- First Name
- Mark
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2022
- Threads
- 34
- Messages
- 447
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- 1,507
- Location
- Sacramento, CA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2022 Badlands Sasquatch
- Your Bronco Model
- Badlands
- Thread starter
- #1
I recently got laid off from work, so I'm taking some time to decompress and enjoy some of my severance time before looking for a new job. I took the opportunity to drive from Sacramento CA to Killeen TX to visit my parents. They're divorced and have been for about 30 years, but they lived about 2.5 miles away from each other.. I haven't seen my dad in about 10 years since he moved from CA to TX and his 78th birthday was coming up - so I arranged with my mom for me to stay with her, and surprise him on his birthday. I planned out a trip on chatGPT, inputting the parameters of 3 days on the road, and wanting to see unique scenery along the way - and wanting to stay on public/BLM land to sleep at night.. ChatGPT put the agenda together for me and I took off on Sunday 9/21, with the Bronco loaded up with my sleep platform, food/snacks, camera gear (of course) and tons of water.
Day 1: Sacramento to Death Valley via highway 395 (which is a beautiful drive), through Death Valley past Las Vegas - and I stayed on a trail near Lake Mead (696 miles of driving). It was quite warm that night, so I didn't sleep well - only got about 2-3 hours of sleep
Day 2: Lake Mead to Placitas, NM (outside Albuquerque), I stayed on BLM land. it was a cooler night so I slept really well - 574 miles
Day 3: Placitas NM to Killeen TX - I took a detour to Amarillo to see Cadillac Ranch - this was a long day - over 750 miles, which included a crazy storm in Texas.
The return trip wasn't as scenic because I just wanted to get home -
Day 1: Killeen to Las Cruces NM, where I stayed at Aguirre Springs campground (638 miles) - it started raining in the middle of the night, so I had to put the top up around 2:30am
Day 2: Las Cruces NM to Baker, CA where I stayed on a dried lake bed on BLM land (752 miles) - temp was nice and cool, so with the top pulled back, I slept like a baby
Day 3: Baker CA to Sacramento (home) 469 miles
The Bronco did great - I loved that in Texas, many of the highways had 80mph speed limits, and the gas was half the cost of what it is in CA (it wasn't unusual for me to find gas for $2.49/gal, compared to $4.79/gal in Sacramento, for 87 octane). Truck stops were my friend - $17-$19 to use their shower each morning on the road.
The trip was a great way to decompress, visit my folks, and see some beautiful sights.
As usual - lots of photos and video were taken!
Day 1: Sacramento to Death Valley via highway 395 (which is a beautiful drive), through Death Valley past Las Vegas - and I stayed on a trail near Lake Mead (696 miles of driving). It was quite warm that night, so I didn't sleep well - only got about 2-3 hours of sleep
Day 2: Lake Mead to Placitas, NM (outside Albuquerque), I stayed on BLM land. it was a cooler night so I slept really well - 574 miles
Day 3: Placitas NM to Killeen TX - I took a detour to Amarillo to see Cadillac Ranch - this was a long day - over 750 miles, which included a crazy storm in Texas.
The return trip wasn't as scenic because I just wanted to get home -
Day 1: Killeen to Las Cruces NM, where I stayed at Aguirre Springs campground (638 miles) - it started raining in the middle of the night, so I had to put the top up around 2:30am
Day 2: Las Cruces NM to Baker, CA where I stayed on a dried lake bed on BLM land (752 miles) - temp was nice and cool, so with the top pulled back, I slept like a baby
Day 3: Baker CA to Sacramento (home) 469 miles
The Bronco did great - I loved that in Texas, many of the highways had 80mph speed limits, and the gas was half the cost of what it is in CA (it wasn't unusual for me to find gas for $2.49/gal, compared to $4.79/gal in Sacramento, for 87 octane). Truck stops were my friend - $17-$19 to use their shower each morning on the road.
The trip was a great way to decompress, visit my folks, and see some beautiful sights.
As usual - lots of photos and video were taken!
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