Jeepin to the Talc Mine & the Road from Hell

Talc Mine Panorama (click to enlarge)

On Monday, about a dozen of us made a trip in seven Jeeps to a Talc mine about 25 miles north of Lake Havasu City.

Talc Mine Jeep Trip (click on map to enlarge)

We gathered in the Crazy Horse parking lot and set out about 9:30 am. After 8 hours of some pretty hard driving, we returned.

They say It’s the journey, not the destination, but in this case maybe not.

After a fairly leisurely ride, we arrived at the Talc mine about Noon. We had one hairy spot where part of the road had washed out, so we did some impromptu road repair and jeeped on. Check out these videos:

After investigating the Talc mine, it was lunch time, and one couple had the right idea:

Where’s the Portable Patio?

After lunch it was time to head back, but we decided to try a “road less traveled”.

“Road” may be overstating it. I think we went where astronauts practice for driving on Mars.

It was rare to get up to 5 mph.

Every hour or so of crawling across the moonscape, we would stop, get out our astrolabes, and try to figure out the fastest way back to civilization.

Not a chance. We were committed to crawling.

About 4 pm or so, I finally lost my mind, took the lead, and drove like a bat out of hell.

People actually followed me.

Anyway, I finally arrived at a crossroads — I went West and everyone else drove East. By the time I found out there was no one behind me, I drove on  . . . to Topock. During that drive Jan & I sold the Jeep, got divorced, un-sold the Jeep, and remarried. Arghhhhhh!

Just a day later, we’re laughing about it, but, boy, are our bodies sore. It was crazy fun — would not have missed it.

Kudos to Jim Kasper for his planning & patience (especially the latter) & to Ken Littleford for preventing us from falling into holes and over cliffs.

Tuesday’s a day off.

MORE PHOTOS & VIDEOS . . .

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