Assorted Final Thoughts
We covered 2200 miles … ‘bout 1500 of which was getting’ there and back. That leaves a nice mix of 700 miles of assorted 2-lane pavement (limited), Forest Service dirt roads, and genuine 4wd roads once in Colorado … and we never knew where we were goin’ more than a day or so in advance. A cool way to go on vacation.
Rubi pulled the Kamper nicely at 65 – 70 mph ‘cross the plains … not so fast in the mountains. As mentioned earlier, need to help the horsepower some. Some of the steeper dirt roads we went ahead and shifted into 4wd just to get the gearin’. Partly my fault since I never swapped to 4.88’s to make up for the 35’s. Damn glad we had the 4:1 transfer case.
Wheelin’ with a trailer is certainly different. Even though it tracked very closely to Rubi, even ‘round corners, you could tell it was there. Not a bad deal … just a new deal. The fact that we could jack-knife it proved extremely valuable throughout the trip.
Seemed like we were constantly airin’ up and down the tires. We ran 12 on the dirt, 20 in between the dirt roads while on pavement, and 28 on the trip up and back. Airin’ down the trailer made it bounce less. Better have a good air source. The compressor on the Warn PowerPlant did a fantastic job. Airin’ down 6 tires sucked. Gotta get me some of them automatic thangies of some sort.
We generally tried to carry 2 -3 days of food in case we found a place we wanted to stay. Stores are plentiful in the small towns so no use totin’ more than that. Can veggies rock since you can cook ‘em right in the can on the grill. Didn’t take an actual grill … just the grill section off my big-ass grill at home. Worked great over a bed of coals in a hole in the ground. Then just bury the coals.
Firewood was everywhere … ‘cept where all the tourists are. Stay in the primitive sights in the National Forest and enjoy. Threw in a bow saw from the shop and it made quick work of cuttin’ wood. Far more efficient than an ax. Try to stick to pine … aspen ain’t worth a s*** as firewood.
I’d never do this style of highly-mobile trip with more than 3 rigs total. Be too hard to find campin’ spots big enuff for a larger group.
We never camped where there wasn’t already a fire ring established. We picked up ALL trash in every camp so it was cleaner when we left than we arrived. Human waste was buried as per National Forest guidelines … without exception. Never got off the designated road … even if it meant drivin’ through a damn mudhole.
Gonna rain everyday … and gonna be chilly in the evenin’s and mornin’s … downright cold at night. Elevation’ll do that. Be geared up for it. Can’t have a lick of fun if’n you’re cold and wet.
Rubi burned A LOT of gas pullin’ ‘er Kamper over the passes … and has a small tank to boot. Our beer cooler only held 72 beers. Therefore we bought beer and gas every chance we got. Prefer’bly ev’ry day … ev’ry other day max.
Reckon that’s ‘bout it. Although I tried my best, the brief narrative and selected pics don’t even come close to fully describin’ this trip. Good friends … in a good rig … in unbelievable scenic country. Mite try to repeat it … but it’ll never be duplicated.
END OF TRIP REPORT ... hope y'all enjoyed it.
I'm sure the damn tourists are to blame for this somehow. 
. The one good difference in your version and ours, was we only hit rain while camping one night. All the other instances of rain where during the day, and typically they where very light and less than 10 munites.
