What a Trip Joshua Tree to Jean 300

[Turboyota]

December 2021

This fantastic trip was planned by @Adventure Endeavor

Thanks @Motiracer38 for the invite. I remapped Jesse’s route on Google Earth based on OnX maps during my 7 day free trial.

@Kellyex1450 & ODRMSE Roy arrived at my house at 6AM Friday just in time to catch me blaspheming our lord and savior whilst spraying starting fluid into the throttle body of my already-flooded Turboyota. It was 35 degrees F, and the little bitch didn’t want to start(I already told TunerAndrew I need to tweak and twerk the tune). I had gotten pissed off and continued cranking after I knew I was fucked. Because anger & aggression issues.

We double checked for spark and decided to pull start it. Kelly hooked up the (newly linked!!!) Tan Toyota sleeper with my SuperStrap and pulled me down my driveway. Three clutch dumps later she fired up. We decided on a radio channel that we all had programmed and pounded pavement towards 29 Palms & Joshua Tree.

Around Yucca valley, Roy radioed that he had a cam position sensor code and that the Canyonero was missing badly. We continued on with plans to buy a sensor in town as soon as the parts stores opened, but the tired chevy I5 developed a substantial oil leak and Roy turned around and headed home. The injured Canyonero heaved its last breath as Roy pulled safely back into his driveway in Redlands

Kelly and I topped off fuel in 29 Palms and met @Motiracer38 , @Adventure Endeavor , Vince, and Jesse’s brother Larry at their campsite.

Vehicles:
Jesse’s D44 TTB LS swapped Jeep Grand Waggoner built at @the_fablab_

Vince’s 2018 Raptor

Larry’s 3rd Gen 4Runner with 2.5” foxes, Upper Arm & OME coils

@Motiracer38 ‘s Lexus V8 swapped & linked Toyota pickup

@Kellyex1450 ‘s Linked sleeper Toyota with under-bed Fox coilovers and Light Racing Jounce shocks. Kelly is 6’6” and somehow shoehorns himself into that toyota with hard shell seats and a cage. Fucking champion. Also, it’s nice to have someone taller than Beaumont…

And my Turboyota

Planned Route:

From Joshua Tree/29 Palms, we headed Northeast through the Sheephole Valley wilderness. Trail was fast, soft & sandy and had miles of fun rollers.

After a quick detour through some farms that aren’t shown on Google Earth, we hit the railroad tracks in Cadiz. We followed the tracks to Danby Rd where there is a cool abandoned old ore-processing facility.
My son Michael(AccidentSon) looking for Kelly. Somehow that fucker got around us??? One of life’s mysteries…

We crossed the tracks at Essex and Jumped on a very lightly traveled Telephone Line Rd. Some of us loved it, others did not.
We crossed Interstate 40 and got fuel in Fenner. The most I’ve paid for gas in my entire life -- $6.90/gal -- Nice. No fucks given, let’s enjoy more dirt!!

 

[Turboyota]

Day 1 continued:

The trail north out of Fenner into the Mojave National Preserve is very lightly traveled which caused many people to lose the trail and get separated. With the largest and newest vehicle, Vince was trying valiantly not to scratch his new Raptor. Me, Kelly, and Beaumont? We give zero fucks, so we trimmed all the bushes with our mirrors and bedsides. There are a few guzzlers nestled in the hills to the East and we saw multiple coveys of healthy-looking quail.

Hi jesse!

Yo Kelly!

My son and I laughed our fucking asses off. Great father & son times! And we drank a bunch a beer also, which was quite delightful.

Kelly, Me, & @Motiracer38 found our way and hit the East/West powerline rd and drank beer while we waited for everyone to find the trail and catch up.

Waiting for the others to pick their way through the underbrush. Old Toyotas for the motherfuckin’ win.

Jesse’s wagoneer is dope.

Oh hello there Larry

Headed easterly on the powerline rd, then headed North on Leiser Ray Mine rd and explored the mine that shares the same namesake.

Liquid sandwiches

One of the heavy steel shaft covers had been cutaway and it took 12 seconds for a rock to hit the bottom. So deep.

After the Leiser Ray Mine exploration, some frosty refreshments and beef jerky Lunch, we continued toward Laughlin on Fort Piute Rd to North on NN049, then East on NN036 Mojave Rd.


We stopped at balancing rock:

 

[Turboyota]

Day 1 concluded

Kelly & his boy Ira

Damn I love multicolored Toyotas!

I also have much love for Kelly’s super sleeper ‘yota.

Jenna gets around. Whore.

Then cruised into Laughlin through some bone-jarring golf cart chatter. @Adventure Endeavor said over the radio “I feel like I’m in a fucking blender” which elicited tumultuous laughter from my son and I. I replied quite honestly: “I feel like I’m riding in a couch.” Kelly and I had planned on staying at Tropicana, but the rest of the group was sill considering camping outside Laughlin. Weather was supposed to be in the low 40’s and super fucking windy, so they made the call to grab rooms at the Tropicana and join us for dinner at the Prime Rib Room at The Riverside. We gorged ourselves.

Cruising into Laughlin

Made it with zero issues

“I’d like a parking structure view on the 6th floor or above”

Fuck yeah, let’s get fatter!

 

[Turboyota]

Day 2

Good morning trucks!

I woke up early, gassed up with premium AZ fuel for $3.29 in Bullhead, grabbed some McD’d for breakfast, and we headed for Christmas tree pass. When we got there, there were like 20 jeeps getting ready to run the trail. FUCK!!! We have to get ahead of these slowass boomers! Kelly suggested we talk to them about letting us pass down the road, and they were super cool. We ended up passing them when they were pulled off to check out the petroglyphs. Whew!

Mountains in Christmas tree pass are beautiful. Trail is a graded 2-lane rd, so we had lots of fun drift action especially up toward the top of the pass. Jesse called in the radio once: “NICE DRIFT Rouse!!” I responded: “thanks man, it felt fucking awesome.” Michael and I fist bumped. It’s really nice to let someone else take the risk of oncoming traffic sometimes…

Checked out all the decorated trees in Christmas Tree pass.

JennaAntenna gets around as always. This time is south of Searchlight.

Dropping down towards the Colorado River again.

Stopped at the Morningstar Mine where there were lots of intact buildings and mining construction.

 

[Turboyota]

Day 2 continued:

More from the Morning Star mine:

“Hey Michael, nice dick. Looks unclean and uncut, though.”

Colorado river in the distance. Views were phenomenal.

The trail we came in on:

After the mine, the canyon narrowed and there was a spring seeping out of what appeared to be solid rock.

4ft rock ledges that 2WD @Motiracer38 and I weren’t particularly worried about, but the Raptor would have sustained significant valance and bumper damage.

The aforementioned spring.

So we decided to turn around and head back up the wash. I was able to maneuver around and do a 69 point turn. Michael enjoying a beer as a reward for hauling the tire chocks for me.

@Motiracer38 also did a 69 point turn, but the added stress on his power steering line caused a pinhole rupture which resulted in a power steering fluid smoke screen.

Beaumont and @JESSEA started the fix with JB weld…

Then electrical tape…

Then heater hose and hose clamps. I said “only way that’s possibly gonna hold up to a couple thousand PSI is if the solid part of the hose clamp is directly over the pinhole”

Unfortunately I was right, so we threw a couple extra fire extinguishers in Beaumonts truck, and sandwiched him between a couple more trucks with extinguishers. Buy some fire extinguishers, Beaumont! Sheesh!

Climbed out of a couple rock ledges and headed back up the canyon.

Made it back out of the canyon, and Beaumont decided to go to Boulder for a replacement hose. We headed into a Bitchin ghost town called Nelson.

Nelson, NV

 

[Turboyota]

Nelson, NV continued

Cool buildings and vehicles abounded.

A fucking Jack-a-lope!!?

The Jubilee mine outside of Nelson is deep. So deep. The Interior network of tunnels was expansive. We even found some tunnels that smelled like sulfur and got very warm and humid. They must’ve hit a mineral spring deep in there somewhere.

Very tall ceilings in some areas.

Looking out from the mouth of the Jubilee mine toward Nelson.

Jubilee mine entrance above my Turboyota.

Thousands of psi is no fucking joke! Thank goodness for user rebuildable hydraulic hoses. Beaumont had everything fixed and back together lickitysplit.

Looking east from the mountain pass between Jean and Boulder City.

West-ish view. Driving right into the sun for 20 minutes before we started climbing the mountains sucked a Bag of dicks. That was fucking miserable.

Took 5 or 6 miles of Mint400 racecourse before we crossed close to the lakebed. Jesse, Larry, Vince, and Beaumont all camped outside of Jean and Michael and I headed for home. Jesse’s Wagoneer was experiencing some non-caged self destruction at this point. His fender mounts were cracking and the fenders were hitting the doors, hood latches were cracking, and the body mounts forward of the rear fender wells had some crackcrackcrackaroos.

Stopped at THE Del Taco and gorged ourselves.

 

[Turboyota]

Other carnage:
Larry lost the pin top part of his Fox rear shock:

Total miles day 1: 140 dirt, 90 pavement
Total miles day 2: 124 dirt, 211 pavement
Music: Bloodhound Gang, Metallica, Dropkick Murphys, Slayer, Johnny Cash, White Zombie
Beers: good god, man….
Laughs: an imperial fuckton
Lbs of beef jerky consumed: 1.5
Tools used on the Turboyota: Zero. Never even opened the hood.

 

[Adventure Endeavor]

What an epic trip! Thanks for the flashback!

 

[Motiracer38]

Holy cow, I have no idea how you remember all those details months later I had forgotten half of those events. Boulder city Carquest and reusable fittings for the win!