times a month for just "doin' stuff" I use it to get myself and the family outside, active, and enjoying life. It's hard to beat a well kept full size domestic diesel pickup when it comes to this type of general purpose, do-it-all use.
Keep up the good work and thanks again for your feedback!
ericvs
Active member
One small mod and one equipment update.
Front Runner:
The front runner bottle opener, with the way my front runner rack is mounted, is just slightly too close to the truck. You couldn't get the bottle into the opener correctly without the bottle hitting the side of the truck. It would work, but would generally end up spilling beer all over. Not what you want when trying to open your favourite beverage. To remedy this situation, I pulled the end cap off the rack, drilled a hole and mounted it right on the corner. This allows the bottle to fit between the cab and the camper very easily. Makes the open 100% more useful. These pictures don't do this mini-fix justice, but the gif of it in operation is the bees knees.
Now it works perfect! (this is just a link to a small gif I created of testing - can't figure out how to get a gif to embed.)
[video]http://giphy.com/gifs/QYoXjWXIfKCI0/html5[/video]
MaxTraxx.
So these are def not bridging ladders :ylsmoke:, but they held up to our little test.
Good thing these are flexy!
I still think they are going to work perfect for my typical usage - sand recovery. They definitely flexed in this usage, but no damage at all, they were ready to go right away afterwards.
Front Runner:
The front runner bottle opener, with the way my front runner rack is mounted, is just slightly too close to the truck. You couldn't get the bottle into the opener correctly without the bottle hitting the side of the truck. It would work, but would generally end up spilling beer all over. Not what you want when trying to open your favourite beverage. To remedy this situation, I pulled the end cap off the rack, drilled a hole and mounted it right on the corner. This allows the bottle to fit between the cab and the camper very easily. Makes the open 100% more useful. These pictures don't do this mini-fix justice, but the gif of it in operation is the bees knees.
Now it works perfect! (this is just a link to a small gif I created of testing - can't figure out how to get a gif to embed.)
[video]http://giphy.com/gifs/QYoXjWXIfKCI0/html5[/video]
MaxTraxx.
So these are def not bridging ladders :ylsmoke:, but they held up to our little test.
Good thing these are flexy!
I still think they are going to work perfect for my typical usage - sand recovery. They definitely flexed in this usage, but no damage at all, they were ready to go right away afterwards.
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ericvs
Active member
WABDR - Stevenson to FS23 washout
We did a small section of the WABDR. Started in Stevenson and made it to the huuuge washout on FS23 just outside of Randle.
Leaving from Stevenson, Wa.
Small washout about 4 miles in from Willard. Wasn't too bad, but was the worst part we saw on the trail until the big boy later on.
You have seen this pic before, pretty mellow road, but very cool views.
And here is the impassable washout on FS 23. We thought we could make it to the FS21 which would take us up to Packwood, but this appeared about 5 miles before that intersection. It was huge, probably 200 yards long. I am told it will be fixed this winter.
Overall a fun trip, a tiny bit of technical driving on this part, but mostly it is just a cool drive though the woods. It is weird to drive for hours and not see anyone. When you get back onto the blacktop, you wonder where all the people came from.
Just one of the sweet lakes we saw. Takhlakh Lake & Mt. Adams.
We did a small section of the WABDR. Started in Stevenson and made it to the huuuge washout on FS23 just outside of Randle.
Leaving from Stevenson, Wa.
Small washout about 4 miles in from Willard. Wasn't too bad, but was the worst part we saw on the trail until the big boy later on.
You have seen this pic before, pretty mellow road, but very cool views.
And here is the impassable washout on FS 23. We thought we could make it to the FS21 which would take us up to Packwood, but this appeared about 5 miles before that intersection. It was huge, probably 200 yards long. I am told it will be fixed this winter.
Overall a fun trip, a tiny bit of technical driving on this part, but mostly it is just a cool drive though the woods. It is weird to drive for hours and not see anyone. When you get back onto the blacktop, you wonder where all the people came from.
Just one of the sweet lakes we saw. Takhlakh Lake & Mt. Adams.
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ericvs
Active member
You turn your head for one second and summer is over!
Not many updates lately, been too busy with summer stuff. Lots of fun adventures during the long, warm summer days.
Nothing new with the truck over the summer. Lots of usage, not many updates. I think that is how it is supposed to be right?
Flew to Chicago for work. It was about 95° with 100% humidity. Nice!
View from the top of the Hancock building:
More Whistler. We managed to hit it in the rain. Sloppy, but fun. Also the rain scares people away, so the lines are zero. Laps for days.
Crewed in the Shaw Island Classic sail boat race with this gang of rag-tags. My friends dad completely re-built a mid '80s Wiley 37. This was his first (of many) races in this fancy beast. He has sailed professionally for his entire life and this was the first race he had done in his own boat. Honoured to be on board for this event.
3rd in class! sweet.
Took in some sweet lake Washington sunsets close to home too. That is downtown Seattle in the background. The tallest building is the Columbia tower. Fancy.
Lots (and lots) of kiting:
Don't worry, the lady was there for all of this too!
More trips planned this winter, looking forward to it! hope you are all out there doing fun stuff and kicking butt.
and just in case you forget what the truck looks like :ylsmoke:
Not many updates lately, been too busy with summer stuff. Lots of fun adventures during the long, warm summer days.
Nothing new with the truck over the summer. Lots of usage, not many updates. I think that is how it is supposed to be right?
Flew to Chicago for work. It was about 95° with 100% humidity. Nice!
View from the top of the Hancock building:
More Whistler. We managed to hit it in the rain. Sloppy, but fun. Also the rain scares people away, so the lines are zero. Laps for days.
Crewed in the Shaw Island Classic sail boat race with this gang of rag-tags. My friends dad completely re-built a mid '80s Wiley 37. This was his first (of many) races in this fancy beast. He has sailed professionally for his entire life and this was the first race he had done in his own boat. Honoured to be on board for this event.
3rd in class! sweet.
Took in some sweet lake Washington sunsets close to home too. That is downtown Seattle in the background. The tallest building is the Columbia tower. Fancy.
Lots (and lots) of kiting:
Don't worry, the lady was there for all of this too!
More trips planned this winter, looking forward to it! hope you are all out there doing fun stuff and kicking butt.
and just in case you forget what the truck looks like :ylsmoke:
Betarocker
Adventurer
Whistler isn't all that it's hyped up to be.
frojoe
Adventurer
Whistler isn't all that it's hyped up to be.
Plenty of good stuff in Squamish and Pemberton too! Or backside of Seymour mountain in North Vancouver.. stuff so steep you literally just cannot stop even with locking rear brake and almost front brake too! Or Cypress mountain. Actually there's also good biking in Fernie, Retallack, Duncan, Nelson, Lillooet, Revelstoke........ damn I love BC. ericvc if you ever need a guide around Vancouver-area riding, shoot me a message.
ericvs
Active member
Baja Travels Part 1
The road highly traveled: Seattle to LA.
Baja over New years? Yeah, that sounds like a great plan. What sounds better than that? Not much. First time for me driving across the Mexican border. Lots of stories about driving down in Mexico, some good, some bad, it is hard to take it all in. Some friends of ours were planning on heading down at that time, they are Baja regulars, so we thought for our first trip, we would hook up with them and they could show us the ropes.
The plan was to leave from Seattle after the I-5 rush hour and cruise as far as we could make it, then get up and make the pull all to LA. We had to hustle a bit as we were doing Christmas in Culver City with family. We got our boogie on, nothing of note from Seattle to southern Oregon where we stopped for the night. Didn't make it as far as I hoped, but needed some rest. The following morning started well after a hearty breakfast at the nearest greasy spoon, but met some resistance in the mountains around the oregon/cali border. Didn't get too many shots from this, but there were trucks scattered all over the place. Stopped in the middle of uphills, randomly stopped in different lanes. We had to do some selective line choices to get around lots of this mess. In the end we had a train of about 10 vehicles creeping our way through the maze of vehicles randomly stopped in the middle of the road. Very strange situation, but was glad to make it though and on our way.
These trucks in the middle lane were just parked there. what?
Made it though to the downhill side. Much better.
I usually do the night shifts and the lady takes over the day shift. This was later afternoon one day after a long day for her. haha.
I-5 is pretty easy once you get out of the mountains, so I won't bore you with those photos (and I say this because none were taken haha!), but:
made it!
This was Christmas morning (around 7am) Probably the only time of the year you can stand under the Venice Beach sign without getting run over. We got prime parking too! Right up front.
Had a great time down there, surfed a bit, ate a lot, met up with friends, overall a great time. Nice to get away from the grey and rain for a bit.
Another empty parking lot (and therefore empty lineup) in Huntington beach. Good stuff.
Now, the segue from this point in time to the next set of photos is pretty abrupt. I felt like such a rookie traveler and this felt like a whirlwind. We did a full re-arrange of the rig, gathered up all the visas, Mexican car insurance, filled fuel tanks, re-arranged the rig again went grocery shopping, then grocery shopping again all the fun stuff. I am sure the 2nd trip will be much easier, but it was exciting for sure!
The plan was to meet up with friends in San Diego in the am, cross the border and head down just past Ensenada for the night. The idea was not to drive at night, which seemed like a good idea based on my research. Everything went smoothly, met up, crossed the border with little hassle and started the trek south. Stay tuned for part 2!
The road highly traveled: Seattle to LA.
Baja over New years? Yeah, that sounds like a great plan. What sounds better than that? Not much. First time for me driving across the Mexican border. Lots of stories about driving down in Mexico, some good, some bad, it is hard to take it all in. Some friends of ours were planning on heading down at that time, they are Baja regulars, so we thought for our first trip, we would hook up with them and they could show us the ropes.
The plan was to leave from Seattle after the I-5 rush hour and cruise as far as we could make it, then get up and make the pull all to LA. We had to hustle a bit as we were doing Christmas in Culver City with family. We got our boogie on, nothing of note from Seattle to southern Oregon where we stopped for the night. Didn't make it as far as I hoped, but needed some rest. The following morning started well after a hearty breakfast at the nearest greasy spoon, but met some resistance in the mountains around the oregon/cali border. Didn't get too many shots from this, but there were trucks scattered all over the place. Stopped in the middle of uphills, randomly stopped in different lanes. We had to do some selective line choices to get around lots of this mess. In the end we had a train of about 10 vehicles creeping our way through the maze of vehicles randomly stopped in the middle of the road. Very strange situation, but was glad to make it though and on our way.
These trucks in the middle lane were just parked there. what?
Made it though to the downhill side. Much better.
I usually do the night shifts and the lady takes over the day shift. This was later afternoon one day after a long day for her. haha.
I-5 is pretty easy once you get out of the mountains, so I won't bore you with those photos (and I say this because none were taken haha!), but:
made it!
This was Christmas morning (around 7am) Probably the only time of the year you can stand under the Venice Beach sign without getting run over. We got prime parking too! Right up front.
Had a great time down there, surfed a bit, ate a lot, met up with friends, overall a great time. Nice to get away from the grey and rain for a bit.
Another empty parking lot (and therefore empty lineup) in Huntington beach. Good stuff.
Now, the segue from this point in time to the next set of photos is pretty abrupt. I felt like such a rookie traveler and this felt like a whirlwind. We did a full re-arrange of the rig, gathered up all the visas, Mexican car insurance, filled fuel tanks, re-arranged the rig again went grocery shopping, then grocery shopping again all the fun stuff. I am sure the 2nd trip will be much easier, but it was exciting for sure!
The plan was to meet up with friends in San Diego in the am, cross the border and head down just past Ensenada for the night. The idea was not to drive at night, which seemed like a good idea based on my research. Everything went smoothly, met up, crossed the border with little hassle and started the trek south. Stay tuned for part 2!
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ericvs
Active member
Baja Travels Part 2
The road slightly less traveled.
The border crossing at Tijuana was pretty uneventful. Crossing south is pretty easy. After the border, you get straight on Mex 1, we took Mex 1D and headed west for a while paralleling the US border. The fence is tall and the drive is very different from anything else I have experienced. Very cool. There are times when you can see San Diego over the fence. Very stark comparisson. Something I think everyone should do at least once.
After the hwy turns south you are cruising along the coast with views uninhibited by huge mansions. It is very spectacular. Did we take a photo? nope, you will have to go yourself to check it out. Worth it.
We drove though Ensenada (stopping for lunch tacos of course) and continued South until we reached a place called shipwrecks. It is a little gated community where we planned to spend a few days surfing:
and set up camp for the night with some Baja doggos!
Shipwrecks.
Very, very cool spot, a few other campers, but otherwise pretty deserted. The swell during this time was non-existent so we ended up cutting this stay a bit short. This was cool because we took the backroads from there a bit south until we joined back up with Mex 1.
Some cool vistas on our way, this was our travelling companion in their older camp ready suburban:
Lots of desert to cover
We headed further south and needed a place to stay for the night. Why not drive into the volcano area?!? I can see no reason not to!
We hit Mex 1 until we go to to San Quinten and headed west. This took us though a pretty spectacular area.
Our camp spot in the distance
Fun commute on the beach:
We even had to do a bit of a dune drive to make it to our camp site.
Some very cool rock formations:
More amazing vistas:
Which lead us ot this pretty cool camp set-up, if I do say so myself:
Spent the night here, which was pretty spectacular. More to come!
The road slightly less traveled.
The border crossing at Tijuana was pretty uneventful. Crossing south is pretty easy. After the border, you get straight on Mex 1, we took Mex 1D and headed west for a while paralleling the US border. The fence is tall and the drive is very different from anything else I have experienced. Very cool. There are times when you can see San Diego over the fence. Very stark comparisson. Something I think everyone should do at least once.
After the hwy turns south you are cruising along the coast with views uninhibited by huge mansions. It is very spectacular. Did we take a photo? nope, you will have to go yourself to check it out. Worth it.
We drove though Ensenada (stopping for lunch tacos of course) and continued South until we reached a place called shipwrecks. It is a little gated community where we planned to spend a few days surfing:
and set up camp for the night with some Baja doggos!
Shipwrecks.
Very, very cool spot, a few other campers, but otherwise pretty deserted. The swell during this time was non-existent so we ended up cutting this stay a bit short. This was cool because we took the backroads from there a bit south until we joined back up with Mex 1.
Some cool vistas on our way, this was our travelling companion in their older camp ready suburban:
Lots of desert to cover
We headed further south and needed a place to stay for the night. Why not drive into the volcano area?!? I can see no reason not to!
We hit Mex 1 until we go to to San Quinten and headed west. This took us though a pretty spectacular area.
Our camp spot in the distance
Fun commute on the beach:
We even had to do a bit of a dune drive to make it to our camp site.
Some very cool rock formations:
More amazing vistas:
Which lead us ot this pretty cool camp set-up, if I do say so myself:
Spent the night here, which was pretty spectacular. More to come!
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ericvs
Active member
Baja Travels Part 3
We played about 50 rounds of bocce throughout the dunes that evening. The competition was fierce! Had a few bevies, cooked a great meal and hit the hay just after dark. It is really amazing how easy it is to fall asleep when you should when you don't have a beam of pure information shining directly into your eyes constantly. It is very refreshing.
That night, it rained and it got super windy. Our travel companions use tents, which they had set-up near the vehicles that night. Not thinking it was going to storm, only one of them set-up with a wind block. At one point in the night, I heard some fabric rusting pretty good. I peeked out the side window to see two of the tents almost flattened from the wind, you could almost make out the people inside they were so flat. I chuckled a bit, turned up the heat up a notch and fell back asleep until morning. Oh right, this is why I built this thing. :sombrero:
The morning turned out to be a beaut! No more rain, wind was calm and everything was nice and dry. Good stuff. Had a nice breakfast, packed up and headed back the way we came in so we could continue further south.
Interesting thing about the rain and the local roads leading to and from Mex1. They are all dirt that turns to crazy peanut butter mud once they get wet. It was bad, it was thick. One year later I am still finding this muck on the truck. It was inches thick in places.
No matter, we pressed on. Tried to find a car wash thing, but gave up pretty quickly. Figured it would dry, I could chip it off and be on our way. In all honesty, the majority of the stuff stayed on until I got back to Seattle. Oops...
Back on Mex1 and head south. Just after El Rosario, you turn off the pavement and head about 2 hours towards the ocean on a dirt road. It was a pretty cool drive.
And finally, you end up in Punta San Carlos. It is a small fishing village tucked away in, what feel like, the middle of nowhere.
It is cool though, becuse there is a place there that hosts kite and windsurf events. They also have an airstrip so you can fly in and stay with them. Very cool.
http://www.solosports.net/
More amazing views and vistas. Somehow they never get old.
We spent about 3 days here. Some surfing, some kiting, some exploring & some relaxing. Overall a very cool spot. Since it was offseason, it was very desolate. There were a few older windsurfers who spend the summer down there, but we had the place to ourselves.
Surfing:
Kiting:
It was side off, perfect waves, but it was just me and the gf on the water. Tough to fully commit to it. Still very, very cool. We even enticed the windsurfers to come out on their bigger sails. Great stuff.
Oops, offshore wind you have to turn sooner than normal, otherwise you get pulled though the face, haha. I think I figured this out a bit later in the session
________________
Eventually, the time came that we had to depart this fabled land. It was a sad day for sure. We had to head back north as our vacation time was coming to and end. Our travel partners, however, were headed further south to 7 Sisters for another couple weeks. Lucky for sure. Packed up, headed the 2 hours back to the pavement and said our goodbyes.
On our way in and out we passed some massive Cardons. Had to stop on the way out to get some pics. The whole valley was full of them, it was really cool.
After this, it was just a quick rush to the border so we could get back home. Only took about an hour in the border line, so I think we got lucky. Then it was just a straight shot back to Seattle. Work stinks for sure haha. Amazing time, amazing place. We will be back!
Good times!
We played about 50 rounds of bocce throughout the dunes that evening. The competition was fierce! Had a few bevies, cooked a great meal and hit the hay just after dark. It is really amazing how easy it is to fall asleep when you should when you don't have a beam of pure information shining directly into your eyes constantly. It is very refreshing.
That night, it rained and it got super windy. Our travel companions use tents, which they had set-up near the vehicles that night. Not thinking it was going to storm, only one of them set-up with a wind block. At one point in the night, I heard some fabric rusting pretty good. I peeked out the side window to see two of the tents almost flattened from the wind, you could almost make out the people inside they were so flat. I chuckled a bit, turned up the heat up a notch and fell back asleep until morning. Oh right, this is why I built this thing. :sombrero:
The morning turned out to be a beaut! No more rain, wind was calm and everything was nice and dry. Good stuff. Had a nice breakfast, packed up and headed back the way we came in so we could continue further south.
Interesting thing about the rain and the local roads leading to and from Mex1. They are all dirt that turns to crazy peanut butter mud once they get wet. It was bad, it was thick. One year later I am still finding this muck on the truck. It was inches thick in places.
No matter, we pressed on. Tried to find a car wash thing, but gave up pretty quickly. Figured it would dry, I could chip it off and be on our way. In all honesty, the majority of the stuff stayed on until I got back to Seattle. Oops...
Back on Mex1 and head south. Just after El Rosario, you turn off the pavement and head about 2 hours towards the ocean on a dirt road. It was a pretty cool drive.
And finally, you end up in Punta San Carlos. It is a small fishing village tucked away in, what feel like, the middle of nowhere.
It is cool though, becuse there is a place there that hosts kite and windsurf events. They also have an airstrip so you can fly in and stay with them. Very cool.
http://www.solosports.net/
More amazing views and vistas. Somehow they never get old.
We spent about 3 days here. Some surfing, some kiting, some exploring & some relaxing. Overall a very cool spot. Since it was offseason, it was very desolate. There were a few older windsurfers who spend the summer down there, but we had the place to ourselves.
Surfing:
Kiting:
It was side off, perfect waves, but it was just me and the gf on the water. Tough to fully commit to it. Still very, very cool. We even enticed the windsurfers to come out on their bigger sails. Great stuff.
Oops, offshore wind you have to turn sooner than normal, otherwise you get pulled though the face, haha. I think I figured this out a bit later in the session
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Eventually, the time came that we had to depart this fabled land. It was a sad day for sure. We had to head back north as our vacation time was coming to and end. Our travel partners, however, were headed further south to 7 Sisters for another couple weeks. Lucky for sure. Packed up, headed the 2 hours back to the pavement and said our goodbyes.
On our way in and out we passed some massive Cardons. Had to stop on the way out to get some pics. The whole valley was full of them, it was really cool.
After this, it was just a quick rush to the border so we could get back home. Only took about an hour in the border line, so I think we got lucky. Then it was just a straight shot back to Seattle. Work stinks for sure haha. Amazing time, amazing place. We will be back!
Good times!
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