The Anza Borrego 300

[Turboyota]

March 2021

Trucks:
1. My Turboyota
2. @GahnRacing ‘s Ranger
3. @Do Dah ‘s 4Runner
4. Kevco Engineering’s mezzanine Bronco
5. Ameribrade Eric’s linked Bronco
6. Kevco’s parents in a new Bronco
7. My parents in a 2002 TRD Tacoma with Swayaway coilovers & Deaver mini pack

Day 1 route:

Met in Julian at 9AM:

Took Rodriguez Spur Truck Trail down to Oriflame Canyon

Patrik & I checked out an excellent camping spot in oriflame canyon for future enjoyment.

Hit a few miles of pavement on S2 once we dropped into the valley and headed to my planned camp spot off overland stage route.

Dropped off firewood and other non-essentials and headed up Vallecito Creek Rd toward the Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves.

Shortly after our departure from the camp site, I lost boost and the Turboyota was running like absolute shit. Turns out the “mystery polymer” coupler that I botched onto the turbo a couple days before the trip shit the bed. Nooooo biiiiiig deeeeeeeal, I brought the spare egay reducer couplers that arrived in the mail the day before the trip. Patrick’s dad and I had it all tuned up and ready to rock again in like 30 minutes. There is 17lbs of shit in a 5lb bag on my truck, and my arms and hands are big and fat, so it was super nice to have an extra set of hands for the fitting swap.

Do Dah gracing us with his majestic mullet:

Blue coupler popped off the boost side of the turbo and melted against the heat shield and exhaust. Here is a pic for reference before heat shield.

With heat shield:

^^^swapped that shit out for a chinee black silicone 2-2.5 reducer coupler.


Explored the Mud Caves and ate lunch, then dropped down Diablo Dropoff(pics below). And headed toward the wind caves and Split mountain rd.

Canyons offer gorgeous views and fun fast driving.

Posted up at the trestle for some liquid refreshments

After the trestle, we rolled South through Plaster City, got gas at Ocotillo Chevron, and cruised back to camp just before dark in time to setup camp and enjoy an awesome fire until 1:30AM

 

[Turboyota]

More pics from day 1.
Met about a dozen dudes riding up into Oriflame canyon. They all had solo cups of cranberry vodka and Coors lights. They were super cool and let the kids sit on the horses and even shared their drinks!

Fixing my blown/melted boost fitting. I don’t look very stoked with the situation. Do Dah is holding the boost tube so the mystery polymer fitting won’t continue melting on the exhaust while I extricate the complicated series of wobble extensions and deep socket required to remove the chinee 2.5” t-bar clamps.

Fun fact: both Do Dah and I were rocking AND1 jungleball poverty shorts.

Mud caves!

Entrance looks kinda like a sarlacc pit

Closed down the fire at 1:30AM with Patrik, Do Dah, and Mrs Kevco Engineering.

I wonder why I destroy so many camping chairs…. Weird.

Day 1 Carnage:
1. mystery polymer boost fitting
2. Chinee t-bar band clamp
3. My parents toolbox went belly up and emptied it’s bowels all over their truck bed.

Beers: oodles. We all drank all day and all night.

 

[Turboyota]

Day 2:

Route:

RedShortsBlake (BroFab) & Taylor showed up in the morning in the daily driver Tundra.

Packed up, grabbed my fire container(old wheelbarrow) after properly disposing of the ashes of course, and headed South into Carrizo canyon. Carrizo has fast sections, technical areas with tight turns, some rocky sections and a little bit of soft sand. It’s 7 miles each way out-and-back.

Fun fact: In 1994, there was enough water in Carrizo canyon that pools 6+ feet deep formed throughout the rocky canyon and parts of the wash. I skinny dipped for the first time in Carrizo when I was 16. The girl I was with was 19 and a sophomore in college, and I thought I was so fucking cool! I made a lot of great memories there. My life has been pretty much downhill from that high point hahaha.

After Carrizo, we headed into Canyon Sin Nombre again because its such a beautiful fun drive.

At the junction of Canyon Sin Nombre & Vallecito Creek rd. Peekaboo fatass!

Ameribrade Eric slid off the slippery muddy trail in Vallecito Creek Rd. Broke out the umbilical and Kevco extracted him.

 

[Turboyota]

Day 2 Continued:

After we checked out the old Carrizo Stage Station ruins, we blasted through 15 miles of fast sand wash.

Most the jeeps and RZRs pulled over and kindly let us pass.

Most of them.

There was a group of 8 faggoty RZRs that could not take a hint. Patrik and I systematically passed 7 of the faggots. None of them pulled over or made it easy. We passed through drop offs, bushes, and rocks. I could not get around the leader of the faggots, and I even got as close at 3 feet off his rear bumper, but he wouldn’t move out of the way. What a cocksucker.

In general, I hate those inconsiderate UTV assholes more every time I’m around them.

So we stopped at the trestle again and bitched about RZRs and the bitches that drive them and drank beer and ate lunch.

Patrik and his Dad were having a great time!

Do Dah and Blake

Patrik doing jeep thangs

From the trestle, we blasted North on the Pole Line rd and busted a West on Gas Domes Trail. Lots of slow fucks on pole line. Some asshole on a motorcycle cut off Blake and roosted his windshield.

At some point on Gas Domes Trail, my Turboyota was handling strangely—pulling to the left and right, fighting for traction, and I could faintly heard ominous noises coming from somewhere. I hopped out, looked under the truck and didn’t see anything obvious, so we motored on into the miserable dusty wind. After a few more miles, it was readily apparent that something was amiss. I suspected a broken axle based on how the truck was performing. Kevco jumped in behind me and noticed that my passenger rear was wobbling a little. We jacked the passenger rear off the ground and sure enough, she wobbled and spun freely whilst making nasty metal grinding noises.

Fuck. So I limped it back to the pavement and called AAA Chase.

I bummed beers off everyone and waited 2 hours and 53 minutes for the tow truck to arrive. I got pretty tuned while waiting.

We said our goodbyes and everyone else proceeded towards Borrego Springs and Coyote Canyon.

 

[Turboyota]

End of Day 2 & Early day 3

While I waited for AAA Chase, the rest of the group kept motoring.

North of Borrego Springs in the Citrus Orchards. Everyone else met met up with my parents coming out of Coyote Canyon(they stayed the night in Borrego Sorings and moseyed around the dezert most the day.

Water crossing into Coyote Canyon. Water was fairly deep. Probably 2 feet ish.

This used to be a challenging rock crawling section. I blame overlanders for turning it into what appears to be rock-stacked cobblestone. There is no longer a boulder-strewn gateway to keep the riffraff out. On the plus side, the 2WDs were able to navigate the section without issue.

Blake’s 4x4 Tundra navigated it with ease

Do Dah making it happen

AmeriBrade Eric navigated the rocks in 2WD also.

The spot I planned to camp in Blair Valley was full, so the homies found another good spot and had a nice fire.

 

[Turboyota]

Day 3 Route:

Day three hit all the popular spots in and around Ocotillo Wells and Truckhaven.

Fonts point
Vista del milpais
17 palms oasis
Pumpkin patch
Playground
Devils Slide
Shell Reef
Offroad playground in Truckhaven

Carnage was taking a heavy toll at this point.

Passenger-side axle on my toyota:

And my boost fitting popped off and needed to be replaced:

Patrik’s beam mount developed some gnarly cracks that cut his day short. He also went through like 12 quarts of oil over the weekend.

Blake deleted an exhaust and battery mount

Ameribrade Eric’s Corrosive Design Built Bronco developed a ton of cracks in the B-Pillar mounts and rear coilover mounts.

And his Ford 8.8 rearend was not pleased with the relentless pounding and started cracking at the upper link truss attach points. Gear oil seepage abounded.

 

[Turboyota]

This trip needs to be revisited this winter or spring.

When I completely build the Tacoma that was once my late Father’s, there will be quite a few commemorative trips to areas he introduced me and my sons to as children.

We haven’t even scratched the surface of all the places he took me in Baja, AZ, and Death Valley.

Prep your shit, boys. We are going to conquer some dirt in the coming years.

—Rouse