Tom...Tell us about your recent trip.

[high desert]

Any good camping/riding spots to tell us about? I heard a rumor that you may have gone through New Mexico. Did you happen to stay near Ruidoso, New Mexico? It looks like it may be a good place for an irv2 rally. We're in the early planning stages of a possible trip there next year.

I hope you had a great time.

Wes

[high desert]

Any good camping/riding spots to tell us about? I heard a rumor that you may have gone through New Mexico. Did you happen to stay near Ruidoso, New Mexico? It looks like it may be a good place for an irv2 rally. We're in the early planning stages of a possible trip there next year.

I hope you had a great time.

Wes

[WWFan]

Yeah Tom! Time to spill the beans there, buddy!

We might want to also consider trying our Moab Rally again... Whatdayathink?

[high desert]

Hmmm.....no reply.

Either Tom had a terrible time and doesn't want to relive it or it was so great he's keeping it a secret to keep the crowds down.

....or I'm on his ignore list.

Wes

[WWFan]

Hey Wes:

First...I don't think Tom could HAVE a terrible time, second he's not the greatest secret keeper, and I KNOW you're not on his ignore list! I just think he's really drummin' up a doozie to blow us out of the water here!

(Now he's GOTTA put a good post together! ) tehe...tehe!

[Vette Racer]

Well Guy's, You know I had to wait on the photo approval process. We DID have a great time, lots of cool temps, almost cold at times. Several mornings it was in the upper 30's and two days we had to wear coats all day. Lots of rain to keep the trails muddy and make life interesting. Drove about 2400 miles with the truck and a little over 500 with the Jeep, most of those off road. Averaged a little over 10 MPG on the truck for the trip at 65 MPH. Decided I'd slow it down since I had the time and see what it would do, picked it up 1 to 1 1/2 MPG and still pulled just fine. Paid a high of 3.05 a gal for diesel in Santa Rosa, rest of the time it was around 2.90-3.00.

Took my new portable GPS unit with topo maps loaded and had a ball using it. Now I can't get lost. Overall, a lot of fun. Check out the camp we had, camp host let us use the group shelter for two weeks, what a deal. Water hookup, covered shelter with three picnic tables, toilet nearby to use my pump and empty the black tank, plenty of firewood. Thought about moving but decided to stay put just because of the camping spot.

HD, this area is about 200 miles give or take, Northwest of Ruidoso, up in the Datil mountains of the Cibola National forest.

And guess what, with my 3 batteries in the Jeep powering the inverter, I never ran them down using them to run the ice maker, Satellite tv, and other misc AC things. Just use them all evening, then go out the next day and charge them up again. Makes a great rechargeable power source.

As for next year, haven't thought that far ahead. I still have to unload the trailer from this one and with the 105 temps here that might take a while!

By the way, I added several other Pict's on my photos page, in case you're interested.



On edit, Since Sean is having a cow to see the numbers I added it all up. 2418 miles, 223.23 gal of fuel used, total cost of truck fuel $666.63, Avg MPG for the trip 10.8, Towing ranged from 9.1 to 10.3 MPG, some empty running brought it up to the 10.8 avg for trip figure.

Now you know the rest of the story!

[WWFan]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">On edit, Since Sean is having a cow to see the numbers I added it all up. 2418 miles, 223.23 gal of fuel used, total cost of truck fuel $666.63, Avg MPG for the trip 10.8, Towing ranged from 9.1 to 10.3 MPG, some empty running brought it up to the 10.8 avg for trip figure. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Boy..it sure is a good thing you re-read the thread...I was about to bounce on you for leaving out that precious tidbit! , but now...

It seems as though you had a great trip! Good for you! Spot look great! And a little water never hurt anyone (unless you throw out your back washing all the mud out of the wheelwells! ).

So tell us a little more on your new "unit" (the GPS- dangit Tom!)...which one? I'm still trying to master our iQue3600...any pointers (so to speak!).

Judging by your fireside pic, I'm gonna take a wild @$$ guess that you didn't have to run the ice maker that much....and if you did, it prolly made about 500 pounds of ice per hour...too bad it didn't make FIREWOOD!

Dang it Tom...

...I wudda stayed there the whole trip! Wow...what a great place! You cudda invited the whole group!

And what's this about antelope?
Antelope are in AFRICA TOM! Those are bambies if I ever saw one (but the only thing I've ever hunted was a 1.50 lb Ribeye down at the local market.

In all seriousness, I'm sure glad you had a great trip...you certainly know where to find the good spots. Sure is good to get out ever so often, ey?

[Seriousness OFF] And if you didn't have one of those sissy-lala earlier SLC's , I wouldn't have believed your mpg figures. Even more with that "America's Heartbreak" TV you've got... ...AGAIN!...

NOT!

Hey...good to have ya back! Now get to work....

Your Friend,
Sean

[high desert]

Tom Harvey,

Glad you had such a great time. Nice site, it looks like a good rally spot. I just went to the Cibola National Forest web site and it seems like a great location with diverse landscape. NICE! How were the trails? A little rain is nice, keeps the dust down. Bet the cool temps felt good after the heat this summer.

BTW...how much fresh water hose do you carry? You wouldn't want to mix the white with the green huh.

What macerator did you get? On our last trip, I had to break camp after 7 days to go dump. If I had a pump, it would've made life a lot easier.

Sean...I can't see the pic you posted, but we do have Pronghorn Antelope here in Nevada.

Welcome home again Tom.

Wes

[Vette Racer]

Thanks Wes

We like it out there, thats why we have our family reunion there every year, not to mention thats close to where the homesteads were located. Lots of forest roads within a 50 square mile area.

I carry 100 ft of drinking water hose along with a short and long hose for the grey water drain, and a 3/4 hose just for the poop pump. The pump I use is a portable waste disposal system that connects to the dump tube and 12 volts and pumps the waste out the 3/4 hose, empties the black tank in about three minutes.

And yes, there IS antelope in New Mexico. Sean's led a very sheltered life.

Now I've got to get back to the trailer unloading, getting close to done but its supposed to hit 106 or higher here today.

Later, and thanks for asking.

On edit, Sean, here's a link to my GPS unit, a hand held puppy for my offroad use but does have all the other stuff except voice directions. GPS

[WWFan]

Senoir Tomas:

Hummmm...I coulda sworn those were deer, but you're right!

That sure is a great looking spot..I'm still having a hard time spotting you and the Misses with coats on, though. I bet you're not wearing them since you got back, ey?

And that GPS unit looks to be everything you need for trail riding!

question: you mention your poop-pump...which one did you get? I'm sitting on the fence on the "which one" thing. Right now I'm having to stop in the sloped driveway before backing in, then using a 5 gallon bucket to get that little extra 'stuff outta the tanks.

And I'm assuming by now you're all cleaned up and back to work, huh?

Sean

[Vette Racer]

This one here Sean.Poop pump

[WWFan]

Tom:

OK...I know about that one- I'm kinda looking for one I can permanently attach to the pipe- whatdayathink?

[high desert]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Vette Racer:
This one here Sean.Poop pump </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">This amazing device chops up the waste into 1/8th inch particles and pumps it up to 50 feet away, even uphill! (My sewer cleanout is 75 feet away - no problem encountered). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've been hoping to find one that'll pump 300+ feet. It'd be nice in certain campgrounds.

What's the max distance that you've used yours Tom?

Wes

[Vette Racer]

HD

I've ran it 125ft, slightly downhill using a 3/4 hose and a 5/8 hose, like grease out of a goose, according to the guy holding the hose. I think 300ft would be asking a little much though. Just pick a closer campsite to the can.

Sean, what you want is a regular Macerator pump. Do a search for that and you'll find more info than you ever wanted. Shouldn't be a problem hard fitting one onto the tube, wiring it up and using it for discharge all the time. The only thing I will say is you have to rinse the tank better because, do to the slower flow you don't get the suction action that you get using the big slinky, therefore it takes an extra rinse or two to get everything out sometimes.