mccustomize
Explorer
Let's just start by saying we are by no means, experienced overlanders, we are a group of off-road enthusiasts. So when I stumbled across the Overland Challenge Series we had a grand plan, we would enter, and take our love of everything big, including our trucks, from the great state of Texas to the Ozark National Forest. Selection time came for the teams and placed us in the 7th spot on the standby list. It did not look promising so we planned a trip to BBRSP instead. Fast forward to March and I get a call from the challenge series, enough teams had dropped out and we were in! Now this puts us just 6 weeks out to prepare including one truck that is not operational in 4 wheel drive....yet.
Working day in and day out, including repairing some mishaps from our shakedown run (spinning an axle tube in the housing), we were loaded up and on our way from central Texas at 6am on April 13th. Of course a road trip for Texans would not be without a stop at Buccee's (the greatest travel center on the planet).
Arkansas state line, see you soon Texas!
My grandfather was from Russellville Arkansas so it was an emotional trip for me to go back to his hometown some 21 years later since he passed away. We got in to town early enough that my Great Aunt was able to take us to dinner for some excellent catfish and she even baked us the best chocolate cake I've ever had!
We had our group meeting at 10:30 am on thursday, we recieved our checkpoint coordinates and spent a couple hours planning the route, then we were off! At first glance down our first dirt road we thought this might be a cake walk, boy were we mistaken.....
The trail dropped into a very tight section littered with trees, lots and lots of tall, body damage inflicting trees. Progress was made very slow as we spotted each other and made multiple point turns and very smart decisions.
As we made our way through one of the hard optional checkpoints time was ticking away. We knew that we were not going to make good time on this trail but speeding up would mean certain body damage.
We slowly made out way to our first water crossing. We knew that we would not have any problems with water depth since both trucks were on 37" tires with significant ground clearance. However most of the crossing encountered we were struck with beauty, the crystal clear, fast moving water had our jaws dropped.
The water crossings were easy, we could give a glance from the shore to make sure no deep holes were in our path and motor on.
However the trees were relentless, this next photo does not show the tree on the other side of the truck that the front tire is pushed up against. Careful spotting and taking our time were key elements in this phase.
Working day in and day out, including repairing some mishaps from our shakedown run (spinning an axle tube in the housing), we were loaded up and on our way from central Texas at 6am on April 13th. Of course a road trip for Texans would not be without a stop at Buccee's (the greatest travel center on the planet).
Arkansas state line, see you soon Texas!
My grandfather was from Russellville Arkansas so it was an emotional trip for me to go back to his hometown some 21 years later since he passed away. We got in to town early enough that my Great Aunt was able to take us to dinner for some excellent catfish and she even baked us the best chocolate cake I've ever had!
We had our group meeting at 10:30 am on thursday, we recieved our checkpoint coordinates and spent a couple hours planning the route, then we were off! At first glance down our first dirt road we thought this might be a cake walk, boy were we mistaken.....
The trail dropped into a very tight section littered with trees, lots and lots of tall, body damage inflicting trees. Progress was made very slow as we spotted each other and made multiple point turns and very smart decisions.
As we made our way through one of the hard optional checkpoints time was ticking away. We knew that we were not going to make good time on this trail but speeding up would mean certain body damage.
We slowly made out way to our first water crossing. We knew that we would not have any problems with water depth since both trucks were on 37" tires with significant ground clearance. However most of the crossing encountered we were struck with beauty, the crystal clear, fast moving water had our jaws dropped.
The water crossings were easy, we could give a glance from the shore to make sure no deep holes were in our path and motor on.
However the trees were relentless, this next photo does not show the tree on the other side of the truck that the front tire is pushed up against. Careful spotting and taking our time were key elements in this phase.