Total Chaos Fabrcation

2004 Locos Mocos Nevada Adventure

When our Locos Mocos Nor Cal R & D (wreck and destroy) crew invited us on their 4th annual Nevada trip we figured all these killer camp fire stories from trips past had to be seen first hand. So this spring we packed our trail tool bag, camping gear, fishing poles and maps into the Nissan Frontier project vehicle and headed for a 640 mile dirt road adventure to explore North Central Nevada and Eastern Sierra deserts. Our journey would take us 1100 miles round trip in 3 days. 8 purpose built vehicles, all equipped with TOTAL CHAOS suspension were ready to accept the challenge. Each vehicle was saddled up with radios, tools, beverages and co-pilots. Generally our crew provides Free Pit Support to racers south of the border, but this trip all we fixed were our own damaged rigs! Packing is an important part of a trip like this where you will be in remote areas of barren desert with no services. The development of the ice chest should really be credited with helping boost our sport. Buffet as he is known with the crew spent lots of hours plotting trails on public land, programming GPS coordinates for navigation and researching destinations that could provide fuel resources and cooler refills within 200 miles of each stop. Thanks Buffet for a great trip. Well worth your effort! Spring is one of the more popular months to plan an adventure such as this to capture the colorful cactus and wild flower blooms sparked by winter rains.

Scroll through the following images. We would not make Day 3 to Bodie with the Nor Cal crew to avoid back tracking HWY 395. We were told it was well worth the detour. So we stopped at Bodie ghost town Thursday evening on our way to the Bonanza Casino in Fallon, Nevada where we would meet with the 7 other troops on our tour. As you walk the eerie streets of this late 1800’s booming Gold mining town, you can travel through time and peep into windows of the Saloon, School and Church. You can only imagine what the West’s first pioneer’s lifestyle was like.

Bodie Day 1…

After 30 miles in the dark Thursday night running Arterial Canyon we set up camp at 2am. M-Chaos added another notch in our Nissan damage counter when he slammed into a boulder in the canyon and bottle necked traffic while changed a punctured tire. Steering adjustments were also later necessary. We awoke at the “Monolith” an old pump tower planted in the middle of the Nevada desert that was spotted at the BITD 2003 Vegas to Reno race by BCG 7 and Buffet.
We headed to Gabbs, the meteor that gobbled up 7 in a BITD race and then to the Miocene Fossil area for some fossil hunting and “code reds”. From there it was fast graded roads, spotted range cattle and on into the small town on Mina. We restocked fuel, beverages and ice. We then headed to 8,000 ft elevation through pinion pine tress to “code red” at an abandoned mining shack. We posed for a group photo and headed down the back side of the mountain. A “gotcha” gobbled BCG 1 despite radio warnings. Oops, a bent lower but the crew kept on pace. We exited the dirt though a cattle guard after mis-navigation down a long rocky pole line road. We proceeded through the Monte Cristo Range and on to parts of the Tonoapa 300 course toward Weepah for the night. We set up camp. We assessed damages over “code reds” and a fire. Squid sheared a reservoir hose, Fuse was running on 1 rear shock and TC had no spares left at this point, BCG 7 incurred a flat and we had our first worn ball joint. Oh, BCG 1’s bent lower would complete the list.

Bodie Day 2…

We headed east to Tonoapa on some great rally trails with rollers. We all split up and would meet at McDonald’s after parts to repair vehicles were gathered and coolers were refilled. We would install parts in the parking lot and get some burgers! After lunch we headed to the town of Silver Peak. We popped in at the town’s ONLY bar for a CHAOS group shot in front of the Shifting Sands historic building. A local stopped to see what all the CHAOS was and informed us that they mine high grade lithium from the water under the lake bed. We proceeded through the valley and Joshua Trees up to top of the 8,000 ft mountain range for a breathtaking view of the snow covered Sierra’s. A quick “code red” and we were again off for Oasis and on into Bishop. We had a great switch back trail that was lined in one area with blooming cactus. We loaded up the coolers and our final destination would be Whitmore Hot Springs for the last night of camping. We were able to toss a line at McGee Creek for some trout fishing which was a wonderful way to end the trip. We camped amongst the pinion pine and scrub of the 6,000 ft desert for the night.

Bodie Day 3…

8am, I locked the keys in the Nissan (with it running)!!!! I had no flaws until then. It required surgery to get the doors unlocked. Once 3 Ball navigated through the sun roof with the radio antenna and tapped the unlock button we were back in the saddle. We split from the crew as they took the dirt headed for Bodie. 4 vehicle’s completed the trip and 2 other rigs headed to Nor Cal for prior commitments. We did a bit more fishing and hit HWY 395 for a road trip home. WHAT A TRIP! We never once came across another vehicle. Just our crew, our rigs and mother nature. Explorations like this are a great way to spend time with your friends and family and learn more about pioneer history. We arrived at the bottom of Cajon just in time to be blessed with NASCAR traffic after the California Speedway race. We didn’t miss the traffic a bit. As I sit in the office and gaze out the window I realized I did not miss the fast pace of So Cal’s life style. Its great for convenience, but I could do a lot more off roading if we packed up ship and headed to Nevada!

Thanks: Nissan, Buffet, 3 Ball, BCG 1 & 7, Squid, Sqeegie, K2, BamBam, Tina, Karen, 805-Sick, M-Chaos, Fuse and Fiesta. Cant wait to travel with the gang on the next trip. See you in the DIRT!

N-Chaos

PHOTO CREDITS: Travis Sifflinger, Mark Naugle, Nicole Pitell, Tina Lininger, Steve Brosz




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