Next sat, may 9th. Meet at the Kittitas Shell station 9am. It's been far too long stuck indoors. Grab your day trippn gear and lets have a fun day breathing FRESH MOUNTAIN AIR! We can't camp, but we can drive the roads and have lunch at Dan Cronins Shangrila camp! See yalls there, only thing that will be mandatory is to make sure you BRING A SMILE and wear it ALL DAY!

This will be an open forum, trip planning page for the Feb 15th snowmobile trail trip out of Ronald Wa. This is a bring your own or rent one for the day, family fun day. Winter is not a real fun overland time for most of us here in the NW. We bought two older Polaris sleds last month and are looking forward to sharing time on the trails with all of our friends from here! Vicki and I plan to get our sleds up there this month and do a pre run of the trails. They are all nice groomed trails for those with little or no experience on sleds. After the trail ride, we will have our hot tub all set up in the overlanding trailer under the RTT for all to use! ( NOT really, just wishful dreamming). BUT, we do plan on trying to find a place we can gather after for a fun time around a camp fire and have a HOT potluck meal with all of you! Bring your favorite dish and maybe some firewood to keep the flames hot! I may just bring a big pot of our award winning clam chowder and sourdough bread! Sorry Dan, probably no blue berry turnovers. A trail lunch and HOT, NON alcohalic beverages for the trail are good to bring too. If you have ski gear or quality warm water resistant sno gear and a helmet to bring, bring it. Otherwise, the rental place has gear to go with rental sleds as well. Prices are as good as I can find. Chime in with questions and or sugestions if you have any! Lets have a fun, family day. Please just one favor to ask, don't bring the dogs, as they are not easy to manage on the trails on a sled!

I know it's early to do a trip planning post, but, HEY! Here goes anyway. Lets start off by all who will be doing this trip do a short introduction of themselves and who will be along with them! We are Mark and Vicki from Ellensburg wa. We are both retired and last year, had a small retirment cabin built on a small acerage. We both drive Jeep XJ cherokees, hers in MALL rated and mine is the one that goes on offroad trips. We are very outdoor oriented, we camp, do mild white water rafting and enjoy some four wheeling. We have a rescue dog, Lillie Mae. If anyone has any questions or suggestions, don't be afraid to chime in. We run both CB and ham for coms. We will be dragging a small trailer with an RTT. This trip can be easily ran in two days, but we are going to take three days and make a fun relaxed fun time! A dependable high clearence rig with GOOD durable tires will sufice nicely. BUT that being said, I recoment the normal add ons of four wheel drive, recovery points both front and rear, as well as the usual first aid kit, recovery equipment etc. Extra fuel is not manditory, but is always a good idea to have along for those "just in case" moments! LOTS of water for drinking and cooking is manditory. Lets make this a very fun memorable time!

I am starting a trip planning page for those planning or wanting to go on this day trip. Weather should be very warm!!! Bring LOTS of water or other hydration liquids. Bring trail snacks for all in your group. Vehicles should have good tires, extra fluids and a way to air down plus a way to air back up is not that big an issue as we will exit trails in Eburg close to the les schwab store! I am in the process of making arangments to have Wheel Line Cider open for us at the end of the day. She will hopefully be openning up specially for us, so it would be a nice thank you to her if we "suported" her business and took some of her product home with us! Any questions or sugestions welcome here and I will try to get them answered reguarding trip. I have NOT ran this trail, and as such am not sure exactly how long it should take, but hope to be finished sometime late afternoon. PLEASE try and be at the meet up point early so we get off to a good start.

This is for those who are signed up for the trip this sat. Sorry I havent made a better trip planning post. I lost my dad in June and things have been kind of hectic. The trip is going as scheduled. We are making a quick run up there today and will see about a possable different route for the first few miles in to see if I can find a more scenic and easier way in. This will make for not having to do all the roads twice, it gives a nice way to see more areas while heading in the same general direction. Don't forget to bring LOTS of liquids to drink as the weather looks like it may be very warm, BUT don't forget it can can still get chilly at night as this is an overnighter! One dinner and one breakfast on the trip. Snacks/lunch for both fri and sat. We should make camp early afternoon on sat so we will have a relaxing time in camp. Paul will be bringing a propane camp fire burner to enjoy! Camp chairs are great for around camp in the evening too. Might add to this tonight after we get back home and post up what we found, otherwise, we will see all of yalls at the parking lot across the road from the Kittitas Shell at 9AM sat!

Don't forget, the last thursday of EVERY month. THE PORCH is the place, having a fun time is the reason! 6:30 to closing is the time. Come on out and have a great time. Good food, drinks and great atmosphere. It's at 608 main st one block south of University way.

I am a new ham operator. I have a question as to offroad antennas for 2 mtr. Has anyone used glass mount units? I have drilled several holes in my Heep, but like the ease and pain free instalation of these glass mnt units. Any feedback?

Come help Mark Lennox celebrate his birthday at the RED HORSE DINER in Ellensburg. 6;30 sat Jan 26th, at the west end of University way. Good food good company. Meet new people and have a good time with those you know.

Is there any interest in joining Vicki and myself on the BDR this comming summer? It would probably be the 3rd section (Eburg to Chelan). We like to travel slower, mid week so not so many travelors. Possable make it a three day trip. I would be bringing our custom built off road trailer. Chime in if your interested and lets make this into a planning post. This will probably happen after the rally, july or August.

I have been a river rat since back in the 1980's and have gown to love time on the river. It's a whole new way to see the world in a new light. Far more wild life to see and a part of the scenery one seldom is able to see. Vicki and I are building a new white water 14 ft Cateraft. It is a two seater and the frame is a combination fishing/ white water type. We have in the past used a 17 ft fiberglass drift boat and made the decision to move into a cat boat so we can be more versatile. We have run the Skagit, Sauk, Snohomish system, many of the coastal rivers have seen my drift boat with a steelhead or two on board,Yakima canyon as well as the Lochsa in Idaho all in the drift boat. We would love to do some over night trips as well as many day trips. If anyone on here has any experience and would like to plan some joint trips please chime in and we can make it all happen. We had hopes of having the new boat ready this past spring, but with retirment and building a new home it took a back burner. I am hoping to have the new boat all finished and operational by early spring in order to have fun this year. I know it's not off roading but it is a form of overlanding, just on the water instead of the backroads. If you have never tried it, it is a wonderful way to see the beauty of nature in a whole new prospective. We seldom do rivers with more than a class 3+ rating. Nice easy kick back floats can be a truly wonderful way to spend a day exploring just another aspect of Gods wonderful creation alone or with a small group of friends.

Does anyone have a favorite way to carry a hot lunch while winter traveling? We have always liked to have a hot lunch, soup, chili, chowder etc when tripping in the winter that doesn't need to be heated on the trail. I have a one qt Stanly Alidden thermous and just ordered a 64 oz insulated bottle from Amazon. We also carry a two qt stanly bottle ofhot coffee. It's so nice to be able to pull over and have hot lunch ready to eat without having to cook when the weather isn't cooperating. Of course we carry typical survival items, ie: cold weather sleeping bags, shelter, food, fire kit, warm clothing etc. What do any of you like to do when cold winter tripping?

Vicki and I are tentatively trying to decide on a possable trip to Utah in the next year or two. We will have between one and two weeks. Things we would like to do, take the offroad XJ with offroad trailer and whitewater cateraft. We would like to see and wheel some of the offroad trails and roads through various canyon parks etc, also take a couple of day trips on the Colorado river. Has anyone done trips like this and what suggestions on places & things to do etc? Any suggestions on the best time of year too. I know it's a long time out there but I like to plan things in advance so there will be fewer suprises! Maybe even any others who would like to tag along. It will likely be a low budget DIY type of trip.

We are going to start a bi monthly meet in Ellensburg. Next one will be NOV 17th at 6 PM. It will be at the Red Horse Diner on West University Way. Come join us and meet new friends and reconnect with those you know. It's a family event, so bring the whole family. Put this on your callender! We had so much fun at the last one, let's make this one even better!

We are trying to get a small group together this sat Oct 13th. We have never done any of the trails around liberty and would like to do it. Not looking to find a trail leader (maybe! LOL) just others to go so not alone. I know it's very short notice ,,,,,,but,,,, lets do it anyway. This is posted on the NWOL facebook page too. Weather is suposed to be nice cool fall days, sunny and cooler. Bring trail snacks and a lunch. Not a hurried trip, just a good fun day!

I found this video recently about DIY wooden full extension drawer slides. Pretty kewl easy build. I think it would work for anyone building storage drawers in their rig. Ill leave a link below, video is a desk build, but can be adapted in size etc to other apps. Built of a quality hard wood it should be plenty strong if drawer was suported fully when closed, so it didn't ride on slides when traveling. Just an idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaS7RCueS8Y

Does anyone have experience or ideas about onboard batteries? I need more battery power over what the stock size battery in the XJ can provide. I would like to put another one in the rear or where rear passenger seat used to be. Whats the best way to do it and is there any notable safety concerns? Thinking maybe one of the new type crossover batteries that are both deep cycle as well as cranking battery. Need something to power winch and as backup if main goes dead. Any ideas folks? Thanks.

I need to upgrade as my nuvi is older and it has developed a habit of cutting out on bumpy roads( I know, we never drive on bumpy roads). I would like inexpensive but decent quality, Basic GPS mapping. Something not requirring interweb connection is manditory. Maybe something that talks to my two Garmin hand held units. I see a tablet on Amazon for decent $$$, Lenovo Tab 4, 10.1" Android Tablet. Has anyone any experience with this type of setup? I know nothing about this stuff, so any help is good help! THNX my friends.

I've been called a ham a few times, I've eaten a few even, but never talked on one or even played with one! I've seen them on Amerzon for as cheap as $22 and some a few hundred. Ok, Now tell me the truth. What is min we need to use just on the trails with a group of hammers from NWOL? I used to be big into CB back in the day and still have one in each jeep. Is a small basic hand held going to fill the bill for trails, and what is truly considered minamum bells and whistles to have on one? Good brands and stay away from brands etc. Can a hand held be hooked up to an external antenna or do I need one?