#SpringEpic23 – DAY 4

DAY-4 Of The 2023 Edition of the Red Line Land Cruisers Spring Epic Overland Trip

Hopefully you’ve started at the beginning and read both Day-1, Day-2, Day-3, of our trip.

Photos & Story: Rodney Wills – DAY-4, April 24th, 2023 • Today we are Escalante going to attempt a mountain pass, but with a conversation at the gas station with a local wheeler, he said we would not be making the pass! Breakfast is going to require a little re-routing our course plans. 

First dirt of the day was to find a re-group spot for the crew after last nights “hotel’pisode.”
Once we found a spot, alerted the others and started breakfast!

When your offroad morning starts like this… ____________!😋
Makes it a little easier to stomach the fact we will not be hitting the dirt we wanted to hit.
Gravel roads it is! Funny thing, the guy we saw at the gas station, we saw hours later out on the same road!

The whoop eating 4×4 Ranger making it’s maiden voyage with us. This is XJ-Bryan’s son’s rig and the reason I got some steering wheel time because dad wanted to ride with son! This trip has been dynamically vehicularly different!

XJ-Bryan telling Justin, “look at that Ranger go! We need to BEAM everything!” Someone has to always be riling up the Toyota guys! And why yes, yes that is a Geiser Brothers sweatshirt that Bryan is wearing! From his and Justin’s recent trip to the BAJA1000.

But in my mind, I was having flashbacks of my old ’85 Toyota PreRunner. If we are going to do this speedy desert pursuits thingy, I might need to revert to my past desert life! My frontend was built by Jason Campbell before he and Jerry Zaiden started Camburg Engineering, back when Jason was attending San Diego State for mechanical engineering degree while working for Bob Miller of BMP Fabrication (desert racer) then located in Costa Mesa, California. Yes the photo is shot on film, obviously an accidental double exposure of the previous night’s campfire – first time at Glamis!

Sorry for the distractions – back to our #SpringEpic23! The eclectic collection of vehicles with friendships as long as, if not longer than the age of these rigs!

But one stands tall above them all! The #RLLC80! Not just in physical height…
THIS IS A TOYOTA LAND CRUISER!

We ran this same road last year, so not much to show again. But we did stop in here for a lunch stop.

And of course I start scouting the surroundings…

As the crew is looking over course selection options and plans.

The three amigos! This is the trio of how this series of trips started; L-R: XJ-Bryan, 3G4R-Jay, RLLC-Justin.

The #RLLC80 ready for a wide open desert snack – we are ready for big banana pudding dessert too! Better yet – APPLE PIE!

Spring showers has provided some color to the desert! But the desert is always colorful in its own way!

The desert, while most people think of it as just this massive flat thing you have to endure across, is such the wonderful everchanging playground of scenery!

Do you think that GX can make that departure? If my dad was driving he would just jump it!

Coming off a dirt road to the paved road to only cross over it and drop into another dirt road!
Carry on you tarmac “passer-bye’ers” carry on! Nothing to see here!

Saw this little trail marker and had a giggle… Reminds me of a certain one in the middle of Death Valley, and not Teakettle Junction. Also includes “bat wings” as part of it “signature.” My buddy Endless Atlas knows the location I am referring to.

Think we may have found a sweet little camp spot for the night! Always “Russelling” the good spots!

YES – THIS IS THE SPOT! Hello nature, my name is Justin, I’m 6’2″ 135-lbs (wet) Colorado Springs native #RLLC80 driving desert explorer.

Epic camp spot for a night on the #SpringEpic23 !!!

With EPIC views up and down the cliff edge!

Somebody has to keep the Bronco at bay on the edge of the cliff! But truth be known, the owner of the Bronco and the 4Runner may have known each other longer than that of Justin’s and Bryan’s high school friendship.

As the cowboys and Native Americans did… Campfires somehow bring out reflection, ponder and nostalgia. Lost in the moment without a care for tomorrow… Different times – different horsepower.

You can check out some of our video clips and images from the SpringEpic23 trip on the Red Line Land Cruisers Instagram page, even on the desktop! Just give it a minute to load the content – be patient!