Xpedition Voyager

[Odonata Overland]

Picked up the Xpedition Voyager Trailer (which shall be known as “The Chuck Wagon”) from Xgrid in Las Vegas!!!
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Started working with Xgrid at the beginning of October. Very helpful! They even coordinated a “show and tell” with a local owner so I could see an actual trailer. Paid the deposit the very beginning of Nov, and asked to take delivery the first week of February.

Spent the first few nights in the Valley of Fire State Park, NV. Just playing with some of the features, and “moving in”. Was incredibly impressed with the kitchen set up! First meal I made was cheese & spinach tortellini, Italian sausage, broccoli, shallots, sun dried tomatoes, in Alfredo, topped with Parmesan. No more “camping meals”! Can make the same meals I would make in my kitchen back home!

Headed North towards Zion National Park, and spent a few days in it enjoying the BLM South of the park. Didn’t see any challenging trails, was taking it easy while learning how it handles. Did get on some tight trails and put. some pinion pine pin striping on it. I did learn that backing it up to turn around, the trailer can be put to a 90 degree angle to the back of the truck which helps turning around in tight spots. .

Drove through the park, combo fits through the Zion Tunnel with no restrictions, and over to Bryce Canyon National Park.

A friend of mine had been a forest fire fighter in that area for many years. He dropped me a pin to an area in the Dixie National Forest he like camping in. It was near dark as I arrived. It was dispersed camping in designated sites only. I rolled past a few open sites, saw a Van Lifer in one, but decided to keep looking.

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[Odonata Overland]

Then it happened, Dixie Mud got splattered down the side of the truck and the brand new Xpedition that followed. This was the first test of how it handled off pavement. I was having so much fun! The trail got muddier, narrower and darker as the sun went down. There were a few spots where I thought to myself: “Hope I can get through this tight spot.” Or “Hope the truck can pull this thing up this muddy hill.” At each point I was very impressed. The Xpedition just followed like it wasn’t even there!

That night the temperatures where in the teens, so this was also the first test of the “Cold Weather Circuit” that keeps the water tank and
pump from freezing. Being as chilly as it was I cranked up the propane heat in the cabin, skipped an elaborate meal and opted to quickly heat up a can of soup and crawl into the nice warm cabin, which by now was a very balmy 82 degrees. Might have over done that, but wanted to know what it would do. Slept very comfortably that night after i turned the heat to a reasonable level.

After a few days near Bryce Canyon, I headed over to Capitol Reef National Park. One day I drove from Caineville, through the Cathedral Valley and turned around at Gypsum Sink Hole. The Park Ranger recommenced being on pavement by night fall, as they were expecting three to four inches of rain that night. OnX rates that trail as Green, and it was an easy drive with a few washes to cross.

Crossing one wash, I didn’t see how deep the rut was until it was too late to break. Not sure how fast I was going when I hit it, but looking in the side mirror the trailer had bounced, and the tires were a good foot off the ground! I stopped to make sure everything was secure. Things definitely got tossed! Nothing was broken. Got me thinking about how I would better pack the trailer in the future.

It didn’t want to back track all that I had just done, so I hung a right down the Hartnett/Cathedral Connector Route. At one point the trail dropped down into a wash and followed it for a ways. There was no water in it, which made me feel good knowing the end of this route involved crossing the Fremont River.

Then it went around a bend, and I saw the route climbing out of the wash. It was a steep grade, had a few turns in it, and several four to six inch rock ledges to climb up. No real good place to turn around with the Xpedition if I had wanted. Once again, I thought to myself “Hope I can pull the trailer up this.” I dropped the truck in four low and once again the Xpedition impressed me. The truck climbed the hill like the trailer wasn’t even behind it. By the time I got to the creek crossing I had full confident that as long as I was confident I could make it with my Tacoma, the Xpedition would just follow, which it did!

After this I was back to pavement for the rest of the trip. I was meeting with a buddy in St. George UT, and then we were going to Island Park ID for some snowmobiling. Knowing I was heading north to the cold, I “winterized” the Xpedition, draining the water and blowing out all the lines. Hope I did it right!
On the way to Island Park, I towed over several mountain passes that snow was dumping on. There were two “oh shit” moments that I had were the truck lost traction and started to slide sideways, but the Xpedition stuck!

Overall I am very impressed and look forward to many more adventures. It pulls great off highway and at lower speeds you don’t even really know its back there. Highway speeds is another story. Its not the weight of the trailer, it’s the extra drag! Kills the fuel milage, and acts like a giant sail, especially if there is winds. Across North Dakota it was 30 gusting 40mph, and no fun. Re-gearing might be in order?

 

[Odonata Overland]

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