belly of the dragon and exploring lava tubes in Utah living full-time in a jeep Cherokee XJ

Had a lot of fun exploring belly of the dragon, which was pretty interesting then I drove out to a lava field  and explored  and walk-through lava tubes. Utah it’s a pretty amazing place.
Hi, my name is john and I’m 69 years old and live full-time in my jeep Cherokee XJ living the dream 
Buy me a beer. 🍺
buymeacoffee.com/overthemountain

[@jimgollach6202]

Pretty cool John! Very mysterious area, what I like about that type of land is no development, it's just to rocky and rough. Good luck with your jeep. Stay safe, enjoyed watching.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey Jim i’m always exploring the off the path places. Most of these places are amazing with hardly any people around. The Jeep transmission took a dump and it’s in the shop getting the transmission rebuilt. Bummer.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

That's unfortunate on the transmission problem. Do yourself a favor and have an auxiliary cooler installed if you can afford it along with the repair. At minimum make sure they flush the garbage out of the cooler and lines and all that. Those transmissions usually do quite a few miles before failing. It's an aisin Aw4, right?

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

@@goosenotmaverick1156 I just got the jeep back today. Still having some issues where it won’t shift into lower gear. It doesn’t do it all the time. My jeep got 326,000 miles on it so I definitely probably need a good rebuilt. I will definitely feel a lot better when I’m way out in the middle of nowhere. Thanks for your advice so far.

[@robertscranton8293]

Cool

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey Robert, I have to say those places were pretty damn cool

[@paulhoffman5054]

Absolutely amazing area. It looks like you're on another planet in the lava tubes. Man, you are living the dream, John. Enjoy 👍 👍

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey Paul, those last couple places I have been to have been absolutely amazing. i’d love this lifestyle.

[@cargotrailerkenny]

always fun and interesting to see what your up to John. Nice video. cool lava tubes!

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Thanks, Kenny. I got a lot planned for Oregon.

[@TimmyCramer]

Good to see you enjoying the brews with the boys!!

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey Timmy, always enjoying my beers.

[@stevezeppieri]

John you are a riot. This was pretty damn cool. Always looking forward to the next my friend. Cheers

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey Steve, those two places were extremely cool and had a lot of fun exploring them.

[@barbarainfante6094]

Super cool. My favorite video scenery possibly! That was awesome. Thanks for sharing John! Hey see you in a few weeks! :)

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

A couple of weeks 😱. I hope so.

[@TroyRank]

Haha the fire scene was amazing John ! Amazing views of the lava tubes too ! Had a great time hanging and watching!

[@TroyRank]

We had our transmission overheat once in this trip too and ever since I've been monitoring it using an app and a Bluetooth odbii adapter. Probably worth getting the fluid swapped out to be safe too. Wishing you the best on your adventures!!

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey Troy the fire thing was pretty cool. My transmission finally gave out a couple days ago so I’m stuck inside a hotel room now waiting to have my whole transmission rebuilt. Hopefully it will be done by tomorrow. What are you gonna do?

[@TroyRank]

@@overthehillandoverthemount2925 ahh that's a bummer! All part of the adventure though. Hope you're back on the road soon! Enjoy the luxury (or punishment) of sleeping indoors for a change 🤘😜

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

@@TroyRank it is a punishment. I feel like I’m trapped in this hotel room with the wall slowly closed it on me.

[@pambabbitt1894]

Interesting caving John. Even tho I don’t like being underground. 😁

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey Pam. It’s definitely a little spooky being under the ground, but it was a lot of fun.

[@chazzie5418]

Wow John, some cool exploring in those lava tubes. I am disappointed that you aren't going to Oregon. I wanted to see you catching some nice trout in those mountain streams.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Not to worry, Oregon is full of Mountain streams full of trout. That is why I’m heading there. I will be hitting Idaho, Montana and into Wyoming.

[@paulmoen6238]

Welcome to Utah !

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Thanks Paul, Utah is amazing except for Salt Lake City. It makes me feel like I’m back at New Jersey.

[@paulmoen6238]

@@overthehillandoverthemount2925 Were down South , we call it Salt Lick City !!!

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

@@paulmoen6238 lol I am in Salt Lake City now in a hotel room because my transmission died. Hoping my Jeep will be ready tomorrow. There will be a video.

[@williamgunn1076]

Thanks for taking us along. Was that the Black Rock Desert? Daddy used to live and work in Delta, and I remember the cinder cones and tubes. At least is looks like the Black Rock. Been 40 years since I was there. Best, Bill

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

It could’ve been the Black rock desert but I’m not sure. I did drive into Delta to do some shopping and it’s a pretty cool small little friendly town.

[@williamgunn1076]

@@overthehillandoverthemount2925I'm sure it was Black Rock if you went through Delta. 40 years ago Dad was project manager constructing the power plant. I used to fly into Salt Lake from Connecticut, and he'd meet me at the airport and handover the keys to his motor home. I'd explore the fly fishing for weeks at a time.

[@UtahTenkara]

In Utah, they are releasing lots of water to try and get the Great Salt Lake levels up. Rivers have been flooded out for over a month. I hope you find somewhere to fish.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hopefully by next week, I’ll be up in Oregon starting my fishing season off. I know the rivers up there are pretty flooded too, but we’ll see what happens.

[@breathetogether]

There are Obsidian Lava tubes in northern California. You need to wear shear resistant gloves and gear to explore them.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Thanks that’s good to know. After shooting this video, I got a lot to learn about lava tubes. This is so interesting.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Those transmissions will tolerate hydraulic fluid as a replacement when they're worn, to buy you some time to get where you need to go. Also they tend to leak from the cooler lines that run to the radiator, keep an eye out for that. They also tend to overheat a little when in totally stock form and aging, when you ask them to pull long hills like that. Loads of us either go with a fully clutch-less fan, due to the frequency with which they get weak and don't hold up under higher temp conditions. That or we replace them with electric fans, but I don't know that the electric fan conversion would have helped you much there. A cheap option is to use a reduced temperature thermostat. You could probably replace that for under 50 bucks with coolant included, and do it just about anywhere you HAVE to.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

If you want to make no modifications, and repair and leave in stock form, I'd guess a fan clutch replacement is in order

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Hey goose, unfortunately, My transmission totally went out on me. Just had the whole transmission and the transfer case all rebuilt. I’m happy I got everything done. This will be my next video. Lol

[@Wesley-uo3rn]

How are you finding these amazing spots

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Most of the time? I’m just driving down dirt roads looking for a place to camp and then I find these amazing places back there. Those two places I was just at I did not know they were there until I got there. Just drive into the unknown and you’ll find the most amazing places.

[@johntuttle4486]

After 10 of those stouts, you won't know if they're good or bad! :). When in TX, try Lone Star. It's a lager that I quite like.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

After three, those stouts, I would be faced down in the dirt. Lol. Texas scares me so I try to stay out of that state and it has no BOM land.

[@johntuttle4486]

@@overthehillandoverthemount2925 Big Bend is nice and so is Enchanted Rock, but VERY crowded. The rest of TX sucks.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

@@johntuttle4486 not a big fan of Texas. There is no BLM land and it’s hard to find free camping there

[@MajorWeakness]

Really neat area.Hopefully you're transmission will recover.Might want to think about a transmission cooler

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

My transmission bit the dust. Had one guy give me a quote of $7800 for a rebuilt trans. Found another guy that will rebuild it for $4000 and another $1000 for a transfer Case. It’s in the shop now being rebuilt. Bummer. The jeeps going to be unstoppable soon.

[@MajorWeakness]

@overthehillandoverthemount2925 wow. Glad you decided to repair! Those jeeps are amazing!. Hope you give us a jeep update on video!

[@keithbronson9777]

@@overthehillandoverthemount2925 Sorry to hear about the jeep. Hopefully you weren't in the middle of nowhere. Your videos are really improving. No doubt soon ,we'll see your adventures on the big screen.😎

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

@@keithbronson9777 thanks Keith it will be like a new Jeep soon.

[@michaelfercik3691]

Those are not lava tubes of shield volcanoes, instead those are caves produced a long time after the flood lava event, with water erosion cutting through the soft sedimentary rock underneath the harder lava. That is why most of the rock on the floors is sedimentary rock with just a little bit of the lava flaking off the hardened and cracked ceiling while raising the roof of the cave. True shield volcano lava tubes are produced at the very end of the lava event, with the last flow of super heated lava is forced through with remelting previous hardened lava to make something like a water pipe through cooled hardened lava. At the very end of super heated lava traveling through the lava tube inside previously cooled hardened lava, water steam crystalise all the surfaces of the lava tube, which prevents the lava tube from caving in and keeps it open over time for us to see the lava tube tunnels inside lava on the floors, walls, and ceiling.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

Wow, thank you so much for all that information, i’m so impressed, looks like I gotta do some research and some learning. I have seen a lot of lava tubes in New Mexico and I have been to creators of the moon in Idaho. So now I definitely gotta learn more about this stuff. Thanks again for all that info.

[@badeugenecops4741]

So you went back to the place where you watched them form when you were a kid.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

🤷‍♂️ yes I did

[@badeugenecops4741]

@@overthehillandoverthemount2925 Just givin you some shizz. Keep on keepin on.

[@overthehillandoverthemount2925]

@@badeugenecops4741 I figured that I thought it was funny.