My name is Derek Brooks

Check out what I've been up to below, see what I did yesterday, read about me, or browse my photos!

broox

I applied for Global Entry over a year ago, February 2023, and just now got an email that I’ve been approved for an interview.

The only places currently accepting appointments for an interview are in Arizona, California, Michigan, and Texas.

What an efficient program.

i just started ordering hockey gear... cause 43 seems like a good age to get back into this sport.

Recent albums

2023 was expensive, but fun

2023 was a strange year. It felt gluttonous and hard to catch up, but it was always gonna be tough to follow the year of free boi summer.

We had lots of good stateside travel, a couple annoying financial issues, and I accidentally bought a Bronco.

We hosted fewer events and I made a conscious decision to only hang with folks who also invite us to things. This turned into spending time with new sets of great people but also seeing old buddies less than I'd hoped.

Travel

We didn't get to leave the country, but did take lots of road trips and I got to see 20 states.

Last seen in Des Moines, Iowa

Recent comments

Great write up!

Planning on doing this trip in the fall. Would love the gpx file.
Can you send me your gpx file of the 7 hour plane crash route?

Wendy M Davis replied to a blog

Hey Michael, we both had Badlands Sasquatch packages with the 2.7L engines and stock drivetrains/suspensions.

Your non-sas Bronco will be perfectly fine! The only concern I had along the whole route was getting into deep water that would get into the camper... or getting into a situation where I had to reverse the trailer for a long ways. Neither of which happened.

Check water depths with a stick if you're concerned when you come up on puddles. Drive on the tops of the ruts instead of through the center of them where they look deep... and pack a chainsaw / camp saw / ax along with some loppers and a shovel just in case you need to do some trail grooming.

If you hit the trail Thursday morning, you'll have no problem getting to Mass City by noon on Friday. We hit the trailhead around 1pm on our first day and were to Mass City by noon the next day. If you started early, you could get to Mass City, or close in 1 day... depending on how much horsing around you wanna do on the way.

The nice thing about this trail is that its usually not too far from a highway... so you can always jump on pavement to make up time.

Shoot me an email (contact link below) and I'll give you my GPX file with campsites and such labeled.
Great debrief on the route, this is a run that I’ve been wanting to do for a couple years now, ever since I heard about it. I just got my Bronco (non sq BD), I’m curious what the stats are on your broncos, if I’ll have any issues. I’m putting together a trail worthy utility trailer (4’x6’), what are your thoughts? We are planning on hitting the trail July 2024, hoping to be on the trail first thing Thursday morning, want to be up in mass city (adventure mine tour) late morning/early afternoon Friday, sound doable? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Michael Horton replied to a blog