10 Ways to Prepare When Looking for Your Land
When you are ready to go out and view in person the land you are interested in purchasing, take a look at my check list first to help make your trip a success. I have a great story to share about my last land search adventure where this list would have come in handy. See, even the most experienced land hunter like myself could use a reminder from time to time. Check out the check list:
Bob’s Land Adventure Check List
- Make sure your vehicle is in good running condition, good tires, know the terrain of the area you are going to, and the type of road conditions you will encounter. In our description of the property we include the recommended vehicle that is necessary to get to the property. Most of our properties are accessible by car but some do require a 4 wheel drive vehicle as a jeep or truck.
- Always fill the gas tank before heading into the area.
- Check the weather. Is it going to be sunny and warm, possible rain showers, or even snow in the forecast? Have proper vehicle equipment for the conditions. If snow is forecast do you have chains? Also, what clothing will be suited for the trip? Maybe a blanket would be good preparation if you are going way off the grid.
- Have extra water and at least some snacks to take with you.
- Have the best possible directions with you to find the property. Maps are available from the county websites and google earth.
- Include a Garmin or other GPS tracking device and extra batteries to track where you have been and to where you are going.
- Allow plenty of daylight hours to find the property and to get back to the main roads. Bring a flashlight.
- Paper towels and a roll of toilet paper. You never know when they will come in handy!
- Cell phone. Make sure it is charged. Very rarely have I not had cell phone service even in the remotest of areas.
- Finally, be sure someone knows where you are going and when you are expected back.
Our plan on Saturday, April 29th was to start out at 8:00 AM and be completed with checking out some properties by 4:00 PM. My buddy met me in Holbrook, AZ at 8:00 AM with his Jeep Cherokee. He was in shorts and a t-shirt. His first comment, “I didn’t know it was going to be this cold up here.” I was layered up in jeans, shirt, sweat shirt, light coat and a hat. We drove 50 miles east on the I-40 and got off and turned right onto US 191 heading towards St Johns. Our destination was about 35 more miles. About half way there he said “I forgot that I need gas but we should be OK!” -Uh Oh!
Google maps was a bit off and we went about 2 miles past our turnoff to get to the property. We backtracked to the correct turnoff by plugging in the GPS for the property into our Garmin. The first dirt road was well maintained but again the google maps didn’t put us on the correct road to the property but our Garmin did get us there. Well almost, the area is really sandy and the road to the property wasn’t maintained. We were able to get about a quarter mile to the property when the jeep(tires) had trouble with the sandy road. We hiked to the property and took pictures.
Back at the Jeep, it took us about 20 minutes to turn around, getting stuck a couple of times and made it back to the maintained dirt road.
Oh, did I mention it was snowing all the while we were there?!
At that point, my buddy says he was just above empty. Nuts! 30 miles to St Johns or 27 miles back to the I-40. So, we headed back towards the I-40 and with 12 miles to go he said the gauge was below empty. Thank goodness it was mostly downhill and the wind must have been at our backs as we glided into the gas station and filled up. Oh, and it stopped snowing.
We made it back to Holbrook about 12:30 PM and had lunch. I had mapped out 2 ways to get to our next location which was 40 acres 17 miles North of Holbrook. Our first map had us leaving Holbrook on Mission Lane. We got about a mile and BAM! We were greeted with a gate with a lock on it. So, we turned around got on the I-40 for 4 miles West and headed off again towards the property. BAM! 3 miles in and another locked gate.
We weren’t ready to give up, so we headed back to Holbrook, got on the internet and Google Earth recommended another way to the property. This time we went to Joseph City on the I-40 about 15 miles west of Holbrook. Hey! Now we had 20 miles of dirt roads to drive on to get to the property. So we buckled up and headed out. We came across two more gates but both were not locked, woohoo!! Man, it felt like I was on a horse and not in a jeep, tossed left, tossed right, tossed up. Fun to be in a jeep!!
We got to the property (Google had us turn at all the right junctures), took pictures, drank a couple bottles of water, and we ready for the return trip. By now my phone said it was 5:30 PM, just enough time to get back before dark at 7:15.
We’d gone about a half mile and my buddy saw a decent road on the left. He thought maybe it could be a short cut. All I was thinking about was how it was going to get dark soon and he doesn’t want to follow the roads out that got us here.
Well, Why Not? That’s what this is all about. We drove, or bounced for about 30 minutes and I was beginning to question my sanity. We came to a road that was heading West that seemed like it would get us to the road that headed South. This one even had tire tracks on it. My buddy said maybe someone else has been out here! I laughed! He said maybe it was our tracks, so he got out and just like CSI the tire tracks matched our tires.
After driving on this road for about 5 minutes- surprise!! We were back to the original road we came in on and off we headed South back to the I-40. When we got there , my phone had us at just before 6:00 PM. We had crossed a time zone at the property and were on Navajo time which was an hour different from Holbrook time. Welcome to the digital world! I was wondering why the sun was still high above the horizon. So, a short cut did work!
We plan to go back out there in a couple of weeks and find an even quicker way to the property. Take that Google Earth!
Oh, and the property, 40 acres of gently rolling hills, lots of pasture land, with 20 miles of views in every direction. No neighbors for miles! (You can view that property here)
So, even us experienced land adventurers need that check list to get home safely!
Good Land Hunting,
Bob
P.S. This is by far one of the most difficult properties we have encountered. Most of our properties are easy to get to by car.