Camp Rover

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ecome buried in snow; even our Rovers withchains and air lockers could not make itthrough the snow on the way to the GoldenRoad, so we had to head back for Greenvilleand attempt to use the western approacharound Moosehead Lake to points north. Onour return toward Greenville one of the locals, ayearling moose, decided that he preferred thecleared road to trudging through deep snow. Ittook him a few minutes, and a lunge at theDefender’s wing, to let us pass.Once we returned to Greenville we headedwest on a glare ice road to Jackman and thennorth to pick up the Golden Road. The extradriving meant that we had fallen behind schedule;the Golden Road was not even the halfwaypoint for this leg of the trek. We had to push oninto the evening and make it to Eagle Lake. Wehad to have a full day for the trip in and out ofEagle Lake, and if we couldn’t make camp nearEagle Lake, we wouldn’t have enough daylight tosafely make the hike in to find the trains. Westopped to check our distances, confirm ourETA, and plan for increased speed. So we drovehard to recover the time lost on the failedattempt up the east side of Moosehead Lake; the“spirited” ice driving tested our winter drivingskills at the limits of our vehicles. Geoff Cox calculatedthat we would arrive well after dark,and he proved right. We did manage to setcamp effectively by our vehicles’ lights.Winter camping isn’t as bad as you think.You quickly get used to it and with the rightequipment it can be a great experience. Geoffand Jason set up the tent while Ian and I gatheredfirewood. The peacefulness of the Mainewoods in the middle of winter is a wonderfulexperience. While winter camping means youdon’t have to worry about the bugs, coyotes areanother story; in themorning we foundevidence - in theform of a partiallyeaten moose carcass- that coyoteshad dined on a littletoo close toour campsite forcomfort.That nextmorning wepacked up campand headedtowards EagleLake. Rovers canhandle a lot offroad, but thefields approachingEagle Lakehad over threefeet of snow. No matter howmuch you equip your Rover, once they sink in 3feet of snow you are probably walking home.We attacked the snow for as far as we couldwith the Rovers, put on our snowshoes, andbegan our hike to the lake.According to the GPS we faced a 4.5 milewalk. Compounding our problem was theunusually warm weather. Around 10 am the sunbroke through the clouds. As the snow compactedeach step brought with it a clump ofheavy, wet snow. The snow conditions variedA photograph of our capable Land Rovers, taken on Golden Roaddepending on whether it lay on open land orcovered by trees. At different times, we all foundplaces on the trail where the snow gave wayAs we approached the shore of the lake, we spotted this oldsteam boiler. It lay alongside the old track, perhaps used as aswitcher of some type of stationary power unit.beneath us and sucked us like quicksand. Wewere thankful for our walking poles and theyproved invaluable in assisting you on everysinking.As we approached the shore of the lake, wespotted this old steam boiler. It lay alongside theold track, perhaps used as a switcher of sometype of stationary power unit.One of the most haunting feelings I will everexperience is driving and hiking this deep intothe woods of Maine and finding two antiquesteam locomotives left in the woodsover 70 years ago.Looking like it was still ready to go, one of theengines still pointed directly down the imaginarytrack and, with the front cover off the boiler, theominous black eye of this engine watched as wewalked towards it.The two engines sat side by side in a smallclearing in what used to be a repair shed; withfire damage on both engines, we guessed thatthe shed had been burned 70 years ago. Afterthe long hike we took a break near the trains;Geoff can’tresist gettingbehind thecontrols andplaying “engineer”with hishead out thewindow ofEngine One.Our thoughtsturn to restorationsanddreams ofmaking theengines liveagain, but aftera few minutestalk we realizewhy theengines wereleft here in1930 and wesit back to just enjoy them before we have tostart back out before dusk.As we headed out along the bank of thefrozen lake we came across a spur line from therailroad and found the remains of thetimber cars fromthe operation.Their wooden cars have long since rottedoff, but the axles and framework still lie onthe tracks. The hike back was long andtook a lot out of us, but finding the trainswas well worth the effort. We were treat -Heading home...Eagle Lake to the left, and one of the frozen intime engines above.ed to a wonderful sunset on the drive out, butthe unusually warm day had led to portions ofthe frost being unfrozen in the road. The roadwould suddenly turn to deep mud under ourwheels and create ruts that yielded instant lanechanges and fishtails.After battling through the ruts and mud toGreenville, where the tarmac begins again, wefound that the entire area was without powerand the one gas station in Greenville was closeddue to no power at the pumps. Fortunately wehad reserves with us in case of the worst on ourtrek in the woods, so we could continue southward.A few minutes outside of Greenville thewarm night had combined with the cool snowcovered ground to produce a dense blanket offog that limited our speeds to roughly 25 mphfor the return trip to East Coast Rover, buteveryone made it home safely. That night I thinkwe all dreamed of playing with trains again likewhen we were kids; the only difference is thatthe trains we like to think about now are thetwo that sit as hidden 90 ton reminders of anabandon railroad tucked away deep inNorthern Maine.© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m
A Wheat FieldMechanic GoesD i e s e lBy Jeffrey B. Aronson[Kermit Krantz, Leawood, KS, works as a cur -rency trader but really lives to be “an inveter -ate inventor”. Never afraid to create some -thing new, Kermit ordered the Rovers North300 Tdi conversion kit and created a veryspecial Land Rover -ed.]“I’m a wheat field mechanic,” said KermitKrantz in a telephone interview. “I like the Rovernotion that you can become a field engineerwith a Land Rover. What other’s see as trash, Isee as opportunity.” That’s how a ‘93 NASDefender 110 became a very special Land Rover.Kermit has been into Land Rovers ever sincea college-years trip to Kenya, Tanzania andUganda in 1973. He had been a biology andeconomic development major at WestminsterCollege, where Winston Churchill made hisfamous “Iron Curtain” speech. Although he wasin Africa only for a couple months, the experiencemade quite an impact.He once had a ‘67 Series II-A 109”, whichhe rebuilt, installing a Chevy 6-cylinder toreplace a tired 2.6 Rover engine. “I wanted torebuild one again, but when the Defender 110’scame in, the carseemed right tome”. I asked fordiesel initially,and the dealersaid no. The onlyoption you couldorder for the 110was a winch kit.”With a largefleet of LandRovers on hand,Kermit wanted tooutfit each car tohis needs. A ‘95Discovery handlesfamily trips andcommutes; a ‘64Series II-A HTtakes care of utilityconcerns. Forentertainment,he’s rebuilding a‘73 Series IIIdiesel. The V-8driven Defender110 became aconcern; as hesaid, “11 - 14mpg is notenough for me. Igot out of the hot rods years ago.”The Defender 110 seemed perfect to takethem to their ranch, the Impulse Ranch, nearSaguache, CO “where the sky meets the earth.”It’s 14 hours from Kansas, has one spring andno electricity. “We use wind power and propaneheat. We’ve found a lot of arrowheads. “The 4-5mile long uphill climbs strained the Defender,particularly pulling a long trailer, so Kermit firstinstalled a Rimmer supercharger to the RoverV-8. “It didn’t feel right,” he said, “the engineKermit in the foreground with Lee and the newly updated 110.often seemed to ping, no matter what the fuel.”When he saw the announcement of the 300 Tdikit in the Rovers North News, “it was done. Icould sell my engine and supercharger.”“Rovers North shipped the kit out in lateAugust, 2000. I picked up the full kit and took itto Lee Garrett, a teacher at our local vocationaleducation school in Leavenworth. Lee has usedLand Rover projects as a way to help teach highschool students. After work and school, I wouldtry and keep working on the car. Working parttime,I completed itjust beforeChristmas. I tookthe time to put in anew gas tank, newaxle seals, u-joints,replaced all fluidsand brake pads,too. Now I start outwith a brandspankingnew vehicle.”“I’m reallyhappy with the R-380 5-speed thatcame as a part ofkit, which was verycomplete. I’ve beendriving the 110since January 1st.It’s wonderful todrive. I changed thetiming belt to theZeus timing gears. I consider that step part of along term maintenance issue that will ensure thecar runs well and reliably.”“The performance of the 110 with the Tdi iscomparable to the V-8, and maybe even quicker.First gear feels quicker, 3rd gear is very strongas the turbo kicks in. Passing on the highway isequal and cruising is superior. I’m routinely in5th gear even on those long hills. I run 255/85-16 tires. For mileage, I get 22-23 mpg in townand better on the highway - unless I’m towingthat heavy trailer again! Occasionally, I runsome soybean oil as an alternative fuel; I lose alittle power, but I believe that I’m increasinglubrication and decreasing emissions. Here inKansas, it’s used all the time in combines andtractors. Really lubricates the upper end ofengine - or as hair cream!“The Rovers North kit came with a catalystand straight pipe; I chose in install a flex jointin the straight pipe. I’ve also added a boostgauge and VDO parometer [which measuresexhaust gastemperatureat the exhaustmanifold].”“My Rover isan expeditionRover, not thehigh lift Stage3 equipmenttype. I’veadded an OldMan Emu suspensionkit andmade my ownlimb risers androck sliders. Iinstalled a higher-amperagealternator for awelder and airtanks for the ARBlockers. We constructeda trailerto use principallyas a chuck wagonfrom a rottenSeries III. I tookthe tub sectionand sliced at angle so that when it opens, itbecomes a supply closet and a kitchen.”Krantz tends to keep cars for a long time,and this Defender 110 certainly sounds like akeeper; his wife, Cyri, and their two teen-agechildren like the results. The same guy whopatented disposable VHS cassettes andergonomically-correct playing cards may haveadditional custom features for his Land Rover inthe future.Custom rear tool box© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m
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Camp Rover

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