MOBY DICK gets a turn !

[AKers]

Do you happen to remember what the part number is for the FOX shocks? I'd like to get the Dobinsons springs like you but are not sure which FOX shocks to pair them up with. Thanks!

 

[half k cruiser]

Do you happen to remember what the part number is for the FOX shocks? I'd like to get the Dobinsons springs like you but are not sure which FOX shocks to pair them up with. Thanks!

If you call Down South Motorsports and talk with them they will have two models available. One is for a 3-5" lift, that is the one you want. I apologize but I did not keep the part numbers. There is also a thread on here somewhere that has the number.

 

[half k cruiser]

Flashback Wednesday ! Moby in original Toyota livery complete with limited edition faux leather steering cover !

 

[half k cruiser]

How it sits as of the start of our rather epic trip last week ...

 

[half k cruiser]

My long overdue trip report. Lawrence > Grand Junction > Kokopelli Trail > Moab > White Rim

Heading out, our first fuel stop between Lawrence and Topeka. Me and my co pilot in Moby, my buddy Dustin and his father in their 80....

We pushed as far as Grand Junction our first day out. The road you see here is the road up Colorado Monument. Essentially its a rock the size of a large city, and you can camp on it.....

The advance party had already set up a much anticipated camp at a great spot on top of the monument. We rolled in at about 2030 hrs on the first night. The morning light reveals a cliff edge and the town of Grand Junction in the background....

The next day started with a trip into town for a final fuel stop and supplies. Then it was a mere 13 miles to the Kokopelli trailhead. Me and my buddy Travis (left) posing with the sign......

The first day of driving was rather uneventful. Lots of corrugated dirt path, some small rocky sections, and only a few obstacles. We did make friends with a bicyclist who was doing a solo from Grand Junction to Salt Lake City, UT. He stopped and shared a PBR with us while we were having lunch at a canyon edge. The scenery shifts rather dramatically from the grey rock of Colorado into the red rock canyons of Eastern Utah. Here's Moby after about 40 miles of dirt....

 

[half k cruiser]

Day two and we finally had to break out the spotters. Here's my buddy Travis in his Icon equipped 4Runner....

Angry Mike in his Toytec equipped 4Runner.....

Cisco wash, the place where I discovered my first issue with my Land Cruiser. This was a fairly steep (better than 45* wash) with loose sandy soil on both sides. The tracks coming out of it were deep and we figured at least one of the rigs in our group might need winched up. With that in mind I decided to go first so I could get my winch turned toward the rest of the group. On the uphill climb I discovered my CDL wouldn't lock up. This would come back to plague me for the rest of the trip. Here is Travis making it look easy.....

Trail damage #2 happens. The Tacoma in our group got bogged down in the sand and required a pull. Since I had recently switched to the MM hydraulic I decided to try it out rather than just put a snatch strap on. Note the angle, which was horrible for a single line snatch...

I essentially ran a single line from the winch and tried to pull him up a better than 45* angle. This was actually a horrible idea and goes against all the principals of mechanical advantage. But, I wanted to try out that new winch. His truck came out, but the winch hit bypass at least once, and I ruined my steel cable...

 

[half k cruiser]

The only other big obstacle was this piece of slick rock. Its hard to tell from the photo but its about a 4' drop. Not to big of a deal until you start bringing the rear down. Everybody drug their receivers except me.

The only downside to the 4x4 labs bumper is that, instead of dragging the bumper, or the hitch, you drag your exhaust tip. Here is mine in its newest configuration. That tailpipe looked like every letter of the alphabet at some point during the trip.

 

[half k cruiser]

Getting close to lunchtime, I stopped to take a quick poser shot...

Travis and I.....

Some lunchtime exploring found this on a remote point near a canyon....

My attempt at abstract work....

The scenery out West is breathtaking. Views like these are pretty common as you continue further down the trail....

 

[half k cruiser]

More to come ..........

 

[half k cruiser]

Day two on the Kokopelli and we made the push to Top of the World. This trail is getting fairly gnarly. Unfortunately the CDL issue coupled with slightly wet conditions on the rocks had me parking my rig at the base of the trail. I really didn't feel like fighting my way up in one wheel drive...

So I walked / hitched rides to the top...

The view from up top was worth the hour or more climb. Simply one of the most amazing things I have ever seen...

Travis getting the iconic shot...

 

[half k cruiser]

Dewey bridge campsite at the end of our first day on Kokopelli. Midway through dinner the wind kicked up to over 60mph and blew my food plate out of my hands and right down to the river. We rushed to batten down the hatches on everything, then hid in our vehicles until it passed. Other than that this was a nice sight, situated right on the Colorado river....

One of the guys in our group went and took a picture of this guys earth roamer. I believe he said he was the #2 guy for Macy's and that the CEO or someone had bought it for him ! There was some drinking happening by this time so the story got a little hazy....

Upper Onion Creek camp. We had ran Top of the World the previous night. By the time we got down the daylight was fading and all of the campsites off the 285 had been taken. In a desperate attempt to find a place we split up and used the 2m coms to search out a spot. Me and my co driver pulled in and noticed a lone Prius occupying a group sight at the remote end of this camp. We went down and introduced ourselves and met a British gentleman by the name of Paul. He said the sight had been vacated in a hurry by the people that had reserved it and we were welcome to join him. We set up camp in the dark, and when morning came I was greeted to this view from my cot....

 

[half k cruiser]

Day 3 of the Kokopelli. The final push here takes more time than what the rest of the trail combined could take. We had taken a fairly leisurely pace up to this point. However its just plain slow going from here until you get onto the Onion Creek rd. The main obstacle here is a 1/4 mile stretch of steep hill inappropriately called the Rose Garden.

We decided on a strategy at the top. We would send down Dustin's 80 series first, with Angry Mike's 4runner behind him. Then we would get the long bed Tacoma down, which would be the most difficult. After Travis and I had spotted these 3 down we would spot each other with me bringing up the rear.

There were points when the IFS vehicles could be rocked back and forth one handed while they sat on two wheels. Luckily the KDOT was there to build a road for the group.

Finally my turn came. Things were fairly easy as we had improved conditions quite a bit.

The rear of the rig has ridiculous amounts of flex. The new springs really push out and I had no problems with un-seating.

All told we were at 5 hours to get 5 vehicles down with no body damage. If you've come down the Rose Garden since April 1st, and enjoyed the improvements, your welcome ! On a side note, the new springs were working amazing. The 2.0 shocks unfortunately became overwhelmed on the bottom section of this hill and we had several armor strikes due to rocking. A big thanks to @David Otero from Dobinsons USA for getting the springs to me in time to be used.

 

[half k cruiser]

After the Rose Garden you are not out of the woods yet. Another mile or two of fairly slow going. Then you open out onto a plain intersected by the Onion Creek rd. This is simply a fantastic and beautiful drive. Even our most experienced driver who has been everywhere was blown away....

The pictures do this area no justice. It feels like you are on a highway compared to what you've been traveling on all day. The road itself has dozens of stream crossings and many blind corners. Its one of the most exhilarating drives I have ever been on.

 

[half k cruiser]

The next day saw us in Canyonlands National Park to tackle the White Rim. We were assured by the rangers at the entrance that it could not be done in a day ( still skeptical) so we decided to go a few hours and then back track. Right after the entrance are the Schaefer switchbacks...

They compose a fairly steep road that drops you quickly to the plateau floor...

The road down there is the White Rim Trail. You can't see it from here but the Potash road intersects it to the left. The switchback's drop you from here down to the road in a fairly short distance....

Jet boats ply the river in the distance. If I had more time I would take one of these tours and let them do the driving so I could sit back and enjoy more....

Somewhere on the White Rim....

This was also one of the times I got to really air out the new springs. Though my shocks began to fade a bit towards the end, I was able to carry 40+ mph speeds over some very rough and corrugated terrain. We finally had to ease it back when the air compressor jumped out of its mount and threatened to remove the rear window.

 

[half k cruiser]

We pushed for about 3 hrs on the White Rim. At this point we were at the halfway mark and had to decide if we wanted to finish, or get back to Moab in time for beers and burgers at the brewery. Well, the brewery won out and we went back towards the start and hit the Potash road out..

Views along the White Rim and Potash road are amazing. Some of the most scenic and beautiful driving I have ever encountered. I was also able to drub a few Land Rovers that weren't keeping pace with our group. In the above photo you can see a highway following the river. I believe that is the 279hwy. Its sort of a back road out of Moab that leads to the Potash road. On our way out there were dozens of climbers and support teams tackling one of the walls along there.

 

[half k cruiser]

A couple of randoms from the trip. This one, probably somewhere in Western Co.

Somewhere along the 128 near Moab...

My co worker / co driver. Lots of entertainment value...

Somewhere on the White Rim, Colorado river is just on the other side about 500ft down...

The whole group at Dewey Bridge camp. Everytime I tried to take a camp photo Dustin had the hood up on his 80. No mechanical issues, he was just charging things off of an inverter hooked direct to the battery...

 

[half k cruiser]

More randoms, day 2 of the Kokopelli and Dustin's rig ....

Moby after a few days on the trail..

Hwy 128 running south from I-70. A spectacular drive....

 

[half k cruiser]

April 1st and the last day of adventure. Dustin, Brian and Mike all headed toward I-70 early so they could be home in time for dinner with their families. Travis and I had no one waiting on us so we decided on a more scenic route. Our first stop was the Moab diner at 0600hrs. Since we were staying at the Virginia Inn, it was about a 100ft walk. After breakfast and coffee we hit the 191 and headed South by Southwest towards the border for Colorado...

The 191 intersects 491 and takes you down towards Mesa Verde national park near Cortez. We stopped and I left my rig at the visitor's center and piled into Travis's rig for the 26 mile drive to the top....

These are the two main sights, but there are actually cliff dwellings all over the park and some can just barely be scene by the naked eye. Others like these can actually be toured in the peak season. We were going to hop the gate and sneak down, but we could hear rangers down there talking...

Coming across the 160 in Colorado, shortly before summiting the Wolf Creek Pass. The drive out here is so much more scenic then coming across I-70...

Traveling the flat lands after La Veta Pass and the Great Sand Dunes NP....

 

[half k cruiser]

Trails end ...

The area from Walsenburg to La Junta across the 10 hwy is simply the most desolate place I have ever driven. For roughly 70 miles it makes the 94 hwy into Colorado Springs look like the Las Vegas strip. We may have seen 2 other cars the entire time. We also drove through 2 towns that looked like the inhabitants had just abandoned them during the night. Knowing we were the only two people out here coupled with the fading light made for a haunting experience that I will remember for the rest of my days. At the end of the day we both agreed we had made the right choice taking the long way home.

 

[half k cruiser]

In conclusion we were able to successfully navigate over 300 miles of trail, 2200+ miles of highway. Found improved camping on every night and stayed at a great hole in the wall motel on the other two nights. There was no serious trail damage, though I did smash my exhaust, lose my ability to use the center differential and therefore lockers, and also damaged my winch cable beyond repair.

I had the opportunity to drive a trail that I have wanted to take for 3 years now. Saw the most beautiful overlook that can be imagined (Top of the World) conquered the Rose Garden. Drove two incredible roads in the Onion Creek and White Rim. Drank beer and ate burgers at a fantastic brewery in great company.

Capping it all off was an unforgettable 20+ hour drive home that took me past cliff dwellings, over two mountain passes, and within viewing distance of the great sand dunes. Following that was the epic run across South Eastern Colorado in the fading light of dusk. To my knowledge everyone enjoyed themselves, no one got hurt, and my rig / equipment was the only thing that sustained any damage. I am truly excited for the next adventure....