I learn to solder

Even though I am half way decent at welding and have owned a soldering iron for a number of years, I have never really learned how to solder. The rare times I work with wiring, I have always just used electrical tape and twisted the wires together.

Anyway, the new truck is awesome
But has a few minor issues that bug me. One such issue is that the temperature/compass console does not work. I have researched the issue and found it is a common problem, especially in warm climates. Makes sense. Luckily, the fix is cheap and easy. If you know how to solder.

I conclude soldering can't be that hard so I pull my truck apart and find the circuit board that controls the console with no problem. I am good at taking truck interiors apart... Sure enough, the resistor that my research revealed as the culprit had completely popped off the circuit board. All i have to do is solder it back on and it will work. Supposedly.

I decide to go for it. Lets learn to solder on this truck piece that is 800 dollars to get a new one. My thinking is that it doesnt work anyway so why not. In hindsight, the "why not" argument would be "so i can take it to someone who actually knows what they are doing" but what would be the fun in that???

I spend about 30 minutes trying to get the damn thing reattached. The resistor itself is tiny. Maybe 1/8 inch by 1/4 inch. Just working with it is a pain. Needless to say, i melt part of the circuit board before finally getting it attached. It looks like shit. However, no one will ever see it. Im not too concerned about looks in this case as long as it works. Hopefully it wont break again and i will never see it again either.

Anyway, i pop it back in the truck and turn it on. Success! Except that i have no bearing. Instead of a letter, there is an 8. Uhhh ok. Weird. At least the thermometer is working.

I drive around a bit and realize that the 8 is supposed to be an s. oops. I guess i fried something important. Oh well. It gives the truck character and im just glad it works again :). And i kind of know how to solder! I would call that a success.


Photos!!!!: The circuit board and rogue resistor and my s disguised as an 8.

First day back... skiin!

So I went skiing today. It was pretty awesome.  Alyeska may not have tons of lifts but it is not lacking at all in the awesome department. The vast openness at the top of the mountain is pretty amazing. I mean the entire upper part of the mountain is completely open. I didn't see much of that. The awesomeness of the snow might have helped too. And it was absolutely gorgeous. Check back to see some pictures :)

So we get to the hill and get up to the top of the lift. We all take off and 10 feet down the hill my ski spontaneously pops off and I face plant and slide down the hill. Aly is up the hill luckily for me and bring s me my ski. Mason laughs at me. And Tanya is at the lift already wondering what the hell happened to me. Weird my ski popped off. I have the tension on the bindings so tight they don't even come off when they should...

We went all over. The northface was amazing. The snow was soo nice!!!  This part of the hill is still one of the more challenging ones I have been to. Definitely the longest double black I have found thus far!

Anyway, really, I won't be updating every day more. Buttt I felt I should share :)

The grand conclusion!

Day 76: The longest 40 miles I have ever driven

Well, I drove a lot more than 40 miles today. Just read. You will understand!

The Ramada turns out to be a pretty nice place to stay. Nothing fancy but the room has a kitchenette (not that we used it) and their continental breakfast includes homemade breakfast sandwiches that are delicious. It was a little loud during the night. I could hear semis engine braking occasionally and apparently some kids decided to have a party. The office guy later said he had to kick them out at 2 am. No fun.

Anyway, Papa wakes me up around 6. Ready to get up? Uhhh, no. Breakfast is not out yet anyway so he doesn’t try to hurry me. I get up shortly thereafter and shower. I then go to sink to fill my water bottle. I turn it on and fill it. Instead of turning it off, I turn it up all the way. Water jets out of the water bottle and all over me. Ugh. I change shirts. That is a little better.

My dad comes back inside. I don’t know exactly what he is doing outside. He comments that he is having a Canadian morning. Uhhh what?  Apparently everyone he has encountered has said “eh” numerous times. Ohhh. Haha. I go out and start up the truck. Oh it sounds happy to be awake and running at this cold and early hour.

We head off down the road. A few miles out of town, I realize I forgot to get gas. Oh, I have half a tank, I am sure we will see something. My “maintenance required” and tire pressure warning lights then come on. I have no idea what the symbol for the tire pressure light means so I panic a little. Dadddd get in the glove box and tell me what this means. We figure it out. Probably because it is cold out. Great. And thank you truck for telling me you need an oil change. I am quite aware. You will have to wait until I get home. All your stupid lights are just annoying me right now.

I try to reset the tire pressure light. No go. Apparently I have to fix the problem before I am allowed to turn off the light. Ughh. I’ll do it the next time I find a gas station. I consult Daniel. He finds a station 100 miles up the road. Hmm, should be able to make it there right as the gas light comes on. Ok, let’s go for it. I hate to backtrack.

As we drive, we see a buffalo chillin on the side of the road. Cool. We stop to take a picture. The camera battery is dead. Great. Well, I get a shot on my phone. So that is something.

I continue on the road. I come upon a truck pulling a trailer and pass it. Ok, good. Hopefully they will be nice should I run out of gas and will help us. I see a sign for gas. Yes! I pull out anddd they are closed for winter. Dammit. The truck and trailer pass us back. I get back on the road and go around them again. My gas light comes on before I expect it to. Shittt. This is going to be close. I know I have 3.5 gallons left when the light comes on. If I can do 15 mpg then that’s 45 more miles I can go. Daniel says 40 more miles…

I keep driving. It is mostly uphill. Well, there goes my mpg. Make that 10. This is wayyy closer than I want to cut it. At least there is someone closeish behind us…. My dad starts talking and I am stressed out and not in the mood to talk. Ehh, sorry Dad, a little worried right now!  Talk to me in half an hour when we have gas. I am just hoping that the place Daniel found is actually open. I don’t think they would have gas more than 100 miles apart on the highway even in the winter but…..

We make it!  I am really relieved. I run inside and give them my card. I need gas please!  I fill it up. The pump is in liters so I don’t know exactly how close we were to running out but the bill is over $100 so I know it is really close. The guys with the trailer pull up. They are friendly and I apologise for passing them so many times. They don’t mind and we chat a little.

I ask my dad to check my tires. I don’t have a tire pressure gauge for some reason. I know I had one in T Rex so I must have left it. I could really use it at the moment…. The gauge on the air hose says most of them are overinflated.  Weird, I would think they would be low since it is really cold and cold makes air less dense… We set it to the recommended pressure. The light stays on. Ughh!  Annoying. At least I have gas and the “check engine” light isn’t on too!

We head on down the road and soon encounter a whole heard of bison. Cool!  I pull off to the side of the road and we take some pictures. The camera battery has warmed up by now and the camera is functional. My dad gets out and takes some pictures.

Bison!!

For most of the day, the roads are pretty good. There are a few places where they get snowy but they are mostly dry and not too bumpy. Until we get near Whitehorse. The closer we get, the rougher the roads get. The truck is bouncing around all over. I mean, it is handling great, but it is definitely getting a workout! We hit Whitehorse. Oh my gosh, they have a stoplight! And chain restaurants! This place is huge! Most people suggested that we stay here. However, that leaves 700 miles to drive tomorrow. I am getting sick of driving. I am so sick of it that I actually let my Dad drive some today.  So 700 miles on the last day sounds terrible.

We continue on to Haines Junction, about 100 miles past Whitehorse. This should make tomorrow better!  The road is pretty awful. This is what I remember from the drive down. It is all frost heaved and has washed out places all over. At least it is still dry! I am hearing weird noises and can’t tell if it is the road (probably is) or my truck. I am concerned that the tire pressure is way too low. It has warmed up to where the temperatures were yesterday and my tire pressure light is still on. This concerns me a little. I will check it when we get gas…

By the time we pull into Haines Junction, I starting to lose it. I hadn’t realized it, but I am really tired and hungry. Heyy, I never really had lunch. Oops, I forgot…. Not to mention I am stressed out. All of my credit cards are almost maxed, my truck has all the stupid warning lights on, and I have realized all the stuff I need to do when I get back. I miss having no responsibilities!  I have to actually do stuff when I get back. I need to make a list.

I pick a motel. I had done some research before I left and found a place people said was cheap. There is not a whole lot of accurate data on hotel prices on this trip online so I have to go with reviews and such that may or may not be outdated. Well, the place is $80 a night. Cheapest we have stayed all trip so why not?  It also might be the only motel open in town in the winter… Oh wait, I think there is one other!!!  Anyway, I get the room and pretty much lose all motivation. Just want to sleeppp!!!

However, I want to get gas before tomorrow so I don’t forget again so we head to the gas station. I fill up. I want to check my tires but they have no air. My dad asks inside about air. The guy doesn’t think anywhere in town has air. Great. Oh well. I am sure we will find air somewhere. I hope. I am not excited about driving over a thousand miles in my nice almost brand new super expensive tires with them improperly inflated. What can I do right now though? I’ll deal with it as soon as I can!

As we leave, my dad starts asking about food. We were going to heat up some canned food but the room has no microwave. Uhh, I don’t know. Hot food is good. I guess. I just want to sleep. I just realized how exhausted I am and really don’t care. I am having a really hard time dealing with the stress caused by my truck tire pressure. Not a good sign insignificant things seem unmanageable…

We try a few places. One is closed for the winter, another has $30 entrees, and another closes at 8 (it is now 8:05). Ughh!!! I don’t care! I just want to sleep!!!! We finally find an open burger place. I wanted something more healthy (oddly) but oh well!  I get a burger. And a salad. Win win?  It is pretty good. I realize that part of my problem might be that I am hungry…. Oops. I let my dad know that I am exhausted and trying not to be unpleasant or anything but if I am, that is why. He says I am doing ok and that he would think I am quite exhausted. 

Anywayyyy, we pay and drive the whole quarter of a mile back to the hotel. I look out the window. The stars are starting to come out over the mountains. I missed northern mountains. We finally started to see some goo mountains about half way through today! Northern mountains are just more rugged than the southern Rockies. I mean, the whole top half of mountains up here is bare of trees and covered in rocks and snow. Most of the mountains down south are covered with trees most of the way to the top. The rocky top parts, if any, just seem more tame somehow. I don’t know how to explain it. I can’t wait to see my Alaskan mountains again!  

I get in bed and am hoping to be asleep by 10. I must say, I am really excited by the idea of sleeping in my own bed again!!! I really need to sleep so I won’t be a mess by the time I get home tomorrow!

Lucky to have good weather most of the way!

Day 77: 12340 miles and 1 ticket later…

Though he claims to not be a morning person, my dad is up at 6 and talkative. He is always talkative in the morning. He might deny it, but he is totally a morning person. At least subconsciously. I lay in bed, not excited to be up. We talk about airplanes and random stuff.

I finally get up and shower. I realized that I have now come full circle on my trip. I will be going back the same way I came. This is where I turned off to take the ferry last time! Kindaaa cool! I guess. Anyway, I come out of the bathroom and my dad is starting out the window. Oh nice! The sun is coming up and there is a beautiful Alpenglow going on! These mountains are so beautiful and rugged. Nothing against other mountains, but I think Northern mountains will forever be my definition of “mountains”.

There is no dryer in the room so I run out to my truck to get mine. It is below zero and my wet hair freezes. I decide that since I am freezing anyway I should take some pictures of the mountains. I do so and run inside and dry my hair while my dad checks out.

He comes back and my hair is dry enough. I go outside and start putting things in my truck. I start it up so it can start getting warm. Poor Arizona truck is probably freezing. I go back to the room and realize I have locked myself out. I bang on the door. No answer. Dammit! My dad must be in the bathroom. I am only wearing my hoodie so I bang on the door until he is done and gets it.

A short time later, we are on the road. Daniel puts us into Tok a little after noon. Not bad! The road is absolutely horrible, just as I remember. I don’t think I manage to launch my truck today luckily. We talk about stuff for most of the morning. My dad is definitely more talkative in the morning… yet he says he is not a morning person. I don’t buy it! 

A little before noon, we pass the Canadian border checkpoint. Sweet, 20 more miles to Alaska!  The road is better and I speed down it. Next thing I know I have red and blue lights in my window. Oh shit, those are probably for me since there is no one else around. I pull over. He spends a long time sitting in his cop SUV. I wonder if I got pulled over for speeding or for my license plate being completely covered in dirt and unreadable or both. A short time later, my question is answered.

Mr. Cop walks up to me and informs me that I was doing 120 in the 90 zone. He then translates that into SI units for me. Thank you, I am an engineer and can convert. Or, I can just look at my speedometer. My response? “Oh shit, sorry!”  Um yeah, great thing to say to the cop. I’m not sure why I said sorry actually. I am not really sure what I am sorry about. He takes my license and registration and disappears into his car for a while.

I probably should be upset or something by this. Honestly, I found the whole thing highly entertaining. I have come so far and have been speeding all over the US and Canada and on the last day I get caught. I am just hoping the ticket isn’t ridiculously expensive. He finally comes back with my paperwork and a nice Canadian ticket. He wrote me up for 110 and the ticket is $46. I am extremely happy. I ask him how I am supposed to pay it. He lets me know I can mail money to the address on the back or I can come to court in Whitehorse on May 12 if I want to plead not guilty. Well, it is going to cost way more to get to Whitehorse than to just pay the ticket so I head on my way.

Genuine Canadian speeding ticket....

I got the speed limit until I get back to Alaska. The lady at the border checkpoint is more strict than most. She asks a lot of questions and asks to see my truck registration. That is the first time I have had to pull that out at a checkpoint. Probably because my temp tag is completely unreadable at this point. Luckily, it is handy….. She finally waves us by.

We see a heard of caribou just before Tok. My dad is pretty excited. We have seen all the deer family with the exception of moose on the trip. He wouldn’t mind seeing something with paws but has been pleased with the wildlife viewing. 

We make it to Tok about on schedule, even with the unscheduled stop. I didn’t have breakfast so we stop at Fast Eddys for some lunch. We get a pizza which turns out to be pretty awesome. We stop at the gas station on the way out of town. They have air! My dad checks my tires again. It says they are still good… Why the hell is my light still on?!? Oh well.

Only 300 miles to home!  We take off down the Tok cutoff. I hit cruise control just above the speed limit so I don’t get too excited on the straight sections and get another ticket today. The Tok Cutoff has a lot of random gravel patches. I don’t remember this leaving. Then again, the roads were covered in snow when I left. While there is snow all over, the roads are still clear. I hardly use my 4wd all day again.

After making the turn onto the Glenn Highway, we see a moose! Sweet, we have now seen all of the northern deer family on the trip. My dad is pleased. We finally get to Glennallen. From here on, I am pretty familiar with the area. It is weird. I have been gone for a while but it seems like I just drove out yesterday. I always feel like that when I go back to a place that I know. I always feel like I never really left. In this case, I feel like the last 77 days didn’t really happen. I mean, obviously they did, but in the scheme of things……

Anyway, we make it into town without further ado. Anchorage is starting to get into spring. Early spring in Anchroage is gross. The snow is all brown and melted and the sand they have been putting all over the roads all winter for traction is making everything brownish grey. It is also overcast which makes it even more grey.

I take my dad home. I thank him for flying out last minute to do the drive with me. 3200 miles in 5 days alone with Daniel might have made me crazy. Even though I didn’t let him drive much, the peace of mind and company was awesome and probably somewhat necessary on my part.

I get home and walk in the door. I immediately receive a huge hug from my newest roommate, Theresa. Last time I saw her, she hated hugs. Sweet, I like this change of heart!  She helps me carry all of my shit in from my truck. Yay! Awesomeness! I then walk straight to my room and say hi to Chip. He looks at me and then ignores me. Ok ok, I did just abandon you for almost 3 months. But I left you in good hands! And I am back! He finally comes over to see me. He is glad I am back, even if he is pretending to be mad at me!

I spend the rest of the night unpacking and putting my stuff away. I catch up with Theresa, talk to my mom, and talk to some of my other friends on the phone. Meeting my mom for breakfast tomorrow and going skiing with Tanya and Ali! Not missing a beat here! 

I go through all of my mail. Ugh, scary!  I find my Honda car payment letter. Oh shittt, my first truck payment is due in April. Early April. The dealer had told me May. Luckily, I had saved some emergency cash for when I got back… This is majorly going to suck until I get paid and get my tax refund. Oh well, It will work out!!

By about 10, I have all of my clothes unpacked, have done laundry, and have the majority of my shit put away. Not too bad!  The only thing I really bought on the trip was shot glasses. Well, I got a shirt or two and my new coffee thermos. Oh, and a truck and a phone but those don’t count. I ask Theresa if she wants to help me unwrap them. And then apologize because I didn’t bring anything back for anyone. All people get is postcards from me! I figure that the thought that goes into a postcard would outweigh being brought stuff…?  Anyway, I tell her she is more than welcome to use my shot glasses anytime. She is excited to see what I picked out.

I am really quite excited to be in my own bed again, listening to chinchilla sounds as I fall asleep.

I suppose my grand adventure has come to an end. It has been more fun that I could have possibly imagined. The experience may not have been entirely life changing, but it has been umm, life reinforcing. If that makes any sense. Basically, I have come to the conclusion that my life philosophies that I have held have withstood this test and are probably on the right track. The experience was completely any worth and the financial not so awesome spot I have myself in at the moment. I probably would have always regretted not having done something like this. Well, and I will probably regret not doing something like this again someday.

Anyway, I will keep updating this blog. Sooo subscribe by e mail. Or follow me. Or just check back. Well, if you find what I have to say interesting J I will probably do some random reflections and thoughts about my trip on here that are more in depth than the last paragraph. And post random stories from my life as the happen and I feel that they are worth writing and sharing!  Thank you for reading. I appreciate it!!! 

By the way, I am going to try to get the trip portion of my blog published in a book. Like for real published and sold in book stores. Sooo if you really liked reading it, I would not mind some help editing in a few months soooo contact me! I guess. J

 I will put up a few more pictures later.... Check back in a bit!

Home!

Btw i made it home! Detailed blogs are written. Just gettin the internet at home workin!

Canada Part 1

 I added two pictures to the last post... 




Day 74: Off to Canadia...

I wake up when the sun starts shining in around 7. I kinda like this whole waking up early thing. Sadly, I doubt it will last when I get home. Oh well. I shower and head downstairs to breakfast. It is nothing extraordinary but it is complimentary. As I am finishing, I overhear a lady checking out. She is driving up to Anchorage today. I decide to talk to her. "Whatta know, me too!"

We talk for a bit and mention driving together. Sadly, she wants to head out now and I am not headed out till a bit later. Oh well. She gives me her number and says to call her if I see her truck at a hotel or along the way or something. I head back to my room and finish packing.

It is only 10when I check out and it takes an hour and a half to get to the Great Falls airport. I need to kill some time. I find the fire station and go looking for a patch. They have one!  Apparently around here, they sell them and don't make a habit of giving them away. I tell them what it is for and they just give it to me. Yay! I decide to drive to Great Falls and find their fire station before heading to the airport. That should put me in around the right time!

I get on the highway and am immediately passed by a brown Audi SUV with bikes strapped to the top. Hmmm, I have seen them before. They were one of the people who kept passing me and then I would pass back yesterday... Such a small world. Anyway, I make it to Great Falls without further ado and pull off the highway in search of a fire station.

I find one and they happily give me a patch. I head back through town toward the airport. It is a small place and the traffic lights are timed annoyingly. As in I spend a lot of time sitting at red lights with no on the cross road. I decide I am not a huge fan of the place. I guess traffic lights are a bad reason to decide not to like somewhere.

I make it to the airport and park by the door labeled "Baggage claim" I had not been there more than 2 minutes when I get a text from my dad saying he had landed. Excellent timing! I text him back where I am and to look for the gross black Tacoma. A few minutes later he comes out. "Whoah, you're tan!" And then I get a hug. Yes, I am, I spent 3 weeks in Arizona!  And got a sweet goggle tan too.

He wants to get right on the road so we hit the highway. We talk about my trip and my truck and the roads and how it is not snowy yet. We get to the border. Unlike the other times I have driven toward the Canadian border, there was no warning at all. All the sudden, I was at a gate. No signs or anything. We get through with no problems. They barley even ask me any questions. Glance at the passports, ask where we are headed, and how long we are staying in Canada. "I am going home to Anchorage and plan to be in Canada the least amount of time possible." Ok, welcome to Canada!

We drive down the nice 4 lane highway. There is little to no snow and the roads are dry. Sweet!  Unfortunately, it is really quite windy. I get blown around a bit. Oh well, at least the rest of the weather is cooperating! Not much to complain about really. We stop to get gas. My dad offers to pay. Thank you! I am not expecting anything but will not turn down the offer by any means! His card is declined at the pump. He goes inside to ask what is up. Apparently the pumps at this gas station do not take foreign cards. Haha, our cards are foreign.The card works inside. We fill up and head on the way.

We hit Calgury at rush hour. Daniel tries to reroute me around the traffic by taking me through downtown. I see no traffic so I ignore him. I end up stuck in traffic for all of about 5 minutes before it disperses. Not too bad at all.

We continue the drive toward Edmonton. Still clear roads and little to no snow anywhere. Awesomeness!  We take the bypass and completely miss the city all together. This is good and bad since we had decided to stop for dinner in town. There is not much on the bypass. We finally hit a tiny town and find a Subway to grab some dinner. By the time we have gotten food and gas, it is just past 8 and is dark.

Still another bit to go to reach Whitecourt, the place suggested to stay in. Luckily, the roads are still good even past Edmonton. 4 lanes most of the way, dry, and not too bumpy. The headlight glare is worse than usual which is really annoying. My dad does not particularly like driving so I keep driving. I offer to let him drive every time we stop and get the same answer. "I will be happy to but I don't particularly want to."  Eh, I like driving so I just keep going.

Twoish hours later we pull into Whitecourt. It is a lot bigger than I was expecting. I expected a tok-size town. This place is about 10 times that size. Not that that is hard. We stop at a motel that is advertising cheap rates. I run inside. I am hoping I might get lucky and get a cute girl discount or something. "Have any rooms?" They just gave the last room away to the guy that walked in right before me. Damn!  I try the next hotel down the road. Similar story. Chris had warned me that this place is extremely popular for contractors to stay and getting a room might be hard. It might not have been too bad if we had gotten in earlier. Unfortunately, it is pushing 11.

I am really tired and just want to sleep. I try a few more places with the same result. Sleep in the truck? We are prepared for that. I don't care at this point. We try one last place, the Holiday Inn, which is kind of tucked away off the highway. Maybe they missed it since it isn't on the main road. My dad offers to go in. Ok! I don't think it matters how cute I am if there are no rooms.... He comes out a few minutes later, with no cards or keys. Damn.

He gets in the truck. "They are holding a room for us at the Lakeview Suites" Oh, sweet! Papa for the win! Apparently he had showed them his Holiday Inn priority card and they had called around until they found a place with a cancellation.We show up. The room is more than we had really wanted to pay for but my Dad gets it. He had concluded I must be tired and that sleeping in a real bed would be worth it. Awesomeness!!!

He checks in while I park. The parking lot is packed. I find a car parked in what is not a spot and decide to drive over the snowy curb and park next to it. I do so... and start slipping. I hear a clunk and the rear end slides as I try to get over all the snow. Shit. I hope that is not my truck hitting the car next to me. I get out and check. It's not. Apparently it is just my truck slipping on the snow. Jeeze, T Rex never clunked around as much as this thing did. The lift makes it make all sorts of weird clunks when I drive over things. It is deffinately getting a tire downsize whenever I have to get new tires. That will fix the clunking. Oh well, I don't mind. I am just not used to it.

I am finally happy with my parking and pull out the bags. I go inside and check to make sure I won't get towed. As long as I am not in the way, it is fine. Well, I am over the curb and people shouldn't be driving there anyway so I figure it is ok.

We head to the room, nothing amazing but it is a nice looking hotel room. I throw down my bag, pull out my pajamas and contact case, change and get in bed. I say goodnight and spend the next hour or so not sleeping. Ugh! I am so tired but still wound up. I eventually fall asleep.



Day 75: More Canadia

I again wake up as the sun shines in the room. I get in the shower and clean myself. Yay! I love being clean. I come out of the bathroom and my dad is up and ready for his turn. I lay on my bed until he is done. I then dry my hair and we head to checkout.  We get some complimentary breakfast and head out.

I start up the truck. It is cold. I need to get a block heater and autostart and all that cool stuff. I let it run for a bit and wake up Daniel while we wait. I put in our day's destination. Daniel thinks we can do it about 2 hours faster than Google maps had when I checked a few days ago. I like Daniel's thinking.

We head off. The road is still a nice 4 lane highway. There is some snow on the ground but the road is dry. We end up having a long discussion about Coldwater, the lake house my Dad's family bought forever ago in Michigan. I had asked when he thought he would make it back there. We then got into all of the improvements we wanted to make to it. The place was built in the 50s and has had little maintenance done over the years. At this point, the roof is leaking and it just needs some work overall. I think my brother Stephen and I could tackle that issue between my engineering skills and his carpentry skills. I realize that I never actually knew how my family ended up buying a lake house on a lake that is too small to even be on a normal map... so I ask and find out! Good stuff.

About half way to Fort Nelson (the day's destination) we end up on two lane highways. Still in pretty good shape and dry in most places. I switch in and out of 4wd for the rest of the day. A little annoying but at least there is usually a pretty clear point at which I need to switch.

I come up behind a truck. It must be carrying gravel because it is spewing rocks all over the place and none of the other vehicles I have encountered have been this bad. Aragh! Stop throwing rocks on my beautiful paint job!!! I can't get around him for a while because of all the traffic on the other side. After miles of this, I finally find a nice clear straight section to make the pass.

A little later, I decide it is time for lunch. I have no desire to stop for such a trivial meal. I mean, I usually just ignore lunch all together on days of intense travel. (because that always goes really well for me when I am unhappily hungry around 3 or 4...) I am prepared this time! I bought bread in Montana and have peanut butter. I tell my Dad where I have it stashed. He brings the while bag of food I brought to the front seat and goes through it. He finds the Wheat Thins I brought and gets pretty excited. Apparently they are one of his favorite foods. I had no idea. Anyway, a short time later he hands me a sandwich. "Have an Alcan peanut butter sandwich." He says.

What makes an Alcan peanut butter sandwich different from a normal peanut butter sandwich you may ask. Well, first, it must be made in a moving vehicle which is traveling on the Alcan. If you are extremely talented or want to die, the driver can make it. Otherwise, any passenger may make it. Second, no jelly. If anything is going to make a mess and drip all over, it would be jelly. For the sake of trying to keep my new truck clean, and because I don't really like jelly (too sweet), no jelly. Third, it must be made with a sharp pocket knife that might severely cut you if you happen to hit a bump while crafting the sandwich. I forgot to steal harmless plastic knives from the breakfast buffet this morning and all I had was my pocket knives. Granted, there were 3 to choose from. All rather sharp though. We used the cleanest one. (I washed it with soap and water the last time we stopped for gas) And that is how you make an Alcan peanut butter sandwich.

I pull off to get some gas. It is a random station in the middle of nowhere and has no card reader. I go inside to pay and go to the bathroom while my dad pumps the gas. Most of the Canadian pumps we have stopped at don't have the automatic shut off so you have to hold the pump the whole time. I pay and head out to the truck while he goes inside. I decide to clean off my headlights, which are filthy like the rest of my truck, while I wait. All the slush is really making a mess. My truck isn't even black anymore.. more a nice grey brown.

While I am doing this, a guy pulls up to the pump next to me. He gets out. "No disrespect, but you know you could clean your truck not at the pump." He says to me. Uh, what? I apologize and he makes an exasperated sound like I am one of the most horrible people he has ever met. Uh, ok buddy. I don't know what your problem is. I finish cleaning my truck and then pull off to the side. No one comes to take my place at the pump. Asshole.

Ya know, I am a pretty considerate person and generally pretty aware of how whatever I am doing is affecting other people, negative or positive. And I try to minimize any negative affect. There are 4 pumps at this station. When I got there, the place was empty. When I walked out to wait for my dad, there were still vacant pumps. I saw no reason to move. Had there been a line, I would have moved promptly. And at least I was using the cleaning facilities, unlike the people two pumps over who were playing with their puppy with their car parked at the pump, after finishing getting gas. Really, people need to chill out. I really don't see why that guy had to say anything to me and then be incredibly rude after I apologized. Ok, rant over. 

My dad comes out and gets back in the truck. We drive the rest of the 250 miles to Fort Nelson uneventfully. I do a lottt of driving on long straight stretches of road today. Very boring and hard to stay focused. The snow on the side of the road is starting to pick up. This provides good contrast for spotting wildlife that might want to jump into my truck. Hopefully I will see any danger long before it is a problem.

I pull into town and start looking for somewhere to stay. I had done some research prior to coming. I stopped at the cheapest places first. "Uh, how much for a night? $89? Ok, thanks", and walk out. Chris had recommended a place that has a nice complimentary breakfast for around $120. The slightly cheaper places were a little sketchy and had no free breakfast. I will probably come out close to the same after finding food in the morning anyway.

As I negotiate the parking lots and make tight turns, I hear weird sounds from the truck. Upon inspection, I see a lot of ice buildup in the wheel well. My tires just barely fit when I turn without the ice.With the ice buildup, they are rubbing. Well that explains why I have no front mud flaps.... they would rub when I turn. ah the joys of oversize tires. Well, they do look super cool anddd I can drive over really big things. Totally worth it!! :) My truck is amazing. I can deal with a little noise.

I go to the Ramada which Chris had suggested. I get out of my truck and look at it. Eww, completely disgusting. Anyway, the guy at the front is friendly and mentions their complimentary breakfast, most of which is home cooked. Sweet! My dad had mentioned getting a real dinner tonight so I ask the office guy for recommendations. We get a recommendation and the key and head to the room. We open it up and everything looks good!  Again, nothing amazing but it is clean and taken care of.

I am working really hard to paint it brown!

It is approaching 6 so we decide to go get dinner. (We have changed time zones sometime through the day. Only one hour off from home!) I head to Dan's Pub which the guy recommended. Turns out to be pretty good and reasonably priced! Yay for real food!

We head back to the hotel. I am pretty exhausted. I consider not blogging. If I wait any longer though, I might start to forget stuff, despite me writing notes about what I want to talk about. Half the time these notes are written while driving and are rather illegible. My dad decides to just go to sleep. I will do that soon. Only two more days! My back and neck and ass are sore and achy. I have sat in my truck for so long that even when I get out for the night, I still hurt. Booo!!! 12+ hours in a car is too much! Well, I think it was only 10 today... Anyway, I have no idea how truckers do it!

Truck and sunset outside the hotel!

Day 73: 760 miles down... only 2500 more to go

My ass is so sore. I hate sitting for 12 hours straight. I mean my truck is comfy and amazing and wonderful and I love sitting in it and feel super cool in it but 12 hours is way too long. Only 4 more days of sitting in it... Rant over. I will now return to my regularly scheduled narrative of my life.

Soooo I wake up early! Yay. I am ready and over to Chris's before 8. Rowan is getting ready to go to school and the baby is still asleep. I try to be quiet and not wake him. I thank everyone for their awesomeness and say goodbye. Chris gives me some final advice on which way to take out of town and I head off.

I stop at the "Escalante Outfitters" store to get a shirt. This place was cool. It is worth of a shirt. I find one and head on my way. As soon as I get out of town, the roads get pretty snowy. Chris had mentioned that the town is in a sort of "weather bubble". The weather is more mild in town than a few miles out. The further out of town I get, the more snow there is. Well to a point. It never gets too crazy.

It takes forever to really get out of town. I end up stuck behind someone who wants to go 30 mph in the 60 area. Thank you for being careful, but really?!? 30??? I have places to be and over 700 miles to drive today buddy! The lane finally opens for passing on my side and I get around him and continue on at a speed closer to the speed limit. I am able to keep a decent pace for while.

Snowy drive through Utah

I come to a long hill right outside of Bryce Canyon. Too bad I have so far to drive today and don't want to stop... I guess I will have to come back. Anyway, the hill has a truck lane. I steadily gain on the truck in front of me. I am about to go to pass when the truck lane ends. The truck in front of me then proceeds to go between 25 and 35 on the downhill part which is just windy enough to not allow passing. If I known you were going this slow, I would have tried harder to pass you when I had the chance!  I appreciate your caution but you are driving me crazy! Please never come to Alaska and try to drive in the winter....

After a painfully long time, I finally am allowed to pass. I get around him and make it to the interstate without encountering any more slow people. Well, there is a large truck facing the wrong way in my lane right before the on ramp to the highway. I am not sure what he is doing but the driver is out and waving cars around. I guess he has some sort of business there.

The highway is nice. The snow decreases as I drive. Eventually, there is no more snow but the roads are still wet. Better keep it in 4wd. The speed limit varies from 75 to 80. I hate to drive that fast in 4wd but I would dislike hitting that one icy spot and having my back end swing out, causing a catastrophic loss of control a lot more. I drive down the road, wishing it would just dry off already and hoping that it is not like this the whole way. It then starts precipitating. Is is rain? Snow? Nooo... it is bouncing off the road. It is hail. Awesome. Small hail, but hail never the less. I hope it is not big enough to dent my truck. I slow down to try to prevent any damage. A minute later, it stops. I go through several more hail patches before it stops for good and the roads dry off. Sweet, 2wd and not worrying about ice time!

My plan was to drive from Escalante to a Chic Fil A in Salt Lake City without stopping. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the interstate, I had had coffee and an entire bottle of water and kind of needed to pee. Just over 200 miles to SLC... I can make it! My GPS is saying 3 more hours to my stop... come onnn!!

About 40 miles away, I hit construction and a reduced speed/double fines zone. The signs also announce that the fines may exceed $600. I really can't afford that at the moment.... I slow down to the painfully slow speed of 55. I need to pee sooo badly! The next 15 minutes are spent thinking "I can make it! Nooo, I can't pull off here! I can make it! No, must stop NOW!" I finally realize I am going to have to make two stops anyway. One for food and one for gas. May as well make the gas stop now. 20 miles from Chick Fil A, I give up and pull off.

I pull up to the gas pump, hop out, and swipe my card. (Despite having to pee, I can not stand to be inefficient. I must pee while fueling my truck at the same time!) The pump spends what seems like forever authorizing. Comeeee onnn!! This is to the point of being painful now. Ok finall! Select fuel grade anddd go!  I get the pump going and run inside. Ok, much better!

I walk out. Man, my truck is gross. I tell it to stop playing in the dirt and getting filthy. I am pretty sure I said this out loud to it. I kinda hop no one heard. They might think I am crazy or something. I guess I should stop driving my truck through disgusting slushy snow. Oh well, it can't be helped. I will be getting back to Anchorage just in time for a horribly extra long and disgusting breakup after the record snowfall....

I continue the 20 miles to Chick Fil A and get lunch. Ok, this is for sure the last time I am having this for a while. Better enjoy it!  I do. I get back on the road and continue on to Helena.

I don't know if it is just my mood today or if people are driving more annoying than normal. I have about had it with drivers!  First there were the slow people this morning. Then, there are the people who are slow, and then I pass them, and then they pass me back, get in front of me, and then snow down again. I pass them back and the process repeats. I am using cruise control. I don't know if they just can't stand having someone in front of them or if they are completely unaware of their speed or what. Regardless, between my entrance onto I-15 and just after Salt Lake when the traffic thins out, I run into a lot of people like this. Aragh!

And then there are the people who just cruise in the left lane. I ran into them in the busier parts, stopping people from passing. I think I have ranted about this before so I won't go too far into detail... In the less busy parts, they will get out to pass someone, barely going faster than the person they are passing. They finally get around whomever they are passing and then proceed to cruise in the left lane with no one anywhere near them in the right lane. Get the hell over! The left lane is for fast people! I pass these people in the right lane.

Last, there are the semis. Semis are great. They do a wonderful job of moving stuff around and I appreciate what they do. But there are those drivers who think they can do whatever the hell they want because their truck is so huge. I come up in the left lane, cruise control on 80, no one behind me. Some semi driver thinks he is super fast and needs to get around the other semi in front of him. He then pulls into the left lane at the last second, causing me to slam on my breaks to avoid hitting him since he is going 65 and I am going 80. Seriously, you could not have waited for me to pass you?  Or even pulled out sooner and not when I am right threre?!? There is no one in front of me or behind me!!

Ok, driver rant done!  Luckily, the drive through Idaho and Montana is pretty clear so I don't go crazy dealing with drivers. There is not a lot here and there is little traffic. There are some places where it is 50 miles or more between services. There are a lot of exits that I pass that go to nothing but a farm house or two that are marked with "no services".  I know I will need to get gas in Idaho and I am getting to know my truck pretty well. I need to push it as far as possible to minimize my stops. I pass up the opportunity to fuel up in Idaho Falls, the biggest city, erm town? I go through in Idaho. Dubois is in 60 miles and I can make it.

My gas light comes on just a few miles short of Dubois. I check my GPS just to make sure there actually is something there. Ok, good. There is one gas station. I pull off. 17.7 gallons. I could have gone a ways further! (21 gal tank) The gas light makes me nervous even though I know it comes on at 17.5 gallons. I go to clean off my filthy windshield and headlights. Apparently this gas station does not believe in providing people with scrubby things. The holders are there, but there is no liquid and no scrubber. Grrrr. I will have to do that when I get gas in Helena... I hope they believe in letting people clean  their windshields.

As I drive, I can see small patches of rain. I hope I hit one and wash some of this shit off my truck. I don't. they are still kinda cool to look at!

I get back on the road and drive through a lot of nothingness. Ya know, there sure is a lot of space out west. I remember the road trips I took as a kid. I don't know if it is the age difference or the region. Probably both; little bit of age and a lot the region. I remember there either being a city or farm land. As far as I could tell, running out of gas 50 miles from a gas station was not a concern.  There is still a lot of wilderness in the West it would seem. Kinda nice!  Aside from the few major big cities (most of which I think I have hit on this trip!), most of the western states are either parks or farmland. It is kinda nice.

I cross into Montana. About this time I decide I should call my parents. I call my mom to let her know I am alive and well and ready to pick up my dad and come home!  She is at work. Oops, I can never remember if she gets off at 4 or 5. She calls me back when she gets off. I call my dad to talk about any last minute things. I start driving through a mountainous area and promptly drop the call. Damnit! I need to stop doing that. Mountains block signal. Dur! I get through the mountains and call him back. He is excited about the drive. I am not so excited. He is the one that wanted to drive us up to the Arctic Circle in the dead of winter in a rental car the first time I had ever been to Alaska. He seems to like driving. Oh well, it will be a fun drive. Just really really long! I guess I should be used to driving by now.

Anyway, I get off the phone with him as I am pulling into Helena. I find the hotel that Chris suggested I stay at and check for vacancies. Yup, they have a room!  Sweet. I bring my bag up. I have transferred my clothes that I am wearing for the next few days into a backpack. No more giant bag! I then walk across the street the the grocery store and get some dinner. I also get some bread so my dad and I can make peanut butter and no jelly sandwiches for lunch.

I head back, eat dinner, sit in the hot tub, get way too hot, swim a few laps in the pool, and get ready for bed. Time to sleep and prepare for the journey ahead!

Day 72: Workin on stuff and gettin ready for the drive home

I wake up pretty early. Like at 8. Not too bad. Maybe I am becoming a morning person... I can't see well without my contacts but I can see there is snow! I check the weather report for Brian Head. A foot of powder and all the lifts are scheduled to open. Hmm. Maybe I will head out for a half day! I get up and get ready. Hmmm only 8:30 and Chris told me 10. I check the report for Brian Head again. Boo. Most of the lifts are put on hold due to wind. I don't see that getting any better through the day. Maybe I won't go.

I ready until it is almost 10 and check the report again. Yup, not lookin any better. I think I will just stay here today. I head over to Chris's. He has been making breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Yum! I don't really like pancakes so much but these are good. They are more brown than normal pancakes. I inquire about them. Technically, they are oatcakes. I guess that explains it.

After breakfast, it is work time!  Chris and I go upstairs to work on his remodel. Rowan comes up and plays with legos. Chris hooks up the stereo that I brought him wires for. (The ones I bought back in Summit) We then pull some wire through the flooring for his future electrical work. We then chop up, set, and screw down plywood over the flooring frame. Now it's safe to walk upstairs!!

It's only the early afternoon when we finish. Time to attend to the truck! The right headlight has a broken bracket and is loose. Ugh!!  I ask Chris for some tools, some self tapping screws, some zip ties, and a metal bracket. I mess with it for a while and finally am able to get it pretty secure. The metal bracket ends up working perfectly. The zipties prove to be useless. The self tapping screws are a lifesaver. Ugh, I hate working between the radiator and the grill. So hard to get tools and y hands in there. Eventually, everything is pretty secure. Much better!  I am eventually just going to replace the headlights but now is not the time for that!  I need some more money before I do that. It is fixed enough for now!!

I check the engine while I have the hood popped. Lookin good!  Other than my battery which has dislodged itself from its stand. It is aftermarket and does not quite fit on the platform. It is propped up on shims and was not tight enough. All of the jostling yesterday must have jarred it loose. I realign everything and tighten the shit out of the bracket. Ok, that should hold! Ok truck should be good to go.

I head inside. The weather has been crazy. Sunny one moment, snowing the next. In the hour I spent messing with my truck, I experienced both. It is cold and not so fun out. I watch some more movies with Rowan and have some delicious lunch. I then have a horrible thought... if the window fluid in my truck is not cold weather, maybe the radiator fluid is not either. I have no engine block heater and it is supposed to go down to negative 10 or so on the way back. At least that's the forecast as of now...

I panic for a bit and ask Chris his thoughts. Uhh, get is flushed on the way?  No, I have to use Toyota fluids! This is one fluid I don't want to mess around with and my forum buddies agree that the chemical mixture in antifreeze is not something you want to mess with. Stick with Toyota. I do some research on my forum. Ok, good, it is a 55/45 mix stock in all Tacomas. Should be good. I just need to check and make sure I have pink fluid and I should be good to go!

With the lack of an engine block heater, Chris suggests putting cardboard over my radiator. I didn't on the way down but T Rex is an Alaskan truck. I think I will for the drive back....

Rowan has now put an old Sesame Street DVD in. Wow, I have not seen these in YEARS. C is for cookie, The Pigeon, Telephone Rock, and all the other old awesome stuff I remember from back in the day.....This is kinda nice to watch!

I notice it is clearing up outside and the sun is setting. Hmmm. Time to head out and check my radiator fluid... And look at the sunset! It is nothing spectacular but I always enjoy them. I check the radiator fluid: pink. Means its Toyota fluid and I should be good to go! Yay!

Dinner is something with chicken and olives and is quite excellent. Hawthorne literally falls asleep as he eats. No no, don't stop chewing! You might choke later. After dinner, Chris and Justine share some final travel tips for my drive through Canada. Time to start the most grueling part of my trip I suppose!  750 miles tomorrow to Helena Montana is the plan.

I head back over to the house I am staying at. Wow, it has really cleared up! The stars are out in force now! I spend some time admiring them. Then back inside I go. Time to sleep and do some rearranging of my packing. I don't want to be dealing with my huge suitcase in Canada. It is mostly full of dirty clothes at this point.... My clothes for the trip are going in a backpack. And my backseat is getting cleaned out in case there is sleeping to be done back there... IT is looking kinda cold for car sleeping on the trip though... still in the negatives in Canadia. Boo!

Now I am just chillin out, getting ready to drive 3200 miles home! I am a little daunted by the thought. Oh well! I was kind of daunted by this trip. It turned out well. It should be a nice drive back and it will be nice to see my own bed again!!

Day 71: Slots are Cool! And I get a lot of sand in my shoes

I wake up at 7:30 so I can make it to the slots before the weather hits, if it does. I get dressed and look outside. Oh my! The sun is just coming over the horizon! I am never up for the sun rise! I only ever see sun sets! I enjoy it for a bit and then head off to Chris's. The baby is still asleep so I don't come inside.

Chris comes out a short time later with coffee and toast! Yayyy food and coffee!  A short time later we are off. Rowan wanted to come along so the three of us set out. We drive a short ways out of town and then turn onto a dirt road that leads through the Escalate Staircase National Monument. Oddly, there are cows grazing all over the place. Some of them stand in the road and stare blankly at me. Some of them won't move, even after honking. Or some of them run in front of the truck for a while. The calves have the most problems figuring out which way to run....

Mooooove Cows!!

26 washboard-y miles later, we reach the trail head. We start down the trail. It is horribly marked. After much wandering through the sand, we eventually clamber down some rocks and into the main canyon. Rowan, who was so keen on intentionally filling his shoes with sand yesterday, stops to empty sand out of his shoes. Chris suggests he waits until we get to the slots. He stops to empty his shoes again before we reach the slot. I decide to empty my shoes out at this point too. I hate sand in my shoes.

We see a slot. Chris thinks it is Peek A Boo slot. I am not so sure. He has been here before though so we enter the slot. To get there, it is about a 12 foot climb. Ohhh boy, this is gonna be fun. Right after we get in, a group of 6 comes up behind us. We let them go by so we don't hold them up. Rowan is doing great but he is still pretty young and takes his time. He also stops to look at everything along the way. He loves nature!  This is awesome but we are trying to beat the weather, if it comes, so we try to hurry him along. He does not yet understand the danger of flash flooding. Being stuck in a slot canyon when it starts to rain would be quite bad. We checked the radar and multiple forecasts to make sure we wouldn't get rained on. The earliest the showers might start is 2... we have plenty of time if we keep moving!

The entrance to the first slot!

Climbin around in Peek A Boo Canyon

We wind through varying narrowness of the canyon. Some areas we can walk almost two abreast, others we we can barely slide through sideways. It is a pretty sweet climb up to the top. We wind through the beautifully sculpted sandstone. It is amazing what wind and water can do!

Arches carved in the slots

At the top, we run into the group of 6. You are not supposed to go from one canyon to the other along the back areas. You are supposed to go up and back each one. The group decides to go the proper way. We find a trail and start along it in the direction of the the next slot canyon, Spooky.

We follow for a bit. Ugh, sand everywhere. My shoes are full of it! No point in emptying them now...The trail then gets kind of difficult to follow. We end up at a dead end over a cliff. Oops. We back track a bit and cut across a sand dune. There is a semblance of a trail here...Eventually, we come upon another slot. We consider just dropping in. Then we look at it. It is about 15 feet to the bottom. Not happening. We walk a short ways to what would be the end and enter.

I climbed up to the top. Wouldn't want to drop in here.....

The first part of the canyon is pretty wide and easy. It then starts to narrow and wind. Oooo, fun!  We then come upon an area where a bunch of boulders have fallen in. I hop over the boulders. I get to the last one and look down. It is a good 20 foot drop. No way in hell. Rowannnn, do not follow me! Chris and I scout around and finally find a way to drop through the rocks. I get myself wedges in there, preparing for the final drop to the bottom of the canyon. "Uhhh, this is bad... Oh! Chris, take a picture of me!!" He likes my logic and takes a pictures.

I'm about to slip and fall 7 feet all outta control. Wait wait! Take a picture of me now!!

I hop down and land badly on a rock. Aww shit. Ankle. Again. Just a twist and in a few seconds the pain passes. Chris passes Rowan down to me before making the descent himself. We continue onwards. The canyon narrows and then widens a bit. We then run into the group of 6.  Ummm, there is not enough room to pass. It was narrow the way we came and we can hear the slower members of their party complaining about the narrowness in front. Rowan is small enough to slip into a crevice. Chris and I climb up the side of the canyon and let everyone pass below us. Eeeee, my foot is slippingggg go faster!

I'm about 5 feet up the wall and Chris is even higher to let everyone pass...

 They pass and we continue on the way. Chris and I drop down from the canyon side. We continue. I see what the other group was complaining about. It is extremely narrow with crazy twists and turns. Definitely not for big people or remotely claustrophobic people. Even Rowan is turned sideways in some places. We come to a large boulder that has fallen in and crawl under. Rowan comes up too soon and hits his head. Ow. That looks painful. He takes it pretty well and we continue on a short time after his trauma.

Chris and Rowan

The rocks are so cool!!!

We wind through the canyon to the end.  Hmm, looks like the main canyon. We take a right and start wandering through the area. Rowan is really tired now and it is all we can do to keep him moving. Chris finally starts carrying him. We hit a dead end. Damn it. The clouds are thickening. At least we are out of the slots so the flash flood danger is not as bad. We are still at the bottom of a canyon. We still have another hour before the earliest that the showers are supposed to start.

The end :(

We head off back the way we came. Eventually, we reach the tell tale yellowish trail in the main canyon. Yayyy!  Chris has put Rowan down again and is trying to hurry him along. Rowan keeps stopping to play in the sand and empty his shoes. Chris’s tone is getting urgent and making me really uneasy. I ask if he is really as concerned about the weather as he sounds or just trying to make a point. No, he is just trying to make a point. Ok good.  Regardless, he picks up Rowan and carries him the rest of the way up the main canyon until we get to the rocky part we have to climb up.

The trail is easier to follow coming up than going down. A short time later, we have all finally made it back to the car. I take off my shoes and pour a ridiculous amount of sand out of them. I take off my socks. Out comes more sand. I then try to brush off my feet which are also sandy. Ugh, so much sand everywhere! Everyone get clean before you get in my nice shiny clean truck!! Chris gets Rowan all nice and clean.

We have a snack and then head off back down the dirt road. We pass the 6 hikers that we had seen in the slot. I am happy that it still has not started raining. Rowan falls asleep despite all the bumps all over the place.

We make it back to the house and still no rain!  I realize I am tired. I spend the next few hours on the couch updating my blog and going through all my photos. And watching movies with Rowan. At one point, I play hanging with friends on my phone. He is fascinated by it and makes suggestions on what letters to play. Unfortunately, he is not much better at it than I am.

Chris and Justine make a quick run to pick up something. They want to make sure it is ok they leave Rowan. Nope, that is fine! He is a nice kid and entertained by the movie. And they won’t be gone long! We watch a couple of movies and before I know it, it is almost 6 and dinner is done!

Dinner is some sort of lamb stew and Indian bread which is excellent. Still no rain, but the wind has been picking up since we left our hike and has gotten pretty crazy by now. We talk at dinner and Hawthorne gets restless. He wants on the floor, then he wants held, and then he wants on the table.

Justine takes him to their room and Chris shows me the route they usually take through Canada and all the good towns to stop in and which motels are good. Very good to know. Rowan sees my desktop, which is a picture of my truck with a landshark fin drawn on it. He is then inspired to do his own photo editing. “Mommm, can I use photoshop?” Uh, that is a little high powered for you buddy. He ends up settling with playing with the Mac photo editor. Works out pretty well. He is entertained. Chris and I swap our photos from the day’s adventure and Rowan then plays with them.

I take the opportunity to shower. I didn’t do that this morning since I was going to go run around the desert and it was early. I now feel utterly gross and sand covered.  Yay, it is so nice to be clean.

It is getting later and time to put kids to bed. Time for me to head off!  I had planned to leave pretty early tomorrow and drive a few hours to Brian Head and ski. They are supposed to get a lot of snow. Unfortunately, they have been rained on today and all of the lifts are closed except for one due to wind. Regardless of any snow they might get, the wind is supposed to get worse. I don’t see any point in going if the lifts are closed. I let Chris know he is stuck with me for one more day and he says they are happy to have me. Yay! 

The weather will probably be bad so he will probably be working on the house remodel. He asks if I want to play with the saw and chop things up. Ummmm what kind of a question is that? Of course I do! 

I head back to the house I am staying at. On the way, I see a couple of deer wandering down the road. I decide to park in the carport since the wind is coming and going in strong gusts. I am concerned something might fall on it… It is too tall for the carport. Damn. Oh well, they get wind here a lot. I am sure it will be ok!  Time to blog, maybe read some, and then sleep! 

69 And 70 in Utah

Day 69: Red, green, white, rippley, archey rocks all over!

I wake up a little after 7. I want to get some breakfast, which ends at 9 and get going pretty early so I don’t get in too late. I shower and make it to breakfast with plenty of time to spare. Ugh, my bangs are getting long again. I don’t want to cut them though. I always cut them too short! 

I check out around 9. Sweet, earlier than I thought I was going to be able to manage. I head off down the road. Not 10 miles into my trip, I go to pass a Dodge truck. They swerve wildly into my lane and I go onto the shoulder to avoid them. WTF was that about dude?? They then take the next exit. Lameos. At least I was paying attention to avoid getting hit. And lucky for them hitting my horn is the last thing I am going to think of.

I continue uneventfully down the road for a while. I notice the road signs and names of places: Silt, Rifle, No Name, Parachute. Interesting names for places. Colorado people seem to have a sense of humor. Some of the signs at the ski resorts have been pretty humorous too. I also notice that gas prices are way higher the further I get from Denver. I don’t know if gas is just more expensive now or if it is regional. Probably both. I plan to stop in Grand Junction, the last decent size city before I hit Utah to get gas. Hopefully the prices won’t be too terrible.

I reach Grand Junction. I decide to wait a few exits in to stop. I read the food and gas signs. OH MY GOSH they have Chick Fil A!  Apparently they are all over now. Maybe I will stop getting excited about them. I take that exit. The Chick Fil A is 4 miles off the highway and it is only 10:30. Oh well, I don’t care. I order the chicken sandwich. They are just switching over to lunch and it will be a short wait. No worries, I don’t mind. I wait for 10 minutes or so before I get my food. Yayy!! They guy feels bad I had to wait so long and tries to give me some sort of coupon. No, that’s ok, I probably won’t be back for years…. There is no Chick Fil A where I live. And seriously, I don’t mind the wait.

I get some gas for $3.59 on my way back to the highway. I miss the 3.20 gas…. Oh well, it’s only going to get worse! I get back on the road. I am taking a slight detour to Arches National Park on my way to Escalante where Chris lives in the winter. Right before the turn off, a prairie dog goes running across the highway. Never seen a while prairie dog before. And I manage to avoid running over it. Sweet!

I make the turn off and drive toward Arches National Park and Moab. Wow, these are some cool rocks. And there are off road trails everywhere! This could be fun… If I had someone to go with. I don’t want to go on any major off roading trips without someone to pull me out if I need it…. I make it to Arches a short time later.

Just drivin around

The road to get into the park winds up a very steep cliff. It is pretty sweet. I drive along the road and pull out at some scenic routes. I stop at one of the trail heads and do some hiking around some arches. I get some pretty sweet close up views of the North and South Window Arches. I climb right inside one of them.  I see several other arches on my hike. The rocks here are so pretty!! I drive a little further into the park to catch a glimpse of Delicate Arch, the famous one you always see in pictures. It is a mile and a half hike to get right up next to it and I want to be getting a move on. Looking at it from afar is good for me! 

Balanced rock in Arches

Arch!!!

Purdyyy

North and South Windows Arches

On my way out, I find an off road trail. I drive down it a short ways before coming to a gate. I think I can open it and go through it but I decide to turn around. I backtrack 40 miles to the interstate and am on my way again. 

Really, pictures do more justice than me trying to describe all the pretty rocks all over. There are red rocks and white rocks. There are “balanced” rocks (where a big chunk of slowly eroding rock sits on a thin spire of faster eroding rock), monoliths, and just huge massive rocks. There are mesas and mountains. One of the cool things of Arches is that there are deserty rocks all over and in the distance there are snow capped mountains.

As I drive down the highway, I ponder why I don’t like this desert-scape as much as the one in South Arizona.  The desert around here is similar to the ones in Nevada, California, and Colorado. None of which I really like. Utah does embellish it with some pretty awesome rocks though! I conclude it is the color. While Arizona is very arid, it is still somehow green. You look across the hills and see all shades of vibrant green all over. These other places, it is all brown. I mean some plants are greenish, but they are all tinged with grey or brown. All of the color in the rocks can’t make me feel any better about the lack of green.

The drive today is pretty cool in general. I drive through canyons, over mountains, along big rocks, and through forests. I notice that Utah roads seem to be in worse condition than the Colorado roads. I do pass two crews crack sealing though. At least they are trying to keep the roads in good condition.

Anyway, I make the turn off the interstate onto the state road that will take me through the middle of nowhere to the small town I am going through. The first part of the road is pretty flat and straight. Hmmm. I wonder where this truck tops out…. I hit the gas and then realize I am going uphill. I top out at 95. Not bad. I try again on a slight downhill. I get to 103 on my GPS before things start feeling squirrelly. Ok. That is enough for now.

I don’t know exactly how far I am going to be driving in the middle of nowhere. I know Escalante is in the middle of a lot of national parks, monuments, and forests. I stop and get gas at the next turn off. Ugh, $3.89. Well, it is better than being stranded. I head off again and give Chris a call. ETA is 6:30. See ya soon! 

The wind starts to pick up and the road starts to wind. The rocks are pretty sweet. The wind gusts that blow me into the other lane or onto the shoulder are not. When will this wind stop!?!

I eventually enter Capitol Reef National Park. The road is really cool and goes by some beautifully shaped and colored rocks. Some of the rocks are even green. I try to take pictures while I am driving.

After exiting Capitol Reef, the road begins to climb. I soon find myself at an elevation of 9,000 feet.  There are trees everywhere and snow on the ground. I am also amused to find cattle crossing signs. This does not look like a cow friendly place. Oh well, I will watch for cattle. 

Capitol Reef

I encounter no cattle however, I come upon a deer standing in the middle of the road. Movveee!! It finally does. I descend some out of the mountains to a more normal elevation. Now entering Escalante Staircase National Monument. This place is full of white rock formations. I drive back up to high elevations and along a ridge before winging along the sides of mountains and rocks. I pull out in one of the scenic view points and take a few pictures of the view. And my truck. Offf course!  I see no traffic anywhere. I hop in my truck, check for traffic and go to pull out. Someone is honking at me. What the hell, where did you come from?!? I totally just tried to pull out in front of you. You were not there when I got in my truck and must have been in my blindspot when I checked… I feel bad for pulling out in front of you but I sure am happy you were paying attention and didn’t hit me…. And where diddd you come from?!!?

Anyway, I have 30 more miles to go. The rocks stay pretty spectacular. I pass a sign that says 14% grade next 4 miles. Wow. 14?!? Is that even legal? I mean 8 is usually considered pretty extreme. I fail to see any grade that I am convinced is 14%. 8%. Maybe.  I pass another sign that says 14% grade. So it was not a mistake…. Interesting. The things I notice….Anyway, today, I have driven through mountains, flatlands, crazy rock stuff, and forests. I think that is a pretty good mix of environments. 

I pull into town and follow my GPS. It takes me to a street, not a house. Ughhh, Daniellll!! Fail!  I check the address I am looking for and start cruising around the neighborhood. Some guy waves at me. Oh, it is Chris!  Yay! I found it! His son, Rowan comes running out to greet me. Uhhh, what do I do with kids?!?! Should I hug him or just say hi or…?  I go with say hi. It seems to work. Chris is my boss from the last few summers and Rowan comes into work sometimes. And I spent some time trying to teach him how to swim last winter. Apparently I was not too scary and he likes me!

Anyway, Chris is working on painting his house. He asks how the drive was and such. He then mentions dinner. Yay food!  His wife, Justine, and younger son, Hawthone then come outside. Hello Hello! I get a tour around the house. They have cows literally right next door!  Apparently there are some younger guys who live over there and practice roping cattle… Maybe I will get lucky and get to watch that while I am here!  Rowan is all into nature stuff and shows me some ant lion hills in the yard. He even gives me a demonstration of how the trap works. Not bad for a 5 year old. Actually, pretty impressive.

We decide to order some pizza from one of the two places to eat in town. This is a really really small town. Two restaurants that are only open seasonally depending on tourist traffic, a gas station or two, etc… Justine’s sister is out of town so I am staying across town (a while half mile away) at her house. Sweet!  They take me to the house and show me around. Looks like it will work for me! Oh, and I don’t need to worry about locking the doors. Apparently they even leave the keys in the car… Wow. Awesome. Regardless, I will probably lock my truck out of habit….We pick up the pizza and head back to their house for the evening. 

Sunset!

The pizza is quite tasty. Hawthorne, who is 1, seems quite interested in me. He keeps pointing at me and making faces at me. I make faces back and he laughs. After dinner, he is allowed to explore on his own. He comes over to me and is fascinated with my keys.

I bring all of Chris’s stuff in that I have been carrying around. His snowboard that I picked up in Portland, some glasses I got in Lake Tahoe for them as a thank you for letting me use your timeshare, the speaker wire, and some beer I had gotten for them. Apparently you can’t buy any good beer in town… I guess it is that small. I get a tour of the house. It is a work in progress. They only live here a few months of the year and there is some pretty extreme remodeling going on here. What is done is looking good though!

Hawthorne likes my keys

They start putting kids to bed and I figure that is a good time for me to head out. I check out the stars on the way out. They are amazing! I guess being this far from city lights will do that. There are stars everywhere. Ya know, I guess this is what they looked like to the ancients with no city lights at all to mess up the view.  With this many stars out, the constellations might actually make sense….

There is some sweet hiking to be done around here, as well as national parks to explore, and maybe skiing to be done. I have a few days to relax and do some exploring before heading toward home….

This post will be wayyy better when I get some pictures up too…. J they are comin!!!

Day 70: Utah Rocks… Literally

I wake up around 8. Chris had said something about breakfast at 9. I guess I should get up and drive the whole half mile to his house. Orrr I could go back to sleep. Tough choice… food or sleep. Since it is morning, I pick my default option of sleep.

About 9:30 I actually get up. I put in my contacts and drive over. Chris is finishing his breakfast. Good morning!  He offers to cook some eggs and such for me. I won’t object to that!  Escalante is kind of a farm town… which is nice since all the produce is fresh. They have farm fresh eggs picked straight from the chickens. Yum!! 

I eat my breakfast on the front porch. The rest of the family is outside.  Hawthorne is again quite interested by me. He crawls over to me and starts inspecting my watch. I take it off and give it to him to play with. He looks at it for a few seconds before throwing it on the concrete. Shoulda seen that coming. Oh well. I have had this watch for over 10 years and have not destroyed it myself. It has seen worse. I put it back on. He keeps looking at it. I take it off again so he can grab onto it. I don’t let go this time to avoid having it hit the concrete again. He tries to throw it again. I guess hanging on to it is a good idea!

The house, right by the cows!!

They are planning on going to Posey Lake today to collect rocks and look at nature. That sounds like a fun time. Chris leaves to get a rock gathering permit and I shower. This is some nice water… Arizona and Colorado had soft water. I am not such a fan. This seems like hard or at least less soft water. I go to get out of the shower and one of the cats is in the bathroom. It is looking like it is going to start rubbing against my leg… which is soaking wet. No no no noooo kitty. Back!  It stays back until I put my pants on. I then attack it with petting which it thoroughly enjoys. It purrs so much it almost falls off the toilet. Silly cat.

Chris and Justine pack stuff up and make lunches. I offer to help but my help is unneeded. The cows next door are on the near side of the pasture so I go to look at them. Rowan follows me. Justine comes outside. She lets me know that I can go in the pasture and walk up to the cows. If they were dairy cows, I could pet them. Since they are beef cows and are only really handled by people to get shots, branded, or slaughtered, they are a little wary of people. Rightfully so. She tells me that when I get too close, they will just run away. I spend some time chasing the cows around. They moo and I take a video of them mooing. Yeah, super cool.

Rowan kind of follows me out but is not too into cow chasing. He soon wanders back into the yard and wants to show me something. He is all into the nature thing. Bugs, rocks, dirt, animals… kinda reminds me of myself at 5 years old…. He wants to show me something he found. I wander back to the yard and look at all of his discoveries.

A little later, we are ready to go! We all pile into their Chevy truck and set off down the road. The start of the road is all of a half mile from the house. Soon, we are out of town and the road turns to gravel. Posey Lake is an alpine lake. As we drive, the road gets wetter. The dirt around here is so fine that it is quite easy to get stuck in if it is wet. Luckily, we don’t get stuck. We go a little further and the road gets snowy in places. We make it through the snow patches with progressive difficulty. Finally, we get stuck. Chris is able to back the truck down the hill out of the snow patch. Yay gravity!  Unfortunately, we are now stuck between two snow patches. The one in front is impassable. The one in back is manageable… just not going in reverse. There is not really enough room to turn around either.

He eventually gets the truck turned around. The process is very slow and the truck gets somewhat stuck in the middle of it. We head back down the road. We had seen little trails all along the main road on the way up and decide to take one. We decide to scout the raod before going for it and potentially getting stuck. Getting stuck would be manageable butttt with a 1 year old on board, dealing with a stuck truck would be even more of a pain in the ass than usual. The road looks pretty good. There is an initial creek crossing. We check out the creek for rocks before going back to the truck.

We all pile back into the truck and drive along the road for a while. We had initially thought that it would lead us to some pretty rock cliffs. Instead, it snakes around and starts heading back up the hill we had just almost gotten stuck on. It starts to get snowy and we decide to turn back. 

The road

On the way back, Justine spots a spire on the opposite hillside. We stop to check out the area. I decide to climb up the hill for a closer look. Rowan decides to follow. Ohhh no, I feel mildly responsible for this kid. Ok, you go first so if you fall you at least fall on me and maybe I can catch you. And every time I take a step I send a shower of dirt and rocks down the hill. I would rather not have that falling all over you!  We make it to the spire with no problems. Chris takes a picture of us from the road. 

The spire

I decide to take another path down the hill. I go first, again, so that if he falls, maybe I can catch him and to avoid showering him with rocks. He complains that I am going too fast. Oops. Sorry Rowan! I spend a lot of time climbing around on rocks and have gotten pretty good at it. I certainly can’t rock climb or anything, but jumping around large rocks up and down hills I can do. We eventually make it to the bottom, everyone unscathed. Yayy!  Justine has found some cool rocks on another part of the hill so we follow her. We all wander around for a bit until Hawthorne gets unhappy. Justine takes him back down the hill.

Chris then finds a very large cool rock that he wants for his yard. Umm, want some help with that?  We carry the huge rock down the hill with Rowan following, asking to help. Thank you for the offer butt this is hard enough to coordinate two people at the moment. There are trees, shrubs, and large rocks all over the place. Don’t worry, give it a few years and I am sure you will get to help your dad carry more rocks than you want all over! 

Anyway, we drive back down the road a little further before stopping again. We find a wash with lots of rocks and sand. I find a nice rock to lay down on. The sun feels nice!  Chris wanders to the spot. “Did someone order a beer?” Um no? Is there beer?  Apparently he had brought some. Sweet. I then lay on the rock in the sun with a beer. Even better!  

The sand bed

Rowan decides he wants to lay in the sun next to me... in the sand. Ewww, I don’t like being sandy. I actually hate having dirt, sand, or anything of the like on me. I barely tolerate sand at the beach. As soon as I leave the beach, my feet need to be clean and free of sand. Ironic how my job consists mostly of me playing in dirt… I do have nice boots and gloves to keep my hand and feet dirt free. Mud, on the other hand, is super fun and I have no problem having it on me. When it dries out and becomes dirt is when I have problems….

Anyway, Rowan decides to take of his shoes and socks and fill them with sand. He suggests I do the same. No, no I most certainly do not want to do that. He wants to know why. I don’t like sand on me!!! Justine is amused that I don’t like sand or dirt but work in a dirt lab. Chris has already heard all of this from me at work and is not surprised. Well, I like dirt and sand… just not on me.

I spend the next bit of time being mildly concerned that Rowan is going to get excited and dump sand all over me. He doesn’t. Yay! Chris is busy picking out rocks and loading them into the truck. Justine is busy watching Hawthorne who has just discovered Chris’s empty beer bottle and is trying to pour it into his mouth. She quickly grabs the bottle before he is successful. About this time, everyone decides it is time to head off.

We take the long route back through the cow, horse, and sheep pastures. Apparently there are baby sheep around. Unfortunately, we are unsuccessful in finding them.  We get back to the house and Chris starts preparing things for dinner. He needs a few things from the store and decides to take me to “experience a small town excuse for a grocery store”. We arrive. Well, it is definitely small and does not have a huge selection of things… I end up finding abd buying some chocolate milk. That sounds good at the moment…

We get back to the house. It is still too early to really start dinner. I had seen there is a petrified forest nearby. I inquire about it. Well, it is all of 5 miles from the house. I decide to check it out. I am still not over missing out on the Petrified Forest National Park. The state park here claims to have the best petrified wood… well the so does the national park, and probably any other place that has petrified wood that I have yet to hear about. I let them know I should be back in about an hour and if that will be a problem with dinner or anything. Nope! 

I head off down the road and a few minutes later have found it. It is a small place. A parking lot, a campground, and a hiking trail with a single spur off of it. Good, I won’t get lost! 

I walk along the trail. The first part is very steep. Switchbacks along the side of a cliff. There are signs all over warning that it is “extremely strenuous”. I get to where the trail kind of levels off about a half mile later. That wasn’t that bad.  Camelback and the Grand Canyon trails were a lot longer and steeper. Oh well, I guess they need to cover their bases. I walk a bit further and find a petrified log. I walk a ways more and find a few chucks of petrified wood. I continue like this for the duration of the hike.

This is not quite what I had in mind when I heard “Petrified Forest.” I was thinking there would just be petrified wood lying around everywhere. I guess at one time this was a forest. Most of the wood probably did not end up petrified though… Regardless of my misconception, the petrified wood is beautiful. The colors are vibrant with reds, yellows, and white hues being the most predominate. A few logs even have crystalline stones on them.

Petrified log!

45 minutes later, I am back at the parking lot. I had seen a dirt road from up on the hill and decide to check it out. I drive along for a while. Nothing challenging. I then turn around a bend and hit a large sand pit. I make it across, not problem. The road starts turning toward the main road. Excellent. It then begins to get difficult to find where the trail is. The road goes up some very steep hills. At the top, I can’t see over the hood to what is under me at all. I don’t like this at all. Eventually, I lose where the trail goes completely. Okkk. Time to turn around and go back. I sure did not get far on this… Oh well. I do conclude that my truck is pretty darned capable off road though.

A little over an hour after my departure, I arrive back at the house. Dinner preparations have begun. Want any help? Nope. I guess Chris has seen enough of my cooking attempts over the last few summers… He and Justine do show me how to make refried beans. 

Dinner is enchiladas. They are pretty tasty. Hawthorne is not a happy camper. It is getting close to 9 and he is tired. Chris and Justine put him to bed while I watch a movie with Rowan. A little later, it is Rowan’s bed time. Awww, I wanted to know how this movie ends!  Oh well, it is supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon so I guess we will have plenty of time to finish it.

Justine has told me about some really cool hikes through slot canyons that I want to check out. (Should get some sweettt pictures here!) Chris thinks that if we head out around 8 tomorrow, we should be able to beat the weather. Soooo… I am getting up bright and early tomorrow to do some hiking! (yayyyy?)