Sue & Jan Willem's Toyota 4Runner had, in the entire
eight years of its existence, yet to fulfill its destiny as
a rugged off-road vehicle. Jan Willem's ambition to
drive across these United States was also
unrealized. These deprivations had long cried
out to be rectified.
In mid-May a window of opportunity suddenly appeared;
Jan Willem realized that
the moment had come; we (Jan Willem
and I, Dick), decided
over lunch on Friday, May 18th, we'd
do it - we'd drive clear across the Great Plains to Moab, Utah,
give the 4Runner its head in the open, wild, canyon country, and
in particular have it climb up the mesa
wall on the Shafer
Trail, a slightly developed dirt
goat-track that claws up the cliff from the Colorado River to
the top of the mesa called "Island in the Sky" (we'd developed a
fascination with the Trail during trips Out West in prior
years).
And, while we were up, we'd take in Yellowstone and Mt
Rushmore. We set out
Monday morning; it'd be nine days.
We brought along a dozen audio books but
never played one. There was too much to see. And
even when The Great Plains scenery became a bit (a-hem) repetitive, there was too much to talk about as we
probed philosophies and settled the affairs of the
world. It was a particularly delightful interlude for
me; Jan Willem did all the driving and heavy lifting
while I got to ride shotgun - a task consisting
entirely of being
pleasantly chauffeured through
interesting countryside.
Itinerary
Monday 5/13; drive to Lawrence
KS; visit St Louis en route;
632 mi, 9 hours 28 mins
Sunday 5/19; drive to Mt
Rushmore, overnight 5/19
498 mi, 8 hours 59 mins
Tuesday & Wednesday 5/14 &
15; drive to Moab UT; overnight 5/14 &
5/15; drive the Schafer Trail;
924 mi; 13 hours 21 mins, plus ~100
miles, 8 hours inside the park
Monday 5/20; tour Mt Rushmore
AM, drive through The Badlands PM, continue to Sioux
Falls
74 miles, 1 hr 16
mins; then 294 miles, 4 hrs 17 mins
Thursday 5/16; drive to Jackson
Hole
~500 mi; ~8hours; visit
Provo, Sundance and Salt Lake City en route.
Overnight at Jackson Hole 5/16- 5/18
Tuesday
5/21; drive to Cincinnati
858
miles, 12 hours 44 minutes
Friday 5/17; tour Grand Teton
Park; Saturday tour Yellowstone, where
Arthur joined us, just for the day (!)
486 mi, 8 hours 37
minutes, plus ~100 miles each way between Jackson
and Yellowstone, plus ~ 100 miles,
8 hours, inside each park
TOTALS:
4400 miles in nine days; half the time spent
driving, half touring.
