Trans America Trail

[smlobx]

A friend of mine and I did a section of the TaT last week. I have been wanting to go on my motorcycle, but the all the rain we have gotten changed my mine. I put a rack and roof top tent on my gladiator. We went on the trail from Fayetteville Ar to Fayetteville Tn before I had to drop him off where he lived in Alabama and I headed back. We are going to pick up and continue the trail later on sometime. I filmed some of it on my GoPro. Ill post a link. I am not the best Vlogger, and forgot to turn on the camera for some of the good stuff. As for the trail, my jeep is stock and for this section, there was only one technical area called "war loop." Our main issue was very slick muddy roads in eastern Arkansas and red clay/mud roads in northern Mississippi. I only have 2 videos made of our 5 day trip. Working on the rest.

I was thinking to myself that your video was a little long then I remembered ...what the hell else do I have to do today? Thanks for the ride along!
A couple of questions:
- when you went into the ditch were you in 4x4?
- what is the rating of your winch?

Thanks!

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[Brentano84]

I was thinking to myself that your video was a little long then I remembered ...what the hell else do I have to do today? Thanks for the ride along!
A couple of questions:
- when you went into the ditch were you in 4x4?
- what is the rating of your winch?

Thanks!

I was in 4 Hi. The road was difficult just to walk on trying to get it out. I have a 10,000# warn. Sorry about the length. I’m new to Vlogging.

 

[TheHops]

I haven't done it in the JT (yet), but I did do parts of it last year prior to ownership in my EcoDiesel Grand Cherokee. It was a great trip, and I plan on taking the same route in the JT once I finish the build.

I only got to do portions of AR, OK, NM and CO before having to head for home, but it was a blast.

 

[smlobx]

I haven't done it in the JT (yet), but I did do parts of it last year prior to ownership in my EcoDiesel Grand Cherokee. It was a great trip, and I plan on taking the same route in the JT once I finish the build.

I only got to do portions of AR, OK, NM and CO before having to head for home, but it was a blast.

I sat in that exact same chair in picture 4 in Ouray last summer!

 

[TheHops]

I sat in that exact same chair in picture 4 in Ouray last summer!

Haha, awesome!

I can't recall the name of the place...but they had great food, great beer, and a great view!

 

[smlobx]

Haha, awesome!

I can't recall the name of the place...but they had great food, great beer, and a great view!

Yep they did!
Ouray Brewery

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x873f21d84e9b55a5:0xbd970cf2feed40e2!3m1!7e115!4shttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipOudy_WnW2m9L_0nz9x5OLKjPibPTddzMo6o9hs=w520-h350-n-k-no!5souray colorado restaurants - Google Search!15sCAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipOudy_WnW2m9L_0nz9x5OLKjPibPTddzMo6o9hs#

 

[TheHops]

Yep they did!
Ouray Brewery

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x873f21d84e9b55a5:0xbd970cf2feed40e2!3m1!7e115!4shttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipOudy_WnW2m9L_0nz9x5OLKjPibPTddzMo6o9hs=w520-h350-n-k-no!5souray colorado restaurants - Google Search!15sCAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipOudy_WnW2m9L_0nz9x5OLKjPibPTddzMo6o9hs#

That's the place! I'll definitely be stopping by again the next time I'm in the area.

When I rolled through Silverton, I stopped at a hole in the wall place called Avalanche Brewing Company. Very small town feel, with friendly staff and great food/beer. Everyone knew everyone's name (except for mine haha). Highly recommended if you find yourself over that way too!

 

[DiabolicalDianoga]

I'm hoping to do at least some of this from NC out to at least CO. Got an AF buddy who wants to go too. Might try to convince the wife to do some of it later this year as just a camping trip. Haven't taken our 3 year old camping yet.

 

[TJWilly]

Ive done the TAT in my old JK and on a BMW Dakar dual sport. I started at the trail head and stopped in Moab in all accounts. I have yet to finish the entire thing. Is there anything I can help with?

 

[Jaydebe]

The TAT is one reason for us buying the JT. We spent the last year travelling the US and Ca. in a built out Promaster camper van; now, life is returning back to normal(read work).

We traded the van for the JT in hopes of building an adventure rig for exploring the more harsh roads that you can't reasonably take a campervan on daily.

My hopes for the build is keep it low as possible; but stout, almost over building on the strong side. armor, skids, winch, 35's, etc.

I'm supposed to have Fall and Springs(read about 30-days per season) to travel with my new job, as well as 2-weeks in the Summer.
It would be amazing to meet up with others along the way!

 

[Hog1450]

I have been watching "One Man Trail" TAT series, the first 5 are sorta painful as he only talks to the camera with the camera facing him... but after that he has filmed more of the TAT than I've seen anywhere else.
He's driving a long bed Tacoma, not sure of the WB vs. the JT.
In this video Day 17 he is going through most of the passes in CO. and it is the only place so far where he has mentioned long WB for some of the switch backs.

 

[1OffCraz]

We're planning to run some of the eastern section next month. Starting in Ripley, WV ( 3.5 hours away from my house) and then planning to go as far as the Smoky mountains. Got Sam's tracks converted to turn by turn for the Garmin. Really looking forward to the trek. I know I'm in store for some switchbacks, so we'll see how all that extra length plays.

 

[Mark Doiron]

... Got Sam's tracks converted to turn by turn for the Garmin. ...

Help me to understand this. I just finished the OK part of the TAT with a friend driving his FJ Cruiser and he was using a Magellan with Sam's tracks that I had furnished to him. Now I had cleaned up those tracks to remove all the useless points, which bog down the Nexus 7 device I use running Backcountry Navigator. This is a procedure I've used for years on .gpx files, and it works marvelously. But, my friend had the Magellan device telling us where to turn--but going the wrong direction! It took us a short while to figure out what was going on as it would tell us to make U-turns, to turn left when right was what the next turn was, etc. I've always just paid attention to the route on the map to see where the next turn was, then made it. Or made any necessary corrections had I missed it (it happens, LOL). Anyway, we were driving west to east, and I know Sam has the paper charts set up for east to west.

Here's my question for you: Were the wrong turns something that is in the original file from Sam, or was that something that my friend did importing the .gpx file into his Magellan device?

BTW, if it interests anyone, here is the teaser video for the series. Days 1 and 2 of the five day trip are also now online. I was driving my JK, not my JT, for this trip ...

 

[1OffCraz]

Here's my question for you: Were the wrong turns something that is in the original file from Sam, or was that something that my friend did importing the .gpx file into his Magellan device?

Sam's tracks did not have any wrong turns as his tracks, are just that, Tracks, not a route.
I converted his tracks to a driving route, which uses every waypoint , it just doesn't announce them. In order to force the route to be driving, you can modify the default "driving" profile in Basecamp to avoid anything paved so during the conversion, it follows his tracks perfectly.

 

[MoparToYou]

My wife and I did 453 miles of the TAT this weekend in our Gladiator Mojave. We started in Monticello, UT, and travelled north and west, through Moab, then the San Rafael Swell, then on to Skyline Drive, and west to I-15, where we got on the freeway and headed home. This is a fantastic trail, and was a great adventure for us. I used Sam's maps for navigation. We have the GPS that came with the Jeep, and a Lowrance GPS, neither of which accept his memory cards. Here area few pictures from along the way.

North of Monticello, UT. La Sal Mountains in the distance.

La Sal Mountains, near Geyser Pass.

Just north of Moab.

Northwest of Moab.

San Rafael Swell

Skyline Drive

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