Sun. Apr 12: Periodic maintenance, a bike trail, and some entertainment.

After a short rendezvous with Dieter & Crew to confirm the week's plans, it was off to wash clothes, get fuel, eat lunch, and get groceries...too bad power was out in most of the town. That put me behind a ways!

By 2 PM it was time to hit the trail - finally! 35 miles out. 35 miles back. 2 miles on the trail. But it was all scenic though - and worth it!

This was a part of the Kokopelli bike trail that I had hoped could be used as a shortcut to avoid 5 - 6 miles of dreaded gravel road on the way back from Rose Garden. It was indeed worth the overhead to run this trail which has been used almost exclusively by bicycles and ATVs. It was narrow, steep, had washouts and descended a 400' canyon with ample shelf roads, complete with said washouts on the canyon side. COOL!

From there, it was a very slow and leisurely 22 miles back to camp along the River Road. Back at camp there was some entertainment as some guy, with more money than brains, in a massively huge RV (with trailer) tried to back into a spot. This is the area of the campground where for whatever reason the owners have a policy of not letting one pull in - one must back in. (I ran afoul of this policy - but that's a drinkin' story!) This guy first nailed one of their light poles, knocking it over, and then charged into a rock that was significantly better built than the front of his RV. Not sure, but he may have also hit the pole again. I didn't want to get too close for fear of my life. Perhaps the campground owners may want to reconsider their policy.

It's now a gorgeous sunset and I've just grilled a burger with fixin's and will settle in for a night at the movies. Tomorrow is my last day in Moab (after 22 days....whine!) and hopefully Bob and I can connect and run a trail. Tuesday is the Needles and dark territory for a few days.

Mon. Apr 13: A day with Bob. The Undiscovered Country.

Bob was unable to come out and play today as Mario and Joe, some friends of his from out East, are going to be here mid-week and he had some work to do before they arrived. He and I already have plans for this fall's trip. We be good!

About 10 AM I wandered up to La Sal. Dave, Debi, and I took off on a jaunt into the Manti-La Sal National Forest after fueling up at one of the many gas pumps in La Sal. What a good drive! We found an old shelf road and associated mine, albeit filled in, but in the most gorgeous canyon. We also found an awesome camp spot off the main road where it looks like the RV will be able to fit. At almost 8000' no air conditioning will be needed! Another new favorite spot 4000' higher than Moab. I can hardly wait!!!!

So here I am, back at the RV and it's now 6 PM. Since about 3 PM it's been a whirlwind of activity preparing for the morrow's departure. I've been cleaning the Jeep inside (major job), cleaning the Jeep outside (major job), cleaning the RV (major job) and sealing my fate (weather wise) by cleaning all the RV windows. Stoooopid.

Once the cleaning was done, I switched the scanner to NOAA. BTW, The Weather Channel absolutely sucks, sucks, sucks - but that's another drinkin' story. But back to the point. NOAA is once again predicting the end of the world (sunny world that is) as we know it. The weather is predicted to go straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200. The day we may be doing the drive around the Abajos, NOAA is predicting a high of only 40° and snow. So much for my suntan. Warm weather beckons me....I hear it a callin'......I shall return!

But now, time to get de-briefed and when I return from the Arena, will find some photos of the day's trip with which to taunt you....even a second time. Postscript - see photos above. I wrote this before selecting the photos...kinda.

Tomorrow thru whenever, I'll be off the grid. See y'all!

BTW, check out this missile launch. I "randomly" found it online and disavow any knowledge of said missile launch.

Tue. Apr 14: A few repairs needed at the Needles - and off the grid!

The 70 mile drive from Moab to the Needles was uneventful --- until I arrived. By 9 AM, there were only a few open camp sites left! Instead of stopping at the visitor center, offloading the Jeep and looking for a site as originally planned, I took the whole damn works with me. There was this perfect site, and empty, but I needed to turn around so proceeded down a road that showed a loop - except the loop was way too small to make the turn with the RV and trailer. Applying my many years of driving, backing, turning, and swearing skills, when it was all said and done I managed to take one hell of a bite out of the RV again by jackknifing the trailer. This time I even nailed the box on the trailer. This is the umpteenth time and I'm not going to repair the fiberglass again, dammit! BUT ...... this beautiful, quiet, scenic and somewhat out of the way campsite more than made up for my little indiscretion.

And yes, we have no bananas (cell phone, or internet). But there is HDTV. Roughing it is great!

After setting up, a trip to the visitor center seemed the thing to do. On the way, this view begged me to stop and get a photo. This may be the only day the sun will be shining and there will be blue sky ---welllllll at least for the next few days.

At the center, I saw Dieter and Rolf who were just coming in to register for their back country tent site which will be 8 miles away from my "primitive" camp. Dieter wanted me to look at a leak from his rear differential (real Jeeps don't leak, they just mark their territory) and it turned out the leak was the least of his problems. His rear U-joint was seriously kaput. What a good thing we caught it.

So over to Dave's mobile repair shop we drove where there just happened to be a replacement U-joint. Within 45 minutes we had the errant one replaced. Of course I gave Dieter the dirty job of removing and installing the shaft while mostly what I did was pound out the old joint and pound in the new one. Then I checked Rolf's Jeep and he had one going bad but it should last. They were then given a memorable directive regarding periodic inspection and maintenance.

Wed. Apr 15: Let's do the Joint - and if we can't, let's have one.

Good morning! 7 AM and moving slow. There were some hellacious winds last night and they are starting again. Most of the night it sounded like a blizzard outside with the winds whistling and the RV a rockin'. Fortunately I put the satellite dish down before bed. It was wonderful to be inside. Most of the people here at this campground are in tents. Eeeeeuuuuuwww!

The sun is coming up but the skies are the crappy Illinois gray that I'm so sadly used to. Back home it's caused by humidity and pollution, out here it's the whispering, drifting sand whipped into the atmosphere by the 50 mph wind gusts ahead of the cold front.

Stefan and Christa should be here in an hour or so and we'll attempt the Joint hike. I put the satellite dish up for a while and TWC is useless, as usual. They're more interested in entertainment than facts (Don Henley's Dirty Laundry captures the sentiment). NOAA reception is good and they seem to think the cold front will pass here later this PM and by tomorrow there will be 12" of snow in the Abajos and even in the valleys. Ahhh.....once again...spring in Utah. And next week......80°.

Life is still good though. After some channel surfing, The Electric Horseman appeared. I don't like Jane Fonda or Robert Redford at all but this is still one of my favorite movies as it sticks it to corporate America big time. Always a good thing to do. Besides that, there are a couple of good tunes in the movie.

8 AM. The generator can be cranked up and my batteries recharged, so to speak.

8:30 AM. Stefan and Christa showed up just as the movie finished. Good timing. We left promptly, ascending and descending Elephant Hill without incident. An hour later we came upon Dieter and Rolf at their campsite in the Devil's Kitchen campground. We quickly got our act together and headed for the Joint hiking trail as the weather was iffy.

We then returned to Camp Dieter where I promptly took a 45 minute nap while Dieter made spaghetti, Liechtenstein style. Instead of tomato sauce he used onions, red peppers, green peppers, bananas, pineapple, sour cream and who knows what else. "Someone" made a comment about hoping it would taste better than it looked. Bottom line.....it was delicious. Chef Dieter did it again. By the time we got done with our 5 star meal it was 4 PM and the temperature had dropped at least 30° so Stefan, Christa and I bailed and returned to warmth and comfort.

An hour later we three were back at the RV where Stefan aired up his Jeep for the 70 mile drive back to Moab and a warm motel while I fueled the FN JP to be ready for the morrow.......all this in a pretty hefty snowstorm. It snowed like the dickens for a while then the sun came out. Ahh, spring in Utah. The RV and Jeep are a mess, all red. Even the snow was laden with mud and sand from the massive dust storm. Red snow! And while Dieter and Rolf may be content in their surroundings, I am more than content in mine...hot shower, heat, tunes, pizza, beer, and watching the snow fall and/or the sun come out. Life is good.

What will tomorrow bring weather wise? It's always a surprise...but as for today - no complaints - just great observations!

Thu. Apr 16: A drive around the Abajos ... and surprise was an understatement!

7 AM and I was on the road to the Devil's Kitchen so Dieter, Rolf and I could begin the then unknown adventure of the day. The nice thing about storms out here is that after they are over (supposedly) and have flushed their load of red mud and clay on unsuspecting people, tents, RVs, cars, Jeepers, ATVs, bicycles and what not, the following day is so clear and crisp one cannot find the words to describe it. The sky was an incredible fluorescent Utah blue with only a few puffies (clouds that is) in sight. What an ineffable start to the day! OMG**2!

By 9 AM Dieter, Rolf and I were OTR with a plan to circle the Abajo Mountains counter clockwise. Rolf elected to ride with Dieter - and given what we encountered, that was a good move! We first stopped at the campsite they will be at Friday, about 5 miles south of the present site. The new site has a view that puts the Devil's Kitchen to shame. This was so impressive it might be enough to even make me tent camp one more time! Sheeat!

As we left their soon-to-be-new campsite, it began to cloud up rather quickly. This was not a storm front coming in but clouds just popping up seemingly out of nowhere. Hmmmmm.

We drove through places with such names as Bobby's Hole (don't ask me!) and SOB Hill (yes, you may ask)! We finally arrived 2000' above the Needles area in a high beautiful meadow called Beef Basin, appropriately named.

As we progressed through the Basin towards the Abajos there were ominously dark clouds forming ahead in the mountains. We were not to be intimidated! There was sunshine and blue sky. Snow had fallen on the red earth and the green trees the night before and the contrasts made it so pretty. How purty????

Onward and upward the valiant Jeepers jeeped. We quickly found out about the dark clouds. But snow is white....not dark. Oh well, no problem. It's not sticking. Piece of cake!

Welllllll, until 7500' or so.

8000'. Hmmmmm. This white stuff is getting deep. There ain't been nobody on this road in many moons! But that didn't dissuade the fearless leader of the pack (pack of 2) from plowing ahead. It soon became apparent, painfully so, that underneath the fresh white snow was a hell of a deep layer of older snow, in some cases drifts 2 - 3' deep. Bear in mind that we are on a kind of 4WD road, at times a steep shelf road, narrow and with nowhere to turn around. The road is ascending at a pretty good angle and if one were to slide off the side - one would indeed slide off the side! Turning around or backing up was not an option - and we never even considered it. This entire road was an obstacle to be overcome by damn and we were going to do it - even if it took until the snow melted.

Yes, great laughter as the intrepid trail leader attempted to blast through the drift and then sat there looking stupid. Even with a strap from Dieter, it took a few good pulls to get me out. Now what, Ollie?

It was at this point that Dieter's Liechtenstein wheeling experience paid off. With 6 PSI in his tires, a V8 for an engine and some exceedingly heavy throttle, he made it about 3/4 of the way through. Undaunted, he backed up and hammered the hell out of it again. After repeating this maneuver about 4 times, the drift was conquered.....for Dieter. Now that he had packed the snow, I made an attempt. It took a similar maneuver for me to get through - and I just barely made it. Time to air down from 14 PSI to 8. What a difference 6 PSI makes. (Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking )

Dieter led through the snow as he had the horsepower, slightly wider tires but also much more experience in attacking snow. He'd hit it as hard as he could, back up and do it again. It was great fun and once I aired down it was almost easy for me. There were a few times it looked like I was SOL but a proper reduction in the clearance between the foot pedal and floor board made all the difference. We probably hit 10 -15 of these hidden drifts as we ascended - and I wondered as we got higher and higher what else would be in store! And all the while it was snowing like hell. But were we worried? Naw! By June the snow would be gone.

We finally got to the top (about 8900') of wherever the heck we were and drove for several miles on a ridge road bouncing and driving over snowdrifts! After that we rapidly descended without any more drifts and finally stopped about 1/4 of the way down for lunch. After lunch we had a mile or so of mud, then it dried out. No more snow, no more mud - just dust again. Ahhh! Spring in Utah.

We elected to bypass a dugway road given the time so we headed for Blanding, fueled up and aired up for the 70 mile drive on the highway (yuck!) back to the Needles - which was almost with incident! A quick car wash was also in order to remove some of the Abajos off the vehicles.

Once home, I'll try to figure out how to get the GPS route mapped to Google Earth, but in the meantime here's the GPS elevation track of today's trip.

Supper. A burger, a worthy beer, good tunes, and incredible scenery as the sun sets, both for the evening and for a most enjoyable time.

We got back to Camp Dave about 5 PM. What a friggin' awesome day. This was most outstanding. And we made it back in one piece. YESSSS! We were all elated with the day's substantial amount of excitement and lack of major screw ups. Fond farewells were said as tomorrow I begin the sad, infinitely long journey back home. What a great time with the Liechtenstein crew - and we already are talking about next year. 10-4 Good Buddies!

Tonight now the Jeep is loaded, a burger is on the grill, CCR and the Doors are blasting from the RV and life is good.....really good! Again!

Fri. Apr 17: Maybe start the drive back and maybe still off the grid or not.........

7 AM. I'm sipping on a cup of coffee and still laughing and smiling about yesterday. The good times are now behind me as a plan for return to reality needs to be made. The weather for the last two days was really great...honest! Today is different. It's heavily overcast as this miserable slow moving POS storm has a part of it that's now looped back over Utah, like the beginning of a comma. Probably a good day to leave...but where to go? South? Nope! Severe storms in Oklahoma are forecast. I-70 and the Great Nothing? Not today, bud! Predictions for 12" to 24" of snow in the Rockies today and tomorrow abound.

After due deliberation (yeah, right!) I'll head back through Moab. Back home I bought La Sal Dave a bottle of Pendleton Canadian Whisky, eh, and forgot to give it to him so on the way will drop that off. (BTW, that was the "due deliberation")! From there, current plans are to proceed to Grand Junction and try to upload all these bits. From there, maybe try for Gypsum (the town, not the mineral) tonight. There's a campground there that had caught my fancy while driving by and maybe I can stay there until the storm depletes itself. This storm may mean an ETA back home of Monday instead of Saturday. Too bad!

Sigh! Time to pack up and leave. Not happy about that but it's too overcast to stay here another day. A return trip will be in order!

Utah "fog".

I gave La Sal Dave a call and we met at the Junction, La Sal that is, where he got his present. He was a happy man. After a short visit, I blasted through Moab and wound up in the other Junction, Grand, that is. Fueled and LP'd up the diesel then found out that the state park I wanted to stay at for the afternoon/night was full due to reservations. SHIT! The alternate site was Island Acres State Park, just into the canyon, on the east side of the Junction. Very nice campground. I'm happy. Well, until I got a call informing me there was no hot water at home. One can run but one cannot hide.

Good plan staying on the west slope for the next two days. I-70 is now closed in at least 2, maybe 3 spots. So for tomorrow it's Gypsum until the storm clears.

No wifi here at the expensive ($28/night) state park but at least Sprint dial up works.....slowly. But wait ...there's more! My camp site is near the railroad tracks with about 1 train/hour. Impressive was the coal train with 3 diesels in front, 3 in the middle and 2 in the rear. That's a lot of horsepower!

Supper tonight is "Cioppino Seafood Stew - A Blend of Seafood in a Hearty Tomato Sauce". My expectations are set appropriately. But to go with this alleged gourmet meal, a bottle of Mondavi's Pinot Noir was popped and it's tasting mighty good. So who cares if the stew sucks!

For the night I shall settle in and let the snow fall where it may.

9:30 PM, CDOT report: I-70 closed Vail to Golden MM 180 to MM 259 due to adverse weather and multiple accidents. That's almost 80 miles closed.

11 PM: Wine gone....time for bed.

Sat. Apr 18: Return the 7000 miles back home via Omaha. NO WAY José!

8 AM: Expectations met. I didn't expire from the alleged gourmet meal nor get diarrhea from it either, both of which are surprises to me! Trader Joe can keep his seafood stew and let others enjoy it!

I-70 is still closed so on to Gypsum and the Riverdance Campground. It's private (ugh!) and expensive ($41.76/night - probably because it's a "resort" and not a "campground"). They only allow 30 minutes of wifi but for a mere $10 one can get another 24 hours. Oh boy! Still, it's good - located in an area I've always wanted to explore, exquisite view and as close to the I-70 closure as possible for a quick exit tomorrow.

After arriving back at Gypsum from the aborted loop plan, I decided to head out of Eagle on Hardscrabble Road to see how far I could get in the reverse direction. Answer: about as far! DUH! With that, it was getting towards beer time so the Jeep was placed on autopilot and soon I was back at the camp drinking a beer and burning the shit out of my remaining pizza. Burnt offerings stink!

It was fortuitous that I-70 was closed today. Without that, my pangs of conscience would have driven me to drive (home, that is). All is set for take off early tomorrow and with any luck my ETA should be Sunday night. It's only 1108 miles.

Sun. Apr 19: Return the 7000 miles back home via York.

What a good move to stay at Gypsum last night - as if there was a choice. There were many "remnants" of the heavy snow the days before - cars still buried. I left Gypsum about 7 AM in bright sunshine and it was sunny the whole day. Many irritants cropped up along the way. The biggest irritant was the crap Colorado puts on their roads. I'm convinced it's a mixture of sand and super-glue. There were about 50 miles of this shit over the I-70 mountain passes. The RV, trailer and Jeep are now like 120 grit sandpaper. It was so bad I could barely see out of the windshield from the crap that other cars were throwing at me as they passed. From Vail to Floyd Hill it was horrible. Amazingly, 10 miles to the east of Denver, when I stopped at Camp Cummins, you'd never know there was any snow. They had rain there instead. A stop was made there to clean off the windshield and it took 45 minutes, a whole roll of paper towels and almost a full bottle of window cleaner to get this crap off the front windshield and front side windows. It left the most gawd awful film that took time after time to remove.

But it was pretty, though, before the crap on the roads got all over the windows.


This is what it was like leaving the Eisenhower Tunnel......and this is after I tried to clean the windshield using the wiper washers. Note the line of traffic that was over 5 miles long West Bound. Alll these city folks must have wanted to go to the mountains and play in the fresh snow. What a traffic tie up. Glad I'm going the other way. Too bad I can't see!

On I-70 in the mountains the cruise control crapped out. No big deal, but it sure is missed. Then the kitchen table somehow came loose from the wall and fell to the floor. No damage. That was right after my keyboard went tumbling down also. Colorado's I-70 in the mountains EB is the worst road I've traveled in years. The rough road jiggled a lot of other stuff loose also. And then there's my left front tire which is worn almost to the cords only on the tire's outside. The alignment shop back home claimed it's a bad tire but I respectfully disagree. Before leaving it was slightly worn but now at least 1/2" of rubber is gone just from this trip. Once home a second opinion on the alignment will be required. The concern is whether or not it will make it the 1000 miles from Denver to home.

But after Camp Cummins it was very smooth sailing and the time passed quickly through the Great Nothing and rural western Nebraska. A number of side trips were made through various towns to see if they might have a car wash large enough for the RV but to no avail. These little side trips added up to another couple of hours wasted. About 7 PM I pulled into York, NE, to check out a car wash but again no luck. I pulled in at a Super Wally World to go next door to grab a bite to eat. So tired, I almost took the ass end off a car in their lot with the trailer. This is probably a good place to call it a night!

All in all, there are no complaints, just observations! Each time there are little issues that come up and have to be solved. That's part of the package deal. Hopefully the 600 miles home tomorrow will be without incident.

Update: Finally made it home late in the day Monday. No more problems....well...other than running out of fuel....but that also is a drinkin' story.    A warm shower and bed sounds good after a couple of 600 mile days. This was 29 contiguous days of wheelin', breaking my old record set in 2000 of 20 contiguous days. It was great and with minimal breakage to the Jeep, the RV and me! Now back to reality - and reality sucks!   Thanks all who joined me in this year's adventure and helped make it so much fun.  And those of you who have followed online, thanks for riding along.