JohnTheLuck's Adventures Thread

[ElectroBoy]

Congratulations on retirement and your upcoming trip!
I was there last year (in October, their spring) for two weeks in the Sydney and Melbourne areas. On your first day in the cities go on a free walking tour with the “I Am Free” group. A great way to get familiar with the history, sights, and lesser known features. Spend some time at “The Rocks” district near the Opera House. If you like coffee the specialty is a “flat white”. No stale drip coffee there; all espresso-type drinks made to order. And for breakfast (brekkie) the eggs are great, all open range chickens and the yolks are bright deep orange.

There are lots of national parks there. We went to the Grampians and saw lots of exotic birds, kangaroos, emus. Did a bus tour to Blue Mountains. We searched out places to do day hikes wherever we went.

You’ll get used to driving on the left pretty easily. There are lots of roundabouts in the cities and countryside. I would not drive a motor home in downtown Melbourne, there are even weirder roundabouts with different entrance/exit rules. The worst part of the right hand steering wheel controls is that they flipped the turn signal and windshield wiper levers. So I’d often try to put my turn signal on and actually turn on the wipers!

The other driving oddity is the metric system. Instead of measuring fuel economy in miles per gallon, it’s liters per 100 kilometers. You can download an app to your mobile device to calculate it for you.

Have fun, it’s a great country!

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Thanks for the tips! At least the Metric System will not be annoying for me since it is the standard in place in Canada since many many years. And we are not alone:

Map of countries officially not using the metric system
.

 

[ElectroBoy]

Thanks for the tips! At least the Metric System will not be annoying for me since it is the standard in place in Canada since many many years. And we are not alone:

Map of countries officially not using the metric system
.

Haha! The US consumers sure love our miles, gallons, and degrees F. We tried to convert to metric a few times but just couldn’t wrap our heads around it. However the scientific community is fully aboard the metric system.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Wow, sounds like it will be a really awesome trip!

 

[MAST4R]

Congratulations and it does indeed sound great!

Carry your satellite communicator though.

As we speak, I am arguing the benefits of running/having 5 proper tires over 6 whatever tires in the Outback on a mostly Australian forum Not that I have been there but I have been talking to those folks for several years.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Congratulations and it does indeed sound great!

Carry your satellite communicator though.

As we speak, I am arguing the benefits of running/having 5 proper tires over 6 whatever tires in the Outback on a mostly Australian forum Not that I have been there but I have been talking to those folks for several years.

Unfortunately, my rental motorhome is required by contract to stay on pavement. I will miss my 4Runner badly there...

BTW, which Australian Forum are you refering?

 

[MAST4R]

Unfortunately, my rental motorhome is required by contract to stay on pavement. I will miss my 4Runner badly there...

BTW, which Australian Forum are you refering?

Offroadsubarus.com Not a very large number of folks on that forum but the most active ones are from Australia.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

A small update; I am back from Australia, and as predicted, I missed my 4Runner so badly. This is an incredible country and even with a six weeks trip, there is so much things I could not see or reached in my rental RV.

For those who could be interested, my french Blog have more than 600 pictures from this trip:

Jean et Nancy en voyage

I had a few issues with the Fiat-based RV I rented, but everything went fine with the replacement RV based on Mercedes. Reliability should not be taken for granted.

It is now time to start thinking about our next adventure early next year, in January to March. This time, we should explore New Mexico and Arizona. The plan is for a trip duration of at least 7 weeks. For inspiration, I got myself Peter Massey four books series, plus Charles Wells one.

I am open for any other suggestion from you guys ( [MENTION=306890]MAST4R[/MENTION] , I am listening!!!)

 

[MAST4R]

A small update; I am back from Australia, and as predicted, I missed my 4Runner so badly. This is an incredible country and even with a six weeks trip, there is so much things I could not see or reached in my rental RV.

For those who could be interested, my french Blog have more than 600 pictures from this trip:

Jean et Nancy en voyage

I had a few issues with the Fiat-based RV I rented, but everything went fine with the replacement RV based on Mercedes. Reliability should not be taken for granted.

It is now time to start thinking about our next adventure early next year, in January to March. This time, we should explore New Mexico and Arizona. The plan is for a trip duration of at least 7 weeks. For inspiration, I got myself Peter Massey four books series, plus Charles Wells one.

I am open for any other suggestion from you guys ( [MENTION=306890]MAST4R[/MENTION] , I am listening!!!)

This coming Jan-Mar? That would be awesome!

I will email you over the weekend. For now, bear in mind that several Massey trails do not exist any more or have been altered and that a new Wells edition is coming soon. That said, all these guides remain valuable and Wells especially is still quite up to date; the AZ guide has aged better than the CO one.

I look forward to chatting about possibilities but too busy to do so before the weekend.

 

[rageandlove]

Haha! The US consumers sure love our miles, gallons, and degrees F. We tried to convert to metric a few times but just couldn’t wrap our heads around it. However the scientific community is fully aboard the metric system.

There are two types of countries in the world.

1) Those that use the metric system.

2) Those that have landed a man on the moon.

 

[ElectroBoy]

A small update; I am back from Australia, and as predicted, I missed my 4Runner so badly. This is an incredible country and even with a six weeks trip, there is so much things I could not see or reached in my rental RV.

For those who could be interested, my french Blog have more than 600 pictures from this trip:

Jean et Nancy en voyage

I had a few issues with the Fiat-based RV I rented, but everything went fine with the replacement RV based on Mercedes. Reliability should not be taken for granted.

It is now time to start thinking about our next adventure early next year, in January to March. This time, we should explore New Mexico and Arizona. The plan is for a trip duration of at least 7 weeks. For inspiration, I got myself Peter Massey four books series, plus Charles Wells one.

I am open for any other suggestion from you guys ( [MENTION=306890]MAST4R[/MENTION] , I am listening!!!)

Beautiful photos! I just wish the descriptions had an English translation for us monolingual ‘Mericans.

 

[rageandlove]

Beautiful photos! I just wish the descriptions had an English translation for us monolingual ‘Mericans.

Most modern browsers will auto-translate for you.

 

[ElectroBoy]

Most modern browsers will auto-translate for you.

Hey, thanks for the tip. I searched around and installed Microsoft Translator for the Safari browser on my iPhone, loaded the French to English library, and now I can read John’s descriptions on each webpage. Very cool. This article gives some instructions on how to do this:
https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/translate-webpages-safari-your-iphone-0177759/

 

[JohnTheLuck]

2020-01 New Mexico and Arizona

Here we are again, me and my wife travelling in the 4Runner for another great adventure (we hope so...). We are getting back to the American Southwest for our annual pilgrimage, allowing us to escape the grips of the Canadian winter. The duration of the trip is 65 days for a return around March 26. Hopefully winter will be over by then. Our itinerary will allow us to explore the southern region of New Mexico, then Arizona from south to north, then the northern region of New Mexico before returning home in Montreal QC.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank [MENTION=306890]MAST4R[/MENTION] for all the time writing to me during the preparation of this trip. We first exchanged during our 2019-01 trip to California when he convinced me to make a one day detour to Kofa NWR. It was great. We will meet later during the trip to travel some trail together. I can't wait for this moment. Again, thank you so much for all the help.

Day 1:

Start point: Montreal QC
End point: Woodstock VA
States travelled: QC, ON, NY, PA, MD, WV, VA

Distance driven: 1003 km

We left a little before 7:00 am when it was still dark. At sunrise, the sky was partially masked by thin high altitude clouds, so absolutely nothing threatening. Then we were treated with a clear sky with only a few clouds here and there.

When we left the temperature was only -15C, it then plunged to -20C near Cornwall ON, before gradually rising to reach + 2C in southern Pennsylvania. As for the snow on the ground, it persisted until the border with Maryland.

Throughout our journey on the I-81 Interstate the pavement was dry without any ice. We didn't even have a traffic slowdown. Perfect conditions.

We are in Woodstock VA for the night. The night should be relatively cold since it was only -2C when we arrived at our hotel.

Tomorrow we will continue south west and should leave the freezing zone for good.

As it is normally the case, pictures will come when we arrive at destination in about 3 days. Those who followed us in our previous trips know these pictures will be in great number every night (thanks to my wife who does the selection...).

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 2:

Start point: Woodstock VA
End point: Dickson TN
States travelled: VA, TN

Distance driven: 965 km

We had another great day on the road. When we left the temperature was only -7C. It rose to finally reach 9C briefly before the clouds filled the sky.

We left Virginia to enter Tennessee still driving on the I-81. When we reached the I-40 the mile marker was about 430 miles to go before the end of the state: about 430 milessssss .............. Oh that is a long state!!!

We arrived at our hotel in Dickson very early due to the time zone change, having moved back an hour. Having taken it a little easier today, we should cover more distance tomorrow.

So far so good!

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Have a great trip, John! I'm looking forward the pics!

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 3:

Start point: Dickson TN
End point: Elk City OK
States travelled: TN, AR, OK

Distance driven: 1200 km

When we left Dickson TN this morning, the clouds were covering the sky. After driving for about an hour, the rain started to fall and became heavy a few times. We had to slow down a bit. The presence of many trucks generated clouds of droplets and greatly reducing the visibility. We crossed the states of Tennessee and Arkansas in these conditions.

We were also slowed down by a few truck accidents, one of which ended up in the bottom of a deep ditch, lying upside down.

The rain persisted until the early afternoon. Then, as we had just entered Oklahoma, the clouds slowly dissipated to make way for a completely clear sky. How much more pleasant it is!

We arrived at our hotel in Elk City OK around 7:30 pm, a little tired from our long day on the road.

As we have a day in the bank before our official itinerary begins in Las Cruces NM, we are going to make a small stop tomorrow to go and relax our legs in a park in Texas. Incoming pictures tomorrow, at last!!!
.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 4:

Start point: Elk City OK
End point: Roswell NM
States travelled: OK, TX, NM

Distance driven: 619 km
Distance hiked: 10.1 km

As we stated yesterday, we continued our journey west by taking a break at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas. Texas is a huge plain with little relief. In some places, the relief is cut by canyons. Palo Duro Canyon is nicknamed the Grand Canyon of Texas because of its length of more than 195 km, on the other hand much more modest in depth with on average that 250m. The different rock layers present a very wide variety of colors and textures.

We took out our hiking gear and hiked the Lighthouse Trail for about 10km. This trail bypasses several colorful mounds with several hoodoos, a rock pillar protected from erosion by a harder rock.

The trail joins a promontory at the base of the rock tower called Lighthouse (we do not have a good photo given the position of the sun). From this point, the valley between the colored mounds spread out before us.

On the way back, the lighting was even better to bring out the colors.

Unfortunately, today I don't have a picture of the 4Runner in action since we never left the pavement. But I have a picture of a ... roadRunner!

Back at the parking lot, we saw this roadrunner, posing for us, without seeming too inconvenienced by our presence. Less colorful than the one in the comics, I can tell you that they normally run very fast. We have seen many during our previous trips, but today it has left us enough time to take a picture of it rather than fleeing at full speed like the others.

Obviously, the winter landscapes present few flowers. So when my wife saw these curious fruits with bright colors, she couldn't resist.

We are in Roswell, New Mexico for the night. Tomorrow we will reach Las Cruces NM to start our itinerary established before the trip.
.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 5:

Start point: Roswell NM
End point: Las Cruces NM

Distance driven: 354 km
Distance hiked: 8.9 km

Finally, long distances in vehicles are over! We only had a few hours to drive before reaching Las Cruces NM, our first destination on our itinerary. So this gave us a lot of time to go and do something other than driving.

We made our first stop at White Sands National Monument, a place that my wife particularly loves. The landscapes are those of another world. As Canadians, we cannot help but make comparisons with our winter landscapes.

Several families took advantage of the place to try to slide, with a little less success than on snow!

Here and there, plants or shrubs managed to grow by retaining the sand by their roots. These then form clear headlands and re-silted up according to the wind.

We then continued our route to stop at the Dripping Springs Area in the Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument.

We hiked a trail going around a rocky outcrop made up of ancient volcanic ashes. Numerous clumps of cacti, agaves, yuccas, and other desert plants dotted the landscape.

The sides of the massif were sculpted by water runoff during the rare periods of precipitation. Plants settle there, forming miniature cascading oases.

We are in Las Cruces for the next three nights. The weather should cooperate and offer us practically ideal summer conditions.
.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 6:

Start point: Las Cruces NM
End point: Las Cruces NM

Distance driven: 266 km
Distance hiked: 3.7 km

Again, we had a great day in the sun with a temperature of 20C. True to our habits, we shared our day between hiking and off-road tracks.

To start, we went to the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks NM, more precisely to the Dona Ana Mountains, located very close to Las Cruces. An off-road trail leads to the start of the hiking trail leading to Dona Ana Peak, visible on the left in the following picture.

The hiking trail circulates in a dry stream, making its way among scree, cacti and other thorny plants.

After joining a ridge, the trail turns to the south and climbs a fairly steep slope to reach a second ridge located under Dona Ana Peak. At this point, the trail is very poorly defined and several tracks eventually converge at the ridge. The surface is made up of small rocks making the climb a little more difficult.

Once at this second ridge, the view is really splendid towards the north and the south, this one being masked elsewhere.

The return is by the same path, with the same challenges. Although relatively short, about 3.7 km round trip, the trail is quite trying given the gain in altitude and the steep slopes. At one point, the 4Runner begin to be visible at the trailhead, like begging for attention and challenges.

In order to get used again with off-roading (we go off-road only during trips in the US), we decided to do the Kilbourne Hole Trail (JeepTheUSA), still in Organ mountains-Desert Peaks NM. This easy but lenghty trailed runs through the plains between volcanic cones and lava flows.

The trail go around many volcanic cones, protected in wilderness areas. This one, Aden Crater, used to be accessible by vehicle, but this is not the case anymore.

Farther on, we joined Kilbourne Hole, an old crater that only expelled ashes. The size of it is no less impressive. Unfortunately, as it was getting late, the sun was starting to be quite low on the horizon and we could not take full advantage of the place. We decided not to go in the bottom of the crater.

Lastly, we reached Hunt Hole. This time, we decided to go down through the crater and go up on the other side. Since we didn't air-down and with the very soft powdered sand, the climb was a bit of a challenge.

We joined the paved roads when the sun had just set. Tomorrow we will continue our visit to the surroundings of Las Cruces NM.