[dwilliamsceg]

Hi.

I am getting married in 3 days (01Oct) in Moab Utah. This thread will document my trip from VA to Utah/Colorado and the 3 weeks of four wheeling / site seeing / adventuring that surrounds and follows the wedding. I know there is a trail report forum, bit this is more than a trail report. Plus, I have a very early 97 TJ, so I figured I might as well post in here. Let me know if you guys like this idea. Pics to follow....

Dave.

[dwilliamsceg]

I left Saturday, 26Sep at 1030 EDT from zip code 23072.

Here is a bad pic of the setup.
-2008 Ford F250 PSD 6 speed manual
-1997 TJ, mild mods, over 170K miles
-Sweetriver Farms 16' foot trailer

I am driving solo to Moab while my wife flew out earlier in the morning to get there and prep things.



Here is the starting mileage (another bad pic)

[dwilliamsceg]

Most of the first day I saw this, rain. Lots of rain. This is somewhere in VA/WV.


Yep, she is still back there....


The 6.4 diesel pulls AMAZING. I have done this run before in a v10 gas and it is completely different. When we hit a hill, the boost builds (upper left corner gauge) and she charges on. The downside is mileage...


Here is a shot from a rest area in Kentucky. This is the last pic of the day. I stopped for the night in Indiana

[MudDuck99]

that is awsome...great plans before the plunge. crawled...

[dwilliamsceg]

Sunrise in my rear view on Sunday morning, day 2


Open roads in Indiana


The obligatory STL shot


I have a bunch of pics of KS and the all look like this


My favorite pic of KS....CO is coming up.


I stopped for the night west of Denver in Evergreen and ate at one of my favorite restaurants: El Rancho. We used to live in Evergreen and really miss it.

[Thunderstrike]

Nice trip report to Moab. Congratulations on your marriage in Moab. Hope you get to say I do on top of the rock on Hell's Revenge trail. That would be awesome.

I will look forward to more posts as days progress on.

[dwilliamsceg]

Day 3 - final leg on to Moab.

Here is a shot leaving Evergreen heading into the heart of the Rockies.


Pretty...


Rest area near Vail pass


I arrived in Grand Junction and met my wife. We dropped off her rental car and headed to Moab. We are staying one night in a hotel and then in cabins in the LaSal mountains. We took the Jeep off of the trailer and went for a ride up the LaSal mountain loop road.

I will preface to say that now is the perfect time to be our here. The aspens are turning and it is amazing, more breathtaking in my opinion than the Fall colors back home.

[dwilliamsceg]

My Jeep is a 97. I bought is right after graduating High School and have had her since. It has been the most stable thing in my life and has never let me down. She has about 175K miles on her. Original clutch and the motor has never been opened up. I just ran the snot out of her about 2 hrs ago and she still runs like a top. Not to sound cheesy but she really has a part in my heart. I will never sell her. In fact, we are getting ready to buy another house with a much larger garage so that I can do a complete frame off resto. She spent many hundreds of hours on the OBX (where I grew up) and the frame is showing the rust.

[Thunderstrike]

Originally Posted by dwilliamsceg

My Jeep is a 97. I bought is right after graduating High School and have had her since. It has been the most stable thing in my life and has never let me down. She has about 175K miles on her. Original clutch and the motor has never been opened up. I just ran the snot out of her about 2 hrs ago and she still runs like a top. Not to sound cheesy but she really has a part in my heart. I will never sell her. In fact, we are getting ready to buy another house with a much larger garage so that I can do a complete frame off resto. She spent many hundreds of hours on the OBX (where I grew up) and the frame is showing the rust.

Take care of her. Fix the rust. Enjoyed reading your post.

[dwilliamsceg]

After getting lunch, taking a nap, and a bunch of wedding related stuff, we decieded to run up to the LaSal Mountains to take pics and get directions for our wedding party since I rented cabins from Morris Last Resort for my buddies.

The cabins are here - Morris Last Resort Cabins near Moab Utah

If you don't know where the LaSals are in relation to Moab, here is a pic. Also, is the cartography on the Bing Maps soooooo much better than google?

[ScJeepaholic]

Congratulations and condolences, may all your future adventures find a desirable destination. On a side note knowing how to "fix the rust" is the key to marriage as well.

[dwilliamsceg]

To begin, here we are filling out the wedding application at the County Hall. This makes is official (I think) ...pop another Xanax!


Shot of the County Hall

[dwilliamsceg]

Heading up to Mt Peale. In the distance is a stand of green/gold aspens


Can you spot the mule deer?


There are two in this pic. Can you find them?


More aspens




Upper mountain lake found off of trail


Fire road with aspens and leaves on the trail. This is why we come out here.


Free range dinner


Looking down to Castle Valley from Mt. Peale.


That is it for tonight. Off to shower and bed. We have to run back to Grand Junction tomorrow to pickup the tuxedos. Tomorrow afternoon we check into the cabins and my buddies show up. More pics soon...

[waterboarder]

I would have left the pickup at home - but looks like a fun trip. And congrats on the off-roading too!

[dwilliamsceg]

Originally Posted by waterboarder

I would have left the pickup at home - but looks like a fun trip. And congrats on the off-roading too!

I used to make long trips in the Jeep but now we have too much stuff to take with us plus with those tires and the gearing I have she really won't go over 65MPH. It is much more enjoyable to drag her behind the truck.