COMPLETED: Borrego Tour - November 2012

[The Roadie]

After almost a year of not having time to do ANY trips, my wife's niece Fran and her boyfriend Mike came to visit from Massachusetts. So I got the skid plates off, changed the oil which was due, and put the plates back on and packed for a 12 hour tour. Of course, it's impossible to get vacationing 23 year olds out of bed at 5AM, so we left just after sunrise for the hour and 3/4 drive to the desert.

Did the typical trails and let them drive for a bit. Borrego Mountain Dropoff, the Slot canyon, San Filipe Wash, Blow Sand Hill, Goat Trail, Shell Reef, 7 Palms oasis, Truckhaven Trail, and finally the hair-raising Calcite Mine trail.

Nothing much new here for photos, except the visibility was excellent, temps were in the mid-70's, and there was surprisingly little wind. Comfortable, but long, day.

[NC_IslandRunner]

Realy like the last pic! looks like a fun trip.

[The Roadie]

The last was part of a panorama of the "Badlands". Can you imagine the feeling of the first white visitors to the area, with horses and wagons, looking at that impassable terrain?

Here's the merged pic. Farthest hills to the right of center are about 60 miles away.


Click here for more resolution:
http://www.roadie.org/badlandspanorama.jpg

[HARDTRAILZ]

Great pics. Looks like a good day to be out and about.

What front suspension setup are you running? Looks like marks newer spacers. Also did you cut the front fenders all the way around or just the typical rear 12 or so inches?

[The Roadie]

Good eyes. Those are indeed Mark's 3" with 89 springs. I gave up on the Icon coilovers until I can get some machining done. A semi-bootleg project without full Icon support turns out to be the wrong thing to spend any money on. As much as Johnny supported it, it needed some real CAD design work I can get someday at my day job. Too busy for the last couple of years since I've been back to work after my 15 months off.

Only cut the back 10-12 inches or so. Need to expand that a bit. My semi-retired brother from Wisconsin is coming to escape the snow and cold for 3 months and wants to work on it. He may also have a set of the right year Grand Cherokee fender flares in his shop to bring next week.

[v7guy]

Those are some beautiful pictures, looks like a nice day.

[DirtyBacon04]

Man, those pics make me miss it all that much more.
Nothing nearly as enjoyable in FL... Sad bacon...