Capitol Reef Utah

My cousin convinced me to take the scenic route to the Grand Canyon from Moab, rather than the freeway.  I'm so glad he did.  Its taken almost twice as long, but is a magnificent drive.  I left Moab yesterday around 11, after a nice breakfast with Greg and Mary…

From there I passed through Capitol Reef.  I could've stopped and hiked several of the trails - they all looked intriguing!  I got to the visitor center to find that the campground was closed for the week-end!  No problem, I thought to myself, and asked her about the one a little further up - on route 12.  "Oh that's getting a little slushy."  Excuse me?  Mac doesn't do slush!  So I asked her about other options and she said there was Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands just past the national park and dispersed camping was allowed there… Well, it seems many folks were in the same point, so we kinda had an impromptu campground on BLM grounds.  I got a great spot - here was the view from Mac - and felt safe with so many other families around.  It was such fun!

If you look closely to the distance on the right, there were snow-capped mountains there.

Here's another shot in the changing light as the sun went down…

T and I got up early this morning and were out of there by 7am.  I was eager to get past any potential "slushy" areas while the sun was out and the roads were dry!  It was a beautiful drive - up and over the mountain - my atlas is not giving me the name (I'll look it up later) but its on the way to Escalante - the Grand Staircase.  Here's a shot as we were first starting up.  Yep!  That's snow!  It was 28 degrees…

View from the top...

Now I'm halfway to my next stop, just north of the Grand Canyon.  I got reception here, so I stopped by the side of the road to get the blog out.  Such dedication!  ; )

Moab Utah!

Made it!

Welcomed with open arms by my cousin Greg and his girlfriend Mary and son Bowdie.  Greg promptly loaded me up in his big Jeep to show me Dead Horse Point…

But, first, the drive in on hwy  128 was spectacular!  So glad he told me to take that scenic route along the Colorado River…

Photo doesn't do justice to the deep red rocks… it was sprinkling…

On the way back from the spectacular views of Dead Horse (I'll post later - limited connection now)… Greg surprised me by taking a four-wheel-drive canyon route back!  I'm gonna try to post the video of part of the ride to give you a feel… It was terrific fun!

More on the Colorado River...

Well, I didn't have the heart to tell you last night that when I was a few miles out from the campground on the Colorado River, the check engine light came on AGAIN.  Luckily it happened before 5pm so I pulled over and Googled the Dodge dealer in Grand Junction (my next stop in CO).  Reached a live person (!) and he said they didn't service Sprinters but that everyone in the region took theirs to a place he recommended.  Guess the name of it… it is MacDaddy's Autoworx.  Now, if anybody can fix Mac it has to be MacDaddy, right?

So I called MacDaddy and a nice guy answered the phone - sure he'll take a look at it in the morning.  Come in about 9am.  Good.  So T and I relaxed and decided not to worry about it…

In the morning as I packed up I told T to prepare to go sit in a dinky dark waiting room for awhile while mz Mac got checked out.  He seemed to understand and gave a big sigh.

Arrived at MacDaddy's promptly at 9 and was pleased to see a line of Sprinters out front.  That's a good sign that people are trusting him with their Sprinters…  I walk in and there's this really cool spacious waiting room - set up almost like a bar!  It has pool tables, electronic games…

 and a separate sunny office with big windows (where I set up my laptop).  All very clean.  Even a play area for kids!

So far so good!  I'm feeling good about MacDaddy.

I go and talk to Baden.  He obviously knows a lot about Sprinters and is a very bright guy.  They have all the Mercedes code readers to tell them exactly what the problem is.  The more we talk, the more I'm thinking I was being given the run around by Dodge (with whom I have the warranty).  Anyhow, suffice it to say I sit down in the waiting room - he takes it in - and in half an hour he comes back with a specific diagnosis.  Its the temperature sensor in the EGR cooler.  Its a relatively cheap $350 repair - can order the part and do it the next morning.  We are saved!  Why couldn't Dodge figure this out?  We won't go there...

He said we could drive the van, just take it easy and not climb mountains, so we moseyed a few miles up the valley to the second campground in the Colorado River State Park system.  Its a gorgeous day - its been sunny, low humidity, 70s.  Theo and I decided we needed this day off… So I got set up, got a couple loads of laundry done and then couldn't bear to put the clothes in the dryer in these near-desert conditions….  but its a very anal campground - nice and neat, no clotheslines allowed… so I opened up Mac and put up a couple clotheslines inside and hung up the clothes to dry in there!

Hey, I figured we were going to be outside anyway and why waste those fossil fuels and add to the carbon output?

Theo was outside when I set up the system, and was doubtful.  He doesn't like things moving in the breeze over his head… so he stayed outside in the grass and relaxed… well, at 1:30 the automatic sprinkling system came on and scared the holy bee jeezus out of him and he dashed into the van.  The clothes didn't seem so scary after that!

Its a beautiful spot.  We've had a nice day, with several walks with views like this along the Colorado River.  Of course my cell phone camera does not do them justice, but you get the idea…

Onward!  Westward!  …in a bit.

Colorado River

I woke up this morning with that feeling of "Where am I?" and I looked out the window and saw these beautiful red cliffs surrounding me.  Oh yeah, the Colorado River park… Not bad!

I took Theo out for his morning walk and admired an eagle slowly circling over us.  Then T went down to give the Colorado a taste…

This first part of the trip has been a bit hectic, I'm hoping once I have a few days in one place, like at the Grand Canyon, then I can relax and paint some more.  I thought I had planned a leisurely pace - no more than 300 miles a day… but I need days off in between to unwind and create.  Luckily the trip back is not planned yet, so I will build in more time then… and the West coast has several breaks with friends and family.

Onward!

Colorado Rockies

Oh my, it was a gorgeous day passing through the Colorado Rockies.  The entire drive is spectacular - I think I stopped at 90% of the scenic outlooks!  Thrilling.  Here's one photo I took, I believe its of Independence Pass… now doesn't that seem appropriate somehow?

I mean really, my jaw was dropping all day…

I mean after hours and hours of this yesterday through Kansas (i didn't even bother photoshopping out the bug smear on the windshield!):

To come upon the one above and this:

Theo and I are now comfortably set up in our campsite along the Colorado River.  We are surrounded by reddish-color cliffs with green bushes.  There are big-horned sheep in those hills!  I saw them!  The light was not right tonight to capture the color, but here's an idea of it…I'll try again in the morning.

Denver!

Got Mac checked out in Hays and got on the highway for Denver yesterday afternoon.  As I pulled into the campground in Denver the check engine light came back on!  egads…

Well, I got it into Cherry Creek Dodge first thing this am and they just came back to tell me it was a minor thing and they've fixed it.  Yay!!!

I'm off - heading over those Rockies.  Here's the view of the hazy Denver skyline from my campground last night.  Maybe now I can get back on schedule with paintings and fun!

Stuck in Kansas!

Got mz Mac (my RV) all checked out in Missouri to make sure everything was good for crossing the rockies…  Got to Hays KS and the "check engine" comes on - I have a scan gauge and it told me the code was for the EGR cooler, which has to do with the emissions system…. and of course it was Sunday and nothing open!  So Theo and I relaxed in the WalMart parking lot waiting for the Dodge dealership to open today.  Turns out they do not have a Sprinter technician.  ah well… So I'm on hold with Chrysler customer support hoping they can find me a dealership…stay tuned.  Glad I filled my fresh water tank yesterday - I was ready for a shower this morning!