Well...

...we are leaving Moab today and the vacation is over...

Wait, we are still gonna be running south and east on 40 and we are gonna have some more BBQ!!  Heading toward Alburquerque tonight and meet up with another friend of my brother, apparently there is a $1 showing of the new Snow White movie and that should be fun.

Top of the World trail was a bit more than Moderate, I would now add that to the Difficult pile of trails.  I will add a couple of pics later, now we are packing up.  Here is a little White Rim.

Still downloading from cameras...

...but we have made it around the White Rim trail.  The trail itself is 90 miles of backcountry and some really cool switchbacks and incredible scenery.  I only used half a tank of gas in my truck. 

The first day Shawn, Sean, Shannon, and I broke ourselves in on Fins N Things.  Rated difficult in the eyes of Charles Wells (wrote the book Moab, UT Backroads and 4-wheel drive trails), rated incredible by the rest of us.  Unbelievable amounts of tire traction allowed us to scale these "Fins" as they are called.  Trail was 11 miles and took us about 5 hours (with lunch).  Enough talk, here are some photos.

The only mishap was a momentary lapse of judgement by Mr. Seal (it was REAL hot), but it was quickly rememdied by my brother and his truck.  Had Mr. Seal gone another 4 or 5 inches, he would have mashed his exhaust crossover pipe and ruined the rest of his day.  But, in the end, no real harm.  He did however rip off a mudflap, ouch!

From Denver to Basalt

We stayed a little longer than originally planned and hung out with some friends in Denver and what a City!  Beautiful city and beautiful weather. 

We saddled up and headed toward the town of Fairplay to meet up the Mosquito Pass and then drop into the town of Leadville and from there take the Hagerman Pass to Basalt.  The Mosquito Pass was a bit more than I thought with the shear drop that switched from Driver side to Passenger side and back again.  The North London mine was spectacular and the climb that followed was nothing short of the most intense piece of driving I had ever done. 

After the dizzying heights of the Mosquito we rolled into Leadville and began Hagerman.  Much more tame of a trail than the previous, but still offering incredible views of the Turquoise Reservoir.  Then it began to rain, and lightning, and then hail like there was no tomorrow, and we were still 41 miles from Basalt.  We obviously made it and the town of Basalt is a quaint town with old west saloon store fronts and couldn't be prettier. 

We are now about 4 hrs. drive from Moab.

Well apparent;y the upload speeds are garbage in this part of Indiana...yes Indiana.  We didn't necessarily want this locale, but it was better than....

Lovely town and we found a great little spot across the Ohio river that was great, O'Shea's Public House.  As most of you will know, we are quite fond of the Pub.  Couple sammy's and a few beers and we live to fight another day. 

Gas tab for day one was about $90, travelled 530 miles.

Will get pictures when when we can.  Slow, slow, slow...got real spoiled with 1Gb at work. 

Check back.

The beginning

Well...in two and a half days we will begin this trip across the US in three modified Toyotas in search of beautiful vistas, old friends, and new favorite places.  We are going to stop and eat BBQ at everyplace we have been recommended and some we haven't.  Find the perfect fried chicken cooked by someone's grandmother, and endlessly chase the horizon.  I absolutely can't wait, it will be epic.