Jeepin' Across America, The Adventure Continues!

NFRs2000NYC

NFRs2000NYC

Caught the Bug
What's up guys, figured it's been a little while since I posted a thread like this, and the last time I did one of these people seemed to have enjoyed the read, so I figured what the hell, and decided to post up another one.

After the Moab trip in May, I've been itching to do another expedition elsewhere. I wanted to escape the disgusting summer heat (more specifically, the nasty NY heatwave of 100+ degrees) so I wanted to go somewhere where the air is crisp...and Colorado was calling my name. I convinced the wife who isn't a big Jeeper (hates spending time in cars, doesn't "get" expedition offroading, etc) to come along, so, without any plans, we packed up the Jeep and went.

The first destination would be Cortez Colorado, one of the most Southwest towns in the state. The route once again was the I70 and then mountain roads to our destination.



I wasn't sure where we would stay, if hotels were fully booked, etc, so I packed ALL of my gear, and by ALL gear, I mean enough gear for a small army to survive....in Siberia, with no food and water....for 2 months. I took camping gear, water purification gear, food, cooking stuff (grill, etc) and a slew of other items, including a portable toilet...still want to be civilized you know? :D After a full day of packing, the Jeep was ready to go! 2000+ miles of open road!



We left NJ close to midnight. I usually prefer to drive at night (especially in heavily populated areas) and driving at night keeps you "not tired" longer. The sun tires your eyes out, so anytime you have a long drive, IMHO, night time driving is the way to go. We stopped by 7-11 to pick up a few must have snacks for the road (gum, kit kats, beef jerky, and sour skittles for the wife) and hit the road.

By the time the sun came up....


We have made it to Ohio. I have been driving straight through the night. I'm very good at long distance driving (don't get tired, enjoy it, etc) so long drives are not a big deal for me.



The morning came, and it's time for breakfast. Now, Im not a fan of Ihop and Denny's but I am a HUGE fan of this place...good fresh well made breakfast food. The breakfast of fat champions. :D



Loadin' up on a good ol' merican breakfast.


It's amazing to see how much nicer people are when you leave a big city. I can't speak for all big cities, but the people in cities like LA, Miami, NY, NJ, etc are pretty large scumbags. Everyone is pissed off, stressed to hell, etc. It's nice to see warm people, people saying good morning, etc.

After breakfast, I let the wife hit the road for a little bit and let me sleep a little bit. She managed to take us through Ohio and into Indiana!


During the drive, the Jeep hit a milestone!


After the wife has been at the wheel for 1 tank (about 4 hours and 350 miles) we switched back. She was tired, and I was rested, so I took the next shift. She fell asleep and I drove on. I saw this prank played on someone once on a break.com video, but never thought that I'd ever have a chance to do it. Well, I did. The wife was sleeping and I came upon this...doing 70.


I yelled like crazy, she jumped up, saw this, and almost wet herself. I had an excellent giggle at her expense. :D

........
 
After a bunch of uneventful cornfield lined driving, we crossed another state line...



Greetings from Christ again....



And another...



Driving away from the nasty NE heatwave is proving more and more difficult...god I hate the heat.


Clouds we hangin' low and I was praying for some rain...which never came.


After a bunch of driving past nothing, it was nice to see something of note...


After lots more driving, the sun was once again departing for the evening, and we settled in for the night shift....no stops on this train, it's a non stop ride all the way to the end.
 
We "woke up" on the plains of Kansas. The road is pitch black and you can't see anywhere past your own headlights at night, so no pics of anything during the night drive.



The morning fog was rolling in, and at some points, it was so thick you can see about two carlengths in front of you.





After another LONG while we made it into Colorado. Unfortunately I missed the Colorado border sign....one I was hoping not to miss....doh! We drove on I70 for a little while in Colorado, then finally turned off onto some much smaller B roads....pulled over for gas at a local small town, but didn't realize this would cost us almost 30 minutes!!!! This train was like 5 miles long!


Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we made it to the real colorado....the green, mountainy Colorado! Pulled over in the San Juan National Forest to admire some scenery and breathe in some real fresh air!


After 200 or so more miles (long LONG miles since you are driving on slow mountain roads) we arrived at our destination....


Took 41 hours of nonstop driving, but worth it for what's to come!

We settled in for the rest of the day, relaxing, getting a bite to eat, swimming at the pool and soaking off the stiff limbs in the hot tub.


To be continued.....
 
Keep the pics coming. Nice looking rig, I need to make a road trip somewhere.
 
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This is a really nice thread, love the pic of royals stadium, I agree with the others keep the pics coming. I would love to take a trip like this, to just get I the jeep and take off, way cool
 
This is awesome, I want to jump in the Jeep one day and just roll out on a few weeks adventure! Keep the pics coming...


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Fantastic thread! :thumb: I'm more than a little jealous, I would love to just jump in the Jeep and just go. My exciting long distance weekend trip is just to get to a cracker barrel for some dumplings. :D
How are the Duratracs treating you on this cross country drive? Sounds like you are getting great MPG's.

Please keep the pix coming.
 
KPM171 said:
Fantastic thread! :thumb: I'm more than a little jealous, I would love to just jump in the Jeep and just go. My exciting long distance weekend trip is just to get to a cracker barrel for some dumplings. :D
How are the Duratracs treating you on this cross country drive? Sounds like you are getting great MPG's.

Please keep the pix coming.
Click to expand...

Im loving the Duratracs. I don't do crazy wheeling like Eddie and the gang, and most of my jeep miles are pavement, so an MT is out of the question for me, but they have been nothing but stellar in anything I have ever thrown at them. I wouldn't trade them for any other tire.

As for MPG, it depends. There are certain times I was getting in the 14s (very hilly) and sometimes in the 19s. I came home after the entire trip and was showing 17.2 on the EVIC. I do think after a certain amount of time the computer resets (maybe after 999 miles or something) but who knows.
 
DAY 1

We woke up, ate some crappy continental "breakfast" which included some sad bagels and muffins, and went on our way. Our first stop was the Four Corners Monument. It is the only spot in the nation where 4 states intersect. This monument is on Navajo land, so of course that means it has a fee to enter, $3.

This area is very remote, so if you plan on visiting, make sure you have gas in your vehicle as well as water and snacks.



The monument itself was recently redone with granite and brass.

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Surrounding the monument are stalls with the natives selling their stuff...some advice, don't go up to the stands if you don't intend on buying anything....they get kind of nasty when you say "no thank you, we're just looking." My wife almost swung at some teenager who was mouthing off to her. Now, a top travel tip. The above photo is what you are going to see. This place is not particularly pretty, particularty interesting, or IMHO, worth the time to travel all the way here (about 1.5 hours from anything else of significant interest)....I just want you to understand that the above photo is what you are going to see here. It's one of those places that you can say "I've been there" and cross it off the list....this and Mt. Rushmore, although at least Mt. Rushmore is technically impressive.

Leaving slightly annoyed, we left the Navajo lands and headed to our second stop of the day, which was the Mesa Verde National Park. This was an almost 2 hour drive so off we went. After driving for about an hour, I saw something in the distance. I saw a dirt road that didn't appear to be a driveway (it was marked with a state sign) and lead into the mountains...so I said what the hell...turned the wheel, and off we went...having no clue where this leads.

After driving on dirt/gravel for some time, we came across this place...

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We had no idea what this was, it looked like no one has been there for years, but it was still a cool site to see.

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A very Moab'y looking rock formation....
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After another hour of driving, we arrived at the Mesa Verde National Park.





Inside the visitor's center they had a few displays showcasing the terrain, the lifestyle, etc.









There is a real reason to stop here, you need to pick up tickets for the tours of the several cliff dwelling tours. They have several, but the one you want is the Cliff Palace. Those are the ruins you see in photos of the park. However, you need to get there early because the tours fill up fast. They take 50 people per group, and the earliest tour left was 5:00PM. Since it was only about 1PM, we figured we would go check out the park and kill time.



Driving through the park was a doddle, but there were great elevation changes. I'll discuss tips for elevation sickness later on for our sea level dwelling folks.



A lot of the driving we're cliffside roads with awesome views...


After over an hour of driving (roads are windy, park is HUGE and speed limit is low) we were starving. We decided to find a quiet picnic sport and set up shop.



Time to break out the emergency ribeyes...never leave home without em...




Always a nice morale booster to have a nice hot meal in the middle of nowhere, and not have to spend $17.50 on an order of chicken fingers at a sad park cafeteria. This little grill has been one of my best purchases for expedition travel, worth every penny.
 
After lunch, it was about 3:45 so we headed towards the tour location. Right before the Cliffs, they had a little building called the museum, where they showcase the lives of the pueblo indians, the inhabitants of these lands.

Inside were a few cool dioramas,







And a number of interesting displays, showcasing their shoemaking, basket making, pottery, tools, medicines, etc.

















Im a sucker for paleontology and thought this was cool as hell


At this point it was time to start making our way towards the tour start point and wait for the ranger, but a storm was about to roll in...



Before we got in the jeep to head over to the tour, we realized there were some dwellings that we could check out without a tour, so we decided to do the short hike to take a look.







These dwellings were in natural alcoves, so they make excellent shelter from the elements and predators.



One of the many religious ceremony wells.


Now, off to the tour....it's a 10 minute drive, so off we went....

The area seemed to have been impacted by a wildfire a while back, so the landscape seemed to be slightly "silent hill" looking, but my god...look at the roads...I would have LOVED to have my s2000 here (along with many other places I'll be showing you later)....





Parked the Jeep, but before we can go to the tour, we were attacked by a wild animal...
 
So we started the tour, and the ranger spent about 20 minutes talking to us about the environment, the people, etc, before we began. She warned some of the older people that there would be some very narrow squeezes, some ladder climbs, etc, and if they feel they can't cope they should turn around now. It would be nice if the ticket sales people offered this advice to people, rather than a ranger at the scene AFTER you already paid.

Example of one of the climbs...


Finally we got to the site of the dwelling...



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It was interesting to see, but it wasn't that different from the free dwelling you can see near the museum. If you are interested to hear some of the details, I'd say the tour is worth it. If not, I think you can skip it. The tour kept going, but we had a long drive into Telluride, so we took the nearest exit and left.

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Telluride is the start of the real adventure, and the real reason I wanted to come out here....for real Jeepin'. So, with 220 miles (long miles) to the town, off we went.

On the way out of the park, we saw some wild horses, not something you see everyday...being from NY anyway.

 
After a LONG drive of almost 4 hours, we finally arrived to the foothills of Telluride...the scenery kept getting prettier and prettier...it was cool to see Moab style red rock mixed with the green vegetation.



On one section of road the speedlimit was 60mph, and a bird flew right in front of my grill...the impact killed him instantly and somehow he rolled up onto my hood.



Once again, the road made me wish I had my s2000 with me




Finally, we arrived to the proper rockies...the views were incredible....

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Finally, after a long day, just as the sun was begging to set, we arrived in Telluride....





Since we didn't have any reservations anywhere and had no real plans, we needed a place to stay, so I hopped on hotwire and booked a room at a "4 star hotel"....after booking, I found out that it was The Hotel Telluride, which turned out to be a very nice boutique hotel, with every room having a balcony, a fridge, a microwave, a king bed, and a plasma.



After a LONG day, it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow would be another day, and the real adventure begins.
 
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