The Road Home....

August 29: I left "the Henry" at 6:15 am and had a very uneventful drive through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and ¼ of Kansas. I wound up in Topeka for the night, but never saw the sun all day. No rain either - just clouded skies the whole way - 837 miles in a little less than 13 hours on the road.

August 30: I left my lodging about 6:30 am, and drove west - the first 5 hours or so, I drove in fog, as you can see in this video:

[video=youtube;Gz2SQJWHXZI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz2SQJWHXZI[/video]

Of course, most of you think I'm in a fog most of the time, anyway - :facepalm:

RALPHIE said:

August 29: I left "the Henry" at 6:15 am (EDT) and had a very uneventful drive through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and ¼ of Kansas. I wound up in Topeka for the night, but never saw the sun all day. No rain either - just clouded skies the whole way - 837 miles in a little less than 13 hours on the road.

August 30: I left my lodging about 6:30 am (CDT), and drove west - the first 5 hours or so, I drove in fog, as you can see in this video:

[video=youtube;Gz2SQJWHXZI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz2SQJWHXZI[/video]

Of course, most of you think I'm in a fog most of the time, anyway - :facepalm:

Click to expand...

Continuing into west Kansas on Sunday, I spotted a couple of Wind Farm propeller blades heading east on the other side of I-70 -

View attachment 39256

Then, beyond Denver, I threw on the GoPro again, for the long climb up to the Eisenhower Tunnel at the top of the Continental Divide. For those of you who haven't been across Colorado on I-70, it's an amazing achievement (& nearly always under construction at a number of places). There's a break at Idaho Springs where I refueled:

[video=youtube;wOp88omXVNg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOp88omXVNg[/video]

For some reason (beginner's errors), I missed the area over the pass around Dillon and Copper Mountain, but managed to capture the journey going over Vail Pass down past Vail to Eagle-Vale:

[video=youtube;mUhUWQ3hQsw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUhUWQ3hQsw[/video]

and farther down the road, I filmed the journey through Glenwood Canyon:

[video=youtube;A8UPWpgevU0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8UPWpgevU0[/video]


Finally, after another 777 miles, I got to Grand Junction about 5:00 pm (MDT), just in time to have dinner with our favorite Ford GT groupie - the lovely "Piccola."

View attachment 39257

The Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway

Now to probably my favorite part of my journey home -

August 31: I left my lodging in Grand Junction a little later than I normally do, in order to have the sun be up when I started filming. I drove about 50 miles west of Grand Junction to Exit 214 (in the middle of nowhere). I turned southwest through the abandoned town of Cisco, Utah -

View attachment 39258

Just beyond Cisco, I joined UT-128 - for me, one of the prettiest backroads in Utah, and started filming there. It starts out on a wild plain, then drops down to the Colorado River and progresses though some farming valleys and unbelievable canyons and rock structures. There's virtually no traffic on the road, and while a bit rough, Mr. Ahlman's shocks handled it beautifully. It's a bit long, but I couldn't turn off the camera. Enjoy!:

[video=youtube;X9bYzx4qbgo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bYzx4qbgo[/video]

At just about 30:00, you'll see a car go flying by me - I thought 'That guy is a bit crazy!' But, he just wanted to get down the road to photograph a Ford GT coming around a corner, if you catch him by the road with his camera at 32:64! The road ends at Moab, Utah - and I recommend it to everyone.

About 15 miles below Moab, here is a short video going by the well known "Hole N' the Rock":

[video=youtube;CA3SrOB4sGI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA3SrOB4sGI[/video]

and at 25 miles south of Moab - Wilson Arch:

[video=youtube;Eo-LOZP8Src]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo-LOZP8Src[/video]

August 31 (continued): I continued south on US 191 through Monticello, Blanding and Bluff, Utah, along the high Utah plain - here are a couple of short videos showing the landscape along it.

[video=youtube;N_tesdnNDEo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_tesdnNDEo[/video]

[video=youtube;cnFizpXPy4k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnFizpXPy4k[/video]

West of Bluff, I left US 191, and turned onto US 163 to travel through Monument Valley. The next video starts just above Mexican Hat,

View attachment 39264

View attachment 39265

Mexican Hat is next to the San Juan River, and is the northern end of Monument Valley.

[video=youtube;CNY0n6xyGYk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNY0n6xyGYk[/video]

At the Utah/Arizona border, I pulled off to change the battery in the GoPro, and you can definitely see (& feel) the change in the road surface, being much smoother in Arizona. It was a relatively short day in the GT, travelling only 366 miles to Cameron, where I checked into one of my favorite lodging places - the Cameron Trading Post.

August 31 (continued): The Cameron Trading Post (https://www.camerontradingpost.com/) was originally built in the very early 1900's, and is situated on the Little Colorado River. I've stayed here before a few times, and decided to spend a couple of nights and get the videos published - takes a long time to convert and upload YouTube files, as many of you know.

View attachment 39266

I stayed in the "HOPI" building
View attachment 39267

View attachment 39268

...a bit more to come - might have to wait 'til I get home, as the 1 TByte drive in the laptop is getting very full!....

Just ordered an additional 3 TByte hard drive for my desktop, to store vids!!!

September 2: I left the Cameron Trading Post about 8:00 am (MDT in the Navajo Nation) yesterday, and drove down to Flagstaff, then down Oak Creek Canyon (one of my father's favorite places) to Sedona, then over to Clarksdale and up through Jerome to Prescott, Arizona. Great drive with lots of twisty roads!! Then, I dropped down to the desert floor and finally joined I-10 to drive to Alta Loma in Southern California to stay with my daughter for a few days, arriving at 3:00 pm (PDT). Drive miles today - 492.

I have to go to a class reunion in the San Diego area on Saturday night, so I won't get home until around noon on Sunday. I'll try to post more pictures and videos after I get home.