Moab, Utah – April 4th to the 11th – 2009
Approximately 750 miles / 1200 km is the distance between Moab, Utah and Orange County, California, so you do the math, at least 12 hours driving. We stopped like every three hours. Taking care of leaks and pumping gas.
We left Orange County on Saturday the 4th at 6:00 am and we arrived to Moab Utah at 6:00 PM or so. We drove trough California, Nevada, a littler corner of Arizona and finally Utah. When we were driving over the Utah mountains, we had a little snow storm. To keep the speed limit of 75 mph was insane, but everyone was doing that speed, so actually it was more dangerous for us to slow down. We held our speed, strapped our rear ends down and focused on our driving.
Olaf rents his Moab house as a vacation rental, However one room was rented to a vendor for the week, one room for himself and we, Roberto, Roberto and Rusty, took the third one without hesitation. Alexis slept in the family room, but he decided to sleep in his Jeep/Adventure Trailer for a couple of nights because he was making a sound that registers louder than normal snore. He said the same about us. We’re still trying to decide what to call it.
Sunday 04/05/09: Our plan was the Venezuelan way, no plan at all, just do wherever it comes. We helped Olaf with the set-up of the rancho Area B.F.E. (Bum F-word-ing Egypt or Big Family Entertainment) because Area B.F.E. had several different events during the Easter Jeep Safari week. With that covered, our agenda was wide open. We played for a while with our 4x4s, like warming up when you are doing some exercise, and then, we hit Strike Ravine trail, a moderate to difficult trail. We didn’t realize that the snow and mud will add few extra points to the level of difficulty. Well, we realized right away, that it was going to be a fun run, that’s for sure.
I’m always joking about my mud secrets, but when I stopped and let Doug know about an obstacle, Doug was thinking, what the heck is he talking about? In no time, I was stuck, trying to get Buttercup back over the tracks. Doug just said “I had first row seat for a Venezuelan mud demonstration, like the videos and photos you share” and “bummer, is my turn and my Jeep is going to get dirty, crap!!!”
We visited an abandoned mine, but the conditions were so precarious that we preferred to stay away, we took some pictures and that’s it. Later, the road was narrow and close to a cliff edge. We felt that if we go down, then we may not be able to climb up again. However, that’s why we drove so far. This is what we were looking for… challenging stuff!!! We went down with no problems, driving close to the cliff, over rocks covered with mud and snow. What an experience!!!
We realized that the bottom of the cliff is where the hardest part of the trail began, with huge muddy steps were a Jeep’s group was winching their way out!!!
Hello people!!! I don’t have a winch!!! I unsuccessfully tried to crawl a few times and then allowed Doug to try it. He did it!!! Then he strapped me out of that slippery hill climb while Buttercup was spinning tires and kicking tons of mud.
It was scary but fantastic at the same time. I must’ve had such a big smile on my face because Olaf read guilty on it. Guilty of having fun!!! He said, “I’ve never seen you so happy” and I said: “My friend, you have no clue how happy I am now”
... I'll publish one album per day, but I need to get more 
pics from Buttercup... keep tuned...
