LOADING

We choose to tow with a Jeep, and just love all of the cool outdoors stuff we can do with the Jeep. But, as is the case with any tow vehicle, there are trade offs. Our trade off is storage and horse power to weight ratio. We gain off road capability, but have less storage. As we find ways to store stuff, we also keep track of weight, to improve the horsepower to weight ratio.
Our solar panels are our heaviest carry along item. They are also large enough that we carry them up on the expedition rack. The total weight of the solar panels and the storage and securing gear, is 112 pounds. There is a painted plywood sheet that is cut to fit, on top of the panels. On top of that is a Sears cartop carrier that we put light items in such as a small aluminum folding table, our campsite sign and a three step folding aluminum handyman's ladder. Carrier total weight 74 pounds. Here it is loaded that way, it gets uglier after this point, he, he, you know, the classic "Grapes of Wrath" look.
Springtime Showers, Springtime Flowers & getting loaded !

This higher wind profile cuts into gas mileage, so we accept that fuel penalty for around 800 miles then remove the wind resistance items to get back our best mileage for the four months we will be up on the Continental divide in the Rocky Mountains. Oh, yeh, surprisingly the 10K elevation while there doesn't seem to effect our indicated mileage all that much.
A Sign of our Times ( Our campsite host ID sign )

TO BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL WITH A CLICKABLE LINK TO NEW MOUNTAINBORN CHRONICLES POSTS, scroll down to the FOLLOW WITH GOOGLE FRIENDS button and click it.