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- #21
Just outside Amarillo, we stop off at the Cadillac Ranch...
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Three Dudes, One Truck - Rubicon or Bust
- Thread starter FJ60Cam
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- #22
The amount of paint on those things is amazing. It's at least an inch thick in most places. We found a few pieces of 'bark' to keep as souvenirs.
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- #23
Not at all! I was going to steal those anyway, at least now you got credit!
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- #24
Pics from New Mexico...
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- #25
Approaching Albuquerque...
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- #26
Dust storm leaving ABQ. There was a little bit of muddy rain mixed in, but it would dry as soon as it hit the windshield. Pictures don't really capture it.
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- #27
We had hoped to check out the meteor crater that day, but we showed up just as they were closing the gate. We were late by the exact amount of time it takes to pull off the highway to clean up a kid and booster seat from an unexpected throw up 
We finally make it to Flagstaff at sunset. We were worn out. 750 miles makes for a long day in a 60 with a kid. We grab a burger and a beer and call it a night.
We finally make it to Flagstaff at sunset. We were worn out. 750 miles makes for a long day in a 60 with a kid. We grab a burger and a beer and call it a night.
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- #28
Day Three - Mon 6/17
We start the morning off in Flagstaff with beautiful weather. We grabbed an all-carb breakfast in the hotel, and a block of dry ice for the fridge.
Once we get near Arizona/California border, the temps start to rise, and the humidity drops to 6%
We can just feel ourselves turning into raisins!
We start the morning off in Flagstaff with beautiful weather. We grabbed an all-carb breakfast in the hotel, and a block of dry ice for the fridge.
Once we get near Arizona/California border, the temps start to rise, and the humidity drops to 6%
We can just feel ourselves turning into raisins!
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I'm not sure what exactly in your life can be more important than finishing this story thread. You need to tighten up. I've been left hanging for 15 hours now and I am not a patient man. I MUST KNOW HOW THIS STORY ENDS!!
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- #31
After what seems like days through the Mohave Valley, we FINALLY get to the end of I-40 at Barstow, hop on 58 where the desert eventually fades away into gentle rolling golden hills of (dead?) grass somewhere around Bakersfield.
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- #32
After getting stuck in a traffic jam in Bakersfield, we headed north up the Golden State Highway. We had intended on making it to Fresno, but all the motel reviews on Yelp indicated that we'd be hanging out with truckers and workin' girls.
So, we stop short in Kingsburg and call it a day. 1907 miles down, less than 300 to go.
We walk to a restaurant, stuff ourselves, head back and then empty a few beers by the pool.
Clownin' by the restaurant...
So, we stop short in Kingsburg and call it a day. 1907 miles down, less than 300 to go.
We walk to a restaurant, stuff ourselves, head back and then empty a few beers by the pool.
Clownin' by the restaurant...
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- #33
Highway 99 (Golden State Hwy) is lined with flowers in the median and farmland on either side. Every five minutes we catch a whiff of some tasty food, but realize that we are just trailing one of the many onion trucks.
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- #34
Day Four - Tues 6/18
We know we have a short day, so we take our time getting on the road. We raid the excellent continental breakfast, grab extra sausage and biscuits for lunch, and then hit the road.
We are about two hours from the fine city of Stockton, where I thought I might pick up some spare axles and driveshafts and such from Georg. We get to Valley Hybrids around lunch and check out some of the projects and piles of cool stuff he had laying around. They are about to eat, so we tag along to a Mexican place for some food.
After we return, I pick up a rear driveshaft (I figured that would be the most likely part to be destroyed, and I'm not sure I have room for anything else) and we say our goodbyes and head for Sacramento where we get to turn towards the mountains.
We know we have a short day, so we take our time getting on the road. We raid the excellent continental breakfast, grab extra sausage and biscuits for lunch, and then hit the road.
We are about two hours from the fine city of Stockton, where I thought I might pick up some spare axles and driveshafts and such from Georg. We get to Valley Hybrids around lunch and check out some of the projects and piles of cool stuff he had laying around. They are about to eat, so we tag along to a Mexican place for some food.
After we return, I pick up a rear driveshaft (I figured that would be the most likely part to be destroyed, and I'm not sure I have room for anything else) and we say our goodbyes and head for Sacramento where we get to turn towards the mountains.
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- #35
We take the turn onto highway 50 at Sacramento, and juuuuust as we see mountains in the distance, the phone rings.
I find my phone to answer it, but it's not the one ringing. s***!!! it's the RED PHONE!!! It must be a national emergency!!! Georg is on the other line saying that none other than the TLCA President, Ross Woody himself, needs a critical part for his truck and the only one left in North America is located in Sacramento, and kindly asks if we mind picking it up on our way to the trail.
With a text w/directions on the way, and dreams of a cabinet position in my head, we reverse course and head off to fetch the part for our Commander-In-Chief who by now has started taking his engine apart in camp to replace the #6 rod bearing.
We pick up the part and race toward Pollock Pines to deliver the precious package.
I find my phone to answer it, but it's not the one ringing. s***!!! it's the RED PHONE!!! It must be a national emergency!!! Georg is on the other line saying that none other than the TLCA President, Ross Woody himself, needs a critical part for his truck and the only one left in North America is located in Sacramento, and kindly asks if we mind picking it up on our way to the trail.
With a text w/directions on the way, and dreams of a cabinet position in my head, we reverse course and head off to fetch the part for our Commander-In-Chief who by now has started taking his engine apart in camp to replace the #6 rod bearing.
We pick up the part and race toward Pollock Pines to deliver the precious package.
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- #36
Right about this time, I get a call from Edgestar. I called them the day before and left a message explaining the problems I was having. The tech on the phone says there isn't a fix I can do, but he can issue a RA for mine to get fixed, or I can order a new one now and send mine back for a refund when I return.
We get to thinking, and decide this won't really be a big deal. The weather was supposed to be chilly (approaching freezing at night), and we still had some water and beer frozen from the dry ice. We figure we can leave the beer (our main concern) outside at night and put it in the shade during the day. We could pack any perishable meat by the frozen stuff and hopefully it will still be good when we get to it.
We get to thinking, and decide this won't really be a big deal. The weather was supposed to be chilly (approaching freezing at night), and we still had some water and beer frozen from the dry ice. We figure we can leave the beer (our main concern) outside at night and put it in the shade during the day. We could pack any perishable meat by the frozen stuff and hopefully it will still be good when we get to it.
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- #37
Now the hills are starting to turn into mountains, and we can hardly contain the excitement. We planned to meet Ross in Pollock Pines to hand off the bearings, where we'll also stock up on groceries. We watch the Google map as we inch closer and closer. Finally, we see the sign, and we pull off to find the local Safeway.
At the Safeway, we hand off the parts to The President, who races back to Loon Lake where his FJ40 is undergoing a bottom-end engine rebuild that has to be finished by morning.
In the store, we do the necessary calculations to determine how much beer and water we'll need. We have five nights of camping ahead of us, which means we are going to need a TON of beer & water. We do the calculations on our phones and hope we guessed correctly because now we can't think straight from the excitement of being so close.
As we are pushing the (verrrry heavy) cart back to the truck, I start to panic, wondering where we will find room for all this stuff.
At the Safeway, we hand off the parts to The President, who races back to Loon Lake where his FJ40 is undergoing a bottom-end engine rebuild that has to be finished by morning.
In the store, we do the necessary calculations to determine how much beer and water we'll need. We have five nights of camping ahead of us, which means we are going to need a TON of beer & water. We do the calculations on our phones and hope we guessed correctly because now we can't think straight from the excitement of being so close.
As we are pushing the (verrrry heavy) cart back to the truck, I start to panic, wondering where we will find room for all this stuff.
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Cruiserdrew
On the way there
I find myself checking 'mud every 30minutes for updates.
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- #39
We shove gallon after gallon of water into every nook and cranny of the truck, same for the beer. We re-pack the fridge according to our new plan and hope for the best. According to my calculations, we've just added over 120lbs worth of liquids alone.
The truck is now officially heavy. Really fricken heavy. As we climb in, I can feel it swaying back and forth and sinking lower and lower. I'm starting to get nervous about hitting the trail, the hardest trail I've ever attempted, with a truck that is giving the OME heavy suspension a run for its money.
We pull back on the highway, with the turns getting tighter and tighter and the grades getting steeper and steeper. The downhills are so steep and the truck so loaded that engine braking is no longer enough to hold our speed. 4th gear usually would hold us at at steady speed on any mountain grade, but now 3rd can't even hold us back. I coast up to redline, then use the brakes to get us back to a reasonable rpm, and repeat.
Then there's the uphills. I'm used to driving an empty truck with no passengers at sea level. Now we are at 4000 ft, with a full load of cargo. The 2F is really working now. The race motor makes an absolutely beautiful sound when its giving 100%. I'm really thankful at this point for the TBI, because it has worked flawless in dealing with the elevation changes. Still, this is no V8, and we are hogging the slow lane. We aren't doing as bad as we think, the only folks that pass us are either in lightweight imports or diesel pickups.
We pull off at Fresh Pond to top off the tank with what I'm told is the last chance at "reasonably priced" gas.
Not knowing how much longer we'll have cell service, we take the opportunity to call home and say our last goodbyes for almost a week.
The truck is now officially heavy. Really fricken heavy. As we climb in, I can feel it swaying back and forth and sinking lower and lower. I'm starting to get nervous about hitting the trail, the hardest trail I've ever attempted, with a truck that is giving the OME heavy suspension a run for its money.
We pull back on the highway, with the turns getting tighter and tighter and the grades getting steeper and steeper. The downhills are so steep and the truck so loaded that engine braking is no longer enough to hold our speed. 4th gear usually would hold us at at steady speed on any mountain grade, but now 3rd can't even hold us back. I coast up to redline, then use the brakes to get us back to a reasonable rpm, and repeat.
Then there's the uphills. I'm used to driving an empty truck with no passengers at sea level. Now we are at 4000 ft, with a full load of cargo. The 2F is really working now. The race motor makes an absolutely beautiful sound when its giving 100%. I'm really thankful at this point for the TBI, because it has worked flawless in dealing with the elevation changes. Still, this is no V8, and we are hogging the slow lane. We aren't doing as bad as we think, the only folks that pass us are either in lightweight imports or diesel pickups.
We pull off at Fresh Pond to top off the tank with what I'm told is the last chance at "reasonably priced" gas.
Not knowing how much longer we'll have cell service, we take the opportunity to call home and say our last goodbyes for almost a week.
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- #40
A few miles down the road, we make the final turn on Icehouse Road which will lead us right to where we'll camp for the night at Loon Lake.
Awesome! Except that Icehouse Rd is 32 miles long. And you probably average 30 mph at best. This means we still have over an hour of steep, winding, sea-sickness inducing road left to go.
An eternity later we see signs for Loon Lake. We see a group of cruisers at one of the campgrounds (but not the group we're looking for). We pull over and see a crowd standing around Ross's (woooody on here) truck. The Prez is underneath "polishing the crank", whatever that means. Ige and Pighead are standing nearby, watching and warming up beers with their hands, covered head to toe in oil and grease. Later we'll find out that is what they normally look like, no idea if they were actually helping or not.
Fearing that if we stay too long we will be forced to help, we get going again in search for the Loon Lake Dam. We quickly run into Andy (Cruiserdrew), the head honcho of the Wagon Run, coming in the opposite direction and he confirms we are indeed headed in the right direction.
Out of nowhere a ginormous mountain lake appears through the trees. At 6300' no less. It's absolutely stunning! Beautiful views in every direction! We have arrived!
Here's a panoramic video...
Awesome! Except that Icehouse Rd is 32 miles long. And you probably average 30 mph at best. This means we still have over an hour of steep, winding, sea-sickness inducing road left to go.
An eternity later we see signs for Loon Lake. We see a group of cruisers at one of the campgrounds (but not the group we're looking for). We pull over and see a crowd standing around Ross's (woooody on here) truck. The Prez is underneath "polishing the crank", whatever that means. Ige and Pighead are standing nearby, watching and warming up beers with their hands, covered head to toe in oil and grease. Later we'll find out that is what they normally look like, no idea if they were actually helping or not.
Fearing that if we stay too long we will be forced to help, we get going again in search for the Loon Lake Dam. We quickly run into Andy (Cruiserdrew), the head honcho of the Wagon Run, coming in the opposite direction and he confirms we are indeed headed in the right direction.
Out of nowhere a ginormous mountain lake appears through the trees. At 6300' no less. It's absolutely stunning! Beautiful views in every direction! We have arrived!
Here's a panoramic video...
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