Southern Expidition update

[sailor]

So remember I mentioned the high winds? We had a great campsite with a brilliant firepit but no cover from the wind. I managed to lock my keys in the car in pitch dark, the spare key I put in my wallet was inside as well. I think the wind blew the rear door shut on me. First thought was to break a window but I decided to dust off my break in skills first. I asked Lance for his flashlight and he said he'd have to look for it in the back of his rig. The prospect of finding anything in that huge pile was laughable, even in my dire predicament! Fortunatly, Lance had a Coleman lantern that had risen to the top of his pile which we lit and got to some problem solving. Using my SwissTool I modified my wife's stainless rod marshmallow toasting fork into a thin rod. Lance supplied one of those fork tools for popping loose car interior trim panels. ( Why the hell he had that and no tow strap!?!?!) but dont look a gift-burro in th mouth! With this tool I pried the upper front window frame out a bit. Lance then found a thick piece of leather strap (?!?!?) that we put in to maintain the gap. Suitable bending of the Marshmallow tongs flicked the lock and I was saved. So perhaps I have been a bit tough on 'ol Lance- his huge pile of crap yielded the tools of my salvation!

Nahh! Next morning we had Ribeyes, bacon and Coffee followed by a beer chaser. It was a this point that I committed my second massive screwup. This one perhaps more critical than the last. The dam propane camp stove was being recalcitrant so I leaned down to see what was the matter just as it chose to ignite and - Whoomp! No need to trim the nose hairs or eyebrows now! (Not that any real man does, anyway!) I also lost a considerable portion of the precious and irreplaceable live hairs on the front of my head! Ron Howard's barber? Book me a seat.

 

[d0ubledown]

wow...great stories and pics you guys! some beautiful views down there. love the one of buddy dressed like he was going to hike through the arctic, and theres lance in a tank top LOL. keep em comin guys! looks like we missed out on a wonderful trip...

 

[sailor]

Yep- Had to be all of 18 degrees c! But then- those folks have lived near San Diego most of their lives! And hammering it in a VW sand racer prolly brings on the wind chill as well. I was wearing sandals and shorts and got some funny looks ( likely because of my fish-belly white legs!)

 

[LanceCruiser]

Congratultions, Jason on your new baby boy, and huge thanks for getting the sliders done for us, before the trip. They came in handy a few times.

Sorry, guys for the late post. Since comming back, I've felt drained. It could have been the 16 hrs of driving back home. Graham and I both felt the party was over, and couldn't wait to get home to relax, before going back to the working world. I just can't seem to get back into work mode now, I rather be back on the road.

On our way down we average 105km/hr and got around 650km per 72 litres of Diesel roughly, we filled up before my needle hit my usual mark, with Graham doing slightly better. On our way back we averaged 110km/hr, and got just over the 600km per 75litres. I really thought my milage was going to ****py, but our trucks did fairly well on the highway. It was a fun trip with lots of sight seeing, and exploring.

I will try and posts some pics on this weekend.

 

[landcrusher909]

Fantasic Trip ! I wish we had known about this sooner you were only an hour away from us when you were in Barstow. You would have been more than welcome here for the night. Great write up and awsome Pictures.

 

[LanceCruiser]

Yeah, that would have been great. We didn't know where we were going to be everyday, so we played it by ear. Our plan was to go to Death Valley, to do and see what ever we could. Everything that was close enough, or along the way was gravy. If we had more time we probably would have went to Mexico too.

 

[sailor]

Post up that video, Lance!

 

[landcrusher909]

Yeah, that would have been great. We didn't know where we were going to be everyday, so we played it by ear. Our plan was to go to Death Valley, to do and see what ever we could. Everything that was close enough, or along the way was gravy. If we had more time we probably would have went to Mexico too.

I would have talked you out of that ! Mexico right now is out of control with the drug wars. Again Great post there's nothing like a Road Trip

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

If Death Valley Expedition II sometime in the future happens I would interested, subject to no more than three (3) Walmart stops LOL.

 

[sailor]

It's gonna happen Maybe in the fall? Temps are right around then.

 

[LanceCruiser]

If you don't stop at a Walmart, then your going to have to find another place for Graham to take a ****. I never met anyone that can **** 6 times in one day.

 

[sailor]

and the toilet paper is so rough... Post the video, Lance!

 

[LanceCruiser]

Here are some of my pics from the trip, I will add more when I can.

Graham's good morning salute.

Colliding Rivers, Oregon

Along Highway 395, Oregon

Road to Crater Lake, Oregon


Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake, Oregon

Back on Highway 395 to Merrill, Klamath County, Oregon

Back on Highway 395 to Merrill, Klamath County, Oregon

Tulelake Lava Beds, California

Tulelake Lava Beds, California

Tulelake Lava Beds, California

Tulelake Lava Beds, California

Tulelake Lava Beds, California

Tulelake Lava Beds, California. This cave goes further.

Tulelake Lava Beds, California. Found a hill to climb on our way out of the Lava Beds, it turns out it was a Crater.

 

[LanceCruiser]

Little town of Gerlach.

Black Rock, Nevada. Found another hill to climb, just outside the town of Gerlach.

Back on the highway through Sierra Mountains back to California.

View of Mono Lake from the Mountain.

Mono Lake, California

 

[LanceCruiser]

Left overs from the Black Rock Playa, it's version of dog poo. The snow helped clean the trucks off, and it works for shoes too.

Arrived at road to the Eureka Dunes, Saline Valley

Eureka Dunes

Met some other Toyota owners from Bishop, and got some info too.

Here is a picture with a bit of the view of the Playa, at Eureka Dunes. Supposedly you can find pieces of an old civilization, and art left by the hippies. We forgot to check it out, before we got into Steel Pass.


More to come later.

 

[LanceCruiser]

Here's Graham's videos he wants to show.

MOV02022 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

MOV02023 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

MOV02024 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

He's been dying for this moment.

 

[ElectricDyck]

Great pics, looks like a fun trip! You guys are hard on each other lol!

So I think I read there that the fuel mileage between your 2 rigs was similar despite tire size? What do you think you spent on fuel for the whole trip?

BTW my folks love the us walmarts when rv ing, free parking with 24 hour security.

Did you do the hike into suprise canyon near panamint valley? Those pictures always interested me.

 

[LanceCruiser]

I had my gears done, so I was back to stock gearing, and Graham had a bit of an overdrive, he was travelling about 200 rpms lower than I was. I roughly estimated we spent around $600 in fuel. The high elevations hurt the milage a bit, and some poor fuel too, you could feel the difference. I think the highest spot was close to 9000ft. We didn't do Suprise Canyon, near Panamint Valley. If we knew about it we probably would have checked it out, our plan at the time was to get back to the spings and chill.

 

[ElectricDyck]

$600 bucks doesn't sound too bad for the amount of driving it looked like you guys did. What was your rpm at 100km/h? 4:88s and 37" swampers right?

 

[sailor]

I might have been a bit more than that. Between 6-800 bucks. Well worth it.