On an extended expedition like our upcoming Trans-Eurasian Odyssey from Lisbon, Portugal to Shanghia, China, the only thing worse than major health problems would be an engine failure. Even with our Amsoil Dual Filter Bypass system, we need to carry an adequate supply of quality oil for occasional filter changes and normal consumption. Quality synthetic […]
When The Turtle V stops, our primary means of transportation will be walking. During our 28-day John Muir Trail trek,, we discovered La Sportiva boots, and Superfeet Insoles. No more blisters and no re-occurrences of the painful Plantar Fasciitis that can quickly ruin any hike. Unlike even the best out-of-the-box insoles, the Superfeet can be […]
Storage in a small expedition camper like The Turtle V is critical. Clothes for four seasons, medical supplies, camera equipment, computers, tools and spare parts, food—it’s a long list, whether it’s for three days or three years. In addition to the Weatherguard box on the front rack, we needed more storage for light equipment and […]
Some things would never see a flea market. With an acre of property, there are plenty of places to hide stuff. Pallets, dead dishwashers, paint buckets, wine barrel rings—a 13-year collection that tipped the scales at the local recycle yard just under 1/2 a ton.
It is positively amazing how much really valuable “stuff” you can accumulate in 13 years. (Yes, that’s how long it has been since our three-year Trans-Eurasian expedition across all of Russia and around the World.) This was good stuff. The local flea market was the answer. For eight hours we bargained with the masses wanting […]
Moving from one house to another house is difficult, but you mark a big box “kitchen”, fill it, move it to the new house and unpack it in the kitchen. Moving a fully furnished home into a pile of boxes for what may be three to five years is interesting. Our “home” is now rented. […]
Have we left yet? Not quite, but have we moved? Yes, and what a move it was. When we drove away from our “small house” in Nevada City, Calif. the last time, headed for Siberia, it was just that, a “small house”. Now, having lived in it for several years, it became a “home”, with […]
A day’s drive north from Lee Power Steering in Sun Valley, we stopped at the Hellwig facilities in Visalia to have our Heavy-Duty Sway Bars and Hellwig Air Suspension bags checked. Everything looked fine, but for long-term reliability, the sway bar bushings were changed and new Hellwig drop-arms with replaceable bushings were installed. New Contitech […]
Following our brief stop at MagnaFlow Performance Exhaust, we continued up the California coast to Huntington Beach for a visit to the Dynatrac headquarters and factory. Dynatrac has been an important sponsor since they introduced their Free-Spin Heavy-Duty Front Hub & Bearing Kit which replaced the problematic factory unit-bearing on all Ford 4X4 Super Duty […]
Heading north from San Diego, our next stop was the huge R&D facilities of MagnaFlow Performance Exhaust (www.magnaflow.com). We have relied on MagnaFlow’s quality and expertise since The Turtle V was first built. We needed a custom exhaust that would give us the best performance, be high up out of harm’s way, exit to the […]
