Bradywgn71

Some highlights from the Swansea trip. The views on the way to the Swansea pump station were beautiful. We dropped down into a beautiful canyon and found a baby burro. Poor thing kept running down the trail instead of to the side even with us going super slow. Hopefully the baby made its way back to the herd. We walked to what we thought was the river but it was so overgrown could only see mud and couldn't get to any actual water. We found the remains of the pump station on the cliff and a large water cistern in the ground. It was neat to see this new area of Swansea and hard to image them laying ceramic pipe or ditches to bring the water 5 miles back to Swansea. We did find the old ceramic water pipes later near the brick kiln area. See main photo album for more pictures of this area. We made our way back to Swansea and hunted for new areas. On my map scrolling way in found the North Cemetery marked. We parked next to the brick kiln and walked it. Hunted for quite some time and then figured out the cemetery was a large stone hill with grave indentations. Not much left. There were a ton of cans, nails, bottles, etc in this area. Chris found a whole bottle which is a first for us. He left the brown bottle where he found it. Here is an old coffee can lid The housing that's been preserved

I scanned the history packet Karen made for the trip. Some interesting history of the area that I though you might enjoy! Swansea Lincoln Rach and Camp Bouse History.pdf

This is awesome. Better get a patent soon!

We had a wonderful few days following "Moses" around the desert. It's always neat to find new parts of a ghost town you have visited before. Karen spoiled us with cherry cobbler and some very tasty cookies too! I owe a much more detailed trip report but for now here are my photos.

Wonderful trip report and description of the event!! Thanks for sharing!

Home. Need to fix our RV electric plug so for now thankful for the generator. Great to see everyone!!

FYI firewood is not available from what we've seen at the campground. At the maverick in Williams it was 2 bundles for 13.50 plus tax. Safeway also had it in Williams. Same price. Edit....wood at Maverick sucks and won't burn. I'd try Safeway unless you bring it with you

Congrats!! We miss our RAM truck. Hoping in the next few years to get one again.

We'll bring salsa.

Got the WJ some love with a new power steering pump (other one failed after 2 months), new water pump, front axle seal leak fixed, shocks tightened. Still has a few more issues we'll get to but nothing major (knock on wood).

So in April our transmission started slipping when we were climbing up from the Colorado River to Peach Springs. We changed two sensors and it slightly helped but it was clear that second gear got toasted. So we thought we were being smart and thrifty and got a transmission from a salvage company shipped to a shop near us. The shop put this in only to find out the transmission was worse than what we have and now the Jeep wasn't driveable!! We did get a refund for the transmission but we're out the freight shipping costs. We continued saving up money and gathered quotes for a transmission rebuild and compared this to just buying a used XJ that was compatible. Needless to say two months went by. Quotes were as high ask 5k for a vehicle not worth that!! We found out that used XJs are insanely priced right now and couldn't find the right deal. In the end Chris found Martin's Performance Transmission Repair in Prescott Valley. They had to order parts but got the work done quickly once the parts arrived and the quote never raised. The owner of the shop was a super nice and knowledgeable guy. Out damage was $2300 to the budget but way better than the average of 4k to 5k quoted around this area and in Phoenix. So far she is driving great and has a year warranty. Fingers crossed we get another 200K miles on this transmission.

Went a different direction. Can't believe the prices for used XJs currently!! Also, to note we add tried a salvage yard transmission and got total junk previously. Found a small shop (Martin Performance and Transmission) in Prescott to rebuild the old transmission. 1 year warranty and semi-decent price. Fingers crossed. Better than the 4 to 5k quotes from every other shop in Prescott area!

That's one sexy jeep. Congratulations!!

That looks so fun!! Crazy how the surface looks fine but can break through so easy into feet of mud and water! Having flashbacks to our quicksand experience up here in Prescott area! By the way love your mud gear. a new look for the trail?

Chris and I scouted the area for Kaibab Lake Campground and it is really nice. It's all pavement to get there too which is a nice bonus. We reserved a separate site (#73) for our very large RV. However in the two group sites there are three RV spots that would accommodate a 40 to 45 foot rig. Lots of other smaller RV sites within the group area and tons of tent sites. Only possible issue is parking for the Jeeps is really limited and they don't allow off pavement parking so we'll have to coordinate parking on the pavement loops. The group site KG1 has a nice ramada but it is smaller than Dogtown lake. We'll want to bring pop-up awnings too. In the album are videos, maps, etc. Bring any kayaks or paddleboards. I did not see rentals on site. Cash only for firewood. There is no dump station for the RVs but the Maverik in Williams in close and has easy access to the dump stations if you need it. Map of the campground

Wish we were closer, you rock for fixing our heaps! Our Jeep is out for smiley rock so might be room. @theksmith can you see if you can add Joe to Smiley?

If anyone sees a 1991 to 1996 Jeep Cherokee for Sale in Arizona please let us know. Stock is fine but needs to be an automatic and 4x4. Can be ugly just need functional. Must have paper title. Slim pickings or way way overpriced on OfferUp and Facebook marketplace. or if anyone knows if a good transmission for this year range that is available let us know. Right now our woody jeep is dead until we can figure something out.

Lol, oh cool. We would tentatively be interested for 2024.

Oh I wish. Not in the financial card this year

Love the report. Here is the link to my photos. Feel free to download the ones you like. Thanks again for such a fun couple of days. Hopefully we will get both Jeeps repaired soon and be back on the trails in the future with you all!

Been working too hard on normal repairs for our Jeeps and RV so no fun projects. However, we did upgrade the taillights. We cracked them wheeling on that "fun" night of recovery. Amazon taillights link

Oh that's nice!!

Beautiful photos!! Looks like a fun day!

Looks great. A small roof rack would be good for firewood and extra fuel too!

To add to the story....Chris fractured his foot and we think during this long evening. So he'll be rocking a boot for a month. Hopefully he heals up faster!!