HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN!!
Today by the Numbers:
Number of Parks Travelled Through: 2
Cost of Parts to Repair Jeep: ~$30
Number of Swear Words to Get Through the Repair Job: Ummm…lost count
Moab Here We Come…
We were on the road by 9:30 to get to our destination of Moab in time to find parts needed to fix the Jeep. Thank you to “text a friend” and YouTube for helping us to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. The two plastic bushings that connect the shift linkage to the shift lever (under the console) and to the transfer case (underside of the Jeep) are prone to breaking. Luck would have it that ours broke! While we were on the road today, Jen called all the auto parts stores in Moab to see if they have the part in stock. Two of the stores had one each, and we needed two.
The drive to Moab followed scenic UT Highway 12 through Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument and then up into the mountains. Every turn in the road opened new spectacular views. It was on Highway 12 that the check engine light on the RV came on 🙄. We’ll deal with that when we get to a bigger city in AZ. Eventually Highway 12 ended at Highway 24 near Torrey, UT.
We then followed Highway 24 east through Capitol Reef National Park. There we stopped several times to take pictures and to see some petroglyphs that were in the rocks near the road. Trivia Question for the Day: What is the time frame during which archeologists believe these petroglyphs come from? You know the drill…answer at the end of the blog.
This part of the country goes from feeling like you’re in the desert to like you ended up on Mars or the Moon! Endless interesting rock formations and signs of Mother Nature’s work over millions of years.
We headed east on Highway 70 and then south on Highway 191 into Moab. Getting into town we stopped at Napa Auto Parts and O’Reilly Auto Parts to get parts needed to fix the Jeep. Somewhere in there we also stopped at a state liquor store to get some more bourbon; we settled on one distilled in Salt Lake City to try a “local” one. Once in camp, Jen set about getting camp set up while GP got to work on getting the Jeep fixed. The good news is that the parts, with some blood, sweat, tears, and foul language did the trick. The Jeep was put back into gear and disconnected from the RV. Thank goodness we will be able to continue our adventure without that issue.
We settled into camp and while prepping for dinner, Jen spotted an orange and white camp kitten. Always missing her own kits, she made a new friend with the help of some tasty chicken. We had a delicious salad and left over grilled chicken for dinner. The cocktail of the day was the Bourbon Lychee with our newly acquired bourbon. A walk around the campground to get the lay of the land, and to buy some stickers and other fun things at the store rounded out the day.
No specific plans for tomorrow but we will likely head into Canyonlands National Park to begin exploring this area.
Trivia Answer: The Fremont Culture lived in what is now Utah for about one thousand years, from 300-1300 Common Era (CE). Petroglyphs (images carved or pecked into stone) are one of the most visible aspects of their culture that remains. Archeologists named these people the Fremont Culture, for the Fremont River canyon where they were first defined as a distinct culture (https://www.nps.gov/care/learn/historyculture/fremont-culture-petroglyphs.htm)
In case you had a hard time seeing the petroglyphs in the above picture, here’s a closer view…
Happy you could fix the Jeep! Great photos – keep them coming!
Yay for birthday camp kitties and fixed jeep!