Hey that’s me (youtube), news (video) travels fast. My wife (Navigator) and I spent T, Day in DV. Here’s a quick report
Tues, Day 1 stayed in Johnson canyon off of the west side road.
Day two started kind of strange...about 2:30 am we woke to the roar of a motor. Sound was coming from the engine compartment. About 20 degrees outside and I'm under the van. Did I say 3:00 am? So as not to let the battery drain, off we go in search of a decent place to fix or die. LOL. Long story short, we ended up in Pahrump, no there is not a Ford dealer there as told there was by attendant at the station in Shoshone. Oh well! After trying the Dodge dealer..no luck! Motor still screaming even with key in hand ‘LOL’ Petes repair shop helped me pull a fluid tank and air cleaner assy. to get to the ABS module and PUMP that was screaming and hotter than "The gates of ____" unpluged the module and stopped the problem now we're off to DV to finish what we started.
Late day two (WED) we ended the day at Eureka Dunes.....Beautiful but cold (windy).
Hiked the dunes drank some toddys and sacked in early.
Day three, "T" day. No wind still cold but warm in the sun....some day trippers no other campers. We hiked the dunes and just generally enjoyed the day.. Then off in the distance a long cloud of dust is spotted...and it’s coming our way. Looks like a train is coming and then one-by-one...jeep after jeep pulls in and they encircle all of the camp sites. This group means business..Within minutes they have established a tent city and are all set up.. It's a great group of jeepers all from "MyJeepRocks" forum (MJR site). It was great to meet them and check out all the nice equipment. They invited us over to celebrate Tday but we were already underway cooking ours. That night got down into the low teens some even said single digit.
Day four (Fri.) the MJR group was up, fed, packed and heading out via Steel Pass. They stopped over to say goodbye and threw in an invite to go with them. With the ABS problem and the fact that a ranger advised against taking the SMB through Steel pass I had to say no...............Then I really gave it some thought, after all it was our original plan to do it solo. And now we have a dozen savvy off roader's to catch up to. Soooo! Packed up and off we went to catch up. We did and that’s one of a few videos of it. This is a great group of people..I hope I can meet up with them again some day. You should check out their site they have some great Pics and detailed reports of the Tday in DV 2010.
You can also see more videos of the steps and narrows on Expedition Portal. Three or four more videos and another great report.
We made the Pass and headed home but not without some salt in the ABS wound..... Coming down 395 about an hour from home I hear ANOTHER roaring motor. Pull off, turn it off and yep a motor is roaring again. This time it’s my Extreme Aire compressor. Don't ask! I don’t know why, the switch is off and after crawling around under the van I cant figure it out..........a bit pissed....this is simple isolate the power wire a CUT IT.
Done... I'll let you know later..... Right now it's just 'stranger than fiction'.
It was a great trip.........PS on our way though the valley we spotted at least three other SMBs at the springs
Woody, I have the exact same marks on my bumper and a good scar on my ladder.
I have very few pictures I'll post later.....However if you are thinking of doing it by all means check out both the Expedition portal and MyJeepRocks sites for their reports pics and vids.
Sportsmobile (AKA Money Pit)
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