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Gatofeo in remote Utah desert

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Gatofeo

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Greetings from Gatofeo (Spanish for "ugly cat") deep in the remote desert of northwestern Utah.

I'm 50ish, single, a writer and photographer, and interested in history, firearms, paranormal, fishing, travel and remote places.

I'll relate what I have and perhaps some of you have useful suggestions or observations for my Patriot.

A few days ago I purchased a 2014 Jeep Patriot Latitude with a number of options:

1. All Weather Capability Group: engine block heater and daytime running lamp system.

2. Sun/Sound Group: Sunroof, nine Boston speakers, Sirius satellite subscription.

3. Trailer tow prep group: No trailer hitch, but just the electrical harness. I was advised, quietly, to save $100 over the dealer's cost and have a hitch installed by U-Haul.

4. Freedom Drive II Off-Road Group: all terrain tires, brake lock differential, full-sized spare tire, skid plates, tow hooks, engine oil cooler, etc.

5. Continuously variable transmission with off-road crawl ratio.

6. Uconnect 430 CD/DVD/MP3/HDD, 6.5" touch screen, 40 gb hard drive with 28 gb available.

7. Uconnect Voice Command with Bluetooth: auto-dimming rear view mirror with microphone, remote USB port, etc.

8. Remote start system.

9. 2.4 Liter engine.

Mineral gray (dark gray) metallic with gray cloth interior. I chose this color because it blends well into the desert.

This is my first Jeep vehicle and my first Dodge product in 34 years (I bought a 1973 Duster in 1979).

So far, I'm very pleased with this rig though I wish there were more cubbyholes to store small items.
I traded in my 2001 Chevy Blazer for this 2014 Patriot. The Blazer had even fewer cubbyholes, so I guess I can't complain.

I wish manufacturers would create a built-in litter box or bag, or at least some kind of clip from which to hang a stout plastic sack. I'm manic about packing out my litter. What do you guys use?

This evening I ordered the Husky Classic floor liners for the front, and the cargo liner. The rear seats will see little use, so I'm going with the Jeep-provided liners.
Incidentally, I'm a little irked with Jeep. I was under the impression that the "All Season Floor Mats" in the Freedom Drive II Off-Road Group had a raised lip to contain slush and mud. Not so. They're nothing more than thick mats.

About 80% of my mileage will be on roads, with the rest on dirt roads and trails. I don't go cross-country in any vehicle in this desert; the Greasewood brush punctures even the stoutest tires.

I will soon mount my Yakima cargo rack (from my Blazer) on top, to carry a second spare tire, water, fuel, shovel, camp chairs and other items.

I'm pleased to find this site. I hope to learn from it, and contribute as well.
 
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#2 ·
Welcome...you have a very well equipped Patriot there, enjoy it.

My answer to the litter bag quandary was to hook a couple of shower curtain hooks over (around?) the two headrest posts on the passenger side, leaving the circular part around the posts and having the small hook closure part hanging down. Into the hook part I clip the handles of the plastic bags used by our local liquor store.

Its an easy reach even while driving to put something into the bag.
As long as I'm walking and talking there will be no shortage of liquor store bags
Even so the bags are thicker and stouter than your regular store plastic bag

The clips will hold a regular store type plastic bad but they hang lower and its sometimes an adventure finding the opening at 100 kph.

Various manufacturers have seat covers that incorporate back of seat storage, pockets and etc as well.

We need, NEED some desert pictures.
 
#3 ·
Welcome! wow, you are loaded! I second some Utah landscape photos, beautiful country there.
 
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#6 ·
welcome,
as a photographer, hope you post some nice pics of your pat in the desert,
would agree on saving a few bucks by having uhaul or someone else install the hitch over the dealer,
your pat seems pretty loaded,
not much to add , just enjoy your ride,
stock tires work, but down the road more agressive tires make a big difference.
as for trash bags? i generally just use plastic shopping bags
can make an S hook with any wire and just hang it from passenger side cubby over the glove box.
 
#7 ·
welcome friend!

May you have many years of pleasure

What I did in my 09 for garbage is I bought one of those self-adhesive plastic hooks(white and sprayed black). I stuck it just inside the glove box opening on the outermost left side. I hang those smaller plastic convience store bags.It just hangs outside the glove box

When you open the glove box, the bag stays hooked and is easy to reach by both driver and passanger.

my corner store had the bags the same colour(almost)as my interior and she gave me a couple hundred.

not the best solution but better than crap all over the place.

Just a side note: does anybody actually put gloves in there?:icon_rolleyes:
 
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#8 ·
#11 ·
I love driving through Utah but I haven't gone that far north yet... Paranormal stuff fascinates me too. Glad to have you on the forum!
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
lasallejeeper said:
When you open the glove box, the bag stays hooked and is easy to reach by both driver and passenger.

Just a side note: does anybody actually put gloves in there?:icon_rolleyes:
Click to expand...
When I was growing up in the 1950s through early 1970s, it was never the "glovebox" in our family cars. Dad called it the "ginbox" without thinking.
And so it was to me, for many years. By the 80s, people didn't know what a "ginbox" was, so I had to use glovebox.
I'm sure "ginbox" was Prohibition slang. I still use it on occasion when I want to give a youngster a blank stare.

I sometimes use "skookum" as a tribute to my Pacific Northwest roots. I'll have to explain that some other day. :D
 
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Discussion starter · #14 ·
Been wanting to get out with my 2014 Patriot Latitude and get a photo of it with mustangs (wild horses) in the background, but we've had serious wildfires in the area. My job distracted me from my photo quest.
Now, I've got other distractions keeping me from playing in the desert.
But I hope to soon have some great photos of my Patriot in the remote desert of northwestern Utah.
Hope to also get some of it on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Need to learn how to post photos on here, though.
It will happen. May take a few weeks. :D
 
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#15 ·
Thanks for the update! :)
 
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Discussion starter · #16 ·
Went deep into the Cedar Mountains a couple weeks ago. Fresh Cavalry Exhaust everywhere but no mustangs. Mystery. No recent roundups. So, didn't get photo I wanted. lots of Rocky Mountain Bee Plants and scores of hummingbirds.
Patriot took rough ground very well. Road along west slope of Cedar Mtns. terrible. No cell phone connection in Cedars, though near I-80. Very few other rigs. Break down or get stuck out here and life is serious, could be fatal for lack of water and temperature extremes (up to 110 F in summer, down to -15 F and deep snow in winter. Not for inexperienced or unprepared. 4WD only goes so far. Love my Patriot, though.
 
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#17 ·
Gatofeo said:
I sometimes use "skookum" as a tribute to my Pacific Northwest roots. I'll have to explain that some other day. :D
Click to expand...
Welcome!! Your Patriot, from the description, is almost identical to mine!

No need to explain that one; I still hear it on occasion!! One of my friends who runs a boat in Alaska sometimes uses it's relative "skookumchuck".

Around Puget Sound there is a company around who rents porta-potties:

Image


I have always found this to be a poor use of the term...:confused:
 
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Discussion starter · #18 · (Edited)
Well, the mustangs were not cooperative. Didn't get a photo of them with my 2014 Jeep Liberty Latitude in the foreground.
But here are a couple of interesting photos on historic ground.
These were taken on the west slope of the Cedar Mountains of northwestern Utah, after going through Hastings Pass from east to west.
Hastings Pass was used by the Donner Party of wagons in 1846 before they were snowed-in in the Sierra Mountains of California, and resorted to cannibalism.
Hastings Pass was used into the early 1850s, then largely abandoned.
It was a poor route, forcing wagon trains to cross more than 100 miles across the barren desert between water holes. A safer route went around the top of the Great Salt Lake through what would become Idaho, where fresh water was more plentiful.
Hastings Pass is easily accessed. Until October 2013 the road might have been fine for a van or passenger car with high clearance, but a heavy storm washed out some parts of the road.
No way around the washouts; too many rocks and ravines.
Unknown when the road will be repaired. The federal Bureau of Land Management owns the land but Tooele County works on the roads. Tooele County is nearly bankrupt; I don't see it spending money to restore a remote road over mountains little-traveled.
Interstate 80, between Salt Lake City, Utah and Wendover, Nevada, passes by the north end of the Cedar Mountains.
Many people wonder why the pioneers didn't take this route, as it goes over a low pass. Well, back in those days there were many salt marshes where I-80 is close to the lake, and any wagon would have been mired.
The roadbed was built up for the roadway in the 1920s, eventually becoming I-80.
Anyway, here's my Jeep near historic Hastings Pass, on a roadway that the Donner Party and others likely took enroute to Oregon and California in the 1840s and later.

That's my Colt Model 1851 "Navy" on a lichen covered rock in the pass. It was made in the early 1980s by Colt, so it's considered a reissue and not a reproduction. I've put about 2,000 balls and bullets of .36-caliber through it in the past 30 years, so it's acquired a nice patina. Makes a good photo prop in this country.

Note: These photos are copyright 2013 by me, Gatofeo. Permission granted to jeeppatriot.com for use in my posting, but other uses require my permission.
 

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Gatofeo
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