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

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More Day 5

Sunlight on the road ahead, to quote Neil Peart.. :ylsmoke:

More spectacular skies! I love the skies out here!

Cactushead..

More playing around at the roadside...

Sarah has this thing about pricking her finger with cactii. Teenagers...

Soon we reach the park...

John

 

[NAdams]

Dude,

Great pics.....what an awesome area. Someday our hope is to get stationed back in Vegas or beter yet up at Hill AFB.....all of Utah would be our backyard.

Your son REALLY likes that green T-shirt!!:sombrero:

Nate

 

[scarysharkface]

Dude,

Great pics.....what an awesome area. Someday our hope is to get stationed back in Vegas or beter yet up at Hill AFB.....all of Utah would be our backyard.

Your son REALLY likes that green T-shirt!!:sombrero:

Nate

Thanks. It's hard to take a bad picture of that landscape..

Yes, he sure does like it! :costumed-smiley-007 It's wicking, so he/we usually rinsed it out at night (and socks, undies, etcetera) and everything would be completely dry by morning. That wouldn't work in Indiana's high humidity.. Oh, and I think he has two of them..

One thing that really sticks with me when I return from pretty much anywhere, is how green it is in Indiana. It seems just crossing the state line (from the West, at least) pushes the saturation up a notch or two. Of course, it is amazing to my eyes just how red Utah is...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 5 more...

Once inside the park, we had lunch at the picnic tables outside the visitors center then hit the road again. If anyone wants to stop, we generally try to comply..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 5 continued

So, if you can believe it, ranchers kept livestock here and functioned in the midst of some rather impressive and intimidating undergrowth...

They camped under the rock overhangs..

It was probably a pretty sweet setup, offering excellent cover from the sun and rain..

I guess barbed-wire has been around for a while...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

The ladder to go "top-side" to the, er, upstairs...

These little guys are everywhere..

John

 

[scarysharkface]

More Day 5

So much cool, twisted, gnarly stuff out here. I'm so glad the kids can see and experience this..

Heck, I'm glad *I* can see and experience this!

So we drive around a bit more, heading out toward Elephant Hill...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 5 even more..

So we take a hike up Elephant Hill and have a look-see..

Cool blobby rocks abound..

There's glare in the desert, which must be dealt with accordingly when checking photos...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 5 again already already again already

I strongly suspect this is the crux of the Elephant Hill problem. The picture doesn't begin to do it justice. I didn't even want to walk down that spiral staircase to Hell. I can't begin to imagine driving (or winching) up it...

So we hung out up-top instead. Stunning view of the canyon, and comfy too...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 5 Holy Moly It's Still Day 5!

Tracy snuck in a little nap as well..

Then it was back to the Jeep, nose pointed down the road to Moab and more Paradox Pizza...

Free-Range Cattle...

Every cow got a greeting of "moo!" from the Fords. Every single cow. Wow, did that ever get old!

Tracy was driving, so about 10 seconds after we make the left turn (at about the point where shadow meets sunlight) I'm fast asleep...

John

 

[scarysharkface]

Day 6 Part 1

Day 6 is a travel day. Moab to Glendale via the most expeditious route. Interstate 70 here we come...

Somewhere about the middle of the no-services stretch is a pulloff and we take it to stretch and drink some iced tea..

Take note that Colin is wearing a different shirt, but it does advertise the same establishment as the other shirt. We've probably got a dozen of these...

Flipflops?

The sunburn test..

John

 

[Funrover]

This makes me want to ROAD TRIP!

 

[scarysharkface]

This makes me want to ROAD TRIP!

It makes ME want to road trip! :sombrero:

 

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Day 6 Part 2

It's amazing we ever make it anywhere. Photo-stops are the rule. We stop whether somebody has to pee or not. On the road, we are polar-opposites from my parents on road trips when I was a kid.

I play bass guitar in a few different bands. Jazz, blues, rock, pretty much anything that'll pay and won't be too big of a drag to muddle through. I'm fairly talented, and have performed in front of large audiences at places some of you may have heard of. I appreciate the freedom that music brings to both players and listeners, and how it can be very mind-expanding and cathartic. That said, as a bass player, I've often thought it might be a great idea if someone would only...

John

 

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Day 6 Part 3

We also like to meet people when we travel. We like to check stuff out and find out a little about why the world is as it is. Tracy also likes to peruse the wares at these roadside stops. Often the jewelry is junk plastic made overseas for an easy tourist buck. Sometimes there is some real hand-made Native American artistry with a story hidden within. At one stop, we chatted-up 2 kids who were selling ornaments, among other things. Their wares were created by their grandfather, and signed with his Navajo number on the bottom. The girls were exceptionally proud of his work, and glowed as they told us his story and theirs. We bought one ornament and they let me take a few pictures of them..

The little one wasn't sure if she liked us or not, I think. I would like to know how a childhood of hawking goods to (relatively) wealthy white tourists at the roadside has affected her. I look at these pictures and I don't know if she's just a strong-willed kid, if she resents us for our differences, or if she even understands or cares. Reminds me how much I take for granted.

John