Tourist day and some stuff from yesterday

Well, a bummer from this post update is that it took my entire meal to upload the 10 or so photos I wanted to upload. I go to select one to place it and the program kinda stalls. So I hit 'Refresh', and now all of the pics that I had uploaded have been cleared. Boo.

Hopefully they load faster now...

Ok, back on track.

This is an example of how overbuilt a rig has to be to take on a Red Trail. My girl does NOT qualify.

A shot from the secondary meeting place at the trail head. There were like 23 trucks geared up and ready for this challenging run through Hell's Revenge.

The first challenge is literally right out of the gate. I don't know what the official name is, but I think of it as a Serpent's Spine. Narrow track oscillating up and down with steep dropoffs to either side. The photo doesn't quite do it justice. As a passenger, I was able to lean forward and angle the camera such that the roadway was visible. But from the driver's perspective, all you see is your hood and blue sky. I suppose you can see the rig in front of you and hope that they are taking the right line or that you are on that same line.

Just a shot of the convoy. Eric elected himself Tail Gunner, so we brought up the rear. On the easier trails, it is more of a formality. On these red trails, it quickly became apparent the importance of having seasoned wheelers interspersed throughout the convoy. A few calamities struck our group on this day.

At first it seemed like folks were stopping for a really long time to take photos. This guy's tire separated from the rim and quickly lost air. The group lost an hour struggling with getting him back off the ledge an in position to either reseat or replace the tire. They tried for a while to reseat before ultimately just swapping in the spare.

Hell's Gate. Doesn't look like much in this photo, but it is a wedgie that descends nearly straight down and around a small mesa.Driver has to scale down this path, and then return back up an even more challenging climb around the bend.

Brutal took his Frontier down and up first, followed by the Blue Beast Xterra. I missed Brutal's descent and just witnessed his climb back out. I had the time to follow both the descent and the resurrection of the Beast. Rear locker is absolutely mandatory. Ideally a SAS (solid axle-swapped) vehicle should run this. An independent front suspension (IFS) can do it, but the margin of error is significantly less.

At this point, he was home free on the ride down. I think I got video of him heading down and maybe some of him emerging.

Final convoy shot.

That wraps up yesterday.

Today wasn't quite so visual. It's about 230PM here.
I woke up and went for a workout at South Town Gym. Then I went to a cafe for a smoothie while I awaited a massage appointment. And now I've just finished my first meal of the day, brunch. The raffle is tonight. I'd like to see if I can score something. Otherwise, I'll probably start heading out of town this evening and nap somewhere between here and Denver. In Denver, I'll pick up Sean. Not sure how the rest of this is going to go. I'm sure he'll want to drive, but he only drives little baby cars. I've not seen him behind anything larger than a Mini Cooper, which were made very cool by the movie Italian Job, but he didn't get the sport-tuned suspension. See what I mean :)

I mean, I even have a sport-tuned suspension...and it's a truck. Well, I guess technically off-road tuned. But offroading is a sport. Alright, I've probably over-stayed my welcome at the diner. I'll have to figure out what to do with the rest of my time. I think I've already stopped in just about all of the shops here in town.