intothewild
Adventurer
What a way to get acquainted with a new vehicles! Flew out of Bellingham, WA (Flew Allegiant, no complains for the price, if you can fly light, you can fly cheap). Flew into Mesa, AZ (Used to live there, parents still do). To make a long story short, I bought a one owner 1997 Tahoe LT 4x4. Had my dad (master mechanic), check it out prior, got his green light, transferred him the money and had him take care of the purchase.
Arrived in Mesa about 5:45pm on Friday, parents picked me up, in the Tahoe of course. Had priorities to take care of. Went straight from the Airport to Serrano's to get some much needed Mexican food! Went back to my parents place, spent some time with them, got some sleep. Woke up Saturday and did breakfast with the parents/grand parents/mother in law. Back to their place, said goodbye and hit the road.
My plan was to drive through northern Arizona, a quick loop into Colorado as I wanted to go to four corners, and then into Utah, up into Idaho, across Oregon, and finally back to Washington.
I've been all over AZ in the past, so it was a quick blast up I-17 through Flagstaff, I thought about hitting the Grand Canyon, but been there done that, and had limited time. So I continue onto 89, to 160 past Tuba City and the vast Indian Reservations. Continued up 160 to Four Corners. This is where I will begin posting pictures of the trip.
I arrived at 4 Corners National Monument about 7:45 PM and was pissed when I saw this:
There were a few other people there, and we were all standing around talking. All of us were upset that we came all this way to find it closed and we really didn't want to waste the trip. Shortly after, another car pulls up, a couple get out and say hello etc, they tell us they talked to some people at a gas station down the road and said people hop over the fence all the time and that nobody cares. From the gate to the monument is about a 1/3 of a mile walk. They proceed to hop over, and make their way down. As they are, through the darkness I see a few flashlights walking towards the fence, turned out to be about 7 people who had already done the same. A family with several young kids to boot. At this point, it was go-time. So a few of us that had been debating what to do, hopped over and made our way down to the monument.
The result:
It was actually one of those things that made the experience more memorable. Added a bit of excitement.
After four corners, it was time to get back on the road, continued up 160 into Colorado. My trip through Colorado was dark, so no pictures unfortunately. Stopped at Ute Mountain Casino to fill up and stretch my legs. Then it was onto the final stretch for the day. Moab was my destination. Stopped at the Utah/Colorado border to take a picture:
..and ended up spending about 30 minutes star gazing. The stars were breathtaking. Not a cloud in sight, on a crisp cool night and elevation was about 7k ft or so. Beautiful.
Into Utah now, still determined to make Moab tonight. I had some serious regrets passing through Canyonlands at night. I really would have liked to see the area in daylight. Such is life, I will be back! Made it into Moab at about 11pm. I was planning on just sleeping in the Tahoe. Tried several hotel parking lots just to park in and sleep for the night. They were PACKED. Every hotel in Moab was booked solid. I finally found a spot in the back of the Days Inn parking lot. Good enough. Laid the back seat down, and set up my bed for the night:
Was actually pretty comfy. Didn't sleep for crap though. Woke up after about an hour of sleep, and stumbled into the Peace Tree Cafe. Should have known better, I'm a meat and potatoes type of guy. This was not that kind of place. Got some "whole grain" Klondike Pancakes and some Roasted Potatoes. Nearly $20 for breakfast for just myself. Denny's would have been better. Ha.
Hippy waiter at Peace Tree "You gotta go to Arches MANNNNN". I planned on it, but again had limited time. Pulled into Arches:
Line to get in was long as hell. Ugh, didn't really have time to follow a bunch of tourists at 5mph through 18 miles of national park road. So I turned back and headed off.
I couldn't be in the Moab area and not get any red dirt on the tires though. That would just be unacceptable. So about 10 miles or so north of Moab, I pull out into the Gemini Bridge area:
The trail was 8.3 miles each way. I went maybe 3 miles down the trail. Really wish I had more time. But I was also in a stock 97 Tahoe, that I was unfamiliar with and also unfamiliar with the trail ahead. So I didn't want to push my luck, especially with over 1000 miles left in the trip. Still made for some nice pictures though!
Anyways, I'm going to stop there for now. I am back at work today, and just used my Lunch to post up to this point. Still a lot left, and a lot of pictures I still need to go through. I will update this hopefully later today with the rest of the trip.
Arrived in Mesa about 5:45pm on Friday, parents picked me up, in the Tahoe of course. Had priorities to take care of. Went straight from the Airport to Serrano's to get some much needed Mexican food! Went back to my parents place, spent some time with them, got some sleep. Woke up Saturday and did breakfast with the parents/grand parents/mother in law. Back to their place, said goodbye and hit the road.
My plan was to drive through northern Arizona, a quick loop into Colorado as I wanted to go to four corners, and then into Utah, up into Idaho, across Oregon, and finally back to Washington.
I've been all over AZ in the past, so it was a quick blast up I-17 through Flagstaff, I thought about hitting the Grand Canyon, but been there done that, and had limited time. So I continue onto 89, to 160 past Tuba City and the vast Indian Reservations. Continued up 160 to Four Corners. This is where I will begin posting pictures of the trip.
I arrived at 4 Corners National Monument about 7:45 PM and was pissed when I saw this:
There were a few other people there, and we were all standing around talking. All of us were upset that we came all this way to find it closed and we really didn't want to waste the trip. Shortly after, another car pulls up, a couple get out and say hello etc, they tell us they talked to some people at a gas station down the road and said people hop over the fence all the time and that nobody cares. From the gate to the monument is about a 1/3 of a mile walk. They proceed to hop over, and make their way down. As they are, through the darkness I see a few flashlights walking towards the fence, turned out to be about 7 people who had already done the same. A family with several young kids to boot. At this point, it was go-time. So a few of us that had been debating what to do, hopped over and made our way down to the monument.
The result:
It was actually one of those things that made the experience more memorable. Added a bit of excitement.
After four corners, it was time to get back on the road, continued up 160 into Colorado. My trip through Colorado was dark, so no pictures unfortunately. Stopped at Ute Mountain Casino to fill up and stretch my legs. Then it was onto the final stretch for the day. Moab was my destination. Stopped at the Utah/Colorado border to take a picture:
..and ended up spending about 30 minutes star gazing. The stars were breathtaking. Not a cloud in sight, on a crisp cool night and elevation was about 7k ft or so. Beautiful.
Into Utah now, still determined to make Moab tonight. I had some serious regrets passing through Canyonlands at night. I really would have liked to see the area in daylight. Such is life, I will be back! Made it into Moab at about 11pm. I was planning on just sleeping in the Tahoe. Tried several hotel parking lots just to park in and sleep for the night. They were PACKED. Every hotel in Moab was booked solid. I finally found a spot in the back of the Days Inn parking lot. Good enough. Laid the back seat down, and set up my bed for the night:
Was actually pretty comfy. Didn't sleep for crap though. Woke up after about an hour of sleep, and stumbled into the Peace Tree Cafe. Should have known better, I'm a meat and potatoes type of guy. This was not that kind of place. Got some "whole grain" Klondike Pancakes and some Roasted Potatoes. Nearly $20 for breakfast for just myself. Denny's would have been better. Ha.
Hippy waiter at Peace Tree "You gotta go to Arches MANNNNN". I planned on it, but again had limited time. Pulled into Arches:
Line to get in was long as hell. Ugh, didn't really have time to follow a bunch of tourists at 5mph through 18 miles of national park road. So I turned back and headed off.
I couldn't be in the Moab area and not get any red dirt on the tires though. That would just be unacceptable. So about 10 miles or so north of Moab, I pull out into the Gemini Bridge area:
The trail was 8.3 miles each way. I went maybe 3 miles down the trail. Really wish I had more time. But I was also in a stock 97 Tahoe, that I was unfamiliar with and also unfamiliar with the trail ahead. So I didn't want to push my luck, especially with over 1000 miles left in the trip. Still made for some nice pictures though!
Anyways, I'm going to stop there for now. I am back at work today, and just used my Lunch to post up to this point. Still a lot left, and a lot of pictures I still need to go through. I will update this hopefully later today with the rest of the trip.
