After reading an old book about a man and his dog traveling around America Fred decides to go on his own adventure with a truck load of canines. Piloting a 2014 GMC Sierra pickup truck from Rancho Suspension
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00:00 All right this week on Dirt Every Day we've got something completely different.
00:03 We've got three little dogs, a GMC pickup truck, and a slide-in camper and we're
00:08 going on an adventure to see America and it's all because of this book by John
00:11 Steinbeck. It'll all make sense by the end of the show.
00:15 All right so this is where the whole thing started. A few years ago I read a
00:24 book by John Steinbeck called Travels with Charlie. Now this is a book about a
00:28 guy, his truck, and his dog who go on an adventure around America. So today we are
00:33 at the National Steinbeck Center here in Salinas, California to talk to the people
00:37 about that book and also kind of give you an explanation of why we're on this
00:41 adventure. We are here with Marcus Cabrero from the National Steinbeck
00:46 Center and he's gonna tell us a little bit about the Travels with Charlie book
00:50 and the actual truck that Steinbeck drove. So when did Steinbeck write this
00:55 book? He wrote it in 1960. He traveled across the country, I believe it was about
01:02 30 states, and he was just looking to kind of just reconnect with the country,
01:07 with the United States. He wanted to kind of prove to himself that he still had
01:11 the energy to go out there and also kind of just catch a glimpse of the people
01:16 and just rejuvenate kind of his creative juices. It was part of the beginnings of
01:21 the mission. He loved seeing the world and that was definitely what helped him.
01:25 In his creative process. This is the map of his journey? Yes. So he went all the
01:30 way around kind of the exterior of the country? The exterior of the country, yeah. Each section of the
01:35 book begins with different observation in the area that he was at. So this is
01:40 the actual truck right here? Yes. And this is a GMC with a camper, much kind of like
01:45 what we're doing. And Charlie was the dog? Yes, his travel companion. He just thought
01:51 that dogs were better travel companions than people in a certain way.
01:55 And he loved Charlie. The interesting thing about the truck and
02:00 the camper is that he actually had this customized for the trip. So he
02:05 contacted GMC, I believe, and told them kind of what he was gonna
02:10 embark on and wanted it to be as comfortable as possible. So he tricked
02:14 out his camper to give him kind of the comforts of home. He wanted to take
02:18 his home with him, which was the whole concept of attaching the camper to the
02:22 truck. I read the book years ago and ever since I've wanted to do a trip like this.
02:28 Yeah, well, you know, we all want to kind of take those adventures, you know, to
02:32 break away from our daily lives and kind of escape. So, you know, he was interested
02:36 in gathering that experience of being out, you know, on a certain course and
02:42 just kind of figuring things out along the way. Well, that's kind of what we're
02:45 doing too. Thanks for talking to us. John Steinbeck is a Pulitzer Prize-winning
02:50 novelist, but even more important is that he's a truck guy and always up for a
02:54 good adventure just like me. His travels with Charlie inspired my trip, actually.
02:58 Of course, mine's called "Travels with Batman, Baxter, and Lulu." And I was lucky
03:02 enough to get Rancho Suspension to lend me their brand-new GMC half-ton pickup
03:06 truck. It has a six-inch suspension lift, which is also brand-new from Rancho.
03:10 This truck is quite different from Steinbeck's 1960 GMC three-quarter ton.
03:15 Mine is way more luxurious. In fact, it's way more luxurious than anything I
03:19 normally drive, considering I'm often behind the wheel of some old clapped-out
03:22 Jeep or beat-up 4x4. But don't think I'm getting soft. I did it for the dogs.
03:37 So to start our little adventure, we went to Four Wheel Camper in Woodland,
03:41 California. Now, Four Wheel Camper specializes in slide-in campers made to
03:46 go off-road. And that's what we do on Dirt Every Day. We go off-road. And much
03:49 like the John Steinbeck truck, where he had a GMC with a slide-in camper, we
03:54 wanted a similar type camper for our GMC. So we're gonna meet up with these guys,
03:59 they're gonna put a camper in the truck, and we're gonna find out why this is the
04:02 perfect camper for going off-road in our GMC.
04:07 [Music]
04:36 Hey Stan, how are you? Good, how are you? Good. Stan Kennedy from Four Wheel Pop-Up
04:41 Campers. We wanted to get a camper that we could take off-road. You guys have
04:46 been making these four-wheel drive campers for a long time. What makes a
04:49 four-wheel pop-up camper good for an off-road vehicle? We build around
04:55 simplicity. The company's kind of kept the same philosophy over the years of
05:02 durability, utility-oriented type truck camper. Pop-up style, aluminum frame
05:07 construction, welded, low-profile design over the cab, but very, very strong and
05:13 durable for off-road use. A lot of our customers are over the tent phase and
05:19 sleeping on rocks all night, but they're not to the phase where they want a fifth
05:23 wheel or a motorhome or something that big. Yeah. They can use their truck as a
05:28 daily driver, they can throw the camper on on the weekends, or they can leave it
05:32 on full-time. What type of price range on a camper like this? Realistically, our
05:37 base prices start right around $13,000, but a normal camper with your standard
05:42 options, sink, stove, fridge, furnace, couch, battery, camper jacks, tax, installation,
05:48 usually about $16,000 to $20,000. That seems reasonable for another house that
05:53 you're taking with you. Yeah. So we're getting a Hawk camper. And what can you
05:58 tell me about this one that we're getting? The Hawk model is our best seller, not
06:02 because the particular model, but because of the truck market. Okay. When I was a
06:07 kid, my parents had a regular cab, long bed, GMC with a sliding camper, and I was
06:14 the youngest of four boys, and we did summer trips in that. And I don't
06:19 remember a whole lot other than getting beat up by my brothers and climbing
06:23 through that little, the little vent window into the cab. My parents pushing
06:27 me back in there to get beat up more by my brothers, but I have very fond memories
06:31 of going camping, even though that was mostly just me getting abused by my
06:34 brothers. Yeah. Let's look inside this thing. The four-wheel camper we'll be
06:39 using has tons of storage space in a tiny package. There are beds for up to
06:43 four people, or one guy and three dogs. The camper has a fridge, sink, stove, and a
06:48 heater that can warm the small space quickly for winter camping. The top
06:52 actually pops up for more interior headroom when camping, and then drops
06:55 back down to give it a low roofline when you're off-road. There's an outdoor
06:59 shower in case you're at the beach or desert and want to hose off, and some versions
07:02 even come with a toilet. Awesome. Thanks, Stan. Great, thank you. I'm excited.
07:24 The point behind Steinbeck's book was to travel around America and see people and
07:29 kind of get reconnected to the country that he's from. I don't have enough time
07:33 to travel all over the country right now, but it is fun to go and do a road trip,
07:38 stop at a few off-road shops, see what they're working on, kind of reconnect
07:43 with the guys that do stuff that I'm interested in. I'm gonna stop at a few
07:46 shops between my home and Northern California. So we're gonna go to Pacific
07:51 Fab, which is a place where they do a lot of engine swaps. In fact, they worked on
07:54 one of my trucks there before. And then we're gonna head up to Fab Works near
07:59 Santa Rosa, California, and see what those guys are up to these days. Maybe we'll
08:03 find some dirt roads, some trails between the different shops, and who knows where
08:08 we're gonna end up. We got a few days to burn, we got a truck, we're gonna go see
08:12 what we can find. Hang on, Lulu.
08:20 We had some Air Lift Helper airbags added for the weight of the pop-up, but
08:25 we barely needed them since the four-wheel campers are so lightweight.
08:27 But don't confuse lightweight for weak. The camper was solid during our
08:32 backwoods exploring. It didn't shift, squeak, or move as we rattled down dirt
08:36 roads.
08:38 At the end of the day, having the four-wheel pop-up on a four-wheel drive
08:44 truck meant I could stop in any secluded location, set up camp, and spend a
08:49 comfortable night out in the dirt.
08:53 [Music]
09:19 Stay there. Guard the truck. Let's go see what's going on in here.
09:26 Kevin, what's new? Hey, friend. How you doing? Good. So these guys do everything from
09:33 crate engines, new, used, wiring harnesses, engine mounts, oil pans, all this stuff to
09:40 put an LS in just about anything. They've got hot rods in here, they've got full
09:43 sized trucks, Jeeps, and that's what's kind of cool about these LS engines. It's
09:48 kind of like what we did in the Army truck last year. They're becoming so easy
09:51 to install because all the problems have been sorted out. I know that
09:56 they're shipping engines all over the world. They've got customers in other
09:58 parts of the country that call them up. They want an engine, they want the
10:01 harness, they want to stab it into whatever they're building, and PacFab's
10:04 always been a good place to come and track all that stuff down. How's the
10:08 LS business these days? It's non-stop. Yeah. It's non-stop. You know, to line them up
10:13 outside and bring them in as soon as we're done with one, we start on another
10:16 one. Yeah. We're real pleased with it. We did that LSA in that Army truck last
10:20 year. Yeah. That thing's so much fun to drive. Yeah. It just eats tires. It better.
10:27 How's the dumpster coming along? Dumpster's just about ready. We got that
10:40 seal housing. We just got to pop the seal housing in for you and it should be
10:43 ready to go. Cool. Yeah. It's out in the parking lot if you want to check our out. Yeah.
10:47 Maybe we'll snoop around a little and see what you got on the shelves. Have at
10:50 it, you know. From one end to the other, we got 10,000 square feet of fun. I'm sure
10:53 you got to get back to work. Alright, Fred. Thanks, Kevin. This is gonna make some
10:59 people upset. You got a Bronco with a Chevy engine in it. I mean, it makes sense.
11:05 These Chevy engines are so easy to swap into everything, but there's definitely
11:09 gonna be some Ford guys that are gonna be complaining. What is this? A Morris
11:15 Minor? Check out this. It's like a wood, little mini woody station wagon. Drop
11:21 this, put some four-wheel drive axles under this and a little LS engine. Slap
11:25 your surfboards on the top. Go see America or South America. Got a nice
11:31 Blazer, Land Cruiser, RX-7. I like seeing how they solve problems. Like, how you're
11:40 gonna get the engine around all the stock frame. How are you gonna get all
11:45 the plumbing to the engine? Different guys do different stuff. They make all
11:48 these different components to help you do these engine swaps. So, here's
11:56 the dumpster. The last time we had it out, the front end was acting a little funny.
12:01 We had an air leak. The engine was running a little goofy. There was a
12:06 sensor that had come undone and they've already fixed it all up. So, we'll be
12:11 coming back here shortly to pick this truck up. In fact, I hate to say it, but
12:16 this truck is actually sold. This is one of my favorite trucks and a guy called
12:20 me that really wanted it. So, bye dumpster, but I hope you'll be going to a new home.
12:25 Maybe I'll buy a Cadillac with the money I make from it. This is like a mega cab,
12:29 mega Cadillac. Look at this. So, when I was a kid, my dad had a truck similar to
12:39 this and he had a sliding camper and he had me and my mom and my three older
12:44 brothers all piled in this thing to drive across America. I think we went to
12:47 the Grand Canyon or Texas or something like that. And it's amazing to me now,
12:50 like, when you look at the truck that I'm driving, it's got heated seats and leather
12:55 and satellite this and navigation that. When my dad was driving a truck across
13:01 America, he had a radio with AM, a manual transmission and manual steering. And I
13:08 don't even think it had power brakes. And he just piled us all in there and drove
13:12 us across America. Like, that was cool back in the day. These guys have lots of
13:17 different stuff going on and that's what's always cool about coming here
13:19 because it's not just four-wheel drives, it's not just hot rods. They are swapping
13:23 parts into anything. They'll build you a roll cage, they'll give you new axles,
13:28 they'll put an engine in it. Whatever you want to do to make your dream machine,
13:32 the guys at PacFab seem to be able to make it happen. Alright, we should
13:35 probably head north. These guys got to get back to work and we got to get out
13:38 of their hair. Let's go see what else we can find.
13:43 [Music]
13:46 Six o'clock on Friday night. We just made it up here to Fabwerks in Santa Rosa,
14:01 California. Anybody here? Brian! Hey, Sydney! How are you? What are you doing?
14:10 Fabwerks is a metal fabrication shop that actually has two divisions. One is
14:15 busy building custom architectural metalwork. The other specializes in
14:18 off-road vehicle modification. I came to see the off-road projects and those
14:23 cover the whole spectrum of dirt machines. What's this all about? Well, we, I
14:28 think we've got a contract to build two more of these things, right? You're gonna
14:33 build the whole thing or build the cage? From start to finish. We'll do all the
14:37 suspension and the cage and all fabricating all the parts that you can't
14:43 buy. I want a rally car. This is cool looking. Is this all carbon fiber?
14:49 This is just to protect the against rocks and stuff? And it's from the bumper
14:54 all the way to the back. So, geez, the exhaust has skin plates? These things get
14:59 really beat up. You'd be surprised. This is basically to keep the mud from
15:03 sticking. And then there'll be little scoops. They'll scoop the mud out from
15:10 inside the wheels so the wheels don't get out of balance. When's it supposed to
15:13 race next? Soon. While this custom rally car is unique, Fabwerks is known for
15:21 their solid axle conversions. Brian has used his own Chevy trucks over the years
15:25 as test beds to prototype conversions where the independent front suspension
15:29 is removed and replaced with a strong simple solid axle. This is the new
15:34 2.0 version 2.0. You cut all the IFS out and stuffed the Dana 60 in here?
15:39 Out of what? We made the Dana 60. Retubed it. 79 based dimensions.
15:47 So 69 inch WMS. I've rebuilt this thing several times and I'm done with it.
15:52 That's usually how the conversation starts on the phone. Then
15:56 they start investigating what it's gonna take to really fix it. We just came
15:59 out with a leaf spring kit for the '08 body style with a 37 and a half inch
16:04 front end. So that's that super duty. Oh yeah. 80170 bolt pattern. And you're
16:09 sending kits. You're not just doing them here. You'll send out a kit. Yeah I'll
16:12 send a kit to Florida or I just sent one to Guam on last Friday. Cool. I got a full
16:18 four link kit and he lives in Guam and he wants to run 40s. Awesome. He'll be the
16:22 biggest chef on the island he says. Awesome. What's up with this Jeep over here?
16:26 Just a project we've been working on. Want to make it sit as low as possible
16:30 but still have a lot of travel. So a customer brought it to us and he brought
16:35 us a suspension kit and so what we've been doing is working on modifying it so
16:39 that we can maximize the up travel down travel. We knocked the frame so the
16:45 track bar won't hit that. We knocked the frame here to keep it up as high as
16:50 possible. Yeah. Did a custom reverse steering gear on it. You've seen that with
16:54 the Pitman arm coming forward. Oh yeah. We could chop the frame off. Now we have a
16:57 better approach angle. Yeah. Nothing out there in the way. Exactly. Air bumps
17:02 because when it is fully bumped out you know you don't want your upper link to
17:06 go through the radiator or what have you. Your axle tube into your steering box.
17:09 Since this isn't a full width axle we really had to take some time to make
17:15 sure the tire is not going to rub on the link. Not going to rub on the shock and
17:18 that's just not a full bump but when it's articulated to twist it up and
17:23 then nothing worse than having your tire binding on your suspension when you're
17:26 twisted up. That's all the stuff that people don't think about when they're
17:29 like oh yeah can you just four link the front of my car. Exactly and that's why
17:34 some stuff works better than other stuff. Yeah. The suspension on this Jeep is a
17:37 perfect example of what a custom 4x4 shop has to be able to do when going
17:42 beyond basic bolt-on modifications. There's a huge demand for all different
17:45 types of 4x4 builds out there and though I saw a lot of custom work today both
17:49 Pacific Fab and Fabwerks also do standard suspension upgrades like what's
17:54 on the Rancho GMC. It was getting late so we shut down the shop and headed down
17:58 the road.
18:01 Sorry Rancho about your floor mats.
18:13 Well that's it for Dirt Every Day this week. We've been traveling around in this
18:17 GMC that we borrowed from Rancho. We got the four-wheel camper that's been great.
18:21 The truck even though it's a half ton it's been hauling the camper just fine
18:24 because it's such a light package. It gives us a nice warm dry place to sleep
18:29 because now we're up in Northern California and it's kind of rainy. Our
18:31 big 37 inch BFGs are climbing up through these hills just fine. We're going to go
18:36 find my buddy's cabin, hang out there for a few days but I want you to know if you
18:40 ever get the chance to go travel around this is a great way to do it. The camper
18:44 allows you to still have a pickup truck for the days when you don't need a
18:47 camper and a dog is a great co-pilot.
18:52 Come back here! You can't go to see America without me. This week on Dirt
19:05 Every Day we've got little dogs, a big truck, a camper, and a book and it'll all
19:11 make sense by the end of the show. Get in there! Let me unhook you.
19:21 Ah!
19:23 you
19:25 you
19:27 you
19:29 you
19:32 you
19:35 you
19:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]