April 3, Wed: Moved up to the Monticello area, reluctantly. Stopped at Wind Whistle Campground and spent the night. No facilities, just a great BLM primitive campground on the way to the Needles Overlook. The camp host likes it so much he and his wife have spent the last 8 years there as hosts; this year they are spending 9 months at this great place. In the PM toured Lisbon Valley and Charlie Steen's Mi Vida mine. Followed an oil pipeline about 8 miles down a canyon before hitting an " impassible " point. A little creative winching would have made it passable but it was getting late and I was getting dehydrated (again :) Shot back to Wind Whistle in time for a spectacular sunset. No electricity, no noise, no lights, just billions of stars!

Thu: Camped in Monticello and drove the 35 mile long Montezuma Canyon. People had built homes, nice homes, in the walls of this very remote canyon. This place is ready for Armageddon, trust me! Saw lots of Indian ruins.

Monticello is a nice place but a major route for illegals from Mexico. Sit on the main drag and within a half hour you can pick out the vehicles that are carrying Mexicans up Hwy 191 to who knows where.

Also met a genuine hero (in my book at least) in the effort of trying to keep public lands open to the public.. Pulled into a campground. No one around. County sheriff pulls up and I ask " Is this place open. " He responds, " Yup, it's mine! " Turns out this guy is part of a 9 person force that polices 8500 square miles! No wonder they don't have time to pick up the illegals. At any rate, this guy was one of the San Juan County cops who tore down the US Park Service's " Closed " sign at Salt Creek after a judge ruled the Park Service should open it. The stinkin' Park Service has since closed it again claiming an Environmental Impact Study must now be done but it's nice to see a small (population-wise) county give the feds the finger. San Juan county has mapped thousands of miles of RS2477 roads and is the most proactive county in the nation trying to keep our public land open to the public. It was nice to meet someone who has been actively involved and supports the rights of the public. Sheriff Monty had some great stories to tell.

Fri: Headed up to Blues to do the loop to Blanding but the little wet snow encountered about 9000' made it almost impossible to drive, even with the lockers on. It's perhaps a good thing, since on the way back the damn steering column came loose again. Tore it apart and found three pieces of metal broken in the column. 6 hours later, and with the help of a welder who came up from Blanding, the column is now fixed (again.) " A day without breakage is like a day without sunshine. "

Sat: Moved to a private campground on the edge of Blanding where, out of the front window of the coach, you could see the mesas of Monument Valley, 70 miles way. This was the first day with clouds. Drove up to the Blues again and saw a large, very large, dust storm way out in the valley. After the experience in Little Wild Horse about 9 years ago, decided to head back to the motorhome and close the windows. Five minutes later got hit with 40-50 mph winds. Dust was so thick one couldn't see 100 feet at times. Temperature dropped from 75 to 50. 3 raindrops. Welcome to spring in Utah.

Sun: The sun was back and nothing broke today! Headed down to Comb Wash and went up Arch Canyon. Nice place but I wouldn't pay JJUSA a couple hundred bucks to do it! It was a nice, easy, fun trail. After returning to Comb Wash, changed the type of trail dramatically! Took a gnarly, real gnarly trail up to Hotel Rock. I got more air and was more tippy on this slickrock trail than many others. Beauty factor: 8, Pucker factor: 10+. I'm still tasting the seat cushion. Hotel Rock, as well as Arch Canyon, have many Indian ruins.

On the way back to Blanding, elected to take Elk Ridge Road and Cottonwood Wash, or so I thought (Doc: take note!) Wound up on more dead end trails that went through canyons and wound up on cliff edges in one day than I ever did in my life. Found out I was on the wrong road and when I thought I was going south I was going west. I wondered why the damn maps were wrong! After using 18 gallons of a 19 gallon tank, got back and in retrospect, had a helluva good day!

Tue: Set up in Hanksville and went to Mars. Within a half-hour, found about about a 100 square mile OHV area! This place is impressive! Clay, sand, rocks, canyons, easy wheelin', tough wheelin', you name it. Thought I'd died and went to heaven (or at least Mars.) After driving about 4 miles into the OHV area, came upon a large white, cylindrical structure. Turns out, NASA hauled in a prototype structure and, since this area is so similar to Mars (or at least they think), they are using this for training and experience should there ever be a staffed Mars mission. I did wonder about the ATVs that were parked there - must run real rich on Mars.

After exploring the OHV area, took off for Factory Butte and down to the Big Muddy. There are lots of stories of the Big Muddy. ( Here and here ). Found that the BLM totally ruined the previously two-track road by grading it and making it a superhighway. They dumped a lot of gravel in the Muddy at the crossing (no bridge, obviously) and it was a piece of cake to cross. Too much traffic also. SUVs, cars and trucks from all over. In the 60 mile loop we took we saw over 8 vehicles. The road from the Muddy up to Goblin Valley, over the buttes and through the canyons had also been ruined. Why is it, they can screw up a perfectly good road, grade it and put in hundreds of " No Vehicle " signs off the side of the superhighway yet they find that less offensive than letting us having a two-track somewhere. Argh (again!)

Wed: After playing in the OHV area again, headed to the Junction (Grand, of course) and traversed the 10-12 degree narrow road to the top of Colorado National Monument with the motor home. Went into Glade Park and made it up to 9000' before turning back. A small storm came in (that later dumped some snow up there) and it got really cold with the open-topped Jeep. By the way, not one day during the last three weeks has the top been up! But that changed. At camp, put the top up and for the first time, again in three weeks, got some rain. The engine is really running poorly. Barely idles, helluva vibration at 50 mph, hardly any power, and blowing oil like you wouldn't believe. Maybe it's speaking to me.......

Thr: Woke up in the clouds. Weather cleared early. Went to BLM's " managed " Rabbit Valley to look for fossils and found myself. Did a little wheeling. Their idea of a 4WD trail and mine are quite a bit different. Shot up to Island Acres SP at the east end of the valley. Tried to drive up to Grand mesa but got too damn cold with the doors off. They still had about 8' of snow. Came down and drive up the valley to Colbran. What a nice area. This is right behind Battlement Mesa. I'm thinking one could do Battlement Mesa and come down the other side......maybe this fall.

Fri: Headed home. Stopped to check the tires at Chief Hosa and found another spring broke on the trailer. Went down to Denver and replaced it at a truck stop with the spare that Alcan made for me three weeks ago (whew!) Got on the road and stayed at a nice Nebraska Recreation Area, Johnson Lake. Overlooked the lake, a nice thunderstorm (2 bursts of thunder) and a great sunset. Got home Saturday and am already wanting to turn around and go back.