And Then We Had Car Trouble...

As we were heading out of Arches National Park, the truck overheated.  We immediately pulled over, let everything cool down, and added some water.  After things cooled off, Vol Fan didn't want to run the A/C until we had reached town to get some antifreeze.  And that's when the trouble began...

He heard it.  Two distinct noises coming from the engine.  Noises that shouldn't be there.

Knowing that we were in tourist trap heaven, he knew any sort of vehicle repair would be astronomical.  So as we headed out of town the following morning, we crossed our fingers - just hoping to make it to Richfield, Utah.  The nearest location of a Dodge dealership.  Only 174 miles away.  Only thru a stretch of road with signs reading "Next services 100 miles".  Yeah, not exactly the best place to take our chances!

But thankfully, we made it!  And we could not have asked for a better place to have reached.

Classic Motors Dodge saw that we were from out of state and immediately rearranged their schedule to accomodate us.  They pulled the truck in and started working.  And that's when we got the bad news.  $2000 to repair!!!

The water pump had a small leak - that only leaked when under pressure.  That's why we never saw any evidence of a leak.  And the amount of water lost was explained by a week's worth of very hard driving.

The noises that Vol Fan heard were the scary part.  Both universal joints on the front end were bad.  And they had just been replaced in February.  Can you say defective parts?!?  But the scary part was thinking about the 4-wheel drive roads that we had been adventuring on the last several days.  Especially this one...

Yeah, um...not exactly the best place for your steering to go out.  Can you say death like Thelma and Louise?  Yes, we were very, VERY thankful that the scenarios playing out in our heads had not taken place. 

And we were very, VERY thankful to have landed in Richfield at Classic Motors.  Not only did they work us in but they stayed late to complete the repair.  They had a wonderful waiting room with a nice comfy couch.  They could not have taken better care of us.

Once the repair was complete, they sent us on our way.  All we wanted to do was make it to Bryce Canyon for the night.  We hopped on the interstate and went approximately 3 miles when it happened.  The noise was back.  Obviously there was something else wrong.  So we turned around and headed back to Richfield.

Knowing that everyone had left for the day when we left made a trip to the dealership out.  So we got a hotel for the night.  Vol Fan was at the door of the dealership when they arrived.  They just about fell out when they saw him.  The mechanic got in the truck with Vol Fan and they went for a drive so he could hear the noise.

Turns out it was an exhaust leak.  Easy fix.  Which they did for free:)  And we were on our way to Bryce Canyon.  Wow!  What a day!