Well folks, this is it. I just got back from a bumpin' 6 day venture spanning across 5 states, putting 1600 miles on the Iceberg, and embracing a 90 degree temperature difference from start to finish. Oh, and the Mississippi River tried to make my last campsite an island, but we'll get into that later


Over the next few days, week or so I will be constantly updating this thread with some of the 600+ pictures I took of the environment, wildlife, and most importantly, my vehicle being my staple in this adventure- there is no doubt that this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for this slightly modded 3rd gen to save the day. Check out my build thread here!

With that as a hearty enough introduction, let's start the journey... Here's a pic to get everyone's attention right off the bat

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A little background on the matter: I am a graduating engineer at the University of Wisconsin- Platteville. Do to my final semester schedule being quite the light load, I am blessed with 4 day weekends until May. Which was great- my plan is to take a lot of trips like these....


Now it just so happened that last week, the scary polar vortex lumbered over the Midwest, getting people all freaked out because it was going to be -50 degrees Fahrenheit with windchill here in SE Wisco. So, what better time to head south where it was warmer? So I got to planning, made myself a four day, four day night adventure itinerary to work down to the Ozark National Forest in upper Arkansas, with intent to check out Lake of the Ozark State Park, Mark Twain National Forest, and the Buffalo River Basin on the way. Well I got lucky and they shut down campus early in the week, so I added two more days of plans, grabbed some extra food, and started my trip 2 days early! Yes, a whopping 6 day trip as my first ever "overlandish" adventure.


Here's a map of my proposed free campsite locations, mostly all from a site called freecampsites.net. I planned on mostly all public rec areas or primitive use free sites in WMA's or park boundaries, to save cost. As most of you know from seeing my build thread, I recently bought a Tepui RTT for these trips I'll be taking this spring! So, drive in, setup tent, sleep, enjoy scenery, hike, drive, repeat.

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Day 1.

Started in Platteville, Wisconsin, which is in the SW corner of the state. Drove 6 hours in the blitzing cold "polar vortex" to escape the 20 degree weather and hopefully make it to somewhere around 0 degrees. Made it to Pine Ridge Rec Area near Guthrie, MO. This was the first time I was going to be camping in the RTT, so it took me approximately 15 minutes to get it all setup and up in there with a 20 degree mummy bag, two blankets, and a couple of handearmers. My hands were frozen, so excuse the first couple initial not-so-great pics! I promise they will get better

Woke up with condensation on the inside due to my breath! -5 with windchill was pushing it, but I was tired and got a good 7 hours of sleep to prep for the next day.

Day 2 consisted of more cold weather down in Missouri, but I had a decent amount on my list to take care of...
The first being Lake of the Ozarks State Park.

It was cold, so I went down into Bridal Caves for a private tour-I was the only one out and about in the 0 degree weather. It was a balmy 60 and humid down there though!



I ended up getting the coordinates to another "hidden" cave down in Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Explored that on my own- was wicked cool.



I'm a big rock and fossil guy so finding Onyx / Calcite formations was neat as can be.



Camera shots of Lake of the Ozarks, Bagnell Dam Access along the park, and a bunch of vultures along an old abandoned castle in Ha Ha Tonka...

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Day 3. Woke up with a great night's sleep on 20 degree weather, this time little to no windchill.


Started off the morning with a good breaksfast, yep, homemade venison jerky.

Did lots of driving today, but had to stop in Springfield to check out the Bass Pro HQ. Didn't disappoint!


I got far enough south to get out of all the snow and salt that eats frames alive. And it finally got above freezing! So I took the Iceberg for a celebratory wash.

Stopped at a bar for a bowl of chili and it turns out, down here, they put fritos on it. Definitely a trend I'd continue.

And lastly, on my way to my campsite that evening, did my first stream crossing, albeit it was a concrete crossing and only 6 inches deep...Lame.

Day 4 I woke up to this scene at the Coy Bald Trailhead. My RTIC 65 proved to be invaluable for keeping my water and perishables UNFROZEN for the past couple nights, but starting this day, I switched it over fridge-mode to keeping things cold. I picked it up over Christmas for their year-end closeout sale for about 1/3 the price of a Yeti 65...

Now I'm in Mark Twain National Forest in the lovely Ozarks- here starts the scenery , warm 40-65 degree weather, and hikes.

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Today I worked my way to Whitaker Point in the Ozark National Forest in upper Arkansas. I worked my way up the surprisingly-intense clay roads, stopping to look at the little things on the way. What I found was pretty amazing...

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Once I hiked a couple miles in, it got intense. Walking on rock bluffs, hundreds of feet up... Wild.

At the point, I found another hiking couple and snagged some pics for them, so a attached a photo with them on it for reference!

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I stayed the night in the McIllroy Madison County Wildlife Management Area near Huntsville, AR. I spent a good part of the morning driving around and hiking this area, and I couldn't help getting some mid-drive shots (it sure would have helped to have an extra hand for this, haha)

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That afternoon I put about 5 slow miles on the boots in the WMA. I found the Kings River Scenic Overlook, a kind of rare Golden Crowned Kinglet, and a couple of waterfalls. The last one Tea Kettle Falls, was dry- water supposedly spews out of the hole in the rock about 50 feet in the air. Reynolds didn't disappoint though!

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What flavor of engineer are you? I graduated Mechanical in May 2017 and now work as a Nuclear Systems Engineer at a Nuke Plant here in Ohio. Any plans after graduation?

How do you manage to dump so much money into that thing going to school full time!? Even having my school paid for (Veteran) and working mostly full-time, I couldn't stomach dumping much money into mine. Granted... at that time I had a brand new car and 3 motorcycles too. Haha.

This should be good. Safe travels.



Eddie

So I went for Engineering Physics. It's mechanical, electrical, and applied physics all in one. For example, I am working on a team that is designing a plasma reactor right now it's both mechanical design, and it needs to jive with over 30,000 volts of electricity to generate a discharge. Hoping to move out west (CO, WY, MT) for a little while after graduation, see what I can get into out there.

To be honest, the Iceberg really hasn't set me back very far, when you factor in what I paid for it initially (1k), buying my lift used, and doing all the work myself except for mounting and balancing tires and an alignment! But scholarships too- big help.

Thanks Eddie. I should have been more clear, but this is actually a post-trip writeup, I made it back in one piece! I am going through all my pictures and will be documenting my adventure here on the forums for you guys as the week continues! Stay Tuned

In that case, glad you had safe travels and looking forward to your TR.


Eddie

Can't wait for pics, but sadly you are making me.