I have an idea. Let’s get furloughed from work because of Covid. Take a cross country road trip. Have your transmission self destruct 300+ miles away from home. Buy a brand new vehicle on the spot. Drive it 6,000 miles around the country. And then take it off-roading for your first time ever.
So my story goes something like this. Over the last 2 years my wife and I have started traveling, a lot. Jamaica for our honeymoon in 2018, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone and Colorado summer 2019, and Knoxville/Charleston Winter 2019. For both of our cross country trips we took my trusty old 2005 Chevy Trailblazer. It was rusty, creaky, had some sort of alternator charging issue, and overheated the brakes coming down a few mountains, but it just ran flawlessly.
The summer of 2020 had no real plans for a large road trip. I was focusing my time and energy on my two “fun vehicles”; my 2017 Mustang GT and my newly acquired 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST. Everything was going swell, and then Covid hit the shores. I was directly impacted as I was laid off of work in April 2020, and furloughed until July 27th. As my wife is a school teacher, we found ourselves at home as of the beginning of June. I knew that until the day I retired, I would never again have 5 complete weeks off of work. As cases were beginning to slow down, we took the opportunity to head out on a cross country road trip. Down to Texas, out to Arizona, up into Utah, over to Colorado, and back to Wisconsin.
As my Trailblazer was starting to REALLY show its signs of age, we decided this time to embark on the trip in my wife’s 2008 Ford Escape. It was in much better condition, without any significant repairs since we purchased it 4 years prior. We felt confident there would be no issues. We were all loaded up, and headed out at 5am.
Remember how I said our Ford Escape had given us no major issues in the last 4 years?
Just about 300 miles away from home, we came to a stop on an off ramp to grab some fuel and some breakfast. Initially thinking it was the 18 wheeler next to us, as we accelerated over the bridge the car began shaking violently. I was able to gain enough momentum to shift it into neutral and coast into the gas station parking lot. After some quick diagnosis and reading online, I could instantly tell it was. A bad torque converter. Turns out these generation Escapes are known to have this problem. So now we are 300+ miles from home, with a vehicle that effectively needs the trans dropped (and most should have the trans itself replaced according to the internet), myself without a job, a truck load full of camping gear and 2 mountain bikes hanging off the hitch.
At this point, even my AAA Gold membership would only tow me 100 miles home. Dropping it off at a local shop would cost thousands of dollars, and take who knows how long. Since the vehicle was only worth a few thousand anyways, I made a rash decision to go buy a new vehicle. Over the last few weeks I had looked at a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. While it was slightly smaller than my Trailblazer, it just fit me right. The seating position and arm rest position are crucial for me, and of all the vehicles I looked at, the Trailhawk was my first choice.
My wife had not considered any new vehicle for herself (remember, her Escape was the “Reliable” one), so I was not going to force her into having to buy a car on the spot. I knew that purchasing a new vehicle meant that I would have to sell the Mustang, but it was the responsible thing to do. 2 car payments during Covid wasnt really in the cards. I checked Google, and there was a Jeep dealership 5 miles away. We hopped on our bicycles, and pedaled the 5 miles over to the Jeep dealership.
There were a few Trailhawks to choose from, but I was limited by the fact that I needed a tow package equipped car for my hitch mounted bicycle rack. If they had a Trailhawk with a tow package in any color OTHER than black, I would have bought that. But this was the only option available on the spot, and so after starting the day not expecting to buy a new vehicle, we loaded our stuff from our old broken Ford Escape and into our brand new 2020 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. Leaving around 4pm, we still had another 8 hours of driving to get to our hotel that night.
Above you can see the side by side of our old Escape and our new Trailhawk.
I quickly fell in love with my Trailhawk. It was very comfortable, drove extremely well, and provided just enough space for what we needed. It took us down into Arkansas, over to Texas, New Mexico, and then Arizona.
After visiting family, and seeing a huge number of National Parks and famous landmarks (including the Grand Canyon, Horsehoe Bend, Sedona, Zion, Arches, and Bryce Canyon) it was time to head over to Moab to meet up with my buddy Adam and his girlfriend Sarah.
Adam had been pushing me for months to take my Trailblazer off-roading. But as it was old I knew it wouldn’t handle the terrain very well. But now I had no excuses. He planned two days off trail riding and we embarked on my first ever off-roading, in the first ever brand new vehicle I had ever bought, with only 3,000 miles on it.
First up was Onion Creek. As I was hesitant, he agreed to start on an easy trail with a few water crossings. Although it was tame compared to all other off-roading, it was an absolute blast.
I have always wanted to shoot some water spray from a creek crossing. Adam was more than willing to hammer through a few for me.
Adam has a well known lack of mechanical sympathy, but it makes for cool photos and great stories.
My little Trailhawk doesn’t have quite the same ability as the Tundra. Shutout to Adam for safely driving my Trailhawk through the water so I could get a photo.
The color of the Tundra absolutely stands out against the red dirt of Moab. You couldn’t pick a better color IMO.
This is my favorite shot of the trip. The faded blue Tundra, the bright red dirt, the harsh sunlight casting sweeping shadows across the mountains, and the bright blue sky. Everything in this photo turned out just perfect.
Peek-a-boo.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Trailhawk. But it just doesnt stand out in photos as well as the Tundra.
Riding on a high from my first day of off-roading, it was time to try a longer day out on the trails. Next up was Potash Trail and into Shafer Pass in Canyonlands National Park.
While the vehicles offered great photographic material out on the trail, I couldnt pass up some of the sights. The rock formations were fantastic throughout, and this lake was the deepest/most pure blue I have ever seen. Something about salt evaporation mining? All I know was that it was fenced off, and the most beautiful blue color I have ever seen.
Proper off-roading attire only, Crocs.
The backdrops, both wide and telephoto views were awesome.
My first little off road hill. Thanks to my wife for capturing it on my camera.
“It’s not how you stand by your car.”
This color combo is jaw dropping.
Almost at the top of Shafer Pass.
Cell phone shot from Adam, looking down over the switchbacks of Shafer Pass. Not a difficult trail, but not for the timid with those dropoffs.
To be able to say that my first time ever off-roading was in Moab is something I will never forget. The whole situation, from buying a brand new vehicle in the middle of a road trip, to driving 6,000 miles around the country, off-roading it before you even have license plates on it, is just something I will be telling my grandkids.
I have grown to fall in love with this little Trailhawk. The quality isn’t the highest, I certainly haven’t found the limits of its ability, but it is just the perfect level of comfort, space, capability, and looks that I want. The urge for a small lift kit and bigger tires is growing, but this is just so capable I don’t see myself doing that until this is no longer my daily driver.
If you haven’t taken a cross country road trip and tried something completely new, I suggest you close this article, hop in your car, and drive.
– Andrew
