Mojave Trail 4/9-4/12 - An AZ Guys Story

[84projectFORD]

Figured I’d give my trip report from the Mojave Trail. Never ran it and have been wanting to for years. Turdblow hit me up letting me know Bodj was putting a trip together and i didnt even hesitate on a “yes!” Alot of you probably know everything im posting but 0 fucks given lol.

Trip started off by the boy and i planning meeting everyone at the thursday night camp spot by 6ish. We left our house at 11ish figuring we had plenty of time for a stop in barstow for some OG Del Taco. we set off and took from new river to wickenburg, wickenburg to parker, parker to Cali 62, 62 all the way into 29 palms and 29 palms to Barstow. Camp was south of newberry springs (20 miles east of barstow). Little did i know, the 20-25mph head wind was going to kill mpg and cruise speed. We were pretty much stuck to 60-65mph and 10mpg… ouch. Probably would have been best to hit the 10 and draft a semi but i never ran this route before and figured, fuck it. New sites! We arrived in Barstow at 5:30pm. Boy wanted a pic to show his teacher he actually ate at the original lol. FYI, hes never done a trip like this so this was going to be fun for him and i. Even heard SByota cruise by with his freshly v8 powered tacoma as he headed to newberry

We left the gas station across the street from del taco at 6:30ish and hauled butt to newberry springs. Best part, tail wind! 80mph no problem on the 40 [emoji1787]. Got off at the exit and cruised up the canyon to the camp spot and met Turdblow, WTK, and SByota and his boy . Setup camp in the wind and Motiracer38 showed up as i finished up. Thebodj was having a trans line leak issue and determined it be best he just meet us in the morning. had a good time till about 11pm that night. Think Jimmy finally passed out around 10.

Next morning, we packed up and were about to head into newberry springs but SByota’s Tacoma with that fresh v8 swap didnt want to start. Blew the main 80amp fuse. Luckily he had the one from the tundra he got the emgine from and off we went.

Met the bodj and marshal, Topped off and headed to the buried houses in the dunes just north of newberry. Checked them out and played in the dunes some. On the way out, WTK and the bodj both got stuck. Little did we know this would be a theme for the s10…. I mean sonoma. Motiracer38 got WTK out and SByota got the bodj out who then got stuck again lol. As we got near the main road, marshal in an exploder got stuck (hes 2wd). I yanked him back and then forward to the dirt road. Cruised up the road and along the rail road tracks to afton canyon to cross the mojave river

Next stop was the slot canyon which was bad ass. Its open all the way up but it twist so much, it gets pitch black in parts. We didnt go to the top cause i didnt trust the dare devil to not come down without stitches.

Cant tell here but you climb the rope here to the top.

The boys. Jimmy had Wyatt and Seth to play with. Jimmy was the youngest but Seth and Wyatt made the trip a blast for him.

 

[84projectFORD]

We headed out of Afton Canyon towards the lava tubes but the bodj pulled over due to it getting hot and a clunk he heard. We found the LR outer axle bearing in his full float axle was about to blow apart. A keeper bolt backed out for the axle nut and broke the bearing cage. We managed to source a bearing in barstow and half ass fix the bearing enough to make our way south to Ludlow. We hauled ass down there (well, most of us) and marshal blew a rear tire. He got that changed and met us at Ludlow. Dry lake bed, i topped out at 80mph and slowed back down. Not gunna blow a motor early on but it had more left. WTK hit 106, Ryan in the 4skinner hit 80… that was all the squirrels had he said

I topped off with fuel and hit the DQ for ice cream (well jimmy did, i wasnt risking i, lactose intolerant). The bodj hopped in with Motiracer38 and they headed to barstow for parts. Boys played catch in the parking lot, smashed ants and we cooked parking lot burgers while we waited. Wasnt much else to see in the area. Not a bad way to spend a friday!

Boys got back with parts, much shit talking ensued and after 30 min of cleaning, it was put back together and ready to rip at 7pm iirc. Plan was to hit dirt out of Ludlow and camp at Kelso Dunes. Somewhere we missed a turn and we found a sand mountain. The bodj got hot again and he stopped. Once cool, he went to go and buried it. WTK went ahead and scouted the area while i tried pulling the bodj forward… nope. Shit was like silt. Turdblow yanked him back and we went back as wtk said it aint any better. We found the right road and hauled butt to Kelso. Showed up about 9pm and setup camp. Boy made it about 20 min before passing out in his chair lol.

Woke the next morning to bad ass sunrise.

Jort crew

Packed up and headed towards the lava tubes to pickup where we left off. Those were cool. Seth proceeded to climb out the little hole at the end, no one else would have been able to do that!

All cinder and sand in this area

Ran up to an old cinder mine and checked some shit out. We determined we could get this old cat running if we had a few parts and diesel lol. WTK looking majestic as fuck

 

[84projectFORD]

Left the cinder pit to the mail box and frog shrine

From there we hit the whoop section. SByota in front of me, i caught him quick as he wasnt trying to haul ass through them.

Me “go faster!”

SByota “ I’m trying my best but I need to limit the sky wheelies…want to go by”

Me “Yeah buddy”

So he pulled over and we proceeded to take the whoops at 50-55mph. God damn that was fun, skip the tops and then hit a big one that launched us into the next set and skipped the tops again. I never fully bottomed out and jimmy and i were just giggling like hell. Half way through, the bodj heard clunking again. We found his lugs all loose and wheel wallowed out. Some welding on the studs to hold them, scavenged lugs from the other 3 wheels, and spare tire on, we are back in business. During this, WTK took the temp gun out and hit the shocks. His fuckin massive fuckers were 98*. 4skinner 135-150 iirc, the bodj was 160 front and 130 rear. My little rear 2.0’s with a .010 cover, flutter and then .020 stack with 2 bleeds open was 165. I wasnt mad at that at all! Front 3.0’s were 120ish lol. By now, the bodj vagina was starting to hurt and he was wanting to go home. We all guilt tripped him into continuing on to which he sacked up and did.

Finished the whoops, high fived each other and continued on to rock house. Pretty damn cool! Told jimmy “dont touch the doll” [emoji1787]

We hit the dirt hill section to see whod make it. The bodj had a slight struggle but turdblow suffered the most with a non active rear locker and open front. Little creative spotting later from motiracer38 and he was up.

Then we headed down to balancing rock where we could hit a roller jump and hang out. Jimmy was passed out at this point but i woke him enough to hit. After we did he says “when are we going to hit the jump?” Im like “dude, we just did?!” He says “but i wasnt awake” [emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787] so i turned back and hit it again. He was all smiles.

Obligatory flex pics

 

[84projectFORD]

Fuckin kid trying to kill me

Finished the last few miles into Laughlin. Had a bit till dinner at a sushi place so we hit the river and Turdblow grabbed his dinner [emoji1787]

What i missed to explain was the tree that reached out and hit my mirror… that fucker. So there i was… cruising the joshua tree forest at speed on a tight two track and a set of whoops come out of no where. What do i do? Fucking hit them of course. What i failed to realize was the amount of stuff in jimmys lap that went everywhere. So i turned my head for a sec to grab my radio and his cheezits and WHAM! Fuckin tree said “pay attention bitch!” And took my mirror off lol. Needless to say, i ordered another at sushi dinner lol

Few of us had rooms at tropicana, turdblow and motiracer38 camped on the beach and wtk went to his freedom lot in yucca az

Jimmy and i aired up Sunday morning and cruised home. $476 in fuel, 870 miles round trip and 250 miles of dirt, I’d do it again lol

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260419/dba14673f55e0c83d94d91027b94a81e.jpg[/IMG

What an absolute blast. The bodj even finished the trip without AAA chase needing to intervene. Ill see if i can get some vids up

 

[84projectFORD]

Grand tracker up dirt hill

The bodj up the dirt hill

SByota up the dirt hill

Turboyota up the dirt hill


Grand tracker over the roller


WTK making us look bad
https://youtu.be/1OpGf57zbBY

 

[the bodj]

This was an awesome trip, as usual. Unfortunately we didn't get to see quite as many sights as I had planned, but we made the most of it.

 

[Tree trunk]

Thanks for the write up looked like an awesome trip. This one is on the to do list for sure

 

[SByota]

Such a good time!

Watching the boys entertain themselves in the dirt and concrete parking lot was awesome. It’s clear you are raising a good boy.

I hope my boy remembers these trips for the rest of his life. Not only the good times, but how friends stick together and overcome challenges to make to the destination together.

Sorry about holding you up in the whoops…,. Not all of us have TTB’s

 

[Giant Geoff]

Looks like a great trip! Love looking through this post. We are doing the trail this weekend, so it's getting pumped up!

 

[84projectFORD]

Thanks for the write up looked like an awesome trip. This one is on the to do list for sure

Hell yes you do. Rouse was telling me about your front steering as i was considering a single swing for my shit box. I cruised your build again to look that over. I just dont know that i have the room. Bronco has turned out bad ass though!

Such a good time!

Watching the boys entertain themselves in the dirt and concrete parking lot was awesome. It’s clear you are raising a good boy.

I hope my boy remembers these trips for the rest of his life. Not only the good times, but how friends stick together and overcome challenges to make to the destination together.

Sorry about holding you up in the whoops…,. Not all of us have TTB’s

Ha! No no, im just more retarded is all

I think i have more fun watching them interact and enjoy the trip more than i do. Im sure they will have these as core memories lol.

Looks like a great trip! Love looking through this post. We are doing the trail this weekend, so it's getting pumped up!

Hell yeah Geoff! Fuckin get some!