I am back!!!! And still alive, lol.
Sooooo much to post about, not even sure where to start. Right now, it's the 'morning after' the whirlwind and so I am just doing the coffee and reflecting thing. Took sooo many pictures and have lots to write up on them, but right now it's brain overload. There's pictures on my phone, digital camera, and Samsung tablet I have to wade through. Will be downloading and sorting them over the next few days to post about on here.
I did get to see some amazing stuff, for sure. But.. I would have preferred the trip experience a different way, my own way. I don't think I am, or ever will be, a group vacation type of person. The only reason I agreed to go this time, after saying this very same thing to myself after the Arkansas trip, was I was pretty much guilted into it. It may have been kinder to tell the truth and say 'no'. But anyways, I lived through it and came out in one piece with a ton of pictures and too much rolling in my head that I can not process it yet, haha.
Is it bad to admit I'm already thinking I need to leave out, like, SOON, on my own for a trip they way I want to take one? haha.
Reading Bob's posts about hills, grades, being nice to motors, inclines and declines... I just did all of that it seems, and sure wish I had read up on this before taking off. This is how it turned out:
-Bf drove pulling heavy trailer with all our stuff and 2 motorcycles to the place we started, near Zion National Park, Utah.
-So much extra stuff taken that was, in my opinion, useless un-needed extra weight.
-Once at the campground, motorcycles unloaded, cargo trailer made into a very.. what's the word (?) 'un-serene' place to sleep with stuff just placed willy nilly. Not good for my OCDish type personality, but good for the bf.
-Then it is 3 nights at that place, and 2 days of exploring from before the sun is up, bf waking everyone up, to hurriedly get on bikes and me driving the un-trailered truck (his, newish, big, nerve-wracking) with 2 doggies and a lot of the time the wife of the dude on the other bike that I do not know. Not cool for an introvert sometimes, just saying. Driving all day, stopping a lot for a pic or two, letting doggies pee, maybe a thrown together sandwich lunch out the cooler, and going again. All day, until you're finally back at camp just in time for dinner and the other dudes' wife asking 'what's for dinner' while she sits on her butt. The other dude did a lot of the grilling, I'll give him that, but it was 10 million questions of where this is, that is, or do I have this... to me. All me. Uhhh.. did they not come prepared?? I felt like the freaking mom the whole time. I would have done the campfire dinners way different, if it were up to me. Was trying to go with the flow, though.
-We moved 3 times, from Zion National Park UT, to Torrey UT, to Moab UT, then to Chinle, AZ where I was the one driving the truck pulling the cargo trailer. Let me tell you, there was definitely some hairy driving, and having to pull over, alone, anywhere I could so the tranny temp would cool off, and I missed some beautiful scenery sadly having to keep the truck and trailer on the narrow roads with no shoulder and cliffs. NOT my idea of fun. But, had to get to the next place, ya know? The dudes enjoyed it on the bikes, I'm sure. Lucky jerks.
-The cargo trailer had zero privacy. That was a biggy for me. In Moab, for example, we were at a campground there in town, sardined in, and with the back ramp down and door open for some air flow (was in 90's when we got there) the people across from us could see right in at all the messiness. There was nothing I could do about it. I was more than a little not cool with this.
-Sleeping wise, once I had my cot set up, I slept like the dead, with most nights being colder, it was awesome!! Until that jerk-o bf got up at his usual 4:30ish in the morning, can you say bull in a china closet? I'm glad I didn't have a taser on my person. :blush: I got to where I would go to sleep earlier and earlier, hehe. Was actually able to read 2 books by saying I was gonna chill for a while, get comfy, read, and go to sleep early, it was my respite.
Converting cargo hauling trailer to camp in while moving a lot is way down on my list of ways to see stuff. I would have probably gone insane had it gone more than 2 weeks. I missed my van and it's easy setup every single day!!!
So now that the bad crap is out of the way, I will start to work on all the beauty I did find on this trip. Pics coming soon.
