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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- Cattle emerged from the bushes, followed by cowboys. The vaqueros all had one question: "How did you get down here?! This ain't a road!" If you find a cowboy with homemade blackberry brandy, sip wisely. They need a potent kind of special sauce to live in the Montana woods for weeks at a time. This was a good day at the office.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- On the Yellowstone Branch Line Trail on the bank of Henry's Fork (of the Snake River). A web of black-rock trails begged me to explore, but they were only wide enough for ATVs. The sign prohibits crossing to any vehicle wider then 50 inches. These are regular reminders that my route was made by a motorcyclist, for motorcyclists.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- Had to get back up the hill, though. The trail split around a giant stump. I thought the right fork would be easiest due to the lack of boulders, but slick roots on the inside of the turn and boulders on the outside killed traction. You can see the brown divot where I spun the front left wheel trying to make it up.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- So I tried the left fork, which I thought would be too hard because of the boulder steps in the middle of the trail. I was already staring at the sky before the step-up. But, given enough throttle to leave skid marks in the snow, the Wrangler climbed up and over.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- The sun long gone, I'm the only dummy still trying to get somewhere on these back roads. The few locals still out had the sense to be on paved roads, the rest were in front of home fires. This was where I checked my GPS to find out how much further to Rawlins. The bad news: 61 miles. Oops.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- This is me, refusing to stop. Driving through constant rain, snow, and large puddles, there was so much crust outside that I had to bang the driver's door to open it when I reached cattle gates, and had to bang off inches of crust to open the back doors. I still had 40 miles to go.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- The Jeep FC was based on the Jeep CJ-5, but open, roomy, cab-over cockpit stressed efficient use of space. Industrial designer Brooks Stevens penned the FC, as well as the original Willys-Overland Jeepster, the Jeep Wagoneer, and the 1949 Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide. According to Hemmings, the FC would inspire Ford to create the Econoline pickup, Chevy to create a Corvair pickup, and Dodge to create the A100 pickup. Jeep created a Mighty FC concept for the 2012 Easter Jeep Safari.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- The McDonald's in Montrose, CO. Although this looks like a pirated version of McDo, or the Eye of Mordor, it's actually based on motifs used in early McDonald's stores, which used one arch.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- The trail didn't want to let me beyond this point. So I decided to lock up and put the left side tires on the rocks for traction. Those rocks form the left lip of the trail, and they're soft, not hard. I pushed off, getting further than the other wheel tracks. I backed up to do it again. The rocks, on soft dirt underneath, gave way. I dug in and got stuck. Then I tried to back up...
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- And couldn't get back on the trail. The rear left slipped over the lip, pulling the rest of the Jeep with it. Any time I tried to move, the Jeep slid further down the face. Doesn't look so steep here, but for a long moment I suspected my 800 pounds of gear would end this trip by shifting, sending me head over heels sideways down the hill. By reversing - and sliding further down every time I did - I was able to saw my way down the face.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- This is the Million Dollar Highway between Ouray and Silverton. Anyone with vertigo should keep their eyes closed on the run up out of Ouray, up Uncompahgre Gorge to Red Mountain Pass - narrow roads, 1,000-foot cliffs, no guardrails. Headed down to Silverton, keep your eyes open. Spectacular views.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- This, I must admit, is where I did the same thing I'd done 24 hours earlier: tried to force my way up a snowy trail, got stuck, started to get pulled down, and rescued it. I had to get out of Colorado. Another beautiful place to almost die, though.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- So is the struggle; the poster lists Jeep's previous owners at bottom. From left, Willys Overland Motors (1941-1953) founded by John Willys in Ohio in 1908, Willys Motors (1953-1962), Kaiser Jeep Corporation (1962-1970), Jeep - actually American Motors Corporation (1970-1987), Chrysler (1987-1995), DaimlerChrysler (1996-Present). That last "Present" lasted until 2007, when Cerberus Capital Partners took over until 2009, giving way to a consortium of the UAW, Fiat, and the U.S. and Canadian governments. And ever since 2014, Fiat alone.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- Las Cruces, New Mexico, for a day of wheeling in Prehistoric Trackways National Monument with the Las Cruces Four Wheel Drive Club. I told them I had a stock Wrangler Rubicon on 33s with 800 pounds of gear. They said, "No problem, we'll do easy trails." Then they showed up with rock crawling monsters.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- With club member Ernie getting through it in his 1992 Wrangler with stock 4.0-liter straight-six, stock transfer case, four-inch lift on Zone springs plus a two-inch body lift, Dana30s, 4:56 gears, 1998 Ford Explorer 8.8 rear end, custom front and rear bumper, and double beadlock wheels on 35s.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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- Rubicon Alaska Cannonball
- Followed by Barry in his 1981 CJ-7 built by local legend Jeff Wood. The rig sits on a custom chromoly frame, with a 350 cu. in Chevy V8, 5:38 gears, Ford Dana 60 front axle with an air lock dif, GM 14-bolt rear axle with a spool diff, and 40-inch tires.
- Image Credit: Jonathon Ramsey
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