Kiowa National Grasslands

[Doug E]

Pretty benign trip compared to many that are posted here, but we do really enjoy walking across the wide open plains:

Interesting beginning, but the road turned out to be no big deal. Not even worth a picture, although it would have been tricky in a 40 foot Winnebago.


View from Mills canyon. We didn't spend the night because of the goatheads, which the dogs hated.


Went back up top and headed across the grasslands. Helper spring install next week will fix the saggy rear.


Got camp set up a bit late in the day because of the dog fence which reaches from the van, around the Arb awning, around the uncovered metal framework, and then back to the van. It was the first time for this particular set up. This shot was the next AM. Not another soul for miles and miles!


Let's see. Vegetarian soup or red meat. Damned if the dogs didn't eat better than we!


Our site was right by the rim of Mills canyon. This is a view down along the Canadian river, looking generally towards the location of the second picture above.


One of our five, yes five, Borzoi hunting for fast prey (jackrabbit), and one of the reasons we do what we do.


And a shot across the grasslands looking at the back side of our home mountains.


Tired dogs after a day in the grasslands - and a couple of blazing fast chases. The red awning on the back of the van covers a pull-out platform which makes the van's interior grow to 4' by 10 1/2' so all the dogs can sleep inside if they want. Since it was in the 20's at night, they all wanted.


After two days of hiking across the Kiowa, we headed home just in time to beat the storm that dumped 18" of snow in our yard. This should have been the opening shot, which I failed to take when we arrived in the Kiowa, so I took it as we left.

 

[Yulli]

Looks like a good time!

 

[20DYNAMITE07]

Awesome stuff!!! I love it

 

[Doug E]

Thank god the rabbits out in the Kiowa were NOT dynamite!!

 

[Doug E]

Looks like a good time!

It was the best, Yulli. The TD works like a charm, and we hardly noticed it either on the drive (took Palo Flechado pass from Taos to Cimarron) or out in the grasslands.

 

[xjman88]

What are the specs on the van. We have a 95 Astro Van AWD and have often talked about modding if for expo use. Nice trip report btw.

 

[Doug E]

Astro is a 2003 AWD with 2" Overland Vans puck and shackle lift and 30" Firestone AT Destination tires. Had Goodyear All Terrain before, and were happy with those, but since we have seven identical tires, including full size spare and the two on the trailer, the Firestones were significantly less expensive. Despite the lift, we had to cut away the fenders around the wheels a bit to avoid rubbing with the larger than stock tires. We also did a hypertech tune, and in the process set the wheel diameters at 30" in the computer and increased shift firmness. Those made a real difference in performance, especially considering that we generally run about 1000 lbs of cargo (including the dogs). Because the trailer is for off-road, I mounted the van's receiver hitch "upside down" and cut a hole in the van's rear bumper to line up with the trailer's hitch (a max-coupler, which is REALLY nice, even just for on road.) We also added a skid plate, but not before I'd torn off the oil pan on a rock 25 miles off road. That was a PITA. I would suggest you get a skid plate before you do any off road driving, even if just on crappy BLM and Forest Service "roads".

Otherwise we're pretty much stock. Oh, except we tore out all rear seating and built a platform in the van so that the dogs ride a foot above the floor and we have storage below them. The Arb awning is nice, but not really necessary. Lost the front plastic bumper cover when I did the lift. Oh well. And tore off the plastic body trim while cutting away parts of the fender around the wheels. Again, oh well.

Right now, both because the shackle lift tends to flatten out the rear leaf springs and because of the amount of weight we haul around, I'm getting ready to add helper springs from Michigan Truck Springs over Thanksgiving. I expect that will eliminate the rear end sag, perhaps even lift it a bit over the front. We'll see.

You are in Albuquerque? We are sometimes down there and would be glad to show you the van/trailer setup if it would be of interest/value to you.

Doug

 

[20DYNAMITE07]

Thank god the rabbits out in the Kiowa were NOT dynamite!!

:coffeedrink: it's dangerous out there

 

[mph]

Sweet...great pictures. Looks like your kitchen is legit!

 

[Stroverlander]

Astro is a 2003 AWD with 2" Overland Vans puck and shackle lift and 30" Firestone AT Destination tires. Had Goodyear All Terrain before, and were happy with those, but since we have seven identical tires, including full size spare and the two on the trailer, the Firestones were significantly less expensive. Despite the lift, we had to cut away the fenders around the wheels a bit to avoid rubbing with the larger than stock tires. We also did a hypertech tune, and in the process set the wheel diameters at 30" in the computer and increased shift firmness. Those made a real difference in performance, especially considering that we generally run about 1000 lbs of cargo (including the dogs). Because the trailer is for off-road, I mounted the van's receiver hitch "upside down" and cut a hole in the van's rear bumper to line up with the trailer's hitch (a max-coupler, which is REALLY nice, even just for on road.) We also added a skid plate, but not before I'd torn off the oil pan on a rock 25 miles off road. That was a PITA. I would suggest you get a skid plate before you do any off road driving, even if just on crappy BLM and Forest Service "roads".

Otherwise we're pretty much stock. Oh, except we tore out all rear seating and built a platform in the van so that the dogs ride a foot above the floor and we have storage below them. The Arb awning is nice, but not really necessary. Lost the front plastic bumper cover when I did the lift. Oh well. And tore off the plastic body trim while cutting away parts of the fender around the wheels. Again, oh well.

Right now, both because the shackle lift tends to flatten out the rear leaf springs and because of the amount of weight we haul around, I'm getting ready to add helper springs from Michigan Truck Springs over Thanksgiving. I expect that will eliminate the rear end sag, perhaps even lift it a bit over the front. We'll see.

You are in Albuquerque? We are sometimes down there and would be glad to show you the van/trailer setup if it would be of interest/value to you.

Doug

Nice setup. I can vouch for those mods, especially when towing/heavy loads. The Jet programmer I have does the same for tire diameter, shift points and firmness which really does help and the trans cooler and good ATF were really beneficial too. Bummer about the oil pan, that would suck for sure!

 

[coolfeet]

I really enjoy seeing photos in the grasslands. Where is Kiowa? You sure got lucky out running the storm!

How is the Astro in terms of fuel economy? When my boys leave the house, I think it would be a great van for the me and the wife. We drive an extended E350 and like the room for the 4 of us.

 

[Doug E]

The Kiowa is in north eastern New Mexico right along the Canadian river. The fuel economy is okay - not great - around 19 mpg. It was better before the lift, and the trailer drops it to 17-18 mpg depending on the amount of climbing. And yes, we were lucky to beat the storm. Here's a picture at our house the next day: