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9:00 am we had a quick continental breakfast and hit the road. We were pleased to see that the oil leak from the rear main seal (I think I forgot to mention that yesterday) wasn't any worse than it was last night. Our poor old Jeep has more leaks than a strainer.

Before we left we said a quick prayer asking for world peace and an uneventful day of travel, blessed with many miles. Prior to starting this years trip I was worried that we might have a boring trip without any mechanical "challenges" to make things exciting. We are only 3 days into it and we are already grateful for every mile of forward motion. For the last 2 days we have spent every mile nervously listening for new or different noises from beneath our feet, and there have been many of them. Every time we hear a new noise we look at each other with an "oh shit" expression on our faces fearing that it will be the last noise the old Jeep will ever make before it comes to a screeching halt. Today we have a different strategy...we've got the tunes blaring on our ipod so we aren't stressed every time there is a funky Jeep noise because we can't hear them. We figure if it's gonna blow-up its gonna blow and a few seconds notice won't do us much good anyway.

Last night we had a long strategy session weighing all of our options. We both refuse to quit at this point, although it was seriously discussed. Our strategy now is to carry on as far as we can and enjoy every mile we get. If we happen to break down with an un-repairable problem then we will ship the Jeep and trailer to either AZ or Canada, whichever is closest and call it a day. If we happen to be at the half way point then we will flip a coin to see where we ship the Jeep to.

The good news is that we discovered that we can get in and out of overdrive if we come to a complete stop first. It is a bit of a pain but we are both ecstatic that we can at least use it.

9:30 am ... Mile 378
We made it to Utah!

10:00 am ... Mile 400
We are both starting to get a severe case of soar-ass. We may be looking for a seat sponsor for our next trip, hopefully with Lazy Boy.

10:10 am ... Mile 407
WE PASSED OUR FIRST VEHICLE IN 2,657 MILES! BETTER YET, WE WERE GOING UP HILL!

10:20 am ... Mile 415
WE PASSED OUR SECOND VEHICLE. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

1:45 pm.... Mile 500
We stopped for gas and discovered that our oil leak is getting worse. This picture shows how much dripped in the time that it took to fill with gas and stretch a bit...hopefully most of this puddle came from a collection on the skid plates and frame. If not, we have a significant problem.

1:50 pm ... Mile 505
We managed to get the old girl up to 69.3 miles per hour while going down a long hill. That is a new record speed! Within 100 miles we broke 2 records...What a day this is turning out to be. Hell, we may even end up with a speeding ticket before we're done.

2:00 pm....
It's officially hot!!! We are about 12 miles from St. George which is where we plan to meet with one of our sponsors, "Wilson Electronics". Vance is still behind the wheel and we just got on I-15, I think I'll recline the seat, crank the ac, turn the massage on and take a nap... May even pop in a DVD!

2:45 ... Mile 530
We met up with the fine folks at Wilson Electronics and had a great visit with them. To say that we were lucky to have them as a sponsor for this trip is an understatement. With the mechanical problems we have encountered so far it is comforting to know that we can actually get cell coverage where we normally wouldn't have in the middle of the desert.

3:45 pm ... Mile 532
We just wrapped up our meeting with the folks at Wilson Electronics and as soon as we got a few blocks away, at the first major intersection in busy traffic the old Willys coughed, sputtered and died. Looks like our fuel problem has returned! We managed to make it to the hotel that was on the corner of the intersection and decided to call it a day. Obviously we have not yet been able to diagnose the fuel supply problem but it seems to happen if we shut the Jeep off after driving a long distance. We are gonna play with it tonight to see if we can do some troubleshooting. Our concern is that we are on the edge of the barren desert and the next few hundred miles will have minimal stores, gas stations and hotels, plus temps above 100F. Our plan is to try and get on the road by 5:00 am and get through the worst part of the desert before the afternoon heat.

TOTAL MILES TRAVELED TODAY: 165 miles

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