5-Speed

Hey guys. Just got back from my first long road trip in my XJ. I didnt get as many pictures as I wanted to but should be enough for a little story. The main reason for the trip was for a friends b-day party but I decided I wanted to make an adventure out of it. So that is what I did.

Day one - Friday
I loaded the Jeep up with way too much stuff. Clothes, chairs, tent, food, tools, tow strap, the GF.... It was loaded to the max. Starting point was from my house in San Bernardino. From my house, we headed east to the 5 freeway. The 5 freeways goes through the "grapevine" which is more of a farming area. We took that all the way up to the city Tracy which is about 400 miles away. Tracy was the spot where we met up for the birthday and where we stayed 2 nights. It was not a very exciting drive.



Day two - Saturday
From Tracy, we decided that we were going to go to San Francisco for the day. Originally, we were going to go to Alcatraz Island but they were sold out. So instead, we just went to the city. To get in to the city, you go on a massive bridge. You can see Alcatraz on the way across the bridge.





Once inside the city, madness begins. Tons of cars. Too many one way streets. Streets that are at a 45° angle. No parking anywhere. Cracked out people everywhere. People crossed the streets whenever they want. Not a good place for a manual trans like I have. The street are super chopped up as well. So we toured the city, saw a lot of cool things and went down this super popular road that is very narrow, steep and twisty.









After we were done touring the city, we headed north and went over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is huge! After we crossed it, we headed up a mountain to a lookout spot. We called it quits at that point and headed back to the hotel in Tracy.

5-Speed

Day three - Sunday
The plan for day 3 was to head back south down to Monterey. We really wanted to stop by the aquarium but got there too late. So instead we went to the fisherman's wharf and wandered around for a while. Nothing too interesting was going on. So we grabbed some food, took some pictures and went back on the road. I was hoping to go to Laguna Seca but they were closed. So down the coastal freeway we went to hit our next stop which was Pismo beach / Oceano Dunes.







On the way down there, you get to drive along the coast. Its a very nice drive. Plenty of spots to take pictures but there are a lot of trees so the pictures arent the best.



Everything was going great until we got to Big Sur. It was the area I really wanted to see. Lot of huge trees, streams, green mountains and just a very nice area. But apparently, a couple hours earlier, there was a massive land slide that took out the one and only road. No way around it either. There were no signs that said anything until we got to the land slide section. So without a choice, we turned around. Had to go all the way back up to Monterey to get around it. Not cool at all. Turned out to be a 3 hour detour.





So after our very long detour, we continued south. I was hoping to make it to Pismo beach in the day light so we could find a nice spot to camp but the detour ruined that. I have been to Pismo beach many times before so I had a rough idea of where to camp. We ended up finding a decent spot and setup camp for the night. Cooked some hot dogs over the fire, had a few beers and then went to bed.





Day 4 - Monday
Dune time! We woke up Monday morning, had a quick bite to eat and hit the dunes. Pismo is a pretty small area so there wasnt much to see. We cruised through the dunes for a while and the Jeep had no issues. Tried to make it up some big hill and failed a couple times but never buried it. After we played in the dune, we headed back to the beach area. We drove on the beach until we hit the end. Then stopped and took a little break. The GF walked the beach and collected some sand dollars while I was out catching some sand crabs. I tried to get her to touch a few but she wanted nothing to do with them. I will admit that they are some ugly little creatures.









And after that, we called it a day. Went back to camp, took everything down and headed home. Overall the trip was 1116 miles and the Jeep averaged an overall 19 mpg. The only issues I had during the trip were the stereo dying, one arm bolt got slightly loose and pretty sure a tie rod end is hurt. This was all thanks to the roads of San Francisco. It was a fun trip and we saw a lot of cool things. Now that I know the Jeep can do it, the next trip will be a lot longer.

EZEARL

GOOD story and pics. Glad it all went well.

Thought maybe I'd catch a glimpse of you on the news.http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/top...cid=spartanntp

5-Speed

Thanks Earl! Ya I am surprised you didnt see me on the news. It literally happened just a few hours before I got there. Wish I would have known so I didnt waste 3 hours of my time.

LACK

Looks like a fun trip. Glad to hear the jeep did well.

5-Speed

Thanks LACK. I am glad it all went good with no Jeep issues. I am going to replace all the tie rod ends, ball joints and possibly wheel bearings and it should be good to go for another wheeling trip!

LACK

Going to upgrade the steering or keep the ZJ stuff?

5-Speed

I will probably just stick to the ZJ stuff for now. I dont think it has any issues moving my little baby 31's around. Next year I will be going long arm and will do better steering then.