Background
If this was a musical or a movie, this music would be playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-l_zD--j0
You may remember that there was an incident regarding my license plates a month or two ago. I left them on the rear bumper bar of my Suby after it began to rain when I was installing them. Of course I forgot about them and drove into town the next day. We found the plates about 5 days later by the side of the road.
So I have history when it comes to leaving things on bumper bars. Thus, it should not surprise you, my dear reader, that after my awesome ride in Moab yesterday at Klondike Bluff, I drove off with my expensive bike computer/GPS sitting on the rear bumper bar of my Suby.
Act 1, Scene 1: Oops
I realised this mid evening last night (which was Saturday here in the USA), and thought to myself that I should head out early in the morning before a car runs it over and squashes it. That would be bad. The replacement cost of the current equivalent is ~$600. I was quite confident that the GPS unit would have fallen off the car quickly, the road from the Highway to the car park was rough. Rough. It was about 4km long too, but I was sure the unit would have fallen off near the car park. Car park…that's not a good description…how about I say the area in which one could carefully park, ensuring that one avoided the holes, washouts and natural features.
Act 1, Scene 2: Ah Ha!
I hatched a plan to head off before first light, so that I could see the sunrise and take some pictures of it, as well as collect my GPS before it became road kill.
Act 2, Scene 1: Groan
This morning wasn't pretty. I'm in the habit of staying up late and getting up late. I haven't been to bed before midnight since the night before I left Canada, a week and a half ago. I'd consider myself lucky to be asleep before 1am. Last night my body was HOT after my ride, and I was wired after the ride + chatting with a buddy back home and then writing my blog post about the ride. I may have been asleep by 2am. I was up before 6am. During this four hours I tossed and turned so much I ripped all of the sheets off the bed.
I was up on schedule though, and a even had a shower! A shower, that's an advanced manoeuvre given the circumstances. I was very happy with myself. I'd stuck to my plan, and I was ready to roll on time.
Do I hear you asking "how will he see his little bike GPS on long and rough gravel road?" Very good question. The answer was to take my bike with me, so if the GPS wasn't obvious from the car, I could go on a scouting mission on my bike. Clever.
Act 3, Scene 1: On the Move
If this was a musical/movie, a little of this would play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL_yON7--N8
The sunrise wasn't really noteworthy when I left the hotel, so I started the ~30 minute drive, with an eye to stopping and taking pictures of the sunrise after it had progressed a little…and me being on the highway and out of town would provide me with some beautiful natural scenery as background.
As an aside, I should let you know that it was 2 degrees. Cold. Brrr. The forecast was for 19 though, with low humidity and very light breezes. Perfect!
Act 3, Scene 2: We have a sunrise and a location
If this were a musical/movie, this music would be playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av3NfeXyPrw
After 20 or so minutes of driving it was time. Photo time. The sunrise wasn't spectacular, but it was worthy. I jumped out of the car, fully charged camera in hand, and as I always do I left the engine running.
Act 3, Scene 3: Photo Time!
I took some pics directly into the sunrise, and of the sunrise on the rocky formations and clouds that were illuminated. More green rocks you'll note!
Act 4, Scene 1: Uh Oh
Having snapped a bunch of photo's I moved on. After perhaps 15-30 seconds of driving I noticed that the Suby's temperature gauge was reading way, way hotter than normal, It was in the danger zone. DANGER ZONE. If this was a musical/movie a little of this song would be playing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siwpn14IE7E
I drove on for another few seconds to see if it would begin to cool down now that I was moving (remember that the car was idling for a while whilst I took my pics.) The car didn't cool down and I pulled over to the side of the highway and parked it.
Act 4, Scene 2: Patience
It was steaming and making noises. I knew that there was no point in opening the bonnet until it had stopped boiling. So I sat and waited. I took this pic of the time. The figures on the trip metre and the odometer are interesting.
Running through my head were themes such as:
- f**k
- I still have to collect my GPS
- It's sunday, if the Suby needs to be towed back to Moab, it'll be expensive
- I hope it's not the head gasket (Suby's are known for blowing these). However, one of the reasons that I purchased this car was that these gaskets had been changed by the dealer before the car was offered for sale
- It's cold.
- Maybe a hose has split?
- Maybe the thermostat is stuck closed?
Luckily I had 3G reception on my phone, so I could check how far away I was from the area I need to search for my GPS.. Apple maps said it was about 3km. No problem, I could ride my bike to find the GPS, meanwhile the car would substantially cool down.
I continued to sit though, waiting for the sun to rise enough so that I wouldn't be riding in the shade…it was 7am and 2 degrees remember!
Act 4, Scene 3: Knights in Shining Armour
A passing motorist turned back and came to say hello. Not 10 seconds after that a Highway Patrol unit stopped as well. I had plenty of water with me, but the Officer filled up the reservoir with his water, we and I started the engine to check that it had enough water in it when it was running. Nothing bad happened(!), so I decided to continue driving. Not 50 metres up the road it started to get overly hot again, so parked it by the side of the highway, and proceeded to get my bike off the roof and prepare to ride my bike to find the GPS. The Highway Patrol Officer pulled up beside me after a minute or so, re-checked that I had enough water, then wished me luck.
Act 5. Scene 1: On the bike.
My body didn't like that I rode yesterday. It felt flat, and climbing was a real chore. 'Perhaps I should have done a recovery ride on my day off the bike on Friday?'. Thus this was great! I was getting a recovery ride for free. I was a little nervous on the side of the highway though.
If this was a musical/movie, this track would be playing (re: finding the GPS) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6zBjYIyz-0
Of course I took more pictures.
After a couple of km's I turned on the gravel road. The rough, corrugated, but nice and twisty gravel road. This pic looks back along the road to the formations in the pics immediately above.
As I rode closer and closer to the trail head, past the tent where I took a LOT of yesterday's sunset pics, I paid more and more attention. Look what I found! My GPS was sitting in the middle of the road. It was dusty, but didn't have any exterior damage. It started and it worked. If one translates the time the GPS shows (it's on Melbourne time), it was 8:12am.
I was happy and relieved.
I continued riding towards the "trailhead" at the end of the road. Why? I had some more pics I wanted to take. Also, I think I left my gloves on the roof of the car…forgot to mention that to you! *Coughs*
Act 5: Scene 4: In search of gloves
There is spectacular scenery in all directions. As I continued towards the trailhead, the pics of this wonderful rock formation became better and better. I took photo's when it was lit up by last nights sunset, but they saturated and didn't turn out. Damn point-and-shoot camera.
Around this time I took a pic of the sun and the sky. Nice
My parking spot yesterday. I could't see my gloves anywhere. Oh well. Much better to find a $600 device then $30 gloves
For posterity, here's the sign at the trailhead, and the map of the trail-network.
Act 5. Scene 5: Riding back to my car
The ride back to the car was 6km (thank you GPS), and was far from flat. The combined ride was a great recovery ride, though double what Apple Maps told me.
I couldn't stop myself from taking more pics….
Back on the highway, very close to my car
Act 6. Scene 1: Back at the car...
If this were a musical/movie, one would play this track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0bqAp2MA9M
I'd decided that I'd start the care and immediately start driving….and see what happened. No hoses seemed to be split, so my theory was that the thermostat was stuck shut. I thought that I'd make it few kilometres back towards town, thus reducing the bill to have the car towed.
All I needed was a miracle for the car to have returned to it's previous state where the temperature gauge was always in the horizontal "mid" position, no matter what.
Act 6. Scene 2: I drive
If this were a musical/movie, this would fade in after some ambient music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLIiR-wcNJ0
I started, did a U turn, and drove. The temperature rose quickly, but it seemed to have stabilised in it's "normal" position. I kept watching. Normal. Watching. Normal. Normal. Normal. I was so relieved.
Yay!
This prompted me to think that the fan wasn't working, so I kept an eagle on the temperature gauge as the speed limits reduced as I was every closer to town. I was so relieved that it seemed to rule out a head gasket issue, and that I wouldn't have to stuff around with having it towed back to town.
Act 6. Scene 3: back in town
All was good driving through the outskirts of town, until I was in town doing ~60km/h. Then the temperature started to rise rapidly. I quickly pulled over. I was happy to leave the car there (vs 30km out of town), and then ride back to get it the next morning when it would be nice and cold, and I could drive it straight to a mechanic (where it's booked in for some love on Tuesday anyway).
Here's the Suby, looking innocent.
I rode my bike back to my hotel. If this was a musical/movie, this would be playing (the Suby is now a little conceded about being abandoned…) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A
Then this would play as I was taking photo's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPGUyYj3mWo
You'd never guess that I took a huge amount of photo's along the way, but they'll be part of a separate post about Moab and US culture (except for the Jeep pics below).
Here's a pic of a Jeep. Driving 4x4's on the slick rock is a popular pastime. I wouldn't mind trying it, but with a specially built buggy with A lot of suspension travel and a low centre of gravity so it was les likely to roll over on the steep inclines.
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