November 2020 Archives

While we originally had plans to travel to Australia for 3 weeks, the raging fires and Pandemic quickly put an end to those aspirations.

So, where else to go to celebrate 30 years of marriage? Mesquite, of course!

We reserved a newly built AirBnB house on the outskirts of town (because it had a private hot tub and was huge), packed up our gear into the 2020 Jeep Gladiator and off we went.

The plan was to offroad, gamble, eat well and just generally relax - Mission success on all points.

Up until the last day, the weather was fantastic.. averaging 88-90F, more than sufficient to take the roof off the Jeep and make our runs in the open air (that would later to prove a mistake!)

After a great dinner at the Eureka steakhouse, we relaxed the remainder of the evening. In the morning, the plan was to run South/East toward the North rim of the Grand Canyon, then to the North edge of Lake Meade. Game on!

The routes:

The Trek South / East from Mesquite:

Coming off the final "Elbow Canyon" switchbacks.

Calm before the storm:

  GPSr tracks for the Mesquite Area:

Mesquite Area Riding.gdb

Hurricane area to Beaver Dam.gdb

With the inversion settling into the valley and temps hovering just above freezing, I jumped in my Land Cruiser, that I had packed Thursday night, and made my way to the Loves in Brigham City where I would meet 19 other vehicles to kick off the 11th annual Freeze Your Tail Off. FYTO is one of my favorite trips each year!
Temps in the 30's may seem cold at first, but if you have ever been on a FYTO event, or driven into the NW desert in Utah, you know you want temps in the 20's to avoid the snotty, sticky, slick as $#i+ mud in the area. Since I haven't figured out how to control the weather, the game plan was to find higher ground and avoid mud like the plague.
As I pulled into Loves, I saw a few familiar faces topping off tanks and assembling in the parking lot. I topped off the tank, grabbed some burritos from the C-Store, and started handing out waivers and sticker packets. Once everyone arrived, we held a quick drivers' meetings and hit the road toward Golden Spike National Monument.

We hit dirt and cruised to the Transcontinental Railroad Grade. Our first stop was the ghost town of Kelton. The stretch of road between locomotive Springs and Kelton is chewed up and slow going. I am super thankful it was still frozen when we got there! By the looks of the ruts, there were many less fortunate than we were. Along the way we spotted a bald eagle chilling on a fence post. It was Amazing!

Arriving in Kelton, we circled the vehicles at the Cemetery to stretch our legs and air down tires. We paused for a bit to admire other rigs in the group, get to know one another, and take some pictures. With temps on the rise, we made the call to stay as high as possible. We set sights on Element 11, Utah's local version of Burning Man, and set out on the road slightly less traveled.