We are thankfully in a renaissance of  smaller trucks and the 2019 Ford Ranger is among the most highly anticipated. It is also one of the best equipped, with awesome numbers and robust capability. With a truck like this though, it's about more than just raw numbers... it's about what you can do and where it can take you. The FX4 trim level that we were provided is not the Raptor or even a competitor to the Toyota's TRD Pro or Chevy's ZR2 off-road trucks but it delivers a solid and comfortable experience both on and off road. This makes it an excellent road tripping vehicle. To test it out, we decided to explore historic Nate Harrison Road and climb to the top of Mount Palomar in San Diego, California.

I am rapidly becoming obsessed with Jeeps and off-road trucks. There's a sense of freedom being able to go places others can't that those locked to the pavement will never understand. Unfortunately for our bank accounts, owning a Jeep can be an expensive hobby - but one that is exciting and fun. This goes way beyond the travel aspect and exploring new terrain. It also includes the community and affinity that Jeep owners have for each other. From the nod to the Jeep wave, it's something special. This community tends to attract a lot of interesting individuals who seek freedom and individually. So it should be no surprise that most of these folks are also driven to enhance their rigs. New tires, axles, winches, lifts, even stickers and flags. Owning a Jeep is something special and so here's six things that you should consider when planning an upgrade 

When it comes to modern SUVs, few are good at both on and off-road. They are focused on tuned to compromise and lean towards fuel efficiency on-road - or all out off-road ability. While I can talk for days about the need for more true, body-on-frame SUVs, the Toyota Land Cruiser is the epitome of what an awesome SUV should be. It offers a solid, perfectly refined driving experience with no compromises and brings you back to an era when sitting in the driver's seat of an SUV made you feel special. We took the 2019 Land Cruiser on a road trip to Scottsdale, AZ for Spring Training and it was one of my favorite driving experiences in a long time.

This custom Defender 90 Convertible from E.C.D. Automotive Design is outfitted with a five-speed manual transmission and powered by a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 engine.

Almost anyone who has felt the thrill of racing through the open desert has dreamed of one day becoming a professional dirt racer. There's a unique thrill that you can only understand if you've ever sat in an open windshield truck, buggie, or UTV and felt the wind and grit fly by your face. This is a different sort of experience than exploring typical "jeep trails" and the objective here is to go as fast as possible as safely as possible so you can do it all again as soon as possible. BFGoodrich is the undisputed king of tires in this space and if you watch any of the leading races including MINT 400, Baja 1000, or even King of Hammers you'll notice that the pros all are riding on their latest tires. Often this is the KR3 - known for its grip as well as rugged sidewalls able to resist damage at relatively low air pressure. Now though, there's a version for the rest of us to use on UTVs and off-road trucks such as custom Jeeps, Raptors and Colorado ZR2s.

Last fall BFGoodrich Tires invited us to join them for the 2018 awards announcement at SEMA Show. I love it when corporations choose to find ways to enhance their community with efforts that genuinely help their consumers. While there's nothing wrong with helping babies, curing diseases, or other great charitable efforts, I'm extremely impressed with what BFGoodrich Tires has done since 2006 to raise awareness of responsible use and preservation of off-road trails across the United States. 

So many people visit Las Vegas and never venture outside of the strip... they don't even know what they are missing. On the other hand, I visit the city several times each year and have wondered what adventures the mountains might have in store. On this trip, I hooked up with my friends at Trail Trek Tour who had some Toyota TRD Pro trucks ready for some adventure. Unlike most of my off road trips that take place at very low altitudes and cruising through sandy, scorching hot, sun-bleached desert, this time we were headed up to a very windy 7,700 feet on a mountain trail with trees and rocks.

The California desert is a weird and wonderful place full of mystical energy and people drawn there by it. That's why it makes such an amazing place to explore since there are stories and places that seem almost too weird to be true. One of these that I heard about earlier this year is simply known as Giant Rock. As you can imagine, it is indeed a giant rock out in the middle of the desert but over the decades it also served as a gathering point for UFO conventions, a guy even lived below it (before blowing himself up), and before that it was considered a sacred site by the indians inhabiting the area. It is also a great trail for beginners looking to get familiarized with off road driving since it's only three miles long and you'll have cell phone reception the entire time... but you feel like you entered a whole different world when you get there.

It's no secret that the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 is my absolute favorite off road truck right now. This truck is the Goldilocks of trucks designed for off road adventurers looking for a an OEM experience that can deliver style and performance as well as still performing well on-road as well as off. Our previous adventure with the ZR2 though ended up getting preempted by a freak snowstorm as we were traveling through the mojave desert. This time though would be different. Instead of freezing temperatures in the mountains, we were braving 120+ temperatures at near sea level near Ocotillo,  California. In retrospect, a jet black truck in the bright sun with those temperatures might not have been the best idea. Luckily this was more than just an ordinary truck and it stayed nice and cool with the AC blasting!

It might be obvious – big knobby tires are better at gripping rugged surfaces than smooth ones. After all, you wouldn't put a pair of racing slicks on your truck and take it out on the trail, would you? The reality though is that for most of us, the right choice of tires is more about balance than absolutes. That's why I really like this set of Grabber A/T X that General Tire sent me to check out.

We all know that proper tire pressure is essential to keeping your daily driver safe and efficient on the road, but it's just as important when off road driving too. However, the difference in this case is that what's correct for the pavement - may not be right for the terrain you're setting out to explore. Since most of my off road adventures have been with a fleet vehicle with tires that quite honestly aren't always ideal for true off roading, I'd never really considered "airing down" or what the proper pressure even should be. My main concern was simply leaving it at the manufacturer's recommended specs. While that's a great theory, it has resulted in multiple situations where I got stuck in sand, lost traction where I might not have with the proper pressure, and of course the dreaded flat tires.

Baja California, Mexico is a legendary peninsula that has some of the most beautiful coastline, mountains, valleys, and vistas of anyplace on Earth. It is also a playground for some of the most wealthy and adventurous people in the world who love to test their physical endurance and technical ability as a driver during the Baja 1000 and other races held here. We recently had a chance to spend four days here, driving a Baja challenge car that had actually completed the Baja 1000 course and it's an amazing experience. What you might not know is that there's no credentialing authority, so all you need to do to compete is show up with a car and pay your entry fee!

Jeep has announced that they will be unveiling the all-new 2018 Wrangler at the LA Auto Show coming up later this month. Jeep is one of our favorite car brands since it has managed to transcend being "just another truck" and instead is a full on lifestyle brand. If you haven't had the opportunity to drive a Jeep, it's a different sort of feeling than any other off-road vehicle out there and we can't wait to get our chance to get this one dirty once it's ready for testing!

One of the challenges - and frankly the thrills - of having a 4x4 truck is seeing how capable it really is. The challenge with that though is that sometimes the line between awesome fun and danger is blurred and you never really learn except by making mistakes. That's why I absolutely love the fact that the state of California along with some local off road clubs created this amazing park located just east of San Diego with marked challenges and obstacles ranging from the absolutely insane to beginner. This also gave us the perfect place to test out and compare the TRD Pro trucks that Toyota had given us to play with.

Joshua Tree National Park is an absolutely stunning natural reserve with wide open spaces, amazing colors, and terrain ranging from sharp cliffs to sandy plains. It's a fantastic place to explore on foot though it can get extremely hot during the summer, so I find it much more enjoyable to use one of the off road trails and explore it's hidden spaces that way. We did this recently with the 2017 Jeep Cherokee Overland 4x4 and were completely impressed with how capable it was.

At first glance, the 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk doesn't look much different than it's brothers in the lineup, but once you begin to look deeper it becomes more intriguing. There are bold red tow hooks popping out on the front, a black stripe covering the hood, better off road tires, and it rides a bit higher. Inside though are all the things I liked about the Grand Cherokee that we reviewed previously. What Jeep has done is created the Grand Cherokee that it should have made before... and I loved driving it for the week that they let me borrow it. For this trip, we set out to the Miramonte Resort in Indian Wells - part of greater Palm Springs for an epic adventure on and off the road.