Saturday, April 20 Martha and I drove the Honda CR-V (Wanda) down UT Highway 12, a designated scenic byway, towards the Escalante National Monument. A brief stop at "The Hogback" for the above shot. The rest of the photos for this post are screen captures from the footage shot by the car's dashcam.  Not too bad.  There are some really cool and colorful rock formations as one heads towards and through the Escalante National Monument enroute to its visitor center in the town of Escalante. I've been in this area on previous trips and rides: LINK1, LINK2 Martha got her Park ..read more

This morning we drove down to the vicinity of the visitor center for the Capitol Reef NP and checked out the Petroglyph Panel. Our view of nearby Torrey and the rock wall overlooking the town: This is a section of rock wall where petroglyphs are evident.  They're pretty cool, though thoughts of ancient astronauts did briefly fill my head.  The artwork is quite faded now, in fact, Martha had to point the first one below out to me. The below pics have been enhanced to show the figures better. There's a wooden walkway to guide you along the wall, and to keep people from actually di ..read more

 Sunny day with some noticeable but not bad winds. Martha and I drove over to the Capitol Reef NP's Visitor Center located just off the US24 Highway about six miles east of Torrey, UT. After getting her Park Passport book stamp and a map, we drove onto the Scenic Highway deeper into the park.  First, a stop at the Gifford Farm where a museum and store is located.  Mainly, to get a pie sample.   The drive into the scenic highway's rock formations was "into the sun" so we didn't stop for pics or use any of the dashcam video footage.  We got to the end of the road wh ..read more

 A good day of car touring with a bit of hiking among large and scenic rock formations! We had an 11AM reservation to enter the Arches National Park and were let in by 11:15, not too bad a wait at the fee gate. The reservation system does seem to cut down on the crowding of the more popular parks but as the day wore on, more and more crowding conditions evidenced themselves. Still, we got to see the rock formations Martha wanted to see.  It has been over 20 years since she'd last been at Arches NP.  In fact, she was pregnant with Thing Two at the time! Park Avenue Courthouse ..read more

Sunday, April 14 Martha and I left the overcrowded cesspool that is the I-25 Corridor of the Colorado Front Range at 8:30 AM, heading west on the I-70 super slab. We made good time, had good weather, and though quite slow on the uphill portions of the mountain areas, the VRRV did just fine.  It even reported almost 9 MPG when we refueled in Rifle, CO. Here's some shots by Martha with her iPhone as we went through the Glenwood Canyon portion of I-70.  A very scenic portion of the interstate! We refueled at Rifle, CO.  Had to wait a bit while the below hunters did th ..read more

Recent work on Thing Two's pickup truck led me to wonder if the idle was set too high on the engine.  The truck didn't come with a tachometer however. My mind then thought to get a tachometer that wasn't tied to a specific vehicle so I can use it to determine RPMs on any gasoline/two stroke or four stroke vehicle. A little googling and I figured I'd try this one: Link to product on Amazon It's made in China by an outfit called Bohisen and cost me $15.43. I thought it would work like a similar tachometer I'd used on my motorcycles previously.  You coil the far end of the wire onto on ..read more

One of the reasons, heck, the main reason I came home earlier than planned was to bring the Honda CR-V home so that Thing Two had transportation.  Thing Two had been driving home work in the 1990 Toyota Pickup, lost traction on snow and hit a tree. The good news was that Thing Two was unhurt. It was either that tree or a building near a school, so good choice on Thing Two's part. Here's some pics sent from the scene from Thing Two's phone: Not sure how Thing Two managed it but the truck was driven (slowly) home, about 8 miles in crappy weather.  The truck was left in the drivew ..read more

Long day on the road, Google maps said 8 hours from my campsite near Elephant Butte, NM but it's closer to eleven+ hours the way I drive. I drive at 55-58 mph max speed you see, trying to not go below 7 MPG.  On a good day, it's 8+, and that's whether towing the Honda CR-V or Trailer with Ural behind the VRRV. I left shortly after 7:15 AM and crossed into Colorado at 2:30 PM, making it home by 6:30 PM.    The only place I encountered congestion was while passing by the downtown area of Colorado Springs.  Now the lanes going the other way?  Parking lot.  Fortunatel ..read more

 I have started heading back to Colorado and home since yesterday. Tuesday, March 26 I left the BLM areas south of Ajo, AZ and spent the morning driving east, retracing my way back towards Tucson and eventually the Indian Bread Recreation Area BLM camp ground. It was a mostly overcast and chilly day.  Since I was just staying one night, I grabbed the first available site and tucked the VRRV and the CR-V into it. You can see the approaching rains above.  It would start raining but then it turned to hail! We did get an hour of bright sunshine once the rains passed to the east ..read more

I spent part of the morning in Ajo, AZ doing laundry and getting some groceries and supplies.  When I returned and after the lunch hour, I rode to nearby Locomotive Rock to explore it further.   I would end up walking to as close to the top as one can get without climbing gear and ropes.  Also eventually circumnavigate the rock, getting some exercise in while taking pics: Locomotive Rock the "front side" of the rock in case you wonder what was in the gap between the two big rocks View from near top of Locomotive Rock: Can you see Uma? back side of the two ma ..read more