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Summary: 3 weeks of travel in my bronco, hauling a m1101 trailer that I bought at auction a few weeks before (and had already started modifying). Left from Virginia, went Texas (Dallas, Houston.. Dallas again, Austin, Big Bend), New Mexico (Carlsbad .. then back across into Texas for Guadalupe... then Roswell, White Sands, and Albuquerque), Colorado (Denver and up into the Rockies), and finally heading back to home.
Week 1:
On June 16th my daughter (14) and I left Virginia, heading for Texas. The initial goal was to get to Dallas and check out some things there (the aquarium and some of the museums and such), before heading to Houston to meet up with my son (22) who was flying in... then go to the space flight center and do the breakfast with an astronaut thing
So I loaded up the trailer and away we went...
Some of you (who are familiar with these trailers) might be noticing a couple of things...
1. Seems low
2. there's not normally a hitch in the back for a bike rack
Very observant of you. I swapped out the trailer suspension with a timbern suspension to lower it quite a bit and make it a bit less bouncy (more on this later). Also changed to 35" tires from the 37" it came with. I also had a welding shop in town add a hitch to the back so that I could use the bike rack.
Anyway...away we went...
We stopped somewhere outside of St. Louis the first night, and made it to Dallas on the next. After a stop at a Buckee's I came out to find that my daughter had decorated my dash board with swans she had made.
So.. those are permanent now
Along the way I had a dump truck cut me off and helpfully drop some gravel in the process cracking my windshield.
I tried a couple of times during the trip to get it replaced, but was never anywhere long enough that they would have time to get the glass in before I'd be heading out somewhere else. Turned out that was for the best as I took another rock on the way home, starting another large crack.
Made it to Dallas, did the museum/aquarium thing, then headed for Houston... picked up my son and did the NASA thing. Breakfast with an astronaut was really a lot of fun.. I mean it's basically a buffet and he's just talking and answering questions from a group.. but it was cool.. also I'm a geek... fortunately so are my kids.
I do have to say at this point.. Houston is just not habitable... I'm not sure what all those people are doing there.. but it's way too hot and humid for life.... also the roads suck... also every road is a toll road somehow.. and still suck. That said, everyone we met was really nice, and the food was great ... both of which I consider a huge accomplishment given the heat and the crap roads
After NASA and some wandering around Houston for a day, I dropped the kids off at the airport and they headed home. I headed back to Dallas (there was a chance a dealership there was going to get the glass I needed the next day... didn't happen), then to Austin to meet up with my friend Hannah.
So at the end of week 1, I'd taken Frankie and the trailer about 2000 miles. During that time I found out the following:
1. I like the bronco for long trips
2. Gas mileage went to crap with the trailer.. I mean I knew it would, but it was sometimes really bad. Sometimes I was getting around 12mpg... but others it'd go down to around 10mpg. I'm not going to talk about mpg much during this.. just know it was bad. Ok.. bad is a bad word ... let's just say it mpg was greatly reduced.
3. Other than the mpg, I didn't really notice any performance issues with Frankie while hauling the trailer. She definitely ran a bit hotter.. but not worryingly so.
4. The trailer itself did fantastic.. I wasn't sure what to expect as we'd (my friend and I) just changed out the suspension and weren't entirely sure about the alignment .. but it towed great. Barely noticed it was there. Definitely still bouncy but not anything like it was with the stock suspension..... BUT, the suspension we put on was too low. I'm adding a 2" lift to it next week. As is, the tires occasionally rub the top of the wheel well .. where there's a rivet. So now I have extra sipping along the edges of my tread on both tires lol ... it can't go deep enough to dig into the tire itself.. but it did cut chunks out of the tread. Anyway, 2" lift will take care of it.
5. Seriously, I don't know how people live in Houston.
Week 2:
On June 24th we headed to Big Bend. This was not the best time of year to visit the park.. but we still really enjoyed it. We did a couple of hikes and then drove quite a few of the trails. We stayed in the park at the Chisos lodge, and while the rooms are "meh" overall it was really awesome. Truly a beautiful area there in the Chisos mountains.
The 4x4 trails we went on weren't anything particularly difficult, but the were nice. Part of what made it nice I guess was that it seemed like we had the park to ourselves.. Most of the trails we went on we saw absolutely no one else.. and we never saw more than 2 other trucks while out there.
So after all this driving I was starting to run a bit low on fuel. Fortunately I'd planned ahead.. had the rotopax. Unfortunately rotopax safety nozzles are not safe and barely work as a nozzle. I've had rotopax on my vehicles for several years now, and used them several times a year (either helping someone else, emptying them into the tank so I can get fresh fuel, or from actual need), also with the safety nozzle. This was the first time that I've had a serious issue though. Due to the heat (and possibly the altitude?) the pax kept pressurizing .. basically meaning that I'd relieve the pressure on the pax (by pressing the nozzle in or taking off the cap) and as soon as it closed up again (releasing pressure on the nozzle so I could tip it into the gas filler) it would be pressurized. The result of this was that when I first attempted to fill the tank, the nozzle going into the filler actually shot gasoline back into my face and soaked my pants and shirt. And when I say shot.. I mean it was like getting spray from a garden hose. This also happened on the 2nd attempt .. and occasionally on further attempts. The best thing I could come up with was using the small funnel that's in the back of the bronco and with my hand pulling back the nozzle so that it would let gas out.. but in a controlled way that wouldn't flood the funnel (the funnel is small enough and things were hot enough that the funnel would quickly get full). This happened with both my rotopax. Oh from a heat standpoint.. at the time the bronco was reading about 98.. but just 30 minutes before we were a lot lower down and definitely in hotter terrain where it was readding 118. .. So the fuel was pretty warm. Anyway, I ordered new nozzles to replace the safety nozzles. Yes, that makes my rotopax illegal to use in the states... but it also makes them a hell of a lot safer to use anywhere. I've heard there are better safety nozzles that can work with the rotopax, I'm going to have to look into that.
Something that really surprised me is that the Rio Grande isn't so grande. It was mostly dry throughout the park (large ponds here and there). We literally walked across into Mexico and I picked up a rock for my wife (she's into that kinda thing). Along that part of the mexico (and texas.. it does extend to the north west of where the rio cuts through it), there's a cliff face, I'm not sure what the range is called, but it's easily over a 1000 ft of almost shear rock. It's really something to see.
On the 26th we headed out of Big Bend to Carlsbad. On the way out of the park we were stopped by border patrol ... but he just wanted to check out my trailer (he was curious about the suspension). Was also stopped at a border patrol check point further north. Basically just did a quick look in the vehicle and asked if we'd picked up any hitchhikers or had any "dope".
26th - Carlsbad... it's a big hole in the ground. And awesome Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.
27th - Guadalupe .. we decided to hike it. Hannah made it to the top (highest peak in Taxes... 8751 ft .. about 4000 ft of climb over 4 miles (I think that's right) ... Hannah got to the top... I sat down at around 8000 ft and said "good enough" lol. It was really hot on the way back down (we'd started just before sunrise) and there was like zero shade. I'd started with 3 liters of water and got to the bottom with maybe a couple of sips left.
28th - drove up to Roswell, then over to White sands and checked it out, stayed locally
29th - went back to White sands before sunrise to do a photo shoot.. and found out that White sands doesn't open until later in the morning ... then went over to Red sands, which is a OHV rec area a few miles away (as the crow fly) and like 45 minutes away as the roads lay. That would be worth checking out again.. lot seemed like a lot of area to explore. I had my trailer attached at the time and didn't check out everything that I wanted.. mostly because of not wanting to bounce things around too much. Anyway, did a shoot over there
Then went back to White Sands that evening to do a sunset shoot (it was also storming off and on which was cool)
On the 30th we drove up to Albuquerque, then on the 1st I dropped Hannah off at the airport and headed up to Denver.
At the end of week 2, I'd taken Frankie and the trailer and additional 1500 miles, bringing the total to about 3500. During that time I found out the following:
1. Roswell is .. Roswell. It's weird, I expected it to be... less normal.
2. How the hell can the "largest pistachio in the world" people afford so many billboards all over the damn state?
3. I'm not mentioning the bronco because there's nothing to mention.. it did great. Trailer too.
4. Someone between Roswell and Alamogordo is a very very lucky individual. My loss is their gain.. and my loss was a very nice and excessively expensive grimsmo knife. Don't cut yourself, and my it serve you well.
5. Ok, one thing to mention about the bronco and the trailer.. at this point in the trip I've had 5 random people at gas stations come up to me and start asking me about the bronco and/or trailer build. I've also had a surprising number of
and 
from people passing me on the highways... and surprisingly no negative gestures (that I saw anyway) lol. Anyway, a lot of good interactions.
Week 3:
I headed got into Denver and had a couple days to myself before my kids flew out (they were going to the Fan Expo.. if you don't know what that is, think Comicon.. if you don't know what that is, ask google). During those days I went up to Guanella Pass and hiked a bit, and just drove around in the mountains enjoying it.. nothing specific to report there.
I also went by the Intrepid Camp Gear shop in Boulder and decided to by one of their Geo 3.0 tents and put it on the trailer ... so.. had to figure out how to do that.
Fortunately I found a shop dealing with basically all things t-slot outside of Boulder (Torpey Denver/The T-Slot Store), and they helped me put together a quick rack for the trailer... then I took the trailer back to Intrepid and those guys put it on... it's kinda awesome. The rack is temporary .. I have bigger plans.. but the tent is fantastic... too big (in my opinion) for the bronco, but great on the trailer.
.. apparently I didn't take any pictures of it until I got back to my office
Still working up plans for how I'm going to outfit the trailer.
Picked up my kids on July 3rd from the airport and watched fireworks from the hotel on the 4th... which was nuts... We were staying in downtown Denver and were on the 30th floor of the building.. and I swear it was fireworks just absolutely everywhere.. I'd see them on the horizon.. I'd seem them closer in.. I have video of it and it was just amazing.. never see anything like that.. obviously not organized.. this was just randos or neighborhoods or whatever.. but Denver and the surrounding area really decided to show those "bombs bursting in air" .. for hours.
Anyway, after that.. my trip was almost at an end.. spent a few days working from the hotel and hanging with my kids.. then abandoned them (they decided to stay a couple more days in Denver) and drove on back to Virginia. Made it from Denver to Waynesboro VA in 2 days... coming into Virginia on 64 around sunset on July 7th... which was just picture perfect... coming through my home mountains and remembering why I do love where I live (hey.. after parts of New Mexico and Colorado.. I was starting to dream of moving... I needed the reminder).
So, at the end of week 3 I'd gone another 2000 miles taking me up to 5500 (or more) for the trip. Things I learned:
1. Denver really loves the 4th
2. I really like the mountains in general .. driving through them in NM and CO were definitely highlights
3. One day I really need to plan to acclimatize enough to summit a 14er ... so far I've just never been in the area long enough and been in too much of a hurry.. and do idiot things like 10 mile hikes the day before trying the 14er ... it's a small goal of mine. Regardless though, just being in the mountains and hiking around where it was still cool was great.
4. I can do the drive from Colorado to Virginia in 2 days without feeling beat... this could be handy knowledge for the future.
5. I love Frankie (my bronco). I've put quite a few miles on it .. over 24000 in 13 months, and to say I'm happy with it is definitely an understatement.
If you read this far.. thanks.. this was a bit of a ramble. I'll end up covering more on the trailer build over the next few months, and going over more of my bronco build as well.. what's been changing, what's working and what isn't (which has to do with things I've changed, not any actual issues with the bronco ::knock on wood:
--
Marshall
Week 1:
On June 16th my daughter (14) and I left Virginia, heading for Texas. The initial goal was to get to Dallas and check out some things there (the aquarium and some of the museums and such), before heading to Houston to meet up with my son (22) who was flying in... then go to the space flight center and do the breakfast with an astronaut thing
So I loaded up the trailer and away we went...
Some of you (who are familiar with these trailers) might be noticing a couple of things...
1. Seems low
2. there's not normally a hitch in the back for a bike rack
Very observant of you.
I swapped out the trailer suspension with a timbern suspension to lower it quite a bit and make it a bit less bouncy (more on this later). Also changed to 35" tires from the 37" it came with. I also had a welding shop in town add a hitch to the back so that I could use the bike rack.Anyway...away we went...
We stopped somewhere outside of St. Louis the first night, and made it to Dallas on the next. After a stop at a Buckee's I came out to find that my daughter had decorated my dash board with swans she had made.
So.. those are permanent now
Along the way I had a dump truck cut me off and helpfully drop some gravel in the process cracking my windshield.
I tried a couple of times during the trip to get it replaced, but was never anywhere long enough that they would have time to get the glass in before I'd be heading out somewhere else. Turned out that was for the best as I took another rock on the way home, starting another large crack.
Made it to Dallas, did the museum/aquarium thing, then headed for Houston... picked up my son and did the NASA thing. Breakfast with an astronaut was really a lot of fun.. I mean it's basically a buffet and he's just talking and answering questions from a group.. but it was cool.. also I'm a geek... fortunately so are my kids.
I do have to say at this point.. Houston is just not habitable... I'm not sure what all those people are doing there.. but it's way too hot and humid for life.... also the roads suck... also every road is a toll road somehow.. and still suck. That said, everyone we met was really nice, and the food was great ... both of which I consider a huge accomplishment given the heat and the crap roads
After NASA and some wandering around Houston for a day, I dropped the kids off at the airport and they headed home. I headed back to Dallas (there was a chance a dealership there was going to get the glass I needed the next day... didn't happen), then to Austin to meet up with my friend Hannah.
So at the end of week 1, I'd taken Frankie and the trailer about 2000 miles. During that time I found out the following:
1. I like the bronco for long trips
2. Gas mileage went to crap with the trailer.. I mean I knew it would, but it was sometimes really bad. Sometimes I was getting around 12mpg... but others it'd go down to around 10mpg. I'm not going to talk about mpg much during this.. just know it was bad. Ok.. bad is a bad word ... let's just say it mpg was greatly reduced.
3. Other than the mpg, I didn't really notice any performance issues with Frankie while hauling the trailer. She definitely ran a bit hotter.. but not worryingly so.
4. The trailer itself did fantastic.. I wasn't sure what to expect as we'd (my friend and I) just changed out the suspension and weren't entirely sure about the alignment .. but it towed great. Barely noticed it was there. Definitely still bouncy but not anything like it was with the stock suspension..... BUT, the suspension we put on was too low. I'm adding a 2" lift to it next week. As is, the tires occasionally rub the top of the wheel well .. where there's a rivet. So now I have extra sipping along the edges of my tread on both tires lol ... it can't go deep enough to dig into the tire itself.. but it did cut chunks out of the tread. Anyway, 2" lift will take care of it.
5. Seriously, I don't know how people live in Houston.
Week 2:
On June 24th we headed to Big Bend. This was not the best time of year to visit the park.. but we still really enjoyed it. We did a couple of hikes and then drove quite a few of the trails. We stayed in the park at the Chisos lodge, and while the rooms are "meh" overall it was really awesome. Truly a beautiful area there in the Chisos mountains.
The 4x4 trails we went on weren't anything particularly difficult, but the were nice. Part of what made it nice I guess was that it seemed like we had the park to ourselves.. Most of the trails we went on we saw absolutely no one else.. and we never saw more than 2 other trucks while out there.
So after all this driving I was starting to run a bit low on fuel. Fortunately I'd planned ahead.. had the rotopax. Unfortunately rotopax safety nozzles are not safe and barely work as a nozzle. I've had rotopax on my vehicles for several years now, and used them several times a year (either helping someone else, emptying them into the tank so I can get fresh fuel, or from actual need), also with the safety nozzle. This was the first time that I've had a serious issue though. Due to the heat (and possibly the altitude?) the pax kept pressurizing .. basically meaning that I'd relieve the pressure on the pax (by pressing the nozzle in or taking off the cap) and as soon as it closed up again (releasing pressure on the nozzle so I could tip it into the gas filler) it would be pressurized. The result of this was that when I first attempted to fill the tank, the nozzle going into the filler actually shot gasoline back into my face and soaked my pants and shirt. And when I say shot.. I mean it was like getting spray from a garden hose. This also happened on the 2nd attempt .. and occasionally on further attempts. The best thing I could come up with was using the small funnel that's in the back of the bronco and with my hand pulling back the nozzle so that it would let gas out.. but in a controlled way that wouldn't flood the funnel (the funnel is small enough and things were hot enough that the funnel would quickly get full). This happened with both my rotopax. Oh from a heat standpoint.. at the time the bronco was reading about 98.. but just 30 minutes before we were a lot lower down and definitely in hotter terrain where it was readding 118. .. So the fuel was pretty warm. Anyway, I ordered new nozzles to replace the safety nozzles. Yes, that makes my rotopax illegal to use in the states... but it also makes them a hell of a lot safer to use anywhere. I've heard there are better safety nozzles that can work with the rotopax, I'm going to have to look into that.
Something that really surprised me is that the Rio Grande isn't so grande. It was mostly dry throughout the park (large ponds here and there). We literally walked across into Mexico and I picked up a rock for my wife (she's into that kinda thing). Along that part of the mexico (and texas.. it does extend to the north west of where the rio cuts through it), there's a cliff face, I'm not sure what the range is called, but it's easily over a 1000 ft of almost shear rock. It's really something to see.
On the 26th we headed out of Big Bend to Carlsbad. On the way out of the park we were stopped by border patrol ... but he just wanted to check out my trailer (he was curious about the suspension). Was also stopped at a border patrol check point further north. Basically just did a quick look in the vehicle and asked if we'd picked up any hitchhikers or had any "dope".
26th - Carlsbad... it's a big hole in the ground. And awesome
Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.27th - Guadalupe .. we decided to hike it. Hannah made it to the top (highest peak in Taxes... 8751 ft .. about 4000 ft of climb over 4 miles (I think that's right) ... Hannah got to the top... I sat down at around 8000 ft and said "good enough" lol. It was really hot on the way back down (we'd started just before sunrise) and there was like zero shade. I'd started with 3 liters of water and got to the bottom with maybe a couple of sips left.
28th - drove up to Roswell, then over to White sands and checked it out, stayed locally
29th - went back to White sands before sunrise to do a photo shoot.. and found out that White sands doesn't open until later in the morning
... then went over to Red sands, which is a OHV rec area a few miles away (as the crow fly) and like 45 minutes away as the roads lay. That would be worth checking out again.. lot seemed like a lot of area to explore. I had my trailer attached at the time and didn't check out everything that I wanted.. mostly because of not wanting to bounce things around too much. Anyway, did a shoot over there
Then went back to White Sands that evening to do a sunset shoot (it was also storming off and on which was cool)
On the 30th we drove up to Albuquerque, then on the 1st I dropped Hannah off at the airport and headed up to Denver.
At the end of week 2, I'd taken Frankie and the trailer and additional 1500 miles, bringing the total to about 3500. During that time I found out the following:
1. Roswell is .. Roswell. It's weird, I expected it to be... less normal.
2. How the hell can the "largest pistachio in the world" people afford so many billboards all over the damn state?
3. I'm not mentioning the bronco because there's nothing to mention.. it did great. Trailer too.
4. Someone between Roswell and Alamogordo is a very very lucky individual. My loss is their gain.. and my loss was a very nice and excessively expensive grimsmo knife. Don't cut yourself, and my it serve you well.
5. Ok, one thing to mention about the bronco and the trailer.. at this point in the trip I've had 5 random people at gas stations come up to me and start asking me about the bronco and/or trailer build. I've also had a surprising number of
and from people passing me on the highways... and surprisingly no negative gestures (that I saw anyway) lol. Anyway, a lot of good interactions.Week 3:
I headed got into Denver and had a couple days to myself before my kids flew out (they were going to the Fan Expo.. if you don't know what that is, think Comicon.. if you don't know what that is, ask google). During those days I went up to Guanella Pass and hiked a bit, and just drove around in the mountains enjoying it.. nothing specific to report there.
I also went by the Intrepid Camp Gear shop in Boulder and decided to by one of their Geo 3.0 tents and put it on the trailer ... so.. had to figure out how to do that.
Fortunately I found a shop dealing with basically all things t-slot outside of Boulder (Torpey Denver/The T-Slot Store), and they helped me put together a quick rack for the trailer... then I took the trailer back to Intrepid and those guys put it on... it's kinda awesome. The rack is temporary .. I have bigger plans.. but the tent is fantastic... too big (in my opinion) for the bronco, but great on the trailer.
.. apparently I didn't take any pictures of it until I got back to my office
Still working up plans for how I'm going to outfit the trailer.
Picked up my kids on July 3rd from the airport and watched fireworks from the hotel on the 4th... which was nuts... We were staying in downtown Denver and were on the 30th floor of the building.. and I swear it was fireworks just absolutely everywhere.. I'd see them on the horizon.. I'd seem them closer in.. I have video of it and it was just amazing.. never see anything like that.. obviously not organized.. this was just randos or neighborhoods or whatever.. but Denver and the surrounding area really decided to show those "bombs bursting in air" .. for hours.
Anyway, after that.. my trip was almost at an end.. spent a few days working from the hotel and hanging with my kids.. then abandoned them (they decided to stay a couple more days in Denver) and drove on back to Virginia. Made it from Denver to Waynesboro VA in 2 days... coming into Virginia on 64 around sunset on July 7th... which was just picture perfect... coming through my home mountains and remembering why I do love where I live (hey.. after parts of New Mexico and Colorado.. I was starting to dream of moving... I needed the reminder).
So, at the end of week 3 I'd gone another 2000 miles taking me up to 5500 (or more) for the trip. Things I learned:
1. Denver really loves the 4th
2. I really like the mountains in general .. driving through them in NM and CO were definitely highlights
3. One day I really need to plan to acclimatize enough to summit a 14er ... so far I've just never been in the area long enough and been in too much of a hurry.. and do idiot things like 10 mile hikes the day before trying the 14er ... it's a small goal of mine. Regardless though, just being in the mountains and hiking around where it was still cool was great.
4. I can do the drive from Colorado to Virginia in 2 days without feeling beat... this could be handy knowledge for the future.
5. I love Frankie (my bronco). I've put quite a few miles on it .. over 24000 in 13 months, and to say I'm happy with it is definitely an understatement.
If you read this far.. thanks.. this was a bit of a ramble. I'll end up covering more on the trailer build over the next few months, and going over more of my bronco build as well.. what's been changing, what's working and what isn't (which has to do with things I've changed, not any actual issues with the bronco ::knock on wood:
--
Marshall
Sponsored
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