2.5 month road trip, august 6 until oct 20 2012... chicago to salt lake city, park city, Yellowstone, yosemite for 6 weeks, morgan hill ca, back to chicago, to NY then to CT
nearly 10,000 miles, only breakdown was bad #6 plug wire.

same trip aug 2013 to oct 2013, no yellowstone, and drive back east thru nevada, arizona, NM, OK, TX, MO,OH,KY,TN,WV,PA,NJ,CT,DC, all while towing a large uhaul trailer with about 2,200 lbs of cargo. Drove like a champ.

again near 10,000 miles, only breakdown was replace front driver wheel hub in Laramie,WY

I removed my back seat and my brother built a deck to store 8 of the long milk crates underneath, and i slept on top, all 6'6" of me. slept in my car probably a total of 3 months on two road trips and it was amazing, can't wait for next year in yosemite valley again


moab




Yosemite

















made it to NJ in one piece

 

Nice pics. I've been on similar road trips, but not in my Disco. I love sleeping in my vehicle during road trips; for some reason it completely changes the flavor of the trip and saves money so I can stay on the road longer.

I've driven my Disco on 5-6 12ish hour drives, and I must admit I love traveling in it. I daydream about driving out to Big Bend National Park and hitting the jeep trails. You can get a permit to camp anywhere, and I want to drive up into the hills and stay for a couple of days. Big Bend NP is amazing if you haven't been there.

 

Awesome pics. I dream of driving my disco on a road trip and camp from it. I will one day. Have an 03 blk on blk as well! And I am from IL! Hope to run into you one day.

 

Sounds like an epic annual event and your Disco made it look easy.

 

nice trek, great to here you didn't have any big problems

 

Please tell me you at least did a couple trails in moab! There are a ton that are non-damaging and lots of fun!

 

TX Rovers did Big Bend last year after Christmas... We didn't do any of the Jeep trails.. I'm interested to know more about these... We just did the one dirt road in the park. We are thinking of doing another trip down there in the Spring to do some more remote stuff and backpacking... I just didn't know about these remote Jeep trails.

 

10,000 miles @ 16 mpg @ 3.75 gal. no wonder you slept in the truck

 

Here's some links:

Scenic Drives - Big Bend National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Map:
Park Map Viewer

We did the Old Ore Road on Dual Sport bikes, and parts of it were incredibly beautiful. The road actually takes you on top of a small mesa at one point, and the view was just stunning. Also, cell phones worked great up there, so we parked and made some calls. That's where I would camp.

Another thing I'd want to do is drive the River Road (which I haven't seen) and camp along it, then the next day drive to Santa Elena Canyon and back along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive (which I have seen). Just beautiful. Bring a camera!

The Black Gap Road is supposed to be pretty brutal. It's got a 2 foot "step" you've got to get over.

I was living in San Antonio wen I went out there a couple of times. Now that I'm in Little Rock it's a bit too far to easily reach.

 

Thanks guys, yeah gas is expensive for sure, and hotels are extra money, but I always end up getting a hotel it like 2am having to get out by 11am so it's a waste. plus if i sleep in i'm losing daylight, though i am nocturnal haha. First trip, I had a mountain of gear and clothing behind the drivers seat, to the rear door. I had enough space to sleep on my back, shoulders touching both sides, a little close, but i managed. For privacy, I put cardboard in the two rear side windows, lol and a silver screen sun block. low tech but worked great.

Big Bend sounds cool... I have a friend in San Antonio i need to visit! I didn't have much time in moab so next time for sure on some trails there. I need to spend time in moab!

hey Plower99, I'm in chi a couple months a year, yeah it would be cool to compare discos! where are you located?

First problem was wendover, utah, during race week on the bonneville salt flats haha... who knew, i found the last room in town, as i was with my girl that time. got up and it was running super rough. I found "The shop" on the main drag there, and Lonnie fixed it. #6 wire, and he replaced the one wire, even though i was told that was impossible. The wires prolly only had 35,000 miles on them.

in downtown salt lake city my girl had a freakout (kind of bipolar) and threw a camelback at me while driving. it caught the rearview mirror and cracked the screen. damn. that cost her about $800. While in Salt lake, i stopped in great basin rovers, Bill Davis, and they re-balanced the drive shaft (on the fly) i bought from them a few months back. ton of cool rovers there.

First trip i had a leaky radiator so i added coolant as needed. I would get rotella at walmart for $13/gal and k&n filter, and have a shop do the oil changes every 5k. Ultragauge was so helpful to keep an eye on temps, I feel like it should be standard equip on these trucks.

The second trip, my wheel started squealing in Cheyenne, WY at Sierra trading post. Got back on i80 and after 10 miles the steering wheel was shaking a bit. stopped and "checked" the tire and wheel and brake check. abs light came on and amigos. finally get a tow at 5pm to VDR in Laramie. Wheel bearing was housed. looked like a mouth full of rusty mashed up teeth. They checked it out at 8:30 am and had it replaced by 9:30 am the next morning. amazing... I thought I might lose more than a few days. Bob was way cool... they have a major Volvo fetish at that shop, a ton of old volvos there.

after that, no problems... I did replace shocks and springs with parts from expedition exchange, tow wiring harness from AB, and new tires from discount tire. I had to tow some heavy stuff and didn't want to crash haha. though one time i thought trailer sway was gonna kill me, holy ****e.

i almost forgot... my D2, and I stopped off at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch, near carson city to have a look see...

I think i have been pretty good keeping stuff up to date, thanks to this forum, and thanks to great mechanics and friends working on it, including Chris at 5 points in long branch, nj. I must admit, I was worried about big trips, but I have driven Chicago to Connecticut so many times, I was a bit more confident. I really want a diesel sprinter, but it will be so hard to road trip without my D2, I really love driving it.

thanks!

scott