Travel 7848 miles through the desert southwest - a 2025 adventure

[wngrog]

I've been documenting the various legs of this epic adventure in my 200 series thread but not with very much detail.

I'm going to reach back to January of this year and piece this thing together in one nice story so it can be shared and used in case anyone else out there wants to turn a 1100 mile distance into a 7848 mile epic adventure.

 

[wngrog]

It started around the campfire somewhere in Arkansas the 4 of us trying to figure out how best to see all the stuff out west and still have jobs, wives and girlfriends in the end of it all.

We discussed shipping. Using Justin Mc to drive a huge car hauler all over. Lots of whiskey and weed fueled ides until we settled on what we did.

One week trips and leaving the trucks at friends places along the path.

As anyone here knows, getting out west means getting across Texas and Texas adds a day and a half to any adventure.

Each way.

Doing that math it just makes sense to drive. Park. Fly.

January.

I've been watching the weather. It's going to be absolutely perfect. No snow. All sunshine in New Mexico.

Then the group text. From Jonathan.

"I can't go. I had my weeks wrong. I have the kids next week"

**** me. I'm leaving his ass for sure. Sorry dude.

The next day. Laird lands his dumb ass in the hospital and just like that. 50% attrition.

We push a week and I watch my warm front make its way out of New Mexico and behind it is some nasty stuff.

Let's roll.

 

[wngrog]

Driving across Texas does not count in the 7848 miles because driving across Texas sucks.

Except for the BBQ. I stopped by Rudy's and loaded down with breakfast burritos. The bear trail food warmed up on the engine there is.

Night one was a hotel in Carlsbad as it was already getting dark and the winds out of the north were at about 50 mph steady.

Dinner was Blake's Lottaburger (of course)

We all managed to make it from different points of the compass. Tomorow we ride.

 

[wngrog]

Odometer Trip 1. 000000

Texas/New Mexico border just north of Guadeloupe National Park

Clear skies and COLD AF. Low 20s. Windy.

We had not gone 10 miles before we lost Jonathan and Thad. No radio. No cell. Laird and I waited on this beautiful spot. We got buzzed by some jets from Holloman AFB.

SteveO and Jonathan hooked up via Starlink and we got back together after about an hour.

Lesson learned early. Watch the guy behind you. Stay on comms.

Frozen trees

The roads are dirt. Mostly smooth. No one but us

We made it to White Sands about an hour before sunset and decided yet again to hotel it as it was dark by the time we got to Las Cruces. And cold

We had some superb Mexican food with green Chiles and called it a night early

 

[wngrog]

If you have never had Blakes Lottaburger you have not lived. New Mexico only. Green chilis. Burritos. Burgers. Shakes. Best.

We struck out across the desert for a great mountain and trail @ntsaint found for us years ago that runs along the New Mexico Spaceport

We camped up on this mountain last time with @Bomar @pmc @OGBeno and others. This time it was covered in ice

On top we were treated to an air show watching the Thunderbirds practice out of the airfield below
Down on the ice was sketch

The trail through Polomas Canyon is an awesome shelf trail. Along the way I picked up this rock in my wheel that would come back and haunt me

 

[wngrog]

This trail crosses the Rio Grande River and passes through Truth or Consequences then up into the Cibolo National Forest mountains

Snow was on the ground but the wind was down so it was a great place for the night



GAIA track

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/wrvmRCEr7xC8pzFZY6BT3RpE

 

[wngrog]

The next morning it was bone cold so we did not cook but headed back out on the trail. This is the leg I found a few years ago solo when I ran off in a big hole and almost finished my trip early. We saw some elk. Lots of cows. Lots of nothing. Still have not passed another vehicle.

We started climbing and got into some snow. It had been there a few days and was packed nicely.

Laird got a flat. Plugging that tire with a frozen tire was no fun. I added an angle drill to my box after that one

SteveO pulled up at the Mt Withington fire tower and his truck was making a nasty noise.

 

[wngrog]

We ran down the mountain to log in to the repeater to phone home to @FJ60Cam to consult on the noise

SteveO got his instructions from ETAF and took off to the nearest auto parts place about an hour away. Jonathan, Thad, Laird and I had the best burgers ever waiting for him just east of the VLA

SteveO made it back and we made haste to a campsite I had marked back up the mountain.

.....only to find it and the next two closed. We finally found a flat spot that was 8" of snow but we did not care. Long day. Full stomachs. Bedtime came early.

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/KfkKX4owsuUccTq10Tcun85k

 

[cbmontgo]

This is awesome.

 

[wngrog]

The next morning it was 1.

One. That's 31 degrees less than freezing.

No one wanted anything for breakfast but to get down off this mountain and in a warm truck

The route took us through the Gila National Forest. The last time I went through here in my 200 I barely made it through on my main tank. This was when I decided to get the LRA (which will be crucial later)
No gas also means no convenience stores and if you run out of smokes and you are a degenerate cig smoker like SteveO things start getting edgy.

Especially when we turn north away from civilization to check out the Gila Cliff Dwellings

We looked up. No SteveO. Gone. No note. No text. No service. We figured he headed to town but we didn't know for sure.

Gila River

We eventually found SteveO chain smoking to catch up on the side of the road. At this point he had not used any of the parts he left the day before to get if his front end blew up.

Thad turned back to Missouri at this point as well. We were down to 4.

We made it to Silver City and after 2 freezing nights we decided to hole up in a hotel and eat a big night of authentic Mexican.

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/UJD10VP0nXzb3OnXN1yWj4z8

 

[REKCUT]

Thanks for the memories!!

 

[wngrog]

The next morning we had some superb breakfast burritos in Silver City and hit the pavement to Lordsburg. Lordsburg to the Chiricahua Mountains was dirt. Dirt through the mountains and then a mix of 2 track pavement and dirt to Toumbstone. SteveO's front end is about gone. Every corner we hit at speed he may change lanes without input. Totally sketchy but we are close close to Beno's shop so we press on.

 

[wngrog]

We have an afternoon to goof off so we head south out of town after lunch at the brewery in Sonoita.

The border wall down here is nothing but a basic ww2 anti tank barrier. Comical. That said there was passive sensory everywhere and we passed a few agents

SteveO jumped in with me and promptly fell asleep
Sunset was awesome

We met up with Beno at his favorite lesbian bar in Patagonia where he is literally "Norm"

After some great pizza and beer and live music we headed back to his shop to camp inside out of the wind

The crew. Happy to have made it

Total mileage for this leg. 90% off road

Remember that rock that got in my wheel 3 days ago? Well it knocked my right rear caliper completely off and my rotor also was completely gone. Just the hat remained.

We flew out the next morning giving Beno a big list of work for all 4 trucks. It was a perfect place to leave them.

Maybe @OGBeno can toss in some pics of the s*** we broke ....

GAIA link

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/dw6F969gTopW24rLXZPx56ZB

 

[OGBeno]

We have an afternoon to goof off so we head south out of town after lunch at the brewery in Sonoita.
View attachment 4051759View attachment 4051760
The border wall down here is nothing but a basic ww2 anti tank barrier. Comical. That said there was passive sensory everywhere and we passed a few agents
View attachment 4051750
SteveO jumped in with me and promptly fell asleep
Sunset was awesome
View attachment 4051761
We met up with Beno at his favorite lesbian bar in Patagonia where he is literally "Norm"
View attachment 4051753
After some great pizza and beer and live music we headed back to his shop to camp inside out of the wind
View attachment 4051755
The crew. Happy to have made it
View attachment 4051756
Total mileage for this leg. 90% off road
View attachment 4051757


Remember that rock that got in my wheel 3 days ago? Well it knocked my right rear caliper completely off and my rotor also was completely gone. Just the hat remained.
View attachment 4051754

We flew out the next morning giving Beno a big list of work for all 4 trucks. It was a perfect place to leave them.

Maybe @OGBeno can toss in some pics of the s*** we broke ....,

Where to start?

 

[OGBeno]

Grogan: URJ200: new rear rotor and pads. Oil change. Clean.

Steve-O: seat heaters, full front end overhaul (much of it custom IFS). Rear axle linkages. Other small bits. Electrical gremlins.

Jonathan: seat heaters, broken lug nut/front axle bearing repack, some body work.

Laird: new cylinder head, full head gasket job, cooling system overhaul, and a bunch of other stuff…

Let’s say that the MS crew bought out OLC for a couple of months.

 

[Godwin]

The next morning we had some superb breakfast burritos in Silver City and hit the pavement to Lordsburg. Lordsburg to the Chiricahua Mountains was dirt. Dirt through the mountains and then a mix of 2 track pavement and dirt to Toumbstone. SteveO's front end is about gone. Every corner we hit at speed he may change lanes without input. Totally sketchy but we are close close to Beno's shop so we press on.

View attachment 4051742

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I did some of this route summer 2024. You spent more time in Tombstone than I did.

 

[Godwin]

We have an afternoon to goof off so we head south out of town after lunch at the brewery in Sonoita.
View attachment 4051759View attachment 4051760
The border wall down here is nothing but a basic ww2 anti tank barrier. Comical. That said there was passive sensory everywhere and we passed a few agents
View attachment 4051750
SteveO jumped in with me and promptly fell asleep
Sunset was awesome
View attachment 4051761
We met up with Beno at his favorite lesbian bar in Patagonia where he is literally "Norm"
View attachment 4051753
After some great pizza and beer and live music we headed back to his shop to camp inside out of the wind
View attachment 4051755
The crew. Happy to have made it
View attachment 4051756
Total mileage for this leg. 90% off road
View attachment 4051757


Remember that rock that got in my wheel 3 days ago? Well it knocked my right rear caliper completely off and my rotor also was completely gone. Just the hat remained.
View attachment 4051754

We flew out the next morning giving Beno a big list of work for all 4 trucks. It was a perfect place to leave them.

Maybe @OGBeno can toss in some pics of the s*** we broke ....,

I also have spend an evening at this lesbian bar with Beno. Some motorcycle dude struck up a conversation and said he was planning a road trip east and could he camp on my land. Thankfully never saw, or heard from him after that night.

Food truck pizza was good.

 

[Franken470]

Can’t wait to recount the next leg… too much bourbon, crazy women, and everything else.

 

[wngrog]

Can’t wait to recount the next leg… too much bourbon, crazy women, and everything else.

Im not remembering any crazy women but I did drink a lot of whiskey

 

[wngrog]

The second leg started a bit crazy. 3 of the 4 of us landed fairly early in the day because we had flight issues and Laird was the short straw and had a much later flight.

We did not want him to have to deal with a Uber at midnight so we drove his HJ60 to the Tuscon airport and then had dinner.

We camped again at Beno's shop. I was keeping up with Lairds progress back until the whiskey got me and I went to sleep when I saw he was 15 miles out.

I woke up the next morning to a bunch of missed calls and no Laird. Turns out he blew a head gasket on the way back to Sonoita from the airport and had to sleep on the side of the road.

We spent the morning trying to put a bandaid on it but by 10 am we had to make the call. Smokey was dead. Amazingly, Johnny offers up his h55 equipped fj60 and we were off to the races.

Johnny had spent a lot of time working the SW part of Arizona as a wildlife and border patrol officer and he sent us that way. Organ Pipe was the destination for the day

My 6' meat head son was riding shotgun.

This place was great. It has a nice off road loop with tons of great cactus.

The coolest part was the long road along the border wall

GAIA link

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/Odlm7jSjvjONWgwy9cKxkDre