Roof Rack

I spent Friday evening at my friends shop tacking the roof rack together and mostly installed it today. The rain cleared out and the temperature dropped quite a bit but we managed to work through it. Bailey sat on top and helped me for a solid two hours and actually turned a few bolts while up there. He's a good helper.

Of course I didn't finish working until dark so the pictures are taken in the dark again. Below you see the awning unfurled. I also finally repainted the fender flares black from the Halloween accident.

Preparation: Route Selection

Here are the initial routes of I've come up with during free time. They are Google maps, so you should be able to easily open them.

Section 1: Undetermined
Section 2: Des arc, Arkansas to Warloop Rd.
Section 3: Warloop Rd to Walsenburg, Co. (taking the kids to Bishops Castle)
Section 4: Rye, Co. to Del Norte, Co. via Great Sand Dunes
Section 5: Del Norte to Telluride, Co.
Section 6: Telluride to Fruita, CO. Undetermined
Section 7: Fruita, CO to Moab, UT on Kokopelli
Section 8. Moab to SLC
Section 9. Undetermined but probably stick to Northern UT and very southern OR and northern NV (here is a possibility that I came up with on the fly but want to better think through)

Return
Section 10: Bend, OR to Jordan City, OR
Section 11: Trans Idaho trail (this is not my map; it is from the Trans-Idaho Expedition here on Expo that is set to leave this July)
Section 12: Trans Wyoming - undetermined
Section 13: Sandhills, Nebraska to Grand Island part 1 and part 2

My atlases have just started arriving from Fleabay so these routes may change (alot) and I am always interested in anyone who has experience in any particular region. Looks like my hope of a below average snow year in CO has started to be dashed.

Preparations

In preparation for our trip, Jesse is modifying our vehicle to take on this expedition. Today he rewired some interior lights in the Land Cruiser and replaced the old bulbs with LED bulbs. He also added halogen reverse lights. Basically, we have 2 spotlights for reverse lights. Added some extra lights up front and two more 12 volt outlets (the cigarette lighter power thingys) in the center console and two at the back door. Pictures of these modifications are here.

Also in the album you will see the two black Pelican(military) cases that will store out gear on top of the roof rack, our new Engel cooler for the few things we will need to keep cool and the 13.5 gallon water tank that will be repurposed (used to contain Dr. Pepper) and mounted underneath the vehicle for extra water storage.

So, we're goin' on a road trip...

This Summer we will be driving from Tennessee to Oregon with our 3 children. We will "live" out of our Land Cruiser. We will try to drive mostly on forest service and gravel roads with minimal highway travel. We are all very excited and a wee bit nervous (ok, I'm really nervous). We're going to try to keep this blog updated along the way.

Here's what I'm excited about:

Being together with mommy and daddy all day, every day for almost 2 months!
Seeing the beauty of God's creation in our country.
Freedom!! to do what we want, when we want...no ties to work or school.
Visiting friends along the way and seeing Marshall and Katherine (Jesse's brother and his wife) and their new baby!

What I'm nervous about:

Snakes!
Bears!
Thunder/lightening storms
The children overheating from the hot, Summer sun.