Last
update:
20120828 from
San Diego, CA
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Storm
clouds gather
over the
plains in
southern New
Mexico near
City of Rocks.
Fujifilm
X10. All
photos
copyright,
Bill Caid
2012. All
rights
reserved.
After our mechanical issues that we suffered in southern Utah several years ago, we purchased a SPOT geo-location transmitter. This device reports your position through a satellite network and plots your path on Google maps. Additionally, the device has the ability to send messages through the satellite indicating that you are "OK", "Need assistance" or are having an emergency event. We hoped to not use the emergency capabilities of the device, but after the last trip, we felt that being prepared was the best solution. To follow our progress and see our current location in "near real time" see http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0W876btSW8SH7xrG6Z70n0NhXS9sne7me Bookmark this location to see our position over time. It shows the last 50 positions.
The away team for this trip consisted of only one vehicle and 2 folks. Kathleen and I went in our turbo-diesel Mercedes 1017A expedition camper. We would have loved to go with another vehicle, but this was planned to be an extended duration trip and therefore would have been a great imposition on any partners who had "real" jobs. As always, we were prepared for primitive camping. But, analysis of the available road system suggested that we would always be within several day's travel of "civilization" most of the time. Indeed, most of the travel route would be on paved highways in one form or another. This will be in radical contrast to our other trip, but may turn out to be a welcome change.
This will our first "really extended" road trip in the 1017A into areas that are really hot. Unlike our Unimog, the 1017 does not yet have air conditioning in the cab. So, traveling through the southeast will likely be somewhat uncomfortable. AC is on the list of things-to-do but did not make it into the work queue because of home repairs and other trips.
Packing
this time was
a bit more
challenging
than usual in
that we had to
bring our
hunting
"stuff" and
support
equipment.
The biggest
issue is that
the rifles are
long and have
a big
"footprint" in
the camper and
therefore
present some
additional
challenges for
secure
storage.
But, based on
a different
requirement on
a previous
trip, Kathleen
and I
constructed
several
roof-mounted
trays that
were able to
safely
accommodate
the
rifles.
For this trip,
we brought our
Sako stainless
steel
FinnLight
.30-06 with
Trijicon scope
and a Tikka
Lite stainless
.270 with
Nikon
scope.
These weapons,
in addition to
our Ed Brown
and Nighthawk
.45s would be
the hunt
hardware.
On our
previous trip,
we used a
loaner .30-30,
our .300
Savage lever
gun and .45s
and got 4
hogs; 2 with
pistols, 2
with
rifles.
This trip, we
got 5 hogs,
all with
rifles; we
never got a
shot
opportunity
with the
pistols.
In 2010 we went feral hog hunting in Texas and had a good time. In addition, we enjoyed the southeast. So, we decided that we would attempt another hunt and east coast road trip. From the hunt in Texas, we are going to continue east and meet our friends, Bob and Kitty Ragain, in coastal Louisiana for a road trip north along the Mississippi river. From there the "collective we" will travel to Southeast MogFest to meet with other Unimog owners at the Windrock OHV area in central Tennessee. From there, we have no formal plans -- yet.
We started our trip east with a stop in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to camp with some of our ex-Musicmatch work-mates. We were "blessed" with a late-season winter storm of epic proportions that started on the first day of the camping trip. Kathleen and I were the only members of the group that did not wimp-out. We ended up spending a very rainy, very windy night in the high desert all by ourselves. It was cold, but we were not uncomfortable. We hunkered down in the camper and watched a movie.
From
Borrego, our
plan was to
cross the
desert east of
Yuma, AZ via
the Kofa
Wildlife
Refuge.
This path
would be new
to us and
should involve
at least 100
miles of
trails and
dirt
roads.
In addition,
we would visit
the Painted
Rock
petroglyphs
near Gila
Bend, AZ.
The link table below contains links to the daily adventures that include photos and dialog.
Back to Bill Caid's Home Page.
Copyright Bill Caid 2012