Equipment
The Hauler
While I already own a few vehicles (2001 Jeep Cherokee, 1977 Jeep CJ-5, two motorcycles), none of this was appropriate for the mission. I’ve always had some sort of fascination with huge diesel pickups, so the weapon of choice is:
RAM makes great mounts, so I went with their product — RAM-VB-108-SW1. It was not cheap (almost $300), but it’s pretty much everything I had hoped for. It’s mostly out of the way of the passenger footwell, mounted easily, and is almost infinitely adjustable.
A few caveats:
- The “Tough Tray” is unnecessarily thick — over two inches. They certainly could’ve made something more compact. (The Tough Tray II is coming out next month but doesn’t seem much better)
- If you aren’t using the laptop mount, you can remove the pole/tray/joint assembly, but the pole attached to the base is not removable, and looks odd by itself.
Note: If you install one of these, install it under your floor mat, not on top. It won’t mount correctly with the floor mat tucked underneath. You have to shove the floor mat up into the dash a bit more than normal, but it still looks fine.
The back of the truck looked a bit unfinished — not sure if things were removed by the original owner or if they were never there. These cost about $10 each, and definitely tidy up the back seat. Covering these holes is actually fairly important considering I have a dog digging around back there almost every day.
Camera
Most of the better photos on this page were taken with a Nikon D40 with the stock lens. Most of the early hiking-type photos were taken with a Casio Exilim EX-S600. In mid-March I replaced the S600 with a Canon SD880IS.
Old/Retired/Crap Gear:
After a lot of research, I went with the ReadyRamp (1000lb full size version) due to its versatility. Bed extender, motorcycle ramp, and easy storage attached to the bed rail (with additional brackets.)
I decided to go with a smaller, more compact ramp rather than some huge thing, as I’d be hauling it all over the country. I’m a bit concerned that the ramp will be too narrow to easily load/unload myself. All of the pictures of people loading bikes alone include some sort of stool — I think the bed will be too high to do this safely myself. Will see when I load the bike in two weeks.
Hauling an 80 pound dog thousands of miles is going to be a challenge. The rear bench seat of the truck folds up so I can put his bed on the floor, but he likes to try to find his way up front.