Journey to Overland HQ

[DR1665]

I just put 2&2 together. You're the Troy who drove Chazz's Fozzie on the Mojave?

Hope all works out with the passport, mate. My wallet was nicked on the tube my first day in London, summer of 2012. Didn't have my passport with me, but still carry the velcro, Guinness wallet I bought on the boat over to France a few days later. Ah, fond memories of being fleeced!

Sheesh. I gotta spend more time on forums. Ironic, as I've got over 13,000 posts on some. Losing my grip!

 

[Aussie T]

Yep. That would indeed be me.

Got the passport sorted, now to get everything else sorted

you have a few to go until you hit 13,000

 

[Aussie T]

Sheeps Bridge.

This weekend saw me finally get to cool off from the ever rising heat that seems to be going on here at the moment.

While it is yet to get to a point where it is uncomfortable it is certainly at the point where I should be at a beach. To compensate I needed to find somewhere to go for a swim....

It turns out that it is actually hard to find large bodies of water in the desert, so after asking a few friends I was planning on heading back to the Verde river around the Hot Springs and Fossil Creek. What I didnt count on however was it being closed... Thankfully this was something that I checked on sunday morning before I actually left. A good lesson to all, ALWAYS check for updates on your destination, otherwise I would have wasted a good 3 hours driving for nothing.

Instead it had also been suggested that I consider Sheeps Bridge a common swimming hole for Phoenix day trippers. While I was told by a number of friend the drive was "an hour and a half to two hours" it turns out it was closer to three to three and a half, so thankfully I didnt leave too late.

The drive was a very enjoy one, I had a friend in that car with me that helped pass the time, discussing everything from life stories to hair colour and all that in between. Regardless of the conversation the scenery was spectacular as well, constantly changing surrounds as we went up and down, in and out of gullies and ravines, You could spot the dry creeks before you even got close due to the areas around them being so green and lush unlike the rest.

By the time we hit the water we were looking forward to getting in it and cooling off. I could certainly see how people would spend a weekend camping around their, so much to explore and see and while I was limited on both time and motivation it would have been fun wandering up the walking trails and floating back down the river.

Not sure what the coming weekend holds, but I certainly wouldnt mind finding a new place to swim and camp, so any suggestions within a few hours drive of Prescott would be greatly appreciated


The Eco diesel thrived in this terrain.


while a bit muddy, it was still refreshing and enjoyable


I didnt push the jeep down the last section to the river, with some large boulders the risk of slipping and hitting its unprotected sills was too great. Thankfully, not a long walk from the carpark.

Safe Journey...

 

[DR1665]

Very nice. I've been meaning to check that one out for a while. Heard the drive in can be tedious at times, with long, washboard straights.

Looks like the truck got a dip too!

 

[Aussie T]

Brian,

There is a bit of corrugation (washboard for you US folks ). But overall not to bad, there were some straighter sections for the first 5-10 miles then it started to twist and turn a bit more. There may be another way in if you're coming from the south that I dont know about that is straighter but this was how google maps told me to get there

 

[Aussie T]

Well.

So i finally know when Im going to go home. Im heading off in August. Around the 21st.

So I have plans for my up and coming months. I am also open to other ideas and suggestions if anyone has any.

5th July. - I am flying up to meet Paul in Juneau. I will then be driving with him down to the FJ summit over a period of a few weeks.

21st July - I will be in Salt Lake city. I know a couple of people there that I intend to catch up with and I am also keen to try and do a few cool things in the Area. Any recommendations on this would be appreciated. I am going to stay there until at least the 28th so I can fit in the Inaugural Octane Party... essentially some really nice cars
http://www.millermotorsportspark.co...-car-and-motorcycle-show-set-for-july-27.html

Some time after that Ill be back in Prescott.

1st Aug - Go on a few days camping with the guys from the office.... not 100% sure where yet. but id like to do Nth Rim and a few things in Nth Arizona, so we will see.

7th - 9th VEGAS BABY!!!! my official going away party.... anyone that wants an excuse to go to vegas feel free to let me know your coming. I have no plans other than that im going to be there

around 14th /15th Aug I will head to Texas with my housemates. We will definitely be going to Dallas, might try and go to Austin for a few days after my housemates leave. then fly from Austin straight to LA ... then LA to home...

I will continue to post photos and stories up here over the next few months and I might even start to become a more active member when I get home

Safe Journey...

 

[Aussie T]

Journey to Alaska

Well guys.

Im no longer sitting around in Prescott. I have made my way to a better part of the world.... well actually lets just say different, Alaska. After a small debarcle and me booking the wrong flight I eventually made my way to Juneau for Monday morning. The biggest downside to cheap flights is always the crazy hours or the silly stopover, well I got stuck with one hell of a dud stopover. Leaveing PHX at 2240 I got into Seattle about 0130 monday, with my flight out of there being a 0630, I had 5 hours to kill where nothing was happening and noone seemed to exist.

Regardless of this horrible flight it meant that I got into Juneau around 0800 local time which allowed me to do a whirlwind tour of Juneau. Heading out to the Mandenhall Glacier visitors center it was time to ponder what to do on the list of things that we could do. We pulled out the following, Mandenhall Ice Caves, Mount Rodgers Tram (cable car) and of course the Alaskan Brewing company beer tasting, all before dinner at "The Hanger" and be at the ferry terminal by 2330. We made it.

First on the list was the Ice Caves. This involved a hike to get there. While im not exactly sure how far the hike was it took us around 4 hours return trip. This was with some resonably hard hiking and it involved a bit of bouldering and the likes from time to time. The end was spectacular, the Mandenhall Ice Caves are certainly up the top with my most amazing places. The deep blue of the smooth ice encircling the fast flowering torrent of water was such a stark contrast to desert that I have been living in for the last few months. The ice also formes repetitive dome like finishes on the wall like someone was hitting it with a giant tennis ball over and over. This just gives the area an effect that is beyond words to describe, but is beautiful none the less.

Mt Rodgers is one of three mjor peaks around Juneau and it is just behind the main township. You can get up to it one of two ways, hike or cable car. After already doing one hike for the day, we chose the lesser of two evils and piled in with every other man and his cruise liner to ride the cable car to the top. The view from the top over Juneau was a certainly worth the crowds. Looking over Gaustenau Chanel and Douglas Island gave you an idea on how vast and mountainous the area is, add in the low lying clouds and the light sprinkles of rain make for an eary yet wonderful sight.

The Alaskan Brewing company is now my preferred beer brewer, and Im going to work out a way to get it back home if it kills me . The tasting was incredibly enjoyable and our "guide" as well as the group we were with made it all the more enjoyable. All this said however, nothing was more enjoyable than the beer itself. So good in fact that I bought a shirt, for those that dont know me, I pretty much have to be naked before I buy clothes

And well now, after finally getting on the boat at 0100 Tuesday we are now travelling through the islands in Alskas South East. Currently im sitting watching the islands go by and looking for Humpback Whales and Orccas. It doesnt matter how many times I see a humback breach they are still an amazing creature.

I dont know when I will actually get to post this, and it probably wont be with pictures, as we might just get a little bit of 3G coverage in the next day or so. I do however know that it is right now Tuesday afternoon and ill be in Seattle for the "American Experience" that Paul has planned for me friday.

Well I got WiFi in Ketchikan, turns out we are spending the day here before we spend the next 36 hours on a boat to Bellingham. I cant load pictures while on a mobile device, so you will have to wait a bit. Sorry :/

Talk soon.

Safe Journey...

 

[Aussie T]

G'day Guys.

Well it has been a busy last week since I last spoke to you. After leaving Ketchikan which was a very cool little town with quite a lot of history, we continued to head south to Bellingham. In that period of time, not only did I meet a bunch of great people, but also got to see plenty of spectacular sunsets and stunning scenery.

Once off the boat it was time for a very American day. Heading into Seattle I did all of the touristy attractions, American Music Experience, Space needle and the fish markets. However the day did not end there, we decided that a "Ball Game" was in order, so wandering down to the pitch was done via a very enjoyable pub crawl. It got even more American when we acquired some pretty damn good tickets for a pretty reasonable price. With a Marinas win under the belt it was expected that town on a friday night would be a very busy place, indeed it was, and the pub crawl home was even more enjoyable before.

The next section of the run was pretty much, take it as it comes. With the first decision being made to go to Mount Rainier, not having anything like it in Aus it made for a very enjoyable first stop. While we thought the idea of going for a short hike at Paradise Point would be fun, it turns out it is very hard to walk on snow packs in thongs (flip flops). So while we tried to make our way up the mountain, both Paul and I decided that we should head back

As it was a saturday night it turns out that all the campsites within the park were full. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Just outside the park we turned off the road to find a small cluster of free campsites that were just a short walk to a large fast flowing creek and a little waterfall. That is one of the best things about the "parks" system over here, you can pretty much camp anywhere that isnt in a full on national Park. Australia has lots of National Park land and not much national/state forest.

A few hours of planning led to the decision to head to Mt St Helen and then Crater Lake via as many backroads as we could find. This led to us finding roads where we only met 1 or 2 other cars the whole way. It was great. It also led to finding amazing campsites on the side of the road, next to creeks and lakes. This was all over a period of two days and many many volcanos

Once we had done the sightseeing it was a mad dash east as we had to be in Salt lake city wednesday. We spent Tuesday on plenty of backroads around the California/ Nevada/ Oregon border, A word to the wise, if you ever find 8A that comes into Nevada from Cali, make sure to Air down. Finally tuesday night at Winnemucca we had to finally get onto the interstate, this we very saddening but had to be done to allow us to read Salt Lake City by today.

Tonight I hit Salt Lake with Paul and his band of worshippers before heading up to Ouray tomorrow morning.

Safe Journey...