No, this isn’t about some grand hike or summation of many hiking trips. It is about our 2003 Ford Expedition, which recently turned 200,000 miles on the odometer over its lifetime of 10 years, 1 month.

I am not superstitious, but I hope this article doesn’t bring bad luck on the Expedition. So just in case, I crossed my fingers and knocked on wood.

How is this an appropriate subject for a backpacking and camping site, you may ask. Very appropriate in my opinion. The SUV is the conveyance that takes me to trail heads and whisks our camper to those wonderful secluded camp sites.

During the Expedition’s 200,000 miles almost 50,000 of those miles were on trips with our tent trailer in tow. That’s a lot of camping trips since most of them were within 100 miles of our home. Each summer we take a longer trip to the high Sierra’s and a couple times a year we go to Lake Mead. We did a trip in 2005 to Rocky Mountain National park and a couple years after that we camped in Arizona in Oak Creek Canyon.

Combined MPG is 15.49 and 12.01 towing.

HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED

Back in the 1970’s, when I first started my career as a mechanic, cars and trucks where pretty much toast by the time they hit 100,000 miles. You sold it or rebuilt the engine, transmission, suspension, and a few other things. Those cars also required a lot of maintenance every year. But over the years manufacturers have replaced or implemented

Point ignition systems with computerized electronics
Carburetors with fuel injection
Coil and leaf spring suspensions with MacPherson strut suspensions
Wheel roller bearings with sealed bearings
Analog electronics with digital
Mechanical switches with electronic
Multiple computers to control just about everything
Push rod engines with modular engines
Improved lubricants
Extended service fluids

And the list goes on and on.

Today it is not uncommon for a vehicle to rack up 200K plus miles with few required repairs, as long as the owner does all the scheduled maintenance!!

I have preformed all the required maintenance at the proper intervals. The only repairs that have been needed are:

Fuel pump
One ignition coil
Driver’s side master door/window switch
Driver’s side window motor

Our Expedition has never broken down on the road, left us stranded or had to be towed.

HONORARIUM

So in honor of our chariot, here are a few pictures. I have never taken a picture specifically of the Expedition, but it has shared the spotlight with many subjects.