Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route

September 15, 2026 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

In September 2026, Paul, Chris and I embarked on a 9 day adventure motorcycle trip across Colorado. Starting out in Fort Collins, we drove to the Four Corners Monument on paved roads, camping along the way. Paul was riding a 2025 Honda CRF300L, Chris was on a 2017 Honda CRF250L Rally, and was riding a 2009 Kawasaki KLR 650.

From Four Corners, we loosely followed the Colorado BDR route, a mostly dirt focused route that winds through the Colorado mountains. We finished the route near Steamboat Lake State Park.

A complete gallery of images can be found at https://photos.mainelife.net/Moto-Trips/Colorado-BDR-September-2026

Posted in B's Blog, Motorcycle Trips

Historic Columbine Cabins

January 3, 2026 by Bryan Bibeau | Comments Off

Our (mostly) annual tradition. Recharging ourselves with a quiet stay in the Colorado Mountains.

Posted in B's Blog

Lone Peak Campers

January 21, 2025 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

I’ve been following these guys since they got started, and have had a chance to visit with them at one of the Overland Expos. Currently I am set up as a brand ambassador.

If you make your purchase through the following link, you will receive $250 off your order! https://www.lonepeakoverland.com/N0BCB

Currently I’m running an Oru Design camper and have been happy with it, although it has required a few modifications to become useful and there are still a few issues. Primarily the rear hatch, which is not well designed. From the factory you had to close the hatch first, then the tailgate. How do you do this from inside? No idea! Then, how the heck do you get out? Also, there’s no good way to latch the hatch from the inside, and anybody on the outside could latch it, trapping you inside and forcing you to reach out through the tent. Otherwise it’s a well built and rugged topper.

Posted in B's Blog, Product Reviews

TrailRax Modular Roof Rack for the Jeep Gladiator JT

January 30, 2024 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

April 11th, 2024 update: Trailrax listened to their customer feedback and redesigned the brackets for this product! They proactively reached out to me offering to send the update parts to me at no cost. They are now using a carriage bolt from the backside, similar to my solution. I’m happy to hear they stand behind their product and strive to produce a solid and safe rack solution.

In anticipation of our new Oru Tenfold wedge camper that we’ll pick up in March at their San Marcos, CA factory, I decided I wanted to add some roof storage as well as an air deflector. The TrailRax looked like the best option, covering only the front part of the roof and leaving enough room for the camper cabover section. The biggest concern was losing access to the removable roof panels!

The rack arrived quickly after I placed the order, well packaged! Zoey was very interested.

After opening to verify all the parts were there, I began assembly on the living room floor.

The rack looks really great on the Jeep! I had to look at their website for assembly instructions as none were included in the package.

While assembling, one part made little sense. TrailRax uses clinch nuts for the gutter mounts, but they have them on the wrong side of the plate! These clinch nuts are pressed into the metal, but that attachment only has enough strength to keep the nut from rotating or falling out before assembly. Clinch nuts are designed to be mounted on the opposite side of the part from the bolt that pulls it. TrailRax uses these on the same side as the pulling force. While mounting the bracket, the first clinch nut pulled out of the bracket with minimal force as expected. The instructions actually call for blue Loctite, and say to barely tighten this. Do not use these brackets as shipped! It’s dangerous. There’s nothing to prevent these brackets from falling off while driving down the road.

I emailed TrailRax with this information and some photos. Their response was to send another replacement bracket. I asked them to redesign the bracket to be safe and functional, and they did not reply back to me. For $800 for a 20″ roof rack, I expected much more in quality and customer service.

My solution was to install a 1/4-20 SS bolt from the backside of the rack bracket, passing through the clinch nut from the back of the bracket, effectively pulling the clinch nut in the direction it was designed to be used. I added a star washer to help keep this bolt from rotating while installing the nylok nut at the end. There is enough clearance between the hard top and the bracket to slide a wrench in there if needed.

Rack and bracket mounted on the Gladiator gutters.

Clamping plate installed using a 1/4″ SS washer and 1/4-20 nylok nut. This is how TrailRax should be shipping these. It might not be as pretty as their truss-head bolts, but it’s functional and safe! I might pick up some UV stabilized black nut covers to dress this up, but really it does not look bad.

In the end, I’m very happy with the rack. I expect to pay a bit more for a niche product like this, but I also expect it to work. The rest of the workmanship from TrailRax is great. The metal bends are well done and precise. The rack looks awesome on the truck. I’m anxious to see it with the Oru camper installed! We’ll likely add a Roam or 23Zero roof box to store our iKamper disco, electric chainsaw, and other outdoor gear to keep the camper itself more organized and clear.

Posted in B's Blog, Product Reviews

Salida lights

December 27, 2023 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

Some group did a great job making this Christmas tree on the hillside in Salida! Captured with my Mavic Air 3 from our AirBnB in downtown Salida.

Salida

Posted in B's Blog

ARRL Field Day 2022

June 27, 2022 by Bryan Bibeau | 0 Comments

For Field Day this year, Tony KZ5ADV, Logan KF0ADY and myself N0BCB headed up to the Routt National Forest outside Gould, CO to operate in a quiet HF environment. What a great location! We had our share of mosquitos and rain, but the weather was really great during the contest, which runs from noon Saturday to noon Sunday MDT.

We ran one of the 100W stations (Yaesu FT450) with a 100A/h Battleborn LiFePO4 batteries connected to 250W of solar (roof of Gladiator). The other station (Yaesu FTDX10) from a 100A/h Renogy LiFePO4 battery and 400W of solar. The FT450 station utilized a G5RV Jr and a 40m double bazooka. The FTDX10 station used a Chameleon CHA MPAS system.

My camper, and our FD station under the Jeep awning
Tony’s 4 Wheel Camper setup and his station (under awning)
The team from (your) left to right: Bryan N0BCB, Tony KZ5ADV and Logan KF0ADY
Aerial view of our camp
Posted in B's Blog

Bonne fete

January 3, 2022 by Pam Green | 0 Comments 
Happy birthday to Irene Laurianne Poisson, Bryan's great-grandmother. Irene was born 3 January 1917, the oldest of seven children of Wilfred Joseph and Laura Anne Marie (Ouellette) Poisson.  Irene grew up in Livermore Falls where she attended St. Rose Catholic school through the 8th grade.  Her parents and ancestors came from Province Quebec.  Irene carried on the family's French-Canadian traditions, many of which we celebrate today.  My personal favorite is tortiere (meat pie) at the holidays.  Irene and her sisters would speak French while preparing the Thanksgiving meal.  Grammie Irene died in 1982 but we still remember her on this special day.  Happy birthday, Grammie, or as they say in Quebec, Bonne fete!

Posted in Geneology, Wesley Merritt Randall

Pilgrim Pedigree, Mayflower Ancestors, and Thanksgiving

November 25, 2021 by Pam Green | 0 Comments

Four hundred years ago, four surviving adult Mayflower women (Eleanor Billington, Elizabeth Hopkins, Mary Brewster, and Susanna White) set themselves to the task of preparing a feast to celebrate a successful first harvest in their new homeland.

The previous year, 101-104 men, women, and children sailed for 66 days on the Mayflower from England – first anchoring off Cape Cod and then choosing Plymouth as the site of their first settlement. Of those Mayflower passengers, 41 men signed the Mayflower Compact. Nine of the 41 are our ancestors. Of our nine Mayflower ancestors, five were separatist Pilgrims, one was a non-separatist, two were servants, and one was a Mayflower crew member. About half the passengers, some who were Compact signatories, died during that first winter 1620-1621.

Those that survived built houses and common buildings, planted corn and probably other vegetables, foraged berries and nuts, fished for bass and cod, and hunted turkey and deer. It must have been a busy first spring-summer-fall. Celebrating Thanksgiving wasn’t a new holiday, nor was it specific to early Plymouth. Colonists in Virginia had celebrated thanks as early as 1607. However, the 1621 Plymouth Thanksgiving was the first time the feast was celebrated as a civil holiday rather than one sanctioned by the Church.

Here are our nine Mayflower ancestors as I understand them right now – research may add more!

George Soule (1593-1680) was a servant.

James Chilton (1556-1620) was a separatist Pilgrim.

John Alden (1599-1687) was a cooper who signed on as Mayflower crew.

William Mullins (1578-1621) was a non-separatist.

Thomas Rogers (1571-1621) was a separatist Pilgrim.

William Bradford (1590-1657) was a separatist Pilgrim and early governor of Plymouth.

John Howland (1591-1672) was a servant.

John Tilly (1571-1621) was a separatist Pilgrim.

John Goodman (1587-1621) was a separatist Pilgrim.

Posted in B's Blog

A Fine Kettle of Fish

September 30, 2021 by Pam Green | 0 Comments

Lineage analysis is a key goal in building the pedigree of a family tree. In researching our Fish ancestors, I find a missing link where I haven’t yet confirmed a parent-child relationship with documentary evidence. Nathaniel Fish, born in England about 1618 (Bryan’s 11th-great-grandfather), came to America and settled in the Sandwich, Massachusetts area where he and his second wife, Lydia Mehitable Miller, raised their family of eight which included two sons – Nathan/Nathaniel Fish born in 1648 and Ambrose Fish born in 1650.

Ambrose Fish, the son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Miller) Fish, married Hannah Swift. Their son Seth Fish married Mary Maude Turner. Seth and Mary’s daughter Hannah Fish married Samuel Tupper. Hannah and Samuel had nine children including two sons – Enoch Tupper and Jabez Tupper. Enoch’s daughter Olive married Jabez’s son William – they had one child, Diadema Tupper. Diadema never married, and she had one child – Charles William Pratt who married Mercy Turner Fish.

Nathan/Nathaniel Fish, the son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Miller) Fish, married Elizabeth Freeman. Their son Nathan Isaac Fish married Deborah Barnes/Barrows. Nathan and Deborah’s son Samuel Fish married Thankful Meigs. Samuel and Thankful had a son Thomas who married Hannah ____. Thomas and Hannah reportedly had a son Lemuel, but I haven’t confirmed this relationship with documentary evidence – THIS IS THE MISSING FISH-LINK. Lemuel married Lettice Eldred. Lemuel and Lettice’s son Benjamin married Lucy Jenkins Carsley. Benjamin and Lucy’s daughter Mercy Turner Fish married Charles William Pratt.

The interesting clue is that Ambrose’s daughter-in-law was Mary Maude TURNER, and Nathan/Nathaniel’s descendant was Mercy TURNER Fish. Names were often passed down from one generation to another, and a female ancestor’s maiden name often shows up as a female descendants’ given or middle name suggesting a relationship, and hopefully documentary evidence, exists. This is indeed a page-Turner – and a fine kettle of Fish!

Posted in B's Blog