Chasing the Summer: Truck Edition

[twiget]

Hey all, I'm Jason. Back in March I quit my job and started tweaking and customizing a KLR-650 for a pretty epic road trip. The plan was to start in Albuquerque and go right to left, up and down across the Americas. It should have looked something like this:

Unfortunately, after 7 weeks, over 8,000 miles and a lot of minor (and not so minor) mechanical issues, I got burned out on riding this bike. As I was crossing Colorado I decided "the hell with it" and I turned south on I-25 and I was back in Albuquerque 8 hours later.

I'm not giving up on the trip though, I'm just changing my means of transportation: to Freddy, my 2013 Chevy Silverado. Other than a fresh set of tires, I didn't do anything to prepare him for the trip. I really want to be in and out of Alaska before the end of August, so I didn't have a lot of time to do anything fancy.

We've been on the road for a little over a week now and we've tackled some pretty intense stuff.

Engineer Pass Colorado

Moab had a flash flood the night before I go there. They were still cleaning up as I was passing through.

One month and one vehicle change later, I finally made it to the Pacific Ocean

I started the WABDR yesterday. It was extremely green coming north through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was also a tight squeeze in places for a full size Chevy. I'm pretty sure Freddy's got some new racing stripes.

Other than a leveling kit, Freddy is pretty much a bone stock Silverado. He's done great so far, but there are a few tweaks and mods that I want to do to make him more livable and a more capable offroad rig. I'll be chronicling my travels here, along with any mod's I do.

Stay tuned, there is more to come.

 

[wrmmt]

Nice looking rig! Nice to see more of these trucks showing up on the overland front. Definitely will be following along to see how your rig evolves and how your trips go! Making me feel a little under achieving on my trips, I would love to be able to get away from work and do something similar someday!

 

[twiget]

Nice looking rig! Nice to see more of these trucks showing up on the overland front. Definitely will be following along to see how your rig evolves and how your trips go! Making me feel a little under achieving on my trips, I would love to be able to get away from work and do something similar someday!

Glad to have you along @wrmmt. I agree it's definitely time to show people what a full size can do.

 

[twiget]

After crossing in to Colorado I decided to tackle Engineer Pass.

The eastern side of Engineer Pass was actually pretty easy. The road was in pretty good condition and the switchbacks were big enough that I didn’t have to do a 3-point turn to make them. Going down the western side was a whole different story. The weather had turned and it had started to rain sporadically, just enough to make the trail nice and slippery.

There be bears in them there hills!

Engineer Pass Summit. It’s all downhill from here!

On my way down I caught up to a couple of guys, Austin & Eric from BraveHeartOverland. Austin was kind enough to spot for me as we were traversing the more technical spots. Engineer Pass road is 20.5 miles long and it took about four and a half hours to traverse it, good times.

When was the last time you had to climb half way up a rock wall to let oncoming traffic pass?

Eventually the three of us made it to Ouray Colorado and we decided to stop and get something to eat. The next morning the three of us set out bright and early. Austin and Eric decided to take Black Bear Pass, while I chose Imogine Pass. We would rendezvous in Telluride Colorado.

According to the people who decide such things, Engineer Pass is considered a moderately difficult trail, and it’s about as hard core as I wanted to get with Freddy in his current configuration. Black Bear Pass however is considered a hard trail with extremely tight switchbacks that can be a challenge even for tiny Jeep Wranglers.


Imogine Pass is also rated as moderate and I had a great time crawling up it. Jeep Wranglers were a dime a dozen along with side-by-sides and quads. I was the only one who brought a full size Chevy, though there was one guy doing the trail in a Lexus SUV!

Telluride Colorado, I see why they write songs about this place, it’s beautiful

After lunch in Telluride, we hit the road and headed towards Moab Utah.

There had been a flash flood the day before we got to Moab. The pool a the KOA we stayed at had been flooded with mud, along with several streets it looks like.

Flash Flood Cleanup

Austin and Eric spent a day or two playing on the trails in the Moab area, but I wanted to be in Portland for the weekend, so on the road I went.

Finally made it to the Pacific Ocean!

29 days after departing Cape Hatteras, I made it to the Pacific Ocean.

After spending the weekend with a friend and her family in Portland, it was time to start the WABDR.

The WABDR Begins

Day 1 was pretty easy going. The trail wound north through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and wasn’t too difficult.

Camping after successfully completing day 1

My first attempt at night photography

Day 2 started off pretty easy, but it quickly turned into crawling over 100 miles of rocks and bounders and climbing up and down hills. I passed a couple microwave relay stations along the way and what looked like a Doppler radar station. Probably someone’s weather radar.

It was slow going, but eventually I made it to Ellensburg and got some hot food and a comfy bed for the night.

Day 3 was going pretty well until I came across this landslide. There is a path through the trees, but it’s not big enough for Freddy, not by a long shot. It is easily traversed by motorcycles though as I learned about 5 minutes after running into this obstacle.

The trail is not wide enough for me to turn Freddy around, so I started to slowly back him up until I found a place wide enough for what would likely be a 500 point turn. As I was doing this a couple of guys rolled up on motorcycles, Jim and Tom. I explained why I was backing down the trail and Jim kindly offered to ride back down the trail on his BMW and scout out a place for me to turn around.

While Jim was doing that, a group of 5 guys came across the landslide on their bikes and stopped to chat with Tom and I. Talk about good timing. For 2 and a half days, I’ve seen maybe 4 people on the trail. Then all of the sudden there are 8 of us, all doing the WABDR.

Jim returned shortly and said there was a T-intersection about 200 yards down the road that was plenty big enough for me to turn around on. And then Jim and Tim set about conquering the landslide that had stopped me in my tracks.

Jim on his GS800

Success!

Tim and his KLR making it look easy.

I don’t think that’s wide enough for Freddy

It’s just as well that the landslide was there because about 150 yards further up the trail it had washed out. There is definitely not enough road left for me to get Freddy across.

Once all the bikes had cleared out, I backed Freddy down to the intersection, turned around and backtracked to US97 and made my way to the nights camp spot in Leavenworth. From Leavenworth, it’s up to Whidbey Island for a couple days with family, then into Canada!

 

[Anchor Mtn]

CApe Hatteras to the Pacific. What a ride.

 

[twiget]

Thanks. It's not the first time I've driven (or even ridden a bike) from Sea to Shining Sea, but it is definitely the first time I've taken a month to do it!

I just finished up my trip to Alaska, pics will be coming in the next few days. Stay tuned!