I had never hauled any trailer for a distance longer than 30 miles my entire life, and after doing two nearby break-in weekends I felt it was time to give the Pando a proper tour. I do have some limited trailer experience, when I was growing up, I was an indentured servant for the family’s lumber yard business and with complete cluelessness I would haul trailers full of lumber between the ages of 16-20, but that never required any reversing and I just relied on dumb luck.
Now I found myself in a precarious position of having this adventitious idea to get an off-road travel trailer that weighs in at 3,500 pounds and take it out on its first real road test over 2,500 miles, 3 time zones and just for kicks take it over the Rocky Mountains. This article chronicles what went right and what went wrong as we go through six states and traverse elevations ranging from 836’ to 10,800’.
The first thing I will get out of the way is that the Defender 110 with the P400 engine did fantastic hauling and charging the trailer and never had single issue the entire time. If I had a single complaint, it would be the gas millage, but we had so much weight and were going along at pretty good rate of speed so I cannot even really complain about the gas millage being roughly ½ to ¾ of typical range.
First lesson leaned – over packing:
You would think I have traveled enough to not fall into this trap; however, it is an easy trap to fall into for two basic reasons. A) You have never done it before, so you over think and over analyze and just pack too much stuff “Just in Case”. B) You see open space and think you need to fill it (instead of just allowing there to be open cubies or shelves). I did not even meal plan I just bought too much stuff, an example of this is I had 19gal tank and 14gal tanks full of water and then packed 80 water bottles for 2 people for 7 days. Along with the 80 bottles of water was 6 extra bottles of pasta sauce, and so many plates, drinkware, just tons of silliness. It is ok to have open space and if you need anything you can buy it along the way.
Second lesson remembered – Hot brakes and hubs:
As we were going through areas that said “Put chains on here” or “8% grade” or see a runoff area for a runaway semi we would slow way down and pull over. The last thing I wanted was break fade on the trailer or the car and we didn’t have any, I believe the main reason was because there was not a lot of traffic pushing us and we were able to take it slow. I still pulled over and let everything cool down and at every stop I would walk over to the trailer and put my hand on the hub to see how hot it was. I carry and infra-red thermometer for cooking and could have used it, but I did not do anything that scientific it’s like anything if it’s too hot to put your hand on it needs to cool down.
Third Lesson Learned – 4×4 in reverse:
Unless you literally have tank tracks going backwards in mud with a trailer does not work. The trailer ends up sliding around in the mud going to an angle and acting like a friction break getting the vehicle stuck. You pretty much have to find a path forward and “send it” to suck the trailer out of the mud, then do a 180 and give it “full send” through the mud again.
Fourth Lesson learned – Camp sites cost VS quality & cell signal coverage:
Some of the campsites we paid for with full service were fare worse than the free dispersed campsites we found. There is no correlation to price paid and quality of camp site. There was also an extreme lack of cellular voice and data coverage which is great for “getting away from it all” but is horrible if you find out you have to do work and literally can’t. IF anyone tells you the connectivity is “spotty” then you know there no connectivity at all. The Garmin InReach Mini worked perfectly for location and texting but it does not have data capabilities so I might need to look into augmenting it with Starlink if I am going to go on extended travels.
Above is a picture of the Mesa Verde campground that we paid for because it was supposed to have Wi-Fi. Not only did it not have Wi-Fi it did not even have cell phone coverage and the camping spots were right on top of each other. It did have bathroom facilities and free water but that was it.
The next night we camped for free at the Navajo National Monument (Sunset view campground). The bathroom facilities where better there was cell coverage and the campsites did not seem as dense because of the trees and bushes, also the sites were paved which was a pleasant surprise. It was a much prettier place and only lacked water (but I did not look that hard). Here is a classic example of where a free campsite was much better and if you can also see cliff dwellings here if you want to skip Mesa Verde.
Fifth Lesson learned – charging systems and electronics:
I replaced the lead acid system with Lithium before we left and I am glad that I did, however it turns out power was not a problem (It may have been an issue had I kept the lead acid). Here again I didn’t know what I didn’t know so we took the ALP penetrator and four one-pound bottles of propane just in case, but never needed it. The trickle charge from the Defender pretty much got the batteries at 100% by the end of the day traveling. When we stopped for longer durations the solar helped slow the draining of the batteries. I will continue to take the ALP generator just in case, but I also added ALP GENERATOR DC CHARGING CABLES because I had this fear in my mind that if I didn’t disconnect the 7-pin connector every night that I might drain the Defenders battery. How foolish would it be to have a generator and a dead car battery, so I added the $17 option and will be able to charge anything that runs out of power in the future.
Sixth lesson learned – Awnings, walls, guy lines and stakes:
23Zero awnings state that guy lines are not required, but if a windstorm picks up and bends one of the awnings arms you are just out of luck, so in reality they should always be tied down. When you start looking at all the places the guy lines go on these things you realize there are a ton of stakes that need to be driven and a lot of knots to be tied. Looking around and learning from others I ordered “GroundGrabba” stakes and am ditching the stakes it comes with, I am also adding a number of high tensile strength carabineers, so I don’t have to tie a lot of knots directly to the awning every time I deploy it (the carabiners are held in place with a properly tied bowline knot). I am going to continue to use the orange rope 23Zero provided but use a new power drill to drive the GroundGrabbas in and then quick connect the ropes with carabineers. This should be quick to deploy and help ensure the awning doesn’t get easily damaged in windstorm and that rain/ice properly drains off. Another positive thing is the chuck for the power drill not only fits the GroundGrabba but is the same size as the stabilization jacks so that is a plus. As for the 23Zero walls that go with the awning they are big, heavy and sort of a pain because they require even more ropes and stakes and if its muddy, the walls turn into an absolute mess. I am not positive, but I think the walls make mud even more muddy because they block the sun and wind that would have dried the mud. I am not sure I will be dealing with the walls again in the future as they do take up a lot of space. I noticed that a lot of people that had a more miles than I do on the Off Grid Trailers did not use the walls and I am starting to understand why. The same could be said for any outdoor carpet or rug it all just takes up space and makes a huge mess were all you may need is a few rubber drainage Anti-Fatigue floor mats.
Seventh lesson learned (even though I already knew it) Food:
I have no idea why I packed so much food ahead of time when we could have traveled much lighter and just stopped at a grocery every couple of days. In the future I will not be packing more than 2-3 days of food at a time.
I think taking a break, walking around a store and letting the vehicle rest can only be a good thing. It will translate into hauling less, getting more daily exercise and meeting more people from different locations. I will of course have emergency provisions that don’t go bad as quickly but also don’t weigh a whole lot, just in case (but I won’t need a lot of that either). I think I might have gotten “small trip living off the grid” confused with a “zombie apocalypse” and just over packed everything I might ever need.
Now that all the lessons learned are out of the way it’s time to talk about the actual trip, the goals and the scenery and activities.
There was a “deal” a special event price for Overland Expo if you camped your Off Grid Trailer with the other Off Grid Trailers which sounded like a great idea. I would take my oldest son on a road trip go to Overland Expo and work out the kinks on the trailer. Another additional upside was since other Off Grid Trailer people would be camping, I might be able to pay attention and learn a few things. I used Roadtrippers and Compendium to plan the trip from Kansas City to Flagstaff and back trying to hit and many interesting sights as possible. Also, I had never traveled with a trailer this far so I had no idea what my range would be and as such planned camping places about every 200-300 miles. The little Off Grid Trailer Pando 2.0 just sailed down the highway and we did one 700-mile day by mistake (crossed 2 time zones going west to east and miss calculated a couple of hours on arrival time). I found driving with this trailer was a little bit more stressful than just normal driving but other than having to get gas twice and often found that it could do 500 miles a day without even noticing it. We crossed Kansas long ways at an angle, dipped down into Oklahoma then up into Colorado across to 4 corners (so technically we were in Utah) through Arizona to Flagstaff. Returning we dropped south to avoid the mountains and make some time going from Arizona to New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and then back into Kansas.
Mesa Verde was one of the big-ticket items on the agenda and so we stayed at the Mesa Verde campground which was very close to the site however it still takes about 20 minutes to wind yourself down to the site and then 20 minutes to wind back the twisty roads. Mesa Verde seems impressive and is well preserved but it’s not the only cliff dwelling they are scattered through the valley.
Not all cliff dwellings are the same some have windows in them some are communal, and they even had some that were like suburbs on the other side of the valley from the communal areas.
The valley is wide, vast and lush with greenery. There is not that much greenery, and it seems to pop out anyplace there is dirt and then covers the dirt. What your left with is a collage of stark difference with it either being Rocky or green but nothing else. Douglas Adams wrote about how humans like what he called “Boundary Conditions” were earth meets sky or where land meets water. If you want to gaze upon boundary conditions then this valley is a good view because land meets sky, and rocks weathered white by thousands of years of winds intertwine with dark green newly grown trees.
After Mesa Verde we made our way leisurely to 4-corners and then to Navajo National Monument and the Sunset View Campground. 4-courners is on Tribal ground and has an entry fee but it’s still worth going to. There are little concession stands lined up in each of the 4 states around 4-courners and most of the people there are selling the exact same stuff, but this gives you your choice to buy the junk in Utah or Colorado. There is one guy there making traditional arrows and arrow heads and you can watch him make them and that’s the only thing we deemed purchase worthy.
Sunset View at the Navajo National Monument is the free campground I discussed earlier, and it also has cliff dwellings and an information center / gift shop. While it does not have all the grandeur of Mesa Verde it’s easier to get to, costs nothing to see and the items in the gift shop are about 1/3 the price compared to the stuff a Mesa Verde. I truly enjoyed this camp site and when there was a little lizard at our camp site, I knew it was just perfect.
I have to say the road trip with nightly stays in dispersed camping was the highlight of the trip and the event actually was miserable. I did meet a lot of people and came away with really good ideas from those people and plans to implement the ideas on my configuration. The event itself however was really bad this year; it was cold, wet, it hailed and there was a ton of lightening. If you braved the elements to go to a class in an outdoor tent most of the seats were soaked and the tent was leaking. After about 5 seconds of the rain and cold weather all the vendors doubled or tripled their prices on jackets or warm weather clothing. The worse part of the event was the location of the Off Grid Trailer camping area – was it the furthest point away – Yes it was (but that was ok); was it in a rodeo area that flooded with mud in the rain – yes it was. Did all the other campsites have grass, tree cover and pine needle bedding so they were an order of magnitude less muddy – yes. Was it so miserable with water and mud in the rodeo arena that most people left early rather than deal with – yes; yes it sucked hard.
While there are hundreds of vendors my son pointed out that they are all selling the same thing (it was much like 4 corners but only on a grander scale). For instance, the number of vendors making/selling 4×4 recovery traction mats/tire ladders or 4×4 recover ropes was just sad. I like to see a vendor have a couple of things that the 15 other vendors don’t also sell.
While looking at the exhibitor’s I would see a lightning strike and start counting “one-Thousand One, One Thousand Two, One Thousand Three” and then a huge thunder blast. “Damn that was too close” I was hoping it would be around 13 seconds and gaining time meaning the storm would be moving further away but no luck. Went from looking, to speed walking to a hampered type of jogging. I had seven stiches in my ankle (the night before we left, I had to go to the emergency room) and could not run and the way I had my foot slipped into the shoe there was little I could do little other than amble and that’s when the hail started. The temperature dropped and the rain turned to hail, which at first, I enjoyed because I was soaking wet and it was just thin flecks of ice that oddly enough stuck to me as they would strike, but they started getting bigger and they stopped sticking and started pelting me. I turned the corner hoping to see my camper and then I realized that the camping location was an arena which was surrounded by a metal fence and a metal grandstand and it’s a lightning storm. I hurried past the metal fence to make it to my camper hoping that I wouldn’t get struck by lightning and realized that the situation was far from being under control. The rodeo arena has fine sand and dirt and all the previous rain had turned into a disgusting slurry of mud, and the awning poles had sunk down over 3” with the weight of the vast amounts of hail on the awning and the soft mud. I was concerned that the 23Zero awning arms would bend, so in a lightning storm I had to start messing with the metal poles holding the aluminum arms. We were able to get the ice to slide off the awning making and huge splash into the deep muddy puddles splashing everything making an already messy situation worse. Finally, the hail stopped and its was back to just cold rain and the awning was as secured as it was going to be given the circumstances. I dried off as best I could and crawled into the trailer and cranked up the heater and fell asleep for about 30 minutes. It was only after I woke up that I realized that trying to jog with a bum ankle and then wresting with the awning at 6,500’ left me with less air than I was used to dealing with and had just tuckered me out.
Pretty much every booth seemed like a repeat of the previous booth, or it got even worse for example Benchmade was there displaying knives, but none were for sale – “Like this knife” – “yes I would like to buy it” – “Ohh we are not selling them” The only thing worse than not having a show discount is literally not having the product. I think the final straw was when I ordered a Lobster roll from a food truck, and they asked me if I wanted avocado and tomato on it. We had arrived on Thursday and early Saturday morning decided it was dry enough to just load everything up wet and muddy and go someplace warm and have a much better time road tripping. After the rains there was nothing, but mud and puddles and our campsite ended up being right in the middle of the biggest puddle. We had to wait for it to dry out enough so that I could at least access the defender from the passenger door and my solar panels were just mired in muck. We loaded it up even though it was wet and muddy with the idea to clean it up later and just hit the road.
Meteor Crater was the first stop on the road back and it cost around $27 a person to look at a hole in the ground, but it’s a pretty decent hole. A lot of time people go and look at rocks… Monument Rocks, Devils Tower, Rocky Mountains, Plymouth Rock, Chimney Rock, Mount Rushmore, Needles highway, technically even Mesa Verde was just a bunch of rocks. If we expand the list Interntaional there is Uluru (Ayers rock), Stonehenge, Easter Island, Mount Kilimanjaro, Rock of Gibraltar, El Capitan lots and lots of rocks. But when was the last time you went and checked out a hole in the ground? So, do yourself a favor and check it out it is the best-preserved meteor impact crater there is, and the movie and the tour only take about an hour out of your day and the tour guide was a really funny guy and one of the people that instantly recognized my “Big trouble in little China” t-shirt giving him instant credibility.
The landscape around the crater is “sparse” and if I have said it once I have said it a thousand times if anyone comes up with a use for sage brush, they will become a millionaire.
Jack Rabbit Trading post is a historic Route 66 roadside attraction that opened in 1949. I don’t really give a piss about Route 66 but anytime I think there might be a large rabbit statue you know I’m going to stop because this rabbit looks a lot like the largest jackalope (which I stumbled across in Douglas Wyoming on a different trip). Everything at this roadside attraction looked like the deal of the century. Having just came from Overland Expo where the prices had all been marked up when I came across a Sambarro for $14 and a T-shirt for $15 then you buy it and don’t look back.
After this we just blazed a trail home and stayed at a Loves RV truck stop which was actually part of the agenda because I wanted to experience all the different types of places a person could stay. I have to say that the Loves RV parking was the most expensive and the worst while the free camping was not only the best price it was also the most pleasant – so lesson learned on that one.
Upon getting home it took me two days solid to clean and repack everything. I learned quite a bit from this trip and have already removed items and repacked others to be more efficient. However, crossing the Continental divide twice, traversing 3 time zones, enduring hail, lightning, rain, and mud, in the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona (and sorta/kinda Utah) ranging from 836 feet to 10,787 feet in altitude and not having any major issues or expenses I will consider the overall trip a success. Also, if you want to find out about the GroundGrabba here is a link Screw in Tent Stakes & Ground Anchors | GroundGrabba
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