When you finally figure it out...

...and you feel like an incredibly smart dumb guy.

So trying to figure out the logistics over doing another Jeep journey out west had eluded me for months.

Since it takes 4-5 days to get out to the areas I want to be, that's a "week" of driving right there.

And moving slowly hotel to hotel a couple hours apart while working during the day -- breaking down a big monitor and keyboard, worrying about not having late checkout till 5pm, etc is a lot of work, and really only saves a day over a work week.

Then getting ready for bed after 10pm changes last night it suddenly clicked.

I already WFH (usually) two days a week, I've WFH two straight weeks this year already due to various issues.

So here's the key --

(And thinking 2023 for this)

Take one weekend to travel to the St. Louis area;

Work remotely from the same hotel room through Friday evening.

Then a two week vacation starts.

Co-ordinate with Eric that I either pick him up for the first week in Denver, and drop him off in Las Vegas. Maybe get Sam, too.

Or, I bee-bop with the Jeep and pickup Eric for the 2nd week in Las Vegas then drop him off in Denver on the way home.

Spend a weekend to go Denver to St. Louis.

Work remotely from a hotel for a week;

And then a weekend to get back home.

In short: weekend driving--week working remote--two week vacation--week working remote--weekend driving

The (Almost a) Blizzard of '22

Near blizzard conditions, worst during the day on Saturday? Sounds like time to test the Jeep in craptastic conditions!

When I left...
When I got home...






Approaching Allen Hill @ Route 6




Divided section of Route 6 headed towards Danielson.



Maple Street




Route 44 approaching Route 21, Putnam



Route 21 in Putnam/Thompson



Was planning to go to Eric's, got about half way there when I decided to turn around.

After going through Putnam, with the temp dropping a bit and driving into the wind, the snow was melting and freezing to the wipers in a way making me stop every ~10 minutes to clear them.

Seemed better once I turned around. Got a little warmer headed back south, but still took a lot of wiper fluid, but at least I didn't stop again once I was headed back home.



Route 6 headed back into Brooklyn...





The Day After...





It's a good day to stay in the house and cook.

Who am I kidding? With that temp I'm not going out plowing when I can work from home and temps in the 40s and 50s are forecast in a few days. Just hunkered down and didn't even put on socks for a week (laughed when I went to put socks on the following Saturday and realized they were still all folded from Sunday laundry :D )

Jeep Run -- CT/RI Borderlands

Not much snow on the ground. I'm still pretty amazed what the Jeep can do; wasn't even aired down. Used my rear lockers a few times on obstacles to be safe but likely didn't even need that. (Only felt like one time they actually "locked" up while grabbing on a particularly difficult spot.)











Helped this guy mostly with advice...he had gotten through the worst of it, his vehicle more than capable of the rest. He chickened out looking at some large puddles (mostly due to ice blocking the road drainage). He was trying to turn around and having to use traction boards and a shovel. Got him headed back in the original direction of travel and told him which was the best option for him at a four way intersection ahead just out of sight.


At the end, there was a serious accident at Route 44. Had to turn around several folks whose GPS were telling them to take their mini-vans and such up Olney Keech Road to bypass it. At least they wouldn't have made it more than 250' past where the pavement ends on that road this time of year.