Slow Progress

I didn't think we could get dustier than we already were...

After our night at Ken's Lake, we couldn't miss returning to the waterfall where we had sought some much needed solace from the heat last summer. Luckily this time around (about a month earlier) the outside temperature was much more comfortable. The water was just as cold, but we stuck our heads in anyway. Very refreshing! From there we headed into Moab to do some much needed laundry and to get connected so J could do some work. We stopped in at Eklectic Cafe and sat out on the patio with a little lunch whilst taking full advantage of the free wifi downloading topo maps and J working. Once we had satisfied our stomachs we moved to a nearby city park to continue the work day- this meant reading time for me, yeah!

For those of you who wonder why pictures are not posted immediately, here is how it works (or doesn't work...) I/we can write and post text from any of our devices but pictures can only be added using the laptop. If we have sought out wifi it is generally because there is work of the paid variety to be done - on said laptop. So, apologies if it takes us awhile to load pictures, we do have hundreds of them which you will definitely get to see one day!

Eventually we left Moab once the battery on the laptop gave up (we really need a solar panel!) and wheeled our way into the hills. We came across a really nice campground not too far into the leg however I foolishly thought we should carry on and get some miles behind us- which we did but with a few sacrifices. First it got dark, then it got late. Finding semi-obscured campsites in a desert in the dead of night is not easy, especially when the road you are on is partly slick rock and there are no ingress or egress tracks to follow. Before darkness fell completely we traveled through some stunning canyons (if you're ever near Moab with a high clearance vehicle, be sure to check out the Onion Creek area).

In the end we wound up heading for Fruita over the border in Colorado- which was 60 miles away from the trail, in the wrong direction. Never fear, our madness had [some] reason. We found a campground with showers and we were close by Grand Junction, the Jeep was due for an oil change (which it kept reminding us of) and we wanted to get the front end checked as we'd been pounding on it for hundreds of bumpy miles and had some wobbles/sounds. We had tried to get all this done in Moab but as it had just been a holiday weekend all the mechanics were "swamped". We got the oil changed at the Grand Junction Jeep dealer but they didn't have time to check the suspension stuff so we found a local family run off road shop (Barney Brothers Off-road) and the guys there were super nice and said they could check it out in a couple of hours.

As it happened the birthplace of our sleeping bags [Wiggy's] was right across the street. We poked our heads in and were given a crash course in sleeping bag manufacturing and a tour by the owner himself! A very interesting chap.

Once the Jeep was sorted we hit the highway to get back to Thompson where we had left the trail. Back into the dusty desert. It was a rather beige area, after the stunning red rocks and canyons we'd seen the day before, this part of the route seemed somewhat arduous. We made it into Green River and found a state park oasis in the middle of town, set up camp early and more work was done.

It got warm pretty quickly the next morning. We got up and J took on the task of posting pictures; not an easy task! Still we managed to leave before lunch after some free hot showers. We knew we were headed for the hills today so the initial dusty drive through desert terrain did not seem so endless like the day before. The trail took us through the first half of Nine Mile Canyon - a place where there are apparently many sites with petroglyphs/pictographs etc. I thought these would be neat to see. Little did we know that the entire road was being worked on, so instead we were covered in more dust and mud and spent many minutes waiting for dump trucks and excavators to notice us and let us by! Eventually we got to our turnoff and we could keep moving.

It cooled as we climbed and we found a cheap empty campground way out there and there was even some cell service. So, wood was collected, a campfire was started, more work was attempted, an early dinner was eaten and now we lie in bed, our first night this summer in bear country.

Driving Dusty

After our delightfully restful day it was time to get a move on. My darling husband's dream was to drive the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route (UTBDR - a route put together for adventure motorcycles but also doable in a 4WD which showcases the less visited but rather stunning beauty of this amazing state) on our way north so we planned to head in that direction: to the southeastern border of Utah near Mexican Hat which is where the trail started.

Heading through Zion NP

We drove from Springdale where we had breakfasted and made use of the Wifi at Mean Bean Coffee House, through Zion National Park (didn't see much of it, crazy busy, but what we did see was pretty awesome) to Kanab (or "Little Hollywood" as they like to call it) then Page and on to Mexican Hat. What a beautiful piece of the country, it's no wonder there are so many national parks/monuments/recreation areas in this region.

The Moki Dugway

From Mexican Hat we started to follow the trail which began with a trip around the Valley of the Gods before heading up the switchbacks of the Moki Dugway and out to Muley point where we camped with a stunning, albeit windy and chilly, view. By now we were once again somewhat dusty after our gravel road adventures, but that was just a mere taste of what was to come next.

Cold and windy camping at Muley Point

Comb Ridge

Cliff dwellings

Sunday morning we left Muley Point and headed north across the Mesa then cut off onto a red dirt road down the side of the mesa before traveling south down the Valley on one side of 'Comb Ridge' and then north up the other. There was much dust, in both red and yellow varieties, traversing through sand and over rocks. We took a break from driving and hiked out to some cliff dwellings through more sand. Very cool to see - there were even ancient puebloan corn cobs left behind. After all the dust the road led us up into the pine, oak and Aspen covered Abajo mountains where we reached 10,300+ ft in altitude before dropping in to Monticello for the cheapest RV park tent site ever which included unlimited free showers. There we discovered that the fine dust had crept into every crack.

The home that fell of the rocks....

Though we managed to get ourselves somewhat clean, the Jeep itself was having none of that. What's the point when the next day's travels just mean more dust? We were headed from Monticello to Moab - not the quick 50 miles on 191 but the very back way via Lockhart Basin and some somewhat challenging 4WD roads. Glorious scenery, worth every bit of the extra 6 hours of travel time.



Now we are camped at a somewhat familiar place - last year we visited the waterfall that now cascades behind our campground - then it was for some serious cooling off on a hot summer day with no air-conditioning - now we enjoy the campsite with some mildly warm weather; pretty perfect really.

Flapping Freezing

View from Lava Point

Woke up this morning to snow!  At 7800 something feet we thought it felt rather chilly last night.  The wind was blowing a gale, the tent was snapping like a cowboy's whip.  At 10PM we heard a car pull up, peaked out the window and saw people walking through our campsite and a car parked smack next to us.... Memorial weekend has now been dubbed whacky weekend - it sure makes people do some crazy stuff!  Yes, we weren't using the tent site and we had planned to offer it to someone looking for a site but to just turn up and take use of it unannounced?  Maybe a post for How Rude!  They disappeared early so we didn't have to deal with them but whoa, weirdness.  As I mentioned it was freakin' cold so we stayed under the covers for awhile longer.  When we were planning to get up we thought it had started raining but no, it was snow.  Luckily just a light snow but we decided to hightail it out of there to get to some warmth (and coffee) - the Jeep told us it was 33F (0.5C) when we left at 8:30 - brrr!  As we headed down the road the sky cleared and the sun came out - mountain micro climates, one must be prepared!

So to catch up on yesterday - the National Park campgrounds were full but we did managed to snag a tent site at an RV park in Springdale, right on the river which was rather pleasant.  Stuck our feet in [the river] with some Two Buck Chuck ($1.99 Charles Shaw White Zinfandel from Trader Joe's - not bad at all!)  Cooked up some delicious sausages and into bed for some reading once it got dark.  We were told to check with reception at 9:30AM to see if there were any sites available - nope - so we headed into the park to see if there were any sites at the first-come first-served campground - nope, full since 8:30!  Whacky weekend.  So we headed west and then north up to Lava point, a free 6 site campground and we got lucky.  We were there at 11AM so wandered up to the overlook and down Barney's trail before cooking up some grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Yum.  We decided to have a relaxing day rather than driving around and not being able to find a campsite...  We met and chatted with a middle aged couple who had sold everything except what was in their car and were travelling around hiking and biking, already for several years now.  Awesome.  We knitted and read, up in our tent because it was blustery and a little nippy outside, cooked dinner to keep warm and were then in bed reading just after 8PM.  The great thing about camping - early to bed and early to rise, it does feel good.  It's amazing how much you can get done before lunchtime!

Inspiration to Admiration

We have been busy little campers!  I'm struggling to remember where we went after out night on the beach...  Well, we had to head East - this again was never going to be a pleasant drive.  After a night on the beach it was necessary to wash the Jeep so this was our first port of call in Santa Maria.  From their we headed east on 166, actually a very picturesque drive over the hills before we dropped into the valley. Most of the rest of that drive was rather unentertaining.  The highlight was stopping at the California Orange Co after driving through what seemed like 50 miles of citrus groves for a fresh date smoothy (yum!) pickled garlic and chipotle jalapenos.  For our efforts we scored some delicious free oranges that became breakfast for the next couple of days.  We eventually made it to the Mojave National Preserve (read: Mojave Desert) where we camped for the night.

Now we needed to make a beeline for Mormon Lake, Arizona, to check in for the Overland Expo.  We needed to get gas (petrol) but the prices in California were astonishingly high - $4.18/gal in cities and almost if not over $5/gal in the desert!  So we took the shortest road over the border into Nevada where we paid almost $1 less per gallon.  Crazy.  We didn't know if we would make it the 55 miles but with a little hyper-mileing (sp?) trusty frosty got us there with fuel to spare.  Onwards to Flagstaff for a few supplies and then out to Mormon Lake Lodge for the event.  By the time we got there around 5PM, it was already crazy busy but we found a spot out in the field.  It was super windy and we totally didn't envy the people trying to put up tents around us.  Little did they know that half way through the following day those tents were to sacrifice themselves to the wind gods.

J driving the off-road course

The Overland Expo:  What an amazing 3 days!  We had crammed our schedules full with seminars, panels, skills training and driving classes, splitting up for the most part.  I learned off-road driving and was very stoked to get very positive comments from my instructor (go me!)  Frosty handled the course very nicely.  We met some very interesting people - some who had travelled extensively across continents and others who were planning their adventures, learning and seeking inspiration.  There were vendors with many cool gadgets and installations designed to make life easier, we drooled over SnowPeak products and Kanz Kitchens among other things - generally it was just an awesome and inspiring experience.

Grandview lookout tower

Dusk view South Rim Grand Canyon

What next?  We realized on the last evening that we hadn't made any real plans for the next day.  Oh well, that is kind of what this summer is supposed to be about - not knowing where we're going and having fun along the way.  Well, we were awfully close to the Grand Canyon, a world wonder I had not yet seen.  After doing the laundry (3 days of wind and dust made this a requirement) - that was where we headed.  On the map I saw there were forest service roads all through the Kaibab and up into the Grand Canyon National Park so I navigated us in that direction.  We had a great time finding our way north off-road and eventually made it into the park.

Breaking camp on the East Rim

All the campgrounds were full so we ended up camping off the forest road and it was the best night sleep we've had so far.  A shower was necessary the next morning before we checked out the sights on the south rim then headed around towards the north rim.  Once again we camped in the woods with a beautiful view (which we didn't see till morning) over the East rim.

Skull head

Camped in the rocks at Tuweep

The next day we treated ourselves to lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge - Ahwahnee-esque but not quite so massive - then headed around even further, via Lees Ferry, to take the dirt road into Toroweap.  60 miles of washboard "road" and 4 miles of rocky terrain later, we came upon the Tuweep campground, full of red rocks and an adventure to get into.  It was glorious.  The sun was setting and I snapped away before exploring further to try and get closer to the rim. We slept with just the bug screens in the windows and door, lovely, and woke up to snap more pictures of the sunrise over the canyon.

Cookie Monster

Toroweap Overlook

After a delicious egg burrito breakfast we drove
down to the Toroweap overlook and watched rafters heading over the rapids, just tiny specs at the bottom of the canyon.  (Apparently it's a 2 year wait to get on a Grand Canyon rafting trip!).  Another dusty drive got us to Colorado City which incidentally sits on the border of Arizona and Utah and has nothing really to do with Colorado... It is full of fundamentalist mormons, really huge houses and not much else.  As we are in the area, we figured we might as well swing by Zion National Park.  We haven't quite got there yet but here I sit in the garden of the Springdale Fruit Company writing this post.  It is quite a little oasis amongst all the canyons and rocks.

So for all ye who worry, we are alive and well, if a little smelly and touch sunburnt...

Day 1

What we woke up to after our first night out:




There are worse places to camp!

So, day 1 started with some final packing and loading of the Jeep and at 10AM we headed south - bound for Sonoma to collect our RTT (roof top tent). There had been a few issues with this... We purchased an Autohome Maggiolina Airtop several months ago to ensure we wouldn't miss out as summer approached. We called closer to the time to arrange pick up and installation and all was groovy. Our schedule changed, so we called to reschedule the pick up and discovered that our tent had accidentally been shipped out to another customer! Oops. So the lovely people at Autohome US / Mudrak arranged to loan us another tent until the next shipment came in in June. Ok. We arrived at Mudrak yesterday afternoon and they began installing the loaner, while we asked questions about the other models they sell, then checked out a Columbus that they had. Not bad - more like a Westy we thought... So we swapped out and got one of those instead which was brand new and in stock. Sweet.

Where to go next? We need to be in Arizona on Thursday but I-5 through the central valley is just not pleasant. So we opted for the extra miles and headed down 101. Stopped at a Trader Joe's for some supplies before getting to Pismo beach in the dark. The guy at Mudrak had recommended camping here: what's not to like about camping right on the beach? Driving on sand for the first time for 4 miles in the dark, including crossing a stream, was a fun adventure! We picked a spot, any spot, popped the top and we were set. After a little wander and a sandwich we hit the sack and let the the dull roar of the ocean lull us to sleep...

Tan lines

It feels like we've skipped spring and jumped straight into summer!  The California sun has certainly taken instant care of pasty winter skin - we're becoming rather brown.  It probably helps that we spent several days outside.  Now it's gotten to the point where we must spend half of the day inside as it's just like an oven out there.  The sun and heat (100F/38C in Redding today) has definitely slowed us down a little, nevertheless we plod on with our preparations.  We are a little behind schedule but we will still be on time for the Expo; and less frazzled!

After a sample packing and endless rearranging of our load, we have now completed installation of all the tie down anchors for the floor and are working on paring down our gear.  We did have a bit of a set back with a weakly made part of the suspension system so a rapid upgrade was necessary and luckily that went without a hitch.  Aside from hooking up a light, finishing packing and picking up the roof tent, we are pretty much ready to roll.

Sweet floor (IMHO)!  Fridge tie-downs to the left, gear anchors everywhere else!

Putting our tailgate table to work - a great reward on a hot day!

Tomorrow is Mother's day (Happy Mother's day to my dear Mummy back in NZ and all the other mothers in the whanau) and we have some fun stuff planned here.  Monday Frosty goes in for a balance and alignment and then....

In Development

So there we were, sitting in our 600 sq ft apartment in Portland, Oregon, listening to the sound of garbage trucks and motorcycles rumble down the street beneath our window. We wished for serenity and thought longingly back to last summer which we spent traveling around the west in our trusty VW van: Westy Pete. We missed sleeping with the wind flapping the canvas, the sound of nature lulling us to sleep, waking up with the sun and the birds, having no plans - heading where we wanted, when we wanted, enjoying exploring and just generally being out and about in the big wide world.

We itched for more of the same. Several events had also been planned for this summer, almost on a monthly basis. This would require a bit of driving back and forth - if we were going to do that, why not string them together? And so it was decided we would go on another summer adventure. Westy Pete had a new home, Frosty was our new ride. How to make a Jeep provide the convenience of a Westfalia while maintaining its off-road capabilities? A lot of research ensued and some kind of a plan was hatched. We gave notice on our lease and jobs, and wrote lists... Many lists... Gear was procured and we spent so much time thinking about what we needed to get, we almost forgot we needed to pack up our apartment as well!

Moving mess...

On the 30th of April, we finally had everything in storage, the Jeep was packed, the apartment was cleaned and eventually at 4PM we hit the road, headed for the in-laws' for a week or two of final adjustments and installations to complete our rig.

So in the past week we have installed a lift, new bumper, winch and tailgate table, finished our plywood floor, and are in the process of installing our fridge and tie-down brackets. We installed a roof rack before we left, and arranged the pick-up and installation of our roof tent. Obviously such a project is never without it's set backs; we push on though and hopefully we will get out of here on time to attend our first event: The Overland Expo in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Just getting started

New buff bumper

Lift, bumper, wings, winch, fairing: done.  Add a bit of mud for authenticity ;)