HOOT and Rudy's Ouray and Beyond 2015

[HOOT]

Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.... as we leave KY..........

Nothing to see here folks.......


Move along people nothing to see here either...........


Sorry but Missouri bores me , I was asleep during this part of the trip so no pics..

Moving along to central Kansas.........


I'm a sucker for old steam....

[HOOT]

......And now..............This is what we came for...........
US 50 in the south east corner area.


Food night at KOA..


Rudy is ready for some down time off the road in the cabin....


Rudy loves Cats.............


Ouray's newest Jeeper, Garrett.......

[HOOT]

FSJ = Full Size Jeep or Full Size Jammies.........


Mike making his signature Cheese Crisp....


This is for those who did not see fit to come hang with us for a week...

[HOOT]

Owl creek pass trail shots and Black Canyon of the Gunnison ride shots.............

[HOOT]

Paradox Valley as seen from FR 603 west of Mancos east side of Columbine Pass.This area will be heavily explored next trip out.......


Following the San Miguel River into Delores River Canyon........


The confluence of the San Miguel and Delores Rivers..I am going to try that trail road way down in the canyon next time. It takes you into Paradox Valley and to the east side of Moab area.......


If you have never seen this then by all means get here before it is too late.....

[HOOT]

Time for a break from the trails and canyon roads................


Some funky art at the Parachute Inn parking lot in Parachute, CO............


This is a pass you have to do to enjoy CO full on.......


Historic Beckwith Ranch in southern CO..............


Bishop's Castle in southern CO.........

[HOOT]

and now..............


This is driving across road 72 in NM east of Ratan. A must do drive.......


none shall pass..Poor old fella...........


Welcome to the OK pan handle..........


Team Hyundai hanging out on the Santa Fe Trail with my Hyundai Santa Fe Sport.......


pump these coordinates in on Google maps.36°47'11.9"N 102°48'18.8"W.. You can actually see part of the old trail scars on the Earth still...


Did I mention I was a sucker for old Steam.........

[HOOT]

So if you are trying to figure out my path it went sorta like this;
I-64 across KY,IN,IL into St.Louis.
Then I-70 west till Salina, KS thn turned south, because the highway was so incredibly boring as usual, and hooked on to the Sante Fe trail RT 50 along the Arkansas River.
Followed the Arkansas River into CO and through the Canyons on RT 50 going through Salida and Gunnison to Montrose and turned south into Ouray.

When I left Ouray I went north into Montrose and in downtown hung a left and discovered my next playround area going over through the Uncompahgre Forest and into the Delores River Canyon area.

From there it was up through Grand Junction and over through Glenwood Springs, Aspen and back into Salida again. Cutting through the canyon and the Arkansas River and up through the Spanish Peaks area back to I-25 in Trinidad,CO. From there it was into New Mexico and then hang a hard left and through the Mesas, a must see area, and into the Oklahoma Pan Handle and once again the Santa Fe Trail.

From there it was pretty much a power drive through that Miserable Missouri across the bottom half of the state and into a rain storm from Hell right before I got into KY. Took me 3 hours to go about 50 miles. The last 325 miles went uneventful as Rudy was fast asleep and I was hell bent on sleeping in my own bed that night.

The next day I made a side trip into Eastern KY to drop off Retro's new to him tailgate and make good on a steak dinner...


as you can see it was much needed.............


and this front valance was my souvenir from this trip...............

[HOOT]

Thanks to all involved in this trip no matter what your capacity was. It was a great time and well worth the cross country drive to hang out in the mountains.
The stats from this trip:
3875 miles total
8 different states
$2250.00 approximately total spent
Worth every bit and more, Thanks again.
See you next year.

[srobertsfsj]

Was great seeing you again HOOT! See you next year

[will e]

Always a pleasure to hang with you. I have to tell ya, I never thought I would see this:



Me at an Ouray late night fire with a FORD shirt on and a giant elf like man thing in a onesy. Look at how intense he is watching the cheese crisp!

Thanks for the help with the light Jason. I just wish I hadn't run out of tortillas and cheese!

[HOOT]

Rudy stares at me like that when he wants something to eat...

[j2sax]

Hoot... thanks for making me miss the event EVEN MORE! Glad you made it back safely. Great Travelogue!

So did you go into Bishop's Castle? Angie and I went all the way to the top and then into the ball... it is freaky how much that thing moves! I am guessing that to be around 60' feet up and the top on the opposite corner about 80?

The guy who built that had one son who died while helping him... think he was 11. Don't know that I could have finished it after that (though apparently it is never finished).

When we were there it was getting late and I went into the chapel and growled as loudly as I could, "Now it's MY turn for some fun my children... let's play a little game". The chatter stopped and as the echo died down the whole place went completely quiet... nobody moved until this one guy from Germany ran out like his hair was on fire with a string of profanity I couldn't understand most of! I know.. evil, but I couldn't resist... the place was a little creepy!

Guess it's time to start planning the Fall get together now, right?

[bigun]

Great pics and write up, maybe next year

[will e]

Rudy stares at me like that when he wants something to eat...

I bet. To be fair, he was actually helping out with the headlamp.

[HOOT]

Rudy stares at me like that when he wants something to eat...

I bet. To be fair, he was actually helping out with the headlamp.

I caught on to that after a while that night. At first I thought he was gonna pounce on the cheese crisp as soon as it was done, or maybe attack it while it was still on the grill.
That was the first I have ever had one of your cheese crisp. Very good and that hot sauce was excellent!

[HOOT]

Great pics and write up, maybe next year

You and Craig need to come up again.

[HOOT]

Hoot... thanks for making me miss the event EVEN MORE! Glad you made it back safely. Great Travelogue!

So did you go into Bishop's Castle? Angie and I went all the way to the top and then into the ball... it is freaky how much that thing moves! I am guessing that to be around 60' feet up and the top on the opposite corner about 80?

The guy who built that had one son who died while helping him... think he was 11. Don't know that I could have finished it after that (though apparently it is never finished).

When we were there it was getting late and I went into the chapel and growled as loudly as I could, "Now it's MY turn for some fun my children... let's play a little game". The chatter stopped and as the echo died down the whole place went completely quiet... nobody moved until this one guy from Germany ran out like his hair was on fire with a string of profanity I couldn't understand most of! I know.. evil, but I couldn't resist... the place was a little creepy!

Guess it's time to start planning the Fall get together now, right?

No I didn't go into the castle. It was getting late and I was unsure of where I was and where I was going for the night. I hate sleeping with the bears but ironically after I got settled into the motel in Trinidad for the night it was a bear filled night. I got the hankering for some Pop tarts and they were out in the SUV still. So I pulled back the curtains to see if the rain had stopped and there was a huge black bear out my window tearing into the garbage. I decided I no longer wanted the Pop tarts and watched him for an hour or so. Such an agile creature and quite comical at times as he would spook himself in the dumpster. My camera was still in the SUV as well.
There are some rumblings for a Midwest Meet. Nothing set yet but then again the last few we have had were spur of the moment type meets with little warning we were just able to make it when someone jumped . We normally do something in the fall and then the small meets at John's camp in the winter.
You definitely need to make it next year to Ouray. Looks like next year will be a long vacation for me as the dates fall more in my favor with the July 4th holiday. I only need to use 3 more vacation days to cover for that week off also which gives me from July 1st thru the 24th off work.

[bigun]

Great pics and write up, maybe next year

You and Craig need to come up again.

Craig talked about going this year, but since his dad passed away he has had to take over more of the responsibility of running the ranch, and things just didn't work out

[shimniok]

great pics and epic road trip! great to finally meet ya