DAY 1 OF OUR 4,600 MILE ROAD-TRIP
During a so-called "Pandemic" We set out on a 3,600-mile journey with our phase 1 build of our 2021 Subaru Outback Onyx XT which only had 7 miles on her when we picked her up from the dealership. Gaia, she was only 2 weeks old and we already started doing mods to her like a 2" lift kit, front bumper guard with 4 rally lights mounted, rock sliders, Wheel's & Tires, and our 1up bike rack for the long travels ahead. Right before we took off on our journey we had a couple of new partners come on-board with some goodies like an overland fridge from Iceco Coolers, and Morrflate with their awesome multi Tire inflation / Deflation kit.
We packed everything into the car for our 2-week road trip the night before. I wanted to be on the road at 6 am but things happen and we didn't end up leaving until 3:30 pm. Our original plan was to drive straight to Sedona, AZ but because us leaving so late we stopped in Joshua Tree our first night. We just passed Palm Springs and got off the freeway to one of the entrances of Joshua Tree. Pitch black, stars out, and the moonlighting up the whole desert like a night light. We quickly pull off to the side of the road flipping through the map on my phone to see where we can camp for the night and to achieve our location I was using the onX Offroad app because it show's you everything from trails, what's BLM land and what's not.
After 10minutes of looking we pinpointed a spot and started heading there. We turned off the paved road for the first time on our trip and we noticed that maps were telling us it would like 32minutes to get to our spot which was only 2.2 miles down. Scratching our heads we decided to go for it anyhow. I didn't feel the need to air-down as it was just a grated fire-road and only 2.2 miles. What said to be 32 minutes to our spot only took 10 minutes. I stopped and took our ( 4 ) 4.7" Vision X rally light covers off and turned on what looked like light sabers cutting through the dust in the deep night. Jumped back into the car and slapped it in D and hit the gas. Next thing you know we're setting up camping under the moonlight and enjoying a conversation.
