Northwest North American Road Trip - 10,782 miles (17,352 km)

[nonamex]

Epic trip! I'm planning my expedition to Tuktoyaktuk for March 2028. I should have 4 weeks of PTO by then. And yes I'll be undertaking the trip in winter.

 

[smokindok]

Epic trip! I'm planning my expedition to Tuktoyaktuk for March 2028. I should have 4 weeks of PTO by then. And yes I'll be undertaking the trip in winter.

Awesome! While we were doing our late summer trip, I was frequently thinking, man, I’ve got to come back and do this again in winter.

You’ve got a fantastic adventure planned!

 

[ct1958]

Really F'n jealous. Good for you guys for getting after it.

 

[Rijk Liebemshats]

Wow, thank you for sharing! Very inspiring.
You made me extend my bucket list, thank you very much.

 

[laughnpup]

Thanks for sharing this. We are in the preliminary process of planning a trip a few years out, and I have a friend who is planning a solo trip driving this way from Virginia next summer. Great stuff!

 

[nonamex]

Thanks for sharing this. We are in the preliminary process of planning a trip a few years out, and I have a friend who is planning a solo trip driving this way from Virginia next summer. Great stuff!

I'm shooting for March 2028. If our schedules coincide maybe I'll see you in Whitehorse. Good luck with the planning.

 

[Rook]

@smokindok

what can you tell us about your experience with the LC 1958?

Any issues, concerns, limitations, leases learned?

 

[Thatlldodogs]

Wow gorgeous epic trip!

 

[Thatlldodogs]

Love the rack and cargo boxes. Im pretty clueless on what to get but this looks like a great set up for my travels. If you don't mind sharing what you went with...

 

[GBLC250]

Wow! What an aspirational trip. My wife and I are in Cincinnati and got as far west as Aspen in our LC250 1958. My only mod is the addition of BFG KO3's (265/70/18). Our roundtrip distance was ~3,500 miles.

We were loaded to the gills and had gear on the roof as well, including a rooftop tent. Much to our dismay my fuel efficiency got as low as 11.7 mpg. Once past St. Louis the highest octane I could get was 91 (a lot of times even lower was all that was available). I imagine the elevation, payload and larger tires were contributors to the poor fuel economy. I never expected it to be that low though. We will duplicate your trip one day soon! Whenever we decide to go, I'm sure the LC250 will be up for it!

 

[ultane]

Speed driven (55-60 vs 70-80MPH), tires (especially weight), premium fuel, air brake on the roof, any type of headwind, can and do affect fuel economy.

I almost exclusively used E-0 fuel (except in California where it is outlawed) on our month long cross country trip. E-0 fuel also helps get ~10+% more MPG.

 

[laughnpup]

Wow! What an aspirational trip. My wife and I are in Cincinnati and got as far west as Aspen in our LC250 1958. My only mod is the addition of BFG KO3's (265/70/18). Our roundtrip distance was ~3,500 miles. View attachment 51777View attachment 51778View attachment 51779View attachment 51780View attachment 51781View attachment 51782We were loaded to the gills and had gear on the roof as well, including a rooftop tent. Much to our dismay my fuel efficiency got as low as 11.7 mpg. Once past St. Louis the highest octane I could get was 91 (a lot of times even lower was all that was available). I imagine the elevation, payload and larger tires were contributors to the poor fuel economy. I never expected it to be that low though. We will duplicate your trip one day soon! Whenever we decide to go, I'm sure the LC250 will be up for it!

Nice rig, @GBLC250! What type of fuel economy did you get with that load on top? If you know the difference between unloaded and loaded rack, that would be very helpful. I am thinking of a rooftop carrier as we were packed to the gills on our last round the country trip.

 

[smokindok]

@smokindok

what can you tell us about your experience with the LC 1958?

Any issues, concerns, limitations, leases learned?

Sorry for the slow response, Rook. Was away for a bit.
The 1958 had no significant issues. I did learn a couple of things, though.

My previous trucks have all been older, low-tech models. The new stuff is great but I quickly found out that dust from the gravel roads block the sensors pretty quickly. The bugs driving across the northern plains accumulate on them very quickly, too, which is more annoying because that part of the drive is when I find the adaptive cruise control handy. And the bugs are harder to wash off than the dirt, lol.

The other thing I noticed is that the paint, powder coat, or whatever finish is on the factory wheels is not extremely durable. Picked up quite a few chips on the wheels.

 

[smokindok]

Love the rack and cargo boxes. Im pretty clueless on what to get but this looks like a great set up for my travels. If you don't mind sharing what you went with...

The rack is the Sherpa Atlas. I’ve been very pleased with it. The boxes are HQ Issue rifle/bow cases, 45”x20”x8”. I got them from Amazon and they have held up well to pretty hard use on a couple vehicles for about 5 years now.

 

[GBLC250]

Nice rig, @GBLC250! What type of fuel economy did you get with that load on top? If you know the difference between unloaded and loaded rack, that would be very helpful. I am thinking of a rooftop carrier as we were packed to the gills on our last round the country trip.

Thanks, laughnpup. Sad to say, fuel economy was dismal. I bottomed out in the high 11's mpg. Yes - that's ELEVEN's. Keep in mind I was probably at max payload and with a rooftop tent strapped to the rack. That's compared to about 15 mpg - 16 mpg without a fully packed out payload and rooftop tent. My home altitude is about 500 ASL. Keep us posted on your fuel economy on this thread if you don't mind!

 

[laughnpup]

Thanks, laughnpup. Sad to say, fuel economy was dismal. I bottomed out in the high 11's mpg. Yes - that's ELEVEN's. Keep in mind I was probably at max payload and with a rooftop tent strapped to the rack. That's compared to about 15 mpg - 16 mpg without a fully packed out payload and rooftop tent. My home altitude is about 500 ASL. Keep us posted on your fuel economy on this thread if you don't mind!

Wow. I guess max payload will do that.

As far as my fuel economy, I am still trending about 20 mpg overall, and Gemi has 34K miles now. I am sure I could drive that up a few mpg by easing up on the accelerator a little.

 

[jhl72]

Sorry for the slow response, Rook. Was away for a bit.
The 1958 had no significant issues. I did learn a couple of things, though.

My previous trucks have all been older, low-tech models. The new stuff is great but I quickly found out that dust from the gravel roads block the sensors pretty quickly. The bugs driving across the northern plains accumulate on them very quickly, too, which is more annoying because that part of the drive is when I find the adaptive cruise control handy. And the bugs are harder to wash off than the dirt, lol.

The other thing I noticed is that the paint, powder coat, or whatever finish is on the factory wheels is not extremely durable. Picked up quite a few chips on the wheels.

Regarding the the issues with the sensors, could you elaborate? Did the things like adaptive cruise control just become unavailable? Was there uncontrollable beeping, etc? Thanks for sharing. I want to do this trip one day.

 

[smokindok]

Regarding the the issues with the sensors, could you elaborate? Did the things like adaptive cruise control just become unavailable? Was there uncontrollable beeping, etc? Thanks for sharing. I want to do this trip one day.

When the sensors got blocked, a message popped up on the dash display saying that the adaptive cruise was not available. The message was easily cleared with the "return" button on the steering wheel. No annoying beeps or persisting messages. The standard cruise control still worked fine. Washed off the sensors at the next fuel stop and everything worked fine again... until they were once again bug or dirt covered. Not a big deal at all; a minor, unavoidable annoyance.