2000 miles of nervous nirvana....

This was going to be my first full day on the road. I was trying to make it to the Idaho state line as a rough goal. 

I hit the I70 junction early in the morning. I REALLY didn't want to have to take interstate but I had to jump on an off a few times for only a few miles. Looking back I think with a little more time I could have found a better way. The old highway into Green River, Utah was one of the worst sections of road on the entire trip. I think the road was paved sometimes in the 50s. Then they ran a cat with ripper teeth down it. Aliens had removed random sections of road base in interesting shapes. They didn't feel the need to repair any of the road surface where they either had torn out or replaced culverts under the road. There where some hail mary dukes of hazard moments on that short section of road. The Willys didn't fall apart so I guess it was ok? This little Willys was built with just over four inches of compression travel and I used all of it more than once. I probably should have just slowed down more...

Green River was a nice little town. I had never really driven through the town itself. I had always just passed it on the interstate. There was a fantastic looking 600+ yard match range just to the east of town. I passed a mini-refinery on the old highway too. A few dozen mangy range cows to keep me company. I noticed a small issue in green river with my idle speed. It was too high for no real reason. I had a new manual throttle installed and thought that might have been the issue. I found the local parts store that wasn't open this early in the morning, but popped the hood anyways. 

I turned out that I needed to move the throttle return spring over to the other side of the arm and rebend the small bracket on the engine to tension the spring more. This fixed that problem for the rest of the trip. It wasn't a big deal, but I wanted to stay on top of things like this on the trip. I think a lot of time you spot more stuff fixing the little stuff. 

I had to take another short section of interstate to get to highway 6 headed towards the big city. I had to make a jet change or two but ended up with a combo that worked all the way into Idaho. Sometimes its fun to change jets, sometimes it is a bit of a pain. You can really notice a big difference in mileage, power, and general engine behavior if you stay on top of it. I usually try to run in the 13-14:1 range under cruise vacuum if I can. If it is going leaner than 14.3-14.8 very often I change. If it is going richer and the elevation is going to stay higher I change it. For quicker mountain passes you can just leave it usually. 

I hit the end of highway 6 as it melts into the mess that is the Salt Lake metro area. This metro area is just HUGE and stretches for what seems like a hundred miles south to north. I had plotted an old highway and surface street route through town. Sadly I hit this mess just about 11am or so. I would have to cross this concrete and asphalt mess in the heat of the day.

The crossing went well other than a few turn arounds and one section of road that I just HATED. The Bangerter Highway is now on my banned list. This 55mph outer highway was four to six lanes of concrete highway with 20 foot concrete sound walls on both sides. This not so clever configuration of road design formed a giant rock oven that I was lucky enough to get to drive my 70 year old Willys jeep through! Never again! It was probably my least favorite part of the trip. Getting off that road was the best thing ever. 

Once on the north end of the mess I call Salt Lake I was able to get on the old highway 89 again. I phoned a friend that I was going to meet for lunch in Bringham City. By the time I got there it was more like an early dinner but I couldn't complain. I talked jeep for a nice long time and got to get about ten glasses of water in me. 

I had wanted to get to the Idaho border, but mother nature had other plans. Right after leaving Bringham City the wind picked up a ton and I was just done with it for the day. At this point I had probably done 300 or more miles with a lot of hours in the heat of the midday sun. It just so happened that I noticed a sign for Crystal Hot Springs just north of Bringham city. I wasn't cold really, but soaking for a bit sounded pretty dang good after that day on the road. And, they had camp sights. And, they had trees I could string my hammock up on. Sold! It was probably the best $20 I spent the entire trip so far. 

I soaked in the naturally salty mineral waters for more than a few hours. I got to talk with some locals which was interesting. One older lady that was a retired Navy nurse knew a lot about the local area. I don't think many people got WHY I was doing this trip in an old flat fender, but many where interested in my back roads non-interstate journey. 

I found out that I didn't pack any tent stakes for my tarp. I ended up finding a piece of mostly not burned firewood in one of the fire pits that I then split and carved into a few stakes. Ray Mears I am not, but I try...

My next project? My dads M170 needing some love! Pretty clean rig overall. 

Making some rear axle gaskets using my front drive flange as a pattern. The gasket worked well and stopped THOSE leaks. The rear axle also leaks at the spindle seal however. I just don't think those seals can seal just gear lube. I have some mods in mind for later. 

Let the snow-wheeling begin! 

Up and over the mountains we went. The snow got deeper. The sidehills got steeper. The exposure got more severe. 

To be honest this day ended up being just too much too quick for me. Basically all my friends do is go snow wheeling they are on a whole new level in there vehicle preparation and driving skill! This is the first time I had had my little Willys out in the deep deep snow. I had done a lot of snow-wheeling back in the day, but I was WAY behind my friends. Basically I was a rusty driver in an unfamiliar vehicle, in unfamiliar terrain. I flat got my butt whooped this day. 

At one point towards the end of the day we where working this section of sidehill going towards a campground high up in the mountains. My tires where down to 2psi and the old Willys was just flat having a hard time. It wouldn't stick to the sidehill and I constantly was sliding downhill to the somewhat exposed section of the road edge. I wouldn't get 'stuck' really but I just couldn't move more than a few feet. I couldn't get the vehicle to climb back up on the snow by itself. I would have to winch back up. That old belleview sure pulls nice for a "6000lb" winch though! I am REALLY happy with that old thing after this trip. Both my friends run 8274's and I can now fully appreciate the modern brake system and power out motor. I have some upgrades to do in the future! 

One of my friends popped an outer bead off after taking a pretty bad bounce. He was using the long pedal a bit through a section and took a sideways hop on a sidehill section. The downhill rear tire took all the weight of the jeep at speed, at about a 90 degree angle to the bead, and pealed off. Both of the TJs are running what I call Tape-Locks. A few raps of gorilla tape are added over the safety bead area on the wheel to make the tire fit MUCH tighter on the rim. Honestly, this flat works about 99% of the time. This lost bead was from a BAD bounce at speed at probably 3psi or less. The TJ isn't a light weight rig either at over 5000lbs fully loaded. He had no other bead issues the rest of the trip. It was more driver error than beadlock error. 

We scouted up the road a bit and found much more sidehill and it was getting worse. At this point I just called it. I was pretty much done for the day... 

We backtracked to a nice camp spot alongside the road still in the 'snow' section to limit holiday traffic :) 

This day was freaking perfect. We covered a lot of miles and everything was really clicking. 

We where back in the middle of nowhere for sure. We backtracked over a pass we had already gone over to get back into another area. Sadly we where not able to connect out the other side of much stuff, but it was still fun none the less! 

I got to break trail over a small pass this day. It was REALLY nice to lead through some stuff. It made me feel like my driving was catching up with the other guys ( yeah right! ). 

This was the day we finally had to use our auxiliary fuel. I put in 10 gallons, I think one of the TJs squeezed in 14 gallons. I seemed to be using about the same amount of fuel as the larger jeeps. That wasn't too bad for my carbureted old engine I don't think. Both TJs are running 5.3 GM engines.  The super siphon worked GREAT for transferring fuel. No mess, no sore arms from holding up the can, etc. My friend REALLY liked it after I let him try it on one of his cans!  

Off we went in another direction. This day was my favorite by far. I got to break some trail effectively, we covered a lot of ground, no problems at all really. 

I headed back towards Idaho and my parents ranch this day. 

I ended up getting rained more than enough this day. Maybe this was mothers natures way of telling me I needed a shower? I ended up getting wet enough that I needed to find some better rain pants. My lightweight ones where just not cutting it any more. The water would kinda get thrown up inside the bowl of the seat and soak through my light rain gear into my pants. Having a soggy cold back end is no fun at all. 

At some point I pulled over in Hamilton, Montana at a Bob Wards sporting goods store. The girls there got me fixed up with some nice WATERPROOF pants and didn't even seem put off by my lack of bathing. Maybe those road showers really do help? 

The best thing ever is the weather underground mobile site for your smart phone. It lets you see current radar and track trail on your journey. I used this more than once to time a shoot between a pair of storms that where moving across the highway. 

I stopped and visited with some old friends on the way. Got some great food. Basically I had a great time even though the weather was being a pain in my rear. 

With an open old flat fender jeep with tires that stick WAY outside of the body you have interesting inventive thoughts on the road. Have you ever seen wipers on the INSIDE of a windshield? How do you keep the water from ending up on the underside of the bikini top and dripping on your head? What kind of seats would be the most waterproof? Do they make seat heaters that would work in the rain? 

Fun times.....