Lessons learned

Clicking the pics is a good way to get ready to start the Labor Day holiday.

Purple wildflowers

I learned a few things about the little Bronco on this brief camping trip to Deckers, Colorado. But mostly, this trip just affirmed things I was pretty sure of before.

I averaged about 17 miles per gallon in the truck totin the little Bronco, which is about 7 miles per gallon better than I get pulling the Arctic Fox. It seems that everywhere I've taken the little Bronco, I've been in mountainous areas where I'm usually going up or down. I don't recall spending much time cruising down the interstate, where it's at least relatively flat.

That's pretty good fuel mileage... The truck gets about 22 miles per gallon cruising down the interstate empty... So, it makes me wonder if I need to keep the 18-gallon spare fuel tank in it. That tanks a lifesaver when towing the Arctic Fox since the factory fuel tank only holds 25 gallons of diesel. But totin the little Bronco around, that spare fuel tank mostly makes me FEEL more self-sufficient than serving any actual purpose. So maybe carrying two or three gallons of extra emergency fuel would make more sense than having the extra tank on board.

The refrigerator in the little Bronco is still working great since I put the two cooling fans in it to replace the rather poor one that came with it from the factory. But the fans are still a little noisier than I like, but I have a rheostat for the fans to adjust their speed; I just haven't worked up the ambition to install it yet.

And speaking of the refrigerator. Keeping it level is one of the ways to keep it working properly and making sure it keeps the temperatures down at the proper levels. You may recall that I installed a leveling gadget in the little Bronco that tells me how level the little Broncos refrigerator is or isn't. The device itself works great, but I need to move it somewhere outside the little Bronco, so it's easier to get to when I have to turn it off and on.

And I need a better way of getting the truck level when I camp so that the refrigerator in the little Bronco will be level. I think the best way to do it would be adjustable airbags on all four corners of the truck, so with a push of a button, a compressor would level up the truck. But that's pretty expensive and not something I'm considering right now. So I'm using different things to drive the truck's wheels up on to level the truck, the same as I do leveling the Arctic Fox. But so far, I'm not very happy with my results and need to figure out a quicker and easier way. One good thing will be the desert is usually so flat I won't need to do any leveling.

I put an igniter on the little Broncos stove, so I don't have to light it with a match anymore, and it's working great. It lights first time, every time, and is something I'm no longer concerned about.

My biggest complaint about the little Bronco has always been and still is putting the roof up and down every time I want to go somewhere. I know doing it will not get any better because I had to put the top up and down on my Hallmark pop-up truck camper for ten years, and it always annoyed me. Unfortunately, the only solution to that appears to be getting a hard-side slide-in truck camper. That solves many problems but increases the issues of size, weight, and roof clearance..... It looks like there's just no pleasing me.

                                                         Theboondork

Hornbek ranch, Colorado

Root cellar at the Hornbek ranch.