[Whining mode on] (Which means I'd skip down to " whining mode off " if I were you!)
This year has been the worst, absolutely worst pre-vacation time. Too
much work and way, way too much stress. For example: repairing and re
roofing some of the garage, cutting up a neighbor's big dead
tree (that fell on our property), working on the RV, helping Amanda,
Glenn, Kailey, the cat, the lizard and the dog move out of our place
(where they had been staying for the past 6 weeks) and into their new
place, trying to get their place into a habitable condition, and finally
trying to get the new toy ready for its baptism by fire. And all this
was essentially started in August. Don't ask about June and July. Somehow
they got lost in the shuffle. And yes, I am rambling
and will continue to do so. It's this damn virus I have!
So here it's the night before leaving and still don't have everything done nor packed. Sigh. Since the whining mode is on, here's what was written Sunday to document that day's madness. This is typical of the last 2 -3 weeks!
Two hours before chrome eradication.
Baby Jeep and the DAM JP (which is trail ready!)
|
Still feeling like crap but that won't deter me from getting the
job done! (BTW, doctor confirmed I have a
"
virus
"
, that's why I feel like shit. Whatever! It will just have to run
its course.) So, made the last list of all the tools, parts and
what not that's required for the FN JP. Always like to go prepared
for whatever misfortune may befall on the trail. Of course whatever
breaks, I'll not have the parts - Murphy's Law! Got the trailer
out (to haul the FN JP) and strategically placed it in the driveway.
Needed to rotate the tires. Managed to screw that 15 minute job
up and into a 2 hour job - don't even ask! Not feeling well is
not conducive to good judgment. Next spray the house for bugs.
This year there are spiders outside the size of small rodents.
At any rate, I strongly dislike spiders, very strongly. So 2 gallons
of some toxic shit ought fix the little (or big) bastards! Next
finish the checklist. Damn! Need to change the oil in 2 of the
cars. Jeez! That actually worked!! Now it's off to Harbor Fright
[sic] for tools and parts, Menards for stuff for A
&
G's place and Auto Zone for more spare parts (that'll Called Omaha Clint. Need to make arrangements for staying at Camp Clint the first night, seeing the crew and perhaps, only perhaps, have a beer or two. Next, load up the multiple 10' drain pipes and what not for A & G's to do a final fix on their place before riding into the sunset. So off to A & G's to reroute their roof drainpipes and sump pump outlet. These were strategically placed to empty their contents into the dirt right next to the wall of their crawl space such that the roof water and sump water would seep back into the crawl space. Does the phrase " infinite loop " have any meaning? So, of course, in the middle of the outdoor drainpipe repair work, Sawzall in hand, a torrential downpour begins. Considering my track record of exceptionally stoopid mistakes lately, I elected to return the electrically powered Sawzall to a dry place, wait out the rain and then use hacksaw. Life is so tough. Then into their crawlspace and attack the gazillion spiders that have made that their home. Once again, a couple gallons of some toxic shit ought fix the little (or big) bastards! Finished that, came home, finished packing the FN JP with the aforementioned purchases from Harbor Fright and, barring anymore dumb moves on my part, should be ready for liftoff in a couple days. Here endeth Sunday's Epistle. |
OK, OK, I got it out of my system. Aren't you glad?
[Whining mode off]
So tomorrow the adventure begins.........
Here's (what should be!) a rare photo of the FN JP with the top UP. All dressed up and somewhere to go! Note the lack of chrome!
Well my oh my, it's tomorrow already! So head ' em up, move 'em on out! Blast through Illinois. Said it before, will say it again, Illinoiz sucks! Now the goal is to make it though Ioway. (I can call it that because that's where I'm from - if you don't get it, watch the " The Music Man. " ) The casual reader might ask why that specific goal? The informed reader will know: must reach Omaha in time to meet up with Clint & Co. and help support Pat and Mike's (a local Omaha bar of some repute.) The objective was far exceeded! 'Nuff said!
The next day, Clint & Dallas provided some spray lubricant that solved the problems of the errant air brakes on the RV. Thanks guys - and thanks for the wiring help the night before, too! Also thanks for a great time last night and the headache and sweats today! Also thanks for the newly placed sticker on the FN JP proudly proclaiming " I partied with Clint & Company and lived to tell about it. " Well, barely.....
Next was a stop at the Shrine of Father Cabella in Kearny to purchase of all things . . . . . socks!! Don't even bother asking!
A delightful spot to " rest one's eyes. "
A small town along the aptly named Republican River. Nope, no Democrat River in Nebraska! Here's the secret code word of the day: This photo simply does not do justice to the beauty.
Then, one of my favourite parts of the trip: departing I-80 onto US 34 (yeah, Ogden Avenue) and a most delightful ride from Holdrege, NE, to Brush, CO, on a most delightful " blue highway. " Two lanes. Light traffic. Nifty little towns like Benkelman, whose welcome sign proudly proclaims " Home of Ward Bond. " People waving at you - and not with their middle finger. This is Americana at its best. Gawd, I LOVE the open road, the blue highways, the little towns, the scenery, no pressures, worry or stress! Yee haw! This segment of US34 is really good for the soul! And it's pretty, too, yes - even in Nebraska! This truly was driving off into the sunset and arriving in the free city campground in Brush just in time to celebrate the serene drive with a bottle of Cherry Spumante (yeah, I know, some would say I have no taste, but hey, at least it was bubbly!)
Sadly no internet connection yet. Wi-fi! Here? Surely you jest - and don't call me Shirley. Sprint? Ha! Once again, Dave you jest! Maybe tomorrow (another day) there might be bits floating in the ether that may be corralled and used to do something useful. We'll see.
The National Weather Service's weather report for tomorrow concerns me
greatly as they have predicted
"
disturbed weather.
"
Are they kidding? What the hell is that????
Hmmm......next morning found out! Thunder and rain in Brush. " A major winter storm " in progress per TWC. A shitload of snow at the Ike tunnel. Oh my! Let the adventure begin!
Well the adventure began sooner than expected. When driving through Denver, some a**hole from a landscaping company lost a bunch of rocks from his trailer and the rock magnets attached to the front of the RV (aka, the windshield) performed as expected. No breakage, but major chippage. Arg!
Am beginning to dislike Denver. This is the second time an errant vehicle has damaged the coach. Maybe I should just take a hammer to the coach, beat the hell out of it, make it look " mean, " then won't have to worry about such trivia as rocks hitting the magnets.
A winter wonderland as viewed while trudging up one of the I-70 " hills " at an amazing 30 mph!
The drive through the Rockies wasn't bad. Not nearly as much snow as expected but enough to make the roads wet which then prompted CDOT to dump black crap on the roads. The RV is filthy dirty now so it's a good thing the other 3 sides didn't get waxed before leaving. The big storm is supposed to hit tonight. It was a pretty drive, though!
Stopped in the Junction to pick up a couple wheel chocks. While " exploring " some of the back streets of Denver, (don't ask why!) nailed a wide speed table and the FN JP flew up and forward over the 4 " x 4 " front wheel stops on the trailer and landed on the spare trailer tires. That's OK but it slightly bent the tie rod when it landed on said tires. Doesn't that take the cake? Haven't even had the FN JP out on the trail and it's already f***ed up! Will order out a Chromoly rod once in Moab and have it delivered there next week, hopefully.
But Hittle made up for all of it. Got to this neat BLM campground on the Colorado River about 30 miles from Moab on the River Road. The beauty and serenity made up for all these slight misfortunes even though the sky was overcast. Then just a few minutes before sunset the sun came out and for 15 minutes the entire valley was alive with a vibrant pinkish-violet hue. Words can't do it justice. Of course, even though the campground was deserted upon arriving, some idiot in a motorhome came in and parked right friggin' behind the coach. Even running the generator didn't dissuade him. Oh well. WWDD? Just shake my head and have another beer! (I wonder if I could remove the muffler from the generator.......)
The view from the front window. (Evening at Hittle.)
The hue that lasted about 10 minutes at sunset. There was even a rainbow!
Morning at Hittle. This is GREAT, even in the rain
!
Life's tough. Up at quarter to 7 ..... CST. Quarter to 6 here. Whoa! It's still dark out. Surprise! It remained so for the next hour plus. Heavy rain last night. Still raining. Might be interesting trying to get out of the campground. Too bad. Time to catch up on this and compose replies to emails. Will finally get wifi at the commercial campground later today and upload this " stuff. " Graham should arrive about 1 today but there'll probably be airport delays due to the winter storm. Maybe will stop at the place formerly known as Pete & Co. and get a haircut in the meantime. It's a tradition, don'tcha know.
Buttes in the rain from the campground.
One of many places where water was flashing across the River Road.
Ooops!
Damn wifi doesn't work. Went into the camp store and it started working. Go figure. While feverishly uploading, someone comes in and asks for me in a gruff voice. I'm in a corner and kinda hunker down as I figure I must have pissed off someone else! Turns out it was my friend Dave, from La Sal, and he was looking for me to see when we could go wheeling! Dodged another bullet! So the next few hours were spent BSing and then eating pizza at Zaks. In the meantime Graham called and said he'd be in Moab about 2 and ready to go wheeling about 4.
So, about 3, Graham shows up and we took a scenic tour of Moab and Arches. Tomorrow Dave will join us and we'll do Fins N Things and Hell's Revenge with the FN JP and Graham's rental.
Later we went out to the Stagecoach, a restaurant on the south side of town, and had prime rib with Dave and Debi while Robbie, one of Dave's kids, ran the karaoke operation. A good time was had by all but now am back here trying to focus on the keyboard and pound out something that makes sense. And, did I mention the wifi went down -- again? Will upload this tomorrow. Too tired tonight. Tomorrow is the beginning of the official vacation - all this was just " getting there. "
" The Portal " - as viewed from the campsite. The Colorado River flows through this gap. The geology of this area is fascinating. Another another smaller storm was forming in the background that dumped even more rain. But tomorrow----the weather will be clear albeit a little chilly. By Tuesday: up to 85!
| Sounds like we made it through the Rockies just in time. Dave reported that they closed I-70 near Vail due to 16 " of snow and further west it was closed again due to mudslides. Another bullet missed again due to unusually marvelous planning - and if you believe that...... |
YES! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, there's not a cloud in the sky. And while there's frost on the ol' pumpkin, this is going to be an excellent day, by definition!
Dave and Graham showed up by 9 and we headed out to Fins N Things. Scenic, relaxing and fun. The baby FN JP performed much better than expected. The tiny tires held up well and gripped the slickrock magnificently. Only used the lockers twice the entire day! A lift and larger tires will be essential, however. Everyone agreed! Does this come as a surprise?
So Dave led Fins N Things and then I led us on Hell's Revenge. Ah yes, now this put the FN JP through its paces. All went well except I need a lift and larger tires.
Do you think it rained the day before? Hell's Revenge was filled with nifty little potholes full of water. Here's Dave cleansing his undercarriage.
Late adder: Climbing a slickrock dome on Hell's Revenge with the FN JP, courtesy of Graham.
After the detour, we continued on the trail until we got to the " Escalator " where this poor chap was experiencing a spot of bother. He got extricated and since the entertainment was now over, we moved on. The last obstacle was Tip Over Challenge. After attempting to readjust my tailpipe, (a lift and larger tires will be essential) and repositioning the FN JP, made it up and over - but not terribly gracefully. Dave then climbed right up the obstacle. Next Graham attempted and silly Graham foolishly followed my spotting instructions and I was able to get him way off camber with his left front wheel 3 feet in the air with a 40 - 50 foot drop imminent. Graham was not impressed with my spotting prowess. As I stood on the tire to keep the rent-a-Jeep from going belly up, Dave hooked on a strap and pulled Graham up and out. This was again most entertaining for most of us.
So Graham has now been initiated into Moab. We kept asking if he took out the optional rollover insurance (yeah, sure!) He now has yet another story to tell about me.
After that episode we returned to Moab, went to the Moab Brewery and I proceeded to down almost a pitcher of Ale. After all, this is Utah; you can't get hammered (much) on 3.2 beer. Then it was sunset on the La Sals. Twice in one day, words cannot do justice to the brilliant white mountain tops as the sun was setting and the white slowly turned into a brilliant fluorescent pink. How majestic. How cool. What a fitting end to a good day! The only thing better would have been to have kept the camera in the FN JP to capture the moment.
6 AM: Can't sleep. Might as well get up. Catch up on email. 7:30: Get out the Sawzall and attempt to saw 2 " off the tailpipe that rubs when approaching steep hills. 7:32: Wake up the campground cursing the imported Sawzall blade that was so soft it couldn't cut through melted butter. The tailpipe cut the teeth off the blade. Dammit. Get out the hack saw and hack it off. That was work. 8:30: Graham arrives. 8:31: Head out Potash Road to do Shafer Trail, Dead Horse and Long Canyon, a 95 mile loop that is probably my all time favourite. The biggest problem of the day is now trying to decide which of the 149 photos taken today are worthy of this blog. Sadly, about 141 qualify!
First was this immense rock on the Potash Road, larger than a full size SUV, perfectly balanced. We didn't attempt to find out how well balanced, however.
There are so many pictures and so few bits. It's very difficult to find photos that express the beauty of today's 2WD drive. These will absolutely not even begin to come close.
This one's a view of the Colorado River from Potash Road pretty much underneath Dead Horse Point, about 1800 feet above. (BTW, sometime ask me about the alternate theory of how DHP was named!)
From here, took a 4 mile jaunt on the White Rim Trail over to Mussleman Arch, where one could walk across the arch. Sadly the photos don't give the proper perspective and unless one has been there, they look pretty lame. No photos of Mussleman on this page (except by request, of course!)
Returning to the intersection, we then headed into what appeared to be a box canyon with no exit. Surprise! Shafer Trail switches back and forth and climbs 1500'. The La Sals are in the background, as is the Potash Road/White Rim intersection (no traffic light, only an outhouse.) The switchbacks of Shafer are visible in the foreground and the tiny dots on the road are vehicles.
This was an awesome drive, just as it was a year ago last spring when Jeff and I did almost this same loop, but on a cloudy day as opposed to the cloudless, sunny day today. Temperature was about 20 degrees warmer @ 70. Jeff, you'll have to come back when the weather is perfect, like today.
After climbing Shafer, drove over to Dead Horse but stopped along the way to get a picture of this snake in the desert. Cute little feller, ain't he (or she) ?
What follows are two of my favorite scenes - ever! These are a couple views from Dead Horse. Won't even attempt to describe the views except to say they are not views, but a feeling. (Whatever that means!)
The road in this photo is the one described earlier - 1800' under DHP.
