I finally got my first major trip in with the WJ and trailer. I guess Moonrocks was relatively major (150 miles each way, going over Donner Summit both ways) but this trip was much, much longer. I went from home in Lincoln, CA to the family property way out in the Payette National Forrest, ID, then back into my folks' place in Meridian (outside Boise) and then down to Las Vegas (more on that later). In all, it was well over 1,500 miles and included a ton of climbs and grades, as well as long sections in the high desert where it was 100+ degrees out.
Getting into Idaho still clean - too clean ;)
The Jeep did pretty good overall to this point. I left CA very early and got over Donner before it got hot out. But no matter how I planned it, I had to go through the high deserts in Northern NV/Southeast Oregon in the middle of the day. The grades aren't as severe as Donner, but are often just very long, minor grades. It was 90-100 degrees out and, I was monitoring temps closely and having to back-out and turn the AC off to maintain a range from about 214-228. Now, to be clear 228 is hotter than I'm especially comfortable with, but not "danger zone" yet. On the factory gauge 228 was just barely past the 210 tick-mark, where stock it'd run just about all the time (I'm getting temps via OBD-II on a TrailDash2). The trans hit about 220 max. So, not ideal and I would have obviously preferred to use AC at all times, but it got the job done.
A couple random shots heading out to the family property. The pic with my buddy "posing" on the tire is in Warren, ID.
The family property is ~3hrs from electricity and cell reception, so once we got out there I sort of forgot my phone in the Jeep and didn't really pull it off the dash mount much. My buddies got a few pics, but I really failed as always. I didn't even get 1 pic of the trailer all setup. I slept in the trailer, and used it for a good bit of my cooking and such, but the family property does have a cabin so I suppose it wasn't "real" Overlanding. The cabin is a real deal log cabin with just a kitchen, space to eat and some storage. A few decades back an additional storage room was built onto the side of the cabin, and later it was converted to a bathroom (with a flushing toilet, hot water and a shower) so it's really not roughing it. Still, you don't sleep in the cabin, the other guys slept in the sleeping porches.
One of the sleeping porches, as you can see it's a semi-open structure.
Here's a view off the porch of the cabin (the cabin itself I neglected to get a single pic of).
We took a run out to a fire-lookout one day, which is a climb from ~3k ft to nearly ~9k feet. It was hot out (~95 down at 3k) but without the trailer the Jeep did just fine. It seemed to like running in 4LO but getting up into 3rd where I could tell the torque converter would lock best as far as temps.
A couple pics my buddy that owns the Gladiator got on our way up to the lookout (these pics are just below the lookout).
Another day we went out to head to a lake that's pretty remote. we actually ended up spending most of that day clearing the road of downed trees. I think it was the day before that I found a little snow to goof around on too and every day we got to use the chainsaws and winches clearing trees.
Did use my swing-out and table for lunch one day.
And another day we setup a little "burger stand" way out on the road we were clearing.
Then, finally when it was all done I got the Jeep and trailer to Vegas and parked it here:
My new RV garage/shop at our new house in Vegas!!! Yup, I'm moving from Northern CA to Vegas (though I'll still work in the Bay Area, CA and keep an apartment here). The building is pretty big, the black trailer is a 24' box so about 28-29' total, the white trailer is a 20' box so 24-25'. Then there's my truck, the WJ and of course the little Overland trailer. Eventually our RV will go in here and I'll put up a 2-post lift in the back corner (kind of where the Overland trailer is). But for the moment our RV itself is staying at an indoor storage facility until we get the RV garage done, so I figured I'd put everything in here. The 2 bigger trailers will go outside on the opposite side of the house (which also has its own 3-car garage) under a shade-structure, but for now I just wanted them out of the sun. We'll be insulating it, adding drywall/finishing painting the walls, probably epoxying the floor and of course adding AC. I'm pretty excited!
Of course, with the major life-change, I'm at a bit of a cross-roads on the WJ and indeed even the little Overland trailer. I really do like them both a LOT and they both are getting close to dialed in. If I can get the temps a bit lower on the WJ when towing the trailer in high ambient temps, it'd be a perfect combo. But with the move, I'm not exactly sure if/when I'll be able to use it. The idea with getting into Overlanding for me was to be able to do quick 1-2 night trips when I don't have the time, or don't want to go through the effort of taking the RV out. As a quick reminder, I spend my week days in the Bay for work, and usually have Fri-Sun "at home" which was up above Sac, but will now be Vegas. I'm not going to go back to Vegas weekly, so
if anything I have even more reason to Overlanding with the weekends I'm stuck in the Bay "by myself."
As such, my initial thought was to sell my Civic commuter (not needed now that I'm not doing that ~340miles/week roundtrip commute from Lincoln to/from Palo Alto) and just make the WJ my daily driver. If I could store the trailer local, and if I could make the WJ work a *little* better towing it, then I'd have the perfect combo for quick weekend escapes. However, the wrench in the gears is that storage for the trailer is astronomical in the Bay Area and unfortunately the apartment I rent doesn't have room for it. Work *does* have space in theory, but IDK how that would be received. If I can store it in the Bay, then that would be perfect, especially if I could make my WJ a bit happier about towing it.
If I *can't* store the trailer in the Bay, I don't know if it makes sense to keep it. During the winter I won't be using it (that is Glamis season for us) and during the summer there's nowhere close 'nough to Vegas where I'd want to take it on a short trip (I don't mind heat during the day, but to make camping enjoyable in a tent or little trailer like this it *has* to cool off some at night for me, that's just how I am). Anywhere near Vegas I could use it in the summer would actually be pretty far away and would require gaining a lot of elevation. Obviously Vegas is hot as heck, so I'd be trying to do those drives in high ambient temps. On top of all that, if I'm only going home to Vegas 1 or 2 times a month I want to spend time with my wife and dogs and whatnot. In those cases, if we're going anywhere, it's going to be in the RV not Overlanding.
I'm not saying I'm getting rid of the trailer for sure, and I can't even imagine getting rid of the WJ - but I'm still at a bit of a decision point. Part of me wants to throw $ at the problem and buy a diesel Gladiator for my daily driver out here in the Bay, and keep the trailer here (again, if I can find a way to do it that isn't more than a Gladiator payment) and have an awesome combo that still allows me to get out and enjoy all the amazing geography near me - plus gives me something to do on weekends when I'm "stuck" out here by myself. If I went that route, I could keep the WJ out in Vegas and set it up for flat-towing behind the RV. Of course, the other part of me knows I won't actually use two Jeeps enough to justify this approach, and I know I'll go crazy modifying the Gladiator.
That said, the weather is generally much cooler in the Bay Area, so with a few additional mods (hood vents and oil cooler are next) I think I can make the WJ and trailer work there (again, pending storage). Or I just sell the trailer and keep the WJ only in the Bay and go back to a tent, which isn't really a bad deal anyway.
Who knows...
-TJ
