IN to UT, AZ, CO in a stock JK Unlimited

[scarysharkface]

:drool: Thank you so much for the report. It has kept me entertained throughout my work day this past week - I hope this report continues on . I envy that your family shares the same sense of adventure as you. I wish that my wife and kids shared my love of the outdoors.

Awesome report :victory:

Thanks. I am a lucky man.

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 1

We rise not too terribly late and head South..

I don't want to ruin the surprise, so let's just say there's a dirt road 60 miles long that's not in Utah, and we're on it..

Kind of cool, really, what you see out in the middle of nowhere..

This day we shall bathe ourselves in dust..

Even minor changes in terrain are major out here..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 2

Expecting to rely heavily on the GPS, I find the route well-marked and obvious.. That's a comfort to Tracy, who has some valid concerns about being so far afield. For being well off the beaten-path, the path appears to be pretty well-beaten after all...

We stop to stretch the legs, take a peek around and grab a quick swig of water..

Jeep's getting dusty again...

Cactus are blooming..

And it's a beautiful morning!

Time to hit the trail again...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 3

By now I'm really jonesing for the KLR, as one might imagine.. My off-road skills are minimal, but oh how I do love riding dirt roads.. Fast.. This place is a heaven of dirt roads, trails and tracks.. Which leads back to the matter at-hand.. If there's a fork in the road, take it!

Whazzat sign say?

Better late than never, I suppose...

Sand? We got sand..

Big country, with big impressive features and a big sky...

The big sky is looking kind of questionable right now, but we're this far-in and what will come will come..

I know she's digging it too if the camera's out..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 4

As visitors centers go, this one wasn't. Well, that's because it wasn't I suppose. We stopped to take advantage of the pit toilet and moved on down the road...

Where we found this...

More sand, some of it kind of deep for stock tires... It was an exercise in not going too slow yet not going too fast.. I didn't get hung up at all, but, erring on the side of speed I did sand-blast the hood a bit going through some of this...

I sense we are closing-in on our destination...

John

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: Same guy, goes state to state, John, making these signs and they're usually RIGHT

Beautiful portfolio, keep at it

:costumed-smiley-007:drool::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

 

[02TahoeMD]

Beautiful photography. Beautiful family. You are blessed indeed. Was there myself in May on the Toroweap. Keep up the report!

 

[scarysharkface]

:sombrero: Same guy, goes state to state, John, making these signs and they're usually RIGHT



Beautiful portfolio, keep at it

:costumed-smiley-007:drool::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

That's too funny.. They were spot-on and a welcome sight! :smiley_drive:

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 5

And we get closer...

And closer...

And closer...

And closer still... Don't ask me what's up with that line in the rock either...

I've been noticing motorcycle tracks for the last couple of miles, and of course it's been killing my inner-biker to be here in a "cage" instead of on the KLR.. Then, as if on-cue just to make things worse...

At least we're just hundreds of feet from the parking area, and the pain is almost gone as quickly as it arose...

We chat-up the bikers about miscellaneous whatever (and bikes, of course) and they offer some suggestions for the next couple of days' adventures..

Oh, and I take this opportunity to load the AZ topo maps I meant to load last night..

While Tracy fills out a survey...

And Sarah and Colin get their first look at The Grand Canyon from a perspective most will never enjoy...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 6

Time for lunch. We've earned it. :victory:

Ants in tiny little boats...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 7

Don't ask me why I find them so interesting, I just do..

Not a lizard/salamander/skink/whatever, but this time a grasshopper...

John

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: ---OUTSTANDING------------

Don't forget, when you're back on Asphalt, stop at a friendly gas station and remove your aircleaner filter, if you can't BLOW it clean enough-get a new one and don't bother buying one of those K & N oiled filters, they'll just screwup your Mass air flow sensor

it'll help your mileage for the trip home

Do you have an AT&T air card/STOP tab for your laptop ???

marvelous pics

:victory::Wow1::Wow1::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 8

Sand! :smiley_drive:

Back at the erstwhile visitors center.. Sure wish I'd waxed those headlight globes..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

:sombrero: ---OUTSTANDING------------

Don't forget, when you're back on Asphalt, stop at a friendly gas station and remove your aircleaner filter, if you can't BLOW it clean enough-get a new one and don't bother buying one of those K & N oiled filters, they'll just screwup your Mass air flow sensor

it'll help your mileage for the trip home

Do you have an AT&T air card/STOP tab for your laptop ???

marvelous pics

:victory::Wow1::Wow1::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

That evening a pulled the air filter and was able to shake it mostly-clean. I was surprised it wasn't worse. I've got a new one in it now..

I don't have anything like that (air card) for the laptop...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 8 Part 9

The trip back to the world is uneventful. We didn't seen any other vehicles on the way out to Toroweep, but we do see a couple of vehicles on the way back.. One was a pickup truck parked at a peculiar high spot. The rancher inside waved us past as he talked on his cell phone. He knew this area well enough to know that was the place. We got a signal there but then not again for a lot of miles..

Sometimes the kids complained about the dust. Sometimes they didn't.

John