Finlayforprez
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This is awesome! I wish there was more video coverage.
Land Rover Expedition America
- Thread starter umbertob
- Start date
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Finlayforprez
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Can you send the FB link? I can't seem to find it?
EDIT: Forget it, I found it... I was being dumb.
AxelR
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Even though most of trails is well maintained some parts of it are really narrow, flooded or even unexistant.
I'm watching with great interest the 23 days journey of bikers which really shows the beauty and the difficulty of some of the passages.
In case anyone is interested this person, Tavis Bogue, made a video journal of the trip he took in 2010 with other riders. The videos are short and really cool.
http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL43BB1420AF2A2D21
I'm currently watching #12 part 1 (longest video so far, most average 4mns) which shows how difficult the trail can get especially on two wheels.
Back to watching
umbertob
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LAND ROVER EXPEDITION AMERICA: UPDATE 1
August 1, 2013 at 9:48am
Land Rover’s attempt to achieve one of the world’s few remaining untouched epic automotive adventures – to drive across America on dirt road – got off to a successful start last week.
By the time Land Rover Expedition America (LREA) reaches the Pacific Coast in North Bend, Oregon in late August it will have crossed 10 states, 4 time zones and 2 major mountain ranges, all on a web of linked dirt roads called the Trans-America Trail [TAT].
The expedition’s start point was the Smoky Mountains on last Friday afternoon, when the four LR4s rolled out of the Land Rover Experience center at The Biltmore in Asheville North Carolina, the furthest east in the United States that a dirt road can be found.
“It’s a great place to begin - straight from the Land Rover driving school onto a succession of amazing mountain trails,” said Expedition Leader and former Camel Trophy veteran Tom Collins.
The expedition is using standard Land Rover LR4’s, fitted with factory-spec winches and roof racks for the marathon 13-hour days. Each car is crewed by three drivers and navigators.
Swathed in low cloud, the North Carolina tracks were quickly replaced by those in eastern Tennessee. Outside Tellico, TN - the start point for motorcyclists doing the Trans-America Trail - heavy rains had turned forest roads into streams and turned streams into fast flowing currents. LREA is only using established tracks and trails.
Bikers gathered in Tellico were intrigued to meet the LREA crew. There is, as yet, no record of vehicles having successfully made the crossing to Oregon.
To find a network of dirt trails and attempt such a trans-continental trip in the 21st Century is remarkable in itself. However, progress will make the journey increasingly hard to achieve.
“In Tennessee the TAT trails are already increasingly being paved,” explained Collins. “Who knows how long it will be before other states do the same with their unsealed roads. This is an expedition with a shrinking environment as its challenger.”
The tiring, long and challenging days mean the crews have to pace themselves. Drivers rotate duties regularly; carry emergency supplies and satellite communications. Even in the most advanced country in the world, this is a real-world adventure.
Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma are the destinations on Week 2 of the Land Rover Expedition America. The route runs past Clarksdale, home of the Blues, and across the Mississippi River.
From the South, the adventure will emerge into the Mid-West and the endless horizons of the plains. The route across Oklahoma kisses the southern border of Kansas for mile after mile.
“If it’s not clear already, the next week will show the sheer enormity of this undertaking,” added Collins. “The US is a big place, never more so than when you are crossing it on dirt.”
Riding through Mississippi with Sam Correro, the architect of the Trans-America Trail.
August 1, 2013 at 9:48am
Land Rover’s attempt to achieve one of the world’s few remaining untouched epic automotive adventures – to drive across America on dirt road – got off to a successful start last week.
By the time Land Rover Expedition America (LREA) reaches the Pacific Coast in North Bend, Oregon in late August it will have crossed 10 states, 4 time zones and 2 major mountain ranges, all on a web of linked dirt roads called the Trans-America Trail [TAT].
The expedition’s start point was the Smoky Mountains on last Friday afternoon, when the four LR4s rolled out of the Land Rover Experience center at The Biltmore in Asheville North Carolina, the furthest east in the United States that a dirt road can be found.
“It’s a great place to begin - straight from the Land Rover driving school onto a succession of amazing mountain trails,” said Expedition Leader and former Camel Trophy veteran Tom Collins.
The expedition is using standard Land Rover LR4’s, fitted with factory-spec winches and roof racks for the marathon 13-hour days. Each car is crewed by three drivers and navigators.
Swathed in low cloud, the North Carolina tracks were quickly replaced by those in eastern Tennessee. Outside Tellico, TN - the start point for motorcyclists doing the Trans-America Trail - heavy rains had turned forest roads into streams and turned streams into fast flowing currents. LREA is only using established tracks and trails.
Bikers gathered in Tellico were intrigued to meet the LREA crew. There is, as yet, no record of vehicles having successfully made the crossing to Oregon.
To find a network of dirt trails and attempt such a trans-continental trip in the 21st Century is remarkable in itself. However, progress will make the journey increasingly hard to achieve.
“In Tennessee the TAT trails are already increasingly being paved,” explained Collins. “Who knows how long it will be before other states do the same with their unsealed roads. This is an expedition with a shrinking environment as its challenger.”
The tiring, long and challenging days mean the crews have to pace themselves. Drivers rotate duties regularly; carry emergency supplies and satellite communications. Even in the most advanced country in the world, this is a real-world adventure.
Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma are the destinations on Week 2 of the Land Rover Expedition America. The route runs past Clarksdale, home of the Blues, and across the Mississippi River.
From the South, the adventure will emerge into the Mid-West and the endless horizons of the plains. The route across Oklahoma kisses the southern border of Kansas for mile after mile.
“If it’s not clear already, the next week will show the sheer enormity of this undertaking,” added Collins. “The US is a big place, never more so than when you are crossing it on dirt.”
Riding through Mississippi with Sam Correro, the architect of the Trans-America Trail.
mbw
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I still don't get how they can use that expo rack, its so wimpy.
Finlayforprez
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I actually like how it looks, but it feels like cheap plastic. When I saw it in person, I was surprised at how crappy it feels.
mbw
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I do like how it looks. i want to see about getting the other voyager wind fairing, that looks about like that. It has enough of a gap under the fairing that I think I could fit a thin, but wide, led light bar. Like a huge 52" one.
Finlayforprez
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A 52" RIGID LED bar is going to be very $$$$$$$ , but look awesome!
I know Voyager has drastically improved their fairing when I had it on my half-rack. Do you get a lot of noise? Sorry if you already posted about this.
umbertob
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LAND ROVER EXPEDITION AMERICA: UPDATE 2
August 2, 2013 at 9:33pm
Sam Correro, a Mississippi pharmacist with a passion for off-road motorcycles, began mapping a route across the U.S. using only dirt roads.
Three decades later, his legacy to the world of adventure is the 5,000-mile Trans America Trail, a network of trails across America.
“I just kept heading west, finding outback roads that linked to other outback roads. I arrived into Oklahoma and then Colorado from my home in Mississippi. At that point, I figured maybe I had a shot at reaching the Pacific,” noted Correro, perched by the side of a mountain road near Oark in Arkansas.
This week, Correro has been the honorary leader of Land Rover Expedition America (LREA), an attempt to make the drive on dirt from North Carolina to Oregon on the trail. On his trusty off-road motorcycle, he has guided the convoy of Land Rover LR4 vehicles on his favorite section of the trail east of the Rockies – from Mississippi to the Oklahoma border.
Expedition leader and legendary 4x4 driver Tom Collins welcomed Correro to the team as it passed Sam’s hometown of Corinth, Missouri. “Land Rover Expedition America could not have happened without Sam and his thirty years of research. It is an honor to have him join us for a few days,” said Collins.
With Correro leading the Expedition, the group bisected Mississippi, on picturesque farm tracks, on route to the Mississippi delta town of Clarksdale, a historically significant site in the development of blues music.
Clarksdale’s Ground Zero Blues Bar is part owned by actor Morgan Freeman, who met some of the Land Rover Expedition America team as they passed by.
They also met blues musician James ‘Super Chikan’ Johnson. He makes his own guitars from gasoline cans just like the ones being used by the LREA team. “If you give me one, I’ll make you a guitar in time for the end of the trip,” he offered.
Driving behind Correro, the expedition team crossed the mighty Mississippi River in 100-degree heat and oppressive humidity into Arkansas at Helena. This was the most southern point on the journey, just hours north of the Gulf of Mexico.
Within a day, the expedition had climbed on precipitous tight switchbacks up into the 3000 ft Ozark Mountains. As with the Smoky Mountains, where the event started, the challenging mountain roads were the development grounds for some of America’s early racing drivers. Their skills were often honed while out-running the authorities during the Prohibition era.
Every day is an early start to keep the expedition on track for a 30-day crossing of America. The only other creatures awake so early are the local wildlife. Deer, coyotes and turtles have been spotted so far. Farmed Bison have also been seen along the trail.
The last few miles of Sam Correro’s time with the LREA team was spent negotiating treacherous washouts leading into Alma Arkansas. He balanced like a tightrope walker riding down the gullies. Behind, using the LR4 vehicle’s Terrain Response system, the four wheelers edged from hole to rock and under fallen trees.
“That was a taste of what is to come,” Correro said with a smile as he waved us goodbye. “Just wait and see…”
August 2, 2013 at 9:33pm
Sam Correro, a Mississippi pharmacist with a passion for off-road motorcycles, began mapping a route across the U.S. using only dirt roads.
Three decades later, his legacy to the world of adventure is the 5,000-mile Trans America Trail, a network of trails across America.
“I just kept heading west, finding outback roads that linked to other outback roads. I arrived into Oklahoma and then Colorado from my home in Mississippi. At that point, I figured maybe I had a shot at reaching the Pacific,” noted Correro, perched by the side of a mountain road near Oark in Arkansas.
This week, Correro has been the honorary leader of Land Rover Expedition America (LREA), an attempt to make the drive on dirt from North Carolina to Oregon on the trail. On his trusty off-road motorcycle, he has guided the convoy of Land Rover LR4 vehicles on his favorite section of the trail east of the Rockies – from Mississippi to the Oklahoma border.
Expedition leader and legendary 4x4 driver Tom Collins welcomed Correro to the team as it passed Sam’s hometown of Corinth, Missouri. “Land Rover Expedition America could not have happened without Sam and his thirty years of research. It is an honor to have him join us for a few days,” said Collins.
With Correro leading the Expedition, the group bisected Mississippi, on picturesque farm tracks, on route to the Mississippi delta town of Clarksdale, a historically significant site in the development of blues music.
Clarksdale’s Ground Zero Blues Bar is part owned by actor Morgan Freeman, who met some of the Land Rover Expedition America team as they passed by.
They also met blues musician James ‘Super Chikan’ Johnson. He makes his own guitars from gasoline cans just like the ones being used by the LREA team. “If you give me one, I’ll make you a guitar in time for the end of the trip,” he offered.
Driving behind Correro, the expedition team crossed the mighty Mississippi River in 100-degree heat and oppressive humidity into Arkansas at Helena. This was the most southern point on the journey, just hours north of the Gulf of Mexico.
Within a day, the expedition had climbed on precipitous tight switchbacks up into the 3000 ft Ozark Mountains. As with the Smoky Mountains, where the event started, the challenging mountain roads were the development grounds for some of America’s early racing drivers. Their skills were often honed while out-running the authorities during the Prohibition era.
Every day is an early start to keep the expedition on track for a 30-day crossing of America. The only other creatures awake so early are the local wildlife. Deer, coyotes and turtles have been spotted so far. Farmed Bison have also been seen along the trail.
The last few miles of Sam Correro’s time with the LREA team was spent negotiating treacherous washouts leading into Alma Arkansas. He balanced like a tightrope walker riding down the gullies. Behind, using the LR4 vehicle’s Terrain Response system, the four wheelers edged from hole to rock and under fallen trees.
“That was a taste of what is to come,” Correro said with a smile as he waved us goodbye. “Just wait and see…”
gamh2001
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Updates pleeeeeeaaase!!!!
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