Friday, April 27/2012

Both Hogan and I are up early this morning and although it is cloudy and overcast out, it is warm.  Despite the fact that we were unable to secure a spot in the campground (they were full) and had to park in an open area by the highway, it was remarkably quiet during the night.  It actually is a nice place to park.  We are beside the San Juan river which I must say is flowing rather briskly.  Of course that  is not all that surprising considering it is Spring.
This morning, I can hear geese and I swear I heard the "gobble" of wild turkeys as well.  There are plenty of happy birds sounds around here.  Hogan is in his glory sniffing around at all the greenery.  Yes, it is green around the river basin and it smells wonderful.

Heading out

UT 191 N

Just outside of Moab, Utah

La Sal Mountains, UT

Coming into Moab, UT (Old car week this week) Heres a few we seen

Rolls

Super Bee

UT 128 E along the Colorado River

Rafters - on the Colorado River

Old truck heading to Moab

Getting off  CO I-40 E 

CO 139 N

Heading over Douglas pass

Were going from 4500 to 8268 Ft

Some of these and a couple of 15s as well

heeding towards the summit

Finally - at the summit and looking down

We made it!

We come from down there!

Heading down, 1st gear all the way

We're down

Our spot for the night

Before we leave each day, John always goes inside the trailer and checks to make sure that all is well.  Today, all I heard was  "f**#!&^?#@&>>*#".  That can not be a good thing!!  When I went to investigate I too saw the reason for his language.   At some point during our trip yesterday (and I suspect it was the last 25 miles of extremely rough road) the jeep had come loose and had wedged itself against the back door.  In doing this, it had managed to bend the closing mechanism, causing the top of the door to bulge out.  I had no problem seeing the sky through the top of the door!!  OH DEAR!!  It also had rubbed a rather impressive notch in the wood of the door.  Why, it looked like the rats had been chewing the door!
With John's ingenuity (and the hammer and the axe) we managed to get the door back to where it needed to be, the hinges back to where they needed to be and the jeep tied back down to where it needed to be.
A place for everything and everything in its place - now that is how it is supposed to be!!
Before too long, we were on our way and all seemed to be going well.
As a precaution, and John often does this, he stopped to check the trailer again and found that the tie downs to the jeep  had once again come loose but he had drilled a block into the floor of the trailer earlier so if it happened again, the jeep would not move.  Instead he found that the fire pit had come loose and was now supporting a huge dent in the side - presumably from the jeep!!  What the Hell!!  What is with all the tie downs coming loose?  Jesus, Mary and Joseph - what else could possibly go wrong with this trip?  I may have to start calling on "The Powers" - you remember them - Allah, Buddha, God and the Gitchi Manitou!!
We travelled through Utah today and into Colorado.  We took Colorado highway 139 and headed over the 8268 foot summit of Douglas Pass.  It was an awesome climb and offered incredible scenery.  We stopped for the night along this highway and found a wonderful quiet spot.  It was fairly close to the main road but as the evening progressed, the traffic (which really was not all that heavy) slowed and the evening sounds took over.
It was hockey on TV and homemade pizza and beer for supper and it was great.   It was starting to get a bit chilly inside the bus (current elevation is in excess of 5000 feet) so I turned on the fancy new heater.  It kicks off  wonderful heat and the bus was warm in no time.
Tomorrow we will be out of Colorado and into Wyoming - getting closer to home.