Martha Stewart has entered the off-road recovery game with a set of "Heavy duty track assist" I saw these on the ole facebook the other day and thought it was too good to be real. clicked the link and ordered one from Walmart. $20....a steal for Martha's name I know....I ordered one and they sent me two, double bonus! Get the greatest piece of off road goodness ever to exist before they run out...I may be selling the winch now that I'm guaranteed to never get stuck again!

Well looks like my trailer is in and now I have to wait for a day off to go pick it up. Outdoors RV 21 DBS. Looking forward to this chapter in my adventure style. Sure it's going to change some of the places I go but man we will be rolling in style. This is a 4 season trailer and designed to be taken a little deeper than your normal RV travel trailer with a more off road inspired suspension system. Designed for off grid camping as well as my wife's preferred state park camping. Stay tuned....

3 rigs set off from Olympia on Sunday morning to head to a campsite just outside of Bend, Or. I had picked this spot solely off of satellite imagery and it's proximity to Bend. The plan was to meet our 4th rig there and hit the trail the next morning. The trip down was mostly uneventful. I had picked a somewhat scenic route that would take us from Salem to Bend, Hwy 22. Heading up into the mountains we were met with a constant flow of traffic headed the other way. Chalking it up to people just headed home from labor day camping, we continued on. However, once we got to Detroit Lake, we knew the real reason...Fire. The smoke was pretty heavy but the fire map had the fire about 10 miles away and on the other side of the mountain. We continued on and made it to the campsite. We had another oh hell moment when less than 1/2 mile from the site, we encountered a wildfire crew mopping up a small fire. Someone had decided it was the appropriate time to shoot tannerite in the dry bush. This campsite was super dusty and way too close to a local shooting area but made due. After getting camps set up and getting to know everyone, we sat down for dinner and enjoyed the company. I had one nagging issue, where was my dog Koa was going to sleep. This was literally his first overnight, outside, no doggy bed adventure. I had a spot for him in the back seat of the truck but he was being a super magnet dog so I was going to give him a shot in the tent. He quickly made up my mind... The next morning we headed out on the trail. The plan was to take trails and graded back roads all the way to Fields, Or. We set out with a goal of making it to the lost forest outside of Christmas Valley. The route was slow and dusty. Great two track but very little in scenery. Frequently during the day, we kept receiving Severe high wind warnings for the night. We weren't making very good time and I feared we wouldn't make it to the lost forest and get stuck camping out in the open. We decided to take a route that would lead us out to pavement and skip the Lost forest. We all agreed and beat feet for Flagstaff Lake. It was a good choice as the wind was pretty heavy and blew in a ton of smoke. We arrived at the lake and found the suggested campsite. The wind was brutal and we quickly found a spot on the other side of a hill that shielded us pretty well. About an hour after moving in, the smoke on the horizon was so thick, we couldn't see the cliff. After a quick dinner, we all called it quits early and turned in for the night. Tonight, I let Koa stay in the tent however, he came pretty close to sleeping in the truck again. The morning was epic! The smoke and wind had cleared and the sky was super blue. I enjoyed a cup of coffee and sat in complete silence to watch the sun rise. Member Brad Rosenfeld snapped this fantastic pic. After breakfast, we broke camp and hit the trail into the Harts Mountain antelope refuge. The "road" through the refuge was easy and wide but the washboard was kidney busting even aired down. We stopped at Hart mountain hot spring and had a nice refreshing dip. After letting our kidneys regroup, we hit the washboard road again. After about 2 miles of spine busting, teeth chattering barley 5mph torture, the most brilliant suggestion came over the radio. "how about we try going 40 and see what happens?" I became the test subject. I accelerated and found that Mythbusters was right. 55mph was my sweet spot and it was just as smooth as driving on pavement. We had about 30 miles of the washboard road left and we all channeled our inner rally driver and booked it. We popped out on hwy 205 and headed into Fields for lunch........and dinner in a way. We did the cheese burger-milkshake combo for lunch and man it's a lot of food. After swapping Veteran stories with the owners. Vet humor disclaimer! nothing like hearing a casual "busier that a one legged man in an ass kicking contest" joke by an actual one legged Marine vet. We moved out and hit the road to the Alvord. We were blessed with no wind, 65 degrees and clear skies so we decided to stay the night on the playa. I found a spot 6 miles across the lake so we queued up the ride of the Valkyries music and set out in appropriate fashion. The sunset was amazing and the sound of silence is too much for words. We stayed up for some epic stargazing and Brad got some amazing photos! The morning arrived and we said goodbyes to DB and his wife. They had to get back home due to some danger close fires near their home. After the obligatory speed runs, selfies, drone poser footage and spectacular bathroom break, we headed for the Steens. The smoke finally started moving back in while we were up in the mountains making for bleh photos but the views from up there are intense. It was starting to get late in the day so we decided to head down and find camp for the night. After striking out at the Fish lake campground we lucked out and found a nice shaded spot on Lilly lake. We continued to monitor the fire and smoke issues on our planned route out. Seeing that the fire near Salem had exploded and totally cut off the route we had come in on as well as the fires throughout Oregon we decided to cut it short and head north to Burns in the morning. After lunch in Burns, we just drove north. We ended up finding a "spot" in the Umatilla National forest. We made our way up 206 to I84 and then stopped in Cascade locks for breakfast. Wanting to avoid Portland all together we hit the Bridge of the Gods and headed home to Olympia. I hated to cut the trip a little short but glad we got out when we did. That being said, If you get a chance to go to the Alvord desert, do it. There is just something about that place that puts you at ease. Eastern Oregon is an amazing place and the vastness is awe inspiring. Cant wait to go back.

Anyone have any experience with these? It was a toss up between the Jackery 500 and the RockPals 500. RockPals has a decent summer code and along with the honey app, I was able to score the 500/520 for well under the listed price. Looking online the only reviews are from the 500/540wh ones but those are sold out and they seem to be moving on to this one. There is nothing online as way of reviews for this one. Hopefully it shows up before my trip so I can throw my review of it up here. https://www.rockpals.com/products/rockpals-520wh-portable-power-station?variant=31508181155897&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjwmf_4BRABEiwAGhDfSd4zcYtF6rDM2D60Mrke8-JfUnjW9YNkR6DAQsykpwq4a4IQx8ycIhoCUO0QAvD_BwE

So today I was out in the back part of the property working on the new ramp to my shed. I don't have electricity out there yet so I'm using my 2000 watt inverter to run my sander. I was using my little 18 volt compressor to use as air source(it kinda sucks) and got to wondering, do you think I'd run into issues if I used the 12 volt lugs on the back of the inverter to hook my 12 volt Smittybilt 5.6cfm compressor to? I wouldn't run the inverter and the compressor at the same time but I was thinking of the possibility of a box that would hold both and just require one plug in.

I spent the last week up at a friend's lake front cabin on Priest Lake in Idaho. I hadn't been up there in 20 plus years and it was the perfect time to escape the lock down. The first two days it rained relentlessly and we were pretty much hold up in the cabin. By the third day, cabin fever had set in and since the rain had let up, I had to hit the trails. I picked a couple of the closest peaks and headed out. The first was a trip up to Binarch mtn. This road was pretty uneventful however the trail to the peak was a little more than I wanted to tackle being solo and all. There is a deep mud pit at the base of that trail and the exit was a little too steep for my wheelbase. On the way down I noticed a side track that was not on my map so I wandered on down. This was the best route I took all week. It was about 3 miles of deep woods at the bottom of a valley following a creek. The track was just open enough to get the big rig down without pin-striping it. It popped out at one of the most secluded campsite I've ever been to. After lunch and a beer I decided to check out the little hiking trail that led down to the marsh. Coming back to the truck, I heard the scariest sound one could here when all alone in unfamiliar woods. A ruffed grouse started his wing beating ritual. It took me a sec after I heard the sound but it made me step a little quicker back to the truck. Imagine hearing a loud increasing thump-thump-thump chasing you down a trail. Ran into a little forest jawa on the way out. The stump did make me lift off the gas a little until I could see what it was. Having enough of the haunted woods vibe, I decided to head back towards the cabin. The trail up to Coolin hill was an easy trail but did require a little 4wd to make the climb. A slide last year cut off the road to the summit, but the vista from there was spectacular. This area is littered with trails to nowhere as well as trails to most of the peaks. I really wanted to try to make the trip up to Sundance mountain but the snow was more than I was willing to take on. All in all it was a great trip and I need to get back out here and explore more. We ended the week with a nice bon fire and cold beer. If you ever get a chance to hit up Priest Lake area, do it.

Since I'm not officially going on any trips in the near future, I figured I'd dress up like I was. Threw the RTT I bought last summer on, mounted my awning and plan to drive to and from work looking the part. Lets see those Lockdown rigs.

Decided to move on to a mellower pasture. My Power Wagon was starting to nickel and dime me to death with an electrical gremlin and I was getting tired of hanging out at the dealer. On my last trip I noticed a lonely looking new 2018 2500 CTD Laramie sitting all by itself on the dealers lot. It turns out this one was the last 2018 model year, old body style on the lot and with almost 20k slashed off the sticker. The numbers worked, I got an OK trade in value on the Power Wagon..even with a check engine light on and a slew of other glitches and now I get to start over. So far the only thing I really miss on the Power Wagon is the winch. I'm really impressed with the almost doubling of the fuel mileage and air conditioned seats for those long trail days. Now I guess I have to schedule my appointment to get that Cummins life tattoo.

We just became a two Ram household. What initially was just a curiosity test drive to see if it was even a possibility I'd trade in the Power Wagon...or extreme moment of weakness depending on how you look at it. I took this 2019 Rebel out and got to play with it. Janel liked it so much that we made the call. She traded her trusty Durango in and now the Rebel sits in the driveway. The new Rebels are a fun truck to drive. Very comfy and the new interiors are amazing. She hasn't got it out in the dirt yet but we are planning on taking it on our Idaho trip next month.

I picked up what I consider now the best mod I've done to the truck so far, the Decked drawer system. I originally started out with a traditional tool box in the bed of the truck. It did hold all of my gear and was weather tight but man, I hated crawling up and down into the bed just to get stuff out of the box. The bed rails on the Powerwagon are just shy of 5' off the ground and the only way to quickly grab items out of the bed was to jump up on one of the tires and lean in. At first I was just looking at getting some sort of hard bed cover but then realized I still needed to use my kayak rack. After some research, i settled on the Decked system as it checked almost every box on the need list. It was a very easy install and only took us about an hour to install. The system weighs about 220lbs empty so you'll definitely need a hand getting the main piece into the bed. All the hardware is stainless steel and it is very well thought out. Each drawer can hold 200lbs of gear and the platform is designed to hold 2000lbs on top. The drawers are considered water tight but not dust proof. Yes, that's 4 of the X-bull 48" recovery boards tucked away in the drawer. The blue case is one of the Decked system tool boxes. right now it's empty as I'm contemplating what to store in it. My only negative is that I was hoping my chainsaw would fit in the drawer. It's just an inch too tall. I also have to figure a new spot to mount my air compressor. My ARB looks like it'll fit in the corner cubby so I may try. Locks are available for the drawers but as you can see, there's no way anyone is getting into the drawers if the tailgate is locked. I did lose the use of my tailgate ladder but I shouldn't have to climb up in the bed too often. And they do sell a drain plug for the drawers so you can use it as a cooler to hold ice and beverages. Next I'm looking at the L-track rails to get some type of tie downs back. It's going to be nice having everything right there when needed instead of way up in the truck bed.

So my son and I bought this cool little gadget the other day. Ryobi had just dropped this new little compressor and I wanted to see if it handle the airing up of the Powerwagon tires. We take a few of the Ryobi 18 volt tools when we go camping so I plan to have the batteries and charger with me anyways. It also gave me an excuse to upgrade my batteries to the bigger, 4Ah ones. It's got a tiny little one gallon tank and takes 30 or so seconds to fill itself up to 120psi. It's fairly quiet. I'd say a little quieter than the portable 12volt Viair or ARB. My test was seeing if it could pump up one of my 35x12.50 r17 's from 30psi(what I usually air down to on the trail) to 60psi(what it takes to get the TPMS to stop yelling at me). From full, it took 1:20 to get to 45psi. Thats about where this thing starts hitting it's wall. Once my tire got to 50psi it just seemed to sit there. I stopped airing the tire and let the tank fill. It took 2 more bursts to get the tire up to 60psi. I ran the test twice and the battery shows a 3/4 charge so it's possible it'll make it through all four tires. If 30-35psi is your street pressure this thing is perfect. 60psi......ehh it'll work but nothing amazing. I think I'll keep it around the shop and I'm curious if playing with the output regulator can help.