Road trip

[Skniper]

Sunday, 22 July, rolled out of Abilene, TX and left the interstate. My route now was on was along US 277, 80, and 62 toward Hobbs, NM. I've driven through this region of Texas in the past when the roads were less traveled and the countryside was undeveloped, not so much now. I prefer the lonesome type drives along highways with light traffic where you can stop when you want. The energy extraction and utilization across this part of Texas has exploded, miles upon miles of solar farms, windmill farms, and oil pumps.

Lunch stop somewhere in west Texas, the first good pull off I found. Not particularly scenic and a bit of a local dump site.

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Fuel octane levels dropped in west Texas and across New Mexico but I did not notice any affect upon the 2F running 86.

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The drive on US 82 west of Artesia toward Cloudcroft in the Sacramento Mountains is a very nice drive IMO. Terrain is grasslands with scattered yucca, cresosote, native grasses and the possibility of seeing a pronghorn herd. The 60 with the 2F handled the climb into the mountains better than I had expected. My destination for the evening was Lower Karr Campground that's above 8000 ft elevation, in the Ponderosa pine forest.

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The road in was dirt but not difficult. The good roads came later in the trip.

Hey Jim! Man you're not kidding about the West Texas...uh..."progress". It has definitely lost some of its wild. We take 285 north from Ft. Stockton heading to the in-laws in Ruidoso, that road was a nice drive to NM. We drove it last year for the first time in several years, nothing but oil field truck heavy traffic and oil field work camps everywhere. Lots of windmills.

Did you feel the earthquake near Abilene? Did you run across any of the recent fire damage in NM? My father in law had to evacuate from Ruidoso.

Safe travels sir.

 

[UniquE]

Cool trip, planing kinda the same only from Germany to Morocco.
Amazed to see that 86,88 is still available today and that 90 octane is considered premium.
In Germany regular is 91 and premium 95/98 or 100 octane.

But anyways, nice trip

 

[zeeklafreek]

Cool trip, planing kinda the same only from Germany to Morocco.
Amazed to see that 86,88 is still available today and that 90 octane is considered premium.
In Germany regular is 91 and premium 95/98 or 100 octane.

But anyways, nice trip

If my old 60 ever makes it to Munich (it was supposed to be finished July 1st.) I'm planning to driver to Morocco and hopefully beyond.

 

[davidp14]

Cool trip, planing kinda the same only from Germany to Morocco.
Amazed to see that 86,88 is still available today and that 90 octane is considered premium.
In Germany regular is 91 and premium 95/98 or 100 octane.

But anyways, nice trip

the lower octane is found only in the western states and has to do with the elevation. 87 is regular in the east and 93/4 is premium. also, Americans and Europeans average octanes differently.

 

[Godwin]

Hey Jim! Man you're not kidding about the West Texas...uh..."progress". It has definitely lost some of its wild. We take 285 north from Ft. Stockton heading to the in-laws in Ruidoso, that road was a nice drive to NM. We drove it last year for the first time in several years, nothing but oil field truck heavy traffic and old field work camps everywhere. Lots of windmills.

Did you feel the earthquake near Abilene? Did you run across any of the recent fire damage in NM? My father in law had to evacuate from Ruidoso.

Safe travels sir.

Did not feel any earthquake, or maybe it was masked by heavy truck traffic.

I haven't seen any fire damage, I think I've been south of that.

On my return I'll probably run 285 south from Pecos to Stockton. I did that route a few years ago and was dismayed by the change.

 

[Godwin]

My route west from White Sands was US 70 to Las Cruces, then I-10, ugh, to Lordsbug, NM. Topped off the fuel tank, rolled west a few miles and dropped south on NM 80 before hitting the AZ line. My destination was Portal, AZ then north on 42 through the Coronada National Forest. The national forest offers a ton of dispersed campsites along the 20 mile route. I failed to bring my old map of the area so stopped at the USFS office in Portal and picked up maps

The forest service road crossing a divide with tight turns and long vehicles are excluded, a good sign.

While the road is maintained it is still a rocky and at times rough road and I dropped the tires to 20 psi for a smoother ride. I run 40 psi on the road and did not want the extra banging around from the higher tire pressure.

A few views of the Chiricahua Mountains.

 

[BurntToast]

I spent many years living in Las Cruces. The White Sands and Alamagordo area is very cool

 

[Godwin]

Over the divide and down along Pinery Creek are numerous camping spots. I've used this one twice because it's just a little more secluded than most.

 

[Godwin]

Ascending the south side of the Chiricahuas you have great views of fantastic scenery to the east.

 

[Godwin]

From the Chiricahuas I rolled west through Tombstone, , Sierra Vista, and Whetstone to catch up with @OGBeno in Patagonia.

 

[Godwin]

Hung out with Beno Wednesday evening in Patagonia then, once dark, drove east into the San Rafael Valley to camp. Campsite was in an open spot overlooking the valley, great views.

I utilized the hammock system that Justin Shaw put together for me. I had the idea of brackets on the ARB and at the rear where I could run bars through to support a hammock.

Sunrise next morning was incredible.

After breaking camp I did some exploring. Huge amount of public land with too many inviting roads. Some lead to interesting spots, some to dead ends.

 

[Godwin]

I had no need to be in Tucson until mid-afternoon on Thursday so I had a few hours to kill Thursday morning. I used the time to just poke around. I found an interesting road on the forest service map labelled as 4WD and leading to a spring so I tried find it. The signs at the junction with the main road were very promising.

I first passed an abandoned and gated mine.

At first the road was mild dirt, rocky road, and wide enough for two vehicles, but it soon became steep, much more rocky, and narrow with a sharp drop on one side. Once on it I was committed because it was too narrow to turn around. No pics of this, too busy concentrating and driving. Did have one place where I stopped for a photo of the Cruiser.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Wow. Nice trip Jim. Great to see the 60 up for it.

Cool trip, planing kinda the same only from Germany to Morocco.
Amazed to see that 86,88 is still available today and that 90 octane is considered premium.
In Germany regular is 91 and premium 95/98 or 100 octane.

But anyways, nice trip

Octane rating method is different so Äpfel und Birnen:

Here are some octane rating equivalents between Germany and the United States:

• Regular: 91 RON in Germany is equivalent to 87 AKI in the United States
• Premium: 95 RON in Germany is equivalent to 91 AKI in the United States and Canada

 

[Godwin]

Needed a break from the meeting today so I drove out E. Redington Road that becomes FS 371 (I think this is the correct road number). A lot of Coronado National Forest land with interesting roads out the east side of Tucson. This is a popular area, traffic was not too bad but I saw side by sides, Jeeps, other trucks, ATVs, bicyclists, and a few cars. The main road becomes dirt, gravel, rock, with some washouts and while never needing 4WD there were sections that were best driven in lower gears. I also aired downed just to keep from being beaten to death from the washboard surface.

I took a side road to Chiva Falls but only drove several hundred yards because it was a rock crawling exercise.

Still found some less demanding yet fun side roads

About noon the thunderheads began to build, some with rain, and later in the day the monsoons kicked off, but I was out of there by then.

Arizona fish hook cactus were blooming, saw a bunch.

Headed back east tomorrow morning.

 

[OGBeno]

Yesssss…. I ride Reddington often. Awesome stretch, Jim. Glad you are enjoying the Tucson locales.

 

[dbleon]

Chiva falls is great you missed out!!!

I was forced deep into that trail with the 60 on stock tires to rescue my brothers old dog who quit during a hike. We all made it in and out but not without some body damage and some really butt puckering moments. My brother still talks about the experience to this day.

 

[Godwin]

Chiva falls is great you missed out!!!

I was forced deep into that trail with the 60 on stock tires to rescue my brothers old dog who quit during a hike. We all made it in and out but not without some body damage and some really butt puckering moments. My brother still talks about the experience to this day.

Then I will have to return.

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Epic Trip, wonderful photo's.

 

[LCnAZ]

Epic Trip, wonderful photo's.

@Godwin...about as fun a thread I've seen here in a long time. Thank you for taking the time to snap and share photos. You are a brave-a** soul to take an aging 60 onto challenging, unfamiliar roads, in Arizona summer heat. You passed within a block of my home while driving out to Redington Pass on Tanque Verde Road.

 

[Godwin]

@Godwin...about as fun a thread I've seen here in a long time. Thank you for taking the time to snap and share photos. You are a brave-a** soul to take an aging 60 onto challenging, unfamiliar roads, in Arizona summer heat. You passed within a block of my home while driving out to Redington Pass on Tanque Verde Road.

Next time will try to get together.

I live with this 60, generally know its capabilities and shortcomings, plus carry enough gear, water, etc. that if I have an issue I should be able to fix it or wait it out.