Ducmonsta's Epic Cross Country Trip - July-September

[Ducmonsta]

I'm sorry I'm horrible and keeping this thread up. So much travel and finally meeting up with the fam and friends in DC takes priority.

Anyway... Off to the Indiana Dunes, Lake Erie, Niagara Falls, and the Allegheny NF.

I promise to get some more pics up when I have reliable internet and can go through the photos off off my dslr, phone, and drone.

In the meantime, here's a teaser from White Rim

 

[Ducmonsta]

Had to stop in Iowa and do some mall crawlin'. Needed a few pieces of gear and bought my daughter's b-day present.


Stayed at the Indiana Dunes to explore a bit and get another jr ranger patch of course.








Got to Lake Erie and took a bit of a private tour of the Presque Isle Bay. Our captain took a liking to the Recon, he took the time to check it out.







Next up is NY and Niagara Falls...

 

[Ducmonsta]

Hello, Buffalo!


Sooooooo close to our northern neighbors. Who's moving there this November?!



We arrived at Niagara on my daughter's actual birthday. I told her that I would have a special surprise for her at the falls. It just so happens they were doing a fireworks display that evening.

 

[Ducmonsta]

It was time to head south towards DC. Explored a bit of the Allegheny NF in PA but stayed at a private campground that had a....



GAMEROOM!!!


Can't camp with at least one night of JiffyPop.


Sketchy bridge...

Then it was off to visit my pals at High Tech and get some service work done while I'm there. Got a bunch of fluids replaced (trans, t-case, front and rear diffs, and engine). Getting her ready for the long drive back to the PNW.


Diffs still looked good at 80k.

 

[Ducmonsta]

After spending a few days at my folks house in northern VA, it was time for me to set off to PA again and attend the MidAtlantic Overland Festival. Such an awesome time meeting new folks and learning a few things.






Awesome neighbors at the booth.


Learned a few new things from the guys at OEX and watched a very impressive recovery with multiple winch lines and belay system.

 

[Ducmonsta]

It was great catching up with some of the OG east coast guys [MENTION=47340]Titanpat57[/MENTION] and [MENTION=51030]joneseyyy[/MENTION]

 

[Titanpat57]

Made my summer seeing you Brother...till we meet again!...:cheers:

 

[Ducmonsta]

After spending some quality time with my folks it was time to head to our beach house in Rehoboth DE. I won't bore you guys with those pics but after 8 days at the beach, it was time to begin my journey back to the PNW.

Time to say goodbye to the fam again and rejoin them in a couple of weeks.


Said goodbye to Rehoboth...




and crossed the Bay Bridge once again.


For the return leg to the west, I picked up [MENTION=64864]GotMo37[/MENTION] at his place in northern VA. He had to say goodbye to his family, for now.

 

[Ducmonsta]

We blasted through the middle of the country and made it to Rocky Mountain NP in 2 days.

The Recon towed beautifully at 92mph on cruise control! Of course, I didn't sustain that speed especially at 5K rpms consistently.




Rocky Mountain NP was a wonderful place to spend the night and the cool weather was a nice welcome after spending a couple of weeks on the east coast.





Since I spent 3 years of my life in the Republic of Boulder, I had to stop and visit some of my favorite eateries.


Illegal Pete's on Pearl and...


Lucile's in Boulder


If you're in the Denver Metro area, I highly recommend visiting Lucile's.

 

[n2advnture]

Great pics!

Dumb question for you. Is there a benefit to having the ARB canopy on the passenger side vs the driver side?

 

[Ducmonsta]

Great pics!

Dumb question for you. Is there a benefit to having the ARB canopy on the passenger side vs the driver side?

Not really. It's just personal preference. But I always thought the curb side is more useful.

 

[LawnDart]

The more important question is...when are we all gonna meet up and have beers to talk about your road trip stories?

 

[Ducmonsta]

After a couple of days in CO it was time to get this show on the road. Utah, here we come!

Not sure what we were talking about but this pic of [MENTION=64864]GotMo37[/MENTION] and me made me laugh with ultimate gayness.


Into Arches we went.


Unbelievable scenery during our hike into Devil's Garden.




Stopped by the old Dewey Bridge


And more stupidity at camp that night.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Into Arches we went.

Unbelievable scenery during our hike into Devil's Garden.

I did it once in the summer time. Amazing trail with the highlight walking on top a the fin. Great memory, but so hot during the day!!!

 

[Ducmonsta]

As I mentioned earlier, I've been spending a lot of time sifting through photos and looking for ones that would be appropriate for this thread. I've also been separating those that TeardropsNW could benefit from as well. In the meantime, I created a "commercial" of sorts of the Recon for TeardropsNW.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8bGvJv76kEw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm open for criticism. I've got pretty thick skin and I'll never improve myself if I don't learn a few things from others.

[MENTION=66316]1engineer[/MENTION] - Since the trip is officially completed (even though the pics aren't up to date), you can remove this thread from the sticky section to make room for someone else who may be traveling currently. I will continue to update it with photos from the trip as I go through them.