i'd cut down through az only to hit sedona, i've fallen somewhat in love with the red rocks, the sonoran desert has a few hours of novelty then it's up to ski country.\

the new suv from porsche is legit finally not being a vw with a different badge. not that much faster than the britmobile, but the overland's fast enough but can tow, winch itself, handle streams and i can deflate/inflate the tires and it's got extra clearance and 20" wheels with thick tires that roll on roads, but drop the psi and they're great on sand. slime during the deflation=requisite. didn't want to drop real range rover money and the 4runner's gotten too big. if i could have found a land cruiser 80-series with decent miles i would have jumped all over it, but i could get a better engine, quiet cabin and creature comforts for 85% of what an fj could do and the difference between anything else in the size's engine and the hemi 5.7 with the mopar shit installed pumping out around 350 and more in torque is a real difference. like low 6's getting onto highways, towing a few small sailboats, throwing kayaks or bikes in the back and gunning it to the vineyard with no wind resistance.

the lexus rx350's a crossover, the only cars i'd choose over the overland would be a range rover on lease or the land bruiser new, both of which are pricey. the LR4 drove like garbage, and you could add all sorts of off-road toys, active safety shite, and aftermarket stuff to then overland to hit the land rover $ but then you'd have a quieter, faster, truck with 2 sets of tires, a huge rack of lights for when you want, and high-output xenons and fogs, all sorts of stuff for descending at weird angles, and a wet storage area that's invisible from the trunk for a space blanket, flare gun, and if you're in the boonies and geeked out, more offensive firepower than 2 soldiers in hostile areas carry on a mission w/out eotech shit on top, swap 10x50's, gen 2, and fixed 10x schmidt and a few feral dogs or coyotes and some lighting up what's about to be 7.62x51 nato sniper rounds but semi-auto with a nikko nighteater lets you get some sleep fast. if 120 rounds with a buddy holding a light doesn't turn filas and peros into the taco bell meat they're fit for as dogs, they'd better be a nuisance if they're getting .338lapmaged. i just hate the sound of strange dogs when i'm kinda in the middle of nowhere and stray mexican dogs left dead are a benefit to all. not like they're bothering me with closed windows, but the next guy may be in a wrangler.

i digress, i thought i was done with cars that didn't have ballast behind them but the cls is a personal lust object and i'm old enough it's not silly to own a used one. i never use the back doors anyhow.