September 1, 2025

Rockin' in the Rockies...Our "Out West" Tour continues

It didn't take long to get the Coaches parked and set up camp at Centennial RV so...

Not knowing where we would end up today we just hit the road South and ended up in Silverton, Colorado. 

It was mid-morning and a cup of coffee (with pastry) sounded pretty good.

This place was recommended by the folks at a T-Shirt shop..down a side street (dirt road) and boy was it good. Fresh baked pastries. Coffee fresh ground in Durango.

And a "Four Corners" Biker Rally going on later today...

The little town was filling up fast.

We were so scared we chugged our coffee and headed for the trails.

While making our way thru some campgrounds, just being nosey..

This VW buggy caught Rockies eye so we had to shake this guy out of his camper and talk about it.

Seems the Langley clan has been cozy with these things in the past.

On the way back into Silverton we tried to taste the Alpine Loop since we went right by the one-way entrance. That didn't go well, rough and very slow going at least for the first couple miles. That was planned to be our next day ride but if the whole trail was that slow it would take two days to go the 65 miles. So Christine hit the Wonderful Web and came up with two trails nearby to our camping location. 

The Gunnison Tunnel trail and the Owl Creek Pass trail both were connected by Hwy 50.  Really good rides and everyone came out happy...

This video contains parts of both trails and at the end is the simple explanation why we turned around on the Alpine Loop. No body wanted to continue.

Be sure to Google the Gunnison Tunnel Story. It is amazing and makes you wonder how this was engineered and built.

26 men died in the process. 

Comment and tell me the length of that tunnel.

We followed along this waterway for miles as it goes thru and under these hills.

As we made our way thru the San Juan Mountains to Owl Creek Pass (elevation 10,114 ft)

we were met with somw awesome views. 

Majestic Towers in Aspen forest

could be seen for miles.

Some of the BIG ranches had these views from their homes.

Big Thanks to Christine for her persistence and late hours to find this trail.

It finished our Tour in High Fashion......literally.

We hope you enjoyed these stories and videos as much as we did making them.

A Huge Thank You goes out to Rocky and Denise as well as Tom and Dana for including us in this adventure. We all talked about this for a year and we made it happen

We all certainly need to Thank God for protecting Rocky, Denise and Chevy during their harrowing crash at the beginning of this trip. We are all truly Blessed. 

 

 More of "Chafton and Friends Out West Trip" 2025

Now we take on the "King of Jeep Trails " ......Moab, Utah.

Site currently in process.  See first two completed episodes. Waiting on better internet.

Onion Creek Trail is a beautiful easy ride thru the Onion Creek Canyon. We probably crossed the creek 25-30 times round trip. Everybody was pleased with today's adventure. Met some folks in a RZR but we were mostly all by ourselves. Enjoyed having Jim ( our campground neighbor) join us for todays ride.

Getting deeper into the canyon...

The scenery down in Onion Creek Canyon is some of the best we have found so far.

After Onion Creek we decided to take on Shafer Trail. This "Badge of Honor"  Trail  is defined as one of Moab"s Best. Well, It did not disappoint. As we turned onto Potash Road we could tell this one was different. 

 Don't miss this video on YouTube.......

    CLICK ON LINK BELOW TO WATCH THIS VIDEO....THEN HANG ON

             https://youtu.be/YQYWSQnb08I           

Then we stopped off in Downtown Moab

for pizza and beer...

Next we head back to camp, load up, and prep to move to Montrose, Colorado

Gonna find that Alpine Loop, Silverton, Ouray, and maybe even Telluride.

Would love to do Black Bear Pass but probably won't have time.

And the Story continues...........in the next episode.

 Chafton's "Out West" Adventure Tour

August 20.2025

Day 8......I think...it's been a crazy week!

We ended this week in the Cool Little town of Livingston, Montana...It was Rocky and Denise's 48th Wedding Anniversary so we celebrated at the local Hot Spot. This place was touted to be Livingston's best. Well, it didn't turn out to be. It was so bad we couldn't even eat the main entree. My baby back ribs were more like 60 year old Bison, the 6 oz. filets were about the size of a silver dollar and over cooked.The green beans were fresh from the garden, without cooking. It goes on and on. Not ones meal was worth eating. We complained and got the meal comped. Felt bad for the Langley's but we had a good time talking about it. The staff apologized, gave us a round of drinks, desert, and even brought out the owner. Stuff happens.

Like I tell my "Mud Buds"......

You don't know till you go.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

The plan was to Jeep thru the North Sector of Yellowstone but I woke with a killer headache and decided to hang loose at the campground....turns out Nurse Christine thinks its because I missed the last two nights of my blood pressure meds along with the altitude.

The Happy Hoosiers continued on the schedule and enjoyed some awesome wildlife shots and scenery views. 

On the way to Yellowstone

North Loop of Yellowstone National Park

Along the Yellowstone River

Can you find the Bear

So back at Starry Night RV Park we are prepping for an off-road Jeep ride over the mountain to Jackson Creek. We have downloaded a new app called OnX because Montana is not on the Lifetime Trail Map system I am familiar with. We visited the local Forest Service office and picked up a paper map as backup......we'll see if we get lost or not....Kelly (the manager of the campground ) loaned us two cans of Bear Spray and said be careful it's Grizzly country. 

With that piece of advice I switched my carry piece from the .38 to the 357 magnum. We came with both. Thank you Pat Harder......You and Mikee are always on our mind.

Left camp around 8:30 this morning headed over to those mountains.

We will be driving thru Willow Creek Ranch (it's huge) and hope to see some Elk and Bear.

We are getting closer, hope to get GoPro footage added later.

Lots of free range cattle along the way.

Ran upon this herd of Elk just before reaching the trailhead.....hundreds in this herd.

This statue is at the entrance to the Ranch Homestead...

Zoom in and identify it....Beautiful drive and we haven't even reached the trails.

So many pictures... such big country.

Southern Montana....30 miles fromYellowstone.

Big Black Bear down by the creek...he ran off before I could get it zoomed in.

7000 feet in the hills around Livingston, Montana....

Day 9...Travel Day

On the road again, this next stop is Lava Hot Springs, Idaho

Great spot for an over nite stay, very active family campground on a small river with tubes available to float down the rapids. 

Day 10....on our way to Circleville, Utah. A tiny town in the middle if no where. Chosen because of it's proximity to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Also as we learned later, it's the childhood home of Butch Cassity. Named Circleville by the Moormans who settled here, as it is 360 degrees surrounded by mountain ranges.

 

Can you imagine living here in 1900 

There is nothing in site for miles, not even now.....Just a highway,

some telephone poles, and one ranch about 3 miles away.

No wonder he left home and joined up with The Sundance Kid.

This man was responsible for the restoration of the property.

It is well done, with antique farm tools around the yard.

His research includes old census records of the family.

Entering Zion National Park is an awe inspiring experience.

You will find yourself saying " How did this happen?"

It's definetly a " God Thing "........

Me getting a picture of Rocky taking a picture

of Tom and Dana.

Seems you just can't stop taking pictures in Zion...

Rocky was offering this little girl a chance to pet Chevy but she was a bit scared of dogs....

Most of the awesome scenery is on the GoPro but internet is not good enough to post them yet. Hopefully later. 

Only video to load at this time...I'll try later to add more...weak internet

Long video of a compilation of several videos taken while Jeeping our way thru Zion

National Park...Time to head back to camp and load up for the next adventure.

A few more things to do before we leave this sleepy little town of Circleville, Utah.

Same brake as repaired in Wall, S.D.

Broken adjuster, so this time I gutted the whole assembly and blocked off this wheel. Future problem eliminated.

I'll replace it when we get home.

See previous blog post for First Week by scrolling down to end, choose older post.

 "Out West Adventure 2025"

Starting August 12, 2025

After a year of planning, months of hoping it will happen, then weeks of preparing and provisioning we are finally on the road for our 3/4 week trip to explore the Western States again. Included in this Journey is Rocky and Denise Langley with their 4 legged Chevy, Tom and Dana True, and Christine with our little Chick Magnet "Annie". 

Follow along and see what weeks on the road can be like.......................

                               But....... first things first....PREP

Jeep is almost ready to go...new tires, check brakes, fresh tune-up, load emergency kit, tools, test winch, etc.etc, and don't forget the GMRS radios.

After spending time and money to prepare the open trailer for this 3000+ mile adventure and thinking I am all done......think again....I find an enclosed trailer on Marketplace that will be better suited.  But first we must insulate and install a ceiling, along with more lights, and paint the interior white, repair the tailgate, take the new tires off the open trailer and install on this trailer, repair and paint tongue and hitch, take the tool box off the open trailer and........well you got it by now. Lots of work.  All within one week of pulling out.

Next, get the whole rig weighed for obvious reasons. But also to do a dry run (with Jeep loaded) up to Smiths Grove, also for obvious reasons. All went well, now back home to load everything else.

Day 1:

A stressful day for sure, Christine has a prescription to be ready on Monday .....the day before we leave....didn't happen....our 8:30 am departure just got delayed 4 hours and.....still no prescription...so we had to have it sent to CVS in Lentzville, Mo.  That worked, but now we are hitting St. Louis at rush hour and thru 3 rain storms. Now our super clean and freshly waxed Motorcoach and Trailer are nasty. (my scheduled departure time was planned to avoid this)......so I decided to find a truck wash and have this rig washed. Our first night was in a Rest Area.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR VIDEOS: Click the arrow in center of picture, then click on icon in lower right of screen to go full screen, volume turned on.

Day 2:

On the road again...destination Onawa, Iowa to meet up with our Happy Hoosier Buds from Indiana. Well our "Out West Adventure" turned into a "Wild, Wild, West" show.  Just a few miles from our destination we get a call from Rocky...He has crashed his coach. They blew a left front tire while passing another vehicle ......estimated speed around 70  mph.......violently pulling them into the median.....crashing into a cable guard railing......heading for oncoming traffic....but his driving skills kept this from ending in tragedy. We just thought Day 1 was stressful. 

There wasn't much left of this tire by the time Rocky got this beast stopped.

We have experienced this on our travels too but never a front tire. It sounds like someone fired a cannon in your coach.

Thanks to some quick thinking he avoided a tragedy. Hopefully our adventure can continue.

Stay tuned.....

This shot shows just how close to oncoming traffic they got.....

They were throwing gravel and dirt into the oncoming lanes.

Can you imagine how much Pucker Power it took to get this coach under control at 70 mph.

This is the point at which I got the phone call saying he had crashed.

The Police had not arrived yet, they showed up while we were talking I think.

He was certainly shook up and I told him we were on our way to help, but we were still 3-4 hours away.

We were about an hour from I-80 so we turned East and headed to help our friends who were 4 hours from us. We did not realize that Tom and Dana had already caught up with them and witnessed the entire crash event. They called us during this hectic event and said they were not injured and the coach was being towed to a tire shop to evaluate the damage and replace front tires. Since we learned they had someone with them to help we then turned around and headed for our destination. Rocky has gathered up all the crash debris and was going to try to make it to Onawa for the night. They arrived at the campground with a badly damaged motorhome but determined to patch and go.

Tom and Rocky (along with too very shook up but thankful wives) pulled into our destination for tonight with a badly damaged coach.

Day 3:

After carefully examining this damage, we three "Hot Rod Building","Street Rod Showing", "Race Car Driving", "Mechanics" decided we could fix this coach on the go.  So parts were ordered to be delivered in Montana, (headlight assembly) Fiberglass repair kit and other materials were purchased locally and all necessary tools were on board. We had air tools, compressor, cutting wheels, sanding discs, etc in the trailer. We then headed for our next destination.... Wall, South Dakota...But hang on, it ain't over yet.  About 10 minutes up the road Rocky calls....he has a flat tire on the rear.....time to find another tire store...this one was 6 miles into a town off I-80. Off we go to get four new rear tires.....now Rocky has all new tires....off we go again to Wall, S.D. ..... Arrived in time to experience one of those infamous South Dakota thunderstorms last night...winds rocking the coach, lightning, rain, hail, etc. 

Luckily they had 4 Toyo Tires in stock and had us back on the road again in on time.

But the stress level by this time is "off the charts"....especially for Rocky and Denise.

Maybe we can find a few Buffalo to help settle their nerves.......

       

Day 4:

We made to Wall so Tom and Rocky started on the fiberglass repairs while I pulled a wheel off the trailer to inspect a noise in the brakes. A camper heard us when we arrived and made me aware of the noisy wheel.....Thank goodness for that......turns out  the brake adjuster had broken and was rolling around in the brake drum..........Tom couldn't wait to put Rocky's busted coach back together. I was impressed at how good Tom is at body damage repair. He has a long history of Body Shop businesses. ..After putting on a few pieces of crash parts that Rocky had picked up, along with a layer of fiberglass we decided to drive our Jeeps thru the Badlands National Park and do some sightseeing.  Oh, and we experienced another Bad-Ass South Dakota thunderstorm again last night....Awesome light show, rain and hail............We are going to do this "Out West" trip any way possible. Ya Gotta love our determination.

Rocky gets down and dirty to get these pieces in the right order. he is a very talented builder of most anything.

You can't begin to imagine how many slivers of crashed fiberglass it took to put this corner back together.

Our work station consisted if our trailer (with compressor and air tools) and a gravel driveway. Complete with a picnic table for a workbench, breaks and lunch.

Other than a bent steering link, a busted fresh water tank valve, a crushed electrical box (behind this door) and some scratches and scrapes down the side (caused by the cable guard railing) all is good. 

Now we go do some Tourist Stuff while the fiberglass resin is setting up....every minute is taken.

So we took the Jeeps for a quick tour of the Badlands while we were in the neighborhood.

Mom says ....take a look at that.

Pictures just won't do justice for the views and Awesomeness of God's creations.

Good chance to show off some of the finest people you could ever meet......

Hometown "Citizen of the Year" winner

Tom True and Dana True.

They were very supportive of the children who were effected by the Tornado in Bowling Green a couple years ago. 

Thank you....

And three more of this team of determined Adventure Seeking buddies.

Rocky and Denise Langley along with Chevy the wonder-dog.

Two more of the world's Finest people

So glad we bumped into these two while residing at River Bend RV Resort in Florida..

And not much to say here, just a couple of old worn out Adventure Seekers from Kentucky.

Christine has held on for the ride for over 61 years.

Annie hangs in there too...she's been an "ocean going mariner"...a "mountain climbing trail rider"...and an"RV touring" sidekick." 

So much to see......and so hard to describe.

But we gotta get going, I need a new leather belt and Annie needs a cowgirl hat.

Off to Wall Drugs for some Western Style Retail Therapy.

If ever near the Badlands you must stop at Wall Drugs...

Dig into the History, get a 5 cent cup of coffee, and let the shopping begin.

This is our Third time here.

This was the model for Annie's new cowgirl hat....but for some reason I can't find the picture we took of Annie with her new hat.

I think it is because my camera was set on LIVE ......my bad.

This beautiful "Traveler's Chapel" is also part of Wall Drug Store. 

A replica of the Chapel at New Melleray Abbey, a Monastery 15 miles south of Dubuque, Iowa.

The altar is made of Minnesota Granite.

OK Guys....The resin is dry,

now get back to work.

We have a few minutes left in this day.....

Never a dull moment.

Tom can't wait to get back to being a Top Notch Body Builder...

And this will challenge even his skills...

Him and Rocky are working wonders while I bark out the detailed instructions. Part labeled A goes on first. The shiny piece that Rocky picked up by the guard rail goes on next. Now hold those in place while I start the screws.

Damn Guys......ya'll be looking good.

When we get that headlight assembly at Livingston we will be good to go. I have some color matching duct tape to finish her out.

It's amazing what these two guys can do ....

Day 5:

Next Stop;  Deadwood, South Dakota.....after a stop at WalMart in Rapid City we are currently at "Days of 76 Campground and Rodeo Museum" in downtown Deadwood.  Had some time to walk downtown and find the gang for dinner and some Casino action before bedtime. ......Christine and Annie hung back for some nap time, they are wore out. 

Never a dull moment when you travel with this bunch....

 We found the Historic Saloon #10 Bar where Wild Bill Hickok was killed while playing cards. Aces and Eights = Dead Mans Hand.

They had a musician/comedian that was the star of the bar....Totally a character.

The gang had a Historic Good Time at this bar.

The entertainment was unusual at the least.

He was reeling in off the streets.

And back at the Day of 76' campground the teams are preparing for another stroll to "Downtown Deadwood" for a show.

And looks like Chevy is busy watching her neighbor load up to go home after the Roping Event......

This was a lot like camping at a Livestock Yards but Hey....you don't know till you go...

And just a short walk to the Casino.

Day 6:

First chance to work on our Blog due to an eventful past few days. Got an early start this morning,..... got on the computer at 3:15 am......girls woke up at 5:00.....walked Annie at 5:15.....still can't get pictures and videos to load......gonna give up for now...time to cook breakfast and today we Jeep our way thru Needles Highway and the Custer Loop......the Happy Hoosiers have not seen this and it is a "must see" when in the Black Hills.

Well the day went well....  Almost....We took back country roads (mostly gravel and dirt) down to Custer because Highway 385 was closed at one point and we had to find an alternate route. Our Lunch destination was Custer, S.D. but reroute delays had us having lunch in Hill City......Good thing....because we arrived in Custer in a Hailacious Hail storm.  Put 190 miles on the Jeeps today. We are zapped.

We could't even get out of the Jeeps and thought we had damage. It was a a rain event like nothing you can imagine. Hope the videos do it justice. Arrived back in Deadwood in time to shower, eat left-overs, and crash. Happy Hoosiers went to the Casino for Dinner. Hey, they got 20 years on us....cut us some slack.

Open range cattle grazing along the road..

Probably on our way to the Wildlife Loop in the Custer State Park.

We had planned on Lunch in Custer but due to unforeseen circumstances we decided to stop in Hill City........just as another one of those South Dakota Hail Storms arrived.

We parked along the business's and held on.

These Harley's almost got swept away.

And what a lucky break that was....

Could not have asked for as better Pizza Joint...

Food was great, atmosphere, was good, and friends are fabulous.

This is what was going on in Custer to have us switch our Lunch Destination.......

Like we say.....you just gotta "Go with the Flow"

But we did make thru the Wildlife Loop and this big Bull Bison walked between our Jeeps and the roadside.

He looked directly into the side windows and never even flenched when Annie barked.

These three wanted Buffalo's...

They got Buffalo's

Looks like a happy trio..

Annie says...where's all those Buffalo going. I wanna play...... That sucks, lets go to the Needles Highway.  Wait...Wait...I think I want to bark some more, who are these guys?

Needles Highway is another must do if coming to the Black Hills......and it's even cooler on a Harley.

Again, pictures don't do it justice...

Jeeping thru the Black Hills...currently on.       www.youtube.com/jerrychafton

Day 7:

Scheduled departure time 8:30 am......Deadwood to Devil's Tower to Livingston, Montana.

This Lovely Lady sitting next to me had never seen the Devil's Tower....so.....

We took a little side trip on the way to Livingston, Montana to see it.

We will meet up with our Hoosier Hoodlums at the Campground.

It truly is a sight to see..

We ate an Old Fashion Hand Dipped Ice Cream, bought a couple jars of local Jam, took some pictures and just spent a few quiet minutes holding hands and walking around.

God is Good.....

This Adventure continues in the next Blog Post.....stay tuned.