Tony
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2026 Oregon Trip Recap
06/03/2026 – 07/22/2026 Our 7-week adventure to northern California and the state of Oregon was amazing. We left home a few days later than planned, but with some longer travel days we were able to make it to our first pre-scheduled reservation in California with a day to spare. We traveled in 10 different states,…
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Super Singles Wheel Upgrade Plus Spare Carrier Mod
After giving it a lot of thought, and weighing the pros and cons, we finally did it. We ditched Usain’s duallies and made a major upgrade to super singles. We purchased the Sixty Sprinter Super Singles set from Own Offroad, which included a spare (that can go on either the front or back, if needed).…
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Hood Struts Mod
The stock Sprinter van that the Boldt is upfitter from has the heavy hood that requires the teeny tiny bar to swing out to hold it up. For convience and safety’s sake, I had Owl Offroad install their Sprinter Hood Strut Kit. They really work nice and will really appreciate them the next time I…
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Rear Door Struts Mod
I’ve had a few close calls where a gust of wind has come up and slammed the van’s rear doors unexpected as I was working behind the van. I decided it was time to outfit Usain with rear door struts supplied by Owl Offroad. The downside is that they take a lot more effort to…
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License Plate Frames Mod
Sometimes it’s the little mods that make something look better. In this case, it was adding license plate frames to Usain. They’re completely aesthetic, but I really like them. It was a set of two, so both the front and back plate got a frame. The ones I purchased even have screw covers, which makes…
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Pack Rat Repellent Mod
As we started adventuring into more remote locations in the southwest, we noticed that a lot of vehicles had their hoods propped open while parked at campsites. Having never seen this before, I Googled and discovered it was to protect pack rats and other pests from camping out under the vehicles’ hoods (cold desert nights,…
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Sprinter Horn Upgrade Mod
Anyone that has driven a stock Mercedes Benz Sprinter van has discovered the horn is very wimpy. As Owl Offroad says, “Your Sprinter might drive like a truck, but it shouldn’t sound like a scooter.” You can purchase an upgrade online and install it yourself, but we chose to have Owl install our replacement at…
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Sprinter Pedal Control 2.0 Mod
There is often a lag when accelerating from a stop in Sprinter vans. We noticed that Usain is no different, especially with all the added RV equipment weight. Pedal Control allows us change the throttle characteristics with a phone app since the accelerator is a throttle-by-wire. The pedal control is designed to smooth out the…
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Making Tracks to Fort Collins
With daytime temperatures reaching 100+ degrees through theses parts, and Thursday’s appointment for the van, we put in some longer days of travel. No real fun stops or hikes, but plenty of scenery in this part of the country and a good audio book to listen to, which help the miles go by quicker. We…
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A Blockbuster of a Day
Crater Lake National Park was the final pre-planned destination of our 2026 Oregon adventure. It’s now time to make our way back east to Fort Collins, Colorado to visit Lisa’s dad and get some upgrades made to the van at a place north of Denver before heading home. Farewell, Crater Lake We left Crater Lake…