theksmith

who can school me on kayaks... looking for something inexpensive just to get started and see if i even like it... no whitewater, just lazy rivers and lakes for me, maybe the sea of cortez sometime too. first questions - what's the minimum price i'm going to pay for something that doesn't absolutely suck? - inflatable, standard style, or "sea-kayak" style? - what are the mid range brands with decent reputation? - should i look for used or only go new? thanks for the help!

while running predator earlier this year, this strange beast came along... - all the body was aluminum - he had air bags on all 4 corners and could independantly raise/lower each corner with a little control pad he had mounted near the wheel - he could also change the entire wheelbase with hydraulic rams from 100" to 120" i watched him crawl up a waterfall jiggling his little switches back and forth for like 10 minutes... then a really well built TJ did the same waterfall in like a minute with some finesse and some brute force. watching this thing reminded me of a joke about an engineer trying to have sex... making drawings and taking measurements instead of just plowing through!

wow, they are actually moving pretty fast... these were taken at the end of January:

congrats! lookin good guys, dang you are getting alot done fast. of course there are a million products for the XJ, but one of the ones i had that i abused most and never let me down was the DPG full belly skid... you might consider it, especially if you aren't going to be lifting very much and therefor really working the skids: http://www.dpgoff-road.com/site/dpg_xj_belly_skidplates.htm

ddd dddd just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop bdackground if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general... just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop bdackground if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general... just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop bdackground if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general... just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop bdackground if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general...dddd dddd just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop badckground if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general...dddd just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop badckground if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general...just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop badckground if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general...

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just wanted to share a full-size image that i thought made a good desktop background if you like DRZ's or black dirt bikes in general...

nothing will beat a well thought out, personalized bug-out bag... but many times we fail to take the time necessary to prepare a good survival system. or perhaps you just forgot to put your emergency kit in your "other car" one time when you need it... i find it great to throw a Survival Kit In A Can in every vehicle and in your day hiking pack... they aren't perfect, but they are cheap and easy so at least you don't get caught in a bad situation completely unprepared. http://www.amazon.com/Coghlans-9850-Survival-Kit-In-A-Can/dp/B001B10X72 one alternative to consider is the Adventure Medical S.O.L. (survive outdoors longer) kit. Adventure Medical makes all top-notch stuff, and it features a re-sealable container so you can re-stock it. the only downside is it's a little bit more expensive and therefore you might not be as likely to throw one in every vehicle and pack. http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/product.php?product=151

does size matter on a CB unit? the subject of the all-in-the-hand mini CB's came up recently on another forum... the correct install of good wiring and good antenna will make more difference than anything else including how expensive or what size the cb itself is. read up on firestik.com about antennas, wiring, ground planes, etc. bottom line is don't judge a particular cb by the performance one guy in your group is getting... there are too many variables in the install that he may have gotten wrong other than the brand/size/model of the head unit. a full-size unit will get you a more powerful built-in speaker usually, but other than that - if space is an issue, the Cobra 75 WXST is certainly your best bet. I know several people in local clubs with them and they work just fine. i personally have a Midland 75-822 and it has been a great compact radio for me. i originally bought it because it worked as a handheld as well as vehicle mount, this allowed me to use it somewhat even before i had a real antenna. the only reason i would recommend the Cobra over the Midland is that the Cobra has an external speaker connection on it's base. otherwise, the Midland is a more flexible and IMO better looking unit.

Down South, Bubba called his attorney and asked, "Is it true they're suin' the cigarette companies for causing people to get cancer? "Yes, Bubba, sure is true,” responded the lawyer. "And now someone's suin' them fast food restaurants for making 'em fat and cloggin' their hearts with all them burgers and fries, is that true mister lawyer?" "Sure is Bubba. But why you asking?" "Cause what I want to know is, I was thinkin' can I sue Budweiser for all them ugly women I've slept with?"

Similar to Geocaching in the fact that you are hunting for certain coordinates, but the objective isn't to find a hidden treasure... it's to visit all of the exact whole number intersections of Lattitude and Longitude coordinates. Usually you take a picture of your GPS screen and of the view to prove you where there and share what it looks like. Sometimes this might just be out in a field, other times it might be in the ocean or on the side of a cliff wall, or even in the middle of someones house! I believe all the US ones have been visited multiple times, but it's still a fun challenge if you have a GPS and are looking for an adventure. wiki explains the whole concept better than i can: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degree_Confluence_Project the official site where you can register your visits: http://confluence.org current status (dots represent successful visits):

full story here: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/LongTerm/articleId=120830 overall fairly positive review, other than harping on its "ruggedness"... my only thought to was, duh! that's why people buy Jeeps still instead of something else with 4wd... to actually be connected to the trail. i love my WJ, but after riding in a TJ and JK, i have to admit there is great appeal in how close you feel to the trail in a Wrangler... Edmunds missed that point.

testing the jeep thread icon

trying out new post icons in created

doesn't look like much lift on it, did he give you any specs on what he was running?

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Wooooo Hooooo! for a while there, the Coconino NF was the only place left where you could have camp fires... which meant going all the way up to Flagstaff area for camping. But Tonto is campfire-friendly again (which includes my favorite camping area, the Mogollon Rim)!

So back early in 2008 I decided to sell my XJ and move up to a WJ for more room and towing power. I looked around for a while and finally found a clean one with all the trimmings, including the HO motor, for a good deal and it was a local vehicle that had spent all it's life in AZ... the only problem was it was black! I'd never had a black vehicle before and all I could imagine was it always looking dirty and being too hot in the summer. I decided to go have a look anyway and I'm glad I did... it turned out to be a deep metallic pearl black that actually looked stunning. So I snapped it up! And yeah, it's hot in the summer, but everything here in Phoenix is. And yeah, it looks dirty, but that's because it's always been on a trail within the past few days, so it's more of a badge than something to be ashamed of! Here's what she looked like a couple weeks after the purchase. I de-badged her and added a roof rack day 1 - other than that she was bone stock with 75k miles, bald street tires, and no skidplates... but of course I took her off road anyway! Currently she's on a 4.5" Clayton Long Arm lift with 33's: UPDATE 10/2009: make that with 6" now! UPDATE 9/2010: make that 35's now!