Tails
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2016
- Location
- Kernersville
Mike Heath, the president of True Patriot Inc. and I are good friends. Friday the 6th of August I asked him if he wanted to do lunch the upcoming week and his reply was “only if you want to fly to wherever I’ll be.” I asked what he meant by that and after talking a little more I realized he needa battle buddy for what he had planned. Mike was going to be living out of a 5x8 utility trailer and heading out west for 3.5 weeks. He had a unused roof top tent that I would be allowed to sleep in and room in the passenger seat for me. Two days later we left on a epic “overland” adventure.
Sunday evening I met Mike at Rockfish Winery in Raeford during the Rigs and Wine event. We talked to some other veterans for a while and got a late start (around 9:30 pm) we drove to Riverbend and spent the night. The next morning we drove to @Jason W. and @josh$$ for them to do some maintenance work on Grunt (Mikes Jeep) as well as install a window into the trailer. After a few hours of great conversations we were off to a campground in Cosby Tennessee. This campground was a methlab breeding ground but I have to say one of the nicest bathrooms of any campground I have seen.
The next morning we drove to Sevierville TN to look at a property that Mike had been looking at to purchase. After we realized the property wouldn’t work for what he was thinking, we went and made a stop at Highland expedition outfitters. We stayed there for about an hour before we hit the road. We drove to Chattanooga and stopped to get dinner. We ate at a place called Fatboys roadside eats. I highly recommend this place. I ate a burrito that makes Chipotle burritos look small. My burrito had shredded pork, shredded chicken, tater tots, Mac n cheese, bbq sauce, and Buffalo sauce. We did not leave hungry but just to make sure we ordered apple pie egg rolls. After our bellies were full, we drove to Tuscaloosa Alabama. We spent the night in Deerlick state park and the park stood up to its name. Driving out the following morning we saw several deer along the road.
We set the GPS for Texas and drove to South Holiday Park just outside of Fort Worth Texas. Nothing really exciting happened during this part of the trip except we both had Whataburger for the first time. It was ok but not great.
The next day we drove to Mike’s fathers house just outside Phoenix Arizona. We stayed three days at Mikes dads house and visited. During this time we dropped off a dog to be trained as a service animal. Mike also realized that 8mpg while towing a trailer wasn’t any fun and so we left the trailer.
Yesterday morning we left Phoenix and drove to Flagstaff Arizona. We went to the visitor center, and then set our GPS to Sunset crater volcano and Wupatki national parks. There we saw lava flows and 800 year old Pueblo houses. We spent a few hours at these parks before heading to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We got to the North Rim around 8:45pm to watch a lightning storm on the other side of the Grand Canyon. It was really cool. Last night we slept in the Kaibab national forest about 4 miles from the North Rim.
This morning we woke up and went back to the North Rim to see it in the daytime. We then set GPS to Zion National Park where we are now. Later today we will head to Bryce Canyon and Capital Rim before we find a place to stay.
Future stops to come:
Cody Wyoming for Jeep Jamboree on the Morison Jeep trails, Yellowstone(possibility),
Mount Rushmore,
Badlands,
Sturgis,
Deadwood,
Grand Tetons,
And anything else we want to see along the way.
Sunday evening I met Mike at Rockfish Winery in Raeford during the Rigs and Wine event. We talked to some other veterans for a while and got a late start (around 9:30 pm) we drove to Riverbend and spent the night. The next morning we drove to @Jason W. and @josh$$ for them to do some maintenance work on Grunt (Mikes Jeep) as well as install a window into the trailer. After a few hours of great conversations we were off to a campground in Cosby Tennessee. This campground was a methlab breeding ground but I have to say one of the nicest bathrooms of any campground I have seen.
The next morning we drove to Sevierville TN to look at a property that Mike had been looking at to purchase. After we realized the property wouldn’t work for what he was thinking, we went and made a stop at Highland expedition outfitters. We stayed there for about an hour before we hit the road. We drove to Chattanooga and stopped to get dinner. We ate at a place called Fatboys roadside eats. I highly recommend this place. I ate a burrito that makes Chipotle burritos look small. My burrito had shredded pork, shredded chicken, tater tots, Mac n cheese, bbq sauce, and Buffalo sauce. We did not leave hungry but just to make sure we ordered apple pie egg rolls. After our bellies were full, we drove to Tuscaloosa Alabama. We spent the night in Deerlick state park and the park stood up to its name. Driving out the following morning we saw several deer along the road.
We set the GPS for Texas and drove to South Holiday Park just outside of Fort Worth Texas. Nothing really exciting happened during this part of the trip except we both had Whataburger for the first time. It was ok but not great.
The next day we drove to Mike’s fathers house just outside Phoenix Arizona. We stayed three days at Mikes dads house and visited. During this time we dropped off a dog to be trained as a service animal. Mike also realized that 8mpg while towing a trailer wasn’t any fun and so we left the trailer.
Yesterday morning we left Phoenix and drove to Flagstaff Arizona. We went to the visitor center, and then set our GPS to Sunset crater volcano and Wupatki national parks. There we saw lava flows and 800 year old Pueblo houses. We spent a few hours at these parks before heading to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We got to the North Rim around 8:45pm to watch a lightning storm on the other side of the Grand Canyon. It was really cool. Last night we slept in the Kaibab national forest about 4 miles from the North Rim.
This morning we woke up and went back to the North Rim to see it in the daytime. We then set GPS to Zion National Park where we are now. Later today we will head to Bryce Canyon and Capital Rim before we find a place to stay.
Future stops to come:
Cody Wyoming for Jeep Jamboree on the Morison Jeep trails, Yellowstone(possibility),
Mount Rushmore,
Badlands,
Sturgis,
Deadwood,
Grand Tetons,
And anything else we want to see along the way.
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