There and back again......

[takza]

Took a test camping trip with the Tercel to Michigan's UP. Haven't been camping in a good while and had forgotten a lot of stuff about it...but my memory was refreshed fairly quickly...by REALITY...or what passes for reality these days.

First issue....BUGS...deer flies...biting flies...mosquitos...biting gnats...or #*@%$# SOBS........generally speaking. Apparantly I chose to go camping after a wet spring and at the peak of the fly season. Used a lot of DEET. My dog was driven to distraction.

One good thing was no rain...since I wasn't set up too well for serious camping.

Otherwise, I got to test out the Tercel on a fairly long trip and offroad...and as a camping vehicle.

Long hauls: Car did surprisingly well on the highway....cruising around 55 MPH (2500 RPM) on two lanes and 60 MPH (2700 RPM) on the freeway. Cruise control would be nice.

Offroad: Had the wagon back on some ATV trails...thru some mud holes and deep sand. Car did real well. Narrow and easy to turn around. Only hit the ground a couple of times that I know of...once with the rear frame channels and also scraped some dirt with the front end. Did not get into any serious rocks...mostly sand (deep and dry at times) and tree roots and stumps. Some mud.

Camping: I need a tent. Had to move too much stuff around constantly in order to sleep in the back and had to sleep diagonally as it was. If it had rained...I would have been in some serious doo-doo.

Had around 550-600 lbs in the car and got into some serious offroad stuff (read BUMPS)...pretty sure I'll need to redo my alignment again. Now pretty confident in the car offroad...intend to put on new springs and shocks front and back....plus rubber parts in the front. The car will carry some weight and offroad at that.

Kumho tires did AOK.

Saw some nice places, but also the typical clearcuts back off the main roads where the tourists can't see. Took some back roads thru some back areas...one attempt didn't work out.

Not much wildlife...heard a pack of coyotes, saw sandhill cranes, an eagle (?), and some deer.

Might have seen some bear poop...should have taken a picture for any scatologists to examine. B)

Got to camp on the beach a couple of places. Brought some rounded stones home.

Mich isn't the west....too close to too many people and their tendencies for destructiveness. Same thing in the west...but not as many people...yet.

[tercel4wdrules]

Wow, you had a really neat trip and had some off-road fun. Ahh... off-road fun in Tercel, wish I could do it. :unsure:

[arbskynxnex]

Sounds like fun. You're lucky DEET works, the bugs consider it a sauce here.

[takza]

The DEET worked like magic at first, but as I started to smell more like my dog...it didn't.

The bug level depended on where you were...higher ground was best....if the wind was blowing, esp off the lake (Lake Michigan)...that was good. Different places had different kinds of insects and at different concentrations.

Flies liked the heat of the day...then the skeeters would take over the torturing at dusk. The gnats would bite now and then.

The next to last place I camped was an really nice (meaning scenically pretty) isolated spot on the lake near the beach....the specialty there was biting flies...not deer flies. And I'm talking B-A-D!

I only stayed about an hour...DEET wouldn't keep them off my dog and he couldn't walk in a straight line due to the flies and the bites. I could just about tolerate it right at the water's edge with DEET and using a t-shirt to keep them off. This is when I decided it was time to retreat. I had to drive back thru some deep sand to get to this place...then had to do it again to get out. Had to find it and get there...then had to leave.

[Thereminator]

I was thinking about adding a four foot removable extention off the back~deck and with the hatch open,a half-screen/tent that snaps around the extention and perimiter of the hatch.This would make a simple,afordable tent/sleeping area with lots of head room thats off~the~ground and quick~to~asemble.

[takza]

Another idea I've seen is to add a plywood platform on top of the car and find a tent to fit it. You'd just collapse it to travel and put the poles in to use it. Use a ladder to get up there.

The problem with a regular tent is to find a flat spot to set it up and the time it takes. But if you want the gas mileage this car gets and it's manouverability in the bush...you have to use a tent or move lots of stuff around all the time.

Last thing I'd want in the places I intend to go is a trailer. And very much stuff on the roof will reduce MPG real fast.

The major things about camping are COMFORT and EFFICIENCY. If you don't have reasonable comfort...you won't last long. If you don't have things set up so you can cook, wash, and sleep easily...you'll spend most of your time getting set up to do this stuff.

Found that my old kerosene lantern worked real well as before...no worry about batts...good for general lighting. Had a flourescent camping light that worked pretty good...but the batts were going pretty fast. 2 small kerosene lanterns might be best.

When camping...I tend to sleep and wake with the sun....problem in the UP was that it didn't get dark till 10 PM and was getting light by 6 AM.

Also going to work on weight reduction....dry food and minimal glass containers.