Vintage Design Lab

Exploring Mt Rainier

I love exploring around Mt Rainier just north of the Park boundaries. What seems like endless trails are always made better by clear summer skies. I found this trail while driving to Lost Lake.

Spring 2022 Interior Mods

Recapping all my recent interior upgrades since January 2022

I had a request the other day from a friend to share more mods and adventures. Being that I haven’t been very good at posting on this site for a while and I’ve done some pretty major interior upgrades in the past few months, I thought it would be a good time to get theContinue reading “Mod Updates”

Poison Spyder Crusher Flares

Poison Spyder makes some amazing products and their name comes up time and time again on reviews for their quality and reputation. When purchasing the Crusher Flares you have a choice of width and materials. I chose the standard front and wide rear flares in aluminium. I didn’t want super wide flares but some ofContinue reading “Poison Spyder Crusher Flares”

Jackman Creek Road Day Trip

Jackman Creek Road is a 20 mile out and back logging road that traverses Jackman Ridge just east of Concrete, WA. Driving east on Hwy 20 from Concrete, look for Forest Service Road 14 on the left side of the road. Starting up this heavily forested road, I noticed the trail deviates from the mapContinue reading “Jackman Creek Road Day Trip”

Day trip to Lake Wynoochee

On June 6th, I set out for Lake Wynooche in the south central Olympic National Forest. The hiking destination was to Wynoochee Falls, a short 1 mile hike off of FS Road 2312. As with any trip, I spend some prep time on Gaia GPS, Washington Trail Association and Alltrails web sites to discover anyContinue reading “Day trip to Lake Wynoochee”

Interior Mods – navigation

Continuing with an overview of my interior mods, I wanted to briefly talk about #4, the GoPro Hero7 camera and my Apple devices #6 and #7 and how I use them. The GoPro Hero7 has been a great investment for me and would be for anyone who wants to share photos and video whether throughContinue reading “Interior Mods – navigation”

Interior Mods – communications

3. Garmin InReach Mini The InReach is a small satellite communicator. If you’re not familiar with these or why you should have one, I implore you to look into something like this! It will require you to purchase a subscription but I chose Garmin partly because they use the Iridium Satellite Network for tracking, messagingContinue reading “Interior Mods – communications”

Interior Mods – mounting your gear

The picture below represents the current state of my communications and controls as of May 2020. I guess it also reflects the level of my love for gadgets. There are about 5 things here that I consider necessities and wouldn’t go on the trail without, but that’s just me. Let’s go over what everything isContinue reading “Interior Mods – mounting your gear”

Ready For Adventure

With everything cleaned up and the Alpine CarPlay installed, I was ready for adventure! The journey that led up to this Jeep was an adventure unto itself. I had gone a few years without a car when another Jeep came along, “Oscar” was a 1993 2WD Cherokee that came to me in 2015 from aContinue reading “Ready For Adventure”