Daniel Worm
Active Member
The family and I just got back from a 3,900 mile road trip from Minnesota to Arizona and back again, so I thought I'd share some pics and some thoughts on the truck.
Executive Summary -
I was able to convince the wife and kid's to let me venture-off on some "lesser maintained" roads, and it was a blast. The first road is out near the Tortilla Flat area and the Apache Trail. It's marked as "Forest 80", but it only goes a few miles currently before you reach a gate that states it is now owned or managed by the government. Not sure what that's all about, but the remainder of the road looks really cool on Google Maps. I know they have had some flooding in that area the last couple of years after the fires, so perhaps the single-lane bridge further down across the river was washed out?
The second route we found while visiting Arches National Park in Moab. It's called Willow Springs Road, and will actually take you out of the park and back to a major roadway, which worked out perfect for us. There are more difficult offshoots that a fella in a Jeep advised me to refrain from, so the family and I stayed on the main 7 mile route. Really fun, with some fast sandy sections, and also some rock sections where I had a few scrapes of the tail pipe or bike rack (not sure which).
Overall, the truck performed flawlessly, and worked pretty well as a family hauler. I drove the entire way, and my wife managed to keep our kids entertained. With how young they are, we found ourselves stopping every 2-3 hours, and 2 nights on the way down, as well as two nights on the way back up. Our other vehicle option was the wife's Explorer, but we would have needed a rooftop cargo carrier for all of the stuff, and even then it may not have been enough. My in-laws ended up buying a place in Gilbert, AZ, so I'm hoping that this trip may become a more regular occurrence, and that I can find some more fun areas to explore down there. And I definitely want to spend some more time in Moab - Really cool area!
Executive Summary -
- 1 wife, three kids in car seats, the bed loaded with crap, and two bikes on a hitch-mounted carrier
- 3,900 miles, 15.8 MPG average (primarily highway/freeway, and combination of fuels ranging from 85 octane in Colorado to 91 in Nebraska).
- MN to AZ: Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, AZ
- AZ to MN: Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, MN
- Likes: Fuel mileage; power; 10 speed; Headlights; general ergonomics
- Dislikes: Uncomfortable captain's chairs; front end is "floaty"; rear death hop over off-camber bumps at high-speeds; windshield wiper speed is super inconsistent; rear speakers seem non-existent; auto-brights; start-stop
I was able to convince the wife and kid's to let me venture-off on some "lesser maintained" roads, and it was a blast. The first road is out near the Tortilla Flat area and the Apache Trail. It's marked as "Forest 80", but it only goes a few miles currently before you reach a gate that states it is now owned or managed by the government. Not sure what that's all about, but the remainder of the road looks really cool on Google Maps. I know they have had some flooding in that area the last couple of years after the fires, so perhaps the single-lane bridge further down across the river was washed out?
The second route we found while visiting Arches National Park in Moab. It's called Willow Springs Road, and will actually take you out of the park and back to a major roadway, which worked out perfect for us. There are more difficult offshoots that a fella in a Jeep advised me to refrain from, so the family and I stayed on the main 7 mile route. Really fun, with some fast sandy sections, and also some rock sections where I had a few scrapes of the tail pipe or bike rack (not sure which).
Overall, the truck performed flawlessly, and worked pretty well as a family hauler. I drove the entire way, and my wife managed to keep our kids entertained. With how young they are, we found ourselves stopping every 2-3 hours, and 2 nights on the way down, as well as two nights on the way back up. Our other vehicle option was the wife's Explorer, but we would have needed a rooftop cargo carrier for all of the stuff, and even then it may not have been enough. My in-laws ended up buying a place in Gilbert, AZ, so I'm hoping that this trip may become a more regular occurrence, and that I can find some more fun areas to explore down there. And I definitely want to spend some more time in Moab - Really cool area!
