Nashville TJ's Build - Continued

I'm going with my buddy Chris. Last time I spotted him this happened:


He's a bit nervous to have me spot him in Moab...
 
  • Haha
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The trip out to Moab was a blast. No issues with the trailer this year, but the truck did give me a bit of trouble. On the way out, somewhere in Western Missouri, the turbo charge tube on the diesel let loose with a large pop - and then no power at all. Wonderful. Fortunately, it was early Saturday afternoon, and we were able to find a Ford dealership along the way which had a replacement. I think our total delay was less than an hour.

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The ride out was not all Sunshine and Rainbows, however. On Sunday, coming across the Rockies, we ran into a surprise snowstorm. I know that quite a few TJ Festers ran into this on both Saturday night and Sunday. There were several accidents, and 70 was at a dead stop for hours at a time. It turned what is usually a short day arriving in Moab mid-afternoon, to a 17 hour day arriving just before midnight.

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To complicate matters, my buddy Chris was fighting brake issues on his big gooseneck trailer, and wound up under it in the snow a few times.

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Because of the late arrival on Sunday, we spent Monday morning getting the place arranged and hitting the grocery store. Not wanting to waste the day, we decided to blow through Fins in the afternoon. Chris' wife was along for the ride, and it was also a good way to ease her into Moab wheelin'.

FIns is a pretty easy trail, but we hit a few of the optional obstacles to keep it interesting.

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On Tuesday we ran Poison Spider / Golden Spike / and Gold Bar Rim, which makes for a pretty long day even for just two rigs.

Here is Chris following me up a ledge early on PS.


Here I am making an easy ledge look challenging.

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And another little ledge I've always called "The Of Course Ledge" after a comment someone made last year.


And from the driver's seat:

 
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It so funny how ever one of these looks relatively easy in pictures and video. When you're sitting behind the wheel, with them in front of you, they rarely ever look easy! (y)
 
A short hike off the trail at our lunch spot is this unbelievable arch. That's my brother standing out there - behind him is about a 1000' drop down to the Colorado River.
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Chris also made the climb - I stayed behind to take pictures. Hey, someone had to do it...:rolleyes:

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Here is my brother climbing out there. This is anything but a simple walk...


This is what that arch looks like from the other side of the river. This view is from the base of the Moab Rim Trail.

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But Chris did redeem himself. On the left hand side of Double Whammy is a nasty undercut ledge that you can follow up the center. But there is what I call The Buggy Line where you turn left half way up and climb to the top. Again, the video does not do this justice. It is gnarly, steep and tall. I have only seen one buggy take this line in the past.

 
Coming off of Gold Bar Rim, it's a long drive back to town on the Gemini Bridges Road. There is a good view of the Gooney Bird, including driving over his toes for good luck, and then a long run along some high ridges to get back to the main road. I've also done this run in the dark - and that's a bit scary.

You can skip through to get to the good parts - as it's a bit long. But it's a fun watch. Skip through to about the 6 minute mark to see the high cliffs.