Preparation for Desert Trip VI

[bilfman]

Looks like a great trip, thanx for the pics and stories. It is a treat for us in the great white north to see this.
Posted via Mobile Device

[DirtyLarry]

Day 3: Monday, March 25th – Mojave Rd
Goad: Try not to die

Monday morning after packing up camp we took a side jaunt up to a nearby corral next to a little canyon. Pretty cool.




A bit down the trail we ran across our first Joshua Tree where we all took many pictures of it like a bunch of tourists that had never seen a Joshua Tree before. About an hour after this we were so deep in Joshua Trees scraping our trucks we were ready to start cutting them down.


Little Elvis joined in on our initial Joshua Tree excitement


This sucker was huge!








Video of the Frame twister

Mohave Rd Frame Twister - YouTube

GoPro view Frame twister

GOPR0090 Mohave Rd - YouTube

Low RPM cruising through the Mojave. Got to love the low RPM torque of a big block.

GOPR0094 Mohave Rd - YouTube

Then we came upon an old school bus and Ford station wagon laying out in the desert all shot to bits.






Little Elvis said that was a Ford engine with nothing worth taking with us for spare parts


Motivational proverb written on the fender of the School Bus.


Just past the bus was a tool can hanging from a tree. Toll fee is .01 per person. All we had was a Nickel so the next 3 peeps get in free.


MIL read in the Mojave Rd guide this was the only spot where this particular cactus grows in the Mojave Desert.


Big hill decent

Mohave Rd Big Hill - YouTube

Next up was a really cool multilevel spring. Well hidden too. We would have driven right past it if it hadn’t been in the road guide.


Little Elvis was ecstatic to get out to swim a while


I can’t remember the significance of this place as my health was quickly tanking.




After the above picture was taken I called my buddy on the squawk box and “Hey man, we need to find a place to camp soon…I think I am going to die”. Here it was about 78 degrees and was wearing two long sleeve t-shirts with a sweat shirt and a hoody over that while sitting on the sunny side of the truck and still freezing my butt off. My eyes burned like crazy and every bone and joint in my body ached. My joints hurt so bad I could barely step on the clutch anymore. After what seemed like forever to find a place to camp I had the top up, gas and water turned on and in my sack within 5 minutes. My MIL was freaking out and kept asking if she needed to use the 911 button on SPOT. I kept telling her to just let me sweat out whatever was bothering me and I would be fine. Within 2 hours I totally drenched all the cloths I was wearing as well as the sleeping bag. MIL snatched the A/C thermometer from the dash of the truck and poked it in my mouth. Not sure how accurate a Blue-Point Air Conditioning duct thermometer is on humans but it said I had over 100 degree temp. None the less, I slept like a baby for a few hours and woke up just as the sun was setting and felt a whole lot better even to the point I was able to eat some soup MIL made and downed some coffee. After dinner I crawled under my sack and went back to sleep. The next morning I woke up and felt 90% better. As it turned out MIL and my buddies were up studying the map to see where we could get off the Mojave Rd to find an ER to haul me too. Thankfully it did not come to that.

I know what most are thinking, I was dehydrated. Nada…This isn’t my first rodeo to the desert and learned long ago the importance if staying hydrated. My urine was clear and plentiful which is not inductive of dehydration. Not sure what the issue was but I really haven’t felt 100% since that day, which was over a week ago. In fact, I went to the Doctor today (4-2-13) and got some antibiotics. The Dr. seems to think I am coming off of a sinus and ear infection.

See, it pays to bring the wife’s momma on these trips. She helped nurse me back to health. She even washed my drenched cloths by hand in the sink so they didn’t stink up our house.

More later…..

[Greenlee]

Sweet thread! I will echo what someone on Ck5 said that we are glad you didn't die out there or we wouldn't have all the great pictures and story telling.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Oilbrnr]

Looking at your SPOT trail that first day in Flag, I wondered what in the hell you were doing wandering around out of 4th street. I wish you would have texted or called me, as there is a better coin-op wash on the west side of town, not too far off the 40. Oh well, you got'er done.

See you in May!
Posted via Mobile Device

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

Sweet thread! I will echo what someone on Ck5 said that we are glad you didn't die out there or we wouldn't have all the great pictures and story telling.
Posted via Mobile Device

For sure, cuz when you are dead...you have nothing to live for

Originally Posted by Oilbrnr

Looking at your SPOT trail that first day in Flag, I wondered what in the hell you were doing wandering around out of 4th street. I wish you would have texted or called me, as there is a better coin-op wash on the west side of town, not too far off the 40. Oh well, you got'er done.

See you in May!
Posted via Mobile Device

Yeah, in hindsight I should have contacted dOnStar for Arizona guidance


Day 4: Tuesday, March 26th – Mojave Rd
Goad: Complete Mojave Rd and peddle up to Death Valley

Woke up Tuesday morning feeling a whole lot better. Wouldn’t want to run a marathon but I was good enough to continue on.

First stop was the mailbox




Interesting collection of frogs a few paces away from the mailbox. One frog even whistles at you as a shadow casts over him. We didn’t have any frogs to donate…only a rubber duck and snake and they didn’t want to stay with the frogs.




Approaching Soda Lake. The GoPro gives the false illusion one is traveling much faster than they really are.

GOPR0100 Mojave Rd - Soda Lake - YouTube

Soda Lake


More Soda Lake

GOPR0101 Mojave Rd - Soda Lake - YouTube

Exiting Soda Lake towards Razor Rd

GOPR0103 Mojave Rd - Soda Lake - YouTube

As we were approaching the end of the Mojave Rd I was in communication with Richard from Camarillo, CA (Mighty Dodge Ram from Expo) where he was in the area and would met us at the Zzyzx exit which was only 1 exit North of where were coming out. Once we reached the gas station at Razor Rd and I-15 we aired up then started peddling North to Baker while Richard jumped behind us as we passed the Zzyzx exit.

The next stop was Baker, CA to restock on fuel, water and supplies. Finding water for the camper’s water tank turned into a hassle driving from gas station to gas station until finding one with RV accommodations. $5 later and I had all the water I could ever want but unfortunately, I didn’t have a hose long enough to get the water from the well-guarded water spicket into the camper so we had to improvise by stuffing a small piece of the water transfer pump hose into the washing machine water hose I keep in the camper. What a hassle but mom had a good time squirting me with the hose.



From Baker we pushed on for another 115 miles to Furnace Creek Visitor center in Death Valley while Little Elvis provided the route guidance


We rolled into Furnace Creek Visitor just in time to watch the Ranger lock the door in our face as approach the door. Ah, well….no DV tee-shirt for me this day. We ran around the corner to the general store to top off with fuel once more before headed out into the dirt so see what this Death Valley thing is all about. After a group review of the map we decided to head up the road to Echo Canyon to camp for the night.

We ended up finding a pretty decent camp spot in Echo Canyon with a great sunset view of DV.




We all took turns passing through the shower stall on my truck to rid ourselves of the days dust, ate a great meal and crashed.

Tomorrow is a new day….

[Rubble]

Cool trip!! Thanx for the pictures....Just curious,how much extra gas do you have to pack with you?Or even out in the middle of nowhere there is some sort of gas station..
Posted via Mobile Device

[Zoomad75]

Excellent trip report. Your photography skills are getting better too! You have great timing on getting sick too. Lucky you had the MIL with you to keep your ass out of trouble. At least you pulled through and forged ahead. Can't wait to see more!

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Rubble

Cool trip!! Thanx for the pictures....Just curious,how much extra gas do you have to pack with you?Or even out in the middle of nowhere there is some sort of gas station..
Posted via Mobile Device

You bet'cha! Actually, there was more available gas stations in Death Valley than I would have ever imagined. Not so much on the Mojave Rd though. I carry two 6 gallon cans on the back number. The big dog actually does quite well on fuel economy off road. We were still getting 10 MPG+ idling though most of the trails, especially on the Mojave Rd. The big block has enough torque where it doesn't need to be worked hard, she just lugs along.

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

Excellent trip report. Your photography skills are getting better too! You have great timing on getting sick too. Lucky you had the MIL with you to keep your ass out of trouble. At least you pulled through and forged ahead. Can't wait to see more!

Yeah, the boss got a new camera And you're right, the boss's boss save my bacon...again..


Day 5: Wednesday, March 27th – Death Valley
Goad: Check out Scotty’s Castle and find the Race Track Rd

So Wednesday morning we figured we’d follow Echo Canyon up a ways to see what it was all about. Richard in the Mighty Dodge Ram wasn’t still feeling well either and decided to hang back and catch up with us on our way back down the canyon.

Interesting rock wall right around the corner from where we camped the night before. I believe this was called Window Rock





GoPro ascending up Echo Canyon. Not much to see up there actually.

GOPR0104 Death Valley - Ascending Echo Canyon -...

On the way back down Echo Canyon we picked up Richard and proceeded back into Furnace Creek to get our Park Pass (my MIL has a lifetime pass but the vending machines won’t recognize it). From there we made the 53 mile ride to Scotty’s Castle. The oddest thing happened to my truck as we got closer to Scotty’s Castle, the rear axle started overheating and loading the engine like the brakes was applied. With us being so close to Scotty’s Castle I just kept going. One we got there I poked my head underneath the truck to find a decent quantity of lube had purged out of the vent and smoking on the exhaust. We messed around the castle for about an hour or so then came back and the truck rolled fine until we were headed to Beatty, NV a few days later where it overheated again. From there Beatty it never acted up along the 1,300 mile journey back home. Weird.

-165 Ft. below sea level. I couldn’t get pulled over in time to get a picture of the -200 ft a few miles back


Scotty’s Castle




No shortage of tourists here


After leaving the castle we backtracked a few miles to the Race Track road. We missed our opportunity to air down before got on the actual Race Track Rd so we ended up airing down right in the middle of the road. Who knew the road would have such high berms where we wouldn’t be able to pull off to air down for like 1000 miles? I am sure we pissed off the few vehicles that passed while we aired down.


After airing down we followed the Race Track road for an annoying 25 miles to Tea Kettle Junction. Any car can make the drive to the Race Track. It is just an annoyingly bumpy road with lots of washboards but rich with scenery.





An hour or so further down the road we come across the famous Race Track where the rocks magically move when the dry lake bed is wet.

Pretty amazing view when the Race Track first starts coming into sight




MIL way out there












Racing Rocks




To be continued…..

[DirtyLarry]

Day 5 Continued……

At the end of the Race Track road begins the Lippincott 4x4 trail that runs down to Saline Valley. This trail turned out to be quite long where we ended up camping for the night about half way down. Lippincott isn’t much of a technical trail but it is quite steep and narrow with plenty of opportunities for one’s sphincter to pinch many of holes in the truck seat

Mighty Dodge Ram on his way down early into the Lippincott trail


These are long GoPro videos to watch but if you have the time and patience you’ll get a good idea of the steep grade and narrowness. Wear your head phones for the best audio. The truck stops a few times while I spot for Mighty Dodge Ram behind me.

Beginning the Lippincott descend

GOPR0106 Death Valley -- Descending Lippincott...

Second of the descend. Very long video (21 minutes). Wearing earphones really bring the videos to life. With a second set of earphones up your nose you can probably smell exhaust fumes

GOPR0107 Death Valley -- Descending Lippincott...

Third of the descend. We stopped at the end of this video to camp for the night

GOPR0108 Death Valley -- Descending Lippincott...

Our campsite about halfway down Lippincott. Everybody quickly made dinner, enjoyed a few beverages then on to bed for the night.


That is it for day 5

More soon….

[DirtyLarry]

Day 6: Thursday, March 28th – Death Valley
Goal: Continue having fun!

So Thursday morning got off to an exciting start. As I crawled out of the camper and stepped off the tailgate to relieve myself I see a lightening streak of a lizard shooting from under my foot with a path of blood trailing him. At first I thought it was a snake then I looked at my shoe and there was his poor severed squirming tail stuck to it. Poor little guy.

We never really got the camper perfectly level the night before and I think MIL must have slept with her head one the low side because I am not sure what she was thinking Thursday morning when she passed me my morning coffee. One big gulp and I about burnt my complete face off! This must have been the hottest coffee in the entire Death Valley! My tongue is still fried! She normally made luke warm coffee.

Poor Mr. LeeZard…He just sat there glaring at me the entire time we packed up the camper while muttering something about me breaking his tail off.


GoPro leaving camp Thursday morning. The clutch release bearing makes a lot of noise when it is cold. Interesting pucker spot at 4:15. Another at 13:08. Of course I had to stop in the middle and get some pictures.

GOPR0109 Death Valley -- Descending Lippincott...

View from the driver’s door


MIL snapped a picture of the right front tire at the hill side. This picture ss actually far away from the hill. Many times we were right up to it in order to keep the left side of the truck on the trail.

Picture she took at the 13:08 spot where she jumped out. This spot wasn't that bad and not nearly has tight as the others we had already crossed.


View of Saline Valley below. Ty’s Dodge rounding one of the switch backs


The Mighty Dodge Ram behind. He is now at the spot where I just took the picture above.


Little Elvis was complaining that the roads were so rough and puckery the day before we never took time to take a picture of him but he wanted proof for his Facebook page that he had been on Lippincott. So, here tis folks…..


Well it was bound to happen. We no sooner did we get Little Elvis back in the cab when he and Jake the Snake started fighting. We had no choice but to separate them and Jake had to ride the rest of the way home in the Trasheroo. A snake and a duck in the same truck can only get along for so long you know.


So here we are….at the intersection of Lippincott and Saline Valley Rd.






As we tootled up towards Grapevine Canyon looking back at Saline Valley


As we were winding our way up through Grapevine Canyon we stumbled across what would become our two new best friends for the next 5 hours. My buddy was a bit in front of me and jumped out of his truck as he rounded a canyon corner waving me to stop. I figured there might be some vehicles coming down. Then he waved me up (our Cobra’s were dead so we had to rely on hand signals). I get up there and see this poor guy trying to prop up a dual sport motorcycle. As it turned out the bike just lost all electrical power and died as he was coming down the canyon and almost laid down on him. Behind the motorcycle was a sweet 1st gen 4Runner loaded with many fuel cans. We learned there was a dual sport motorcycle rally thing taking place the upcoming weekend and they were out setting up fuel stations in the desert to support the racers. The bike that broke down as actually a bike being prepped for a round the world tour and was being used in Death Valley for this race as a validation run. Good thing they gave it a good test drive before heading off to Africa!

We helped the guys look over the bike for obvious blown fuses, chaffed wires, etc. Being a car guy, looking at one of these bikes is like looking up the tailend of a space ship. He asked if we were headed to Panamint and we replied that was indeed our plans. He asked if we could stop in the camp ground and let the other riders know he was broken down. Just then my buddy Ty spoke up and said, “heck, we’ll do better than that. Let’s just throw your bike in the back of my truck and we’ll carry it back to camp for you”. The guys eyeballs about popped out of his head in amazement that someone would do that for him. The two guys were supper cool and fun to hang out with for the next 4-5 hour trail ride into Panamint.

“I dunno what happened, it just died!”



This GoPro begins at the dry creek bed we scooped up the motorcycle

GOPR0112 Death Valley -- Grapevine Canyon -...

A beautiful random valley seen from the top of Grapevine Canyon. This is not the Race Track, but it sorta looks like it.


So we finally get off the trail and onto Hwy 190 to head on into Panamint. Here Mighty Dodge Ram and I stopped to air up. Ty’s never let much air out the tires on his Dodge so he and the 4Runner kept on trucking towards Panamint.


Scenery on the way to Panamint


We arrived at the campground in Panamint and help offload the bike and said our goodbyes to our new friends. The bike rider (he actually owned the sweet 4Runner too) handed my buddy a whad of cash, which of course my buddy handed it back. Well, this went back and forth a few times and Pablo said he insisted we take the money and go across the street to the little restaurant and have lunch on him then stock the beer coolers with whatever is left. Okay, we’ll do it since he put it that way. Since that day we have been email pals with Pablo and hope to meet up with him at the Overland Expo in May.

Check out the price of fuel in Panamint! Thankfully, our trucks didn’t need fuel but we topped off with a few gallons just because we didn’t know where we were headed next or when the next fueling opportunity would be.


Day 6 to be continued….

[DirtyLarry]

Day 6 continued…

By the time we offloaded the bike and ate lunch it was pretty late in the day to go find the Charles Manson place or hit up Titus Canyon as we had hoped. With that, we just headed out of Panamint about 8 miles to hit a trail that ran us out into a large open valley.





We took a little hike up the big hill behind us. View of our camp from the top


Looking back at the road we came in. This spot is only 10ish miles from Hwy 190


My MIL being crazy with a hoola hoop. Why do we have a hoola hoop you say? Well, this was her invention she came up with since last year’s desert trip…..the hoola hoop is used to help support the 4 strings that suspend the shower stall. Without something to hold the 4 corners apart the square shower turns in to a diamond and make it hard to shower. If there was no wind…ever, that wouldn’t be an issue but it is always breezy/windy in the desert.


That is it for day 6….

More soon

[ladderback66]

What were the daytime temperatures in Death Valley?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by ladderback66

What were the daytime temperatures in Death Valley?

The highest we saw was 93 degrees (33 Celsius) at the Death Valley visitor’s center at Furnace Creek. It sure didn’t feel that hot though, felt more like 80 degrees. Outside of that one location, it was in the low to mid 80’s most of the time but night time dropped into the 40’s.

[xole]

Amazing views, can't wait to see if Little Elvis stays out of trouble!

Your giving me the itch to head up to the Blue Ridge Mountains this weekend.

[DirtyLarry]

Day 7: Friday, March 29th
Goal: Start 1,342 mile migration home. Today’s destination – Hampton Inn in St. George, UT (400 miles)

Friday morning we all took our time packing up trucks for the highway in disbelief the Death Valley trip had come to an end.

As we left the campsite headed towards Hwy 190 we ran across these neat old cars parked in the desert.
Looked like an old Buick and Chevrolet


As we topped off the tires with air and said our goodbyes.


Ty's silver Dodge headed to San Diego while the Richard's white one was headed to Palm Desert for an Easter weekend vacation with family meanwhile, we have a 1,342 mile ride ahead of us to get back home to Colorado.


Little Elvis insisted upon checking busy Hwy 190 to make sure it was safe to cross. Sure enough, nobody coming from either direction for as far as the eye could see


So our grand plan was to exit Death Valley through to Beatty, NV then Beatty to Las Vegas to catch I-15 to St. George to stay for the night. This would be about 400 mile ride from where we aired up. From St. George planned to hit Moab to check out the Easter Jeep Safari on the way home. Beatty to St. George would be a quick jaunt through the desert if it wasn’t for Nellis Air Force Base being directly in the way.

Sights just South of Beatty, NV. Thought about stopping but MIL said…negative!



We got into North Las Vegas with In-N-Out Burger burning a hole in our minds. Unfortunately, we never found one even after seeing a sign that said this exit. I was getting frustrated driving around in circles looking for In-N-Out Burger in thick Las Vegas traffic so we ended up eating at the world’s slowest McDonald’s instead. Imagine our disappointment in eating a quarter pounder with In-N-Out on the mind. Cutting though Vegas turned out to be a 1.5 hour ordeal I hadn’t planned on just to get gas and food. What hassle! I think my GPS caused more issues than helped in this area to boot.

We saw an Aston Martin speeding around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway parking lot though as we flew up I-15


We arrived at the Hampton Inn in St. George around 5ish. It was a treat to get the first real shower in a week, do some laundry and eat a full dinner we didn’t have to cook.

That is it for Friday….

More shortly….

[DirtyLarry]

Day 8: Saturday, March 30th
Goal: Make our way across Utah

So Friday night I sat up in the hotel room playing with the mapping software to find the quickest route from St. George to Moab. Huh! Well, you just can’t get there from here in under 6-7 hours! Either you have to dip way to the south through Page, AZ or head North to I-70 then come back down to Moab. Either way is a full day’s drive. At that point I had to come to the realization that checking out the Moab Easter Jeep Safari just wasn’t going to happen this trip so we decided to just take the scenic route through the middle of Utah and take in all the beauty then camp someplace near the Colorado River.

Back in the snow somewhere East of Cedar City, UT




We passed through the Northern part of Brice National Park


There is no mistaken we are in Utah now….look at the red dirt!




Outside of Escalante





So just before we left on this trip the latest issue of Truck Trend had come in the mail. In there was an article where Truck Trend had taken a new Power Wagon on the 75 mile Burr Trail from Boulder to Bullfrog at the Colorado River then took the ferry across to Hall Crossing (Ironically, when we got home from this trip I got the latest issue of Overland Journal in the mail and it too had an story on the Burr Trail). Well, as we were cruising Hwy 12 near Boulder, UT we saw the sign for the Burr Trail and instantly started slowing the big dog down. We made the split second decision to follow the same route as Truck Trend. This should be neat route as I have seen everything on the Hall Crossing side of the Colorado River over the years. In fact, Mosesburb and I were just at Hall Crossing last summer when we did the Hole in the Rock trail.

Pictures along the Burr Trail…..

Beginning of the Burr Trail












The Burr Trail is well groomed. Almost too well groomed for my liking


Hall Crossing marina coming into sight


So as we entered the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area we started getting a nervous feeling as every designated camp site off the road was closed. Before long we arrive at the park entry booth at Bullfrog where the nice lady told us how to get to the only open campsite in the park this time of year. I hesitantly asked the status of the ferry schedule and the nice little old lady said in the sweetest voice “Oh, no honey, the ferry doesn’t run this time of year”. AGH, WHAT!!! Great! Now we get to back track 50 some miles up Hwy 276 to Hwy 95 and cross the Colorado River at the Hite marina. Ultimately, we were going to catch Hhy 95 on the other side anyway to would will lead us to Blanding, UT to catch the road home.

At this point I am a bit pissy because it is starting to get late in the day and we have 40 some miles to get to Hwy 95 plus we still need to find a place to set up camp somewhere along the line. To make it worse, I only had 28 psi from of air in the tires from coming down the Burr Trail so I really needed to air up before taking on Hwy 276. After I pulled over the air up the tires, I thought…meh….they don’t look that low so we pushed on.

As we pushed North on Hwy 275 and about halfway to Hwy 95 we spotted a lonely road off to the left side of the truck with a sign of some recreational area. We whipped in there to see what it was about and it looked pretty promising for a place to call home for the night. We followed this trail up for a few miles and found a really cool spot. It didn't look like anybody had been up into this area for months.

When we first arrived at this spot and opened the camper the weather was beautiful. Within 20 minutes things got ugly fast. The wind started whipping and it got really cold with sprinkles of rain. Before long the mountains in the distance totally disappeared.


View off to the drive’s side of the truck


While MIL made some awesome chicken quesadillas with green chili for dinner I aired up the tires and dumped what was left in the fuel cans into the tank. About an hour later the storm passed and it was clear again, but still cold!



Oh, I would like to add that I was a bit disappointed in the Burr Trail after all of the magazine hoopla. The mags make the Burr Trail out to be an off-road route. Maybe I was just expecting more. Yes, it was a beautiful drive no doubt about it, but of the 75 miles we traveled only about 12 miles (if that) were actually dirt and even at that, the dirt was like pavement. It was a total waste of time to air down the tires in the first place. I don’t regret traveling the Burr Trail but it sure isn’t the off-road trail I was expecting. Simply put....The Burr Trail is a Prius and minivan road.

That is it for day 7….

More later….

[DirtyLarry]

Day 9: Easter Sunday, March 31th
Goal: Complete the final leg home

We woke up to a beautiful Easter Sunday. It was warm and sunny!



You could even see the mountain that was barely visible the night before


MIL going bananas with the hoola hoop one last time before we begin the 11 hour drive home.


We stopped at the Colorado River overlook above and across the river from the Hite Marina.




An extremely dry Hite Marina. When we were there in 2010 the water was all the way up to the top of the boat ramp. The mighty Colorado wasn’t even flowing this day!


1.5 day saw tooth route through the core of Utah


Our last picture of the trip as we passed through the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado. From here it was a few more hours home. Little Elvis was so tired from trip he slept the entire way home.


We pulled into the driveway at straight up 7 PM Easter Sunday. So there it is! That is what 2,435 miles in 9 days through a big chunk of the Southwestern Desert looks like from the front seat of a 35 year old truck. We really enjoy this trip while already making plans for next year’s destinations.

While I really enjoyed seeing Death Valley (definitely a bucket list destination), I must say I have no immediate interest to return. It is just too far and the beauty just wasn’t there like what our neighboring state of Utah has to offer. There are so many areas of Utah’s Canyonlands yet to explore not to mention what Arizona holds for future desert trips. On the other hand, the Mojave Desert was very cool and I would definitely like to check out more of that. It was also a great week to reconnect with my old High School buddy, Ty and his brother, as well as getting to know new friend like Richard and the Mighty Dodge Ram. MIL and Little Elvis also had a great time but glad to be home. Jake the snake is probably hissed off because I forgot that he is still in the Trasheroo still this very second, whoops. Guess, I better go let him out.

The deserts of the Southwest are such a great way to charge your batteries and get away from it all!

Here is a link to the SPOT Adventures summary page. I plan to update this page with photos showing where some of the pictures were taken along the way. The orange markers are the locations we camped along the way.

That’s it!

[Oilbrnr]

Interesting, and interesting take on that area of CA. I've driven trough there many times on I-40, and never put too much thought into spending much time. Like you said, it is nothing like UT/AZ/CO. Also surprised if not shocked that the Colorado wasn't running. Thought you guys have had a pretty decent winter, not that there is much higher elevation melt yet, but still...

Curious too, what is up with your rear-end! You've had that in there for some time now, no?

Again, I plan to be up for the Expo and look forward to actually meeting you! And if you need more DonStar assistance, give me a call this time!

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Oilbrnr

Interesting, and interesting take on that area of CA. I've driven trough there many times on I-40, and never put too much thought into spending much time. Like you said, it is nothing like UT/AZ/CO. Also surprised if not shocked that the Colorado wasn't running. Thought you guys have had a pretty decent winter, not that there is much higher elevation melt yet, but still...

Curious too, what is up with your rear-end! You've had that in there for some time now, no?

Again, I plan to be up for the Expo and look forward to actually meeting you! And if you need more DonStar assistance, give me a call this time!

I know, I was surprised to see the Colorado River not moving at all between Hite and Halls Crossing marinas. Here in CO, we are way behind in annual snow fall but there is still some time yet. Many of our heavy wet snows happen in March/April.

Yeah, the axle overheating was a surprised. I’ve heard of it on RV's and medium duty commercial trucks before but never on a 14 bolt. The fact that I purposely overfill it and the fact we were driving from 200 ft below sea level to about 5,000 above within 20 miles on 8 and 9% grades at moderate highway speeds in a truck weighting 8,000 lbs most like was the cause of the overheat. I plan on finding a different rear cover for added capacity then move to a full synthetic lube. You’re right, this axle has been in the truck along time. Since 1996 in fact, although the ring and pinion in it now are only 2 years old.

Meeting up at Expo would be a great time. I’m planning on going unless something comes up with my pregnant wife. If you plan to camp, let me know. We already have a block in the front row reserved.

[motornut]

Some awesome vids and pictures,great depth
for me, thats stuff we would only have seen on postcards or Tv!

[DirtyLarry]

Spent the last two days cleaning up the old pig. $14 spent at the car wash, camper laundry done, clay bar’d, and buffed. All of the Joshua Tree scratches even buffed off. It looks like it never even left the house for 2,435 mile trip to the desert.

Now time to change the oil, rip apart the rear axle for an inspection and replace the transfercase before taking off to Flagstaff next month

[Zoomad75]

Looks a hell of a lot cleaner than when I saw it Friday. Great trip. It looks like all had a good time.

[K20chevy]

Larry,

you thought about a Warn front winch bumper for the classic look and to mount a bigger winch... The Warns are not that strong though...

I was in the same situation and this is what I got and modified. I think it looks great and classic, yet holds a 10000 lbs winch and is plnty strong but not too heavy. Let me know what you think!

[DirtyLarry]

Yep, I have looking to classic WARN bumpers. In fact, Mosesburb recently set me up with two Warn winch bumpers that he found in Phoenix. One is a true Warn bumper and the other looks similar but built by a different company. One is going on the Burb and the other will end on this K10. I just haven’t gotten around to cleaning up the two bumpers yet.

You’re right, the WARN type bumpers are not very strong but at least they have heavy winch mounts and are period correct. Actually, I don’t want a heavy front bumper like so many than can be purchased these days, just a light old school Warn type bumper is plenty. The truck is already over weight as it stands now (8,000 lbs.) so I don’t want to add anymore unnecessary weight.

Funny the light little Hickey Sidewinder winch that is on the front has been great. It always works and works well when snatch blocked. The 10K Smittybilt on the rear bumper is always broke. I’ve had to put a new control box on it last summer and the summer before it needed a side barrel holder thing as it broke. I tried to use the rear winch the again other day and it won’t work again. Just haven’t had time to see what is wrong with it this time. I’m starting to think the cheap Smittybilt winches are just junk.

I like the looks of the bumper you have there. Looks strong but a bit heavy, not sure about those lights though

This one is going on the K10 after some major rework


This one is going on the Burb

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Yep, I have looking to classic WARN bumpers. In fact, Mosesburb recently set me up with two Warn winch bumpers that he found in Phoenix. One is a true Warn bumper and the other looks similar but built by a different company. One is going on the Burb and the other will end on this K10. I just haven’t gotten around to cleaning up the two bumpers yet.

You’re right, the WARN type bumpers are not very strong but at least they have heavy winch mounts and are period correct. Actually, I don’t want a heavy front bumper like so many than can be purchased these days, just a light old school Warn type bumper is plenty. The truck is already over weight as it stands now (8,000 lbs.) so I don’t want to add anymore unnecessary weight.

Funny the light little Hickey Sidewinder winch that is on the front has been great. It always works and works well when snatch blocked. The 10K Smittybilt on the rear bumper is always broke. I’ve had to put a new control box on it last summer and the summer before it needed a side barrel holder thing as it broke. I tried to use the rear winch the again other day and it won’t work again. Just haven’t had time to see what is wrong with it this time. I’m starting to think the cheap Smittybilt winches are just junk.

I like the looks of the bumper you have there. Looks strong but a bit heavy, not sure about those lights though

This one is going on the K10 after some major rework


This one is going on the Burb

Actually my bumper looks a lot heavier than it is, I was surprised myself. You can pick it up by yourself. I would guess no more than 80 lbs. For how strong it is, it is not heavy at all. The pull points that mount to the frame and go through the bumper are 1/2" thick!

What lights do you mean? the headlights or the LED driving lights?

The LED´s were added just a week ago. I had 4 9" round Hella lights on the old bumper and I thought it looked too crazy with the huge lights on there. So I wanted something that is less obvious and blends into the bumper better than the huge round lights. Once the front bar is covered with a black cover, you can hardly tell that it is there.

Sure, without the lights it looks even more vintage, but I needed some kind of driving light.

As for the headlights, I wanted the best headlights I could get. Since the projectors are smaller, I wanted to find something that has the shape of the original sealed beam. I´m still debating on wether I should airbrush them like the old lights, or keep them brushed stainless like they are now.

here is a pic when I mocked the bumper up, without the lights on it...