Trans America Trail: A month's journey in a 96 Jeep XJ.

magoh76

Adventurer
David: I wish I had geotags available for those pictures, but logic would easily place the camel near Adair, OK.

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TAT Route near Adair, OK​

That's what I thought. Oddly enough, there is more than one ranch nearby that has camels. It looks like you went along the back side of Safari Joe's, a local wildlife sanctuary/petting zoo.

After a bit of research, I found the bridge that was washed out in 2008 near Salina, OK. It crosses Saline Creek. From the google map picture it looks like the road department only had to replace the one section of the bridge.

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to the rest of your reports!
 

NHenson

Observer
. . . The next week, portion II, of the TAT saga continues

TAT II Day 1: Sunday, June 28, 2009

I believe I wrote yesterday (TAT II T-minus One Day) that our plan was to drive all the way to Bartlesville, Oklahoma last night. The GPS was predicting that we would arrive around 4:00 this morning, and I was not looking forward to it. Not only that, but NH was thinking that the best plan would be to just set up tent in a Wal-mart parking lot and spend the night there.

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Just a few bugs that we picked up along the way. The front of the tent cover was actually fuzzy with them.​

Just before midnight I was driving, and I posited to NH that if we were to arrive at Wal-mart at 4:00 and sleep there, we would not get many hours of sleep before being awakened by the hot sun, let alone traffic and Wal-mart shoppers. I think the heat factor affected him even more than tha lack of sleep, and so he agreed to spend the night where we were and proceed to Bartlesville in the morning.

There were no open camping places, nor Wal-mart parking lots, near where we were. As a rather last-ditch effort we pulled into a rest area, wondering if we could get away with spending the night there. This turned out to be the best rest area I have ever seen, particularly for would-be sneaky campers. We found a picnicking spot beneath a thick clump of trees and not visible from the freeway, and set up camp. My guilty conscience, afraid of being awakened and kicked out by some state trooper, kept me awake much of the night. But NH got some good sleep, at least.

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Taking down camp after staying at the rest area. What a great place (for a rest area).​

Today we made it to Bartlesville around 1:00, and we were on the trail by 2:00, reminiscent of our first day on the TAT last year. NH fueled up, and washed all the bug guts off the front of the tent, headlights, and windshield. Then he aired down the tires from 35 to 25 PSI, which made for a much more comfortable ride on the trail.

Today was pretty hot. We stopped at some gas stations and filled our Nalgenes with ice, which when held in the lap can be quite cooling. But still, I got sunburned and we were both drenched in sweat by the time our trip ended for the day.

The real excitement of the day had mostly to do with wildlife. We spotted four turtles, five bunnies (one or two of which we may have run over), egrets, herons, hawks, many deer, and several hippopotocows. What? You haven't heard of the hippopotocow? Well, it is a rare species, and it emerges only in the hottest weather. But it proves how hot the weather was. I've often seen cows standing in a pond in hot weather, up to their hocks or maybe their mid-sections. Today we saw cows deep in ponds, up to their backs with just their noses sticking up out of the water. Like hippos.

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The Hoppopotocow (see description above). Obviously, it was a hot day.​

Within the last hour or so of our trip, tragedy struck, also related to wildlife. We hit a pheasant. This wasn't like the "possible hittings" of the bunnies. With them it didn't seem possible that they could have escaped alive when they jumped under the tires just as we were passing, but also we didn't feel any bumps, so we couldn't be sure.

With the pheasant, we saw, heard, and felt the crash. And the feathers. Also, NH had to perform a pheasant extraction on the front of the Jeep.

I was hesitant to go look at the pheasant--I knew I would be saddened by it. After a few minutes, though, NH persuaded me to come out. I was even sadder than I had expected. I felt like a murderer. NH wanted me to take pictures and post them on the blog, but that felt too much like something a serial killer would do. So he took the pictures instead, but I'm not going to post them. Poor pheasant. (I'm posting the picture here, b/c I thought some of the readers might like to see the situation - NH)

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The road we were driving when we met the pheasant. If you kept the tires on the smooth parts of the road, it wasn't too bad.

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70 mph + pheasant = grilled bird.​

Camping in a wheat field tonight; they grow a lot of wheat in this part of Oklahoma, and it's harvest time. We have to be out of here before 8:00 tomorrow because the farmers are going to burn off the stubble in the morning. So I'd better get to bed. Later. - EH

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Trans-American Gothic. Our campsite/field for the night.


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Wonderful sunset. . . what a treat.​

* Posted from the parking lot of Pizza Pub in Buffalo, Oklahoma (thanks for the free wi-fi).
 
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NHenson

Observer
It is good to have a readership. Thanks for the comments. Now on to the next day. . .

TAT II Day 2: Monday, June 29, 2009

You will be pleased to know that we escaped being burned to a crisp in our bed this morning--we woke up at 7:00 and were long gone by the time the farmers in whose field we camped last night arrived to burn it.

Beginning our trip so early had at least one decided advantage: it was deliciously cool for the first three hours of our drive. Instead of proceeding on through the fifth circle of hell, we found ourselves driving amongst grassy green fields, dotted with trees and backed by red dirt cliffs. Everything looked lovely, almost magical.

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We crossed many of these. Cattle guards sure beat getting out to open and close gates every couple of miles.​

We passed a raccoon going for a morning swim under the bushes in a quiet pond. We passed a funny corner-shaped house jutting out from within a hillside, like some place where a hobbit should live.

We found ourselves driving in perfect little rolling hills, with roads that curved and rose and swerved and fell so swiftly that NH thought he was in driving heaven. The terrain was subtle--no high hills. Just cunning swells, green and inviting, with soft dark trees hidden in the hollows.

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Transitioning from farm land to ranch land.

And then, as fast as we had entered it, we emerged from the magical hidden Oklahoma fairy tale back to straight roads between wheat and corn crops.

As the sun was beginning to be uncomfortably hot, and we were beginning to think about lunch, the roll chart directed us to stop at the ranch through which we were driving and say hi to the owner. We did.

Mrs. Mayo owns the Maple Ranch somewhere near Forgan, Oklahoma, and she came out to greet us. We found Mrs. Mayo to be a gracious and generous hostess, and her ranch to be fascinating, full of both history and innovation. Mrs. Mayo showed us pictures of the original ranch owner, her late husband's grandfather. Mr. Maple rode to Oklahoma from Illinois on a horse, married a local lady, and started the Maple ranch. His house was a pre-cut house from the Montgomery Ward catalog, something I hadn't known even existed. I'm pretty sure you can't order a beautiful large house like that one from a catalog anymore, or else I would be very tempted.


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Satellite imagery of the Mayo house. I couldn't find any pictures that looked similar to this unique Montgomery Ward catalog house. If you look search the history of Mark Mayo, you will find that his ranch was also known for raising Arabian horses used to work the cattle. - NH

After showing us the house and filling us with chocolate cake, Mrs. Mayo drove us around the ranch. She explained to us the new and efficient way in which they pasture their cattle, showed us some herds and the place where they work the cattle, and drove fast and smooth enough on the dirt roads to leave NH favorably impressed--I suppose he needs to rethink his notion that ladies don't usually drive well.

We left Maple Ranch and for an hour or so, I thought the heat might just get the better of me. Naturally, we didn't consider turning on the air conditioning. Fortunately, a cloud cover arose and sheltered us into Boise City.

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Roads driven nearly 100 years ago are sort of the essence of the TAT.​

Just as we were entering the town, the Jeep began to vapor lock, and we coasted into a gas station in neutral after the engine died. While checking the fluids we found the coolant to be low. We purchased some coolant to top off the evaporating liquid, but NH also discovered a possible transmission leak. Unfortunately, everything closes down at 5:00 in this town, so we'll have to go in tomorrow morning.

We are camping at a very small RV park. I don't think it has a name: it's located in back of an ancient dairy-freeze-type drive-thru. There was a brief rain storm, and now a pleasantly cool breeze is blowing through our tent. I think we're in for a good night's sleep.


View on Google Maps
This was our camping location for the night. If you go to 'street view' you can see the DQ that we had ice cream at that evening. It was pretty good after such a hot day.​

Posted from parking lot of Townsman Motel, Boise City, OK
 
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skibum315

Explorer
In for the rest ... thanks for cross posting over here on Expedition Portal, and to oryxexpeditions for putting the link into the LR thread.

Hats off to EH for the original writing, this is very well done and much appreciated.
 

NHenson

Observer
TAT II Day 3: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Hello dear readers and TAT enviers. ( I made up that word; but yesterday NH made up "majoritally," so I figured I might.) This morning we woke up to the raucous chirping and strange calling of the loudest birds short of a Thai village-worth of roosters at 4:00 in the morning. I have never heard song birds so loud. Apparently the patch of trees under which we camped in the RV park is the main stop for every single bird that migrates to Canada.

NH was stressed about the possible transmission fluid leak, so we got ready pretty quickly and took the Jeep to a car-wash in town (Boise City, Oklahoma) to remove one of the skid plates and wash the affected areas. During the washing process (I was trying to be helpful, doing things like handing the 5/8 wrench, etc.), NH discovered that the problem was not a transmission fluid leak--the transmission fluid was merely low. The leak was oil, coming from an old O ring between the oil filter and the engine mount (or some such area). This was very encouraging. Still, we couldn't find anyone in town who would be able to replace the O ring before 2:00. We ended up handing off the Jeep to Red & Son's Service and walking around town for a few hours.

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Red & Son's Service made room in their schedule to replace the o-ring between the oil filter adapter and engine block for us.​

We stopped by Radio Shack first, and as interested as NH was in all the things there, I won't elaborate. I found it a little dull. We walked over a mile across town to the Cimarron Heritage Center Museum, recommended to us by Billie Mayo yesterday.

The Heritage Center is so full of local artifacts, antiques, and histories that we could hardly take it all in. Cimarron County seems to have had ample cooperation in recieving items for the museum, as well as several very interesting histories. My favorite was of a lady settler whose family ran out of money just before harvest, so her husband and oldest son left to work back east while she harvested, with a corn knife, and shucked the entire crop of corn, meanwhile doing laundry, ironing and cooking (for $1/week) for local bachelors and providing lodging and food for new settlers passing through.

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Erin goofing around with a dino in the museum.

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Good information in case any of you wanted to know.

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And, of course, what is a good recipe (above) without one of these. Just one of the items making up the museum's huge variety.

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This old feller doesn't run so good anymore. We named him Mater's cousin (after the character from "Cars").

Another local event worth noting was the accidental bombing of Boise City during World War II. Due to the inexperience of a flight navigator, six practice bombs were dropped in and just outside of town. Fortunately, no one was hurt and property damage was pretty minimal.


NH enjoyed the antique tractors, although we were disappointed to find that none were in as good condition as the antique cars. Most of the cars were in very impressive condition. We also saw something by way of a classic travel trailer in very reasonable condition which I will say no more about.

We left the museum well past lunch time and made it to the Yellow Horse Eatery a little before they closed at 2:00. Good food, nice relaxed atmosphere. By the time we finished eating, the Jeep was done (early), and we refilled the suspension airbags, replaced the skid plate, picked up a few last supplies, and were on our way. Oh, and I also got unreasonably angry with NH regarding the perceived loss of some rubber-bands, but I won't dwell on it (insert sheepish look here).

We finished out Oklahoma within an hour or so, and NH was excited to get to New Mexico, as he'd never been there before. I'd only been in the state once before, and not in that part, so I was interested, too, but I mentioned to NH that it would probably look much like the tip of Oklahoma's panhandle, and like the southeastern corner of Colorado. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Seriously, within five miles of crossing the border into New Mexico, not only did the terrain change as a result of not being cultivated into wheat fields, but the entire ecosystem changed. Different plants and weeds grew by the side of the road. Cacti appeared. More antelope, and the deer changed from white tailed to mule deer, just like that. Crazy!

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Cactus blooming in New Mexico.​

We enjoyed the different terrain of New Mexico, and from our conversation with Mrs. Mayo yesterday, I gather that this year has seen more moisture than most years, and is therefore much greener than normal. So much the better. New Mexico showed us slightly greened fields, and an abundance of beautiful wild flowers and cacti in bloom.

The trail through New Mexico is only 60 miles long, so we soon turned up a switchback, drove up a mountain, and entered Colorado. Again, terrain change. No more desert. Grasslands and ranch. Strangest thing I've seen in a while!

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At the top of this switchback, we entered Colorado.​

We drove as far as Trinidad, and we are spending the night in a Bed and Breakfast near the historic downtown. This is my first B&B experience, and it's very nice so far. We went to a park downtown to cook our supper (quinoa and portabello pilaf and fresh corn, avocado, and tomato salad...mmmmmm), since we didn't want the food to go to waste while we spent more money eating at a restaurant. Plus, we had a view of the river and a cool breeze.

Thanks to our faithful readers. We'll get more tomorrow or the next day. - EH
 
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NHenson

Observer
TAT II Day 4: Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Peril at Hancock Pass

I hardly know how to start writing about today. My fingers are still so cold, and my stomach shaking, that it's hard to type.

This morning we woke up at the Tarabino Inn and Theresa, our hostess, fed us a lovely breakfast of Spanish omelet, coffee, juice, fresh pineapple...yum. We were on the trail by 9:30, and we made a pretty steady run all day.

Trinidad, Colorado, where we stayed last night, is at 7000 feet elevation, but by mid-morning we were nearing 10,000. What views! We curved on dirt roads between feathery aspens, high pines, and bright, tall grass deep and thick with clear green color.

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Colorado beauty.​

We passed such a variety of wildflowers that I could only get pictures of some of the brightest and most striking. I don't know most of the varieties, but I spent my time enjoying the blossoms.

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I used to find, when I attended a symphony or saw a really good concert, that sometime after intermission, but well before the concert had ended, I would be almost exhausted from such intent, intense listening. I couldn't let my ears relax for a moment, or I would miss the music. I felt that way today. I was so tired by the time we came back down to 7000 feet that I was almost glad to relax from such beautiful scenery.

We hit Salida, Colorado, at about 6:00 this evening, and since we usually drive till about 7:00 or so, we decided to keep going. We knew that the trail went up to the highest peaks after Salida, but we had plenty of time. We met a Jeeper just before we hit the turn-off to Hancock Pass, and he told us he thought the pass might still be closed. Reports were that it was about to open, but as of yesterday he heard it was closed.

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Headed up to Hancock Pass​

We said thanks, that we'd head up and see what it was like. The trail became very rocky, but we figured by 7:30 we would be at the summit, if the pass was passable. If not, we would turn around. We saw several good places to set up camp on our way up, and we knew we could come back to those, but we decided to see if the pass was open before the day's end.

At around 11,750 ft., we began to see long snow patches on the uphill side of the road, but the trail looked just about wide enough to cross. NH checked the snow on the driver's side, and I stuck my head out the passenger's side window to see how our outside tire was doing.

The rocks began to be very loose. I cautioned NH, and he asked if it was safe to proceed. I didn't know. I thought it looked OK...we proceeded.

After about two feet of proceeding with caution, the rocks began to slide out from under us. The Jeep was tipping. I decided it definitely wasn't OK to proceed, and we stopped. NH got out of the Jeep carefully and looked at the situation. Quickly he called back to me to get out of the Jeep on the driver's side (the uphill side). For a moment I wanted to whimper and panic, but I decided it would be better to try and be brave, so I tossed out my chacos and crawled out of the Jeep.

We definitely needed to winch the Jeep. There was no driving--in fact, just leaving the Jeep sitting there was no good because it still had rocks shifting beneath the passenger side tires. It looked ready to roll over any minute. But naturally, we had passed the tree line (or at least the "trees taller than 2 ft." line) just a few hundred feet back.

There were a few rocks up the hillside. None were what we hoped for: comfortingly tall, rooted deep in the ground, and narrow enough to slip the winch cable all the way over. They all looked like they were sitting on top of the soil, ready to roll out at the first tug. NH found one that looked the most promising just within reach of the cable, and he lassoed it optimistically.

While he let some air out of the uphill side tires, I took a shovel and tried to dig deeper around the rock so that the cable would pull lower. That wasn't much help, but it felt good to be doing something.

In such high altitude, our breath left us easily. NH became light-headed for a few minutes, partly from lack of oxygen, partly from fear for the Jeep's life.

I dug my feet into the snow uphill of the Jeep, NH attached a tow-strap to the rack, and I held on to the tow-strap for dear life. I was careful not to wrap the strap around my hands--I knew that if the rock or the cable didn't hold, the Jeep would roll, and I didn't want to go with it.

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Nearly rolled the Jeep off unstable trail. Erin stabilizes the Jeep while it is winched back onto the trail. (staged picture after the event)​

I didn't want NH to go with it, either, but I watched him climb tentatively into the driver's seat. "Close the door and put on your seatbelt." He did.

I figured that if the Jeep rolled, NH would be OK-ish. Probably sustain some injuries, but hopefully nothing life-threatening. Still, the Jeep would likely land in such a way as to make the tent--and our sleeping bags inside it--impossible to access. We would be stuck spending the night in an upturned Jeep, trying to keep ourselves warm without sleeping bags, and I would have to hike out alone in the morning leaving NH to his fate while I looked for help. Absolutely not a good prospect.

The first couple of tugs of the winch, were, of course, the most frightening. The rock did hold, and the Jeep got into better position rather than worse. Now the driver's side tire was six inches off the ground in the snow bank, and the rear passenger's side tire was clinging to a rock with its toenails and mostly gripping air. But between digging away some snow, winching off another rock (which, unbeknownst to us at the time, did move during the winching. Probably angels braced it to keep us on the trail), we managed to get all four tires on ground with solid, wide trail ahead.

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Just behind the Jeep are the places where the side of the trail began to give way.​

Big sighs of relief. By this time the sun was below the tops of the mountains, so we set up camp just at the first relatively level section of trail (none too level), and gingerly cooked supper. Even though the Jeep is on good ground, we still are afraid to jar it. Just feels dangerous.

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Supper at 12,000 ft.--BBQ tofu and coleslaw.​

We've got the tent set up, and it's going to be cold tonight. Looks like we're on the sheltered side of the mountain--no wind yet. Still, leggings and hats to bed.

It's good to be alive. Hope to post this tomorrow. - EH

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Sundown and parting shot for the day.​
 
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mnfeo2

Adventurer
Subscribed and waiting patiently for updates. The wife and I have already decided to run the TAT. Thanks! :jump:
 

NHenson

Observer
TAT II Day 5: Thursday, July 2, 2009

I'm writing this from a motel room in Montrose, Colorado. Yesterday we finished this section of our trip on the TAT.

After the harrying evening day before yesterday, neither NH nor I got much of any sleep, camped on the trail just passed where we nearly rolled the Jeep. I had quite a bit of leftover adrenaline, and I had forgotten that at 12,000 ft. elevation, breathing comes hard. Between these two factors, and an extra sense of nervousness (what if the melt-off picked up in the night, or it started to rain, and the ground became soft and we sank in or drifted off the edge, after all?), I got very little sleep. NH was in a similar state. We woke up at 5:30 to the sound of some animal licking the Jeep. NH got up soon after, and I slept for another hour. By 7:30 we were on the trail again.

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Camp just below Hancock Pass (on the trail).

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Self-portrait on an early-morning hike before Erin got up.

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Scenery at Hancock Pass.​

We continued on through Hancock Pass without any further trouble. I guess that one snow pack had been the reason it was supposed to be closed. We'd been informed day before that Tomichi Pass should be open, no trouble at all, so we proceeded pretty confidently.

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On our way to Tomichi Pass​

We hit another snow pack blocking off much of the trail, but it was low enough in elevation to have several trees handy, so we winched past it without much trouble at all. Just a few yards further, however, we discovered a rock slide, and more formidable snow packs beyond that. So Tomichi Pass proved to be the one that was un-passable--by Jeep, at least. A motorcycle would probably have had little trouble.

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We winched across this snow blockage, only to find that the trail was impassable (by landslide) for us further on.​

We detoured Tomichi Pass, taking forest service trails that added several extra miles and probably two extra hours to our trip--but took us through beautiful forests and ravines.

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Water tower maintained by Mile High 4 X 4 Club.

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Creek crossing.​

If I were to do the Colorado section of the TAT over again, or advise anyone starting out, I would allow more time for this section of the trail. We pressed on for a couple of days in Colorado, getting quite a few miles a day, and enjoying every minute of it. But it is more difficult driving and riding than any other section so far, and more beautiful, too. I think taking an extra day or two would have left us more energy by the time we got across the Rockies.

We joined up with the trail again in Whitepine, CO, and drove to Tomichi Creek, where we stopped for lunch. After that we kept going, but we were so exhausted that we decided to call it a day early.

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Parting shot for this section of the TAT.​

We left the trail in Lake City, Colorado, where we will pick up again next year.


It felt good to sleep in this morning. We're headed home for Independence Day. - EH
 
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