- First Name
- Caleb
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- Nov 14, 2021
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- 2021 Bronco/1996 Jeep XJ/1957 FC-150
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- Big Bend
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On October 18th, after hours of planning, researching and plotting gas and routes. I, along with 4 other Broncos (including Tricky) and an F-150 driver who's Bronco was down, attempted one of America's longest Off-Road Race routes. The Vegas to Reno 500! Only we drove it backwards...
I plotted the course on OnX and have the GPX files if you want them. This trip was planned with gas stops in mind and also avoids certain permitted areas such as indian reservations. A majority of the course follows the 2023 Vegas to Reno 500 route from Best in the Desert. It begins outside of Dayton and goes for over 160 miles through a rocky, mountainous section. By far the slowest section for the trip though far from technical. There was also a slight sprinkle from 2 nights ago that had completely flooded large sections of road causing detours into higher elevation at times. For the night, we stopped at a gas stop in Middlegate where there is gas (sometimes), a bar and a surprisingly good restaurant. They allow camping there although its next to a generator that runs all night... If you want cush, they sometimes have beds available for $40/night. The folks were super friendly and I highly recommend! It is 30 miles off trail and the only gas around for 200 miles and a must stop unless you have crazy amounts of extra gas.
On the first day, the F-150 encountered multiples issues. They had the first blow out but were able to patch it quickly, after that, the desert took its toll and begin rattling parts off the intake causing the truck to keep shutting off randomly and faulting out. His intake hose fell off multiple times and caused some minor delays. That night at Middlegate Station, their tent had a complete failure too. Faced with having to sleep in the truck cab with a kid, a dog and wife, the F-150 decided to cut their loses on the first night and left as we were near the freeway. I don't fault them at all for this and it was the wise thing to do.
Overnight, temps dropped to 25 degrees F and all the mud we had encountered on Day 1 froze on everything. Nonetheless, waking up next to a restaurant in the middle of the desert with amazing food and coffee put us all in high spirits and ready to tackle the day.
Day 2 was much easier and we set a much higher pace throughout the day. This is the longest leg of the journey and was almost 200 miles off-road. There were sections we chose to detour through the day to stay on track time-wise so we could make it to Tonopah before dark.
The day was fair with beautiful views, lots of dust and some insane speed zones where you can hit some good speed, mobbing through whoops in long straight aways.
We made it to Tonopah before dark and visted the Tonopah dunes for our second challenge "Trust your Spotter". This was a fun challenge and people seemed to enjoy it.
There was a super cool solar farm at this location too which was wild to see in the middle of nowhere.
After gassing up in Tonopah, the group was split on spending the night at the Clown motel or finding a spot to camp. The great thing about this route is that you can choose to sleep in a hotel for the night if you prefer to not camp. We elected to camp and found a nice area out of the wind (25mph gusts) just south of town.
The temps only dropped to 35 this night so we were much cozier, plus no generator!
The next morning, we made our own coffee and headed out. Our destination for today was Lathrop Wells (the end). We crossed some amazing mountain ranges, had some awesome silt baths and passed through some more super cool scenery.
Unfortunately, the Raptor in our group experienced a blown tire. We were curious about Gluetread as well based on a previous conversation about ditching a spare for good that had been had in our group. Some people were adamant that patches were a solid replacement for a spare in our group (not present on the trip). We tried to patch the tire with no success... it leaked... a lot... the kit came with instructions and sandpaper. We followed the instructions to perfection and used a crap ton of sand paper, it wouldn't seal. Soooooo.... we put the spare on and continued on. ***Note to folks that attach all the cool accessories to their spares... don't, its annoying as heck to remove when the spare is needed!
So we continued on for several hours before the Raptor had another flat... we were now 80 miles short of completing the entire 500 miles but out of spares for the Raptor. The Raptor lug pattern is different and all of us on 37's were running bead locks or faux beadlocks, making a rubber change a lot of work. This second blow out was HUGE and almost fist sized. We pulled off the first flat, cut off the failed patch and went to town making a patch that would hold air. We ignored the Gluetread instructions and did as much as we could to seal the hole on the first tire. In retrospect, a grinder to smooth out the tire would have been amazing... Nobody had one though and we used all the sand paper in the tire kit. By the end we had the tire patched up to where it slowly leaked air but would hold for 20 miles. With no more spares, patches not holding air and it now getting late in the last day, we elected to take a trail exit onto a nearby freeway and continue on pavement to Pahrump where a new spare tire awaited.
As we drove down toward Pahrump, we did pass the original route termination point at Lathrop Wells soooo.... we did finish in our own way haha. That's fine though, just means we need to return next year with more spares!
All in all, it was an amazing trip! Maybe i'll come back with my new Scout Traveler in 2028
Things to note:
The desert will blow at least one tire
Everything will rattle loose
Prepare for any weather; we hit snow, mud, water, dust and dirt all in 3 days in October
Bring extra gas
Bring parts, parts and more parts.
I was running APRS on the HAM radio and had a friend at home tracking us. I was surprised though at Verizon's awesome service. We had reception for a good 60% of the trail and at every campsite!
I am working on a video but for now enjoy this trailer.
Part One now live!
Part Two is now live!
Final Video!
I plotted the course on OnX and have the GPX files if you want them. This trip was planned with gas stops in mind and also avoids certain permitted areas such as indian reservations. A majority of the course follows the 2023 Vegas to Reno 500 route from Best in the Desert. It begins outside of Dayton and goes for over 160 miles through a rocky, mountainous section. By far the slowest section for the trip though far from technical. There was also a slight sprinkle from 2 nights ago that had completely flooded large sections of road causing detours into higher elevation at times. For the night, we stopped at a gas stop in Middlegate where there is gas (sometimes), a bar and a surprisingly good restaurant. They allow camping there although its next to a generator that runs all night... If you want cush, they sometimes have beds available for $40/night. The folks were super friendly and I highly recommend! It is 30 miles off trail and the only gas around for 200 miles and a must stop unless you have crazy amounts of extra gas.
On the first day, the F-150 encountered multiples issues. They had the first blow out but were able to patch it quickly, after that, the desert took its toll and begin rattling parts off the intake causing the truck to keep shutting off randomly and faulting out. His intake hose fell off multiple times and caused some minor delays. That night at Middlegate Station, their tent had a complete failure too. Faced with having to sleep in the truck cab with a kid, a dog and wife, the F-150 decided to cut their loses on the first night and left as we were near the freeway. I don't fault them at all for this and it was the wise thing to do.
Overnight, temps dropped to 25 degrees F and all the mud we had encountered on Day 1 froze on everything. Nonetheless, waking up next to a restaurant in the middle of the desert with amazing food and coffee put us all in high spirits and ready to tackle the day.
Day 2 was much easier and we set a much higher pace throughout the day. This is the longest leg of the journey and was almost 200 miles off-road. There were sections we chose to detour through the day to stay on track time-wise so we could make it to Tonopah before dark.
The day was fair with beautiful views, lots of dust and some insane speed zones where you can hit some good speed, mobbing through whoops in long straight aways.
We made it to Tonopah before dark and visted the Tonopah dunes for our second challenge "Trust your Spotter". This was a fun challenge and people seemed to enjoy it.
There was a super cool solar farm at this location too which was wild to see in the middle of nowhere.
After gassing up in Tonopah, the group was split on spending the night at the Clown motel or finding a spot to camp. The great thing about this route is that you can choose to sleep in a hotel for the night if you prefer to not camp. We elected to camp and found a nice area out of the wind (25mph gusts) just south of town.
The temps only dropped to 35 this night so we were much cozier, plus no generator!
The next morning, we made our own coffee and headed out. Our destination for today was Lathrop Wells (the end). We crossed some amazing mountain ranges, had some awesome silt baths and passed through some more super cool scenery.
Unfortunately, the Raptor in our group experienced a blown tire. We were curious about Gluetread as well based on a previous conversation about ditching a spare for good that had been had in our group. Some people were adamant that patches were a solid replacement for a spare in our group (not present on the trip). We tried to patch the tire with no success... it leaked... a lot... the kit came with instructions and sandpaper. We followed the instructions to perfection and used a crap ton of sand paper, it wouldn't seal. Soooooo.... we put the spare on and continued on. ***Note to folks that attach all the cool accessories to their spares... don't, its annoying as heck to remove when the spare is needed!
So we continued on for several hours before the Raptor had another flat... we were now 80 miles short of completing the entire 500 miles but out of spares for the Raptor. The Raptor lug pattern is different and all of us on 37's were running bead locks or faux beadlocks, making a rubber change a lot of work. This second blow out was HUGE and almost fist sized. We pulled off the first flat, cut off the failed patch and went to town making a patch that would hold air. We ignored the Gluetread instructions and did as much as we could to seal the hole on the first tire. In retrospect, a grinder to smooth out the tire would have been amazing... Nobody had one though and we used all the sand paper in the tire kit. By the end we had the tire patched up to where it slowly leaked air but would hold for 20 miles. With no more spares, patches not holding air and it now getting late in the last day, we elected to take a trail exit onto a nearby freeway and continue on pavement to Pahrump where a new spare tire awaited.
As we drove down toward Pahrump, we did pass the original route termination point at Lathrop Wells soooo.... we did finish in our own way haha. That's fine though, just means we need to return next year with more spares!
All in all, it was an amazing trip! Maybe i'll come back with my new Scout Traveler in 2028
Things to note:
The desert will blow at least one tire
Everything will rattle loose
Prepare for any weather; we hit snow, mud, water, dust and dirt all in 3 days in October
Bring extra gas
Bring parts, parts and more parts.
I was running APRS on the HAM radio and had a friend at home tracking us. I was surprised though at Verizon's awesome service. We had reception for a good 60% of the trail and at every campsite!
I am working on a video but for now enjoy this trailer.
Part One now live!
Part Two is now live!
Final Video!
Sponsored
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