A week on the road

I just finished a 3,500 mile road trip, driving my jeep from Oregon to Salt Lake City, then to Moab, back to SLC, then to Denver, back to SLC, then home over the course of seven days.

The Moab part of the trip was spent with my daughter who flew into SLC so she could skip my 12hr drive there. I finally got to show her the most beautiful rock formations on earth while enjoying some off-road trails in my Jeep.

We stuck to mostly easy trails, and hit up some of my favorites including Shafer Road (the crazy curves that lead down from a cliff), Onion Creek with all its water crossings, and Eye of the Whale Arch. It's still wild to me that you can walk up to dinosaur tracks captured in mudstone from over 65 million years ago and then put your hand over the track.

Then we hit a few more easy ones like Hurrah Pass and Chicken Corners as the sun went down before tackling Metal Masher on our last day to enjoy the views from the top of the plateau looking down on Moab.

After dropping Fiona off at the airport, I figured since I was so far from home, I might as well take a side trip to Denver so I could review the new NWSL expansion team's stadium for the book site. It was Pride night with a sold-out crowd and it was great to see Denver win their first game at home.

The next day I headed back to SLC and caught a Utah Royals game, revisiting a stadium I hadn't been back to for two years.

I left SLC at 9pm after the game and got home around 11am the next day after sleeping off and on in a few rest areas.

It was good to get out on the road, zone out and think for thousands of miles. I got to see tons of nature while also experiencing new stadiums with old friends.

Overall, five out of five stars, even though no matter how much I pre-planned to avoid any setbacks, my Jeep did a couple jeep things like belching out all the gear oil in the front differential one day, and running out of gas on my way home (roadside assistance helped in both cases).