Spending a Little more of the Kids Inheritance!!!

WHERE ARE WE? BLM land outside Apple City Utah 

NEXT DESTINATION? Poverty Flats, Nevada

Last night on the highway coming into Richfield I observed a slight thumping noise.  I hadn't heard it before but there were cracks in the highway so I thought we were just going over them.  This morning when we were getting ready to head out I did the normal walk around, but remembered the thumping so I did a little better inspection of the tires than normal.  Low and behold the front passenger tire had separated in a couple spots which left a lump on the tire. 

Wow that is a lucky find but a bit scary because we had just gone through some crazy mountain curvy roads yesterday.  Glad it didn't decide to blow on us while we were driving. So off to find a tire shop. We found Big O Tire and pulled in. 

Good news is that they have a pair of tires in their warehouse but the bad news is that they are not cheap.  We have to have a pair because we had a weird size on the front so we can't just change one. So we are changing them up to a regular semi tire that you can find anywhere, even Mexico!!  Nothing a couple grand won't fix!   Well new tires were in line anyway because the old ones were made in 2014 so that is 7 years!!  In case you don't know how to tell the manufacture date, the markings on tires have 4 numbers.   The first two are the week of the year and the second two are the year that they were made.  This tire was made in the 25th week (mid June) of 2014.  Our new ones were made in July of 2021.

So the guys got busy changing the tires.  They put a kid on taking the tires off and he couldn't get the lug nuts off.   He got quite frustrated and threw his air gun and swore and left. Remember this action for later in the post.   Another guy showed up and got the big air gun and off they came.  

Then they put the same kid in charge of getting the tire off the rim.  He couldn't get it off and was throwing the tire and rim on the ground scratching and putting divots in the chrome.   I had to go outside and reprimand the guy for not using a mat to protect the chrome rim while changing it.  Although they post a notice saying they are not responsible for damage, I told him that it didn't give him the go ahead to cause damage.  I immediately got the manager and a mat and some cardboard showed up.  About that time the kid disappeared and another guy took over.  

The rest of the change went good with the new guy in charge.  I took a walk around to the drivers tire and noticed oil on the ground.  I guess when the kid took a fit he busted  the oil cover on the wheel.  I was not happy and got the manager again.  He never said a word other than bowing his head and saying sorry, I will fix this.

                                 

After a while their mechanic showed up with a brand new cover and installed it.  A job that should have taken an hour total ended up taking 4.   About 2 pm we were on the road again.  Before leaving I had a little chat with the manager and asked him kindly to invest a little training in the kid.  He had lots of energy but had no idea what he was doing or what tools to use.  The manager admitted that they didn't train him very well.  Kids just don't automatically know how to do things, it is up to us to teach them.

The day turned awesome very quickly.  We headed down #89 highway and soon were swallowed by mountains and the most gorgeous scenery ever.  I am so thankful that we get to see these marvelous things almost every day.

It was a nice slow drive for a lot of miles so I got to look around without both hands gripping the steering wheel to keep us from careening over some mountain cliff.  

We stopped to see the place where Butch Cassidy grew up.   A nice little cabin in the woods that has been recently turned into a really nice historical display.

We had a great drive today and will be at our first destination in Nevada tomorrow.  We plan to put our feet up for a while because we will be getting some 28 and 29c days.  Today we drove a little over 300 kms.

We hope you had a great day and to my friend at home who had a bad day, I hope tomorrow is uneventful.  Here is the view out our window tonight.

Here Kitty Kitty!!!

WHERE ARE WE? Richfield Utah 

NEXT DESTINATION? Lake Mead, maybe Poverty Flats

When we woke up this morning there was snow on the mountains to the west.  There were also some big old clouds over the mountain so we decided to hang out and let the sun shine through.

We moved down to the rest area in town and filled up with water at the dump station.  The rest area was down by the Colorado River and the trees were in all their glory.

After about an hour the clouds thinned out so we decided it was time to move on.  Although we had said a while ago we would just do a couple hundred kilometers a day, we are at a point where we can almost feel the warm sun that we will get at Lake Mead, so we made a decision to put some miles under our belts today.   457 Kms to be exact.

We do enjoy the movie that we see out our big front windows.

This route across Interstate 70 is very pretty at this time of year, but could get very treacherous in a few weeks in the high passes.  

To break up the trip a bit, we stopped at a few lookouts and even took a selfie.

After a long day on the road we ended up in Richfield tonight.  I checked my messages when we pulled in and my son Derek had sent me a picture of a huge cat he encountered by the road today in Northern Alberta.  I'm glad I taught him not to pet the wildlife.  

We are a little behind on Survivor so we watched a couple of episodes tonight.  There are a lot of weird twists this season so I am enjoying it.  Twenty years it has been on TV and I think I have watched every show.

A lot of fantastic country went by our windshield today and hope to make it to a point where we can hang out for a few days tomorrow.  This was the view out our window tonight.   Hope you had a great day.

Heading over the Mountains

WHERE ARE WE? Walmart in Rifle Colorado 

NEXT DESTINATION? Las Vegas, Nevada

We had a wonderful weekend with our friends but it was time to move on down the road.  They gave us a really nice spot to park on their thick lawn grass.  It was so soft that I could hop out of the MH in my bare feet!!   Dave pointed out that they have a lovely Canadian Maple tree in their back yard, and I pointed out to them that because of it they had Maple bugs all over the sunny side of their house.  I don't think they will cut down the tree because of it.  

                                

We headed out about 10:30 on the next leg of our journey.   We are heading for Lake Mead near Las Vegas to hang out for a while.  The weather there is perfect this time of year and Arizona needs a couple more weeks to cool down before we head there.   The main reason for Las Vegas is that we are meeting our friend Kyra at Parhump Nevada in the near future.  It has been 3 years since we last spent time with her, and hanging out with her is long overdue.  The last time we saw her was kinda a shitty experience!!!  (inside joke).  Heading west of Denver over the Rockies was a neat drive.  A few big climbs and some long 6 and 7% grades and we made it.  The views were spectacular as they always are and pictures just don't do it justice, especially with our dirty and cracked windshield.

Up at 10,000 feet there was a bit of snow.  I guess it will provide a good base for the ski crowds.

We went through a half dozen neat tunnels.  

We got into Rifle just as the sun was setting in the west.  

We are Wally docking tonight but I know we will have a good sleep cause the store closes at 11 and we are over on the quiet side of the lot.  Nothing can compare to spending a day and night in the mountains.  Hope your had a great day too. 

We can See Clearly Now

WHERE ARE WE? The Darby Ranch, Windsor Colorado

NEXT DESTINATION? Utah

Today was a restful day to start out with.  Guess what?  Yup the airshow is on again today.  Now you have to realize that the airport is about 5 miles from here across country so we get not a bad view of the action.  3 planes headed for the sky and a few minutes later, some smoke and a lone parachute jumper bailed out of the big one.   All of a sudden the two little planes started for earth with their engines screaming all the while circling the jumper.   They circled him all the way to about 1000 feet before breaking off.  That was the opening act of the airshow.  This sort of thing went on for about 4 hours today so I won't bore you with all of that.  Really neat to see.

I spent a couple hours fitting a new piece of plexiglass in the hole where the window blew out of when we first left home.  The idea is to get to Quartzite where we have a good chance of finding a new used one to put in the hole.  This fix will work until then, in fact it is actually very clear.

The Darbys are a very busy family and we love watching their dynamic.  We always say that wherever we go we want to immerse ourselves in the culture.   Well the Darby culture right now is baseball so they spent the morning at some phyical training for one of the Royals teams.  Sue and I don't need any physical training because we are in top notch shape already, so we didn't go.  When they returned home about noon, they suggested we all go out for lunch.  They took us to a nice little Micro Brewery down the road from their place.  Ironically, not one of us are beer drinkers, so we all had lemonades of various sorts.  It was great to just hang out with them.  I have no idea what was happening in this picture, but I show them as I take them.  Sue was doing the chicken or something.

After lunch, once again the Darby's were off to another town for a ball practice.  They invited us to come later for a BBQ that one of the coaches were putting on.  By the time practice was over it was dark so they turned on the lights.  It was a fantastic supper and we got to know a few more of the ball playing family.  

We have had a great time here but tomorrow is time to move along.  Here is the view out our brand new bedroom window that I installed today.  Hope you had a great day too.