Builds One World, One LX Build Thread (4 Viewers)

[1world1love]

Been awhile, but we have embarked on a family road trip and are now slowly making our way across these great United States. We have decided to spend the remainder of the year at our house in Tennessee in order to be close to family over the holidays. We left Cali on Saturday and spent the night north of Vegas. From Vegas we took the 15 to 70 and made our way over to Grand Junction where we will be based for the week so that the kids are able to focus on remote school. Meanwhile I plan on hitting as many trails as I can. I maybe limited by what is passable and open but I will see what I can see around Ouray and then back towards Moab.

So far, the weather hasn’t been encouraging. The first two days have been rain and snow and it appears to be a cold, wet week on the western slope of the Rockies. I’m keeping my fingers crossed though. Still, if anybody has any suggestions for trails that may be doable, I am all ears.

So far, the weather has not been conducive to photography of any sort, and we have had a couple of long interstate driving days, but there was finally a clearing of sorts this afternoon in eastern Utah:

I haven’t done much to the truck other than a few lingering maintenance items. I had the 120 mile service and new rotors and pads (front and back). She runs like new.

We have, however, had a couple of minor issues. First, the USB plug stopped charging. Oddly, it will still play music from my phone over USB, but it just stopped providing a charge yesterday. Also, my center console fridge box only blows hot air when it is turned on. I still get cold air from the vents, but the air to the box is warm. I’ll have to check it out when we get to Tennessee. Finally, my DVD player just stopped reading dvds this afternoon. My kids out box sets of the Office and Parks and Rec for the trip and have been watching with no problems until this afternoon. It recognizes the disc and starts spinning but then says “Check Disc”. Also not a big deal, but odd nonetheless.

Anyways, I plan on getting out tomorrow and hopefully I can post some nice scenery.

 

[eel32]

Been awhile, but we have embarked on a family road trip and are now slowly making our way across these great United States. We have decided to spend the remainder of the year at our house in Tennessee in order to be close to family over the holidays. We left Cali on Saturday and spent the night north of Vegas. From Vegas we took the 15 to 70 and made our way over to Grand Junction where we will be based for the week so that the kids are able to focus on remote school. Meanwhile I plan on hitting as many trails as I can. I maybe limited by what is passable and open but I will see what I can see around Ouray and then back towards Moab.

So far, the weather hasn’t been encouraging. The first two days have been rain and snow and it appears to be a cold, wet week on the western slope of the Rockies. I’m keeping my fingers crossed though. Still, if anybody has any suggestions for trails that may be doable, I am all ears.

So far, the weather has not been conducive to photography of any sort, and we have had a couple of long interstate driving days, but there was finally a clearing of sorts this afternoon in eastern Utah:

View attachment 2490292


I haven’t done much to the truck other than a few lingering maintenance items. I had the 120 mile service and new rotors and pads (front and back). She runs like new.

We have, however, had a couple of minor issues. First, the USB plug stopped charging. Oddly, it will still play music from my phone over USB, but it just stopped providing a charge yesterday. Also, my center console fridge box only blows hot air when it is turned on. I still get cold air from the vents, but the air to the box is warm. I’ll have to check it out when we get to Tennessee. Finally, my DVD player just stopped reading dvds this afternoon. My kids out box sets of the Office and Parks and Rec for the trip and have been watching with no problems until this afternoon. It recognizes the disc and starts spinning but then says “Check Disc”. Also not a big deal, but odd nonetheless.

Anyways, I plan on getting out tomorrow and hopefully I can post some nice scenery.

Adventure awaits!

 

[1world1love]

Adventure awaits!

Indeed. Your state is amazing. The Grand Junction area is among my favorite places in the entire country. There is just an insane amount of things to do in close proximity. The geography is astounding. South and west you have the arid canyons and high desert with trails going all the way to Moab. To the east, you have the western slope of the Rockies with the amazing peaks and crazy evergreen and aspen forests. And then there is Grand Junction with the Colorado running right through town. It literally creates A border here where on one side you have desert canyons and on the other side you have green mountains. Nice people as well.

 

[1world1love]

The weather has been uncooperative as expected but I decided to get out anyways. Many trails are closed or otherwise impassable so I wanted to check out Grand Mesa National Forest and see if I could find some forest service roads to explore. The upper elevations had a pretty good snowfall happening, which was really nice, but again, most of the trails were snowed in:

Down a little lower, things were better but still pretty sloppy. But you have to get out of the house to see things and it was still a great day:

 

[radman]

are you using the maxtrax harness or just straps through the wheel?
and are you happy with the trasharoo? I've heard that they sun damage and weather quicker than expected.

 

[1world1love]

are you using the maxtrax harness or just straps through the wheel?
and are you happy with the trasharoo? I've heard that they sun damage and weather quicker than expected.

I just use straps and I have a cable lock, but I wouldn’t call it ideal. On the one hand, it really is a perfect place for them. but I am suspect of the potential wear that the straps/bungees endure and It sort of flies in the face of my usual MO, which is to keep everything as simple as possible. I actually moved them from the roof because in the times when I have needed them, retrieving them from the roof was incredibly difficult. But it isn’t any better as is, at least for wheeling. It’s fine for traveling like we are now, but honestly, when possible, I just keep them in the back seat.

The trasharoo is great. I don’t have experience with any other brands, but just the idea is fantastic. We generally pick up a ton of trash anytime we leave the house and this makes it so easy. We keep a bag in the trasharoo with TP, sanitizing wipes, and a roll of 30 gallon hefty bags. It’s amazing how convenient it Is. when we have wet clothes and shoes, we just throw them in there.

I can’t speak to the long term durability of it though. Our previous one was stolen after a year and the current one is only a year in. Honestly though, it is so useful that if I have to get one every couple of years, so be it. But in both cases, I did not notice anything unusual in it breaking down. I have been through many, many straps over the years though, so I know what UV damage can do. I’ve had some that didn’t last a summer.

 

[mpl1978]

Love your thread. I have a ‘13 lx also. Did the Thule cargo box work with the factory bars? Did it allow you to open the tailgate?

 

[Broncobroke]

1world1love well said. Thank you for reminding us.

 

[1world1love]

Love your thread. I have a ‘13 lx also. Did the Thule cargo box work with the factory bars? Did it allow you to open the tailgate?

Thanks for the kind words. We used the cargo box on the factory bars without any issues before we installed the roof rack. We never had any problems with the rear lift opening.

 

[1world1love]

The weather has been pretty nice the past couple of days which predictably coincides with busy days full of zoom meetings. Still, I had a little free time yesterday morning and took the kids sledding up in the national forest.

 

[1world1love]

This morning I checked out an area called Bang Canyon where there were a lot of fun trails.

 

[1world1love]

Another from White River National Forest

 

[1world1love]

Well, we have travelled 3212 miles across the country and we are now at our house in Tennessee. Things seem more bleak now than when we left and we almost turned around and went back earlier this week. As we made our way east, news in each state was progressively worse.

As things are at this point, I am pretty happy to have the truck outfitted as it is. Our only exposure has been stopping for gas, for which we wear n95 masks at this point. Turns out that the fridge purchase earlier in the year was a stroke of genius. We have been able to cook and eat with relative ease and have enjoyed being off the beaten path. I am not sure I would count this trip as overlanding, but parts of it would qualify, and now I think that we could easily do a 2-3 week trip completely off the grid, though now we are even more seriously considering an off-road teardrop.

Sunset east of Wichita:

 

[1world1love]

We took a little time to do some exploring in Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. It is a fantastic park in western Kentucky and Tennessee. There is a pretty nice OHV park there, but the best trails are the many and various forest service trails, some of which are really high quality and some which are nothing more than glorified game trails. There are tons of dispersed camping options, but in the summer, there are quite a few people taking advantage of them. This time of year can be great though.

 

[1world1love]

My nephew just got his driver’s permit and I figured that if he is learning to drive, he will have a little more confidence in his moms sedan if he has some experience driving a 7000 pound behemoth offroad.

We found some pretty fun trails near the Obed National Scenic River in Wartburg. There wasn’t anything technical but there was a lot of narrow track with tight turns and plenty of mud. At the beginning of the trail there was a gravel pile which I used to talk him through the capabilities of the truck and get his confidence up a little. He was one happy kid. He drove for about two hours and was smiling ear to ear the whole time.

I get to maintain my title of “greatest uncle in the world”

 

[grinchy]

My nephew just got his driver’s permit and I figured that if he is learning to drive, he will have a little more confidence in his moms sedan if he has some experience driving a 7000 pound behemoth offroad.

We found some pretty fun trails near the Obed National Scenic River in Wartburg. There wasn’t anything technical but there was a lot of narrow track with tight turns and plenty of mud. At the beginning of the trail there was a gravel pile which I used to talk him through the capabilities of the truck and get his confidence up a little. He was one happy kid. He drove for about two hours and was smiling ear to ear the whole time.

I get to maintain my title of “greatest uncle in the world”

View attachment 2514665View attachment 2514668View attachment 2514669View attachment 2514670

Nice! I learned to drive in a willys in low range. Hard to get into too much trouble at 10 mph.

 

[TN LX570]

Welcome to Tennessee!

 

[TeCKis300]

My nephew just got his driver’s permit and I figured that if he is learning to drive, he will have a little more confidence in his moms sedan if he has some experience driving a 7000 pound behemoth offroad.

We found some pretty fun trails near the Obed National Scenic River in Wartburg. There wasn’t anything technical but there was a lot of narrow track with tight turns and plenty of mud. At the beginning of the trail there was a gravel pile which I used to talk him through the capabilities of the truck and get his confidence up a little. He was one happy kid. He drove for about two hours and was smiling ear to ear the whole time.

I get to maintain my title of “greatest uncle in the world”

Hahhah, greatest uncle indeed.

That experience is going to leave a high watermark of impressions. Kids probably going to spend the rest of his life finding a steed that measures up. Another cruiserhead for life?

 

[1world1love]

Hahhah, greatest uncle indeed.

That experience is going to leave a high watermark of impressions. Kids probably going to spend the rest of his life finding a steed that measures up. Another cruiserhead for life?

Yeah, definitely. Kid wants to be an automotive engineer. You’d like him. He loves the IS300. He was pretty amazed by the engineering of the LX. He has been fixated on exotic sports cars but I think this opened his mind a little.

I remember my uncle taking me out in his new FJ60. I think this should be a family tradition.

 

[1world1love]

Welcome to Tennessee!

Thanks. We are born and bread. Still have family all over East TN, but we lived a little more your way for a number of years in downtown Nashville before relocating out to the Bay Area. We don’t get to spend as much time in Tennessee as we’d like but we do still have a house between Nashville and Knoxville which we stay at as much as possible.