Thursday, October 31, 2019

Day 39, The Trip So Far, 7453 miles, 1251 to DC, Wichita, KS

Day 4, I-70 saga, the Decision

I spent a lot of time last night going over my options, torn between my mantra, "drive the Defender back to Dc," and the Salina Rule, "if the Defender cannot be repaired fully in a reasonable period of time, ship it back." Although i found in Jim an experienced mechanic (he owns a number of Defenders himself) who would get the job done right, because of parts availability and my hesitancy to test drive a new transmission 1200 miles to DC in problematic weather i decided to ship the Defender to DC after all. If all goes according to plan, a trucker will pick up the Defender at the Land Rover dealer today at six (for delivery in DC on Saturday), and i will rent an SUV starting tomorrow to get us home.

With the decision made, the only thoughts now in my head now are how lucky i was to end up here. I owe that decision to Phil, the AAA driver who suggested Wichita and the Land Rover dealer. After that, the list of extremely helpful people gets longer and longer - Lea and Jeff, as well as others, at the pleasant oasis i am in, La Quinta; Austin and Brandon, as wll as others, at Land Rover; Jim, of course, and those who helped him; the extremely cooperative Dawn of Casey and Dawn trucking who arranged for truck; Greg at Rovers North who provided critical parts availability information, the friendly Cansas from Kansas at Chillis restaurant, to name a few, but the list goes on and on. Without the involvement of good people like this, these unexpected layovers would not be pleasant at all.

Of course, at some point my attention will turn to how what happened was allowed to happen. The tentative double answer is this. First, you just do not replace your transmission willy nilly; you replace it when it is not working, and i had no prior indications that it was not that i recognized as such. Second, 90 percent of my miles these days are put on the Defender on these long Road trips to , which means i should expect 90 percent of problems to show up on the road. I know that before i set out and accept that risk. Fortunately, it did not show up until this trip was just about over and that it did not show up just two hundred miles earlier. Things would be otherwise be turning quite differentlyo, i am afraid. The bottom line is that it did nothing to disturb the success of this trip, but enhanced it.

I got some packing to do.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Day 3, i-70 saga, continued

Dawn, an auto transport broker, just called me to say she found  a carrier who can pick the Defender up Friday and drop it off next Monday or Tuesday for $1600. The carrier i used in 2016 wants $3990, but no promise of when it can be picked up.

Jim, the very capable mechanic Land Rover found for me, evaluated the Defender tonight and told me that i need a new transmission. But depending upon parts availability, it might take two weeks.

If i ship the Defender home, the car i will have to rent to get us home will cost $900 with the drop-off charge, and my room here costs $93 a day.

Even after Jim fixes what he thinks is wrong with it, i may have to still or want to ship the Defender home,

Auto van transports that can take my vehicle are hard to come by, but they do come along, but sometimes at a higher cost.

A decision under uncertainty for sure, although i can finish that book if i decide to stay here and wait for the Defender to be ready.

What would you do?

Interestingly enough, i hace replaced everything in the Defender except the transmission. Until now, that is.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Happy ”Birthday,” Donner.

Four years ago today, i woke up at 5:00 a.m. and looked at my Facebook page before i left for the train to NYC to see some shows that weekend. Among the postings i found was a three-minute video of a four-year old German shepherd named Thunder who was eligible to be put to sleep that night. He was sick, never trained or walked on a leash, had never  been inside, and had been chained up in several back yards his entire life. "How can i go to New York and enjoy myself knowing that this dog might be desd tonight?" I asked myself. I could not. At 9:00, i was on a plane to Los Angeles from DC  to adopt him. I renamed him Donner, which means Thunder in German, so he thinks he has an entirely new life, but is a daily reminder to me of the life he had for his first four years. What a great dog he is. I sure lucked out.

Below are  the two photos of Donner i saw on my Facebook  page four years ago today, and below that is his official portrait in his new life.

I will never know Donner's real birthday, so i celebrate it on the day he came into my life. He does not care, as long as i treat him the way he deserves. And he deserves the best.

Here 's the link to the video i saw of Donner.







Donner's official portrait.




Day 3 , I 70 saga, Wichita Kansas

I have an appointment later today with Jim Pendleton, an independent mechanic who works a lot on Land Rovers and some Defenders. We will meet at the Land Rover facility where my Defender is parked and he will evaluate it there. If i decide to go ahead with his doing the work, he will haul it over to his yard and start the work tomorrow. If i decide to not proceed with his doing the work, or he declines to do it, i will have no choice but to ship the Defender back home. It could turn out that i end up having Jim do the work and then shipping it back home, depending upon how long it takes to do the job.

The Land Rover team thinks it is the transfer case that is the problem. If it indeed is that, transfer cases just don’t fail with a loud POP, so something else happened to cause it to fail?  I will soon find out. Did i break any axle  maybe? 

I only have one bid from an auto transport company, the same one who hauled the Defender back in 2016 from Salina, Utah, for the same price. The problem is that with the roof rack the Defender is 84.5 inches high and that requires two berths in the truck.

If i have to ship it back, sometime after Monday i will rent an SUV and drive home and then have someone turn over the keys to the Defender when the truck comes.

I am sitting here in this hotel thinking about how lucky i was that this thing happened where and when it did. Had it happened just a few hundred miles back, that is, the night before, or on any number of other risky places just in recent days, things would be turning out differently.  Again, I lucked out, if there is such a thing as simultaneous good and bad luck.

In the meantime, the pace here is rather slow, not what i am used to on these trips, or anytime. The hotel is somewhat distant from everything so without a vehicle we are limited. But i will admit that this unexpected layover is a bit more comfortable than the five others i went through in the past on these trips, but that does not exactly make me a happy camper. Donner is using the time to catch up on rest, as if he did not have enough on the trip. I just may do the same.

Ed and Donner, from the road, i mean, off the road.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Day 2 of I-70 saga, in Wichita Kansas

Comfortably ensconced in La Quinta Hotel. Speaking for Donner, this sure beats those cold tents.

Spent the day working on plans A, drive Defender home, B, ship the Defender home and rent a car to get us home, and C, leave the Defender here and come back for it latter.

Drove the Defender -with great care- one mile to the Land Rover dealer this morning after downloading what we will need into the hotel. A lot of clanging. The Land Rover staff was extremely helpful, but suggested some other mechanics better suited to handle this. One looks very promising. He will evaluate the problem tomorrow and then i will decide what to do.

The problem with taking the Defender on the road is that it is difficult to find mechanics who can work in it, or even have the special tools required. It's the risk i take on these trips, willingly

The worst part about these unprogrammed layovers is that they are an abrupt change of pace from what preceded them, and i do mean abrupt. Fortunately, i have the work on plans to keep me busy. The danger is the Patty Hearst syndrome.

But the one thing you can always count on is the willingness of total strangers to help out, much in evidence here . And that started right from the beginning of this saga with the people who stopped at the 176th Street exit to ask if i needed help, e,g., the woman in the Jeep and Chris Wallace (both were awarded On The Road patches), and, if course, Phil from the towing company with whom i exchanged stories for four hours during the drive to Wichita, and whose advice was superb.

Best case scenario is that i am back on the road Saturday. Worse case, three weeks. But in case of the latter, i will probably ship the Defender back to DC.

Ed and Donner, from the road)

Monday, October 28, 2019

Day 1 of Trip interruption, the Wichita Kansas Saga

For those who did not read my earlier posting, the Defender had a hiccup today, a big one. Sometime around 2, driving down cold, snowy I-70, headed for DC, 1500 or so miles distant, by way of Toledo tonight, my transmission threw a tantrum of sorts...a loud popping sound, grinding noises, and then smoke. I was able to drive it a mile off the highway to a remote road, and called AAA for assistance. Donner and i sat in the Defender for almost five hours in the cold and snow waiting for aye AAA truck, and he finally arrived before six, just as dark set in. Fortunately, we had plenty of gas and we so kept somewhat warm with the engine and heater on.

Originally, i set out plans to take the Defender to Topeka, where we had plans to spend the night anyway, but Phil, the very able AAA driver suggested Wichita, where there was a Land Rover dealer. I called the service department there and they said if i brought out in tomorrow, they might be able to asses what needs to be done over the next week. But that it would be at least two weeks before they could get to it.

Phil and i headed to a nearby La Quinta Hotel where i just finished setting up "camp" day for a week or longer. Depending upon what happens at LandRover, one option is to have the Defender shipped back home once again, but this time we will drive back ourselves instead of flying.in the meantime, i have my days cut out for me work8ng on plans A, B, and C, still fresh from my trip three years ago.

I took a risk taking this trip with the Defender, and i am glad i did. The trip was perfect until now, just four days from home. You win some, and you lose some. But i will say this, that formidable machine will get back on the road one way or another. Vincrro, Vincero, VINCERO.


I Will post at least once a day about this saga.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Day 36, Somewhere in Kansas, a slight trip Interruption

At about 2pm, i was driving up an incline somewhere along the long empty stretch in fourth gear in Kansas when I heard a loud pop from my transmission. I then tried to put the transmission in 5th gear, but heard all kinds of grinding. I then pulled off at a nearby exit and the cab starting filling with smoke. I called AAA to tow me to Topeka, 200 miles away to a Motel 60 off i-70. Tomorrow, i will see if I can find a mechanic in Topeka who can repair whatever might be the problem. If it cannot be repaired, or if it is, but i do not have the confidence to drive it 1100 miles back to DC, i will wait in Topeka until it can be shipped back and rent a van to drive us home. We are off the highway, but it is cold 30 degrees and snowing. Fortunately, the engine is running and we have heat, without the blasts of cold air we get when driving.

If it is not one thing, it is another. But I will deal with this as i have everything else and we will win.

Ed and Donner, from the road, the cold, snowy road in Kansas.

Top photo...the Defender disabled
Bottom photo ...where we are

Day 36, As It Is Happening, 350 mile drive to Topeka

At a rest stop now to get some heat in the Defender.

Top photo...here is our lovely view the whole way today. The good news is that i-70 was closed last night just hours after we got on it.

Middle photo - Donner's view the whole trip so far today.

Bottom photo - the wind chill factor is so cold in the Defender today, i had to block off the the air vents in the dashboard, even though they are already shut closed.

This is as exciting as this last leg of the trips gets.

The cold road beckons.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Day 35, 930 pm, Goodland Kansas

If there is to be one reason why i will never take another road trip, or even drive a vehicle again, i just experienced it. That stretch of road between Denver and Kansas, especially at night, which is how i have always experienced it, is absolutely terrible. It got worse after my earlier report....high winds, made worse by the trucks passing in either direction; an undivided two-lane highway (with only thin cones separating opposing traffic) in 20-mile zones. I learned when i showed up at my bivouac for the night that they often shut down the i - hundreds of miles of it - due to high winds, and since there is no alternative route, travelers have to bivouac here, sonetimes for days.

The worst part about driving this stretch at night is that you get the impression you are driving through a dark tunnel. You have no sense of i scenery around you and you stsrt to hallucinate about what scenery's there...Forest? Canyons? Steep drop-offs, etc.

What you see is this...a big black screen in front of you with sometimes hundreds of bits of light: white, red, orange, green, blue, in different shapes abd sizes, appearing all over the screen, and moving. Your job is threefold...first, to find the five white strips of road lines that tell you where to go next, five and no more because you cannot see beyond five; second, try to guess if any two white lights you see approaching are headlamps of an oncoming vehicle or some extraneous something else; and third, if those lights are indeed an oncoming vehicke, if you are in its lane or vice versa.

When you approach one of the small towns about 50 miles apart, things get worse because hundreds of more small lights just pop out of nowhere and you have to then factor them into your task of trying to find the next fifty feet of your drive.

Your attention cannot be distracted for a second as you are driving...you have to pay attebtion to the road and only the road, which is what i did. But that can be a probelm. When i started the drive at 4, i had a full tank of gas and figured i could make it to Goodland on it, only 200 miles away. When i checked into my room tonight, i glanced-at my fuel guage, and you saw what it showed. Empty. Actually, when i filled up, i saw that i had 1,3 gallons left, or 20 miles. Close call.

Earlier today, i decided that i would not camp tonight in Goodland as it would be way too cold and i could not afford to take hours to set up and break camp in the cold. I planned to take a rustic cabin instead. But the weather was so bitter cold when we arrived here, i scrapped that plan and took a room at Motel 6. Donner appreciated that, as i am sure i will.

Despite the unwelcome excitement of the trip here , i had a plesabt visit with my grad school roommate Bob and his wife, Dorothy. Their gracious hospitality made up for what came later.

The good news is that i dodged that big Denver snowstorm for the most part, and probably saved three days by doing so.

My plan tomorrow was to camp at wonderful Perry Lake in Kansas, but with rain and mid-20s forecast for there tomorrow, i think i will pass that and try for another Motel 6 right off i-70 in Topeka, 350 miles up the road, my daily goal My goal on this leg of the trip is not to continue the edventure, but to get home as fast as i possibky can. Donner would second that, i am sure.

Time to get some shuteye.

Ed

Day 35 photo, driving at night on this stretch of I-70 requires your undivided attention on the road

So, when i pulled into our bivouac for the night, look how much gas we had left, 1.3 gallons, 20 miles. The last time i had a chance to look at it, it was full.

Day 35 photo, cold, cold, cold in the Defender

It was so cold in the Defender on the drive from Denver, i had to bundle Donner up.

Because the Defender is so drafty, you measure the temperature in terms of wind-chill. My guess is that today it was in the low 30s, especially because of the high winds on I-70.

Day 35 photo, Our campsite on the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon

What a way to spend what may be our final camp of this trip.

Day 35, As It Is Happening, 7pm, on I70 to Kansas

Outran the storm after 60 miles, but then dark set In, and i mean dark. No lights on this highway except the glaring headlights of oncoming traffic. . Halfway to Kansas now. Really cold, high 20s. And most of it comes right into the Defender through the numerous entry points provided courtesy of Land Rover. Have to drive with winter coat and gloves on. New windshield wipers useless. Light on new temperature gauge went out just when i needed it. Life on the road, i guess. I do know one thing, no camping for us tonight.

Ed and Donner, from the road , cold, dark road, that is.

Day 35, As It Is Happening, leaving Denver

Just left Denver at 4. Nice visit with my grad school roommate. Snowing heavily when i left. Just got on to I-70. Have 171 more miles to go. Trying to outrun the storm. Hope to miss the worst if it. Cold riding in the Defender.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Day 35, As It Is Happening, rest stop in the Rockies

Day 35, As It Is Happening, rest stop in the Rockies

Just dodged the big snow by a few hours. Lucky us.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Day 34, Saturday, October 26, Glenwood Canyon resort, Colorado

Join me for a moment by envisioning the setting in which i scribe this posting...alone in my cold tent with complete dark and cold outside; my beloved dog, Donner, beside me already deep asleep; Wagner's Gotterdamerung playing on my iPad; a bottle (186 ml) of Sutter Home Merlot waiting for me to enjoy;  in a deep canyon with the Colorado River rushing by  five feet from us, a single railroad track just on the other bank' of the narrow river waiting to bring back memories of my years on the banks of the Hudson River; billions of stars above our heads in the clear night sky providing the only light outside; and hundreds - maybe thousands - of fresh new memories of the people, dogs, mountains, forests, canyons, rivers, mesas, deserts, lakes, plains, prairies, and Ocean (oh, the views!), camps, experiences, and campfires we just accumulated over these last 34 days. If you can envision that setting, that is what i am basking in right now. Life does not get any better than this, on the road anyway. Wow! What a way to end this incredible journey, or at least this Act. It is for moments like this that i make these journeys.

The day was one of chances. I really wanted to spend at least one day camped alone in the desert in the incredible Valley of the Gods, but after i studied the weather forecast on the route home, my better judgment told me i could always come back -and vowed to do so- and to move on, and so we did, up highway 191 to Moab and from there to I-70, the road that would take us home.

The struggle between the call of the road and the desire to immerse myself some more in this bounty of sheer beauty was not yet over, as i pulled into Arches to see if i could snag a campsite cancellation for just one night, hoping to recreate the glorious night we spent  there last year, willing to accept whatever  consequences were meted out to me after we moved on into the bad westher up the road. But my better judgment succeeded again as it forced me make an abrupt U turn in that spectaular park, and get back on the road. Intuition always served me well, and so i conceded, and we headed to I-70, 29 miles distant.

I digress for a moment. Seigfried's Funeral Music is now playing.  On August 21, 2000, on my first road trip, as i sat with my dog Sonntag at midnight on a prominence jutting out onto the tundra on the North Slope in Alaska, 150 miles from the Arctic Ocean, in what was an absolutely gorgeous setting, the northwest sky filled with multiple brilliant colors of the setting sun, the snow-peaked saw-toothed peaks of the Brooks Range behind us, the vast Arctic National Wildlife Reserve immediately to the northeast on the other side of the empty Dalton Highway, i vowed to Sonntag that one day i would return to that spot and scatter his and his beloved sister Kessie's ashes there. Exactly one year later to the day, i kept my promise. With Seigfried's Funeral Music playing on my DVD player, i carried their ashes from the Defender to the exact spot of my promise and then scattered their ashes over the tundra to the sounds of the Immolation scene, the last nine minutes of Gotterdamerung. No one was there to witness that scene but my dogs, Leben and Erde. But what a grip on my memory it still holds after 18 years. That's the kind of memories these road trips create. (The exact spot of the scene was captured  for posterity in the National Geographic with the photo of Sonntag and me heading into our tent at night in a snowstorm, which was taken the night after my vow, when we returned to that spot to camp again. (You can see that photo elsewhere on my blog if it does not appear below.)

I continue. Nature makes things somewhat pleasant for those of us from the east who are heading  back home on I-70 from Moab by providing hundreds of miles of spectacular scenery until Denver. I took no photos. If you wish to see what i mean, get onto Googel Earth Street View and take the ride yourself. Put play Red River Rock and Take Me Home Country Road as you take the ride.

With the breathtaking scenery unfolding without end to the left snd right, and appropriate music wafting from my ipad, my mind was frequently preoccupied  with developing a contingency plan for tonight. With a big snow strom about to hit Denver tomorrow, and the propsect that I-  70 would be closed, as it often is during these storms, do i  head for Denver tonight and stay there in a motel or camp right on the Colorado River in the wondeful camp i stayed in last year in a cabin (the weather was too foul to camp in a tent)?  At 5 pm, just minutes from the camp, i called my college roommate, Bob, who lives in Denver, about the weather. The storm is not expected until late tomorrow afternoon, he told me, which would give me time to get to Denver tomorrow, spend some time with Bob, and then, snow or no snow, drive the 155 miles to Goodland Kansas where we will stay in a rustic cabjn i know about there to avoid the expected 21 degree weather at night. (The Defender would welcome the snow wherever it falls.) The decision was easy - Glenwood Canyon it is, and so that's where we are.

I have alresdy described the setting of this fantastic place in which we are camped. (We are alone except for a small group of Boy Scouts at the other end.) Tonight will be the last good weather (if sleeping in a tent in 31 degrees is your meaning of good weather), so our decision to move on this morning and then to stay put here tonight turned out to be the right one, at least i hope.

Every day on my road trips, i start the day's drive by playing Pete Seger's rendition of This Land is Your Land. Tomorrow, that changes to John Denver's Take Me Home Country Road, which is also appropriate because West Virginia is our destination, to decompress and reflect for a few days, and maybe read some more of that one good book i brought along, before heading back to DC.

My bottle of Merlot beckons my attention.

Ed and Donner, from the road on the grand Colorado River.

Below is the National Geographic photo i wrote about above. It has significance for this year's blog in that that very site provided the inspiration for OTR 2 and all of the fantastic road trips i have taken since. Make a vow to return somewhere, and you will. The red circle marks the prominence over which i scattered Sonntag's and Kessie's ashes, where i also want mine scattered someday with my other dogs'. (My first dog Montag's were already scattered in the Shedandoah mountains, where we spent many memorable nights in our tent after hiking the magnificent trails there.)

image1.jpeg



Day 34, Saturday, October 26, Glenwood Canyon resort, Colorado

Join me for a moment by envisioning the setting in which i scribe this posting...alone in my cold tent with complete dark and cold outside; my beloved dog, Donner, beside me already deep asleep; Wagner's Gotterdamerung playing on my iPad; a bottle (186 ml) of Sutter Home Merlot waiting for me to enjoy;  in a deep canyon with the Colorado River rushing by  five feet from us, a single railroad track just on the other bank' of the narrow river waiting to bring back memories of my years on the banks of the Hudson River; billions of stars above our heads in the clear night sky providing the only light outside; and hundreds - maybe thousands - of fresh new memories of the people, dogs, mountains, forests, canyons, rivers, mesas, deserts, lakes, plains, prairies, and Ocean (oh, the views!), camps, experiences, and campfires we just accumulated over these last 34 days. If you can envision that setting, that is what i am basking in right now. Life does not get any better than this, on the road anyway. Wow! What a way to end this incredible journey, or at least this Act. It is for moments like this that i make these journeys.

The day was one of chances. I really wanted to spend at least one day camped alone in the desert in the incredible Valley of the Gods, but after i studied the weather forecast on the route home, my better judgment told me i could always come back -and vowed to do so- and to move on, and so we did, up highway 191 to Moab and from there to I-70, the road that would take us home.

The struggle between the call of the road and the desire to immerse myself some more in this bounty of sheer beauty was not yet over, as i pulled into Arches to see if i could snag a campsite cancellation for just one night, hoping to recreate the glorious night we spent  there last year, willing to accept whatever  consequences were meted out to me after we moved on into the bad westher up the road. But my better judgment succeeded again as it forced me make an abrupt U turn in that spectaular park, and get back on the road. Intuition always served me well, and so i conceded, and we headed to I-70, 29 miles distant.

I digress for a moment. Seigfried's Funeral Music is now playing.  On August 21, 2000, on my first road trip, as i sat with my dog Sonntag at midnight on a prominence jutting out onto the tundra on the North Slope in Alaska, 150 miles from the Arctic Ocean, in what was an absolutely gorgeous setting, the northwest sky filled with multiple brilliant colors of the setting sun, the snow-peaked saw-toothed peaks of the Brooks Range behind us, the vast Arctic National Wildlife Reserve immediately to the northeast on the other side of the empty Dalton Highway, i vowed to Sonntag that one day i would return to that spot and scatter his and his beloved sister Kessie's ashes there. Exactly one year later to the day, i kept my promise. With Seigfried's Funeral Music playing on my DVD player, i carried their ashes from the Defender to the exact spot of my promise and then scattered their ashes over the tundra to the sounds of the Immolation scene, the last nine minutes of Gotterdamerung. No one was there to witness that scene but my dogs, Leben and Erde. But what a grip on my memory it still holds after 18 years. That's the kind of memories these road trips create. (The exact spot of the scene was captured  for posterity in the National Geographic with the photo of Sonntag and me heading into our tent at night in a snowstorm, which was taken the night after my vow, when we returned to that spot to camp again. (You can see that photo elsewhere on my blog if it does not appear below.)

I continue. Nature makes things somewhat pleasant for those of us from the east who are heading  back home on I-70 from Moab by providing hundreds of miles of spectacular scenery until Denver. I took no photos. If you wish to see what i mean, get onto Googel Earth Street View and take the ride yourself. Put play Red River Rock and Take Me Home Country Road as you take the ride.

With the breathtaking scenery unfolding without end to the left snd right, and appropriate music wafting from my ipad, my mind was frequently preoccupied  with developing a contingency plan for tonight. With a big snow strom about to hit Denver tomorrow, and the propsect that I-  70 would be closed, as it often is during these storms, do i  head for Denver tonight and stay there in a motel or camp right on the Colorado River in the wondeful camp i stayed in last year in a cabin (the weather was too foul to camp in a tent)?  At 5 pm, just minutes from the camp, i called my college roommate, Bob, who lives in Denver, about the weather. The storm is not expected until late tomorrow afternoon, he told me, which would give me time to get to Denver tomorrow, spend some time with Bob, and then, snow or no snow, drive the 155 miles to Goodland Kansas where we will stay in a rustic cabjn i know about there to avoid the expected 21 degree weather at night. (The Defender would welcome the snow wherever it falls.) The decision was easy - Glenwood Canyon it is, and so that's where we are.

I have alresdy described the setting of this fantastic place in which we are camped. (We are alone except for a small group of Boy Scouts at the other end.) Tonight will be the last good weather (if sleeping in a tent in 31 degrees is your meaning of good weather), so our decision to move on this morning and then to stay put here tonight turned out to be the right one, at least i hope.

Every day on my road trips, i start the day's drive by playing Pete Seger's rendition of This Land is Your Land. Tomorrow, that changes to John Denver's Take Me Home Country Road, which is also appropriate because West Virginia is our destination

My bottle of Merlot beckons.

Ed and Donner, from the road on the grand Colorado River.

Below is the National Geographic photo i wrote about above. It has significance for this year's blog in that that very site provided the inspiration for OTR 2 and all of the fantastic road trips i have taken since. Make a vow to return somewhere, and you will.
The red circke marks the prominence over which i scattered Sonntag's and Kessie's ashes, where i also want mine scattered someday with my other dogs'. (My first dog Montag's were already scattered in the Shedandoah mountains, where we spent many memorable nights in our tent after hiking the magnificent trails there.)





Day 34, The Trip So Far, 6824 miles, Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, on the grand Colorado River, the real end of Act IV

What a way to end Act IV! Even Donner thinks so. Tonight, for the first time on this trip, declined to go into the tent right after it was set up, or before it was finished being set up, as he is sometimes wont to do.

Day 34, As It Is Happening, home for 34, Glenwood Canyon, Colorado

Would you look at this site! Clearly, on of my best ever, number 32-34. Right on the great Colorado River. We arrived just after 5, and had camp set up before losing daylight.

Two great decisions today, which i will explain later in my posting for today. My intuition and experience paid off twice today. Another 10 of a day, and perhaps the last one at that, but i still have 1900 miles to go on this fantastic journey with the greatest travel partner, Donner.

Day 34, As It Is Happening, rest stop 2, somewhere along the Colorado River

This was the first of my ten road trips i actively resisted ending. Perhaps i will change my mind over the next three days of snow. At least Utah and Colorado eased the suffering by offering a beautiful 300-drive from Moab to Denver. After that, i just may be tempted to ship the Defender home, that drive is so unattractive, except in West Virginia, where i belong. Take it from there, John Denver.

About the snow, don't get me wrong, i love slow, but to ski in it, not drive hundreds of miles in it.

That's the same Colorado River i hope to camp on, 77 miles up the road. I wonder if the Defender can handle that.

The road beckons.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Day 34, As It Is Happening, I-70, the last highway and byway

Just ahead you can see i70, the last of more than 120 highways and byways we have traveled on this journey, and which will take us to our front door, 2008 miles away. Of course, i struggled with considering extending this journey some more as i passed Arches National Park, but my better judgment won and we are heading home. Our destination for tonight is Glenwood Springs Colorado, where i hope to set up camp right on the Colorado River, if the weather cooperates.

The road beckons.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Day 34, As It Is Happening, the first rest stop on the long journey home

The final Act, the drive back east, of this fantastic journey started today. I was looking for every reason to prolong the journey, and found many, but it is time to start to bring this fantastic journey to an end, still 2200 miles distant. If i found a reason to end it, the weatherman provided it. We are now heading for Denver, where we will drive right into an historic snowstorm tomorrow, and then the real cold weather after that as we head east. And here i thought i left that cold and white stuff back in the north.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Day 34 welcome goes out to Nina of Arizona

Today's warm welcome goes out to Nina of Arizona, a neighbor at Recapture Lodge. (Most people admire my dog on this journey, but Nina admired my JEEP license plate, probably because she drives a pretty cool Jeep herself.) I'm sorry we did not have a chance to chat longer, but the road beckoned the two of us in different directions, Thanks for your stories about exploring that fantastic area we both took advantage of. (If you see this, please send me the name of that cool light on your drivers 's side.) Safe journey back home, and to your dog.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Day 33 welcome to Charlie and Al

Today's welcome goes out to...

Charlie Pike from Kansas, a neighbor at Recapture Lodge. Thanks for your for sharing your stories of backpacking and off-roading at Moab with me.

Al, whom i met at Goosenecks State Park in the desert at Valley of the Gods. Thanks for sharing with me your Navy stories and experiences of life on the road. Safe travels everywhere.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Friday, October 25, 2019

Day 33, Valley of the Gods, Utah

Quck posting.

Finally got into the Valley of the Gods today. The place is unreal. We spent three hours driving the 16 mile dirt road thru the Valley and then drove part way up the 1200 foot incline of the Cedar Mesa over 13 miles to Muley Point. Time forced us to turn back. Unreal views of Monument Valley.

I Was considering staying around here for an extra day here but i just looked at the weather report... the weather In the Denver area turns bad starting Sunday....cold (0 predicted for the night i want to camp west of there) and 8 inches of snow Sunday in Denver. Here i go again, having to dodge these historic snowstorms on this trip, coming and going. And every return trip through Denver was the same. Why me?

Gotta run.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Day 33, Valley of the Gods

The drive took us the entire length of that range you see in the distance. Even the Defender loved it - it was in its element.

Day 33, Valley of the Gods

It's as if they were all hand sculpted.

Day 33, Valley of the Gods

We took a hike and found these ruins.

Day 33, Valley of the Gods, Muley Point

See that highpoint on that rock? It's probably 3000 feet high. That's Muley Point. There is a difficult dirt road that climbs up that rock to the top. We got halfway there and had to turn back due to time. But we saw what we wanted to. This is not a drive for someone who has difficulty with heights, or driving in a straight line.

Day 33, Valley of the Gods

You can pitch your tent anywhere you wish in the Valley. I scouted out several sites for my next visit. This is one of them. But bring your own water, potty, picnic table, and shade. What a spectacular place. Today was the highlight of the trip.

Day 33: Valley of the Gods, rest stop

There is not a man-made thing in the Valley, except for the road.

Day 33 photos, Valley of the Gods

This is what you come to first. You know you are in for something big, and you are.

This place will go down for me as the ten wonders of the world i saw.

Day 33, valley of the Gods

Just imagine three hours of scenes ,ike this, changing every few minutes, as we crawled along at 10 mph. We encountered no more than 10 other vehicles the entire time.

Day 33 photo, even Donner was awed by what was unfolding before us.

He sat up most of the drive, except for the first mile, which was rather traumatic for him, then he got used to it.

Day 33, a drive through the Valley of the Gods

Sheer beauty all around fir 16 miles on a rough dirt road. It took three hours. Lots of side trails to take, all leading to more beauty.

Day 33, Valley of the Gods, another potential camp for tomorrow night, Goosenecks camp

What a view. 360 degrees plus 180 degrees.

Day 33, valley of the Gods. A potential campsite for tomorrow. Sands campground

Day 33, Recapture Lodge near Valley of the Gods, Dinner for Donner

I broke my rules about no motels because this lodge is so nicely situated. And the weather cooperates for us to take advantage of it. What a nice place.

Day 32, Thursday, October 24, Bluff Utah, Recapture Lodge, 6428 miles

Up at 7 after a bad night's sleep, Thanks to that behemoth next door. Since i did all i could do here at the Grand Canyon yesterday, i decided to move on today to Bluff Utah and hope to get a room in the very pleasant Recapture Lodge where we stayed last year.

It was very cold this morning (20s) so i took my sweet time to break camp. And how sweet it was! That is a pace I can live with.

On the road at 11. As soon as i got on highway 89, i passed a young woman hitchhiking with backpacking gear. I would have stopped to give her a lift (perhaps secretly hoping to recreate the pleasant experience i had with Stephanie in 2016) but since the drive would be about 300 miles, the only place she could have sat was cramped in the back in Dinner's rear bed. Besides, i reasoned, since women simply do not hitchhike alone these days, or backpack the Grand Canyon, she was probably pulling the age-old two-for-one trick - the woman hitchhikes alone and when a vehicle stops to pick her up, the boyfriend suddenly hops out from hiding, and the people who stopped really have no choice but to take the two of them. (That happened to me in Ireland and the Yukon.) But i do have a choice since i have room for one extra person, a small person. So i moved on and silently wished her well, but had i had room for the two of them, i would have taken them both.

The 300-mile drive today was long and hot, but breathless the entire way —- Mountains, canyons, mesas, and then the monuments. There was no end to it. Every hour brought an entirely different landscape. Every minute brought a reaction from me. I could not get enough of it.

Last year, when i was headed this same way, my Garmin took me down the periphery of Monument Valley. But that was so awesome a drive, i decided to stop by this year and drive the valley. So, when my Garmin today tried to take me to Bluff the same way, i shut it down, took a left onto route 163, turned on Red River Rock, and had the 90-mile ride of a lifetime. What absolutely awesome beauty. One big monument would no sooner disappear and another would pop up right behind it. Go watch John Wayne's cowboy movies to see what i am talking about, especially Stagecoach. I did over the last year and recognized much of the landscape and many of the monuments. Sheer beauty.

The sun was about to set when i flew by the Valley of the Gods, so i decided to stay an extra day here to explore it over a many-mile dirt road.

My goal today was to make it to Bluff Utah and stay in the very pleasant and dog-friendly Recapture Lodge where we stayed last year. When i got there ar 6:30 just as daylight disappeared, they had one room left, #4, the same one we had last year. Lucky me, huh? If they were full, i probably would be bivouacking somewhere in the desert.

As soon as we entered our pleasant room, i swear i heard Donner say, now this is more my style. He immediately took his favored position in such places, on one of the beds, until i chased him off to cover it.

My plans from here are uncertain because both Arches and Needles National Parks are on reservation system until Nov first and they are full reserved. For years when i heard those places were fully booked this time of year, i envisioned it was by these tanned mesomorphs with washboard stomachs, full heads of wavy hair, NorthFace tents, and the latest climbing outfits, who went there to climb Spiderman-like those oddly shaped rocks to practice for El Capitan or Everest, and then drive their Jeeps through the rough desert. Nope all RVs (disclaimer - i do have a NorthFace tent but drive a Defender).

Time for my first sleep in a bed in 32 days.

Ed and Donner, from the road

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Day 32, Recapture Lodge, Bluff Utah

My goal today was to reach Bluff Utah, and stay in the quaint Recapture Lodge, where we stayed last year in room 4. I had no internet for days, so i could not make reservations. When i got here tonight, there was one room left, #4. Lucky us again, tonight. Here is Erin hanging up the No Vacancy sign after i checked in.

Day 32 photo, Valley of the Gods

Day 32, The Valley of the Gods

That's the Valley of the Gods in the distance. It is reachable only by a 16 mile dirt road, which we will take tomorrow.

Ed

Day 32, Monument Valley

Just when one monument gets out if the way, another pops up.

Day 32 photo, Monument Valley

You may recognize some of these monoliths from John Wayne's cowboy movies, all made here.

Day 32, Monument Valley

Last year, my Garmin took me on the periphery of Monument Valley to get to Bluff. But i was so impressed, i vowed to come back to see Monument Valley itself and The Valley of the Gods, and i did today. My God, how absolutely amazing. The below two monoliths are what you first see coming in from the south, and you know you are in for something big. I took 69 photos over the 63-mile drive, one a minute. I will send some of them after this one, without comment. At the end of the drive, i decided to stat here tomorrow to explore the Valley of the Gods.

Day 32 photo, rest break for Donner on way to Bluff UT

He did nothing there. Too hot, no dogs, no bushes to sniff, no grass, so we moved on.

Day 32 photo, i felt badly

When I stopped for a pitstop in tuba city, I came across these two strays. Right by the highway. There was little that I could do for them, so I left them some of Donner's treats and moved on. Where was the Tuba City Humane Society?