When you visualize the Southwestern United States, images of golden, barren deserts, vibrant hues of reds, vertical spires, the Grand Canyon and some of our nation’s most amazing national parks come to mind. Throughout the '50s and '60s, vacationers created life-long memories driving through this section of the country on historic Route 66, ushering in the automotive road-tripping culture. “Getting there is half the fun,” wasn’t only a popular marketing slogan, it was touchable and embraced. Ultimately these adventures were about creating memories with friends and families, and something you couldn’t wait to share with those yet to experience.
Boating, in many ways, shares the same emotional DNA with the road-tripping golden age of the automotive era. It’s adventurous, invites community and creates memories. That in itself has no monetary measurement and something we wish for everyone to experience and make a part of their own DNA.
In the spirit of adventure, and while embracing “getting there is half the fun,” we set out to do the same with friends from Axis Wake Research and our own Alliance team members. A road trip across some of our nation’s most amazing landscapes while paying homage to those before us. Through iconic sections of Route 66, camping among the wolves, a true and unplanned dirt road detour, river rafting Glen Canyon, an elusive Condor sighting on the rim of the Grand Canyon, driving down through Monument Valley, and then up the 11%-grade Moki Dugway pass, all to reach our final destination - Halls Crossing and the Bullfrog Marina - we without question lived half of this adventure just to reach our final destination: a houseboat trip on one of the most amazing bodies of water on our planet, Lake Powell. For us, the other half had just started and at the end our crew is forever bonded. We share an adventure and memories unique to us all, while imploring others to do the same.
Boating, in many ways, shares the same emotional DNA with the road-tripping golden age of the automotive era. It’s adventurous, invites community and creates memories. That in itself has no monetary measurement and something we wish for everyone to experience and make a part of their own DNA.
In the spirit of adventure, and while embracing “getting there is half the fun,” we set out to do the same with friends from Axis Wake Research and our own Alliance team members. A road trip across some of our nation’s most amazing landscapes while paying homage to those before us. Through iconic sections of Route 66, camping among the wolves, a true and unplanned dirt road detour, river rafting Glen Canyon, an elusive Condor sighting on the rim of the Grand Canyon, driving down through Monument Valley, and then up the 11%-grade Moki Dugway pass, all to reach our final destination - Halls Crossing and the Bullfrog Marina - we without question lived half of this adventure just to reach our final destination: a houseboat trip on one of the most amazing bodies of water on our planet, Lake Powell. For us, the other half had just started and at the end our crew is forever bonded. We share an adventure and memories unique to us all, while imploring others to do the same.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hey, I'm Bec Gage.
00:29And we're on the Axis road trip to Lake Powell.
00:32I'm so excited because we're going to go through the most beautiful places to get to Lake Powell,
00:36including Winslow here with the historic Route 66.
00:40We're meeting up with Tony Carroll and a few of the other crew.
00:43Let's get rolling.
01:13After meeting up with the crew yesterday in Winslow, we cruised to the Media Crater,
01:20which was amazing to see.
01:21I've never seen anything like that before.
01:24Cruising through with the boat was a little sketchy sometimes.
01:27I was a little scared, but we made it through and it was cool, like going through Sedona,
01:32which was just incredible, like the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life.
01:36The colors, the rocks were just bright red and it was amazing.
01:40And then after Sedona, we got to Prescott and we camped out here last night.
01:45We got here super late.
01:46It was really funny, like trying to reverse the boats up in this tiny little spot.
01:50I think I'd done a better job than Brian did.
01:53Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it, hold it, hold it, slow it down, slow it down.
01:59Very good, keep going.
02:01Oh good, yeah, there you go.
02:03You got it.
02:04Scissor shuttle.
02:05I was better at the driving part.
02:08The people here were amazing.
02:10They helped us get our spot and yeah, it was a beautiful night.
02:13A couple of wolves last night, which was a little sketchy.
02:16I'd rather take snakes in Australia over the wolves, but yeah, it was awesome.
02:22After waking up in this beautiful campsite, I've got the boys packing up for me, so I
02:26don't have to worry about that and we're heading on to Williams to get some food and then going
02:30to the Grand Canyon and the South Rim, which, oh man, I can't wait.
02:33I've always wanted to see it.
02:40We made it to the Grand Canyon and it was by far the coolest thing I've ever seen in
03:05my life.
03:06The colors and the sunset was amazing, but yeah, it was the coolest thing.
03:11And then we went to Paige and we're about to go out on the raft on the water at Horseshoe
03:15Bend.
03:16All right, are you folks ready to begin the first part of your adventure today?
03:21Yeah.
03:22Going down the totally dark, two mile long tunnel.
03:25So first off, my name is Barron and I'll be your river guide today.
03:28Quick overview of what we're going to do.
03:29We're going to go about 15 and a half miles down the river here on the beautiful Colorado
03:33River and the beautiful Glen Canyon.
03:36You guys ready?
03:37Oh yeah.
03:38Let's do it.
03:48We're on the Colorado River.
03:49Our guests are right on the side and the Grand Canyon is kind of all around us and we're
03:55going to see some petroglyphs, little pictures on the wall.
03:59Should be cool.
04:06Let's go.
04:31We're at Horseshoe Bend.
04:32This place is insane.
04:34I never realized how big it is.
04:35I've seen a lot of photos of it, but I never really realized how huge this place is until
04:40you actually walk up to the cliff and I don't even know.
04:45You're seeing it right now.
04:46It's crazy.
04:52So we're here in Paige, Arizona.
04:54Just woke up.
04:55The weather's a little bit of a bummer, but we're pretty stoked on gaining Austin Keene
04:58and Nick Kanker.
05:00We're headed now to Monument Valley.
05:03Our Forrest Gump just felt like running.
05:31Yeah, I drove up.
05:32I drove up the Mokey Dug Way, which was probably the most scariest drive I've ever had.
05:36I've had a lot of experience with driving trailers, but not off a narrow road that's
05:40dirt.
05:41It goes up like 800 feet.
06:02It's crazy.
06:32What's going on?
06:54Just slapping my butt.
06:56We're going to make us some barbecue today.
06:59boat barbecue. So we got into Lake Powell late last night, didn't get to unpack the
07:09way we wanted to, so we're doing it this morning. Just dropped the boats in, got
07:14all the 2019 boats and that's gonna be pretty rad. Gonna make this houseboat
07:18home for the next four days. Excited about it.
07:22Once again, me just doing shit, boys just sitting around.
08:29Got the warning from the Bullfrog Marina, warned us 30 minutes ahead of time. Sure
08:54enough, the thing rolled in. One of the craziest storms I've ever been in, but
08:59fairly quick. These guys tied up the boat, secured us, and now here we are.
09:05Blue sunny skies, so hopefully we'll get the ride later. We'll enjoy our campsite
09:10and go from there.
10:24We've been here for four days now and it's been pretty incredible. It's been a
10:28dream as a little kid to come to this place. I remember watching it on
10:31Wakeboard movies, like old Wakeboard movies, and just being like, man I want to
10:35get there so bad. You know the background here, as you've probably seen in videos
10:39and stuff, is incredible, but it's nothing compared to like being there in
10:42real life. The scale just doesn't do justice until you are actually here
10:46looking at it in person, and when you see a rock up on the hillside that you think
10:52you could go roll over, you walk up to it, you realize it's the size of a house.
10:55And just being out in the middle of nowhere, like you do feel like you're in
10:58another universe or another. I kept thinking I was in a different country
11:01like out here. Being there with everybody on the houseboat, you know, we were able
11:07to be around a spot with a ton of driftwood, so we're just lugging around
11:10logs with no cell service, making bonfires, climbing mountains pretty much.
11:17I don't know, just doing anything we could because we weren't looking down
11:21anymore, we were looking up. It's been a great trip all together, not just in the
11:26water, but like outside of the water, and just seeing how creative you could
11:29actually get when you don't have phone service for four days. And not only do
11:34you end up sleeping better, but you get really creative, and you have great dreams,
11:37and you just, you have more of a social experience, which I think I enjoy the
11:42most about this trip. Yeah it was incredible, like we finally got to hang
11:46out with each other, no one was on their phones, and I'm a bit old-fashioned I
11:50guess, and like to put the phones down, but this just made everyone connect and
11:55actually be a team, and be a family, be the AXS family.