New Raptor, New Member in north Texas

[Buccleuch]

Greetings -

Bought my new 2026 Ranger Raptor on July 31 (drove 125 miles to get it), and it already has 7,250 miles on it. My daughter and I drove 5,300 miles through 12 states on our Upper Midwest state highpoints trip: Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. We also went back and did Black Mountain, Kentucky properly. Tried it last year in her RAV4, but no way would it make it up that road, and it was way too dark to hike. Any other highpointers here??

100+ of the miles were dirt/rock/mud/seriously broken pavement to reach some of the highpoints, and getting lost in the many forest roads in Michigan added to the miles.

Overall, this is a fantastic road trip vehicle, very comfortable (and we did some 700+ mile days), and I averaged around 20.5mpg.

Eventually I'll build this out for camping. Always wanted to drive Texas's Big Bend River Road, and now I'll do it. Other things: dash cam, front hood protector (already ordered), thinking about the Ford Performance Tune, and there will be more "farkles."

W.A.

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[superj]

Nice, welcome to the group



I would like to do big bend also

 

[Buccleuch]

Nice, welcome to the group



I would like to do big bend also

Thanks for the welcome!

I've been to Big Bend NP and the larger area over a dozen times, touring, camping, hiking, backpacking. I drove the Old Ore Road in my old '84 Ford Ranger back in 1988 or so, which turns out was ill-advised, as the old Ranger was 2WD and really didn't have the ground clearance that road demands. But we made it.

But now, I want to do ALL of the River Road, and the Big Bend BDR.

W.A.

 

[superj]

My brother and I are supposed to go camp out in the next few months with his son and maybe my son. His son has a 25 4x4 Tacoma and my ranger is 2wd, but at least slightly lifted so I hope to be able to go to some of the historic areas and maybe some light trails.

We are in corpus so it's a full days drive to get to big bend, probably same as anyone not in west texas, though.

That's awesome that you did it in a 2wd old ranger

 

[Buccleuch]

That's awesome that you did (the Old Ore Road) in a 2wd old ranger

Funny thing about that. I really had not that much interest in driving the Old Ore Road, but my fraternity brother who I went with on that spring break trip - we camped at Rio Grande Village and up in the Basin, then backpacked up onto the South Rim for two nights - talked me into it.

We started at the Rio Grande end, near the tunnel on the park road, and within 10 minutes, he had totally passed out in the passenger seat! I spent the next hour driving pretty much by myself, wondering why I had done it...

W.A.

 

[got3fords]

Eventually I'll build this out for camping. Always wanted to drive Texas's Big Bend River Road, and now I'll do it. Other things: dash cam, front hood protector (already ordered), thinking about the Ford Performance Tune, and there will be more "farkles."

Congrats on the new truck. Damn, you really broke it in fast! You can add about 100HP with GooseTuned. I am a happy customer.
Oh, you need to post a pic!

 

[pkvir]

Congrats and welcome, from another North Texas RR owner.

 

[Buccleuch]

Seeing if I can get a pic posted... I chiefly use the Brave browser, and it was not letting me get a pic up. Now using MS Edge just for this.

On "The Point" on Lake Texoma at Rock Creek Golf Club.

W.A.

 

[got3fords]

Seeing if I can get a pic posted... I chiefly use the Brave browser, and it was not letting me get a pic up. Now using MS Edge just for this.

On "The Point" on Lake Texoma at Rock Creek Golf Club.

W.A.

Nice. I also use Brave pretty exclusively. Never had an issue uploading pics. Except maybe for the fact that when it's uploading it looks like it's there twice.

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