Eileen and I spent a number of days in Escalante NP. Stuck one day when the road fell out. Then a torrential downpour turned the dry stream beds into rocker deep rivers. Fun times.
CK5
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'91 K5 Four Wheel Camper
This is the build for my 1991 V1500 Blazer, AKA the K5.3. It started out life being sold to the U.S. Government with a 350 TBI/700r4/241 combo. 4 years with a 5.3/700r4 Combo and now moving to an 8.1L Vortec and NV4500 5-speed.
Greetings from Cortez, CO. Had some great days on dirt, some highs and lows. Mechanical/electrical, changed plans and directions and currently on the quest to get home.
Yesterday was a crazy day in its own right with more mechanical issues on the Navajo res. Which as some of you know a 4pack of whities are not looked too highly on. We usually haul ass to avoid conflict but when the truck breaks the situation changes quickly. I’ll go into the details later but it got tense for about 15 minutes and it got took a ton of restraint on my sons part and showing of strength between the rest of us to de-escalate the situation. I’ve had some crazy interactions on the res before but this one takes the prize.
We limped the truck up 160 off the res, past four corners and made it here. Got a U-Haul lined up to carry the beast home. I’ve got a couple of theory’s but if it’s what I think it is I don’t want to attack it on the side of the road. As it is we have A lot of winding narrow mountain roads that lack shoulders. So it’s just the safest to carry it back. I’ll keep the tracking up. But once loaded we’ll take it easy.
Yesterday was a crazy day in its own right with more mechanical issues on the Navajo res. Which as some of you know a 4pack of whities are not looked too highly on. We usually haul ass to avoid conflict but when the truck breaks the situation changes quickly. I’ll go into the details later but it got tense for about 15 minutes and it got took a ton of restraint on my sons part and showing of strength between the rest of us to de-escalate the situation. I’ve had some crazy interactions on the res before but this one takes the prize.
We limped the truck up 160 off the res, past four corners and made it here. Got a U-Haul lined up to carry the beast home. I’ve got a couple of theory’s but if it’s what I think it is I don’t want to attack it on the side of the road. As it is we have A lot of winding narrow mountain roads that lack shoulders. So it’s just the safest to carry it back. I’ll keep the tracking up. But once loaded we’ll take it easy.
You made the right call, the res is not a good place to break down
I have never changed a flat with as much urgency as I did in the badlands on the reservation. As I was getting into the truck, a reservation cop pulled up. I waited. He just wanted to make sure I was good. I blew through Yuba City and kept going. So thankful I had put the 57 gallon tank in the truck.
I stopped for fuel once on the way to Moab, luckily I had my Hispanic friend and they thought he was native. He is a big dude so he bulked up and they moved away from the trailer.
Made it home with zero issues. Picked up the truck and trailer as soon as they opened. The kid and I loaded up at the loves truck stop and made the trip back without an issue.
The shower and sleep I had at the holiday inn express was definitely attitude changing. We had left over fried chicken from a restaurant in Page Bill raved about and since he had to go up to get my filters he had to get a full family order to bring back for lunch as I swapped the filter on. Given that the situation got tense shortly after they returned with the food and the filters we put the remaining in my fridge and it was great for dinner.
We ended up with a 26 footer box truck and one of the new toy hauler trailers Uhaul has now. That is one slick unit. Only thing lacking is proper straps. They have two chains they expect one to tie down with. Both of which I used mainly as
Safety backup since I bought a pair of proper tie down straps from the trailer place. The front chain I was able to tension by pulling forward a couple inches looping the chain and backing the truck up. I couldn’t have done that on the rear as that chain comes up from a hole in the deck that was behind the rear axle. Or at that point in time I didn’t see how I could. I strapped each axle down diagonally and for added security I pulled out some winch rope and put tension to the front/center tie down loop they had. Stopped outside of Cortez to recheck tension of the straps, good. Checked multiple times along the way, good.
The sad part of it being a stoopid duty ford did actually work ok as tow rig. Though the v10 didn’t make an ounce of torque below 3000 rpm. If you kept it wound up to 4000-4500 rpm it would pull for days. Wolf creek pass was pulled in 3rd gear, at 4500 rpm doing about 28 mph. For 8 flipping miles. But I’ll give it credit the coolant temp stayed rock steady and more impressive the trans temp never moved. The next four mountain passes topped over 9000 feet each went mostly the same way. Wound up.
It did ok if you just turned up the tunes to avoid listening to the v10 wailing away in front of you.
Time to crash.
The shower and sleep I had at the holiday inn express was definitely attitude changing. We had left over fried chicken from a restaurant in Page Bill raved about and since he had to go up to get my filters he had to get a full family order to bring back for lunch as I swapped the filter on. Given that the situation got tense shortly after they returned with the food and the filters we put the remaining in my fridge and it was great for dinner.
We ended up with a 26 footer box truck and one of the new toy hauler trailers Uhaul has now. That is one slick unit. Only thing lacking is proper straps. They have two chains they expect one to tie down with. Both of which I used mainly as
Safety backup since I bought a pair of proper tie down straps from the trailer place. The front chain I was able to tension by pulling forward a couple inches looping the chain and backing the truck up. I couldn’t have done that on the rear as that chain comes up from a hole in the deck that was behind the rear axle. Or at that point in time I didn’t see how I could. I strapped each axle down diagonally and for added security I pulled out some winch rope and put tension to the front/center tie down loop they had. Stopped outside of Cortez to recheck tension of the straps, good. Checked multiple times along the way, good.
The sad part of it being a stoopid duty ford did actually work ok as tow rig. Though the v10 didn’t make an ounce of torque below 3000 rpm. If you kept it wound up to 4000-4500 rpm it would pull for days. Wolf creek pass was pulled in 3rd gear, at 4500 rpm doing about 28 mph. For 8 flipping miles. But I’ll give it credit the coolant temp stayed rock steady and more impressive the trans temp never moved. The next four mountain passes topped over 9000 feet each went mostly the same way. Wound up.
It did ok if you just turned up the tunes to avoid listening to the v10 wailing away in front of you.
Time to crash.
Res craziness.
We pushed out of Page full of fuel and snacks with the full Intention to not stop on the res. Best laid plans right?
We were flat hauling the mail through the res. Like passing a line of slow movers without pulling the shifter out of fifth. The 8.1 was running like a top. Feeling good, the kid and I made the mistake of talking about how well we were doing.
That was it. We officially upset the mechanical gods and the tach needle fell to zero as we created a hill. I radioed ahead to Bill and he found a spot next to a gas station on the side of the highway. We coasted in behind him. With Andy behind us.
I break out my fuel pressure gauge and thread it on the rail noticing not even a dribble of fuel as I do it. Key cycled and no gauge movement. I crawl under and check voltage and with the key cycled I can see voltage and hear the pump run.
I grab a pair of wrenches and crack the fuel line at the inlet of the fuel filter and have someone cycle the key. Fuel sprayed all over. We need a filter.
With a couple of calls to Page made the plan is to send Bill and the kid back to Page for a couple of filters. Bill amended the plan to order his favorite fried chicken and drop Robbie off there to get it while he gets the filters.
That means we got a 2ish hour wait while they make the run. Andy and I hop in the jeep and are on alert for any res shenanigans. It don’t take long. Older guy pulls up in Ram truck with a load of hay. Gets out and I decide to get out so nothing stupid goes down. The guy was actually pretty cool. Wanted to make sure we were ok. Asked a lot of questions but it was all truck talk. Never hit me up for anything. He asked one more time if we were good and after I say yes he pats me on my shoulder and says good luck and drives off.
Next up for entertainment was the pair of res stray dogs harassing tourists at the gas pumps. Kinda sad really as the pups looked more hungry than aggressive. But seeing how that’s bad for business the local dog catcher shows up and trapped them pretty quickly.
Action was pretty quiet for a while. Until we see a guy coming towards us on the highway, cross over and haul ass down the shoulder opposite of the side of the road from the direction is moving. Passes right by us and almost wipes out a mustang waiting to turn at the intersection. Narrowly avoiding the impact the mustang gives chase and the haul off together in the other direction.
I’m watching Bill’s location on OnX using the the new group function. Which is awesome in times like this where the group is split up further than radios can reach. Downside is the group function only works when everyone has cell coverage. So it don’t work off grid, but usually then group is close enough radios reach.
I see Bill is close and go make sure I’ve got what I need to make a quick swap of things. He pulls in and I grab the filter and proceed to take a gas bath pretty quickly. The guys much on chicken and I pop out to join them. I asked Robbie to hop in back and grab me a fresh shirt to change into while I clean up using Bill’s fresh water and soap.
Cleaned up and fresh shirt I get a quick bite while the kid rolls up my tarp and packs tools. It’s around this point. He realizes his phone is MIA. Backtracking he thought he left it on the fender of the jeep while he took a leak and then Andy went over and topped off his gas since we had it running with the ac on while we waited. This is were we left ourselves wide open to getting harassed. Had we not started the search for the phone we would have been gone.
Search in process I’m retracing Andy’s path to the gas station in the dirt. That’s when our new drunk friend pulls up in his hammered Edge. He makes a lap around the trucks yelling “Hey” at the guys. Robbie is all over my truck and Bill’s searching for his phone and getting frustrated. All the while the drunk guy has chosen to hone in on him and start calling him names like Hippie, ****** and a few others along those lines. Andy being from law enforcement, instantly gets in between to talk the guy down. Andy is taller than me at 6’3” if I had to guess and has a certain presence about him. Bill has secured his side arm and has it clearly place in his lap as he is sitting in his wheelchair. He’s not holding it up or pointing it, just a noticeable reminder it’s there.
I hear the the yelling and make my way back to the trucks. Andy got the kid into the Blazer and told him not to react. It took a ton of restraint but he listened. I move in closest to calmly tell the guy move on. He says he likes the three of us, but the hippie is an asshole. Drunk logic being he’s not going to say shit about two large dudes and a guy with a piece but the skinny long haired kid was an easy target. We remind him he’s just a kid and it’s just time for him to move along and we will be out in seconds.
Drunk guy mumbles some more, tells the hippie to FO one last time and he peels off in the dirt. We hop in the trucks and make a fast exit.
It was pretty tense for a few minutes until he left. We couldn’t see the guys hands so we had no idea if he had a gun or a knife. He was unpredictable but Andy’s got experience with drunks through is job and handled the situation perfectly. Robbie could have made it worse by making comments back (which he has always been pretty vocal) wisely stayed quiet when Andy told him to and got in the truck.
He was pretty wound up over his phone going missing. Which was understandable. But I was pretty confident he dropped it inside the truck when he got me my shirt. The camper was a disaster anyway from the week and tossing stuff inside for a quick getaway. Sure enough Dad was proven right and he had found it at another stall point down the road and his attitude came almost back to normal. He would not be 100% until he got off the res completely.
That’s the crazy story how the kid got roughed up verbally by a drunk local. We escaped without incident. Another crazy adventure story to relive around a campfire later and laugh about. Which Bill and Andy being of the same twisted sense of humor as both of us have too, might have called him hippy over the radio a couple of times and made direct suggestions that maybe a new shorter haircut is in order. He finally cracked a smile and giggled.
We pushed out of Page full of fuel and snacks with the full Intention to not stop on the res. Best laid plans right?
We were flat hauling the mail through the res. Like passing a line of slow movers without pulling the shifter out of fifth. The 8.1 was running like a top. Feeling good, the kid and I made the mistake of talking about how well we were doing.
That was it. We officially upset the mechanical gods and the tach needle fell to zero as we created a hill. I radioed ahead to Bill and he found a spot next to a gas station on the side of the highway. We coasted in behind him. With Andy behind us.
I break out my fuel pressure gauge and thread it on the rail noticing not even a dribble of fuel as I do it. Key cycled and no gauge movement. I crawl under and check voltage and with the key cycled I can see voltage and hear the pump run.
I grab a pair of wrenches and crack the fuel line at the inlet of the fuel filter and have someone cycle the key. Fuel sprayed all over. We need a filter.
With a couple of calls to Page made the plan is to send Bill and the kid back to Page for a couple of filters. Bill amended the plan to order his favorite fried chicken and drop Robbie off there to get it while he gets the filters.
That means we got a 2ish hour wait while they make the run. Andy and I hop in the jeep and are on alert for any res shenanigans. It don’t take long. Older guy pulls up in Ram truck with a load of hay. Gets out and I decide to get out so nothing stupid goes down. The guy was actually pretty cool. Wanted to make sure we were ok. Asked a lot of questions but it was all truck talk. Never hit me up for anything. He asked one more time if we were good and after I say yes he pats me on my shoulder and says good luck and drives off.
Next up for entertainment was the pair of res stray dogs harassing tourists at the gas pumps. Kinda sad really as the pups looked more hungry than aggressive. But seeing how that’s bad for business the local dog catcher shows up and trapped them pretty quickly.
Action was pretty quiet for a while. Until we see a guy coming towards us on the highway, cross over and haul ass down the shoulder opposite of the side of the road from the direction is moving. Passes right by us and almost wipes out a mustang waiting to turn at the intersection. Narrowly avoiding the impact the mustang gives chase and the haul off together in the other direction.
I’m watching Bill’s location on OnX using the the new group function. Which is awesome in times like this where the group is split up further than radios can reach. Downside is the group function only works when everyone has cell coverage. So it don’t work off grid, but usually then group is close enough radios reach.
I see Bill is close and go make sure I’ve got what I need to make a quick swap of things. He pulls in and I grab the filter and proceed to take a gas bath pretty quickly. The guys much on chicken and I pop out to join them. I asked Robbie to hop in back and grab me a fresh shirt to change into while I clean up using Bill’s fresh water and soap.
Cleaned up and fresh shirt I get a quick bite while the kid rolls up my tarp and packs tools. It’s around this point. He realizes his phone is MIA. Backtracking he thought he left it on the fender of the jeep while he took a leak and then Andy went over and topped off his gas since we had it running with the ac on while we waited. This is were we left ourselves wide open to getting harassed. Had we not started the search for the phone we would have been gone.
Search in process I’m retracing Andy’s path to the gas station in the dirt. That’s when our new drunk friend pulls up in his hammered Edge. He makes a lap around the trucks yelling “Hey” at the guys. Robbie is all over my truck and Bill’s searching for his phone and getting frustrated. All the while the drunk guy has chosen to hone in on him and start calling him names like Hippie, ****** and a few others along those lines. Andy being from law enforcement, instantly gets in between to talk the guy down. Andy is taller than me at 6’3” if I had to guess and has a certain presence about him. Bill has secured his side arm and has it clearly place in his lap as he is sitting in his wheelchair. He’s not holding it up or pointing it, just a noticeable reminder it’s there.
I hear the the yelling and make my way back to the trucks. Andy got the kid into the Blazer and told him not to react. It took a ton of restraint but he listened. I move in closest to calmly tell the guy move on. He says he likes the three of us, but the hippie is an asshole. Drunk logic being he’s not going to say shit about two large dudes and a guy with a piece but the skinny long haired kid was an easy target. We remind him he’s just a kid and it’s just time for him to move along and we will be out in seconds.
Drunk guy mumbles some more, tells the hippie to FO one last time and he peels off in the dirt. We hop in the trucks and make a fast exit.
It was pretty tense for a few minutes until he left. We couldn’t see the guys hands so we had no idea if he had a gun or a knife. He was unpredictable but Andy’s got experience with drunks through is job and handled the situation perfectly. Robbie could have made it worse by making comments back (which he has always been pretty vocal) wisely stayed quiet when Andy told him to and got in the truck.
He was pretty wound up over his phone going missing. Which was understandable. But I was pretty confident he dropped it inside the truck when he got me my shirt. The camper was a disaster anyway from the week and tossing stuff inside for a quick getaway. Sure enough Dad was proven right and he had found it at another stall point down the road and his attitude came almost back to normal. He would not be 100% until he got off the res completely.
That’s the crazy story how the kid got roughed up verbally by a drunk local. We escaped without incident. Another crazy adventure story to relive around a campfire later and laugh about. Which Bill and Andy being of the same twisted sense of humor as both of us have too, might have called him hippy over the radio a couple of times and made direct suggestions that maybe a new shorter haircut is in order. He finally cracked a smile and giggled.
Typical res stuff, it’s part of the reason I travel to Moab with the 82 in tow.
All being said, you guys made it out pretty good.
All being said, you guys made it out pretty good.
Where exactly is this reservation area? I’d like to mental note this for any future adventures.
Is this the Teec Nos Pos area near the 4 corners?
Pretty much, northern az near the boarders.
