Utah: Get Elevated...or something like that...

So first off, this Travel Center in particular saved my life. I powered pretty strong on my second wind after leaving the IHOP for a period of about 1hr 15 min. It was initially kicked off by Fabolous' song "Holla Back Youngin" randomly coming on the radio. And for some reason I was super hyped. But then the mood slowed down. And a couple of times, I did those double long blinks. Where instead of blinking for an instant, they're like two instants. And you string enough of those together and you're asleep at the wheel. Well that pattern was starting. Plus the nights in Kansas while driving are the blackest I've ever experienced. I could easily have rolled off of the road and into some drainage ditch well below the grade of the road never to be found. So I stayed at this one and just napped in the car and no one bothered me. After maybe 1-1/2 to 2 hours, I was ready to go to work.

I was up earlier than the sun and was trying to outrun it. I posted something to that effect on facebook. If Turner ever started a trucking division, they could just acquire this company.

I was determined to make it to their campus. But on second thought, it was a Sunday and it was absolutely dead. I should have just gone straight to Denver and caught up with the convoy. Instead I ended up chasing after them all morning and afternoon with minimal food and sleep.

Everything was locked up and inaccessible. In order to get this shot, I had to crane my arm in behind some chain link fence to get the pic unobstructed.



This was just sheer boredom. This person is an olympian, but I dont recall whom

So I got a proper "leaving" this state photo at the border of Colorado and Utah.

And I decided to let Veronica pose for a photo as well.

All of this was good because as I pulled out into traffic, I ended up kinda cutting off a new convoy of Xterras with a Frontier and I was able to join them for the drive in to Moab. Serendipity.





These are some of the people attending at the condo where we got instructions. I was too cheap to go in for a condo. I kind of like my tent setup anyway.

This was me building it prior to setting up the fly sheet. I had read the instructions once when I first got it. I had wanted to experiment with building the tent, running the generator, installing snow chains, etc. just to make sure that the preparations are there before the emergency.

This is the full setup with the tent and all the camping accessories I'll be using for this go 'round.


She is kind of a beast. I asked one of the trail guides to give me some thoughts on the winch mounting. It is kind of a liability in that it really curtails my angle of approach when encountering a steep grade. We will see tomorrow. Super exhausted. Bed time is happening...NOW