LandRover 101 Extreme Trek to Moab Utah

A chance e-mail determined our maiden voyage for our Land Rover mobile office. I had seen a note on the LRAA (Land Rover Adventure Association) website that they were planning a trip to Moab. I have always dreamed of driving the trails of Moab. I also have tried to plan a trip to mountain bike the trails, but recently I’ve been incapacitated with bilateral hip surgery. What better way to see the terrain than in a Land Rover! The group started with 10 vehicles, but quickly dropped to just three including ours, once people found out how difficult the terrain was. I advised our group leader Ted that we were very interested in completing the entire trip, but our speed on the highway could be a problem. Our vehicle can travel 70 mph on flat terrain with no wind…if there’s any wind or a significant hill, speed can drop significantly.

Ted was game to wait for us along the way, he thought it would be an interesting story for the magazine he was writing for to have a 31 yr old vehicle to have made the trek. We met in Sarnia to cross over to the U.S. The drive across the lowlands to Colorado was pretty uneventful. Many fields of corn and hay, nothing too exciting until we crossed over into Colorado. There was a storm front approaching, and it appeared quite menacing. I pulled over to close the windows in the camper and to secure everything down. In a matter of minutes, the vehicle was pitching from side to side with the power of the winds! We were instantly pummeled with tumble weeds, which seemed so stick to every part of the vehicle…it was as if we were in a war zone! I left one of the tumble weeds next to our trusty mascot “Gumby” for a momento of the occasion.

We had a few break downs along the way, I seemed to freak out a bit more than Sharlene did…. I should have realized that driving a 30 yr old vehicle would not be without its problems, especially a Land Rover We had our 1st breakdown at the ‘Worlds Largest Truckstop’. The engine just shut down! What better place to have a problem Sharlene said! I’m sure there will be people to help. As the trip progressed, I got more comfortable with our ‘breakdowns’…most of them were just minor inconveniences.

 

The mountains of Colorado were my nemesis, our speed was great going down, but I only managed 20 mph up the steep mountains with all of our gear and full holding tanks. Once we crossed over to Utah , the terrain was unlike any thing I had ever seen. We have experienced mountains before, but nothing prepared us for the red rocky cliff ‘martian-like’ terrain of Utah!

The temperature soared, up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 deg F). We stopped at the local Walmart to pick up a couple of DC fans to plug in to make it tolerable. We drank about a case of water a day! The drive to Moab was quite picturesque. I will never forget the shear cliffs and red rock of that state. It amazed me to see the numerous ranches and green pastures along the river. I can only imagine the cost of irrigating those areas!