Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Little RV on the Prairie

So.  We're still in Utah.

We're most definitely here against our will.  :sigh:  I've had a day to get over the shock and terror of recent events so I'm just going to summarize here and be done with it:

While at the mechanic in Cedar City we got oil changes on the RV and SUV.  As we were driving out back towards Pioche the SUV's engine seized.  They did not put any oil in it.  I guess the mechanic got distracted and forgot that last part.  :sighs again:

So yes.  The engine in our SUV was destroyed.

They are replacing the engine (without any fight from us, to their credit).  So we are stuck in Utah for another two weeks without our follow car.

Last night they paid for us to stay in a nearby KOA.  I saw that the cost was $68/night and I felt bad, so we moved out of there to boondock.  Yes, I know they screwed up, but they were good with us through mostly the whole repair situation.  Mistakes happen.  They're already paying upwards of $3,000 for a replacement Nissan Armada engine + labor.  I wasn't going to twist the knife by making them pay another $1,000 for us to stay two weeks at that expensive KOA.  Especially when we normally boondock anyway.

I hunted out a boondock that would not require us to travel upwards at a right angle the way it felt like when we were navigating the Dixie National Forest.  We're at Parowan Gap near a petrogylph site.  I guess petrogylphs are pictures carved in the rock by ancient people.  We didn't take pictures of that so let me describe it:  it's a rock with pictures on it carved by ancient people.

Here we are, sans SUV.


We planned on boondocking in the petroglyph site's parking lot.  It was full with a bunch of white vans from Texas for some reason.  There really wasn't any place there to park a 31' RV.  So we drove down a dirt road and found a level area in some grass by a fire pit.  Much more private and remote than the petroglyph parking lot.  It's BLM (Bureau of Land Management) so we can camp free here for up to 14 days.  Rumor has it there's a TA Center nearby where we can do our dumps and take showers (hopefully get water also).


Loneliness and desolation surrounds us.  Here's a tree symbolic of my state of mind.


This is 14 miles from the repair shop so we'll probably just hang out here until we get the car back.  The mechanic asked if we could continue our RV travels for two weeks while they work on the car.  I said no.  We need our follow car.  We're in the boonies and big RVs are not a suitable vehicle for buying groceries and the like.

My mom and I both agree.  We have a great set-up.  We put the RV where we plan to live for a while, and we go exploring with our nimble little SUV.  Since we're two drivers I never have to tow, and the SUV is great.  It's easy for us to drive and...and...

OH GOD MY POOR LITTLE SUV!  HOW COULD THE FORGET TO PUT OIL IN IT!  I LOVE THAT CAR SO MUCH!  THEY DESTROYED MY BABY!!!

Ahem.  Okay.  We're fine.  Everything's fine.

Also...sheep?  Why are there sheep here?  One was shorn so they ain't feral. Free range sheep?

No comments:

Post a Comment