A Blog About Land Rovers and Living in Oklahoma
In all my 50+ plus years of living in Oklahoma I have never been to the top of Mount Scott. So this past weekend, I took off to see it. Mount Scott is located in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma. It rises to 2,464 feet above sea level and towers over the surrounding area. There is a three-mile long road that takes you to the top.
Continue reading “Among the Gourds and Gravel (Post #574) 7/3/2017”
The Courtright Family Reunion was this past weekend. I am a Courtright on my biological mother’s maternal side. Mrs. Okierover normally attends this yearly event with me. This year a church carnival demanded her time. So traveling solo gave me an opportunity to drive the Big White Bus to Stillwater, Oklahoma and as you can imagine, I took the “back roads”.
I’ve had recent trouble with the Range Rover’s normally trouble-free 4.2 motor. She doesn’t want to idle correctly. That normally means the air idler valve is dirty. Saturday afternoon I went about cleaning it. It was indeed filthy. I was kinda happy about that. If this maintenance fixed my problem I’d be even happier because it meant I diagnosed and repaired the problem.
While I was at it, I cleaned out my flame trap. Apparently you can Australian Land Rover Forum Post. “Templ4r” has Land Rover UK Forum of what this emissions item does for you on Land Rover UK Forums. I started with running some parts cleaner/diesel through her. This was not dislodging the crap as I hoped it would. I did not have a can of brake cleaner but my neighbor Nick had a can of carburetor cleaner. I used the entire can to clean it out. Chunks of nastiness came out. I reassembled it and hoped for the best.
She seemed to idle well in the driveway. Good enough for me/close enough for government work/redneck repair complete.
Sunday morning I took off. My plan was to drive I-35 to the “Mother Road”, Interstate 66 to interstate 177 to Oklahoma highway 51. This route has some fun names of roads and creeks you will pass along the way.
You will pass Triple X road, sometimes Triple XXX road. You will pass Wild Horse Creek. This is one of the three Wild Horse creeks in Oklahoma I am aware of. You will also cross over Bell Cow Creek. Yes, Bell Cow, not Cow Bell. Continue reading “Family Reunion Road Trip (Post #540) 6/17/2015”
I’ve been getting my kit together for S.C.A.R.R. the past few weeks. I am going to be putting up a few posts about new, new-old, and old kit for the trip.
I’ve been reading posts from Land Cruising Adventure. Karin-Marijke, Coen, and their Toyota Land Cruiser BJ45 have been overlanding since 2003. An amazing fete’ if you ask me. So amazing, Expedition Portal named them Overlander’s of the Year for 2013. I subscribe to Overland Journal and love to read and see the adventures. Their reviews of gear each issue and in their yearly Gear Issue are most of the reason I am a subscriber.
They have a great site and I highly encourage you to go over and visit. In a recent post they were featured in Overland Journal’s gear issue. Overland Journal asked Overlander’s what was their “Most Valued” gear. Karin and Coen picked their Coleman Camp Stove.
After reading their post about their Coleman stove I had to go find the one my dad left to me. It had been in the attic of the Newcastle house since we moved back home from Guam in 1971. I think my dad used it once on a hunting trip with my Uncle Ben in the early 1970s, but I need to confirm that. I have my dad’s Coleman Lantern too. I know we used it a few times in the early 1970s when our power got knocked out from some blizzards and a thunderstorm or two. It’s safe to say it hasn’t been lit since 1975. Continue reading “Gearing Up for SCARR, Part One (Post #459) 3/10/2014”
any of various activities involving the re-enactment of historical events or the recreation of living conditions of the past
Some people think living history is just a bunch crazy people dressing up in old-timey clothes and hanging out at historical sites. You’ve seen the popular media make fun of living historians. Conan O’brien did a segment on it. (I laughed.)
There are some seriously dedicated people who IMMERSE themselves in their hobby. I’ve met some of them and even I think some of them over do it a bit. Whether it’s trains, model air planes, doll collecting, knitting, Land Rovers, or whatever. Some people really dive into their hobby. Whether its the trekkie learning the Klingon language, or Lord of the Rings fans learning to speak Elvish, or the train enthusiast that photographs all the locomotive engines in North America, it’s no different with living history buffs. Continue reading “Living History Season is Upon Us (Post #457) 2/27/2014”