So it begins Michigan to the Mexico border to Alaska and back. Three JLUR and campers.

[NewJLU2019]

Great pic plus you got rid of the Feta cheese

 

[wibornz]

Great documentation, thanks for sharing.

I noticed you have the Sunrider option on your hardtop. Any wind buffeting issues? Would you recommend the option? It looks super convenient to experience open top motoring.

It is by far one of my favorite mods. I think it is just as quiet as having the freedom panels in. I open and close it all the time. One of Carla and Angie’s favorite mod too. Bestop is a great company to work with. Gary’s and Angie sun rider was not as quiet as mine. Gary talked with Bestop in Moab during Easter Jeep Safari and they replaced it right then. They took his off and installed a new one right there in the parking lot at their booth.

I would 100% buy another one. My word of advice is spend the extra money on the twill model . Another bud of mine has the vinyl one and the twill is quieter and warmer in the winter. Yes the winter. If the sun is out I will open it in the winter. If you keep the front windows closed and crack the rear windows about two inches there is little to no buffering at HYW speeds.

 

[mini2nut]

Excellent. We are considering adding the Sunrider factory option to our 2023 Wrangler when the order banks open.

 

[wibornz]

We are spending the day lounging. Yesterday hike kick our butt. Only a four miler or so, but it dropped about 1200 feet in elevation in about two miles then gained about 1200 ft of elevation in a mile and a half. That hike was tough . It did give us some great views though. We immediately took a nap when we got back to camp.

We started at a nice overlook of the valley with the town of Cottonwood in the distance.

The trail appeared to be well traveled.

In the distance we could see the mountains that make Sedona so beautiful. I think the mountain is about 30 miles or so away.

A couple more pics from the trail.

After making the climb back to the top of the mountain, we came out at a spot that people fly hand gliders from and luck was on our side a guy was getting ready to take off.

Great hike and the nice thing was the Jeep was waiting in the shade to carry us back to our base camp.

 

[wibornz]

This is the first time I have ever seen a dude take off the edge of a mountain cliff with a hand glider. Pretty cool. After he takes off, his daughter will drive down the mountain and pick him up. His longest flight time has been over four hours. He will call his daughter with a cell phone and she can track his location as he flies.

 

[Chief_Dan]

Wow, definitely a lot of adversity. But, glad you have a great attitude about it all.

Be careful & keep on trucking.

 

[blnewt]

You & Carla are truly an inspiring pair! So very cool to have a mate that's all-in w/ the life you love.
Sorry to hear about that payroll debacle, luckily she hooked up w/ the right guy that doesn't leave anything to chance

Way to keep on keepin' on Ted, hopefully your great days keep on outnumbering the "iffy" days by a huge margin!

 

[wibornz]

Wow, definitely a lot of adversity. But, glad you have a great attitude about it all.

Be careful & keep on trucking.

That is the plan. Keep on keeping on.

 

[HeygirlHey]

Then Carla’s drama. I have not typed about this yet. We were camping in Big Bend back in January and Out of internet service. We leave and I check our account and Carla’s retirement check did not deposit. We call retirement services and they tell her she is not eligible to retire. They say she only has 24.996 years of service not 25 years of service. So she will not receive her retirement checks or medical benefits. She is devastated. She thinks she has to go back to Michigan and reapply to get her job back. Now I was in management for 25 years doing payroll. I know that her HR has her payroll messed up. Her final check said she had 52079 hours of service. A year of service is 2080 hours so 25 years of service is 52000 hours. She has the required amount of service to qualify for retirement and they have entered her service hours incorrectly before submitting them to the retirement department. It is a mess, high stress for Carla that bleeds over to me because I am the one that told her when she could retire. I know my stuff is correct. After all I have done payroll for 25 years. So it took them until the first week of April to figure out their mistake. You know Covid and everyone works at home thing. They ended up shorting her about a thousand dollars on here last check and found where they made a mistake on her hours and that she was eligible. So then they back paid her retirement check to January. She received her first check April 13th then her first retirement regular check on April 25th. And this is why we don’t live paycheck to paycheck. I had enough in reserve to carry us with out her retirement check. I knew it would get straightened out and they would catch her up eventually, but it was still stressful after every call for four months without them telling her she was eligible and going to get her pension.

This alone would have had me all messed up in the head since January! 24.996 years!! SERIOUSLY - they would make her not eligible for retirement over THAT? I'd have been so distraught and probably crippled with "what do I do now?" fears. Good for her for trusting in your numbers and pushing through anyway, and I'm so glad they got her straight!

 

[306overland]

Thanks for the reply Ted! Adversity and all, still makes for great memories. And, I agree that the wind is a huge pain. Looking forward to more of the trip details. Cheers!

 

[Caymanedge]

Ted that wind was brutal. We are moving in opposite directions, but we had two miserable days in Monument Valley, three miserable days at Capital Reef, and finally rolled into Moab and it’s stopped on day two…..hit Fins, Top of World, and Poison Spider post wind.

 

[wibornz]

This alone would have had me all messed up in the head since January! 24.996 years!! SERIOUSLY - they would make her not eligible for retirement over THAT? I'd have been so distraught and probably crippled with "what do I do now?" fears. Good for her for trusting in your numbers and pushing through anyway, and I'm so glad they got her straight!

I knew their numbers were wrong along. That’s why we did not go home. Over the years, I have seen some crazy mistakes made by employees and helped many get employer mistakes corrected. I just did not expect then to take as long as it did. Carla was stressing pretty bad and I had to keep reminding her that it would all work out in the end. Still didn’t make it easy on her. She would ask me areyou sure we are going to be okay and I would tell her if I didn’t think it was okay, we would head home. We are NOT heading home.

 

[wibornz]

Ted that wind was brutal. We are moving in opposite directions, but we had two miserable days in Monument Valley, three miserable days at Capital Reef, and finally rolled into Moab and it’s stopped on day two…..hit Fins, Top of World, and Poison Spider post wind.

Back in Michigan we just do not get the wind that we have experienced out west. Weeks of unrelenting wind. I am beginning to think wind is worse than rain.

 

[NewJLU2019]

Back in Michigan we just do not get the wind that we have experienced out west. Weeks of unrelenting wind. I am beginning to think wind is worse than rain.

Texas has had one its windiest springs in a long time. DFW April was worse one since like 96

We are having July heat in mid-May too.

 

[mnjeeper]

Wow did I have some catch up to do. As usual, amazing pics and storytelling. This episode was a bit of a shocker with losing two more characters and the retirement snafu. Glad you two are still making lemonade!

Tell Gary I will buy that trailer if mine keeps getting delayed