Small world Steve – I met you and your wife through Libby at Herbsaint. I check in from time to covet the great trips and rigs of others and was surprised to see that the origins of this Alaska trip will be the Big Easy. Welcome – yours is the 4th SMB in New Orleans that I know of. There’s nice looking silver RB E-350 4x4 that resides adjacent to Audubon Park, an older model (mid ‘80s?) brown Ford that lives near Magazine and Napoleon and my EB E-350 Quigly that calls Algiers Point home. I know it’s late for your purchase, but let me know if you’d like to take a look at my van. I’d be interested in seeing your rig too.
Back on topic…. I took trip with my son and father to the San Juan Mountains and Moab last summer. I would highly recommend visiting en route to LA if time permits. It looks to me like it would add about 9 hours drive time plus the time you spend there.
The mountain passes near Telluride are spectacular as is the terrain in Moab. The contrast in scenery of these two areas is quite extreme given the relatively close proximity. We camped remotely in some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever experienced. It was something special to wake in the morning and scramble to a ridge with alpine lakes on either side to watch the sun rise in CO. The arches in UT and extreme abundance of stars at night were equally spectacular. Here are a couple snapshots that don’t do justice. Let me know if you want additional details…
Hard to see, but there's a SMB w/ two KLRs on a triler down there. Gives a little scale...