Lucy has escaped

[Gene]

The Horseshoe Unit is on a dirt road south of Green River. You have to hike down about 600' (there's a trail) to see the Grand Gallery. If you continue on the road you get to the Maze District.

Goblin Valley state park is quite nice and I can't remember the amenities except for showers and toilets and a dump station. They may have electric at the sites. The "goblins" are rock formations you can walk around. It is off the state highway to Hanksville.

Gene

[moosetags]

Thank you everyone for all of the Moab information. We are printing it all out to refer to. We plan to head that way tomorrow. We plan to overnight in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Brian

[moosetags]

Well, we did it. We ordered and placed a deposit on an Outfitter Truck Camper. We went with the Apex 8 Long Bed Extended Cab. We got it pretty tricked out with the NovaKool 7.5 cf compressor refrigerator, 95 watt solar package, air conditioning, and cassette toilet.

The new truck camper has already been named Ethel, as in Lucy's BFF. Ethel will be built to order with everything we want including Moose upholstery. Ethel will be built and ready in the third week of September. We will come back to Colorado to get her.

We went out tonight to celebrate Ethel's conception at Mike O'Shay's Irish Restaurant in downtown Longmont. The food was great (the beer was good too). We will go back there when we pick Ethel up in September.

Here are a few more shots of the Outfitter TC.

Brian

[moosetags]

Sorry, forgot the pictures.

[Tyrinius]

Congratulations!! Your search is over and I'm sure you can't wait to bring her home and introduce her to her BFF.

[pmclemore]

What a honkin' good lookin' rig. Congrats on the conception - you guys put a lot of work into getting what you want, exactly the way you want it.

Pat

[thecatsandi]

Great find. Good "hunting"

[Gene]

Looks good. Thanks for bringing more money to Colorado.

If I see a red Suburban in Grand Junction today, I'll wave.

There's an REI on North St. (maybe at corner of 5th, but I just find it without thinking) that will have lots of books on and maps of Canyonlands, Arches, etc. A Bradley gas station is near there and is often the cheapest gas in GJ.

Gene

[A W Warn]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Thank you for the suggestion. SuEllyn really liked it, so it is done. The new truck camper will be Ethel, Lucy's new BFF, and the new truck will be Fred.

Brian

Now that you have let me help name the new child, Fred, I feel sort of attached, a godparent so to speak. Am I assuming to much?
Should I start a college (restoration/renovation) fund for his future education?
Please take the camera into the delivery room when he is born, so you can share that moment.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Looks good. Thanks for bringing more money to Colorado.

If I see a red Suburban in Grand Junction today, I'll wave.

There's an REI on North St. (maybe at corner of 5th, but I just find it without thinking) that will have lots of books on and maps of Canyonlands, Arches, etc. A Bradley gas station is near there and is often the cheapest gas in GJ.

Gene

We are camped in Lucy in Grand Junction tonight.We're going yo lay in here until Sunday. We may go by the REI store tomorrow. We will also probably hit Cabela's tomorrow. Thanks for the tip on the gas.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by A W Warn

Now that you have let me help name the new child, Fred, I feel sort of attached, a godparent so to speak. Am I assuming to much?
Should I start a college (restoration/renovation) fund for his future education?
Please take the camera into the delivery room when he is born, so you can share that moment.

Not to worry. We will take many baby pictures as Ethel is completed. We plan to take Ethel on two week shakedown cruise to Wyoming as soon as we get her. We will be able to leave Lucy at the Outfitter Factory while we're out with Ethel. When we come back to get Lucy, we can have any problems corrected before we head back to Florida.

Brian

[moosetags]

We broke camp at Longmont this morning. The rain is finally over, and it was a beautiful day for a cross country drive with an Airstream. We left the Denver area on I-70 and headed across Colorado. On this route was some of the most spectacular scenery in the country. Some of the extreme grades (both the up and the down) were rough on Lucy and Olivia, but the girls did really well.

We had a problem with Lucy's batteries this morning when we broke camp. The batteries were close to dead and would not power Lucy's tongue jack without being plugged into shore power. We have been noticing lately that Lucy's batteries had much reduced longevity. Lucy's batteries were the originals from new and are right at five years old. When we arrived in Grand Junction, we went straight to Wal-Mart and got Lucy a brand new set of RV batteries. The Wal-mart Service Center was busy, so we installed the new batteries ourselves. Now Lucy is good for another five years.

We got Lucy settled in at a campground just west of town. We took a ride and looked around town for a little while before it got dark. Then it was back to Lucy for dinning in.

Here are a few pictures of the great scenery along I-70 in Colorado and a picture of a rather unusual RV parked a couple of spots down from us. It appears to be a fifth wheel bunk house/motel.

Brian

[Prickly Pear]

We saw a bunk house in an RV park and were told it was used with a traveling carnival.

Jim

[Gene]

Brian, the REI is at North and 7th. The Bradley on North is between 5th and 1st on the south side. There's another one on Patterson which may be a few cents cheaper, but I think Patterson is called F there and I think it is at the corner of 23 1/4 or 23 1/2 Rd. on NW corner. Some counties out here used distances from the county line to name roads. City Markets have discounts if you have a Kroger chain card.

South of town is Colorado National Monument. It is like an introduction to Utah's red rocks country, much more impressive before you go to Utah.

Downtown Main St. is something like a mall, but they have a couple of blocks torn up and it's not easy getting around. If you like fresh whole grain bread, Main St. Bagels has it at 6th and Main, but you have to park on Colorado because of the construction. The bagels are pretty good, though they don't boil the dough like you are supposed to (hardly anyone does except in the east and a place we found in Juneau). There's not too much cool early 20th century architecture in GJ, but maybe because I've been there so much, I don't notice it.

I've taken I-70 scores of times and don't pay much attention to the scenery anymore, but it sure looks pretty in the photos. I recognize (maybe) somewhere around the US turn off (1), one of the Twin Tunnels east of Idaho Springs (3), Dillon Res. (4), Eisenhower Tunnel (5), and maybe 2 is along the highway in the Eagle R. Valley.

Gene

[star kitty]

Hey Brian - I passed through that stretch of highway coming from Grand Junction to Denver about two weeks ago pulling my trailer. I got caught in a winter storm warning and 13 hours later, ended up at the base of Eisenhower at 3 a.m. This is normally a 4 hour drive. It was 17 degrees at the bottom and 8 degrees at the top.

Being a rookie tower it was quite an epic journey for me. Glad to see your travels were a little easier!

BTW, stop by the Hot Tomato for some pizza today in Fruita. It's 17 miles west of Grand Junction on your way to Moab. You won't regret it! It's in old-town Fruita.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Brian and moosetag followers. When I first saw this hat, my first thought was that it looks like moose antlers. Anyone one else think this or was it just my own mind wandering?

[moosetags]

Lucy laid over in Grand Junction, Colorado, today. We did a little reprovisioning and house keeping.

We took a ride up to Grand Mesa which is about 40 miles out of Grand Junction. It was 75 Degrees in town. By the time we got to the top of the Mesa, it was 34 degrees and snowing.

On the way back down the Mesa, we got some photos of a really spectacular rainbow.

Tomorrow we break camp and head west into Utah.

Brian

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Brian and moosetag followers. When I first saw this hat, my first thought was that it looks like moose antlers. Anyone one else think this or was it just my own mind wandering?

Actually, my thought was Mickey Mouse ears/silhouette or something.


The truck campers are amazingly spacious inside, we have been in a couple. Whatever makes travel better......

Looks like you're having a great trip.

Travel safe,


Maggie

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by doug&maggie

Actually, my thought was Mickey Mouse ears/silhouette or something.


The truck campers are amazingly spacious inside, we have been in a couple. Whatever makes travel better......

Looks like you're having a great trip.

Travel safe,


Maggie

We are have a great trip. We just arrived and made camp in Moab, Utah.

Brian

[Relentless]

Where are you staying in Moab?

John