North Rim of the Grand Canyon

This morning we made the drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The road opened the 15th.  We had really good weather for it, low winds and fairly warm at 8,100 feet.  It's a slow drive from Kanab.  You gain 4,000 feet on the way there and it's fairly curvy.  We went to the visitor's center and walked on the Bright Angel Trail, which goes along the rim of the canyon.  There is haze, there is always haze so the colors are somewhat muted.

The snow capped peak in the distance is part of the San Fransisco Peaks.  It was unusual to be able to see it.

There are huge meadows along the road before you hit the park.  They are full of deer and elk who want to cross the road in front of your car.

I think if we went back to the North Rim we would not go to the visitor's center.  We would instead take the 20 mile drive to Cape Royal.  That overlook gives you a view of the river, which you don't get from the Bright Angel Trail.  We didn't have time to do both, so we didn't.

The Engine Rebuild Hits a Snag

First I will share something I have learned.  Jim knew this from flying airplanes, but I did not.  Perhaps this will be news to you, as well.  When you have a turbo charged engine, you must allow the turbo to cool down before turning off the engine.  Seven minutes at least, at idle.  People who get to the top of a long climb, pull off and turn off the engine are doing a great dis-service to the turbo.  This applies to diesel pickups as well.  Please make a note of this.

All parts were back in the engine compartment yesterday afternoon, loaded with brand new oil and red coolant.  We just had that oil changed when we left Tucson. 

Not quite finished here, but it’s getting closer to the bottom of the closet floor.

So what’s the snag?  It won’t start.  When the key is turned in the ignition, there is dead silence.  It’s electrical.  Somewhere there is a blown fuse, a bad solenoid or a bad ground.  This is very concerning because we’re not in a shop that specializes in RVs.  We called Erik in Oregon, who talked to Mike for the better part of an hour.  They both have Apple phones and were able to FaceTime each other.  Mike could show Erik what he was looking at.  They’re both convinced it will turn out to be not a big deal, it’s just finding the thing.  I am back on the edge of the slough of despond.  Of all the outcomes I would have predicted, this wasn’t on the list of things to worry about.

This is our current place for showers.  It’s really old.  They man who owns it is 81, and doesn’t really want to put any money in it.  Three new hotels are under construction in Kanab, and this place is not competitive with the new construction.  However, it’s really cheap and they do keep it clean. 

And, they have no vacancies.  So it’s not all bad.  The neon and the chasing lights on the arrow still work.  It’s very retro.

 

This was taken this morning.  It seems to be clearing a little.

Today will be laundry and grocery shopping. 

Life in Kanab

Kanab is a small town, population somewhere around 5,000 people.  They’re slowly rebounding from the collapse of the global economy.  It’s weird being in a small town.  The people at True Value recognize us now.  When we checked in to our latest hotel, the guy who runs it remembered us from four days ago and why we’re here.  This would never happen in Seattle.

Kids here get to do cool stuff.  We see them driving back hoes, they unload the hay trucks, they stand on fences.  It’s not like being in suburbia, they have jobs and responsibilities.  They also have fun stuff like small motorcycles which they ride up and down the dirt roads.  We also see unaccompanied minors out and about.  Let your children out by themselves in the big cities and CPS will take your kids away from you.

Mostly this is dog heaven.  I’m not a fan of putting dogs in the back of pick up trucks, but the dogs here just love it.  There is a black and gray dog that goes up and down the road out front, sitting in the bed barking.  We recognize his voice now before we see him.  There is another brown brindle dog that rides on top of a truck box.  He doesn’t bark, but he’s always on the truck box. Tonight there was this.

There are four dogs in the truck.  The driver is out of the truck talking to a friend, the dogs are waiting for him.  They’re all really well behaved.  They don’t jump out of the bed, they just stay there.  They’re fun to watch.

Mike says that some of the workers at Best Friends are so incensed at the sight of dogs in the beds of pickup trucks that they will dognap dogs when the trucks are parked, take them up to the sanctuary and put them up for adoption. 

As Seen in Kanab

Jim and I have been to Europe several times on organized bicycle tours.  Our last was Vienna to Prague, followed by Prague to Budapest.  A careful examination how much these tours cost per day has convinced us that we’re done with bike tours.  We used to like Experience Plus tours, but they are now up to $400 per head per day, double occupancy.  This is just stupid expensive.  Our one REI tour kept us in a van way too many hours a day.

Then we thought – how about bus tours?  While we are both very comfortable driving in the EU, we’re both somewhat leery about driving in countries whose language and/or alphabet is so different than ours that we can’t recognize signage on the roads.  Nah – after witnessing the numerous tour buses disgorging their passengers in Kanab, we think not.



This was about 6:30 last night.  They got in, they went out looking for food, they came back and went to bed.  They were up and out about 6:30 this morning.  That’s a tough schedule. 

Today all of the piston kits have been installed.  That’s the piston, cylinder sleeve and connecting rod.  Matt will be spending the rest of the day reattaching things.



This is our dedicated cart in the shop.  All of this has to go back into the engine compartment.



There was a caravan of sorts going into a gas station in Kanab.  The first guy made a left into the gas station from the far side of the road.  A pickup truck was towing a trailer and a boat.  He made his turn with great panache and accuracy.  This guy was at the end of the caravan, trailing his sewer hose.  His turn lacked panache, trailing the hose as he was.



Mike turned our claim in to the warranty people yesterday.  They’ll need 48 hours to examine the lint in their navels, and then they will probably want to send an adjuster.  They did not tell Mike to stop working in the mean time.  All of the broken parts are in the shop – they can be examined at leisure.  We’ll see, I tend to expect the worst and then be pleasantly surprised once in awhile.

Enjoy the Journey

Today work begins to reassemble the engine.  As you no doubt recall, we're doing an in-frame rebuild, which is a step down from a new short block in complexity and expense. 
Our extended warranty is an interesting beast.  It quite clearly states that "all internally lubricated parts" are covered.  Currently they are making life difficult for the shop owner by leaving him on hold for an hour at a whack.  The person who answered the phone today was very unreasonable, and I suspect they are looking for any reason to jump out from under this.  It was not unexpected, labor on this will be extensive.  However, if you're going to offer the warranty and take money for it,  you should honor it.  They're working their way out of business.  Since they are such butt heads, more and more shops won't accept warranties.  Soon, they will be extinct, a victim of their own bad manners.
We soothe ourselves by walking down to the Ranch Supply store and looking at the baby chickens. It's not a great picture, they never stop moving.

I am sad today - Mark captured it perfectly in his post about Lloyd and there is really nothing I can add to it.  I'm again reminded to live in the moment and not to expect too much planning horizon.  Guess I'll go look at the baby chickens again.

Filling Time in Kanab

This is what yesterday looked like until we hit St. George.  It was just gruesome.  It's been gruesome in many places.  It would be nice if spring would arrive and stay put. 

By the end of the day it cleared some, and offered a puny sunset.

Today is much better.  It's cool, but at least the rain has stopped.

There is an airport just behind Little's Diesel service.  When the wind is right, they fly right at us when they're landing.  The first time I saw a landing airplane coming in it was very startling, since we didn't know how close we were to the airport.

We went for a walk in Kanab, visiting the Frontier Movie Town.  It's sort of sad, they don't have much in the way of exhibits.

Here you have it, the barn from "Outlaw Josey Wales."

This is a beautifully restored building.  It's the Heritage House.  This text is clipped from their website.

The Heritage House in Kanab, Utah, was built in 1894 for Henry Eyring Bowman by master builder John Rider. The Thomas Chamberlain family later lived there, and its last residents were the McAllister family. In 1974, Dr. George R. Aiken was instrumental in restoring this property. He headed many fund-raising events to contribute to the cost of the renovation. Citizens of Kanab also worked many volunteer hours to help restore this home painstakingly to its original splendor. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The paint on it is just perfect.

Work on the bus will resume once again tomorrow.  Some parts have arrived, and more are on the way.  Mike has scheduled many techs into the shop so that they can get us out as quickly as possible.
 
After work commenced on the RV, we departed for a Kanab hotel.  Our first two nights hoteling were spent at the new Holiday Inn Express.  It was very nice, at $189 per night.  Then we moved to the Rodeway in (formerly a Super8) which isn't as nice, but costs half as much.  Last night we got a load of tourists in on a bus.  They've been with each other all day.  Why, then, must they stand on the far ends of the balcony talking to each other in raised voices?  And why, in the morning, must they all slam their doors upon early departure?  I hate hotels.  Wednesday we're moving even further down the scale of hotel goodness to the Sun and Sand.  It's an old motor court hotel, and I think we're afraid to stay there at night.  We're going to take the contents of the closet out of the RV (now occupying the living room floor) so we can move around more easily and just use the room for showering.  We both want to be back in the RV again really badly.  However, after our last experience, we do not want the Party Pooper lady emptying our tanks again.

It'll take at least a day to get the interior of the bus cleaned, and the closet restored to order once they are done.  This is all giving me the heebie-jeebies because we are a three day drive from our major reservation in Gunnison that starts on May 22.  It's very close to Memorial day and we all know how bad it is trying to find places to stay around holidays.  We can't reserve on the route yet because we have no dates.  It'll be something, stressing over it will not change the outcome.