2000 miles of nervous nirvana....
- Thread starter Metcalf
- Start date
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
Some more packing pictures for those who asked.....
Kitchen box....
Food box....
Bottle jack mount under the hood on the drivers fender....
Gear around the passenger seat....
Passenger side rear tool box.....
Drivers side rear tool box...
Fix it bag.....
Tool bag......
Rear storage area...
Personal gear bag in the passenger seat.....
Kitchen box....
Food box....
Bottle jack mount under the hood on the drivers fender....
Gear around the passenger seat....
Passenger side rear tool box.....
Drivers side rear tool box...
Fix it bag.....
Tool bag......
Rear storage area...
Personal gear bag in the passenger seat.....
David Harris
Expedition Leader
Safe journey.
jeepdreamer
Expedition Leader
I think he's going to have to post on a delay. If we all can track him from area to area he may never get where he's going. We'd all surround him and drool on the flatty!
wjeeper
Active member
I was wondering how much farther you were going to go after we left Maddox. That wind was getting nuts as we left!
Thanks for showing me your rig! It was nice to get to meet you and finally put a screen name to a face. Seeing what my build could be (in a year or two) has relit my desire to get out in "the shop" and get back to fabbing.
jeepdreamer
Expedition Leader
Yea that you made it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats and post up (with pics...haha) when you get recovered and settled.
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
I am still processing that I did a trip this epic but I figured I better post up some stuff before the natives get restless....
Day one. After work on Tues the 21st of May.
I spent the day at work trying to be productive. I had a random issue with the Willys where the battery was DEAD the night before. My 8+ year old optima had finally given up the ghost. I didn't want to mess with it anymore. I didn't want to have to worry about it. I just bought a new optima red top and installed it about 10 minutes before I left. A quick change of clothes and some pictures with the misses and I was ready to head off on this crazy adventure.
Up to this point I think the longest I had driven the Willys in one stretch was maybe 20 miles on the highway, now I was going to do 2000 or more miles across four states over the next 10 or so days. In it's previous incarnation this vehicle had done some 300-700 mile trips but that was over 7 years ago I think and WAY before the big recent complete rebuild. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. A 'new' vehicle can be much more fickle than an old trusted one.
The drive towards Moab went well. It takes a little bit of an adjustment to get use to traveling at about 52mph when everyone else is going much much faster. I try and pull over and let people pass whenever I can, but sometimes those poor rushed souls just have to wait until they get a change to pass. Early on in the trip I learned that big semi trucks and trailers need to be respected and even slightly feared. The big box trailers really have a large wake of wind alongside and behind them. They generally push, pull, and toss the little Willys all over the road when they pass you in the other lane going either direction! The Willys also has enough road noise that you also don't always hear people coming up behind you. A surprise pass by a semi truck with trailer going 70mph is always interesting!
Moab came in a few short hours. I made it to town just about dark. I tried to instigate a rule that I wouldn't be driving after dark if I could help it. If the entire point is to see more why drive at night?
I grabbed some taco's in Downtown Moab, topped off with fuel, and headed north of town to find somewhere to camp for the night.
Most of the campgrounds close to town where very full. I decided to just head north and find somewhere to camp under the starry sky. The weather was nice, it wasn't cold, and wasn't even windy. I ended up camping about 5-10 miles south of the interstate on some piece of dry lakebed I found about a mile off the highway on some random side road. My dreams that night where just flat crazy. I still remember something about a flat tire, a crazy group of desert mechanics in some huge abandoned underground warehouse.
Morning came early. I was just with the sun and on the road for the next day...
Day one. After work on Tues the 21st of May.
I spent the day at work trying to be productive. I had a random issue with the Willys where the battery was DEAD the night before. My 8+ year old optima had finally given up the ghost. I didn't want to mess with it anymore. I didn't want to have to worry about it. I just bought a new optima red top and installed it about 10 minutes before I left. A quick change of clothes and some pictures with the misses and I was ready to head off on this crazy adventure.
Up to this point I think the longest I had driven the Willys in one stretch was maybe 20 miles on the highway, now I was going to do 2000 or more miles across four states over the next 10 or so days. In it's previous incarnation this vehicle had done some 300-700 mile trips but that was over 7 years ago I think and WAY before the big recent complete rebuild. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. A 'new' vehicle can be much more fickle than an old trusted one.
The drive towards Moab went well. It takes a little bit of an adjustment to get use to traveling at about 52mph when everyone else is going much much faster. I try and pull over and let people pass whenever I can, but sometimes those poor rushed souls just have to wait until they get a change to pass. Early on in the trip I learned that big semi trucks and trailers need to be respected and even slightly feared. The big box trailers really have a large wake of wind alongside and behind them. They generally push, pull, and toss the little Willys all over the road when they pass you in the other lane going either direction! The Willys also has enough road noise that you also don't always hear people coming up behind you. A surprise pass by a semi truck with trailer going 70mph is always interesting!
Moab came in a few short hours. I made it to town just about dark. I tried to instigate a rule that I wouldn't be driving after dark if I could help it. If the entire point is to see more why drive at night?
I grabbed some taco's in Downtown Moab, topped off with fuel, and headed north of town to find somewhere to camp for the night.
Most of the campgrounds close to town where very full. I decided to just head north and find somewhere to camp under the starry sky. The weather was nice, it wasn't cold, and wasn't even windy. I ended up camping about 5-10 miles south of the interstate on some piece of dry lakebed I found about a mile off the highway on some random side road. My dreams that night where just flat crazy. I still remember something about a flat tire, a crazy group of desert mechanics in some huge abandoned underground warehouse.
Morning came early. I was just with the sun and on the road for the next day...
