Eastern Jeep Safari 2009 - Moab, Utah

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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”
 
Moab, Utah – April 4th to the 11th – 2009

Monday 04/06/09. Alexis was committed with Olaf as a trail boss for one of the runs that day at Area B.F.E. But guess what? They were planning to do Strike Ravine. Doug was doing one of the trails that he signed up with the Easter Jeep Safari. Rusty was helping Olaf with the rock buggy. What do we do now? so Roberto (Cathead), Heydi and I went for a typical tourist attraction, located at Arches National Park. We visited the Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch Viewpoint. The Off road level of difficulty was non-existent.

Extracted from the park web site: Arches National Park - Welcome to Arches National Park

“Pets are allowed only on park road, in parking lots, or in your campsite. They must be physically restrained at all times in these locations. Pets are not allowed on or off trails, in the backcountry, or in buildings. Pets left unattended in vehicles during the heat of the day can die from heat exhaustion.”

What do we do with Heydi’s dog, Vino? The pet restrictions are a bummer, but they exist for a good reason, so we placed the dog inside his dog purse and we carried him. Guess who ended up carrying the dog? At least he’s tiny. We had one elderly female tourist complain about the dang dog, but what other options did we have in that scenario? When you can’t leave the dog at the house or inside the car because it’s inappropriate, you should’ve thought about not bringing it to Moab in first place. It wasn’t my dog, so I couldn’t leave it at home. We just prayed to avoid a ranger/ticket. If we did good or bad, I don’t know…but to leaving the dog alone in the house or the car was bad for sure…

We had fun watching the nature marvels that the park offers to visitors. We did a small hike, less than a mile in order to get to the Delicate Arch Viewpoint, mainly because we don’t want to expose ourselves with the dang dog in a National Park. I guess that Heydi didn’t quite understand the dog problem and we didn’t have any luck or patience trying to explain it to our friend. A ticket will explain it for sure, sooner or later.

Driving trough the Arches National Park corridors is like driving to a main street at any down town area, but instead of big buildings and people, you have huge rocks and sand. The feeling is quite similar, just the objects are different. There is no way that I can capture that emotion with a picture or video, is something that you must live for your own, so I totally recommend to expend few hours driving and hiking inside the park, a must see place that I just added to my personal list of visited places. Keep you off road angel aside, and do it.

Nevertheless, we had a blast that day. We arrived at home, had an early lunch, the dang dog was on my lap as usual while I was watching TV. Later, we drove to Area B.F.E to play with the Rock Buggy and take some pictures, and the part that I don’t like is always chasing the Buggy. I can do it for the first person, but come on, is not fun over and over again. And not just that, imagine yourself carrying multiple cameras, hanging around your neck. You call this fun? I guess it’s what we do on our days off.
 
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