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I love all these stories! I live in Atlanta and I’m used to driving to Moab for 2 to 3 weeks at a time every spring in a two door soft top 2014 wrangler towing a small trailer with five big *** bias ply rock crawling tires and various tools and recovery equipment. I do nearly the whole trip with earplugs in, and I’m always on surface roads to get there rather than the interstate, so it’s about 2000 miles one way. This is in fact why I bought the defender. I was willing to give up some extreme rock crawling capability (been there, getting somewhat over it now, and I can always rent a well-built wrangler from Joe at Twisted Jeeps, Moab if I want that experience.) In exchange for giving up that last 10 to 15% of rock crawling ability I will be getting so much better of a ride, stereo, climate control, you name it. Also the ability to sleep in the back, which I have done at home just as a test situation. I have an air mattress that fits the back of a 110 perfectly. I’m heading to Telluride in six weeks for a long stay in the mountains and to visit my daughter in Denver, and then the back end of the trip is wide open; don’t know where I’ll wind up heading. There’s both pluses and minuses to traveling alone, but that is definitely one of the pluses. The “other people’s farts” thing is another one!
having done Top of the World three or four times in a Jeep, I’m still impressed that McDoogs was able to do it without damage in the 110. There’s a couple of gnarly places, but honestly, it’s mostly just getting banged around for that four miles because there are practically no smooth sections. I would absolutely not try it without sliders, but with the sliders I don’t think you would have a problem as long as you have RT or MT tires with good side walls.
having done Top of the World three or four times in a Jeep, I’m still impressed that McDoogs was able to do it without damage in the 110. There’s a couple of gnarly places, but honestly, it’s mostly just getting banged around for that four miles because there are practically no smooth sections. I would absolutely not try it without sliders, but with the sliders I don’t think you would have a problem as long as you have RT or MT tires with good side walls.
You are not lying, that trail is four miles of bouncing, jolting, spine compressing tedium. The payoff at the end is cool, but then you have to go back out! Not nearly the biggest ledge on the trail
back to long road trips though, for us on the east coast, the Defender is an awesome chariot to take out to the majestic West. Ok, maybe it’s better when premium gas is less than $6/gallon. But still, great road trip ride especially considering it’s offroad chops.
Trying to string together a road trip from Austin to Whistler in August. Has anyone ever driven from the states up into Canada and to Whistler by chance? Guessing its pretty straight forward but haven't started too much research yet.
Trying to string together a road trip from Austin to Whistler in August. Has anyone ever driven from the states up into Canada and to Whistler by chance? Guessing its pretty straight forward but haven't started too much research yet.
Quite a few times, but a solid 2 decades ago. It’s a great drive though I don’t know how much has changed.
Trying to string together a road trip from Austin to Whistler in August. Has anyone ever driven from the states up into Canada and to Whistler by chance? Guessing its pretty straight forward but haven't started too much research yet.
Not sure exactly what route you plan on taking from Texas but I can speak to the last leg from Seattle -> Whistler as of this past winter. Consider detouring over to the Chuckanut Drive Scenic Byway between Seattle and Bellingham. Other than that the drive through Washington is boring. However, once you get past Vancouver it is incredibly beautiful as long as there isn't too much fog on the Sea to Sky highway. Definitely recommend stopping in Vancouver if you like asian cuisine. Check out Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver if the weather is nice - gorgeous views of the city with Rainier in the background.
I've done a lot of long road trips in the west (although not yet in my new Defender).
If I were going from Austin to Vancouver and in no particular hurry I'd take the following route:
Austin - Lubbock - Roswell - Socorro - Grants - Gallup- Through the Navajo Nation via Chaco Canyon - Monument Valley - Moab - Provo - Pocatello - Dillon - Butte - Helena - Shelby - cross into Canada at Coutts - Lethbridge (go to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump) - Fernie - north to the Trans Canada via Radium Hot Springs - Revelstoke - Kamloops - Whistler - Vancouver
You could also follow that itinerary to Butte, MT and then go via 90 to Spokane and then either cut north up to Canada (up to Castlegar, BC) or stay in Eastern WA (I'd take the northern route rather than 90) to Leavenworth, side trip to North Cascades) and up 5 to Vancouver.
On the wya back, I'd come down the west coast as far as Northern CA and then start to cut through Nevada into Northern AZ, go to the Grand Canyon and then south to Tucson (avoiding Phoenix if possible) and then to 10. Check out Bisbee and maybe even take a side trip to Puerto Peñasco which you can do with a US vehicle easily. Check in with La Migra at their big station on 10 North of El Paso and then head home through Texas.
Trying to string together a road trip from Austin to Whistler in August. Has anyone ever driven from the states up into Canada and to Whistler by chance? Guessing its pretty straight forward but haven't started too much research yet.
I drive up to Canada and Whistler every so often. Not far from here. 4 hours door to door. Doesn't count as long road trip. Defenders seem to be 10 a penny in Whistler.
I still need to pull all my photos from my phone and camera, but I just returned home from my long road trip - Washington DC area to Badlands National Park (South Dakota), Black Hills, and Devils Tower in Wyoming. It was 10 days, 13 states, and probably around 4000-5000 miles. We ranged from regular highway in good weather, to 80MPH across the South Dakota prairie at nearly 100 degrees for hours (with a serious headwind), to a thunderstorm, and otherwise obnoxious metro driving (I'm looking at you, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Maryland as a whole). We also had a good bit of driving on gravel, washboard gravel, dirt, and solid off-road "high clearance vehicles only" - not a single issue with the Defender. OK - one time it flipped out and disabled cruise control for about 10-15 minutes until it reset itself, but for all I know the massive amount of bugs on the windshield was blocking the sensors. I was a little worried about the "Land Rover reliability" when crossing the very hot prairie with two people and two dogs in the car, but I had supplies so we probably would have been fine, but there was no need for concern.
100% would recommend a Defender for any sort of trip. So comfortable for multiple long days in the drivers seat, effortless power, great handling, and plenty durable!
One photo (for now) - I shared this on the New Defender Owners Facebook page so you might have already seen it (with hacky job of blocking the license plate, done on the phone):
06-20-2022 | 07:29 PM
