By: Torque Staff
Dear Diary,
We’re finally on the road to Moab, Utah and Easter Jeep Safari. Yay.
That’s right, we spent Wednesday night loading Rob and Matt’s Jeeps on our trailer in preparation for the long, 2,100-mile journey and can’t wait to see all the Jeeps and sights the place has to offer this year.
It is also the first time we’ve ever brought along our own personal vehicles so everyone is looking forward to some trail therapy, as well as cruising around town, seeing old friends and helping out a Tread Lightly! signage project during the week.
Unfortunately, the travel weather does not look the best through the Midwest or even between Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado, so we’ll have to see if that will make an impact on our drive.
The weather here in West Chester, Pennsylvania wasn’t the greatest either, although the sun was shining and we had clear skies. It definitely felt pretty cold, like refrigerator-quality cold. Not freezer-quality, but still enough of a bite to let us know not everything from winter has been put away, weather-wise.
We’ve also worked really hard the past few days to push this trip preparation past the finish line. At one point, EJS was just small dot on our calendar and something that felt far out. But now the days grow short and we moved with a purpose the last week, knowing that being around Moab is only a few days away.
So, there are four of us going this year. A good sized team. Our Director of Content Eric, Video Production Manager and YouTube Host Rob, Content Managing Editor Matt and Torque Staff Writer Terry. They’ve all been there before and probably have as much, or more, respect for the place as everyone who attends EJS.
We’re also towing our Jeeps out to the event this year. Sure it would be fun to drive them, but putting all those miles adds wear and tear on those vehicles. Plus, this way, the Jeeps will be fresh and ready to experience everything Moab has to offer.
Bad news though, diary, it seems the weather has taken a turn for the worse and we are going to alter our route. The pass by Vail, Colorado is getting slammed with ice and snow, so, instead of taking I-70 all the way out, we are now going to veer off in St. Louis and catch I-44 to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, then get on I-40 and follow it west. Eventually, we’ll reach Albuquerque, New Mexico. Then, it is a series of roads to reach US Hwy 191 and Moab.
Yeah, it is a longer route, but we feel it will be less stressful and this way and we’ll reach our destination with a better frame of mind. And, anyway, who hasn’t been on a trip where things went wrong.
Diary, this is probably where we should list out all the snacks we are bringing along for the ride. As you surely know, everyone has their own preferences. And we got quite this list from all around us.
We have plenty of trail mix, licorice, chips, beef jerky, cookies, M&Ms, granola bars and a full case of water. Of course, driving a full-size truck and pulling a trailer, we expect to make a bunch of fuel stops which also allows for some fast food meals, pizza or a group favorite, roller hot dogs.
And before you say anything, diary, we know that isn’t the best food. You are right, but we don’t have time to spend trying to figure out the healthiest of alternatives. Since we are not spending a night inside a hotel on the way this year, we need to economize every stop. We think Eric may have an apple, though, if that helps.
Speaking of stops, diary, there are trucks everywhere when we pull off to refuel. It doesn’t matter if the place is near a big city, or out in the wilderness somewhere, there are trucks all over the place. They are nice people, too, for the most part; we’ve talked with people driving cargo to Florida, New Orleans, Houston and, get this, Salt Lake City. A Utah connection.
All that road time lets us also work on a bunch of content stuff to prepare for the week. We have dates with Tread Lightly!, a scheduled trail run with some industry friends, some products that need photography for future catalogs, Jeep concept vehicles to see, a trip into the La Sal mountain range because it is just fun to do, and a run on Hells Revenge with our friends at the Truck and Off-road Alliance. Sure, there are probably more things going on as well that we are forgetting.
One other thing we wanted to say, diary, is a big thanks to Martin Castro from Milestar Tires for bringing out Gladiator JTe from California to Moab. We can’t wait to see one of our favorite vehicles. We’ve missed it.
Speaking of concept vehicles, diary, we’ve set aside almost a whole day to see these things in action and talk with the people who created these works of art. Of course, we do have our favorites, but we’ll let you decide which ones those are later in the week.
That’s it for now. We have miles ahead to go, but each one we travel gets us that much closer to Moab and EJS.
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