Grand Canyon Logistics

[Jim Andrada]

Yeah - I didn't mention the part about our "little" female Dane taking exception to being left in the car for 10 minutes and chewing away the back of the seats, all the door liners, and the rear seat belts. Quick work.

She was delicate little thing at 190 pounds. Of course at the same time we also had her uncle who was a svelte 225 and 42 inches at the shoulder. But he was so gentle he never did anything bad - well except unintentionally when my wife (100 pounds,"nearly" 5 feet tall) was brushing him off and he flipped his head up and got her in the chin and knocked out her front upper tooth and a piece of her upper jaw bone. 2 1/2 years of surgeries to rebuild her mouth during which she couldn't even bite toast - had to cut it up.

@Stone - do Land Rovers get gas mileage? Might be more like gas yardage! I think my '98 gets 10mpg on a good day downhill with a tailwind. It's aerodynamics absolutely suck - sort of like pushing a brick through the air. But we like the big square box design so we're getting an LR4 before they redesign it to look like a Ford Explorer jelly bean. If it were up to me I'd get a couple of more Great Danes to ride in it but my wife wants to take a break from dog ownership - not because of her injury though.

I'm going to get a heavy duty rack on it so I can do the Ansel Adams car top thing.

[StoneNYC]

Yeah - I didn't mention the part about our "little" female Dane taking exception to being left in the car for 10 minutes and chewing away the back of the seats, all the door liners, and the rear seat belts. Quick work.

She was delicate little thing at 190 pounds. Of course at the same time we also had her uncle who was a svelte 225 and 42 inches at the shoulder. But he was so gentle he never did anything bad - well except unintentionally when my wife (100 pounds,"nearly" 5 feet tall) was brushing him off and he flipped his head up and got her in the chin and knocked out her front upper tooth and a piece of her upper jaw bone. 2 1/2 years of surgeries to rebuild her mouth during which she couldn't even bite toast - had to cut it up.

@Stone - do Land Rovers get gas mileage? Might be more like gas yardage! I think my '98 gets 10mpg on a good day downhill with a tailwind. It's aerodynamics absolutely suck - sort of like pushing a brick through the air. But we like the big square box design so we're getting an LR4 before they redesign it to look like a Ford Explorer jelly bean. If it were up to me I'd get a couple of more Great Danes to ride in it but my wife wants to take a break from dog ownership - not because of her injury though.

I'm going to get a heavy duty rack on it so I can do the Ansel Adams car top thing.

I almost got the roof rack version but the dealer wanted too much for that one, but now that I own it I realize it wouldn't do much good, shakes too much, it's a stiff ride but when turned off and just sitting on it, it really shakes from side to side easily, so setting up on the roof might not work.

The LR2 is the only one I would get because it gets 17 city and 23mpg highway so it's not bad, the Saab 9-5 had the same exact mileage so I'm used to it. The other Land Rovers (all of them) are much worse than the LR2. My version has an in line 6 engine that will basically go forever, the newer models are like the saab, a 4 cylinder with turbo so it's got the same power but gets about 18 city and 26 highway, however the straight 6 engine will endure a lot more based on design factors.

The LR4 is a beast, much bigger engine and costs a lot more, at that rate you might as well just buy a Range Rover Sport instead. They both get terrible gas mileage and the Range Rover has the body on frame design, not sure the LR4 does, I know my LR2 is a unibody design, but it's still pretty hearty. The my straight 6 engine is Volvo and the platform is based off of the BMW X5 design, the transmission however is sadly Japanese and doesn't have the best reputation in that the rear tends to totally fail... But that's no different than my 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee which had the same issue.

I'm not a dog person for those kinds of reasons, just unaware of themselves, my cat knows to retract his claws even if afraid and trying to run away he won't open his claws to climb away if he's in my arms, only after safely away will he use his claws for stability. Not to start a cat vs dog argument which is as arbitrary as Nikon vs Canon lol.

Glad to have a other way to see the Grand Canyon when I'm old or feeling lazy haha!

[Jim Andrada]

The BajaRack is rated for 600 pounds - should be enough for me and a camera! As long as it isn't a big camera.

Sort of exaggerating - nowhere near that big, but most racks seem to be rated for 100 pounds or something equally useless considering that a 4 x 8 (actually 49" x 97") sheet of 1" MDF is over 100 pounds,

[StoneNYC]

The BajaRack is rated for 600 pounds - should be enough for me and a camera! As long as it isn't a big camera.

Sort of exaggerating - nowhere near that big, but most racks seem to be rated for 100 pounds or something equally useless considering that a 4 x 8 (actually 49" x 97") sheet of 1" MDF is over 100 pounds,

I wasn't saying that the rack couldn't hold me, I was saying that because the car is not planted and is on springs, it will rock with any wind and or movement from your body, making it very difficult to take any shots that are below about 1/15th a second, that's all I meant.

I have no idea how heavy the rack is actually waited for, but I would assume more than 100 pounds for sure, I'll check.

Good luck!

[Drew Wiley]

I'm pretty wary of random "jeep" roads unless you're in a convoy where another jeep can pull you out. Sand can be a real devil. On the other hand, there are many relatively good graded dirt roads where garden-variety 4WD is a distinct convenience if you encounter a washout, need higher clearance etc. It helps to inquire at local BLM or FS offices about road conditions. Some of these longer dirt drives can be awfully washboardy, so kinda rough on front-end alignment and tires. More than one spare can be helpful. The other distinct problem is dust getting into everything. I have a truck shell and use wide blue masking tape over the perimeterof the rear window and gate to keep dust out. And if I take a roadside shot, I always like to get well away from any potential blowing dust. But in such situations, you can usually see any car coming from their own dust trail. But yeah, I've been stuck in the middle of nowhere more than once. Not fun.

[Drew Wiley]

Gosh, Stone.... Cherokees have an abominable reputation. Nobody in this part of the world buys them, or makes that mistake twice!

[StoneNYC]

Gosh, Stone.... Cherokees have an abominable reputation. Nobody in this part of the world buys them, or makes that mistake twice!

That's why I bought a Land Rover

It's even got "sand mode" haha!

[Jim Andrada]

Land Rovers have a somewhat checkered reputation as well and the newer models are too full of fancy nonsense to really suit me - the number of computers sort of scares me, but the undercarriage is still built pretty solidly compared to most. Not sure how the 3 liter supercharged engine will hold up compared to a 5-liter V8, but it accelerates faster than my old one when we test drove it.

I'm thinking of having the camera on a Ries with extension legs - just me on top of the truck to minimize bouncing around.

[StoneNYC]

Land Rovers have a somewhat checkered reputation as well and the newer models are too full of fancy nonsense to really suit me - the number of computers sort of scares me, but the undercarriage is still built pretty solidly compared to most. Not sure how the 3 liter supercharged engine will hold up compared to a 5-liter V8, but it accelerates faster than my old one when we test drove it.

I'm thinking of having the camera on a Ries with extension legs - just me on top of the truck to minimize bouncing around.

Yea, LR's have a bad rear differential just like the Jeep, no off road vehicle is perfect.

This is the in line 6 so I'm not worried, there's no engine design better than a straight 6 for longevity except maybe a rotary engine. IMO.

Good luck!

[Drew Wiley]

... maybe if Ries would come out with a tripod with a geared center column, so it would do double duty as a car jack!