Mojave Road 4/23-4/26

[barlowrs]

Well we all made it back alive, but not without casualties..haha, this was a pretty great trip! We have started posting some pics in the original trip planning thread, but I figure we need to post in the completed thread, so I will start this.

Here is the original planning thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38840
Post trip pics start: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38840&page=15

Let’s just say this trip turned into quite an adventure, from blown shocks, to flying jeeps, to rattle snakes in the middle of the night, and flooded engines. Winching, battery jumping, self recovery.........LET THE STORIES BEGIN!

I will not post stories yet, as I do not want to spoil peoples stories of what happened to them, but I will say, all in all, it was a great trip (hopefully not too expensive for people) and I had a BLAST!

Road was great, company was great, scenery was great, couldn’t ask for a better trip!

EXPO ON MOJAVE ROAD:

LET THE STORIES AND PICS BEGIN :wings:

 

[SWbySWesty]

WOW - if you haven't clicked Ben's link to his photo site, he took some great shots! I'll be posting my trip report soon! I have to go through my photos first...

 

[BKCowGod]

And that gallery is only about 2/3 of the total shots. I will be posting a .zip file of all of the full resolution images for y'all.

Oh, the memories. Watching the effects of the Jerry Juice. Racing the world's slowest train and still managing to lose. So much dog vomit (though he didn't throw up once on the drive home).

I want to thank you all for letting me come along - I had an absolute blast and I don't think I could have asked for a better group to share a campfire.

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures, but the 10-pic rule doesn't really do this trip justice. Check out http://www.kuhgott.com/gallery/v/album_097/?g2_page=1

There was an amazing abundance of wildflowers:

None of us (possibly including Robert) was really sure what he was looking at/for:

Sea Anemone of the desert:

This became a very common sight. I still think it was the battery. Though I have absolutely no answer re: the windshield wipers constantly turning on...

My favorite truck on the trip - and if you ever want to sell, a good friend of mine says she will snap it up in a heartbeat:

Beautiful, and deadly with an empty bottle (well, if you're a bug. Or sitting next to her, and a bug is nearby) - Robert is a lucky man

America!

For some reason, I think this shot perfectly sums up the whole trip for me...

This one too.

The "Grand Canyon of the Mojave" (according to a sign)

 

[BKCowGod]

I completely forgot - great incident on the drive home...

I was in Bakersfield on 99N, doing about 75mph when I see a police pickup truck about 2' from my tail. I pull over and slow down, and he goes roaring by me... towing a trailer with a wrecked car and a bunch of slogans that said things like "a split second between life and death" and "speed kills" and all that. I got it up to 82mph (GPS speed) before I gave up trying to catch him, and watched him weaving through all three lanes of 99, cutting people off. So I called Bakersfield PD and told the watch commander. He said "I gotta go, thanks" really quickly and hung up. Maaaaybe a minute later, a crown vic goes flying by at over 100 with lights and sirens and crosses the next ridge. Soon after, I pass the truck and trailer pulled over with the Vic behind it.

Oh, the delicious irony.

And, I was angry that one of my favorite pix had lens flare, so I removed it:

 

[Jeff Wanamog]

Not fair!

Ok, you have left us hanging for too long!
What is the story on the Tacoma front bumper?
Do tell, do tell!:Wow1:

Jeff

 

[barlowrs]

Ok, you have left us hanging for too long!
What is the story on the Tacoma front bumper?
Do tell, do tell!:Wow1:

Jeff

I really want to get into this one, its a great one, but it was spamthefood's tacoma, and I will let him share...but I will give you a little quote to sum it up (probably not direct quote, but it was something along the lines of):

*splash* "crap my engine died......hey thats my bumper (floating away)"

 

[SWbySWesty]

Good thing he didn't have the bucket...

 

[BKCowGod]

Good thing he didn't have the bucket...

you mean this bucket?

 

[SWbySWesty]

4/23/2010

Got a good night's rest and packed up the Jeep for the trip. All looks well and fluids are full. I'm on the road to meet up the Expo guys at 3pm in Victorville. I get my start at 1pm which should have been sufficient except for the time I spent idling in 2nd gear down the freeway. Arrived at the Costco parking lot in Victorville to meet Robert and Elena. I spotted his truck as I drove in and figured it was them.

Since it was 4:30 by the time I arrived, I figured I'd be the latest one, yet lo and behold I wasn't! Eric with Steve, and Jim arrived around the same time I did so we didn't spend more than 20 minutes in the parking lot before we took off...we were supposed to meet Ben at the Avi at 6pm. Yea, right! Not sure what time we got to the Avi, but it WAS NOT 6pm

We gassed up at the Avi for a reasonable price ($3.09) and headed out...the wrong way. We got on the wrong side of the Mojave River and "someone's" gps wanted us to cross the river. Went sorta like "Where does the road go?" "Over the river?" "See if the Jeep can make it." "fine...."

Naturally, we figured out that it DOES NOT go that way; however there were some BIG fish.

After getting to the trailhead (I can see how it would be MUCH easier to find during the day), we set up camp and a fire. Good times were had as the beers came out of the cooler and meat/garlic bread was put over the tripod grill.

We cruised down around 2am to get Greg (Red Xterra) since he arrived late after leaving LA at 730pm. That was quite an adventure of driving around...

one quote:
"Dude, this is a dead end loop"
"Oh.....yea...I know, I thought you wanted to see that NO TRESPASSING sign..."
"awesome"

End of Day 1 :sombrero: more to come...

 

[SWbySWesty]

Day 2 (4/24/2010)

Woke up with the sun beating on the tent. Sure is going to be a warm day! The Jerry Juice from last night didn't give any ill effects and I'm still alive :sombrero:. The Engel kept everything nice and cool, but now it's sitting in the sun. I open it up, but everything is just dandy and cold! HOORAY Engel! :wings: I bust out the chorizo, eggs, avocado and sour cream breakfast burrito with a little Mango twist juice on the side and feel MUCH better.

Eric cooking himself some eggs:

"Anybody want some coffee?" - Jim
"Yea, I'll take some!" - me
"It's instant coffee and it works real well, if you know what I mean" - Jim
"That's okay...I'll be fine." - me, indeed I was fine...until about 30 minutes later. Time for an emergency executive board meeting (see picture above carrying bucket). I take it to the top of a hill and post my throne overlooking the valley. Quite the great experience for my first time using the bucket! :snorkel:

We got on the road pretty darn late (maybe 1030ish). I think next time I'll tone down the nighttime fiesta in order to get some quality road time in the morning. There are quite the beautiful vistas as we cruise along the trail.


CLICK HERE for YouTube video

I also notice some beautiful blooming Joshua Trees and take the time to stop (holding up Ben and Robert behind me) to take some photos:

A few cactus flowers!

We stopped for a bit near the first highway crossing and came to realize that half of us wanted to "go fast" and the other half wanted to slow down for pictures..I was in the second group. We of course encountered problem #1: Greg's Xterra wouldn't start with a bad battery.

So we jumped him, which became the "thing" to do at every long stop. Good thing he had two jerry cans on his roof....well, not good for one of them, but we'll get to that.

To be continued...

 

[SWbySWesty]

Day 2 continued...

Let me just say that Robert has a pretty slick Tacoma. 3" lift on 33" tires...too bad he doesn't push it :smiley_drive:

We all start moving again and I think I stopped about every 100 yards at first because I saw a neat flower...or bush...or something I thought might be kinda artful to take a picture of

Just cruisin'

We finally made it to Piute Springs...or creek...gosh I can't remember since Eric's friend Steve was navigating as the week before the trip I lost my book somehow! Although is was nice that whenever Eric went flying through an intersection and then wondered if we went the right way, I'd walk back to the intersection and see a rock cairn...

On the way down, we stopped for lunch and I busted out the auto canopy for some shade. I'm sure the two-car crew that rolled by us as we sat cool in the shade was jealous :ylsmoke:

Here's a neat tree that was up at the spring:

So after that, we realized that it was getting late in the afternoon and we should find a campsite. Where do we camp? Well, crap, it's BLM land so we can't just camp anywhere; You have to camp in a designated area.

Here is where I encountered a very large problem...with the dust in front of me, I didn't see the BIGGEST whoops coming up. I nailed them at about 30mph and am pretty sure I got all 4 tires off the ground and cleared whoop #2 in order to land front first into whoop #3 and come to an abrupt halt. The crunching and banging was sickening. As I came to a stop, I grabbed the radio:
"Grape to Goose, hold up, I just had an accident!" - me
"Are you okay?" - Eric
"Yea, I'm okay, but I don't think the Jeep is...OH MY GOD THE BUCKET FELL OVER AND THE LID OPENED! AHHHHHH!!!! - me

While the waste bags seal and claim to not smell, they pretty much do, but with the lid of the bucket, you can't smell it in the car. When the lid opens, you definitely smell it! So now, the dust is still settling, I crashed the Jeep and it smells like feces.

I jump out and do a quick inspection of the front end. Everything actually looks okay and nothing is loose. There was enough force to send my 30lb tent into the passenger seat and enough to tip over my firmly strapped down fridge. Goodbye eggs.

Well, we start moving again and I'm bottoming out over EVERY whoop and bump...something's not right, I basically have ZERO front suspension and I spent the rest of the trip going about 10-20mph off-road. My front end is now sitting about 2-3" lower than before so something is blown out or dramatically bent.

Someone remind me the name of the campsite because I can't remember it, but that was a good night. We got all set up and I busted out my solar shower which had been heating up on the roof of the Jeep during the day in the wheel of the spare tire (since we weren't going fast, I was able to just toss it in). A hot shower was pretty key to ending the day and I felt refreshed and clean with no dirt on me or in my "areas"...

Out came the Jerry Juice, a little music, some dancing, bonfiring, smores, midnight hiking, and general fun. Eric brought out the cake for Steve for his birthday and we all sang and made merry! Matchstick candles didn't work too well though.

This camp was the best camp as we set up with the mountain on the east side of us. This kept everyone very cool in the morning in their tents.

End of Day 2.

 

[barlowrs]

We cruised down around 2am to get Greg (Red Xterra) since he arrived late after leaving LA at 730pm. That was quite an adventure of driving around...

one quote:
"Dude, this is a dead end loop"
"Oh.....yea...I know, I thought you wanted to see that NO TRESPASSING sign..."
"awesome"

End of Day 1 :sombrero: more to come...

Well judging by the claw marks left by Alineh's nails as she grabbed my leg for dear life, there were a few details left out of this "cruise" that I will shed to everyone.

Now Garrett's Jeep is very nicely built and the susp is just plain sexy (nothing like watching a front and rear solid axel rig work)...and work it did. So we all pile into the jeep, Garrett driving, Eric passenger, and Me and Alineh in the back....everyone buckle up for safety of course...and WERE OFF!...now you have to understand, we were backtracking the trail back to the road to meet Gregg...and the trail that took us probably an hour to get down the first time, we made in approximately 2.3 minutes (exaggeration). Talk about some night time pre-running fun....there were two parts in the trail in particular that resulted in her screaming for her life and my leg being clawed (though the claws technically never released)......First was a nice little section that I took in first gear and crawled up slowly on the way to camp....Garrett now took it in about 8th gear at approximately mach 6.9. And I say mach because yes, he WAS flying...all 4 wheels were off the ground as he FLEW over the obstacles that I had CRAWLED over earlier. and I must say, the Jeep seemed to love it, and beg for more...so, Garrett gave it what it wanted.

Now the second time, which I think resulted in the claws actually drawing blood in my leg, was another small technical uphill followed by a nice drop, much like the first, however this time, the trail made an immediate turn. Well here we are, 4 wheels off the ground as Garrett tries to steer to follow the trail....unfortunately, steering is impaired when the wheels are off the ground. It's ok though, because we eventually hit the ground, the rear end slides out and we do a beautiful drift through the turn. Never got off trail!

ALL THE WHILE, Gregg in his pretty much stock X-terra was doing a DARN good job of keeping up! (props to the x-terra guys, Gregg proved that it is a capable rig, right out of the box!)

So, what Garrett advertises as a nice cruise was actually Alineh's first introduction to a blood drawing (her nails on my leg), vocal chord exercising (her screams) introduction to pre-running...YEEE HAW

And while I make this sound pretty bad, I want to add that her reactions were becuase she had never done this (pre-running) before. Garett was actully very responsible and never left the trail once, nor did I ever feel my life was in danger or anything. Every turn he slowed down to make sure he didnt even get sand on the little flowers that surrounded the road. He really wasnt goign THAT fast...just fast enough to make it fun! :smiley_drive:

 

[SWbySWesty]

Day 3 (4/26/2010)

Waking up with the shade on the tent is amazing, but I already went over that. The potluck last night was incredible! Carne asada burrito/tacos with sour cream, rice, beans, lettuce, avocado, garlic bread, hot dogs, guacamole, chips, salsa and beer....AND MORE!

I wake up to hit the bathroom only realize I hear moaning...sexy moaning...well, my tent WAS next to Robert and Alineh, but this was oddly coming from the other side...Eric and Steve's side in their 2-person tent! Hmmm...a more intense listening resulted in confirmation that this was indeed SNORING.

So a nice and easy waking followed by another scrumptious chorizo, egg, avocado, sour cream breakfast burrito...I don't eat this well at home! :Wow1: I got to try out my new wash station and I must say that it is quite the piece of neat equipment for car camping. Eric has a fun pic of me with it all set up. So we break camp and hang out in the shade for everyone to pack up.

Props to Ben and Jim for sleeping in their truck and having a minimalist approach to the whole thing. They waited for us everyday to pack it all in. We get a move on, me bringing up the rear in my now custom Cadillac suspensioned XJ...lame I say!

Got a sexy Jeep pic:

and then we arrived at the Joshua Tree forest. This part was definitely SUPER fun being surrounded by desert forest...don't believe me?

Check out the video HERE (I'm sorry for the red glare...)

Amazing plants and trees as far as the eye could see! There were a couple tippy sections and it's interesting to say the least when your suspension has LOTS of give instead of resistance to tipping...

We cruised through the forest and eventually came upon the penny can! Super cool!

After that, it was time to keep moving since it was a HOT day. We kept cruising and found the MAILBOX! How COOL! We all wrote our names and EXPO names and left a few stickers

Well, now it's time to decide on what we want to do. The Road isn't far from the end and we can camp at Afton Canyon or we can call the trip done....pffffffff :coffeedrink: The Adventure Brigade never stops a trip early! It's all about Afton canyon and besides, we still have LOTS to do!

So off we go! Next stop! Soda Lake...so now we have really fast dirt roads and I'm still only driving pretty slow because lots of the small bumps have me bottoming out with a nasty crunch noise. We stop for lunch and bust out the canopy for some shade on the pleasantly HOT lake bed. This awning just paid for itself for sure! The funniest part is that the two-car crew that passed us last time while we were in the shade eating come rolling by in the same situation...pretty funny I'd say.

While debating soda lake, the two-car crew doesn't come back and coincidentally another vehicle goes driving the other direction...I guess we'll make it across after all! :wings:

I have been carrying my rock since the beginning and can't wait to see the pile and it's little secret...don't worry, mum's the word! Of course, Greg's car needs to be jumped (as is now standard) but he notices that with all the bouncing around, he has lost his battery hold down...oops!
Nothing a little rope can't fix!

And of course we get lined up for the classic convoy photo:

To be continued...

 

[SWbySWesty]

Day 3 continued...

Now after the lake, we cruised through the river bed to the big bridge. I was able to stop a few times and take some flower photos since I was moving so slow anyways it's not like they weren't already waiting for me every 15 minutes or so...

After a quick stop to rest in the shade of the bridge, we kept moving to the caves. We went up first the wrong canyon but it was full of boulders and didn't seem promising. It didn't disappoint in that regard. No dice. Neat flower though!

We kept going and then found the caves after a slot canyon! SO COOL!!! I'm not sure if these are the old lava tubes everyone talks about, because there is some serious rope ladder climbing to be done...

Jim is a climber -

After the caves, we came to the water crossings. Everyone was pretty excited about it, and I was more wondering if I'd get water inside or not. Turns out it wasn't THAT deep...at the least the first one wasn't.

Photo by: Ben Kaupp

Here's a video of Robert going through this crossing

The other crossing was deeper...about 2 1/2 feet or 3 feet deep. Not bad!

We made camp at a site in Afton so we could use the firepit and have the picnic table. We feasted until full. Later in the night, we wanted to go back to the caves to see how creepy it would be so we got in Eric's truck and started to cruise back. We went through the first deep crossing with no problem; but the second one......well, as has been said, I can't steal SpamtheFood's thunder of telling the story!

But yes, we walked back to go get another rig and tools. On the way back we passed a rattle snake that must have been on the warm road! Neat sight...did anyone get a picture of it?

The night ended around 4am.

I had strategically parked the Jeep so that it would block the rising sun (just like the mountain had done) and that little trick worked like a charm. It was pretty hot in the morning and my tent stayed nice a cool! We didn't have much of a breakfast, just some cookies and donuts and juice since nobody felt up to the task of a full eggs/bacon meal.

We said our goodbyes and cruised back to the highway. Got home, unloaded, washed camping gear that needed it, rinsed down the Jeep, stopped at 4wheelparts to try and diagnose the bottoming out issue, but they don't know, then took a nap.

Quite the adventure. A successful adventure. An adventure worthy of being in the books of the Adventure Brigade!

End of Trip log.

Author's note: I'm sure I left many things out; however this is mostly because I didn't photograph it! I only used my own photos from my camera (except for my car crossing the river thanks to Ben) and I'm sure everyone will fill in the blanks!

Thanks for reading my portion!

 

[Rallyroo]

I want to hear the full bumper story. :lurk: