CruiserFest 2014 - City of Rocks "excursion"

If you haven't attended CruiserFest before it's a killer event put on my Greg Miller (CEO of the Larry Miller Group, Owner of the Utah Jazz, Owner of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum, Driver and Leader of the E7 around the world Expedition). The main event is at Miller Motorsports Park in Granstville, Utah. There are several overland trail rides as part of the event that start at various locations and end at the event location in Grantsville. The trail rides this year originated at City of Rocks in Idaho; Moab, Utah; Denver, Colorado; Grand Juction, Colorado; and Prescott, Arizona.

Here's a HUGE dump of photos from my trip with the City of Rocks group. Enjoy.

Truck all packed and ready to pull out.


trailer loaded and rolling both tents since I've got the whole family with me.


dirt road into Almo, Idaho just east of City of Rocks


Dinner stop in Almo for a ribeye steak that was good but overpriced.


Almo, Idaho




Fellow cruiserheads start showing up. This is one sexy FJ60.


City of Rocks






Team City of Rocks at the Bread Loaves group site.


Little morning caffeine and we're ready to hit the road.

 

first stop at Register Rock

 

Tim Elwood's superb FZJ80


Along the road toward Grouse Creek we came across this rolled Dodge Pickup that had been rolled the night before. It was a man and his wife and two kids and they were hauling a horse trailer with two horses. They were going a little fast through one of the corners and lost control of the trailer and rolled the truck and trailer and the trailer landed on top of the truck. Miraculously, none of them were seriously hurt, including the horses. Hard to believe given the condition of the truck.






Not much further we had our first (and only) breakdown of the trip. My trailer busted a spring hanger off the frame. Considering how hard I've run this trailer for the past 6 years with zero issues it was hard to complain. Used a ratchet strap to keep the axle from pushing back too far and drove another 160+ miles until we somewhere we could get it welded up. That's another reason I love leafsprings on my trailer. If this had been a trailing arm setup I'd have been screwed.


the axle was pushed back and the shackle was collapsed but wasn't hitting the fenders so this is how we ran it for almost 200 miles.

 

The group made a stop at the Terrace Cemetery




Ryan Davis' daughter Hannah and my girl Zetta met for the first time on the trip and were quickly best friends.




Denver seemed to be having a good time

 

We continued along the old transcontinental railroad grade and saw several old railroad trestles.


made a short stop at the ghost town of Lucin. Not much left here.






While we were stopped I noticed I'd picked up a hitchhiker. Luck was on my side and the nail only went through the tread block and didn't damage the tire.


After leaving Lucin, our next stop was the Sun Tunnels. These are considered "art" and are a set of 4 concrete culverts positioned in a specific manner. Two are placed as to be aligned with the winter solstice and the sunrise and sunset can be viewed directly through the center of those two tunnels. The other two are aligned with the summer solstice and the sunrise/sunset can be viewed the same way. There are a number of holes cut into the sides of the tunnels that frame different constellations during the solstices. Cool place.










Some of the rigs parked at the sun tunnels






Devin was having a good time

 

So was Bob Dubois

 

After leaving the sun tunnels we made our way toward the Silver Island Mountains where we would camp for the night. The Donner/Reed party camped in this same area during their tragic journey. As the sun was going down it made for some spectacular scenes with the trucks kicking up dust in the waning light.

 

We made a brief stop to make plans for where to camp.

 

With a decision made we were off to our campsite on the north end of the Silver Island Mountain Loop just northwest of the Bonneville Salt Flats.


















every time I use my Tepui tents I'm more impressed with them. They worked out great on the trip and my whole family slept very comfortably. My wife was glad to have the RTT when she found a snake slithering around under our trailer as we cooked dinner. She hates snakes and I don't think she'd have slept had we been in a ground tent.

 

Sunrise the next morning did not disappoint.


We left from the Silver Island Mountains and Troy Demill and I made our way to Wendover, Utah where I'd find a shop that let me use their welder to fix my trailer. The rest of the group headed for the Wendover Air Base for a guided tour of the base. This base was home to the Enola Gay the B29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. This base was where the bomb was loaded and the planes left from. There was an airshow happening the next day so there were a couple WWII era planes there including a B25 that we were able to go through. Such a great feeling of history. Props to Ryan Davis for arranging the tour of the base.










The "Maid in the Shade" B25






My boys Bjornn and Soren checking out the 50 cal. waist guns in the B25

 

After touring the airbase we got back on the dirt and headed south, making a stop at Blue Lake.








Our next stop was the small town of Gold Hill. The old Mercantile was fascinating along with some of the other dilapidated buildings.

 

Sully


Sully and Soren discussing the finer points of toy planes




a "shrine" of some kind on this mailbox?


In case we needed a screwdriver, Zetta found one in the road.

 

From there it was following the Pony Express route out of Gold Hill with a stop at one of the historic Pony Express Stations


Apparently Gold can be found in places other than Gold Hill


We would camp that night near Callao, Utah


Getting ready for some star gazing.












The search was on for grasshoppers and crickets


As evening came the moon rose and some clouds rolled in






The next morning was no less beautiful with an impressive sunrise

 

That day was our final day on the trail along the Weiss Highway and we made one stop at the Hole in the Wall Well for a group photo on our way to Fish Springs Wildlife Refuge.


We continued along the past the Black Rock Pony Express Station until we made it to Simpson Springs where we met up with the other "expedition" group coming in from Moab, Denver, and Grand Junction. Now as one large group we convoyed to Grantsville, Utah and Miller Motorsports Park to Cruiserville for the remainer of the event.

 

Cruiserville is a visual buffet of impressive Toyotas. 4WD's of all models had their own sections marked in Cruiserville along with a vendor section, a large tent for breakfast and classes, and a large fire pit all directly across from the manmade rockcrawling course and just west of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum that houses a growing collection of every model Land Cruiser ever offered as well as the E7 Expedition Land Cruisers that just completed a 58,000 mile journey around the world visiting all 7 continents.







If you have a weakness called "envy" this is not the place for you. No coincidence the saying is "green with envy".

 

Morning came quickly and the beginning of a number of workshops throughout the day, as well as a rockcrawling competition and the dinner and raffle. Of course there was plenty of time to check out all the different trucks.


















You can't have a complete collection of Cruisers without a Mega Cruiser.

 

Beau Johnston of Living Overland taught a cooking class during breakfast.




Kurt Williams of Cruiser Outfitters taught a class on vehicle recovery






Ryan Davis of Ratio AV taught a class on Radios and Communications






Johnny is clearly impressed with Ryan's knowledge.


...which Devin finds quite humorous


Greg and CruiserDan, however finds it all a bit confusing.


Other classes were taught about avoiding dangerous mistakes in the backcountry. How to plan your expedition taught by Scott Brady and Digital Storytelling (photography class) taught by Bruce Dorn.

 

Greg Miller's passion for Land Cruisers can be felt throughout the entire event since this was all his brain child. It is extremely cool that he has collected such a wide range of Land Cruisers that will now be preserved in his museum for so many of us to enjoy. Just make a trip to Utah and check it out for yourself.








A clean '74 FJ40 on the rockcrawling course.


Of course there were a few overlanding celebrities on hand. Clay Croft and the XOverland crew were there. The E7 team was also there.






Clay Croft's super cool FJ62

 

I could spend hours in the museum drooling over all the Land Cruisers






The focal point of the museum is the E7 Land Cruisers
















That seems to make a fitting end to my photos and account of my trip. Hope you enjoyed the pics.

 

Wow!! Looks like a fantastic trip and an outstanding event! What a remarkable museum.

Jealous of what you have in your backyard... Great thread, thanks for sharing