1000 Miles of Dirt roads in a Willys

I am following your adventure and I love it. Wish i had the courage to try it.. In an emergency you can bury spare tire as anchor point for winch. Keep going. You may think your alone but you have more riders than you think. Dwight
 
Great pictures. There certainly is a whole lot of nothing out there. It has been a while since I've been up that way but I remember it well. Has a special beauty all its' own. Looks like great fun.
 
Made it home, actually made it home two days ago, but was pretty wiped out after a 17 hour marathon drive: after crossing the Blackrock desert section, I was only 4 hours from home. I was waffling about crashing out under the stars one more night-or driving late and sleeping in my own bed. If there was any debate, it was answered when I stopped to get a cold drink and realized that somewhere over the last two hours the tailgate had come open, dumping my cooler full of food and ice cold beer. I knew it was time to go home! (footnote-I hate littering, apologies to those behind me who found me mess).

The last section of Applegate trail I was following was a scenic,but bumpy and a little rough,section through High Rock Canyon. I spent at least a couple of hours in 4x4 low. Through the day I noticed a fair amount unmarked graves along the trail. I had also read a few diaries of folks who crossed the Applegate trail in the 1840s, and what surprises me is not that so many people died on the epic journey across the plains and desert, but that people actually survived it! It is long, nasty and there are places it seems the desert wasteland will never end, I can only imagine what it was like in a wagon with almost no suspension clunking along at 5-8 miles a day. There are other places that even with 4x4 and a winch it would be impossible for me to follow portions of the trail that are bypassed by more recent roads. That generation must have been some tough SOB's, and I tip my hat to them.

I made it to the previously mentioned cabin and spring at Stevens Camp, and was met by two of the unfriendliest cowboys I've ever met. I use the word "met" loosely, as even though I hadn't seen anyone for six hours and they hadn't seen anyone probably in days, it was too much effort to wave or tip their hat. In fact, the kept their backs to me for the 5 minutes I was there topping off my water jugs and checking out the truck. Very strange, usually everywhere I go in the Willys people are more than friendly, especially in small towns and in the country were people appreciate a good old 4x4.

I also noticed something else that frankly pissed me off: (Brief soapbox alert!!!) I saw in at least two locations were *&%$!! idiots took rocks from a gravesite and used them to build a campfire ring. I'm not a preachy type of person, but I've heard of people being shot for a lot less in Nevada.

Like I mentioned, I did make it home without further incidents. When I decompress in a few days Ill do a follow up on what worked, what didn't and what I need to do to make the truck more road-trip worthy!
Thanks for following along, and thanks for the encouragement along the way.
DuaneIMG_2207.jpgIMG_2209.jpg
 
Hello @elminero67

Great trip you made. Glad all went fairly well. That journey not only proved YOUR TRUE GRIT, but it also proved that your good Ole Willys Pickup is a KEEPER! Congrats!

Pivnic
 
Hello elminero67. Great trip you made. Glad all went fairly well. That journey not only proved YOUR TRUE GRIT, but it also proved that your good Ole Willys Pickup is a KEEPER! Congrats! Pivnic

Oh my gosh John...you took the words out of my mouth...But @elminero67 you took it to another level....I see all these guys building these crazy off road rigs and spending gobs of money doing it only to drive it on the weekends.....(I know because I built a gobs of money weekend only rig).....you are the bomb for sure...you make me proud to be part of this forum...You make me wanna go out and get something like yours and really drive the wheels off of it like you do...

Congrats on the making it home in one piece...

MikeC
 
Thanks again for the kind words and support, don't know about "true grit," but that gives me a segway (True Grit was a 1969 John Wayne movie)...

One of my favorite quotes from western movies was from The Last Picture Show (1969):

Says Sonny after getting their asses handed to them at their homecoming game:

"it could have been a lot worse."

"You could say that about anything, I guess" retorted a town elder.

That's pretty much sums up how the ol' Willys did on the trip, she had a few issues, but, "it could have been a lot worse" considering how remote the roads I was on were.
In all I did about 1200-1300 miles, almost half of it on dirt roads, about 50 or so requiring 4x4. Outside of the radiator/coolant issues, the truck ran flawless. The little diesel didn't use any oil, and started the first turn of the key every time. I didn't monitor the fuel mileage, but I suspect that it did better than the 30 mpgs I was getting the last time I checked it as I was trying to be as light on the throttle as possible to keep the temps down.

With a few upgrades, I wouldn't mind using this truck for camping trips in the backcountry, maybe even a trip down the Baja.

That's all I got, thanks again, Duane "elminero"trip copy.jpgIMG_2050.jpg
 
So you @Elimero67...

So....you wanna build me a diesel powered Willys truck??...I love that 30 mpg thing you mentioned...I will sell my 2 Willys that I have now if you could build me one like yours...

Sound like a plan??

MikeC
 
looking at the amount of work you've done with your 62, you could probably put together a diesel Willys pretty easily. It really wasn't that difficult once I made the jump. I do know that after driving the diesel on and offroad, I don't know if I could ever go back to a gasoline powered 4x4.

apologies for the crappy I-phone picture of the motor, but that's what I have. What it doesn't show is how simple the motor is compared to a gasoline motor-even a F134. The SD23 only requires one wire to run (other than starter/alternator). It does not have timing or carburetor to deal with, and this motor has timing gears (not a belt) and a steel head rather than aluminum. solid and simple. You can see why the rest of the world switched over to diesels for their 4x4s decades ago.
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Thanks! Now that my ass has recovered from sitting in a Willys truck for six days straight, Im looking forward to another road trip in the Willys.
I'm looking at going down the baja all the way to La Paz, enojoying the beach for a few days, then taking the ferry accross and up through the Sierra Madre-truly some of the roughest, most beautiful country in North America. as they say in Mexico, vamos a ver....(we'll see).
 
Thanks! Now that my ass has recovered from sitting in a Willys truck for six days straight, Im looking forward to another road trip in the Willys.
I'm looking at going down the baja all the way to La Paz, enojoying the beach for a few days, then taking the ferry accross and up through the Sierra Madre-truly some of the roughest, most beautiful country in North America. as they say in Mexico, vamos a ver....(we'll see).

Hey, maybe you can get yourself a Gig with a producer or someone and get a deal to do a Reality Show of your Travels in your Old Willys Pickup! Look how much attention that old Mountain Man gets on the show "Mountain Man" (I think that's the name of it) when he's driving around in his old Willys Pickup with the Hunting Dog sitting on the Hood hunting Mountain Lions! That would be a cool show! I'd Watch it! Check it out! Pivnic
 
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