Smashed thumb!

Brandon was being his typical bad ass self pounding out the muffler when suddenly his 3 lbs hammer lost its way and smashed his poor thumb. He said some choice words and turned ghost white. I tried to comfort him but he needed some alone time. I grabbed ice and 3 motrin and some water. My poor buddy. Today it is grotesque, we are gonna burn a hole in it in a bit. I may pass out. We took an R&R day today, but will adventure out again tomorrow. By the way, swimming in Colorado River is good in theory but very stinky! Ninja will need a bath tonight!
-Gwen

New Muffler crumpled

Steel Bender has lived up to it's name. We are waiting to cool down and then Brandon will hook it all up so we don't loose any more parts. This place is no joke, we are still smiling though :)

Poison Spider

We survived the dust storm on friday and saturday. It was bad with wind gusts up to 60 mph and the visibility was really low. The whole sky was brown. But yesterday was just beautiful, a perfect day for jeepin'. With our repaired jeep we were ready for a challenge, so we headed over to the Poison Spider. Some very nice people from Salt Lake City let us tag along so off we went! We were shocked at how capable the jeep was. It was a blast!!

Onion and Castle Creek

Saturday was a sandstorm so we tookit easy. We drove a particularly pretty road called Onion Creek. There were something like 22 creek crossings! Then we had to stop at the Castle Creek Winery and taste some delicious wines. We ended up buying some wine and cheese and then headed back to our sand covered tent. We watched some Seinfeld and waited out the storm.

Fins 'n' Things

Yesterday I got to play at Poison Spider Mesa. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about the Jeep's capabilities as well as my own. Today, it was Gwen's turn to push the limits.

She picked Fins 'n' Things from our "Guide to Moab, UT Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails" book by Charles A. Wells. It's been a great guide for us with plenty of details to keep us going in the right direction. Wells describes this trail as "difficult. Steep slickrock climbs and descents… unbelievable fun and fantastic scenery." He was right about the steepness, but Gwen did a great job handling everything the trail had to offer. There were a few white knuckle moments, but it was an incredible experience -my wife kicks ass!
-Brandon

Here are some pics and a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmS96N3bQhs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Shocking!

Brandon just replaced all four shocks, did a tune up ( that includes sparkplugs and wires, for the car illiterate like myself), and re-alligned the front suspension. He is a bad ass. In case you didn' t know. I am helping by drinking Mikes's Hard Lemonade and wrangling our grizzly bear. We are loving Moab! This place is too much fun and so beautiful .... And they have a hospital... Job opportunity? We are going to roam around tomorrow some more! I have attached a pic of a gila monster and a big horn sheep.
-Gwen

Solar Eclipse

To Moab!

We spent yesterday in Capitol Reef National Park and driving down the Burr Trail. We ended up in Bullfrog on Lake Powell. We were going to camp for a few days but the wind was ridiculous! So with the holiday weekend approaching, we decided to head to Moab a little early.

Honk if parts fall off!

The tailpipe fell off. And there is a hole in the muffler. So we are going up to Loa in hopes of a muffler shop. We did have a nice picnic by a creek that we first drove through. Hopefully we will be headed to Capitol Reef National Park tomorrow (Tuesday).
And Ninja is having a blast, too much fun yesterday in fact. The heat was a bit much so we dunked her and made her lie down, like a little kid I swear!
-Gwen

Hole in the rock

After a 54 mile off road trek, one exhaust, a rear shock, and three hours we made it! We are here to view the solar eclipse tonight. We got glasses and everything! Tomorrow we will head into Boulder for some repairs. Then the Burr Trail and Moab!!!!
-Gwen

Cedar Break National Monument

This was just passed Brians Head and was one of the most beautiful views. Ever. I was wearing a sun dress and flip flops so we didnt stay long. Ninja doesn't camp in the snow, so we got a motel room just outside Bryce that night.
- Gwen