Adventure RV

[Neil]

"...descents are murder on my back and other lower extremity joints..."

Then obviously it wouldn't be worth the risk, would it.
If you were to SLIP, TRIP or FALL you could be kicking your self in the butt for quite a while.
Fergidabowtdit. ;-)

(Buuuut you COULD arrange for a helicopter to pick you up for the return trip, I suppose! )

The American Southwest is a spectacular place but it can also be deadly to the unwary or unprepared. Fall or seriously injure yourself in the wilderness and you are in trouble. Contacting help by cell phone is frequently impossible in many areas and if you have a companion, the only option is to have them return to civilization to summon help. ALWAYS CARRY WATER WITH YOU!

 

[Larry L.]

Contacting help by cell phone is frequently impossible in many areas

Which is why packing a satellite cell phone with ya is a darned good idea when mucking about in remote areas.

 

[Randy V]

Which is why packing a satellite cell phone with ya is a darned good idea when mucking about in remote areas.

My iPhone 14 Pro has built-in Satellite connectivity for emergency use off the grid. I am frequently deep in the desert mountains of Arizona and while I’ve not had to use the service yet, it’s comforting to know it’s there.

 

[Chris Kouba]

Moving right along.... Rolled briefly through Kanab, UT today to re-provision. Back into the wilds...

Wave day is Monday.

 

[Brian Kissel]

Very cool Chris. Glad you have the opportunity to see the West in style.

Regards Brian

 

[Randy V]

Awesomeness with the Milky Way shot!

 

[Chris Kouba]

Inexplicably, we have service. A shot from where I presently stand:

 

[David mono]

Every time I see your truck I it reminds me of the Dakar. Keep the photos coming.

 

[Chris Kouba]

Every time I see your truck I it reminds me of the Dakar. Keep the photos coming.

Dakar... It's hard to not think about it when you're bombing over washboard and cattle guards at 50+ MPH... So yeah, mentally, I was right there with you.

As someone 1100 miles from home, with their entire existence contained in a box behind the cab, it was a little intimidating to do some of the things we did, but the payoff was worth the investment.

This is footage of us leaving our last "out there" camp. This machine is incredible. Soft, deep sand, at points deeper than the sidewall of the tire (48" dia w/20" wheel, so yeah- 14" deep!!), and it just powered through it with a little momentum for the deep stuff:

I love this rig!

We got back last night and will slowly be getting after things. Eventually I will have some sort of video put together from the trip. Will spoon feed some stuff between now and then as opportunity allows. Ugh... back to work tonight!

 

[Chris Kouba]

I want to compile a bunch of our footage into an interesting video to share with family and friends, but lack practical experience. I started off with some basics of putting together a trailer for what that full video would show. I give you our entire 16 night trip, shrunk down to 1 min, 8 seconds:

 

[Randy V]

Very cool video! I know that must’ve taken a bunch of time too!..

 

[PaulProe]

Chris
Spent three weeks last fall exploring the same area, makes me want to go back.

Very Cool video. Who was the drone pilot? There's a photographer in the family that deserves a lot of compliments

Paul

 

[Chris Kouba]

Hi Paul,

Thanks! I did all the drone flying, and it was all done manually. I haven't had it out too much, but when I've used the AI tracking feature, I haven't been completely enamored with the results. I either have to hold too tight of a shot and don't get the expanse of the scenery, or it doesn't flow smoothly- like it's getting hung up for little moments in time and the pan/tilt or the drone's motion will freeze for a moment and then resume. Both were annoying. And then there are some shots you can't even do with AI, like the fly off or drop down ones. The subject always needs to be in the field of view, and not all interesting shots start or end that way.

Beyond that, I also enjoy the challenge of trying to fly it and film at the same time. In manual mode, it will only shot footage in the direction it's pointed, so I have had to learn to point the camera/drone body in the desired filming direction and incorporate that orientation into the desired flight path. It can be frustrating at times trying to get a good shot and then a little slip of the sticks will ruin it, but if it was easy, everyone would do it, right? Line it up and try it again... it still beats a great day at work.

The other thing about that area, it's had to take a bad picture or video clip. If you're not a pioneer trying to cross it like your life depended on it, it's quite stunning. We love to visit the SW. We can't wait to go back.

 

[Chris Kouba]

Pieced together a bit of the video. Still no soundtrack, but a decent visual documentation of our trip. Nothing we were saying was really going to add to the spectacle of the scenery:

Be sure to open in Youtube and watch in full resolution.

 

[Larry L.]

Soooooo...do you suppose Safelite Auto Glass would "come to you" in any of the above locales???

Trust me to be thinkin' 'bout junk 'n' stuff 'n' crud like that there... ;-)

 

[Chris Kouba]

Fun story Larry....

We were here, pretty close to the middle of NOWHERE:

The "road" in and out is two ruts in the sand:

It wasn't all 14" deep but it was definitely deep enough. There are signs the BLM has out there saying "Deep Sand, 4WD Required", and "Know the difference between AWD, 4WD, and High Clearance 4WD", yet there are still idiots...

On our way out of there, we ran across a young couple in a FWD rental Nissan econobox and its chassis was resting on the sand between the ruts. Its front bumper cover was plowing sand. No idea how it got so far in there... but it wasn't going any further without assistance. I would have towed them out except there were no tow points on the vehicle (they couldn't find the adapter thing to screw into the chassis).

They did manage to have a cell signal to call for a tow. I overheard them talking, "Yes, I need a tow..."

Uh, no you don't. You need a recovery. There's a difference.

They blocked the access road for ~45 minutes and by the time we got them moved out of the way there were two dozen or so vehicles lined up behind them. We were getting out because it was looking like there was weather (rain) coming in and one of our gang had a rental car about 10 miles off pavement. We wanted to get it out to the pavement before the road possibly got soaked as it's clay and would be SUPER slick. I went full dad mode on this kid for about 3 minutes, about how irresponsible his actions were, and how his decisions were now impacting everyone else behind him. Then we got on with trying to do something about their situation.

It was pretty pointless though, so we bailed. It will be expensive for them, but their safety wasn't in danger. I hope it's a good learning experience for them. I assume they eventually had someone come snag them, but never saw a tow rig on the main road- although can't say I was really watching either.

We managed to get out, re-position the rental car for our party member, and head back in for one more night in the wilds. Conveniently, it managed to not rain on us as well.

We did another night time photo session too:

Absolutely epic trip.