We finally did it. We took the families, the rigs, and a whole lot of anxiety to the Rubicon Trail. If you’ve been following the channel, you know the formula: Pain and Victory. And let me tell you, the Rubicon served up a double portion of both.
This wasn’t just a wheeling trip; it was a family expedition. We had my wife Allison, our friends Jared and Emily, and a pack of kids ready to go “Lord of the Flies” in the wilderness.
The Pain: It Started Before the Gatekeeper
I’m the planner, right? I try to have the logistics dialed. But the Rubicon laughs at your plans.
It started with the drive in. My Jeep—the one with the 1969 Impala engine, full spool, and absolutely no heater—was not ready for the weather. We thought it would be a crisp 45 degrees. Nope. It was 36 degrees. Driving an open-top Jeep in freezing temps with the wind whipping your face is a special kind of misery.
Then we hit the trail, and the anxiety spiked. Within the first quarter-mile, we saw a Toyota being towed out, an XJ broken, and another rig tipping over. That’s when I saw it: The Ghost Look. Allison’s face just went pale. She realized this wasn’t a dirt road; it was relentless boulders, one after another.
And naturally, the “Pain” wouldn’t be complete without some blood and mechanical failure:
- The Injury: I managed to roll my ankle and slice my finger open on the sheet metal door in one clumsy move.
- The Leak: My transmission dipstick tube kept popping out, spewing fluid everywhere. The fix? A classic DPV solution: tie-wire and JB Weld. It’s not pretty, but it got us home.
The Victory: Resourcefulness (and Fajitas)
The “Victory” on this trip wasn’t just conquering the obstacles (though making it up Cadillac Hill was huge). It was the moments where things went wrong, and we just had to figure it out.
Take dinner on night one. We were ready to fire up the Blackstone for fajitas. We hook it up… and the regulator is dead. Propane spewing everywhere. We have hungry kids and raw meat.
Alex isn’t the only one who can improvise. We grabbed the only “pots” we had: a Jetboil and a 12-cup coffee percolator. Believe it or not, the ladies cooked the best fajitas we have ever had right inside that coffee pot. That’s the DPV spirit right there—starvation is a great motivator for innovation.
The Payoff
Despite the cold, the broken parts, and my Jeep running out of gas on Cadillac Hill (shoutout to the side-by-side driver who sold us 4 gallons!), hitting that pavement at the end was emotional. I actually teared up a bit.
We did hard things with our families. We watched our kids disconnect from screens and play in the dirt for three days. We broke stuff, we fixed stuff, and we made it out together.
If you want to see the full breakdown (mental and mechanical), check out the youtube videos!
Wheel it, wreck it, wrench it, repeat.
— Josh
Days of Pain and Victory 
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