Pavement Princess Explores the Great Outdoors

[The Weatherman]

Took the Pavement Princess for her maiden (shakedown) camping trip.

A close friend and kayaking buddy of mine owns a nice riverside farm and he was kind enough to let me shake down the outfit there this week.

She is outfitted with Truxedo Elevate Racks on T-Rails with a Truxedo X15 Pro tonneau cover. The rooftop tent and awning are both Naturnest products.

The weather here in KY was unseasonably warm with 70 degree day and 54 night. Perfect for her first trip.

We had plenty of company in the neighborhood with coyotes, bobcat, hoot owls and the largest muskrat I had ever seen that turned out to be a swimming groundhog. Didn’t know they swim and swim well upstream and underwater when they finally realize you’re there and only a few feet away. Sorry I didn’t get pics of it. I was to busy trying to figure out just what it was and failed to snap a short video.

I did get a few pics of my setup.

Don’t let anyone tell you these babies aren’t capable of off-road. It was still fairly wet from a couple of inches of rainfall we had about 5 days earlier and the drop in and drive out from the river is a really rocky, steep and wet grade. But no issues whatsoever.

Looking forward to the next outing. Hoping to go down TN and spend a couple of days at the Lilly Pad Hops Yard Brewery and Rustic Camping near the Lilly Bridge. Which is the takeout point for an amazing level II/III whitewater run from the Jet Bridge. Known appropriately as Jet to Lilly.

All good things must come to an end.

All packed up and ready for the road. Even if just a short 3mi drive to home.

Edit: Added a couple pics that didn’t load the first time. Tried to place in order, but the app didn’t cooperate.

:

 

[evowner]

WOW. How nice is that.

 

[B177y]

I have been thinking about a similar setup to yours, except with lower bed bars to keep the tent a little lower, maybe even behind the cab. Any efficiency hit with your setup? I'd be using it for longer trips.

Also, how does a rooftop tent work for daily setup/teardown to accomplish day-trips from camp? I keep debating if a small trailer or a big ground tent would be better for that purpose, but curious for some first hand experience with the RTT.

 

[The Weatherman]

There is a hit In efficiency with the tent mounted at the top of the cap. However, if you mount it lower behind the cap it will protrude out over the tailgate about 12 ins. That’s pretty substantial when walking around the truck or getting into the bed.

I have the privilege of having a shop building with a hoist that allows me to remove the system without too much issue if I need to for non camping road trips.

As for the affect on Mi/KWH the best I can tell is it is around .2-.4 per KWH.

The setup/takedown of the tent and awning is a 5-10min. job at most. There are several YouTube Videos that cover them.

 

[Granger Ford]

Took the Pavement Princess for her maiden (shakedown) camping trip.

A close friend and kayaking buddy of mine owns a nice riverside farm and he was kind enough to let me shake down the outfit there this week.

She is outfitted with Truxedo Elevate Racks on T-Rails with a Truxedo X15 Pro tonneau cover. The rooftop tent and awning are both Naturnest products.

The weather here in KY was unseasonably warm with 70 degree day and 54 night. Perfect for her first trip.

We had plenty of company in the neighborhood with coyotes, bobcat, hoot owls and the largest muskrat I had ever seen that turned out to be a swimming groundhog. Didn’t know they swim and swim well upstream and underwater when they finally realize you’re there and only a few feet away. Sorry I didn’t get pics of it. I was to busy trying to figure out just what it was and failed to snap a short video.

I did get a few pics of my setup.

Don’t let anyone tell you these babies aren’t capable of off-road. It was still fairly wet from a couple of inches of rainfall we had about 5 days earlier and the drop in and drive out from the river is a really rocky, steep and wet grade. But no issues whatsoever.

Looking forward to the next outing. Hoping to go down TN and spend a couple of days at the Lilly Pad Hops Yard Brewery and Rustic Camping near the Lilly Bridge. Which is the takeout point for an amazing level II/III whitewater run from the Jet Bridge. Known appropriately as Jet to Lilly.

All good things must come to an end.

All packed up and ready for the road. Even if just a short 3mi drive to home.

Edit: Added a couple pics that didn’t load the first time. Tried to place in order, but the app didn’t cooperate.

:

Wow! That is awesome and looks fun! Thank you for sharing those pictures!

 

[2sleep]

Weatherman, how much would you say your tent setup cost?

 

[The Weatherman]

@2sleep

The tent was $800 ( after asking for a discount ) and the 270 canopy was $450ish. So $1250ish. If you need the rack system you’re looking at another $800 or so.

These roof tops are sold at many locations on the web and very different prices. You can spend low end $800-900 all the way up-to $3,000-4,000+.

 

[2sleep]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Jim Lewis]

Nice pics! Doesn't look like you cleared too much space around your campfire. But maybe the weather and ground conditions there aren't like in Pacific Palisades, CA!

 

[The Weatherman]

Nice pics! Doesn't look like you cleared too much space around your campfire. But maybe the weather and ground conditions there aren't like in Pacific Palisades, CA!

No certainly not. That was a mud hole a day or two before. I did rack back the wet leafs a little more after taking the pic.

Good eye.

 

[djryan13]

I mounted my tent almost at roof height. Doesn’t stick too far off back. Tailgate is open most of the time when at site so no bumping head.

 

[The Weatherman]

@djryan13

How long is your tent?

This one is 92” x 52”.

 

[djryan13]

@djryan13

How long is your tent?

This one is 92” x 52”.

Oh wow. That is long. Mine is about 10” shorter.

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