Ratdude's Western Adventures (Summer 2022)

Somehow I completely forgot this sub-forum is a thing... so without further ado, here's some stuff on a trip out west I took earlier this summer, and another trip I'm about to take.

This July 7-12, I took my 1995 Ranger on a 2500 Mile adventure to a little cabin in Jefferson, CO (nearly 9500' altitude supposedly!). My cousin in-law's father in-law has the cabin and was so kind as to loan it out to us for a guys-only weekend retreat.

I also visited my buddy in Salem, MO, with overnight stops in Overland Park, KS (where my brother in-law lives) on the way out and Quinter, KS (see below) on the way back. Here's the route I took:



(Sensitive names and addresses censored)

The Lebanon MO part was due to my buddy giving me bad advice and not figuring it out until I was that far down I-44.

Due to the cabin being full and not wanting to sleep in a tent, I actually used my camper shell for camping:





(The back is full of electronics traded from the buddy in MO, namely a large-format laser printer, a massive obsolete LED sign, and a 1080P DLP projector. He's awesome!)

View from the cabin deck:



Rainbow after a big storm in the distance:




On the first day, we all went whitewater rafting... here I am in the front left of our raft (front right of picture):



(My eyes were closed in all the pics as we had just taken a massive wave 10 seconds before!)

After lunch, we went to the base of Mt. Princeton for a hike...











Here we are hiking to a waterfall...



...but neither my father in-law nor I made it. He was seeing stars and my heart was racing. We're both low altitude Indiana creatures these days. And from the pics we saw, the waterfall itself wasn't writing home about.

The next day was a travel day (to the family's hometown of Quinter, KS). On the way I drove through Garden of the Gods:



And saw a bullnose for sale in Calhan, CO. Like this thread, I never got around to posting it (as a found classified vehicle):











(Yeah that's a busted window... )



The day after was a cannonball run back home... yee haw!

Was a fun trip... and a needed break.

Next Post: My adventure coming up this week!

Cool! Looks like fun.

I like your camper shell. I’ve been contemplating getting one for my GMC.

Your Ranger did good!

I did have an issue with what seemed to be low oil pressure but actual was what my buddies on RangerStation determined was a faulty aftermarket IAC valve causing a low hot idle:

https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/low-oil-pressure-at-hot-idle-use-heavier-oil.198917/.

The only other issue of note was that it took two pressure washes to get all the dirt road debris out from the engine bay... and honestly it may need a 3rd as I'm still finding dirt down there!

Forgot a pic: Gotta love free roaming cattle:



It was a 10 mile drive on some of the worst washboarded dirt roads I've ever driven on to get to the cabin from US24. The ranger handled it OK despite not being a 4x4.

As for this week, the plan is to take my Bullnose to Gary's Truck Show this weekend (by way of the MO buddy again), but then drive up to see the family in Quinter for Labor Day, and visit her brother in Overland Park on the way home:



Head to Rolla, MO area Thursday, go to OK Friday (picking up some things along the way), show Saturday, Drive to KS Sunday, Labor day with family Monday, Drive to Overland Park Tuesday, and drive home Wednesday.

This is what all my bullnose work the last month or so has been leading up to to. After Bambi gave me trouble last year, hopefully this time works out a lot better.

Here goes nothing...

You forgot the jaunt to Wagoner.  

But it looks like a fun trip.  Looking forward to seeing you Friday.  Don't get here too early if you don't want to WORK!

Drive safely!

Wagoner is there but I censored it since I didn't know if that was publicizeable. Under "pick up some stuff along the way".

I get there when I get there. Helping you isn't an issue... Far less drama and stress than actual WORK.

John shows on the map, so I guess it is publicizeable - if that's a word.  But now that I look at the map I see he's been playing with it.  

I made it a word!

Nice trip!

Thanks for the picts!

ratdude747 wrote

On the first day, we all went whitewater rafting... here I am in the front left of our raft [...] My eyes were closed in all the pics as we had just taken a massive wave 10 seconds before!

And I LOVE the name of the boat!
Larry, your after-big-wave survivor look fits perfectly!

Noah's Ark is the name of the rafting provider we used:

https://www.noahsark.com/

Would recommend to anybody who is interested in such. Went way better than I was expecting! .

The only issue I'd note is that they didn't have big enough wetsuits for me (I'm "very large")... but knowing what I know now, even with 40° water, I would have been fine to just have worn a shirt and swim trunks. Live and learn!

Also I kinda botched the image note... I'm in the front left of the raft (which I technically stated)... which is the front right of the picture . I've edited the original post to reflect that. The other guy in the front of the raft is my father in-law. In the back is my brother in-law (who lives in Overland Park) and my uncle in-law (who organized the entire trip). And the lady in the center is our rafting guide.  

We used Noah's Ark when I took my Boy Scout troop out there (I used to be a Scoutmaster).  It was a lot of fun.  One of the boys in our troop had to buy a shirt from them (his name is Noah).

We used that as a way to help get acclimated to the altitude.  It gave us something to do that was somewhat strenuous and at a pretty high elevation (I think about 8,000 feet), but a bit of a break from the hiking we were primarily doing on that trip.

And I'll concur on the wet suit being unnecessary.  Although I would suggest a dry-fit T-shirt rather than cotton

Oklahoma leg of the trip is mostly complete.

As for the rest of the trip, I nearly had (and may still) have a minor bump in the road. My employer called tonight to see if I could head to our plant in western Tennessee to fix an equipment issue they're having and may a put a customer in jeopardy (and apparently the executives think I'm the best guy for this ) . Fingers crossed, I think I was able to talk them through it on the phone... but if not, then this trip just took another twist (hopefully *after* I'm done in Quinter, KS).

Like I was telling Gary, helping at the show is a far cry from actual WORK!  

I hope you have things worked out and don't have to make the extra trip to TN.  But in any case, safe travels.

And thanks for coming.  You and Jenn were a big help and it was sure good to see you.  

Of course! Any time!

Good to see you... and have fun on your adventure coming up!

Picture Time:

As it turns out, a fellow forum member happened to be staying at the same hotel as me... which led to this photo op:





Gary loaded me up with a tote bin worth of turn signal and headlight switches (mostly Taurus/Mustang parts) among other things, so I had some packing to do.

Before:



After:



Made it to the family home in Kansas:





The truck did OK getting here. Driving through OK on the Cimarron Turnpike I could hold 70-75mph in OD when not going up hills (had to drop to 3rd when climbing up anything more than a light incline). Likely due to wind, on I-35/I-135, I couldn't go above 70 without gearing down at all... but once I was headed west on I-70 75mph was stable. I got MPGs as high as 16 in the latter part of the drive.

Heading to KC area tomorrow... here goes nothing!

Yep, that was Matthew's truck.  

And the pic of "Kansas" sure looked like home - wheat fields everywhere.

Good job on the packing.  Don't know what you'll do with the switches, but we sure didn't need them!

Have a safe trip on in.  

In fact, Matthew ran into me while I was packing the truck box with all the switches.

.---

Grandma sent me home with some things. First, there was an old pioneer chainsaw I found in some storage they are clearing out:



Has good compression, hopefully will only need a carb kit, a spark plug, and some TLC at most.

And then there is this guy:



Runt of his litter and the tomcats on property were getting aggressive to the two litters of kittens... Not to mention he seemed to warm up to use nicely. Do we need a third cat? No... But we have room and we think it's the best thing for him and for us.

He doesn't have an official name yet... So suggestions are welcome. For now we're going with Pixie (which rhymes with our other two kitties, Dixie and Trixie).

Well, I was stopped at the Walmart in Hays, KS but my wife is back... So off I go!

Pixie is great! Like the old Pixie and Dixie cartoon.

Why not call him Bullnose?

Because my truck already gets that name in conversation...

But it's a possibility...