For the last three years, we've been doing an annual boys-only overland run for a week plus. 2023 we did CO>NM>AZ>UT>NV>OR. It remains the greatest trip I've ever done, and is probably the best 3 week period of my 35 years on this planet, despite my good friend helping add another chink to the armor of the Invulnerable Toyota lore and losing his JDM diesel engine on his 80. Last year was OR>ID>UT>ID>OR with some ups and downs, but few true complaints. And this years was AZ>UT>ID>OR>NV>AZ.
We got pretty badly whipped by wind in Moab last year, but still did some great wheeling, saw the world-class views adorning eastern UT, and had a great time anyway. This year, however...well this year didn't ever remotely go as planned. An "irritating" wind pattern that pounded everything from Washington to New Mexico kicked our asses all over the place, and when I set off for my last three nights solo for some supposed world-class fishing, my lack of redundancy also burned me like a toddler touching the stove.
Despite that, on the penultimate night, I saw three F18s cruise right over the top of me which definitely helped alleviate the pain. I moved from this spot back down the trail a hair to reduce any further wind shenanigans and faired pretty well for one last summer weather siesta before a final night of 40 MPH gusts and no fire.
We've committed to an Indian Summer/early fall run for 2026 to mitigate the wind factor while avoiding fire bans, and trying to snag those fall fishing bites. Fingers crossed.
We got pretty badly whipped by wind in Moab last year, but still did some great wheeling, saw the world-class views adorning eastern UT, and had a great time anyway. This year, however...well this year didn't ever remotely go as planned. An "irritating" wind pattern that pounded everything from Washington to New Mexico kicked our asses all over the place, and when I set off for my last three nights solo for some supposed world-class fishing, my lack of redundancy also burned me like a toddler touching the stove.
Despite that, on the penultimate night, I saw three F18s cruise right over the top of me which definitely helped alleviate the pain. I moved from this spot back down the trail a hair to reduce any further wind shenanigans and faired pretty well for one last summer weather siesta before a final night of 40 MPH gusts and no fire.
We've committed to an Indian Summer/early fall run for 2026 to mitigate the wind factor while avoiding fire bans, and trying to snag those fall fishing bites. Fingers crossed.
