First Camping Trip (LA to Ojai)

BigMattT · Mar 18, 2024

Took our recently acquired ‘23 XLT ER camping for the first time.

Eastern Los Angeles County to Ojai. (~100 miles, ~1300’ elevation change). Charged to 100% the night before. Arrived at the top of the “mountain” at 68%. Inflated an air mattress, ran electric blankets all night, LED lights, electric tea kettle, and a toaster just for fun… was 59% before heading home in 40 degree morning weather.

Returned to the San Gabriel valley including 45 mins of stop and go traffic at 23% charge.

People stopped us each place we went asking about the truck.

Lovely to ride in, lovely to have power at campsite, and lovely to do the whole trip with no charging.

Didn’t think we were ever going to use the tailgate step, but after one night using a bed tent, it might be one of my favorite things about the truck now lol

Ford F-150 Lightning First Camping Trip (LA to Ojai) IMG_2497

Ford F-150 Lightning First Camping Trip (LA to Ojai) IMG_2559

F150ROD · Mar 18, 2024

Nice! Did you open the rear slide window at all to see if it would heat up your tent?

BigMattT · Mar 18, 2024

F150ROD said:
Nice! Did you open the rear slide window at all to see if it would heat up your tent?

Sadly, we don’t have the rear slide window.

F150ROD · Mar 18, 2024

BigMattT said:
Sadly, we don’t have the rear slide window.

Crap, just saw the ER part not the XLT.

Glad this worked out for you and looks like a great setup. The zone lighting is very useful.

Maxx · Mar 18, 2024

how do you like fit and setup of your tent?

BigMattT · Mar 18, 2024

F150ROD said:
Crap, just saw the ER part not the XLT.

Glad this worked out for you and looks like a great setup. The zone lighting is very useful.

The zone lighting almost works too good. Would love a “camping mode” to turn off door chimes, door activated lights, frunk beeping, and instrument cluster lights while pro power is running.

Will have to get creative when we visit a dark sky site soon where the lights will cause disturbances to others. (Gaffe tape maybe?)

BigMattT · Mar 18, 2024

Maxx said:
how do you like fit and setup of your tent?

Fits very nicely. Only changes I needed to do was cut a hole in the bed liner part of the tent where the pro power outlets are in the back. (A duct tape frame around the hole seems to have worked nicely to keep the cuts from spreading/tearing beyond where I intended.)

bydabeach · Mar 18, 2024

BigMattT said:
Took our recently acquired ‘23 XLT ER camping for the first time.

Eastern Los Angeles County to Ojai. (~100 miles, ~1300’ elevation change). Charged to 100% the night before. Arrived at the top of the “mountain” at 68%. Inflated an air mattress, ran electric blankets all night, LED lights, electric tea kettle, and a toaster just for fun… was 59% before heading home in 40 degree morning weather.

Returned to the San Gabriel valley including 45 mins of stop and go traffic at 23% charge.

People stopped us each place we went asking about the truck.

Lovely to ride in, lovely to have power at campsite, and lovely to do the whole trip with no charging.

Didn’t think we were ever going to use the tailgate step, but after one night using a bed tent, it might be one of my favorite things about the truck now lol

Can you recommend the brand/model of your tent and air mattress?
Assuming the back slept 2 people, was it comfortable/roomy enough?

petemill · Mar 18, 2024

BigMattT said:
The zone lighting almost works too good. Would love a “camping mode” to turn off door chimes, door activated lights, frunk beeping, and instrument cluster lights while pro power is running.

Will have to get creative when we visit a dark sky site soon where the lights will cause disturbances to others. (Gaffe tape maybe?)

Enable silent mode. It's in the options somewhere. At least, it was in mine (maybe because I modified the Forscan settings) but there is also more chime and light disabling that can be done in Forscan (police mode, etc). I did that for camping and it was much improved - no lights and chimes when opening the door. Last remaining annoyance was the screens that won't turn off. I hear Ford is working on allowing ProPower to be turned on without the truck on.

Ford Motor Company · Mar 19, 2024

BigMattT said:
Took our recently acquired ‘23 XLT ER camping for the first time.

Eastern Los Angeles County to Ojai. (~100 miles, ~1300’ elevation change). Charged to 100% the night before. Arrived at the top of the “mountain” at 68%. Inflated an air mattress, ran electric blankets all night, LED lights, electric tea kettle, and a toaster just for fun… was 59% before heading home in 40 degree morning weather.

Returned to the San Gabriel valley including 45 mins of stop and go traffic at 23% charge.

People stopped us each place we went asking about the truck.

Lovely to ride in, lovely to have power at campsite, and lovely to do the whole trip with no charging.

Didn’t think we were ever going to use the tailgate step, but after one night using a bed tent, it might be one of my favorite things about the truck now lol

We love seeing the Lightning in its natural habitat. Looking forward to hearing more about future road trips.

Redwood · Mar 25, 2024

bydabeach said:
Can you recommend the brand/model of your tent and air mattress?
Assuming the back slept 2 people, was it comfortable/roomy enough?

Also interested in the brand/model of the tent.

hturnerfamily · Mar 25, 2024

you're hitting on 'why' these electric trucks are SO possible to take 'camping' to a WHOLE different level: no more 'wondering' where to go to have 'lectricity... you have it WITH you!

my full BedRug makes for a comfortable sleeping place, on it's own, and carrying a large blanket for added 'plushness' doesn't hurt, either... I actually don't use any 'tent', per se, I made my own by simply buying a very Heavy Duty 8'x12' tarp, with grommets on each corner, and lay it over my tri-fold hard tonno, in 'open' mode... this creates a rain diversion, since the tarp is OUTSIDE the bed, creates a BUG diversion, and allows me to use the full bed WITH the open tailgate, which is what I need to have the full ROOM to stretch out - the 'opened' tri-fold tonno(opened from both ends, creating a 'tee pee' effect in the center) allows me to sit up and read or watch the laptop near the cab, before bed... I carry the microwave, coffee maker, toaster at the foot of the tailgate, and the mini-fridge in the rear cab area... all available at any time : )

lcorning · Mar 26, 2024

Redwood said:
Also interested in the brand/model of the tent.

Would like to know the answers to these questions too

Jeffgtx · Mar 26, 2024

Looks to be the Napier backroadz truck tent.

BigMattT · Mar 28, 2024

I just put up a blog post here with more details, including links to the various pieces of the setup. Answers below as well.

bydabeach said:
Can you recommend the brand/model of your tent and air mattress?
Assuming the back slept 2 people, was it comfortable/roomy enough?

It's a Intex air mattress, "full" size. My buddy and I are both 6'3" and wide, and it felt a lot roomier than sharing a normal Full size bed because there was still more room in the void of the wheel wells where I put two additional bolster pillows. We have two of the intex mattresses, and both have held up great for 6 years of gentle use.

Redwood said:
Also interested in the brand/model of the tent.

lcorning said:
Would like to know the answers to these questions too

Someone already guessed correctly -- yes, it's a Napier Backroadz. I uploaded a photo of the inside of the tent in the blog post linked above. It's surprisingly tall/roomy inside. For the price, zero complaints. Using it again in two weeks in harsher terrain (wind/dust). Will update if it crashes and burns, but I don't expect it to.

First Camping Trip (LA to Ojai)

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