Utah trip, Part 2 July 4-8

Monday, July 4
May the fourth be with you!

We were hooked up and ready to roll by 8:50. We had discussed routes for the trip. Rick planned Rt. 70 out and back (Plan A). I like variety, and suggested Rt. 80 out (70 past Chicago) and 70 back (Plan B). As we examined maps, I saw Rt. 36, a thick grey line road that was directly between Rt. 70 and 80, in northern Kansas. I thought it would be great to be off the interstate, and in our experience on Rt. 30 in Nebraska, we could make almost as good time. So we talked about going north from 70 to 80, then dropping down into Kansas on Rt. 36 for a while. That was Plan C.

We stopped at Sidling Hill for a rest stop, and there was a Farm Market open. I bought fresh peaches and the sweetest plums I ever tasted. Heaven! Later, we stopped at a Flying J outside Columbus, Ohio, for fuel and there was a man making Kettle Corn outside. Another Yum! I called these my truckstop treasures, and hope to find more on the trip. Pretty uneventful day. Pulled into a Flying J west of Dayton - same one we slept at the last night of last year's trip. All Flying Js are now owned by Pilot, and all Iron Skillet restaurants attached have been changed to Denny's.

Tuesday, July 5
Ate breakfast at Denny's before leaving Flying J. Got around Indianapolis (ugh - way to many cars!) and headed west toward Rt. 36 straight through Missouri and Kansas. (Plan D). However, we obviously are not in charge of our itinerary, because on the interstate, as I was talking to Abbie, a trailer tire blew. It was the one beside the one that blew last year, but this time we knew it went - loud pop, and Rick said the trailer flew into the air. Fortunately we were on a very lightly traveled interstate. Rick changed the tire quickly - noted the damage to the wheel shroud that he had just replaced from last year's blowout, and was very concerned about a tire on the opposite side. So, as we slowly drove to the Rest Stop 3 miles away to check that tire again, I got on the phone and googled tire places in Decatur, the next town - 13 miles away. I found one that had several locations across the state, and 2 in Decatur. Seemed a safe bet. Of course, when we pulled in, they had to get the tires from the OTHER location! So, we pulled behind the store, parallel parked the truck/trailer on a cement slab so the guy could change the tires easier (I was very impressed with the park job in the small area), and settled in to have lunch while we waited for the guy to get the tires and take his lunch break. We decided to replace all 4 tires and use the one we bought last year as the spare. As we started getting lunch out, we discovered the water pump was not working! It is amazing the amount of things we rely on water from the tap for! Seemed to be a result of the blowout.

Wednesday, July 6
We got back on the road, discussing travel plans - again! Decided to head back north to 80, heading for Rock Island KOA just on the border of Illinois and Iowa, Davenport area. Rick planned to look at and fix the water pump, but found the problem was more than he thought. The on-site repairman has a day-job, so he was not able to come first thing in the morning. We headed to Thompson RV, just across the border in Iowa, hoping they could fix it. They could not fit us in, but had one that Rick bought. We stopped at a Rest Stop for lunch, and Rick replaced the pump then. By now it was early afternoon and we had not gone far, so we set out on Rt. 80, thinking we could still drop down into Kansas Rt. 36. (Plan E). As we approaced the exit we would have to get off to go south, we were not in the right timing for finding a place to stop for the night, so we decided to go for it, and get as far as we could on Rt. 80 - hoping to do some of Rt. 36 on the way back. (Plan F). We stopped at a Bosselman's truck stop - our new favorite truck stop! Lots of food choices, huge store to wander through, good prices for fuel. We ate dinner at Grandma Max's - better than the regular truck stop fare! We continued on to North Platte, where we settled in to sleep at a Flying J. About an hour after getting there, we had a storm with heavy rain, wind and bolts of lightening. I was in bed, just hoping Rick was monitoring the weather on his phone! One bolt knocked out power to the place for over an hour, he said. 12 1/2 hour day in the truck. Whew!

Thursday, July 7
Continued heading west, soon heading directly toward Denver on Rt. 76. We strained all morning watching to see who would see the mountains first. Its funny - we see the clouds in the distance and... it could be - is it? No, not this time. But then, when the mountains appear, there is no question! Today, the cloud bank was settled on the western horizon - no other clouds in the sky - and totally covering Denver, so when we finally saw the mountains they were just shadows along with the clouds.

Got through Denver relatively easily. The past 2 times, it was not fun with the horrendous traffic and road construction. Now to tackle the mountains and passes. The first time we went through Denver was from Utah, and I was on the floor the whole time, after almost dying in Death Valley with no brakes. At that point, all I wanted to do was get to Kansas. Now I would see what I missed. Today, I scoped out the 4 passes we would go over - all worse heading west than east, but the truck did great, and I survived! Rick discovered that one of the trailer brakes was not working (another casualty of the blowout), but wasn't concerned since 3 were working! However, the Low Coolant light went on in the truck. We stopped at a WalMart for coolant, and he took care of that. We headed to Grand Junction, KOA, where we decided to stop overnight, then tour Colorado National Monument Friday morning before hooking up and going to Moab. (Plan G - we had planned to base camp in Moab and come back to CNM).

We set up, and asked at the camp store for dinner recommendations. The owner directed us to town, giving us one of his favorites as a suggestion, but naming several. As we drove to town, we encountered a detour. It looked like there were lots of people walking on the block we were headed, and I mentioned that something was going on. We turned and tried the next street, and realized there was some kind of street fair, so we scrapped the restaurant idea, parked and went to explore. There were food vendors, produce stands, crafts, entertainment, a few service stands (solar energy, PBS, etc.) - for 3 blocks the main street was closed to traffic and the stands were set up. We strolled all 3 blocks surveying before deciding what we would eat. The town (Grand Junction) has lots of unique statues along the main street. The street itself was mobbed with people. At the end of the 3 blocks I found crepes - that was my dinner choice! Rick found a fajita pita. We sat and ate and people-watched, then strolled back the 3 blocks. We stopped for a drink and asked what this was (Thursday night - seemed a strange time for a street fair), and were told that it was a weekly Farmer's Market. What a great way to get people downtown - very fun! We didn't have a good impression of Grand Junction driving into the camproung. This changed our impression drastically.

The Low Coolant light was back on - after Rick had filled the coolant. He checked under the hood but could find no obvious leaks. He decided to watch it and perhaps have it checked in Moab.

Friday, July 8
Got up early (local time, late our time!) and headed to Colorado National Monument. There is a 23-mile rim drive through the monument, and the "Plan" was to drive through, go back and hook up, and continue to Moab, about 2 hours west. As we drove into the park, Rick debated - fix it here after we drive through the park, fix it at Moab, possibly waiting until Monday - but lots of touring driving between now and then. As we got the the Visitor's Center, I went in while he researched Chevy dealers in Grand Junction. He made and appointment for 11:00 (it was 9:30 -we had an hour to tour the monument, get back to camp and get to the repair shop).

So - we had a 'super-fast' microwave tour of the 23-mile park drive - in one side and out the other (I always call our form of touring 'microwave touring' because we do as much as we can in the least amount of time.) We stopped at most of the scenic overviews, but didn't do any of the short trails as I was hoping. The park itself if simply breathtaking. It is 32 square miles of brilliantly colored rock formations and canyons. We saw collared lizards and antelope ground squirrels. The park is also home to Desert Bighorn sheep, coyote and mountain lion, none of which we saw.

The CNM highcountry rises over 2,000 feet above the Grand Valley of the Colorado River. It is at the edge of the Uncompahgre Uplift, and is part of the greater Colorado Plateau, which includes the Grand Canyon, Arches, Bryce and Zion National Parks. It is semi-desert land, known as the high desert, with about 10-14 inches of precipitation per year. The views of the Colorado Valley and the purple-grey Book Cliffs were amazing.

We arrived back at the campground in time for Rick to drop me off and get to the repair shop. Diagnosis: water pump and rear axle seal. The rear axle seal was replaced before we left - so that will be covered. The water pump was original. Not bad, but it would have been nice to have done this BEFORE we left! I am getting tired of water pumps - hopefully our own water pumps will hold out! So - I am blogging as Rick is sitting at the repair shop waiting for the truck to be fixed. We should be out of here by 5:00 (mountain time) and in Moab by 7:00-ish. On to Plan H - no touring tonight. Plenty of time to tour 3 parks Saturday and Sunday, but no time to do laundry, as we switched our rest afternoon from Sunday to today! We'll figure it out!

Things to ponder:
Sign: Amish cheese made from Amish milk. (Ewww!)
On a bag of candy: King sized Reese's minis
In a restaurant: large jumbo shrimp