The Deuce and the Goat

[Pete Whitstone]

My buddy Martin and I got back Monday from a 3 day road trip in my 81, really good time. We were trying to stick to a couple overland trails in Oklahoma. The first is the GOAT (Greater Oklahoma Adventure Trail), which runs pretty much around the entire state. Obviously we did not do that whole thing, but we took back roads from the Dallas area up to the Red River and then used as much of it as possible to make it to Martin's place near Albion. The second was the Green Country Overland Adventure Trail, which is north of Martin's place and we dubbed the GROAT, to distinguish it from the first one.

The idea was to cover as much dirt as we could over the course of the weekend. In the end I think the odometer said we covered 600 miles, and I bet close to half of that was on dirt. A lot of the GOAT consists of logging roads, which go for dozens of miles through beautiful forests and hills. The roads are fairly well maintained but are absolutely deserted, we only saw a handful of other people out there.

We also hit some less well maintained dirt, where we had to bump along at 10-15 mph, as opposed to the 30-35 we were doing on the better maintained logging roads. Our teeth were rattling over those. Once in a while we came across a house or cabin out there - I guarantee you there is no electricity or other modern convenience out there. Those people were completely off the grid. And if they ever get out to civilization, they have a pretty rough ride.

The first night we headed to Martins place. Beautiful land, I am envious. When we got there and Martin got out to open the gate, I left the truck idling in drive. After he got back in and I let my foot off the brake, the truck didn't try to roll forward. Goosing the throttle could make it move, but something wasn't right. I drove it the couple hundred feet to where his camp was, and we built a fire, ate some steak & potatoes, and then took a drive on his side by side. The next morning I got up and started looking for what might be the matter with the truck. Right away I spotted a popped circuit breaker next to the battery that supplied power to the transmission control computer. I guess it got too hot under the hood while we were at the gate, and popped. I don't know if it's a weak breaker or what, but there did not appear to be an actual electrical problem. I assume it popped because of the heat. Anyhow, reset it and all was fine.

Then we took a daytime ride around his place, what a great chunk of land. Pretty well secluded, and with great views of the surrounding hills. A good mix of fields and forest.

Then we set off to cover more of the GOAT. We headed for an area of it known as the K-trail, which would take us over some of the mountains. We got about a mile in before we decided that we ought to leave that one to the big boys. We might have been able to make it, but it would have been the kind of four wheeling where one guy is out of the truck finding a line through and directing the driver. Not really our idea of fun on the dirt. So we took surface roads to go around and pick up another part of the GOAT trail.

Our plan was to find a campground that night and pitch the tents. We crossed over into Arkansas to go check out a KOA campground, but it sucked, it was just a big field. At that point, AC and a shower sounded pretty good, so we hit a Best Western instead.

The next day (Monday) we headed for home, not wanting to push our luck too much with the truck. The point of the expedition, aside from just having a blast, was to shake down the truck. It performed pretty well, but it did show some weak areas. A couple times it vapor locked, and the engine temps climbed to about 210 several times, mostly up hills. And it was pretty gutless to be honest. It needs a new engine built for it. I ran a compression test a few weeks ago and the pressures ranged from 110 on a couple of holes to 145. That's a pretty big span, they're supposed to be within 10% of each other. But it got the job done and made me feel a lot more confident about what I had done to the truck so far.

Some pictures:





That picture above was on the K trail, you can see the road cut through the mountain above. This was about a half mile before we turned back.

[grumpin]

Cool! Nice pictures! Nice to have land like that.

[BigBrother-84]

Nice trip!

Did you cross the river in the truck, or there was a bridge?

At Anticosti Island, there’s a river without bridge that have to simply be crossed in vehicles.  Pretty fun!

[Pete Whitstone]

BigBrother-84 wrote

Did you cross the river in the truck, or there was a bridge?

There was about a dozen water crossings where you had to drive through the water. That picture above is one of the larger ones, but it was only about 5-6 inches deep. All of them were concrete, so there was no chance of getting stuck in mud or anything.

Here's what they typically looked like.

[Gary Lewis]

Pete - I think you covered some of the same roads that Janey and I did on our two trips as that water crossing sure looks familiar.

We did the lower 2/3 of what you called the GROAT, the bit from Locust Grove down to the Tenkiller Dam and then back up the east side to even with Grove.  And the east side was the most fun/scenic.

Then later we did the Ouachita Trail in Arkansas across to where it becomes the Kiamichi Trail, aka K-Trail.  We were ready to do that one as Big Blue was easily up to it, but it was last winter and bitterly cold, so decided to leave it for my son and I to do this fall.

Anyway, it sure sounds like fun!  Good pics and trip report.  

[BigBrother-84]