Day one....the longer story.

I am still processing that I did a trip this epic but I figured I
better post up some stuff before the natives get restless....

Day one. After work on Tues the 21st of May.

I spent the day at work trying to be productive. I had a random issue
with the Willys where the battery was DEAD the night before. My 8+
year old optima had finally given up the ghost. I didn't want to mess
with it anymore. I didn't want to have to worry about it. I just
bought a new optima red top and installed it about 10 minutes before I
left. A quick change of clothes and some pictures with the misses and
I was ready to head off on this crazy adventure.

Up to this point I think the longest I had driven the Willys in one
stretch was maybe 20 miles on the highway, now I was going to do 2000
or more miles across four states over the next 10 or so days. In it's
previous incarnation this vehicle had done some 300-700 mile trips but
that was over 7 years ago I think and WAY before the big recent
complete rebuild. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad
thing. A 'new' vehicle can be much more fickle than an old trusted
one.

The drive towards Moab went well. It takes a little bit of an
adjustment to get use to traveling at about 52mph when everyone else
is going much much faster. I try and pull over and let people pass
whenever I can, but sometimes those poor rushed souls just have to
wait until they get a change to pass. Early on in the trip I learned
that big semi trucks and trailers need to be respected and even
slightly feared. The big box trailers really have a large wake of wind
alongside and behind them. They generally push, pull, and toss the
little Willys all over the road when they pass you in the other lane
going either direction! The Willys also has enough road noise that you
also don't always hear people coming up behind you. A surprise pass by
a semi truck with trailer going 70mph is always interesting!

Moab came in a few short hours. I made it to town just about dark. I
tried to instigate a rule that I wouldn't be driving after dark if I
could help it. If the entire point is to see more why drive at night?

I grabbed some taco's in Downtown Moab, topped off with fuel, and
headed north of town to find somewhere to camp for the night.

Most of the campgrounds close to town where very full. I decided to
just head north and find somewhere to camp under the starry sky. The
weather was nice, it wasn't cold, and wasn't even windy. I ended up
camping about 5-10 miles south of the interstate on some piece of dry
lakebed I found about a mile off the highway on some random side road.
My dreams that night where just flat crazy. I still remember something
about a flat tire, a crazy group of desert mechanics in some huge
abandoned underground warehouse.

Morning came early. I was just with the sun and on the road for the next day...