u/The_lewolf

Not a lot of sea life though. Weird.

City of Rocks State Park, Faywood, NM

Does anybody know anything about these pools near Soda Dam?

I was checking out the travertine formations and saw the pools, but there’s been so much rain that if there had ever been a trace of warmth, it was long washed out.

I am headed to New Mexico for six weeks in the fall. I use my Expedition as a base camp and home, and past trips have been disorganized and chaotic.

This year I built a simple cargo platform for the rear. The primary piece sits behind the third row seat and has two compartments for my off-road recovery bag and my mess kit.

The second piece sits on top and takes up the small split of the third row seat. I have a 12v pump with a five gallon water jug, a platform for my backpacking and climbing gear covered with a cargo tie-down, and a gear panel for fire extinguisher, first aid and battery charging.

The bed platform is a five foot folding table that sits behind the rear passenger seat when it’s broken down.

Some pictures of the cargo platform and bed I built for my ‘25 Expedition.

The cargo contraption is two pieces bolted together. The rear platform stays even with the third row seat up.

The cubby and high platform on the right, along with the pump
and water tank are the second piece and stay in with just the small half of the third row split down.

The bed platform is a five foot folding table on wooden standoffs. The table folds away behind the second row seat.

Behind the passenger side second row is a fire extinguisher, first aid, hammer drill, and a battery charger for my DeWalt stuff.

The cubby is good for food and paper products on long trips. The cargo nets keep everything tidy. In these pics I have my backpacking pack and my climbing gear stowed on the riser.

The rear cubbies contain my off-road recovery gear and most of my mess kit.

The water system is for washing and emergencies.

Does anyone have any favorite maps, guides or resources that I missed? Anyone know where I can get a paper copy of the Public Lands South Central New Mexico map?

Long before there was a 422, the early European settlers of Pennsylvania pushed out of Philadelphia along the river valleys and then up the local creeks, seeking water and land for their new farms.

In 1719 or thereabouts, Daniel Falkner, one of the Mystics of the Wissahicken, founded his church on the banks of Minister creek. That church today is called Falkner’s Swamp Church, and it still operates on Swamp Pike in New Hanover.

Two years earlier, other German immigrants had come to New Hanover, and they had also built a church, right on the opposite banks of the same creek. That church, the New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran church, will hold the roughly 125th annual Great Swamp Picnic, today, on their picnic grounds one block over, on Swamp Picnic Road.

It never occurred to me to wonder why all these people decided to build their churches in a Swamp. It doesn’t seem like a great idea.

Which leads me to the point of this post. Daniel Falkner and his congregation didn’t speak English. Neither did their kids or grandkids. In fact, English was not widely spoken in the area until well after the Civil War some 125 years later.

The word they used was Schwaam. And schwaam in Pennsylvania Dutch means meadow. Not swamp. They built their community in a beautiful meadow.

After taking the time to raise it a little and get 35 inch tires under it, I figured it was high enough to mount a canopy.

Unfortunately, the panoramic sunroof significantly reduces roof load capacity. I used the Thule wing bars sold by Ford, and mounted 180° 23Zero awning. It’s probably 100 pounds of awning and hardware, which should be safe, but adding a kayak or bike rack to the rails would probably start getting me close to trouble.

I am car camping through New Mexico in October and I am really looking forward to the shade.

I have 24000 miles on my factory tires, General Grabber 275/70R18s.

One of them failed inspection for a crack in the sidewall so I had all four replaced. When they were dismounted, my mechanic noted serious cracks in the tread of two additional tires.

Did I abuse these tires? Or is this a warranty claim?

There have been a few posts recently about off-road upgrades to the current Expedition generation.

I’ve been waiting about a year for the aftermarket to develop, and I got antsy before it really did.

Here’s what I did this week on my ‘25 Tremor:

Rough Country Lift
Toyo 285/75 tires
Bilstein 5100 all around

Here’s what I learned:

The RC kit did not take the previous Tremor lift into consideration and caused some issues. The Tremor has no rake, so a 2/1 lift kit left the rear low.

I put the tires on the Tremor rims and they have no clearance issues.

The Bilstein struts have height adjustments but even at full extension my back end is low.

So far, it drives fine and no regrets. Will have to spend some time working on getting it level though.

I’ve experimented with all sorts of raised beds over the years. This year I had the idea of trying some double dug 4’x4’ beds right in the sod of my backyard.

The first one was made using t-posts and chicken wire, but it became obvious the my garden soil was just going to crumble through the wire.

So I started stacking the sod blocks around the outside of the wire, upside down, to form a dirt-stop.

Well by the third or fourth bed I started wonder why I was bothering with the t-posts and chicken wire. So the last two are literally just sod-walled beds.

I’m eager to see how they turn out.