After chatting with Mr. Bortner and an amazing breakfast from Mrs. Bortner we packed everything up and decided to first go check out Garden of the Gods before *heading north of Denver to Fort Collins. Our initial impression was that it was way to touristy, way to many people, no parking for trailers, and to many keep off rocks signs. But we fixed that by backing the trailer into a spot and hopping the curb so we could fit. And then we proceeded to find a rock we COULD climb on.<!--more-->
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Once we had enough of climbing around we hit highway 25 and not even 15 min down the road we hit bumper to bumper traffic. After trying to take back roads around it and still ending back on 25, which still was bumper to bumper, we decided to turn around head towards Moab.
The way we went was definitely not routine*because of where we ended up while trying to get around the LA-like Colorado traffic. With that being said, we ended up on this really cool dirt road that followed this river with a couple tiny water crossings and some cool spots to stop and check out. When we thought we had found the perfect place to camp for the night, right along a small stream, Luke noticed that my tires were cambered and looked like one of those lowered ricers. After some thought, we decided to check out a little outlook above where we stopped.
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We*then to continue on to <em>hopefully</em> find a trailer place for a new wheel bearing (thinking we had a bad wheel bearing at the time). After driving for another hour and a half we make it to a Tractor Supply in Buena Vista, CO before they closed. Well.... We didn't... So we camped out in the parking lot out back, and woke up a little before they opened and were the first ones in.
After replacing the wheel bearing on the passenger side, we realized that we actually had a bent axle. With this newly found discovery, we drove down the street and grabbed ourselves two huge breakfast burritos so we had thinking energy to figure out what to do next.
We ultimately decided to take pavement the rest of the way to Moab, so as not to risk bending it any further, and figure out how to get an axle shipped to us there, since no one carried the size we needed. When we finally rolled into Moab it was 1:30am and we found a place to camp outside of Hells Revenge Trail. According to some of our Facebook followers, 4x4 outpost could possible help us with an address and or a place called "Grandpas Garage". Well, after searching for those two we only came up with one result, being for 4x4 Outpost.
[caption id="attachment_1001" align="alignnone" width="1024"]<a href="http://www.freedomfromroutine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IMG_7514.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1001 size-large" src="http://www.freedomfromroutine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IMG_7514-1024x683.jpg" alt="IMG_7514" width="1024" height="683" /></a> Where we woke up. First day in Moab[/caption]
So that next morning we woke up and headed over to the address for 4x4 Outpost and the first guy that walks up to us is an old man with a Grandpas Garage hat on. He asks us where we were from and we told him our story and why we were there. He introduces himself as Danny and gives us his card and follows up with " You can ship it to this address and camp out in my lot until it arrives. We aren't a*shop its more of a <em>place.*</em>Call me if you want to swing by".
We*stop at a Starbucks, get the part ordered, give Danny a call and he gives us directions to <em>Grandpas Garage.*</em>
When we arrive he is hanging out in his garage casually flipping through an old off-road magazine. We walk in to greet him and I am instantly mesmorized by everything in his garage, but mostly what was all over his walls. Little did I know, Danny Grimes was a legend in Moab and the off-road community. (*<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6HisyR2qsU">Heres a Short Documentary About*Danny</a>)*All of the big off-road companies throw huge parties at his garage during the bigger events here in Moab and their are signatures everywhere giving their thanks on his walls. Not realizing how long my mind**had been lost in the history in his walls, he brought me back when he mentioned we have full access to anything in his garage.
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In absolute shock, I shake his hand and make sure he knows how much all of what he is doing is helping us. After some short history of the place and what it is he sends us on our first excursion through Kane Trail, which ended up at a place called "Wind Caves". We got some cool footage with the drone and crawling all over the rocks and in the wind caves.
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After spending most of our day crawling around we decided it was time to head back for some dinner and to edit videos. The really cool thing about the garage was that everyone thats been there has contributed in some way shape or form to the garage. So thanks to the founder of Ih8Mud.com for installing the internet so guys like us can come and post to our various social media accounts!
Our next day*in Moab consisted of another trail Danny had mapped out for us. We went to Potash Road and drove through a national park. The roads were very narrow and steep with a lot of turns, and awesome views. We stopped along the way and snapped some pictures of the rocks and some kind of *salt mine with baby blue water. Later, we turned onto Gemini bridges road and saw a lot of mountain bikers in a parking lot and trucks*pretty much stacked on top of each other, so we stayed away. When we returned*to grandpas garage and told them about our day. The first thing out of Danny's mouth was, *"You didn't Stop?!" Well crap. Looks like I know what our first stop will be on the way out. Gemini Bridges! Apparently what we missed were*2 natural bridges crossing a valley where the water washed the underneath out of it. Danny told us some people had accidently backed off in their cars so they don't allow people to drive out there anymore.
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Later that night, we met his friends, hung out, drank some beer and listened to some old Moab stories until it was time for sleep.
Our third day in Moab*we went out to lunch and spent way too much money on food at some Italian place. STAY AWAY. After lunch, we decided to check out Kens Lake a few miles up from Danny's place to cool off. Danny also told us if you follow the road up further and take a left at the T, there are some man made caves that have been in some movies. After walking through the caves we flew the drone for a bit and took some pictures and video footage.
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Our fourth day consisted of Danny leading us through Hells Revenge. We left Danny's house about 10am to head to the trail head. Although we camped by the gate our first night in Moab we had never actually been through it. So having Danny out of all people to show you through the trail was a cool treat. *The trail started off a little sketchy on a tall, narrow ridge with huge drops on both sides. While you are going up it all you can see our of the windshield is the sky. The first place we stopped Danny pointed out some dinosaur fossils in the rocks. And told us a story about how someone guy stole them, took pictures on his phone and was ultimately caught. Right next to this was the famous Lions Back obstacle where countless people had either lost their brakes or control and barreled down the side smashing into the rocks below.
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He also showed us Hells Gate and the Hot Tubs, and took us through one of the smaller hot tubs called "Car Wash". After leaving the hot tubs we drove over to check out some Tacoma's do "Escalator" which was pretty cool.
After escalator we headed back out and Danny went and did his thing and we went to Mc Donald's for a sweet tea and to hang out in the shady grass before we headed back to Dannys for the night.
The next morning, the sun woke us up early in our tent so we decided to go to Sunday brunch down at Red Cliffs Lodge to meet Danny and his friend for food. After some ******** chatting and great food Danny gave us another route to take which took us up along the outer rim called Loop Road. But first he*wanted to check out two road a few miles from the lodge, Onion Creek and Castle Valley to check out some huge balancing rocks, some looking like chess pieces.
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We then circled around to Loop Road, and decided to roll the windows down because it was about 20 degrees cooler up there!
We saw a sign for Oowah Lake and decided to take the dirt road up to it so we could hang out and relax by the lake in our hammocks. Unfortunately Bella didn't have the same idea, because she wouldn't sit still and kept running off. And of course the direction she ran had mud all over the trail. And we all know Vans don't have any traction so you can use your imagination on that one.
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So on that note we packed up and headed back to the Jeep, temped to throw her as far as I could in the middle of the lake as we walked by. However i didn't want another Mississippi repeat so i decided against it.
On our way back down the views were insane so we took our time coming down stopping every once in awhile to take some video of some baby cows on the side of the road. When we got back to Danny's, Luke and I cooked up some burgers drank some beer and sat out under the stars. They never cease to amaze me. Talk about feeling small!
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<span style="color: #ff0000;">(Axle Update: FedEx says it will be here Wednesday so hopefully we will be out of Moab*by wednesday night!)</span>
