RPR Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Provided that I can sort out the mysterious electrical gremlin - I am assuming a bad earth or connection but can't seem to find it - that has the Tonka going "clicky, clicky, no bang, bang", I will set off @ April 25 for the 4 day drive to Moab. Mapquest gave the driving time as "31 hours 23 minutes", so I am planning 4 eight - ten hour days... Once there I plan to do Klondike Bluffs, Tower Arch, Hell's Revenge, Poison Spider, and Golden Spike. I may or may not be able to fit a few more trails in. Despite all the driving to get there - yes, the Tonka will be trailered behind the Dodge Ram 2500 - this is like a pilgrimage and I am really looking forward to it. If I make it there and back, I shall thereafter append the honorific Rock Hajji to my name I will try to get pictures up asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Sounds like an adventure, good luck. Look forward to the pics. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
q-rover Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Provided that I can sort out the mysterious electrical gremlin - I am assuming a bad earth or connection but can't seem to find it - that has the Tonka going "clicky, clicky, no bang, bang", I will set off @ April 25 for the 4 day drive to Moab. Mapquest gave the driving time as "31 hours 23 minutes", so I am planning 4 eight - ten hour days... Once there I plan to do Klondike Bluffs, Tower Arch, Hell's Revenge, Poison Spider, and Golden Spike. I may or may not be able to fit a few more trails in. Despite all the driving to get there - yes, the Tonka will be trailered behind the Dodge Ram 2500 - this is like a pilgrimage and I am really looking forward to it. If I make it there and back, I shall thereafter append the honorific Rock Hajji to my name I will try to get pictures up asap. Sounds nice, but not much of an achievement really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 Driving an 88" hybrid on Super Swampers with a max speed of about 40 mph on a 4200 mile round trip highway journey to Utah wouldn't be an "achievement", it would be an act of supreme stupidity bordering on the criminally insane. There's one stretch in the AAA roadbook for I-80 I think that says "drive to exit 12A, approximately 925 miles". If these were outback roads like in Oz, that might be interesting, but it's an asphalt ribbon across Kansas.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripy Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 sounds like an adventure to me make sure you get plenty of piccys hope you have a safe journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holyzeus Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 A very cool trip, have fun and take loads of pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthdicky Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Fantastic, as others have said make sure you get loads of pictures as it'll be an amazing trip. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonPearson Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Been there - done that - 6 times in fact. You'll LOVE it. I lived in California in the 90's and went to Moab 6 times. Off-roaded all over the darned place - there can't be a trail there I haven't done. Absolutely fantastic off-roading. It'll still be cold at that time of year so wrap up. Warm days/cold nights. Such a good place for chilling out though. Just get away from it al. Man, I love that place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted April 21, 2007 Author Share Posted April 21, 2007 Simon, Thanks for the advice. I have done a lot of trail research and hope to be meeting up with some virtual locals later in the week, but could use your advise on a couple of the less well known trails. I will do Hell's Revenge, Fins & Things, Gold Bar Rim, Poison Spider Mesa, Golden Spike, and Metal Masher with the locals later in the week. My first day out I will be on my own and I want to break in easy and shake down the truck after the journey out. I was looking at doing Klondike Bluffs and Tower Arch (Klondike Bluff is off 191 a few miles after it crosses 313 and heads towards Arches National Park. Tower Arch is accessed from it off the Salt Valley Rd.) I'm just wondering about "difficulty ratings". Both of these are listed in "Guide to Moab Backroads & 4 Wheel Drive Trails" (Charles Wells) and the National Geographic recreation maps as "moderate" 3/+. I underestand this to mean "moderate to diffult for a stock 4wd with low range [ie a typical American SUV] ", in which case the terrain itself shouldn't be particularly difficult for the Tonka - sort of like a mild wadi bash - but very scenic/photographic and a good orientation run with some sand and light rock. Does this match up with your recollections ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Baldwin Posted April 21, 2007 Share Posted April 21, 2007 Tower Arch, no problem. Wells tends to err on the side of caution when to comes to his ratings. Go for it. You'll have a blast! Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 Thanks Kev. Well, spending today packing up and running last minute errands. I'm trying to be flexible but have mapped out roughly 8.5 hour stages of driving so Stage 1 should get me somewhere between Cleveland and Toledo Ohio, Stage 2 to about Des Moines Iowa, Stage 3 to about Fort Morgan Colorado, and the last Stage to Moab. We'll see. Bringin the Laptop and a Big Cannon Camera so first shots should be from mysterious "Middle America", home of the Corn Dog and the George Bush supporter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumpy2268 Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Drove Klondike Bluffs in a hired Jeep Wrangler with the wife. Absolutely no problem at all, take a packed lunch and enjoy the scenery around Arches National Park. I would recommend going to Arches early as it gets a lot of tourist traffic. We also drove Hells Revenge in the Jeep without any issues, though as a first timer on slick rock fins, we had a few white knuckle moments !! Am very envious, hope you have a brilliant time, Moab is fantastic !! Regards, Aid. Thanks Kev.Well, spending today packing up and running last minute errands. I'm trying to be flexible but have mapped out roughly 8.5 hour stages of driving so Stage 1 should get me somewhere between Cleveland and Toledo Ohio, Stage 2 to about Des Moines Iowa, Stage 3 to about Fort Morgan Colorado, and the last Stage to Moab. We'll see. Bringin the Laptop and a Big Cannon Camera so first shots should be from mysterious "Middle America", home of the Corn Dog and the George Bush supporter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted April 26, 2007 Author Share Posted April 26, 2007 Day 1 - Happily uneventful. Weather was horrific with blinding rain and extremely bad visibility but still managed to cruise at 70 mph on most open stretches. Lot's of roadwork and delays in Pennsylvania (which is a lot bigger than it looks on the bloody map). Lots of lorries! During a one hour sstretch on I-80, I didn't see one other passenger car - it was all 18 wheelers, tandem trailers - and State Troopers Covered just over 450 miles and arrived in between Akron & Cleveland Ohio, just south of Lake Erie and Ontaria. Tow rig seems to be getting a remarkable 19 mpg (US gallon) but I may have my maths wrong. Day 2 needs a big push. Hoping to reach just outside Demoines Iowa - about a 10.5 hour drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted April 27, 2007 Author Share Posted April 27, 2007 Day 2 felated donkey schlong. Drove for 12 hourss and only made just over 500 miles, arriving shattered in Iowa City, Iowa (well named). I gained an hour though - now in the Central Time Zone. There's an effing bl**dy Monsoon going on! It has rained for the last 800 miles. I-80 was shut in Indiana for some horrific RTA with multiple fatalities and I saw another - no fatalities happily - in which a pick-up towing a boat jack-knifed into a station wagon and both went off the road. That cost 2.5 hours and road work (there must be elections coming up with all the gratuitous public works going on) cost another good hour. This is a big country. Crossed the Du Page river in Illinois and all of a sudden the Earth went flat and the sky got huge. I mean FLAT. If it weren't for the rain, I think the Rockies might already be visible! Iowa has so far not been particularly exciting. Need to finish it and get through Nebraska tomorrow and into Colorado. Apparently Nebraska is one single 9 hour long wheat field. The news reported some snow at higher elevations in the Rockies - not something I want to have to fight through. Thank God for Bourbon (not while driving of course). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 Better progress today. 12 hours and just over 700 miles. Passed from Iowa to Nebraska over the Missouri River and skirted Omaha. The rain finally gave way in western Iowa and the ribbon of asphalt crossing the prairie with sun above gave some idea what it must have been like for the pioneers. Made it into NE Colorado to a tiny town in rolling prairie grassland incongruously overlooked by the faux teepees of the highway rest area overlooking the town. I'm completely knackered but tomorrow is a mere 430 miles! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripy Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 B) keep em coming rpr , how much fuel you used & whats the price per ltr . wheres the pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveG Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 Are you doing the journey on your own or do you have a co-driver? If on your own are you going mad yet and talking to yourself constantly? It will be worth it when you get there it's just the journey back that will be fun . I have a solution though, leave Tonka there so it will be there for next year, sell the trailer and start a new project when you get home!! Good luck with the last bit of the journey. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Baldwin Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 If you're heading west on I70 from Co to Moab, make sure you fill up before you cross the border into Utah since gas stations are scarily noticeable by their absence on this long stretch. Don't ask me how I know! When you get to Moab, make sure you check out Milts Stop and Eat diner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted April 29, 2007 Author Share Posted April 29, 2007 Made it. I'm shattered. Will hopefullly download some photos from the camera tomorrow. It is much more impressive than I had even imagined. Thnaks for the advice Kev - too true on the petrol stops. In answer to the above querie, prior to Colorado, diesel had been averaging about GBP 1.40 per (US) gallon. IN Colorado the price lept an incredible 25p for no apparent reason! I guess it's been about 19 mpg over 2,150 miles. And yes, driving alone and talking to myself like a solo round the world yachtsman (only not as cleverly)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPR Posted May 12, 2007 Author Share Posted May 12, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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white90 Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 Fantastic pictures Richard just back from a week in as Vegas Grand canyon and Rd Rock canyon which look similar to some of those pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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