gandalf
Senior Member
We've been back a week from a week long camping trip in the Sierras. We took the truck and cabover (old Lance, you might find it in my pictures) up route 4 from the bay area to just a bit beyond Bear Valley Ski area, about 7300 feet.
The truck ran well, but was lacking a bit in power without a turbo. With the load of the cabover it was smoking like a sob at elevation whenever I worked the engine going up a hill. I about asphixiated a herd of bicyclers I passed--my wife couldn't understand why I was laughing.
The temps were okay, on the whole. The coolant never got over 200*F, and the EGT topped out at 1050*. My only concern was the transmission temp. It got up to 190* and stayed there. It never went over 190, but I was hoping for a lower number. It has a TruCool Max transmission cooler, so I was really hoping to drive those temps down more. The truck was burning bean juice (B99) until midway back when we topped off a tank in Angles Camp.
I had my first real bear experience. I was sitting outside reading at 11pm one night. I had the Coleman lantern burning bright on the table. I heard a noise, a very slight noise, and looked up to see a great g..d... big bear about fifteen feet away, walking along the edge of my campsite. Walking on all fours he came up to my waist level.
He knew I was there, his head swung my way once, but he just didn't care. He kept going, never broke stride, and circled around to hit the campsite next to us. They left their cooler out. I watched him (5 cell mag light) pop their cooler open and eat all their smors supplies. Honest to God, he ate 18-20 large, super size, Hersey bars, and then tore open and drank what he could of their chocalot milk. The two daughters, ages 9 and 11, in the tent at that site, freaked. They left asap, and came back at noon to pack up. All in all, it was a real interesting experience, one I'm willing to pass along since I didn't crap on the spot or have heart failure when I first saw him.
And so goes my trip report. The truck did well, and we all survived.
The truck ran well, but was lacking a bit in power without a turbo. With the load of the cabover it was smoking like a sob at elevation whenever I worked the engine going up a hill. I about asphixiated a herd of bicyclers I passed--my wife couldn't understand why I was laughing.
The temps were okay, on the whole. The coolant never got over 200*F, and the EGT topped out at 1050*. My only concern was the transmission temp. It got up to 190* and stayed there. It never went over 190, but I was hoping for a lower number. It has a TruCool Max transmission cooler, so I was really hoping to drive those temps down more. The truck was burning bean juice (B99) until midway back when we topped off a tank in Angles Camp.
I had my first real bear experience. I was sitting outside reading at 11pm one night. I had the Coleman lantern burning bright on the table. I heard a noise, a very slight noise, and looked up to see a great g..d... big bear about fifteen feet away, walking along the edge of my campsite. Walking on all fours he came up to my waist level.
He knew I was there, his head swung my way once, but he just didn't care. He kept going, never broke stride, and circled around to hit the campsite next to us. They left their cooler out. I watched him (5 cell mag light) pop their cooler open and eat all their smors supplies. Honest to God, he ate 18-20 large, super size, Hersey bars, and then tore open and drank what he could of their chocalot milk. The two daughters, ages 9 and 11, in the tent at that site, freaked. They left asap, and came back at noon to pack up. All in all, it was a real interesting experience, one I'm willing to pass along since I didn't crap on the spot or have heart failure when I first saw him.And so goes my trip report. The truck did well, and we all survived.
