Monday - March 23 - We got to Moab and parked in a CG along the Colorado River that is close by the Poison Spider Trail. We should have taken the trail that day as it was really clear. But, we figured that we would have another shot. Still waiting. We did do part of the trail one afternoon and got some half-decent shots.
Sunday - March 29 - It’s Jeep Safari Week in Moab. Lots of commotion on some trails and in town. We are blissfully not a part of it. We are perched on a rock, again, with 50 mile views. OK, OK, we do have to walk 70 yards to see the SW view. Out our back window is a canyon, in the distance the portal from US191 to Island In The Sky Road, beyond that Arches NP and way way in the background the Book Cliffs north of I70.
The only TV is QVC and HSN, but we do have two bars of 4G. We have drive 40 minutes into Moab to get groceries, dump and take on water. So the parking is free, but the gas into town costs.
We are about finished with the third season of Deadwood and have a few movies left to watch on the DVR. I was able to snag a library card and devoured yet another military history. This one on Operation Torch and the heroic role a banana boat played in the landing in North Africa. Bet, you did not know that the script for Casablanca hit the desk of Hal Wallis the day after Pearl Harbor. The film was released just weeks after the invasion of North Africa and made box office boffo.
Dorothy Out Our Back Door – Canyon, Portal and Arches in the background
Our Perch – Taken From Across The Canyon – Crowded Huh?
We drove two hours down Day Canyon Point Trail. No, you will not find it on your map. We barely found it. It descends 1,700 feet over stair steps from near Dead Horse SP to an overlook of the Colorado River. My purpose was to get closer to the potato shaped rocks you see in the middle of the next three pictures. There is a trail through them, but we don’t have enough Jeep to drive it. It’s the most difficult trail in Moab and you need a really serious machine and be willing to accept damage.
The Monitor and Merrimac
Wednesday – April 1 – No April Fool, the water vapor increased yesterday, contrails went from horizon to horizon. In the evening the wind piped up and got dirt in the air. By morning our view was limited to less than five miles. So we spent the day lazing around. No sense in fighting it. Kinda feel a little bad for the 1,300+ Jeeps here this week to drive the trails. But, not too bad as most of them drive the trails for the thrill and not for scenery. So limited visibility is not that big of a deal for them. The ones in the open rigs with bandana’s to keep some of the dust out of their lungs are a different from us. We keep our top and doors in place and drive with the AC on.
Jeep has an expo in town. They had a concept Jeep that we both wanted. 70’s surfer style. They were giving out all sorts of bling like caps, tshirts, scarfs, patches and decals.
One of kind concept Jeep – We want it
Thursday – April 2 – We woke up to a cell modem (myfi) that was not working. It was on, but we had no access. The power switch and display were inoperative. Grumble. I left it on all day and by late afternoon the battery was discharged. I put it on charge for a few minutes and powered it on and it was all good again.
Dorothy’s laptop battery has been deteriorating for over a year. It finally got to the critical stage after we left civilization last month. Happily, we found the best to get it replaced right here in Moab. A young couple moved here last year and opened phone and computer repair shop. They could not be nicer or more helpful. Apple in their infinite wisdom designs a new battery for Macbook’s every few months. Same footprint, but they change things like the connectors. Even with the serial number it took a few tries to get the right battery.
The owner mentioned a xxx that he had replaced his wife’s hard drive with. It sounded good to me, so I had him order me one and he imaged my existing drive to it. I now boot really fast to Yosemite and like a flash to Windows.
Spent some time listening to Chet Atkins on Youtube. I only need to listen to Chet for a few minutes to remember he was the best of the best. Even the greats were always humbled to play with him.
The Big Jeep Expo – We spent two hours wandering around asking questions and looking puzzled. Their were dozens of vendors selling things that we know little about. At least a half dozen selling their version of the generic Dana 60 axle's. To me, none of them could demonstrate why I would want to buy one of their products, except to have some heavy duty part on our Jeep, so we would look mean like the rest of the flock here. It would be nice to get our rig lifted a little, but what’s the best way to do it? And any lift would mean Dorothy would need a step to be able to get in. Well, for only $1,900 we saw an automatic step. Open the door, it drops down and goes up out of the way of rocks when you close it. I figure for 6 to 8 G’s we could get lifted enough to tackle some of the more extreme trails. Not at all sure, that is the direction we want to go.
Out the back window – colorful, but hazy
Looks like a great spot. Think I could get a 5th wheel in there?
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