Another successful 2200 mile trip in the MJ. To the Mojave trail. Video

[Htchevyii]

We survived another huge trip in the Comanche. Other than a cracked exhaust pipe, the trip was trouble free. We took back roads as much as possible from N CA to Mojave. If you like the video, please give a like and comment and consider watching another of our videos. It's supposed to help the YouTube algorithm. There is much more cool stuff to come in future videos. 

 

It's not shown in the video, but we drove by Pyramid Lake and camped near Fallon. Breakfast at the historic Middlegate Station, then we were off  to the International Car Forrest in Goldfield NV. The next night was spent at the Goldpoint Ghost town, then we made it to Afton Canyon for the start of the trail. My parents accompanied us on this trip in their 2020 JL towing a Sherpa off road trailer.

 

 

 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Very cool!

[Htchevyii]

Thanks! It was a long, but amazing trip. We took the scenic route there, it was almost 20 hours of driving just to get there.

[Drahcir495]

I really enjoy your videos 

[Htchevyii]

Thanks! It was a fun trip. I was a little worried about tiring out my parents whom are in their 70's, but the did great and enjoyed the trip.

[Eagle]

Yay! Another one of your videos. Looks like you're closing in on 200,000 subscribers! That's very good. I love your videos -- I'm too old and too poor for any more road trips to the western U.S., so I have to live vicariously through your videos. Keep 'em coming.

[Htchevyii]

12 hours ago, Eagle said:

Yay! Another one of your videos. Looks like you're closing in on 200,000 subscribers! That's very good. I love your videos -- I'm too old and too poor for any more road trips to the western U.S., so I have to live vicariously through your videos. Keep 'em coming.

Thanks for the words and for watching! We're only at 1739 subscribers currently. We haven't even came close to paying for the camera gear from YouTube proceeds at this point. Sadly, our vintage trailer, Gambler 500, technical and product review videos have usually done better than the Jeep overland ones. 

 

At this point, Heather is still enjoying making the videos, if that changes, we will still go on the trips, but you might get stuck with pictures. Thanks again for your support!

[Eagle]

13 hours ago, Htchevyii said:

Thanks for the words and for watching! We're only at 1739 subscribers currently.

 

 

Oops. I guess I was reading those subscriber numbers a bit optimistically.

 

The quality of your videos is right up there with anything on YooToob, but what I love is your MJ. It's still an MJ. You put a mild lift on it, added some trekking gear, and it's being used the way an MJ should be used. I cringe every time I see someone take a perfectly good MJ and carve it up to make a tube buggy rock crawler out of it. With an LS engine, no less. What's the point? Start with an XJ, not a rare MJ -- or start with an S10 or a Ford ranger.

 

Your MJ is where I would have liked my off-road MJ to have gone. Life intervened.

[fiatslug87]

No bourbon…yet???

[Htchevyii]

44 minutes ago, fiatslug87 said:

No bourbon…yet???

Don't want people thinking I'm a lush. 😁

[Htchevyii]

The second video is out. We visited historic cabins, a huge lave tube and an abandoned cinder mine. It was pretty awesome.

 

[Eagle]

I just watched part 2 on YooToob. Some very cool stuff.

 

I had a quick glimpse of your camera when you were entering the lava tube, but I couldn't read the brand. I was expecting a GoPro, but what I saw was a DSLR. What's your primary setup? Camera make and model, microphone, etc.?

[Htchevyii]

20 minutes ago, Eagle said:

I just watched part 2 on YooToob. Some very cool stuff.

 

I had a quick glimpse of your camera when you were entering the lava tube, but I couldn't read the brand. I was expecting a GoPro, but what I saw was a DSLR. What's your primary setup? Camera make and model, microphone, etc.?

 

Thanks for watching! Unfortunately, no camera seems to work well for everything. For quite a while, Heather primarily used her Google Pixel 6 Pro. It does pretty darn good. Lately, she's also been using a DJI Action 4, the Insta 360 X2 and the Panasonic Lumix. The 360 gets shots that would otherwise be impossible, but is a pain to edit. She really only uses the Panasonic for further away shots, tripod stuff or photos as it's stabilization isn't very good. Multiple cameras definitely make it much more difficult to edit the videos. 

She's got a few torpedo microphones and a couple wireless ones  that we probably should use more. Just Amazon stuff.

[Eagle]

So is this the Lumix? What's the microphone you have attached to it?

 

I guess I haven't priced DSLR cameras for awhile. $2k strikes me as a lot to pay for a camera unless you're a professional photographer.

[fiatslug87]

That’s a cool shirt Heather is wearing 👍

[Htchevyii]

 

[Htchevyii]

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! The next part to our Mojave Trail video comes out today at 8:30 PST if you're sitting around digesting still. 😉 Here's a preview of some of the things we saw.

 

 

[Eagle]

In this latest video Heather mentioned "another" maintained cabin, and I recall a cabin in one of the previous videos that showed a cabin that seemed to have some fairly new (-ish) accoutrements in it. I was surprised that the new-ish stuff hadn't been stolen or vandalized. Who maintains these cabins, and for what purpose?

[Htchevyii]

13 hours ago, Eagle said:

In this latest video Heather mentioned "another" maintained cabin, and I recall a cabin in one of the previous videos that showed a cabin that seemed to have some fairly new (-ish) accoutrements in it. I was surprised that the new-ish stuff hadn't been stolen or vandalized. Who maintains these cabins, and for what purpose?

 There are many of these cabins in NV & CA. Most of them belonged to miners or ranchers before the government bought their land. There are various volunteer groups that adopt Them and maintain the cabins, mostly off road or Jeep clubs. Some are equipped with solar, battery systems, ETC. the best ones that we have found to date are in the High Rock Desert in NV. Link below if you want to see them. 

You'll have a difficult time getting anyone to publicly divulge the locations, that and the difficulty reaching the cabins is what usually saves them from vandals. There are dozens of cabins in Death Valley and the easier they are to find and the closer they are to "civilization" the worse they usually fare.  They are free to stay in, first come first serve, usually with a 14 day limit. The flag raised indicates that the cabin is occupied.

 

 

[Eagle]

Cool! Thanks for the info. I had no idea that such a network of cabins existed.

[Htchevyii]

Our video on the last leg of the Mojave Trail is out. Thanks to everyone who watched! We encountered the roughest terrain of the trip, the penny can, some cool stone cabins, the best petroglyphs that I've ever seen, ETC. then we started our 800 mile trip home.

 

[WranglerMangler]

Yet another awesome video. Good job Heather! What an amazing trip. Noticed new tires? And are the hubs new? Still looks like a D30 up front by the CAD block off plate visible in the shots behind the passenger tire? Just never seen you guys have to lock the hubs in before? 
Keep the videos coming! 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Gotta say, that last video really showed what the comanche is made of. Excellent articulation over some pretty rough terrain

JL had to circle back

[Htchevyii]

3 hours ago, WranglerMangler said:

Yet another awesome video. Good job Heather! What an amazing trip. Noticed new tires? And are the hubs new? Still looks like a D30 up front by the CAD block off plate visible in the shots behind the passenger tire? Just never seen you guys have to lock the hubs in before? 
Keep the videos coming! 

 

Thanks for the kind words!

The hubs have been on there for 4 or 5 years. I bought a front and rear axle at a yard sale several years ago from a TJ. The front had a Warn Hub setup,  Poison Spyder steering setup, (now my drag link and both tie rod ends are the same), a Spartan locker and a diff skid plate.

The rear had a Super 35 setup with a Detroit and 30 spline alloy axles. I was able to sell the rear end for enough to cover my purchase price. Honestly, we only use 4x4 a few times per trip, the Comanche is amazingly capable in 2wd and the front locker makes steering a chore. 

 

We sprung for a new set of BFG MT03's before this trip. At some point the toe got off and the Patagonias got pretty hammered. I didn't have any complaints about them before they got excessively worn and cupped, but they have increased in price so much that the BFG's weren't that much more. I was surprised that they are so full inch narrower tread width than the Milestars. Drivability with the new tires VS the old worn ones is vastly improved! It's probably going to be a while before we can get out in another big trip. Thanks for your support!

 

[Htchevyii]

2 hours ago, Salvagedcircuit said:

Gotta say, that last video really showed what the comanche is made of. Excellent articulation over some pretty rough terrain

JL had to circle back

Thanks for watching! The old Comanche cruised up it pretty effortlessly.  I should have been in 4LO 1st instead of 2nd and I wouldn't have stalled it. I really need to re-gear eventually, the 3.73's are pretty high off-road, but great for the long HWY drives. The JL is plenty  capable, but that trailer is kind of like dragging around an anchor, but my parents are in their mid 70's and a roof top tent isn't in the cards.