I was shocked when someone reminded me it has been well over a year since I last updated this blog. Not that we haven’t been anywhere (although in relative terms…..) but time goes by so fast! In May (of 2019) we spent a week in Chaco Canyon, which was magical. I haven’t even had a chance to look at all the photos I took.
I have no excuses, really. Work volume and intensity hasn’t really changed much..but the awareness that time is flying by facilitates the desire to pack more and more into a day/week/month.
It’s especially tough to embrace the idea it is already halfway through the month of September. It seems that summer just started, especially after the long winter that seemed to creep all the way through Spring here on the Western Slope.
The upside of the long winter was that Spring temps were great in the desert. We got out a couple of times in the Spring and spent time in favorite haunts in Southern Utah, and as previously mentioned, at Chaco Canyon in NM. If you’ve never been to Chaco, it’s worth the visit.
It’s certainly off the beaten path, south of Farmington, NM and at the end of a long badly wash-boarded dirt road.
I let air out of the 41” Continental tires to allow the Earthroamer to comfortably manage the bumpy road. We passed a couple of trailers that had come to a stop and we could see havoc inside one trailer, with the contents strewn about from the extreme washboarding.
There are great hikes in which you can climb out of the canyon and visit outlying ruins. One can see just how large the community was, those hundreds of years ago. At one outlier, a large midden heap next to a ruin complex was peppered with broken pottery shards of many colors. One’s imagination reels when trying to comprehend what Chaco was like at its peak, especially when you realize that most of the low “hills” you can see from the paved loop, are actually ruins.
The campground is usually reserved and tough to get into; but construction of a new bathroom meant it was first-come first serve and one just had to brave the drive in hopes of scoring a camping spot. More than a few people arrived late, and had to drive back out the bumpy road.
Later in the summer, we attended the Rocky Mountain Overland Rally near Gunnison. It was a bit more “intimate” than Overland Expo, which as grown to the point of being less fun to attend. The Overland Rally was considerably more manageable, but still featured most of the same vendor exhibits. It was nice to have time to have actual conversations with vendors, instead of a high volume of foot traffic dictating brief chats, at best. Each evening the Rally had a large campfire with a featured speaker and a raffle.
We were one of two Earthroamers there, and had quite a few people come by to stick their head into our rig.
It was a great family atmosphere and a lot of fun. Next year, we will definitely attend the Rocky Mountain Overland rally, instead of
Overland Expo.
The Rocky Mountain Rally was a big deal for us for another reason. We decided to sell #80. As much as we have loved traveling with Gus, literally from coast to coast; things have changed. We live in the center of our recreational universe, and do way more day trips. I also have realized I still have a couple of years before I retire and many of the trips we want to do are well into the future. In 2018, we didn’t spent very much time in the Earthroamer, and this year has been pretty similar.
We can’t see keeping the truck in the driveway…just as #80’s namesake, Gus McCall, needed to explore and find adventure, it’s not meant to be parked for months at a time next to the house. So, with a lump in our throat, we posted a “For Sale” sign in the window at the Rally. We have the truck posted in Expedition Portal, and a few other places (https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/fs-2008-earthroamer-xv-lt.208115/#post-2670997)
We will wind up with some other rig for exploring..we just don’t know what that will be, yet.
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