En Route to Moab...

[burrellsjeep]

2020 Mile Trip at 9.5 mpg est thats around $575 one way for gas if he gets it at an avg of $2.70 a gallon

$1,148 for the round trip.

 

[REDLYNER]

Because I am excel obsessive/compulsive, I'm tracking all daily costs for the trip on a file.

I started off with a half tank of gas in Charlotte, so my first fill up was in Gaffney, SC. Fuel there was $2.57 per gallon, everywhere else has been between $2.68 and $2.69.

With 900 miles down, our gas cost has been: $263.00.

I estimated $1450 in gas for the trip, including filling up daily in Moab.

 

[burrellsjeep]

I am married to a CPA so I know the excel type

But yeah your numbers around what I was thinking.

 

[sammi_davis]

FWIW, looks like I20 and 78 to Memphis would be about the same as I40 to Memphis. Tracking you on Spot, getting ready for my drive I still need a place to stay in Moab, recommendations? Most of the motels I've looked at on line are booked? Maybe you can find me something while your there

From my past experiences in Moab its going to be tough to get a room this close to Easter . Have you tried the camping cabins at the different campgrounds ? Moab Lodging also has a good bit of condos for a fair price , but EJS is nuts . If you call Moab Lodging , ask about the Sage Brush . Its convienent and nice ... best of all its pretty reasonable .

 

[J.C.]

Not going until the 16th. Easter crowd should be gone by then I have a friend with a condo in Durango, CO, but I don't want to drive 3 hours each way every day

 

[REDLYNER]

1,120 miles down with an original goal of Shamrock, TX. However, the gas stops are taking longer than I thought, so we may push on another 220 to Amarillo. That should put us around 11 hours from Moab.

We took a little break in Oklahoma City and visited Tinker Air Force Base. Got a couple of cool shots-

Here's one of the wife in front of a B1:

Here I am in front of an F4 Phantom (my dad flew these in the Navy and Air Force):

Our one man caravan in front of the jets:

 

[JPScout]

Be sure to stop at "The Big Texan" in Amarillo, TX for any meal. You can't miss it - got the big cowboy right off of I-40 amidst a multitude of truck stops. My co-driver and I used to stop there when we drove a big rig from LA to Hickory for Boyles Furniture - We called it our halfway point. Good grub, and a cool place!!

 

[REDLYNER]

36 hours of total travel (including stops for lunch, dinner, gas, etc.) leaves us with about 4 1/2 hours to go.

Made a pit stop in Albuquerque to spray off some of the three-day-old road grime, only to have 30mph winds and dusty roads to throw it right back on.

About 7 hours into the day we decided to stretch our legs in Apache territory. We made sure to tread lightly at the Apache Nugget Casino.

Cruising through Northern New Mexico at 7,000 feet above sea level- the hummer is definately having to work. Just a quick picture to show how the scenery is starting to change.

 

[Bullardbs]

looks like fun

 

[dmoore714]

That spot thing is cool. I'll have to look into that for my next road trip... so the fam can follow along.

And my family used to live at Tinker AFB when I was MUCH younger. Thanks for the blast from my past.

 

[burrellsjeep]

Looks like your getting close!

 

[J.C.]

Really enjoying your trip

Looks like you are stopped in Farmington. Are you going to ride Chokecherry Canyon?

 

[REDLYNER]

Got in tonight around 8:30pm local, 10:30pm EST. 40 hours of travel! Honestly, the whole trip blew by until I knew I was 2 hours out.... but those last 2 hours took forever!!


We are running Metal Masher tomorrow, so I will be sure to post pictures.

 

[J.C.]

Wow, that was the easiest trip I ever made Hope it goes as smoothly when I actually take off in two weeks.

Definitely keep us posted on everything, rides, events, etc. including pics.

 

[bronco slim]

We're going in Oct and I can't wait. Have fun...

 

[REDLYNER]

We had tons of fun today, Metal Masher was an absolute blast! Lots of challenging obstacles and the views were amazing.

Long day on the trail, we left at 9:00am and returned at 4:30pm. The best news though was no breakage. The big brake kit worked wonders and the new transmission is now properly broken in .

Here are a couple of shots from the day:

Climbing Rock Chucker-

A near flop on Widow Maker-

Another guy in our group attempting Widow Maker-

No one made it up Widow Maker without taking a strap today. Buggies on 42"s, stretched TJ's on 42"s, and a 114" wheelbase Tacoma on 40"s all were denied.



One more of the wife and I taking a break for lunch-

 

[JeepURE]

awesome pics! y'all be safe!

 

[REDLYNER]

We ran Flat Iron Mesa yesterday and I have to say it was one of the longest days on the trail I have ever driven. We left for the trail around 8:40am and got home around 6:30pm.

There were over 50 jeeps in our group and we waited over two hours for some of the obstacles. 5 different jeeps broke down on the trail which also added to the trail time.

We ran the trail in reverse which takes it from a level 5 rated run to a level 7 run.

A couple of shots from the day-

Here is Rich in his stretched YJ on 42"s coming around the "Intimidator". It may not look like much, but what you can't see is a several hundred foot cliff right off the driver's side door:

Melody stood up in the jeep and took a shot of part of the caravan that literally inched it's way through the canyon:

Here we are lifting a tire climbing up to "Easter Egg Hill" and another one squeezing through it. Thanks to good spotting we made it through with out a scratch:

When we got back to town we decided to stretch the legs on the Hummer! We drove over to Baby Lion's Back and did some climbs and descends. It didn't take long to get Melody's heart going!

 

[BigFish]

great pics! looks like a blast

 

[ghost]

Wow, that is great but that would suck too.

 

[J.C.]

My friend's stock Pathfinder he keeps in Durango on Baby Lion's Back. The girls got out first thing Can't wait to get my rig out there next month. Keep the pics and write ups coming, you're doing a GREAT job whetting my appetite

 

[REDLYNER]

Had an awesome day today!

We went out to Area BFE and ran Green Day at the CRAWL Magazine photo event. Unbelievable rigs out there, it was a literal who's who of the offroad and rock crawl world. Every vendor rig and buggy that you could think of was there.

We ran Green Day and the TJ cruised through without a scratch, which was amazing considering the difficulty. Larry, one of the owners of CRAWL Mag, spotted us flawlessly through everything.

Couple of shots-

Us coming up Green Day:

BSD's jeep flop on the same spot:

A monster rig getting winched up upper Helldorado:

Cmoore and I having a little fun! He ran Helldorado while we were on Green Day:

What could be the highlight of the trip-

Larry let Melody and I drive his six figure ($$$,$$$) buggy around the playground at BFE. With what looked like 100+ rigs out there, I think we were the only ones to get to drive it after the photo shoot. It was out of control! Pictures do not do this thing justice.

Mel and I getting some instructions:

Crawling up one of the ledges:

We got back to the hotel with some sunlight left, so we took the H3 and the TJ over to Fins-N-Things to get Melody more seat time.

Mel about to drop down the hill:

Another of her climbing a fin:

 

[J.C.]

SWEET. Did she get to drive the $$$ rig? How did your experience in the seat compare to your TJ? MUCH, MUCH better/different or not so much so? Keep the pics coming

 

[sammi_davis]

Are you going to run Golden Spike ? How about Pritchett ? Hells Revenge is a lot of fun too .

 

[REDLYNER]

Are you going to run Golden Spike ? How about Pritchett ? Hells Revenge is a lot of fun too .

We have done Golden Spike and Pritchett before (Spike several times), so we won't be hitting those this week. Tomorrow is Behind the Rocks, one of the hardest trails in Moab (ranked number by the Charles Wells guide).


Well today did not go exactly as planned....

Around 10:00pm last night we found out Poison Spider Mesa was going to be closed due to an Easter Jeep Safari run, so we decided to just head straight over to Hell's Revenge. Melody is driving the Hummer and I'm in the TJ. As we are airing down at the entrance to Hell's, we notice my control doesn't look quite right. Sure enough, we ripped off my lower control arm mount on Green Day yesteday. The crazy thing is we blasted through Fins-N-Things last night and the TJ still handled just fine.

So this means the Jeep was parked and I rode shotgun in the H3. I have to admit, I really enjoyed getting to sit back and relax in the leather seats while my wife was stressing about every ledge and obstacle!

She did Hell's gate and Tip Over Challenge! While pictures never due these obstacles justice, we got some good video that we will be posting when we get back. I know, enough with the chit chat, on to the pictures!

The group:

Melody going through Hell's Gate-

Dropping in:

Coming up the other side:

Nearing Hell's Gate exit:

Cmoore on Escalator:

Warrior Products' JK:

Melody on Tip Over Challenge:

Cmoore welded up my control arm mount this afternoon, so we are ready to rock and roll for the Behind the Rocks run in the orning. Now we just need this storm moving in to hold out for a few more hours....