Dictionary.com defines a base camp as
a main encampment providing supplies, shelter, and communications for persons engaged in wide-ranging activities, as exploring, reconnaissance, hunting, or mountain climbing.
This is how we generally use our camper. It is a base for backpacking, hiking, biking, or even visiting friends and relatives.
If you have my email address, and if you send me an email, most of the time you will get an “Out of Office” reply.
That is because I am often traveling for business, backpacking, or camping with Joyce.
Most of my family and friends really don’t understand the importance of these messages. Because I work in the corporate world email is important. Also, since I work from my home office instead of a cubicle in the Mother-ship in Warren, MI, people in my company often don’t know where I am. In addition, the good folks who work for me are often traveling too. The ability to automatically inform people I am not available and when I will be back is important. This also is important to all our clients.
Well, I guess it is close to that time when everyone posts their favorite gear for the year.
In Part 1, I discussed some general thoughts on matching a tow vehicle and a trailer, to include tongue weight and gross weight specifications.
In Part 2, I took a deeper dive into tongue weights and presented the idea that a tow vehicle’s maximum tongue weight specification is usually the limiting factor in how large a trailer you can tow.
The conclusion in both is that perhaps we bought a trailer that is too heavy for our Ford Expedition; although I shared that I understood all the weight implications before we purchased.
So here is the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.
Let me state up front: I like Patagonia products. I have lots of Patagonia items and have been doing business with them since the early 1980’s, when they were Chouinard Equipment. The gear is good, and Patagonia gets top dollar for it.
This may surprise you, but I am not going to talk about gear; I am going to talk about advertising.
Nice article on Bedrock & Paradox by Dave, “That’s not a review”
Dave is not as subtle as me:)
But in the same vein as what I wrote in several posts:
I took it a bit further in Backpacking Gear Is Getting Boring
Before we discuss trailer weight, tow vehicle weight, and total combined weight, a discussion about hitches is in order. There are a lot of misconceptions about trailer tongue weight, hitch weight and how to calculate what you have in your rig.
This is not meant to be a technical “White Paper” but just a general overview. If you need more information, then Google is your friend. But this article might help you sort out the sea of confusion that is the Internet.
Once the concepts are understood, we can discuss our “too heavy” trailer in Part 3.
Since we recently bought a new trailer and a new tow vehicle, I thought I would share some information about matching trailers and tow vehicles. In my research for both, I came across a lot of bad information. Before we bought, I knew what to take into consideration when matching a trailer and something to tow it with. This will lay out some basic information the buyer should know before he or she ever steps onto a car or trailer dealership lot.
Part 1 (this post) will cover tow vehicles. I will discuss trailers in part 3. Part 2 will discuss trailer hitches.
No kitchen pass this weekend. A Honey-Do List instead!
Just because we have been camping 8 weeks in a row doesn’t seem like a good reason to stay home this weekend — but those decisions aren’t always made by me.
So I thought I would just go backpacking.
Nope.
New blinds to hang. What’s wrong with the old curtains? I think they are fine. Oh, and other tasks created; not by me of course.
Ah well, it’s okay. I had a touch of the flu earlier this week any how and a little rest might be good.
In The Business of Backpacking I took a jab at gear reviews on personal blogs. Specific blogs were not identified, as I have no interest in pointing out any individual.
Apparently a blogger was put off by my observations, and a “Cease and Desist” email was sent to me via a PM (private message) hosted by an Internet forum. Since there are no Comment or Email capabilities on this Website, it is rather difficult to contact me unless you are a friend or a business client. This is intentional. I really don’t care about what others think.