[Fen]

Hi guys, in mid September I'm travelling to the US for 3 weeks. The first two I'm spending with my mother as she lives in Scotland and I live in New Zealand so it's a chance to share some time together without one of us travelling literally half way round the world.

From 27th September I have exactly 7 days to get from Chicago to LA, and the keys to a Mustang or Camaro convertible (please don't let it be a Sebring...)

Anyway, the reason for the post is that I plan to broadly follow Route 66, but I'm wondering if it would be worth my dropping in at Moab for a day. I was thinking of renting a Wrangler for a day to do some easier trails and hopefully get the chance to see some of you rock crawling types do your thing.

Would it be worth stopping off for 24 hours in Moab on the last weekend of September? Looking at the local information site there is a lot on that weekend, but none of it is Jeep/4wd related (there's an ATV/UTV event and an Enduro race, plus some mountain biking, skydiving, a Pride parade and 3(!) photography workshops).

Will there still be people on the trails doing their own thing that I can watch, or should I look at somewhere else? It's mostly forest and mud here in NZ so I'd really like to see some rocks for real, but even just seeing some of the more modified Jeeps up close would be interesting to me coming from a place where anything over 35" is considered anti-social if not outright banned.

Sorry for the long post - I just want to make the most of the time I have and what better way to do that than take advice from Jeep Forum?

[camelracer]

You will always find 4x4 activity in Moab even if it's not part of an organized event. You may want to stay longer than 24 hrs though.

Have a good trip.

[corndogduff]

Moab is hot as sin and rainy come the end of september, aka perfect. If you're only going for 24 hours, I HIGHLY recommend Hell's Revenge (jeep trail), it's fairly easy and the pictures you'll get get you instant bragging rights

[91YJ4X4]

Edit: wrong thread....dunno

[Budke]

My suggestion is to find a MOAB jeep/4x4 clubs website and see if they would be willing to let you follow along with them or even ride with one of them so you can ride some of the more intense trails and have some real fun!

[Fen]

Thanks guys. I was hoping to hear there'd be action on any weekend.

Hell's Revenge - in a rental Jeep? What's the damage risk? It sounds like it could be asking for trouble... Time for some research. Wet isn't really what I expected. I get plenty of wet wheeling time in NZ.

Not sure I understand Ford focus

I like the idea of going out with some locals, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with inviting myself. Worth taking a look I guess.

[JFranko]

If I were you I would do one or the other. It's about 20 hours of driving from chicago to Moab if you take the fastest route, you can spend 4 days there, or even stop in Ouray, Colorado for a couple days, drive 3 hours to Moab, spend a couple days there, then drive the last 10 hours to L.A.

My vote is to do that though, you can rent Jeeps in both places. Though depending on what kind of auto insurance you have, could be an issue.


If you do route 66 though, I'd make a trip out of that. 3 or 4 days of driving will get you to L.A, but from what I hear there's a lot of stuff to see along the way.

[Fen]

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. The convertible is already booked and paid for though, so it's either 24 hours at Moab or no Jeeping at all. I did look at Ouray, but the country there is much more like the wheeling in NZ than the desert in Utah is and I'm keen to see something very different if I have the choice.

I assume insurance is part of the rental package, but it's definitely a concern - I don't want to be the proud owner of a wrecked JK that's 5,000 miles from home and has the steering on the wrong side...

[JFranko]

Originally Posted by Fen

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. The convertible is already booked and paid for though, so it's either 24 hours at Moab or no Jeeping at all. I did look at Ouray, but the country there is much more like the wheeling in NZ than the desert in Utah is and I'm keen to see something very different if I have the choice.

I assume insurance is part of the rental package, but it's definitely a concern - I don't want to be the proud owner of a wrecked JK that's 5,000 miles from home and has the steering on the wrong side...

Back when I was considering going to Moab and just renting a Jeep instead of going through the hassle of getting mine out there you had to have full coverage, which was an issue for me at the time.

[Fen]

I guess I need to check that then. I don't have any US auto insurance other than what comes with the car I'm driving across the country and it won't transfer to another rental.

[stogie25]

Your trip sounds awesome. While Moab is very fun on most any given weekend, I think you would find far more memorable things to see closer to Rt. 66 such as The Grand Canyon or even Las Vegas.

[jbolty]

I you get near San Diego there are plenty of us here that would be happy to have a passenger for some wheeling.

[ElkhornRanch]

Originally Posted by stogie25

Your trip sounds awesome. While Moab is very fun on most any given weekend, I think you would find far more memorable things to see closer to Rt. 66 such as The Grand Canyon or even Las Vegas.

If you want to stick to the Route 66 theme and want to do some wheeling, stay in Flagstaff and drop down to Sedona for some nice trails and easy Jeep renting. It's on the way and pretty darn nice.

[MWF]

Originally Posted by Fen

I guess I need to check that then. I don't have any US auto insurance other than what comes with the car I'm driving across the country and it won't transfer to another rental.

You checked the rental company will let you drive out the state? Sometimes they prohibit that, limit the mileage or charger a higher rate.

And get an International drivers license if you can, it's not needed but may win your some favours with the local police if you end up causing an accident.