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Thanks Mike - we need to go on a road trip soon!

Thanks cindy! Yeah it was a fun trip and great to finally meet Ben in person!

Okay you guys are killing me with the dutch oven comments... Time to go shopping for a dutch oven!!! LOL. Thanks for watching!

@@dustyroaddestinationslodge makes great ones. Cowboy Kent Rollins channel has lots of Dutch oven cooking videos on it. You can basically make anything from main dishes to biscuits to desserts in one. Durable versatile and most of all fun!

@nedstory1250 outstanding thanks for the info and recommendations!!!

Wait, where you in the area when I did this video? I just went through the footage looking for your truck but I musta missed it?

That was really some great food! I haven't used a dutch over before - well personally - I need to get one of those for my "inventory"!!!

Yeah, that took WAY to long to finish - hopefully it flows well. That was a fun trip!

Yeah I want to head out that way since it’s been years since I was there. Most of my early videos were in that area. I’m just not sure I’m ready to see my old favorite spots destroyed. I’m not sure if I can even get to that area from the antelope valley/lake Isabella side of the mountain. Glad to hear people are starting to be able to rebuild out there!

You should be able to. It has been a few months since I came up the hill from California Hot Springs side, but as far as I know the road is open. I don't think they've started any of the road repairs on that southern end as they have been focusing more on the 190 side as it was completely impassible after that hard rain. There will be some rough sections on the M-50, and M-90 with a short section of single lane, again, assuming they haven't done any repair work yet.

Oh right - I forgot about the rain damage... This video was filmed I think around December of last year - I'll have to call the ranger station to see if the route is open past Johnsondale bridge. I'm hoping to be able to get out this coming weekend. You have any adventures/destinations planned???

Just a family trip at the end of the month up in the Sequoia National Park area, including running the Buck Rock Jeep trail again. Anything else is usually last minute and usually to my family's property above Camp Nelson.

Sounds like a great trip to look forward too! You should post a video of it? Or maybe instagram pictures???

Well I kind of snuck it in there! Thanks for watching! 👍🏻

Yeah, apparently California has turned that entire area into a new State Vehicular Recreation Area and named it "Eastern Kern County Onyx Ranch State Vehicular Recreation Area". Honestly I only found out because I've been doing the Parks on the Air (POTA) and that is the name they classify it as. I ranch into a State Park Police person and she said it was created a couple of years ago and they haven't posted the park plan yet. I probably should've used Jawbone Canyon because people know that. I guess it's the 2nd largest of the 9 SVRAs in California. Honestly I'm kind of worried it is going to take some of the appeal of the area if it gets hammered like the other ones... Time will tell... Thanks for watching the video!

@@dustyroaddestinations dope. I'm from Bakersfield and recognized it right away

That drive from jawbone to sequoia is pretty nice! Kind of a long haul for you though what is it an hour and a half to get to the jawbone turn off? Oh I was doing some more research on that new area. Looks like they will start to charge to camp out there…. That’s kinda annoying

@@dustyroaddestinations it's a great area for winter camping

Thanks for watching! 📻

That was perfect timing. I basically just tuned to 40m and was spinning the dial when you made the call. To be honest I wasn’t sure if it would work but it did!!!

Thanks so much for watching and the feedback. I really appreciate the thoughts on the radio stuff - I’ve been worried it would be annoying for people. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else do an overland twist on the radio stuff. The truck is back from the body shop and I have a new DV8 steal bumper installed so even if I do something that stupid again the truck should fair better. The factory one folder like origami…

Ah found the 2nd comment, I used www.hamradioprep.com and hamstudy.org - I hate to say it but I basically just memorized the test questions and answers. Well, I was a ground radio electronics tech when I was in the Air Force so maybe that helped a little bit but. Just go through those and you'll make it! I'm only into the radio stuff just a little over a year and I just upgraded a few months ago to General so I could do more HF. Honestly I jumped into the deep end and my first thing was doing a Parks on the Air activation at Red Rock Canyon State Park. On the bumper, my youngest came over and we just finished installing a new DV8 steel bumper. Not exactly what I wanted to spend money on right now but it's looks good and should save me from backing into trees again (although the plan is to NOT do that again). Thanks again for watching and I hope your wife didn't mind watching it with you! Hope we can meet up one of these days Steve

@@dustyroaddestinations it’s going to happen, I want to see you Ham in real life. And we could get out into the woods for a bit. Looking forward to it

@The-OutdoorDad sounds great!!! All the state parks, national parks, and National Forrest are all POTA locations. If you look up my call sign on the POTA.app website you’ll see I just started this maybe a month or two ago.

@@dustyroaddestinations sooo, there is a ham test next Saturday close to my home.. if I could do one thing straight for a week to prep.. what would you recommend,?

@@The-OutdoorDad oh I thought I replied to this last night - I'd do the hamstudy.org thing - just keep going through the questions and answers. I think the website is free and if you pay for the app it will sync your phone/computer and you can just keep doing it throughout the day. Good luck it is definitely an interesting hobby. If you can also knock out the general on the same test I'd try to do it. But for me it was too much to cram in my noggin. If everything is completely foreign to you then the hamradioprep with their video instructions is helpful. Good luck on your test!!!

Outstanding I hope you enjoy it!

It really is a neat hobby and thanks so much for watching!

@JacquiMAustralia - what I'm doing is a think called "Parks on the Air" POTA which is a radio "game" where someone (activator) goes to a park (they are designated on the POTA.app website) and then HUNTERS try to make contact with you. So what you heard on my side was me activating Sequoia National Forest and the Pacific Crest Trail. The hunters will call out their call sign, I acknowledge it, we share sometimes signal reports (59, 33, 31) which the first number is the audio clarity and the second number is the S (signal) meter on the radio. A 59 would be like a perfect signal. 3 is kind of hard to read 2 is really bad (technically some of those calls were a 2) and 1 would be unreadable at all. Funny note I have made contacts with stations in Australia although that mainly was through data/FT8.

Oh okay. Not real hunters then? Good to see you out having a good time 4WDing. We just bought a camper trailer and enjoying the outdoors more.

Good for you guys! I'd love to see a picture of your setup! LOL well technically they ARE real hunters just with radio signals and antennas instead of weapons!!! LOL. Should have my new replacement bumper tomorrow and hopefully either put it on tomorrow or Thursday then hopefully back out for another trip!

I'll send you a picture. Is email the best way?

@@JacquiMAustralia email or dsdduane on instagram - I've turned that instagram account into my camping one so that works. Well if you're on instagram.

Yeah it's a great Awning and privacy tent! Didn't get to deploy them on this trip but sure comes in nice when the time is right! Thanks for watching Chris and it was great seeing you last week. AAAANNNNNDDDD thanks for the help/recommendation for the body shop!

Thanks @tommieboi707! This month I've had the Super Pacific for a year and it's been great! Basically 2 clicks and I'm just about ready to head to bed! Thanks for watching - question for you - was the radio part interesting or boring?

@@dustyroaddestinations it was cool! Interesting to see you contact people from all over the country.

Oh nice thanks for the feedback. Yeah it is kinda cool about that!

Yeah honestly it was just a matter of time. I was more worried about rolling the truck it was kinda tricky getting out of there. Thanks for watching Wize!

Ooh that’s an interesting idea! I just did a Jonny Taco Outdoors meetup and it was pretty fun - lots of really good people!

Thanks for watching! 👍🏻

@@dustyroaddestinations you have really taken to the radio thing

Yeah it’s kinda fun. Sometimes I think it’s silly but like doing it. Hopefully it’s not boring in the video

@@dustyroaddestinations I love that you find things you like to do. Fun hobbies are great

Absolutely! Especially after some of the stuff we've been through it's nice to get to do some things that are fun and living life again!

It was near Landers there were a bunch of hikers there so I went up the road a bit and took a right - that's where I smashed my bumper. No cell coverage all I had was ZOLEO Satellite and the HF radio. Starlink would be a neat to have though!

I was camped at landers this weekend. I think I may have seen you drive in. We were the big group with the orange gazelle tents.

@strayhorserecords oh nice! I think you were the only other rig I saw out there. Other than the PCT hikers there wasn’t a lot of people of there. Honestly think this is one of my favorite spots. Do you head up there a lot?

@@dustyroaddestinations funny thing is that was my first time checking out Landers and the Piutes after watching your other Landers Campground video. It looked like a lot of fun and my friends and I needed a last minute campground and remembered your video. When we got there Friday it got busy with PCT hikers maybe a couple dozen were around. I fed the nice girl who was camped next to me she was in 6 weeks from salt lake Utah. Saturday wasn’t so busy. Before we left Sunday I fed 4 more hikers breakfast and listened to their experiences. It was a really cool place and my friends and their kids had a great time. Thank you for sharing your journeys otherwise I wouldn’t have know that mountain range is hidden little gem. Can’t wait to get back an explore more as we found some cool places to shoot some astral photography and it’s currently Milky Way season. Let me know when you plan on going back I would love to join you. You seem like a chill dude to camp with!! I’m a couple hours away in OC.

Oh wow that's cool, for me it is pretty close so its easy to get through - and the desert to mountain drive is pretty nice a peaceful. This trip was the first time I really talked to any of the hikers - I've always been fascinated with people who do any of those really long hikes. Have you been up to the Kennedy Meadows area? That 9 mile canyon drive (paved) is pretty nice too. If you have instagram DM me there, dsdduane and we can figure a way to meet up!

Thanks for that I really appreciate it - I decided to avoid insurance and found a body shop to fix it - it was $850 to fix the driver bed side panel, repair that, adjusted the front fender (from my Funnel Lake trip), and remove the rear bumper and throw in it the back of the truck. Dropped it off Wednesday and it was Finished Friday. I removed the wiring harness from the damaged bumper and put that back together, and today I ordered a new steal off road bumper for like $750... I mention all the numbers because it WAS going to be $3400 for the other body shop but then a $500 deductible (not bad) BUUUUT a $700 a year increase in my insurance for the next 6 years... Honestly that "fancy" ramen is pretty good - Mr. Jonny Toco introduced that to me on our previous camping trips - I really liked it and tend to do it often now.

It's a truck. At least that's what I tell myself when I do things that result in those "that'll buff out" moments.

Yeah, at first I wasn't too worried I firuged I'd just remove the bumper and replace it with a better one - that was until I tried to open the bed of the truck - then it was ahhhhh crap... If the paint wasn't chipping off from the damage on the bed fender I probably would've ignored it... Thanks for watching @liv2fly88!

@@dustyroaddestinations Sounds like you found a good shop for a heck of a price. Other than pin stripes, I'm still waiting for the day I do something careless on my end and wind up with some damage too. ha. I've seen JT's videos where he has ramen, and it always looks so good. I shouldn't eat a lot of noodles, but I do once in awhile. A little Andouille sausage for heat and some mushrooms/shallots really make it "gourmet". ;)

Yeah, actually the owner of Antelope Valley Overland Supplies told me to go to this guy and I'm glad he did! I shouldn't eat ramen either BUT typically my blood sugar doesn't spike with that.I normally like to do mushrooms as well but I didn't have any on that trip! On the pin stripe - that kind of what I told the body guy - I was like do I REALLY need to paint the entire panel because I already have pin strips - he said he could but it would fade wrong so basically he's like look I'll path fix for $750 and then he said look $100 more and I repaint the entire driver side bed - so I just went ahead and did that - looks pretty darn nice

Thanks for watching Ben! I'm pretty sure our trip will be next monday's video!

Only a little glimpse of that. Will be a couple of order videos I need to finish and publish.

Top ramen. What a meal. Fun stuff. Nice to have a great day out in nature…

It was GREAT!!! lol honestly Jonny Taco got me hooked on that. I do it at home as well. I just didn’t expect the chili oil to be as hot as it was.

Thanks for watching I really appreciate it! I think it's going to be a cool addition the overland stuff - go out find a place to camp AND do some radio stuff. The Parks on the Air thing just kind of fits with it pretty well! Have you done any of the amateur radio testing yet?

@@dustyroaddestinations I'd like to know more about the "parks and activation" thing. I have a FB friend I went to HS with, and he's posted some info about Ham Radio the past couple yrs, apparently he's really skilled and knowledgeable about it. I really know next to nothing about it, but I would enjoy the aspects of overlanding, technology, and telecom. Also, just in case all other communications fail, though I'm not a prepper or anything like that.....yet. ;)

Check out Ham Radio Prep - their course isn't bad and the videos walk you through the material. The test is a published question and answer and the course will go through all the questions and track your results. Once you pass all of them you should be good to go. With the first license (technician) you can do all the handheld stuff and a limited amount of HF. The general opens up the HF stuff to you and that is where you can talk across the country and world. I started into all of this with that same mentality of backup and emergency communications. You can find more information about the Parks on the Air program at www.parksontheair.com and pota.app. The also have a youtube channel where they go over the how to do it. My main backup real-world-emergency device though is a ZOLEO satellite SOS device that also always me to send text messages and breadcrumb my route every 6 minutes. If you have any questions let me know! I definitely understand how confusing all this stuff is and it's tough when you don't have someone you can talk to. Oh my "gateway" drug into ham radio was GMRS, I got that license first and when I heard about all the interlinked repeaters on AMATEUR/HAM radio I then did that. TBH that was a bit of a disappointment because of where I go - but HF looks like it just might fix that problem. You can also send SMS and EMAIL from HF radio (although I haven't successfully tried that yet).

@@dustyroaddestinations Thanks so much for the info and links, I really appreciate it. I think there may be a couple of clubs here in Albuquerque that could be beneficial to me too. I'll hit you up if I have any questions. I've heard this, like Overlanding, can be as expensive as you want it to be, but not sure. lol I've spent way to much on my rig, but would love to get into amateur radio if there's a budget friendly way to do so. ;)

@@jmathre44 that is true if you want to go crazy you can spend a lot of money - but there are more budget options that are solid. What's cool about the mobile stuff is the antennas can literally be a length of wire and that can get you on the air. That coil thing I was using was I think $120 but it's a pretty solid setup. I think The Tech Prepper is in your neck of the woods and his videos are pretty cool. Probably more in line with what you're wanting to do - like targetted comms - I liking the POTA thing because it's kind of a reason to get outdoors and set up a radio. Plus I'm learning a lot about my gear and propagation. Post a video of your rig on your channel I'd love to see your setup !

Thanks man I really appreciate that. Funny thing, Jonny Taco and I did that trip today. The weather really turned was going to snow and get down to 20 and I didn't have my cold gear or heater.

You should! It's a beautiful area back there and a drive up 395 is ALWAYS a good drive!!!

Great question, in amateur radio there are many different events people can participate in. What I was doing there is a Parks on the Air "activation". What that means is I went to the pota.app website, looked at the map, found a dot for a "park near me", and I set up a radio there to try to make contacts with "hunters". To officially activate a park you need 10 contacts, anything below that and you don't get credit for an activation. The pota.app site tracks and validates the contacts (you have to submit logs, which is what I was doing on the computer) and they validate the contacts. So the people who called me get credit/points when I submit the log. So it's a way to encourage people to get out and visit state parks, national parks, and national forest as well as other historical sites. Since I generally end up in those locations anyway for my camping stuff I figured it would be interesting to add that into the mix. I should have included a description about it in the beginning - I'll do that next time. If that is clear as mud let me know and I'll see if I can explain it better.

@@dustyroaddestinations interesting. what is a park "activation"?

It's when you get 10 people to respond to your call requests - if you get less than 10 then it is considered a failed attempt to activate the park. If that was to happen they still want the activators to submit their logs because the "hunters" still get credit for finding you.

LOL exactly radio and desert! Thanks for watching @cindyc

Thanks for watching!

Congratulations on getting the license! That's really good that you did both. I've been doing it piecemeal and just got the generally a few weeks ago. I've been really happy with the radio. The waterfall definitely helps to see whats going on and find signals. If you don't mind let me know what you ultimately get? There are a lot of great options out there! Thanks for checking the video out!

Thank you. I look forward to getting out there & will let you know

Oh thanks for the clarification, I wasn't sure if it was by band or park. I'm REALLY glad I was able to make it work on 10M. I figured I'd just stay there until it happened. That sounds like a neat setup with the headphones and footswitch. I was going back and forth between the 891 and the 710. I still think I might get an 891 at some point. I'm hoping to head back out again this weekend and give it a go again! Thanks for checking out the video and the ideas!

@@dustyroaddestinations You did great for your 1st activation. You can actually work the same contact multiple times and it counts if it's on a different band or mode. I did some 10M and 15M digital on a couple of my activations and got enough to activate on those bands alone. 20M is where most activity is but I like using different bands and modes for the fun of it. I'm using a Wolf River 213" whip with the Sporty 40 mostly (with a jumper to bypass the coil when desired) and either the window screen or Faraday cloth and either of the groundplanes work well. I've also tried an activation with a hamstick and it worked as well but I'd really like to get a mast and throw up a wire to see the difference. Good luck on your future activations!

Oh wow I didn't realize that - the documentation and other videos I've seen haven't really been clear on it. So I could work you on 10m, 20m, then FT8 on the same day from the same park and it would count as 3 contacts? That Wolf River coil has been a lifesaver with the simplicity of setting up. Well let me clarify, the desert doesn't really have any tress so I can't really throw a line up anywhere. I did try to setup an EFHW with a 23' fishing pole and that was a train wreck. I probably need to get a mast but I need to just get some more time with the gear I have. I forgot to put it in the video but I should've put up a contact map showing where my signal ended up. Thanks again for the encouragement and clarification it is VERY much appreciated!!!

For the "good" strong signals the internal speaker worked great. The problem is those weak signals that don't even really show up on the meter. I think in that situation the best-bet is to use headphones. Honestly once I plugged in my phone's headphone and had the signal punched into my ears it worked pretty good. That once guy that called in that I barely could hear, if I didn't have headphones I would have NEVER copied his callsign. In the future I'm going to record the radio audio separately so that I have that part recorded. Or I'll see if there is a way to keep the speaker on even when headphones are plugged in - not sure if that is an option. Thanks for checking the video out!

@@dustyroaddestinations check out my QRZ. KO4TNL I just got done building a POTA Box. I'm trying to find where I bought the speaker from. I had decent audio even with an S0.

Man that is a really cool setup you have! I'm carry my radio around in a knock off pelican but that's really cool to have a box setup and ready to go! I did buy the AESS version so I have that external speaker but wasn't sure about dragging it outside. Plus my hearing isn't great but I'll have to play around with some things to see if I can get away from using headphones. I tried to see if I could keep the speak on with headphones but if there is an option for that I couldn't find it. I think I'm really going to get hooked on the POTA thing hopefully we can connect one of these days!

Yeah its definitely been a bit. It's amazing how time can just slip by!

Hey Mike! Glad you liked it! I'm still hoping to convince you to come join the radio dark side!!!

Thanks Tim I appreciate that - it's been an interesting process this year (so far). Hoping to turn things around. I did really enjoy doing the radio thing - that was kind of a challenge to get everything working.

Yeah it was a nice day that day. The wind picked up but it wasn’t too bad. Hope you enjoyed the video.

Thanks for watching! Hopefully it wasn't boring I know it focused mainly on the radio stuff!

@@dustyroaddestinations radio stuff is cool, nice addition to the dusty times

Yeah I've kind of went off the deep end on radio. I went ahead and studied/passed my general license upgrade so now I can do more and use more radio bands. This parks on the air things seems like it will be fun to do when I go camping. They count National Forests so when I'm in my normal places I can "activate" those "parks". Kind of bummed I messed up the way I recorded the video and audio though.

Yeah it's been a while, this year so far has kind of been a little weird - but HOPEFULLY smooth sailing from here!

@@dustyroaddestinations I am glad you are ok

Yeah doing much better! Once my doc finally filled the medications my numbers and such came back down. Nice to see "normal" ranges again. Hope you're doing good as well!

@@dustyroaddestinations my health is good . My ex is up to her usual Shenanigans. Gotta love predictability

Yeah. They generally can’t stop and are pretty darn consistent. Glad your health is good! 👍🏻

Thanks @itumblers hope the video was interesting!

That is a really great question Mike! For me my location choices tend to not have too many bugs so it hasn't been an issue. However, when I first got it and spent that first week around the PWN I ended up using a Thermacell MR300 and it worked pretty good - well at least once it started. It took about 10 minutes for it to really start working. I've seen other people use magnetic screen door covers to make it so that you can close off and still have airflow. The mistake I do tend to make - did it last night - is when it gets dark I'll turn on a white light and it just attracts the bugs. My lights have a yellow/orange mode that helps A LOT with that - but you have to remember to not make that mistake.

Actually we did, Jonny did reach for that and it was a chip burner. Good call on the VOR that really does kind of look like it. In Jonny's video he goes into more detail - czcams.com/video/qaM64JoNOs4/video.html

Excellent point! Had I just stayed on the other route it would have been faster - but I was wrong - the other part is NOT paved. This is one of my close/favor places to go!

@@dustyroaddestinations once you passed Sageland and you’re on the paved road it’s 20 minutes to the 178 at Lake Isabella.

@@FBCTrona yeah but I'm coming from the AV side so it would take longer. HOWEVER if I went 14 toward Ridgecrest, then 178 toward Lake Isabella and THEN take that left on Kelso Canyon that would be paved all the way up. It's been a few months since I've been up there - I think this weekend just might be a perfect time to return!

@@dustyroaddestinations got you! There is also a route from the Tehachapi area through Kelso. Not sure if it would be faster

@@dustyroaddestinations I just came back from there yesterday. The days are roughly 70°. The nights are about 40°. It was beautiful. We also did some exploring higher up into the mountains and got up into the snow. Great time did not see a soul at the campground the entire time we were there. The flowers are incredible right now.

HEY! Great to meet up with you online! Blue ZR2 Colorado if I remember correctly. That is really a special place up there especially when it isn't hunting season! LOL. Hope you and your family are doing great and didn't get too battered up with all the crazy weather we've been having lately! It's funny you found the video, I was really thinking of heading up there this weekend and just enjoying the peace and quiet! Check out Jonny's video from that trip - czcams.com/video/qaM64JoNOs4/video.html

Well the window is kind of small so you can't really see much of out the rear view mirror from it - I mean you can a little bit but if someone is right up on you or in a standard car it has to be WAY back to see it. Plus I change right there so if I was in a camp ground (which I normally don't do) then someone could look in so less privacy. IDK maybe if I bought another one I'd probably still get the window though... Thanks for watching LilFella67!

You’d def have to bend down I have to I’m 6’2” but it’s better than most tents I’ve entered. It really is a good solid tent.