Trans-America Trail in a Stock Montero! Gitout.com

montypower

montypower

Adventure Time!
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Trans-America Trail in a Stock Montero : Intro

Ever dreamed of taking a spontaneous adventure across America Off Road? Probably not. Chances are you spend the majority of your time and money building the ultimate capable truck. Have you ever wondered where a stock vehicle can take you? You may be surprised. This trip showed me what is possible and mostly that the biggest limitation is what you think and has little to do with the vehicle.

Follow along our adventure as we buy a stock Montero "sight unseen" and travel over 3,500 miles off road on the Trans-America Trail.

I had sold my beautiful expedition built 2013 Tacoma and was on the search for a replacement. I chose to buy a Mitsubishi Montero after weeks of researching Land Cruisers, FJ Cruiser, 4runners, Tundras and Monteros. However, clean and lowish mileage Monteros are difficult to find. This resulted in my search expanding to the entire US. I finally located this clean 2003 Mitsubishi Montero Limited 20th Anniversary Edition in Atlanta, GA. My friend Joe jumped at the opportunity to come along and we flew out early Sunday morning.

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There was absolutely no plan except having an adventure while traveling back across country. After landing in Atlanta we took the Marta train from the airport to meet the seller at the Northern most stop. Both Joe and I were amazed at the massive contrast of wealth from skyscrapers to abandoned graffiti neighborhoods with burned houses. We finally arrived and met the Montero owner, walked around the truck and drove to the nearest ATM. Since banks are closed on Sunday I had to unload the local ATM, literally. The seller had fun counting hundreds and hundreds of bills!

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After receiving the title and keys we drove to our hotel and started brain storming on our cross country route. I mentioned to Joe that the Trans-America trail would get us back to Oregon. Since this sounded like the most difficult, expensive and complicated route he thought it was a great idea. We later coined the phrase "JoeTime" to describe such situations. I began downloading the GPS track to my Samsung tablet and topo maps for the trip. While many gigs of data were being downloaded on our free hotel snail-net we made a supply run. Walmart seemed like the most logical choice for survival gear which included food, water, basic camping supplies, tools and a shovel. Somehow we spent $400 on what felt like total crap supplies that would somehow need to make do. It had been a long day especially after crossing several time zones so we crashed out with anxious anticipation of the adventure to come.

- By : Peter Stewart

Full Article: http://gitout.com/content.php?313-Trans-America-Trail-Adventure-in-a-Stock-Montero!-Part-1

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montypower

montypower

Adventure Time!

Trans-America Trail in a Stock Montero - Part 1 : Sight Unseen

After flying into Atlanta and purchasing the 2003 Mitsubishi Montero we rough planned our adventure, purchased basic supplies and spent the night a local hotel. We got up early the next day at 4:30am (7:30am local time) and drove to the nearest Mitsubishi dealer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The plan was to have the oil and transmission fluid changed as well as a full inspection.

We got bored while waiting for the service to be completed and explored the dealer lot and recorded this video segment describing the trip and basic plan. Our actual route on the Trans-America trail was extended to include: Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado.

Servicing the Montero was extremely important especially for this type extended, remote, long range trip. They found a slight rear cam seal leak (no worry) and backward routed serpentine belt. Re-routing the serpentine belt was a priority so they fixed that and serviced the engine oil and transmission. Afterward we felt confident in the ability of the Montero to conquer the journey ahead... little did we know the tie rod was failing and spare tire was flat.

We left the dealer and went exploring. Our first stop was the Old Stone Fort, this prehistoric native american structure had walls extending nearly 2,400 foot in length. The the natural landscape of the peninsula surrounded by the Little Duck River provided excellent protection and an ideal location for the settlement. We hiked part of the perimeter trail then explored along the river. It's amazing how 70 degrees feels like 100 with the humid type climate!

From there we drove to the Trans-America trail and jumped on the GPS track. The majority of the Tennessee route is on back road but the majority of them were paved. It was still an enjoyable way to see the countryside of Tennessee and certainly a vast improvement over interstate driving.

We encountered some fun sites along the way but the most entertaining was an off road park! Unfortunately, it was getting dark so the pictures and video didn't really come out. Nevertheless, it was the perfect opportunity for me to demonstrate the off road capability of a stock Montero to Joe. Joe, had low expectations of the Montero and was less than impressed with it initially. However, after driving some twisty section of trail to demonstrate the near perfect balance and incredible traction control Joe started changing his opinion. At times the tire would be 4 foot off the ground yet the truck remained completely level and smooth.

From there we drove into the night and eventually drove to the small town of Lawrenceburg and stayed overnight at a hotel. It was an exceptional second day filled with adventure, exploration and surprises. More to come...

- By : Peter Stewart

Original Article: http://gitout.com/content.php?315-Trans-America-Trail-in-a-Stock-Montero-Part-1
 
Longrange308

Longrange308

Adventurer
I am looking forward to the rest of this series.. Sounds like something I would randomly come up with and plan as well...

:Subscribed:
 
montypower

montypower

Adventure Time!
CJustin7 said:
More Please ?????
Click to expand...

Just got back from a 2,300 mile expedition to Montana and Wyoming. Last weekend was driving trails around Mt Rainier in Washington. This week heading to Central Oregon. It's on the to-do list just need to take advantage of the summer time! I'll block off a week and finish editing soon...

Thanks for your patience. :)
 
montypower

montypower

Adventure Time!

Trans-America Trail in a Stock Montero - Part 2 : A Deep Hole

Be sure to read the Trip Intro - Part 1.

We got a late start leaving our hotel in Savannah, Tennessee and continued down the highway. The first 200 miles of the route were paved back roads, most were narrow and infrequently traveled. Then the asphalt turned to gravel and progressively become more and more rugged with some rutted hills requiring use of the factory Mitsubishi traction control system.

Around mid afternoon we got on a rough track. It primarily consisted of deep ruts filled with water and large water holes. The first water hole swallowed the Montero and took some persistence to get through. Unfortunately, some water got in when Joe opened the driver door while stuck in the hole. FYI...the use of windows is preferred when parked in deep water.

We did learn a valuable lesson, when traveling in remote areas off road by yourself far from civilization always check the water depth. Well, maybe we didn't learn as no more than 50 yards up the trail we encountered a much, much larger water hole. Figuring that we could drive high side with two wheels in the water and two wheels on the bank we proceeded only to get seriously stuck. This time the driver side tires were completely submerged! The next four hours were spent using our crude recovery tools (bottle jack and shovel) to slowly inch forward.

As light was fading, Joe discovered we had a coolant leak. Apparently, the rear heater hoses are somewhat exposed under the Montero and a branch or multiple branches in the water hole(s) had ripped one loose. Consequently most of the coolant had drained which resulted in the temperature gauge reading normally, however the motor was seriously HOT. Joe whipped out his trusty Leatherman and made some Macgyver hose repairs then filled up the radiator with our water supply. There's nothing better than making vehicle repairs while parked sideways in a water hole in the dark with limited tools!

I decided it was time to quit screwing around and get out of the hole. I had no idea what creatures roamed the Mississippi forest after dark and didn't want to find out. Since we couldn't drive through the water hole we decided to drain it. This involved some serious excavation work with our shovel; so much in fact that the handle nearly broke off. Thankfully, draining the water hole gave the Montero just enough clearance and traction to get through. Unfortunately, after getting through the water hole we discovered the trail was gated at the main road which required turning around and driving back through the water holes to the previous intersection.

It was late and we were hungry so we drove to the nearest town Holley Springs, MI. There we found the only restaurant open at midnight was McDonald's and enjoyed a late night meal in their parking lot while observing nearby cars. One of the cars had bullet holes in it! Not the sticker type but the real ones you can stick your finger in. Then we started reading the hotel reviews and most consisted of words like "dirty" and "blood". How bad can it be?

We rented a room at the nearest hotel and fell to sleep around 1am. It had been a long full day of adventure...

- By : Peter Stewart

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