Dozer FBG

The entirety of the trails is endless, so no! We generally picked the easiest hikes. Towards view points, and not the actual arches. It’s kind of a “make your own adventure” type deal.

Arches National Park Looking for solitude? This ain’t the place for you! But, you’ve got to give credit to this whole “timed entry”design. All the places we wanted to see had parking spaces, and though we shared the trails with many hikers, it never felt overly crowded. Maybe a little at the viewing points, but everyone we encountered was cool. It’s hard to describe the incredible beauty of this place, and the uniqueness of it all. Even now as I thumb through the photos on my phone, about half the pics are using the “pano” function. Me trying to capture the vastness… Can’t do it. I held my own on the hiking, I kept up with the wife, and could feel some muscles that hadn’t been worked for a while. Arches, despite all the damn tourists, was all a lot of fun! Highlights: The Windows, and Double Arch Delicate Arch (from the Utah license plate) Devils Garden It was a great day, and that was the evening we had dinner at the hotel. Next up… JEEP RENTAL DAY!!!

The next day we had reserved a “timed entry” slot for 12:00 noon to enter Arches National Park. With half a day to fill, we got up early, and I googled up a trail that was relatively close by, that my ride home could technically handle, and we could still make our entry time at ANP. We found a great place called Onion Creek Trail. Google maps location The creek had water flowing and we had to cross it a couple dozen times. It was never challenging, but you did need clearance crossing the water, and the road did get steep in a few spots. We found a place to hike around and take some pictures, and then headed back towards Moab in time for ANP. I never put the F-150 in 4WD… probably should have in a couple spots but I was putting’er to the test. No issues, I didn’t scare the wife, amazing landscape, and we never encountered other drivers until the return trip. It was a great morning! Next up, Arches National Park.

We pull into Moab around 3:00 p.m. We stayed at a place called The Hoodoo Moab, Curio Collection by Hilton. Moab is an inviting town and has lots of restaurants and shops within walking distance. Utah does have some weird drinking laws… like, if you order a drink to take to the pool, you must order a food item (bag of chips will suffice.) Or, if you order a nice bourbon and ask for a double, the bartender will yell out at the top of his lungs, “THERE ARE NO DOUBLES IN THE STATE OF UTAH”… Ok man, a single… followed by another single in fifteen minutes will be fine. Weirdo. We had dinner one evening at the hotel. I had the fillet, medium rare, which was excellent. I also had a single Basil Hayden, neat. Followed in due course with another single Basil Hayden, neat.

Days 5,6,7. On towards Moab! I hope everyone has an opportunity to drive I-70 through Colorado. For me, the Rocky Mountains are my wheelhouse. I LOVE driving this stretch of highway. Ole Blue handled it with the precision and power! Highlights: Eisenhower Tunnel (The highest point on the American interstate highway system) Glenwood Canyon I-70, an engineering feat that took 12 years to complete. Around mid-day we had lunch in Grand Junction, which is about 30 miles from Utah. So, we cross in to Utah and my wife is starting to question this supposed “filming location” from the movie Vanishing Point. I mean, you can’t blame her… But I insisted, and we take the sketchy exit off of I-70. This was all pretty funny as we rumbled down a road that clearly didn’t have a lot of traffic. We found the spot, we took a few pictures, had a laugh in front of the dilapidated building that was the gas station in the“famous”scene, and moved on. If you’re interested: google maps street view The original trailer for Vanishing Point The famous final scene We stayed on the backroads and soon found ourselves following the Colorado river into Moab. This stretch of road into Moab was amazing. In fact, amazing is a way to describe everything from this point forward. The natural beauty in the landscape was overwhelming. At first you want to take pictures, but there’s now way you can recreate what you’re seeing. This link describes this stretch of road as Scenic Byway U-128 beginning in Moab traveling towards where we came in.

Days 2,3,4. Made it to Winter Park, Colorado where we met up with an old high school buddy and his wife for the Blues From The Top, a three day blues festival. Blues From The Top I gotta tell ya, getting up there we hit three lanes of standstill traffic about 15-20 miles out of Denver. It looks like they are completely rebuilding the entire Floyd Hill section of I-70 from Evergreen to Idaho Springs. This is a gigantic project and, like all of I-70 through the mountains, an engineering marvel. Warning: It took an hour to go eight miles! Old friends, they shine like diamonds Old friends, you can always call Old friends Lord, you can't buy 'em You know it's old friends after all -Guy Clark Hanging out with old friends is one of the best things I’ve got going in life these days. Laughing, a few drinks, reliving old stories… add to that, the mountains and the music, Blues From The Top was a good run! I was most impressed by: The Ally Venable band This lady can play! She has the whole sexy guitar player thing going on, and will remind you of the great Samantha Fish. Eric Gales This whole band was awesome, and Gales himself was a great entertainer with just enough genuine interaction with the crowd that you knew he felt fortunate to be there. And he could really bring it on guitar! Dude was incredible! Reminded my of Gary Clark Jr. It was cool to see Big Head Todd and The Monsters. Todd doesn’t get enough credit as a guitarist. A true virtuoso.

Road Trip Report: I am happy to report that we all live in an amazing place! I feel very lucky to have the freedom to hop in my truck, drive in any direction, and find overwhelming beauty in our natural landscape. I love the great outdoors, and have always had an affinity for the American west. Although our trip got cut short, which I’ll explain later, we got to see some old friends, listen to some great music, and witness some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Day 1- Loaded up the F-150 ($3.01 gal.) and launched from Central MO heading west on I-70. Made it to Hays, KS. Who knew I needed reservations in Hays Freaking Kansas! The town was packed. After getting rejected at a couple places, we ended up staying at a Hilton. We found a nice Mexican restaurant in the “off highway” part of town. The next morning I learned that gas stations (in Kansas?) limit your purchase at the pump to $100. High demand, I guess…

Speaking of one hit wonders, I’m not even sure how I was turned on to this song, but It’s a rocker in kind of a dark humor way… Monster Magnet- Spacelord

STP Social Distortion Nirvana Jane’s Addiction Foo Fighters Some really good music from that era…

It’s gorgeous. black in the shade, blue in the direct light… I was talking upthread about taking it on some trails… but there gonna have to be some easy “old man” trails!

Welp, we’re getting down to the nitty gritty. The wife will find out this week if her vacation days are approved and we’ll be able to firm up some plans. I told my boss at the wood shop that I’d be taking a couple weeks off, and when I get back I’ll give him one more month and I was going back to doing my own thing again… So, we took the F-150, who we’ve taken to calling “Old Blu”, on a test run up to KC. I need some hot weather gear for all this hiking I’m supposedly gonna do… So we hit The Duluth Trading Company and Bass Pro. I picked up a couple pairs of those anti-swamp-ass underwear, and some Panther Martin lures in case I find a good time to catch a trout or two… The 70’s DJ voice was a hit! But my own voice on the WAZE app needs some fine tuning… Getting psyched!

More prep… Does anyone use the Waze app? It’s been around for a while but I’ve not tried it till now. It’s a crowd sourced app where users report speed traps, accidents, unusually high traffic congestion, etc. Any tips and tricks? One thing I found is that you can use your own voice for the navigation commands. You make about 50 short recordings like, “In 1 mile”, “at the roundabout”… It’s hilarious, and my wife will endure it for thousands of miles! There is also a pretty funny “70’s DJ” voice!

Check out Nancy over here! What a pathetic loser you are. So soft, so easily triggered, so wrong. You are nothing.

My thoughts are that you are a sick M’er F’er to tie these events together. F you, you gross fok. Freakin weirdo MAGA foks… disgusting.

What’s the torque? lol! Never heard that question! I plan to drive it till the wheels fall off…

Might do this: Moab Dinner Cruise

Meant to quote you above…

Very cool. I got the 3.5L V6. I test drove a 5.0 L back to back and I romped it pretty good on both rides. The 3.5 is plenty, and I can still pull a trailer pretty easy. I also test drove the F-150 Lightning… holy chit! The power is instant. Unbelievable… but the 300-350 mi range doesn’t work for me. As far as off road, I’m not afraid to do it on some 1’s or maybe a 2, but it’s pretty much the basic F-150 package. We will rent a Jeep for one of the days. I took my Wrangler there in the 90’s when I lived on the western slope… In doing current trail research I came across the Fins And Things Trail, and I definitely did that one. Seems like that trail had a lot of options.

This is real: Trump: If I took this shirt off, you would see a beautiful beautiful person. But you would see wounds all over. I’ve taken a lot of wounds I can tell you. More than I suspect any president ever… Victimy McVictimface

Ob…. Sessed. Freakin’ weirdos…

Also, Lee Marvin and Joe Louis are buried next to each other… Very special place.

I mean, seriously. Look at the front page of this forum and count the tranny threads. That’s not normal, fellas… That’s obsession. The dude that posts all that stuff is definitely suppressing some inner truths, to his own sick detriment. He reminds me of… Have you seen the series “Ozark”? They got this hillbilly mafia thing going on with the show… and then it’s like the writers had a “we haven’t put in a gay storyline in for a while” moment… and Boom! One of the hillbillies, against all stereotypes, is as gay as a picnic basket. Overkill is that secret gay hillbilly character.

Bunch of puzzie MAGA fem boys obsessing on Transexuals cuz they all secretly want to blow each other.

All right fokers… My wife is cooking me a steak and she’s not wearing a bra. Good night ass holes!!!

I banged your mom.