So after we had an enjoyable day hiking and relaxing around arches, it was time to resume our normally scheduled programming and continue with our wheeling/exploring adventures.
We get up nice and early, do a quick gas/food run, and head out. I wanted the wife to wheel a little more, get a little more practice, and she isn't a fan of just bouncing around rocks (wants nice views and such)....plus I wanted to spend the day in Canyonlands and do some exploring there, so I decided we are going to run Potash Road into the shafer switchbacks which drops you in the middle of Canyonlands...so I stick her behind the wheel and away we go.
Now, there are going to be a few lessons to be learned/taught here....
1) ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check BLM and National Park websites for the latest closure info. It can save you a lot of stress. Im an idiot and didn't do it, thinking "oh, it's nice and sunny today, everything is awesome everywhere"
2) For those of you traveling with your wife/girlfriend/kids/significant other/parent, etc....PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR ENJOYMENT LEVEL...AS MENTIONED EARLIER, YOU AS THE DRIVER MAY BE HAVING A LOT MORE FUN THAN THEY ARE....more on this in a bit.
Potash road is a really easy ride with very pretty scenery, with only a few minor bumps and a few washouts from the rain a few days prior.
After a few miles, we arrived at Thelma and Louise point....if you have seen the movie, it's the scene where the car goes flying off a cliff....
After this, we kept on going until we came upon a sign saying "Entering Canyonlands National Park"...I was all happy, since I knew the switchbacks are coming up shortly....and they did...with a big locked gate with signs that said ROAD CLOSED......
I was annoyed. Minorly at the park, and mostly at myself, and how I can be such an idiot and not check any kind of weather closures, ESPECIALLY after getting shafted on top of "top of the world" with all the ice. Lesson learned I guess.
By this point, the wife was visibly annoyed (all that bouncing around for nothing) and visibly (and audibly
) pissed. She was so annoyed (and a little nauseous)
that she wanted to walk alongside the jeep for a while because she was getting sick. THis was fine on the top of the world trail, and it was slow going, but here it was annoying. I literally idled for like 3 miles so that she can walk and feel a bit better.
Now, to elaborate on the lesson here, my wife isn't what anyone would call a "jeeper"....she likes the out doors, but like most women, she'd like to spend her time outdoors walking down rodeo drive and not bounce around some canyon without another human soul for 60 miles in any direction....so the fact that she comes along on my crazy adventures means a lot, and I need to respect that, and I need to know when someone is being quietly miserable for your personal amusement....and it didn't sit right. We didn't go away at all in 2014 because of our newborn, so the wife really earned a nice vacation, and for her, this wasn't it. We drove out to the colorado river to have some lunch and so that I could have a think....
Never wander a canyon without my boars head dogs.
So, I relaxed and thought, and thought and thought....then....
I drove....
and drove
and drove some more....
Until we arrived at our new hotel....
Gentlemen, sometimes, if you want your trip to stay great, you gotta accommodate those that have slightly different interests....luckily for me, there are worse places to end up.
BTW, the jeeping portion of this trip is NOT over so don't tune out just yet.