The Oklahoma Adventure Trail-West Half Day One

Oklahoma Adventure Trail-The West Half

The Oklahoma Adventure Trail was created by The Adventure Riders in 2012.  The Adventure Riders had an idea of a long adventure motorcycle trail that would connect must see places and loop around the entire state of Oklahoma.  Being in Okie I felt I needed to do this trail.  There are a couple of different places to find information about the trail.  Some of the sites I found had somewhat updated information about the trail.  So I started planning and started to gather a team.

Mark

Mark my uncle and a big reason I love 4x4 vehicles was the first person I contacted about the trip.   He is a mister fix and worked may years as a mechanic.  He has also taken several nursing classes which made him a very valuable member of our team. 

DJ

DJ a friend from church that has years of backpacking experience and serves in the National Guard.  He would be my lean on man for navigation and rode next to me in my vehicle.

Justin

Justin is a Jeep friend and he came with the most capable vehicle for the trip.  A Jeep Rubicon on 35in tires, tons of recovery gear, and a willingness to do anything for the team.

Jack

Maggie

Jack was interested in coming with us on the trip.  I think he had the most experience of all of us.  He and his wife Maggie have both spend several years as adventure motorcyclist as well as going on Jeep adventures.  His knowledge of camping gear is second to none. 

We also had three kiddos with us, Jack and Maggie's grandson, DJ's daughter, and my daughter Molly that comes with me on most of my overland and camping adventures.  It was great having kids with us, it just helped keep everything fun. 

The Kids

We all met at my house a few weeks before we left.  We talked about what each person's expectations were and what we wanted to gain from the trip.  We talked about food, camping, and the trail it's self.  A lot of the time was spend talking about our vehicles, experience, and what items we each needed to bring.  We all agreed on where and when to meet.  The time was set the place was marked and we were ready.  The trip was going to start spring break 2017.

It was a Wednesday evening when we met at Lake McMurtry in north central Oklahoma.  From here we would drive counter clock wise to the west.  I arrived just before sunset.  Jack, Maggie, and Justin where already there and had their camps all set.  DJ and I worked at getting our hammocks setup.  We both had our daughters hammocks right above ours so that nothing could get to them without us knowing.  They just liked being up higher than us in their hammocks.  We sat around telling stories of past adventures and sharing our excitement about this new adventure we were starting. 

That first night was cold.  The wind blew off the lake which didn't the fact I couldn't sleep anyway anticipating starting the drive in the morning.  I did manage a couple of hours of sleep, Molly slept all night and stayed warm.   When we all woke up we made breakfast and broke down camp.  Mark arrived, and the last piece of the puzzle was here and we were ready to start.  Packed and ready to go we all got in our vehicles and started them up, well everyone but me.  Seems the girls game of opening and closing the doors all night, with a few times the just kept them open drained the battery in the Liberty.  No problem we just give it a quick jump and be on our way. 

Me freezing the first night

We met dirt roads right at the start.  A lot of the roads we traveled on where not well maintained, just the way we like them.  It was in the first hour that we had our first very small water crossing.  Not very far from there we found and old building.  We guessed that it was well over 100 years old.  The roof was gone and it was falling apart, and another photo opportunity.  Shortly after that we came across a couple of camels, yes a camels on the side of the road.  Of course we had to stop and take a few pictures.The trip was in its first two hours and already it was a blast. 

We travel on more dirt roads some smooth some not so much.  We traveled along a creek and was stopped by a bridge that was out.  We back tracked and found another way around.  A big part of trips like this is the ablilty to adapt to changes.  This is more of a mental thing then anything else.  Not getting worked up over lost time backtracking is key.  We decided to stop and eat lunch at a diner in Pond Creek, Pepperment Pad this was a cool little burger place.  They had tons of history on the walls.  We wanted to eat together in a restruant early on the trip simply so we could talk and not worry about making lunch.  It was a great place to laugh and get closer as a team. 

After lunch we head out to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge.  We would start on the east side of the Great Salt Lake.  We stopped a couple of times and watched several different species of ducks gather in the ponds around the lake.  We would travel around the  northwest corner of the lake and head to the Great Salt Plains.  I had heard about being able to dig for crystals on the Salt Plains.  As we approached the area where you could drive on the Salt Plains we found that it was closed and would open in a week.  The kids were almost as upset as us adults.  I did see that the parking lot which was dirt had a lot of sparkles in the sun.  So we told the kids to start looking for crystals.  They did find several small ones. 

As we left the Salt Plains we ended up on the longest paved road we would drive the entire trip.  So we put the petals down and headed to Alabaster Caverns State Park.  It took us a while to find and campsite.  We did not get one we liked but we got one that worked.  Most of the park was closed due to it not being the high traffic season.  We all cooked our meals and sat again telling stories, but this time we started talking about the events of the day.  We stayed here because we wanted to tour the caverns and hoped to see some bats! 

Our first full day was over.  The next day we would need to do a quick repair, we would get lost, and we would be amazed how different our home state would be mile after mile. 

Come back and see what happens on day two of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail-West Half, and remember to GO ALL OVER. 

A response to the last blog post.

Let me start by saying I did not intend to start the firestorm I did with my last blog post.  It was a look at the extremes of both.  It seemed to some that I did not shed a positive light on the Offroad world.  That was not what tried to do or say.  I enjoy both activities, a lot.  I have spend many years doing both as well.  I have planned and gone on long distance overlainding trips and I have been a part of the planning for fun day trips to the local offroad parks.  The mind set of each is completely different.  I am sorry if you ddon't not agree, I am also not saying anything bad about either one.  I am passionate about both and will defend each activity.  I don't mind the bad comments and  read every comment good or bad.  I try my best to respond to most.  I even try and use the comments as fuel for future post, as I did with the last post.  The argument has gone on forever, so I tried to put a different light on it, some agreed some did not.   I did not intend to fix the argument or change anybody's view.  Just tried to get people to think about how we Overland vs how we Offroad.  I didn't mean that we don't go offroad and push our vehicles when we Overland,  we do.  For those unhappy about my last post I am sorry and will do better at explaining my views.  I don't pretend to think that everyone will agree, but I can promise you I didn't not plan to make anyone mad.  We may tag different labels for Overlanding, rock crawling, muddling, and off-roading but the public sees it all as the same.  It is our job as a whole to create a positive image for what we do.  I hope this helps.  Please let me know what topics you would like to see in the future.  And as always GO ALL OVER!

A big thank you to the FaceBook groups that allow me to post these Blogs.
Texas Overland
Overland, Offroad, Expedition, and Camping 4WD Vehicles
OFFROAD VEHICELS and Camping
Natural State Overland
On-Torc
And several others.

Overlanding vs Offroading

Overlanding vs. Offroading(Rockcrawling, Mudding, Extreme Stuff)

I have had several people ask me about Overlanding vs Offroading.  They are in my opinion ultimately separate activities, ultimately.  I guess the confusion comes from the fact that Overlanding is primarily done on dirt roads and not on pavement, for the most part.  Overlanders do travel on trails and we enjoy scenic drives far away from where most people travel.  Offroading is taking your vehicle to the limits of its capability, and sometimes its breaking point.  Now lets look at each one.

Overlanding-We have beat this one until it is dead, but lets look at it again, differently.  Overlanding is beauty.  The entire object of an Overlander is to reach a beautiful spot and on the way enjoy everything the travel brings to us.  Overlanding is a relaxing break from the loud everyday craziness that is all around us.  We strive to find a way to survive on our own and in the process we bring ourselves closer to God, nature, and our true self.  We need our vehicle and our equipment to sustain us for multipule days, weeks, months, and for some even years.  We are not reckless but instead controlled in what we do.  We take care of the land and even leave it cleaner than when we arrived.

Offroading-Adrenaline is the word I would use first for Offroading.  It is a mixture of gas, metal, rubber, and dirt.  It is the sounds of a motor screaming, tires burning, metal breaking, and gears twisting.  Offroading is creating your own path, one that takes a special vehicle.  One built to rip and tear its way up and through things that seem impossible.   We Offroad to challenge the vehicle and to take it to it's breaking point, to find the weak point and to make it better.  Some Offroaders often trailer these vehicles because they know it will be tested to the limits.

We need to do both, to learn about ourselves and our vehicles.  Overlanding is like a graceful long distance runner, where Offroading is like a powerful sprinter.  As Overlanders we need to take our vehicles Offroading.  We need this so we can learn how our vehicle will react to the environments we put them in and so we can make it out and make it home.

They each have their own place and time.  Please do not confuse Offroading with Overlanding.  Stay on the trail and always Tread Lightly when Overlanding.  Please only Offroad at places that allow it, such as Offroad parks.  We must work together to keep our sports available. 

GO ALL OVER, or at least where allowed.