So I had never had my shiny new FJ Trail Teams off road until this past weekend. ...well, I did a little tooling around in Gorman OHV, but nothing serious. So I met up with a buddy from work in his Jeep Rubicon Limited, along with his friends Jeff (FJ40), Dion (Hummer H1) and Brian (4 Runner) and together, we headed for Laughlin.
Along the way, we stopped to pick up one of their wheeling buddies, Roger, whose vintage Bronco was in the shop. We gassed up at the Indian reservation, found the trail head, aired down, and were on our way. We did take our time getting to Laughlin, so didn't really begin the Mojave Trail until around 2pm.
Here is my TT prior to the trip. Very, very stock.
Here we are airing down near the beginning of the trail, we couldn't find our way to the river for the very beginning, this is a mile or so inland.
And a couple shots of Jeff's SWEET rig:
Video:
FJ Mojave Trail 02 on Vimeo
We were now officially on our way. For the first several miles I was content to sit in the middle of the pack, following my buddy Derek and his Jeep.
Here's a shot of Derek along with his rig ...he is not a small guy!
Likewise, here is Dion with his H1, the sides of which are thoroughly pinstriped, a sign of his willingness to really use his Hummer.
Here is Brian and his 4 Runner, the man is fearless, especially considering the very stock nature of his truck.
...and a gratuitous shot of the 2 FJs:
From behind the great width that is the H1, I captured this shot of Dion expertly maneuvering through the Joshua Trees ...he never hit a single tree, often with less than inches to spare on both sides!
And another shot of Derek and his Rubicon in action:
Video:
FJ Mojave Trail 03 on Vimeo
The photos never do the landscape justice, but here is one of many spectacular views from the trail:
I am terrible with remembering names & locations, but we broke for camp at Mid-something campground. It had suffered some fire damage last year, making for some surreal landscape, but it was a great campsite nonetheless.
I didn't know before coming along, but the guys are all avid wine & cheese aficionados, and were happy to share their stash with me. Here is Brian and Roger doling out the goods:
And Jeff preparing the dry rub steaks for the grill. MMmmmmm
As with any camp, there were some great stories, and a good time was had by all.
By morning, it was clear that my FJ was now, officially dirty!
Brian got busy on cooking the 'mess', basically a hobo-skillet of eggs, bacon, onions, potatoes, etc. cooked up in an omelet pan and server in grilled tortillas with cheese and salsa; delicious!!!
Day two began by crossing the valley towards more narrow, fun trails. Here were are gathering ourselves for the day ahead.
And to our left, a view across the valley looking towards the dunes:
...yet another gratuitous shot of the two FJs. ...man I love both of these trucks!!!
Video:
Great Wide Open on Vimeo
...cont.
