As I plan out the Grand Canyon Excursion I got to thinking (shush, wise-acres)... When you're off-road, driving long distances, there's two things that are critical. One of them is water. The other is fuel. I thought I'd tell you a couple stories about how I ran out of both ... almost. So sit back and relax.

Spring of 1999, I and a few friends decided to run White Rim Trail. The one hundred mile long trail circles around the expansive, isolated, and beautiful Canyonlands National Park area near Moab, Utah. You can't do this in a day, you have to camp. To get a sense of how expansive this is, take a look at the pic.



The trail follows the river and canyon all the way around as far as the eye can see. And that is less than 1/5 of the total trail! And it is all desert. So when I and my buddy were reaching the bottom of our only 5 gallon water container at approximately noon on day one with temps in the 90's (F), needless to say we were a bit concerned! I was picturing both of us as dried up skeletons next to some cow skull ... with a tumbleweed rolling by.

Fortunately, clouds rolled in and temps dropped 10-15 degrees for the rest of the trip and our pals packed enough water for everyone. Towards the end, at around mile marker 90, a little orange light appeared on my dash. It told me: "hey, doofus, you are in the middle of nowhere and running on fumes. You are doomed."

Yup, no gas. No jerry can. My pal in the Land Rover again came to the rescue with 5 gallons of fuel. We made it out ok. I didn't die. And I have learned since then (one would hope).

So how to prep for the Grand Canyon?

Well, now TC is set up as an expedition vehicle. The truck can hold a total of 3 jerry cans, that's either 15 gallons of fuel or water, or a mix. The roof rack and interior can accomodate a lot of camping gear, spare parts, and the like. I found out Point Sublime is a 36 mile round trip in 4-wheel drive and it's 46 miles round trip to Cape Royal. But let's not forget the one hundred and forty mile (140 mile!?!) trek over dirt roads to the Toroweap Overlook! So there is no messing around on this trip with gas OR water.

The time has finally arrived, dear readers, for me to add an auxillary gas tank on TC.

Subscribe and stay tuned as I continue to prepare for the Grand Canyon Excursion... and, in the meanwhile, the big Moab 2007 trip!