notexactlyLOST: And the trip begins….in Moab, baby!

I have spent almost a year to the date figuring this trip out and exactly what I want to accomplish with it and to be completely honest, I still have no idea. All I know is that I want to drive across the U.S. and document everything along the way. I have broken out of my comfort zone and am diving into the world of video finally. I will be posting little video blogs on my youtube page HERE and have just uploaded an introduction of my trip. For a lengthier description of my first few days, feel free to visit it right meow.

I finally got on the road a month after my expected departure date with a stomach full of butterflies and a head full of ideas. I have driven through Glenwood Canyon many times before, but never during sunset. Holy shit Batman, it was stunning! light bouncing off the canyon walls, the river roaring and sending a mist in the air that reflected insane colors off everything. I continued on with my first destination in mind and GPS coordinates plugged into my phone.

I arrived at my destination in the dead of night with no idea of my surroundings, just the memory of some photos a buddy showed me of the location. I traveled down a gnarly dirt road that was a little too much for the van to handle. After an hour hike down the road just to see if there was a clearing, I headed back when it started to downpour. By the time Hobbes and I reached the van, we were soaked and the path so muddy you could hardly walk. How the hell am I getting out of here? It took way too many tries and way too much concentration to turn around on that tiny muddy road to get turned around, just to face an obstacle course of boulders and tree stumps in front of me. Screw it, I gunned it and sent stuff flying all over my camper, but I made it. I built a fire right off the road and drank a luke warm beer that could't have tasted any better. I wrote in my journal and passed out to the rain leaking inside my van. On to Arches in a few hours...

Arches National Park is crazy….packed full of asian tourists. I spent a few days there just sitting in lines in the van and waiting for enough people to move out of the way to get a clear shot of the landscape. Worth it? Mehhhh. I ended up meeting a new friend, Leah, and went searching for the goods. Holy wow, did we find them! Dead Horse Canyon was where we ended up camping that night and view was one of the best I'd ever seen. 300' cliff walls leading into a massive valley just a few feet from our camp fire. We drank, we laughed, and we tore down trees with our bare hands. It was a great night after the previous and I slept like a baby. We woke up and said our goodbyes and I headed back to Arches. I ended up lollygagging around for a few hours and hiked to Delicate Arch for sunset. It was a photog feeding frenzy, but the views man, the views were something else. I made a little dinner and waited for the stars to pop out and headed to Devil's Arch and Windows and got lucky with an amazingly clear night. The Milky Way was firing on all cylinders and made for some crazy photos. I finally hit a wall and headed for a grocery store parking lot to pass out.

What an amazing start to an amazing trip. Zion National Park in the morning!