My 24-Day Pandemic Road Trip Across America

[Bracamonte]

Awesome photos.

I use to run a race every year that would start outside of Baker, CA and go through Death Valley all the way to Vegas. The first time I ever ran the race, the temp was 116, and it got to 138 on the road. The bottom of my shoes melted. I learned only some miles in that I really needed to run on the whit stripe at the edge of the road. Running in that kind of stifling heat is bizarre.

 

[metaphysician]

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

 

[ljn21]

TL;DR - I drove 12,000 miles across the US.

At the end of July 2020 I started across America, leaving Vermont and making my way to the insane temperatures of the south west in the dead of summer, to the hottest place on earth during an intense heat wave. This is the 4th time my 2018 Raptor has made this trek and it makes a great road trip vehicle.

I had this trip planned for a few months, since I was still working I had the time off and things were “mostly” open so I went for it (not that I want to go to overpopulated areas anyway).

I spent the majority of my trip in the southwest, spending 10 days in Death Valley - 6-days after I left the 130-degree record day was recorded. The highest temperature I felt was 124. Climbing a significant grade with the AC on resulted in a 244-degree coolant temp, so when the sign says “Turn off AC to avoid overheating...” do it. Rolling down the windows with the heat on full blast in 120+ heat to avoid catastrophe will make you question your sanity and how blowing wind can actually be that hot.

Every time I make this drive Im baffled that others still want to travel overseas to other countries when the lower-48 alone contains so much. Driving as opposed to flying gives you a good dose of the diversity this country has and why its so unique.

If you’re on Instagram and want to share the photos, feel free to do so and tag me: @KillerBlackbird or check the rest out on my Flickr.

Dumont Dunes by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Roys Cafe by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Bonneville Salt Flats by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Joshua Tree National Park by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Borrego Springs by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Bonnie Claire by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Death Valley by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Trona Pinnacles by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Death Valley by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Death Valley by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Death Valley by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Dumont Dunes by Jim Davis, on Flickr

2018 Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

2018 Ford Raptor by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Racetrack Playa by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Salvation Mountain by Jim Davis, on Flickr

Death Valley by Jim Davis, on F

Nah. It’s a salty mess out there lol. Dry lake beds are a little more fun, I think


Thank you! They certainly do have post processing!


Amarillo Cadillacs or International Car Forest? I’ve been to both!


Just under 18MPG. Not the best but still decent for a brick on wheels.


Definitely. It’s hard to describe what above 120 feels like. Your clothes feel like they came out of the dryer all day and you’re standing in front of an oven that’s at 350 degrees.

What size tire/wheel are you running and any suspension mods? Love the pics, so cool! Especially love the huge scorpion one.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

just came from Death Valley. 116 was the highest. I'm from AZ and half the year I trail run/hike in temps over 100, heat was not a factor for me. The park had many LEO/park rangers and the radar detector came in handy. Coming out of racetrack to playa got stuck behind a group of 20 Tacos on an one lane paved road. I figured everyone was heading to the closest gas station in the park,Stovepipe Wells Gas Station. The gas station has only 4 pumps and the 20 Tacos would take close to one hour to pump gas. Im not tuned 107 mph was the fastest but the truck had no issue to get ahead of the whole group. Titus canyon was the best thing I've done. There was a nail biting portion were the road colapsed and the tires were right on the edge . The ledge is 300-400 feet high with a vertical drop. The canyon up to the abandoned mine was rough and very narrow. Mirrors had to be folded at all times and shotgun had to make sure I had enough clearence on his side. Everything worked out and didnt get any pinestripes. Seen a couple of Raptors, 1 TRX and everyone else with a Taco. Barely any Jeeps. Here's from Google pics of the gas station
This gas station had only 87 gas. The other one by the ranch @Death Valley had 91 octane for $6.50 a gallon

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x80c752e1af32ef21%3A0x115250fd4a4815c5!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMLcNFgHw-UObLqu9rclqjrNq-Tl2bl4BcCWhMw%3Dw120-h160-k-no!5sstovepipe%20wells%20gas%20station%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipMLcNFgHw-UObLqu9rclqjrNq-Tl2bl4BcCWhMw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPtN3Ox_fwAhVEvZ4KHRzTBkoQoiowDnoECDAQAw

Titus is fun, Goler Canyon to Barker Ranch is pretty awesome too. The brush scrapes the sides of the truck though.

What size tire/wheel are you running and any suspension mods? Love the pics, so cool! Especially love the huge scorpion one.

Stock tire size, stock wheel size just with a zero offset and Camburg 1.5” collars.

 

[nikhsub1]

Id remove the front plate in hot areas too. Really bad place for a plate - the manual even states to remove it in hot weather. Ford and their genius engineering.

 

[ljn21]

Stock tire size, stock wheel size just with a zero offset and Camburg 1.5” collars

Looks great, tires look bigger than stock. Great pics.

 

[Scottx]

Back in the 60’s one crossed the Arizona California deserts at night by cars

 

[reptonet]

Nice pics! Are those Black Rhino wheels on your truck. It looks identical to the rims I saw earlier on 4wheelonline.

 

[realjones88]

Is there a map of the route that you took? About how miles per day were you driving? Thanks!

 

[KillerBlackbird]

Is there a map of the route that you took? About how miles per day were you driving? Thanks!

I don’t have a map but I was a averaging 500 miles a day if you broke it down on time. Some days were 900 miles, other days maybe 90.

A basic overview of the route was I87 to I90 to I88 to I81 to I40 all the way to Arizona. From there I went north to Salt Lake City then across Nevada on Route 50. After that I went to Monterey CA and took the PCH south ending up in Death Valley. After that I continued south to Borrego Springs then made my way back East. There’s a ton of routes you can take, best idea is to get to a general area you want to be in and take two lane roads, you’ll see a lot!