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Head up Friday night and get a cheap hotel in Ukiah. I'm sure Casey could give you some reccommendations.

I get up at 5:30 every morning for work, on the weekends I might sleep in till 6:30 at the latest. I can barely stay up past 10 though

Is Lake Mendocino open to camping?

I think so, they opened it back up to boating and swimming. They got all the tests back from the water samples and everything was fine.

I think we're just gonna get on the road at 5:30AM. Putting ourselves up in a hotel for a few hours just seems like wasted money, and camping that late in the day is going to be difficult (I'd be able to leave the San Jose area at around 4-5 at the earliest, and with traffic I'd be around Clear lake by 8-9pm on a Friday) since we'd likely lose daylight before being able to setup camp.

Still undecided as to whether or not I'll be bringing the TJ or the new-to-me XJ. New steering box for the TJ gets in tomorrow, so I'm gonna toss that in on Wednesday, and also getting the tires re-balanced and rotated (lifetime mount and balance for the win.) She's been getting some nasty DW at 40mph if I had an awkward bump and I'm somewhat inclined to believe it may be my failing steering box. Track bar joints are all super solid and freshly greased, so the only other thing I could imagine it being is the ball joints, assuming the balance/rotation and new box don't sort it out.

Ball joints is frequently the cause of DW, from what I understand. I hope it gets straitened out.

The only time I had it was the pass side tie rod end. And it was only loose to feel when turning the wheel back and forth.

Mine was because of the worn out ball joints.