Jeepininin

Hi All
I just got home from a trip out West, what an eye opener since I had never been West of the Mississippi River before. The JK had 1200 miles on it when Mary Jane another Verizon retiree took off for the parts unknown.
The first day we made it 600 miles to Topeka Kansas and got to see the BigFoot shop as we drove by at 70 mph. we managed to get around 18mpg for the first leg. The JK seemed to be in one gear too high all the way there when we needed to pass some one or go uphill. It was embarassing to get passed on 70 going uphill by a 4 door Hundai towing a tandam axle trailer. I found that hitting the OD button helped by dropping it into drive and getting some more revs.
The second day we left Topeka that is 900 foot above sea level and made it 400 miles to Colorado Springs that is a 6200 feet above sea level. We stopped for lunch in Wakeenie Kansas, that is the final resting place for two of the men that posted the colors on top of Iwo Jima. We drove past the Jeep dealer in Colorado Springs, it had an "offroad" test track right at the dealership lot with all kinds of obstacles to tackle. It was so cool to see Pikes Peak with snow still on it from 100 miles away when we got up to the top of a rise in the road. We rested the last part of the day trying to get used to the thin air and tried to find the Four Wheel hardware store there for a Super Chip for the JK to give it some more guts in the mountains. We were dropping into 2nd gear at times trying to get up some of the inclines on the highway. Dropping to 2nd at 65 mph and hitting the rev limiter was very annoying.
The third day we broke the cardinal rule of wheeling by going out alone on Danken Road and Long Hollow Road which is listed as an easy trail 23 miles long and reaching 9000 feet of eleavation. With the new program installed the JK ran a little better and had some extra guts. The Trail started out on private land and ran up some very impressive switchbacks till we got to the top of Rampart Range. It was like a long version of the Green trail at the Badlands and we were able to sneak up on the wildlife like mule deer and a female elk since the Jeep is so quiet. Pictures here Moose
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd308/mmmoose1/Vacation%20photos%20from%20South%20West%20June%202010/?action=view&current=19030476.jpg

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In a perfect world there would be no door dings.cause real Jeeps don't have em..

look forward to more

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REMEMBER:
BE GOOD!
AND IF YOU CAN'T
BE GOOD AT IT!!!!![/color]

GOD,
grant me the serenity to accept the impossible trails i cannot crawl, the courage to crawl the twisted trails i can, and the wisdom to keep the tire side down!

Can't wait to see the pics!

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'46CJ2a/buggy project in the works, yeah, still have those parts.
'14 Chebby Silverado, 4x4
'88 GMC S15 Trail Gypsy
A sweet lawn mower
Motorcycles: '14 HD FLHTCU, '92 HD FXRS, '26 HD JD, '02 Suzuki DRZ400, '56 Cushman Eagle, '48 Simplex ServiCycle, '72 Honda MiniTrail50, '81 Yamaha YR250, Probably some other stuff
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand." - Confucius
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"Concern yourself with what is right and you'll never second-guess that decision"
I'm not really an , I just play one on the internet!

Day four and on. . .

Day four started with a trip to the Garden of the Gods Park, the Anazazi ruins and a trip to the Cave of the winds. For a flat lander from Indiana these were some fantastic stops to visit. We did not make it to the caves since the wait to enter was wll over an hour and we had wheelin to do. So with a full fuel tank and a full belly from a visit the the Village Inn for lunch we tried to find the start of Mt Herman Road. Luckily the guys at a Big O Tire store were able to help us unscramble the directions in the Well's book. We got on the road and looked up tring to figure out how we were going to get to the top. It was not long till we found out how with the first of many frightening trips up narrow switchback roads with HUGE drop offs where you can look down for what seemed miles then. We did get a great veiw of the Air Force Academy while we were climbing to the top of the range. We climbed 3000 feet in the first three and a half miles of the trail. Now we understood why the guys at the tire store wished us luck. Once we did get to the top. the trail was easy and we switched back to 2wd and drove the rest of the 36 mile trail without too much difficulty and got to see some great veiws. At the end we had to drop back down the 3000 feet to get back into the Garden of the Gods Park with another switchback road with dizzying drop offs and amazing vistas.

http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd308/mmmoose1/Vacation%20photos%20from%20South%20West%20June%202010/?action=view&current=19030441.jpg Looking out over the Air Force Academy from Mt Herman Road. http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd308/mmmoose1/Vacation%20photos%20from%20South%20West%20June%202010/?action=view&current=19030440.jpg Looking back down the Road

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In a perfect world there would be no door dings.cause real Jeeps don't have em..

Are you talking about trail leaving Garden of the Gods that says "4 wheel drive required" but it's really just a mountain pass road, really bumpy with lots of camping sites along it?

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'78 CJ7 project....350, NV3500, NP241, fiberglass tub, show and shine
'72 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible - the family fun car
'05 Chevrolet 3500 dually, duramax, stock
'05 Honda Odessey awesomevan
'08 Chevrolet HHR company car - The silver bullet

Whatever....

Sounds awesome!

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Lets go to Candy Mountain Charlie!

Hi Chuck

Yep that is the one except we came in from the Monument end of it. For a guy who lived in Ft Wayne area all his life it was a good warmup in a new vehicle, a good way to see some sights and a chance to get acclimated to the altitude. The drops off the side of the road were frightening with a guy with VERTIGO. . . Ken

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In a perfect world there would be no door dings.cause real Jeeps don't have em..

Pictures added. Follow the link and it will take you to the album on Photobucket that has 500 photos on it. I took big format photos so you can zoom into the photos and see more detail. Ken

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In a perfect world there would be no door dings.cause real Jeeps don't have em..

just got to look over the pics of your trip, very cool, i would to take a trip like that someday.

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Avoiding Stupidity is Easier than Seeking Brilliance

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95 yj rio, 2" body lift, 15 to 20 gal. gas tank conversion, Hella hb2 head lights. More on the way, Dear Dad send $$$...

That's one heck of a trip!

Your pictures make me wish I had taken "some sort" of truck on my trips out there. The last time I did it, my wife and I were in a Civic!

I really like the pics from north rim. Not many people go there. It may be a couple hours further, but the temperature up there makes it worth any kind of drive when comparing it to the south. Was surprised not to see any of the "Ranch Access" exit signs in your pics from I-70, however. Those always cracked me up.

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I take it that those were the exits in Utah? I was blown away about how desolate Utah was. First building in Utah was the welcome center 40 miles in and the next was a gas station at the turn off for Moab. I wanted to see the s that were not on the tourist top ten to go to so the North rim was on the list. My copilot was not very good at taking pictures on the fly and she was too busy holding on to take pictures from Metal Masher. I am bummed that half the pictures I took did not come out due to the camera having issues with dust. But there will always be next time. The other thing that was shocking was how many non English speaking people were at the National Parks and I am not talking about Spanish. More than 2/3rds of the tourists we encountered were from Europe and French Canada, many of them were riding rental Harley's . Ken

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In a perfect world there would be no door dings.cause real Jeeps don't have em..

I , it was a great warmup, lots of beauty out there. I d the free shooting range that was filled with trash to shoot at. Not many signs, just a "designated shooting area" sign.

man, i need to get back out there soon..

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'78 CJ7 project....350, NV3500, NP241, fiberglass tub, show and shine
'72 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible - the family fun car
'05 Chevrolet 3500 dually, duramax, stock
'05 Honda Odessey awesomevan
'08 Chevrolet HHR company car - The silver bullet

Whatever....