As one final (planned) epic adventure for the summer, I made plans for a kayaking trip down the Grand Canyon from the Glen Canyon Dam to Lee's Ferry...a trip I've done twice before, but a totally new experience for my favorite travel buddy :) The forecast said 98/83 with a 5% chance of rain. We had everything prepped and loaded up the car yesterday morning, and after breakfast, hit the road towards Marble Canyon.
Last weekend, I noticed that my car was making a strange sound and condensation from somewhere under the dash was starting to build- - possibly just from driving several hours through scorching desert temperatures with the air conditioner blasting. Anyway, Brian offered to drive this time, just to spare any possibility of a breakdown or something.
Here's the thing: for some reason, whenever he and I are together and he's driving his vehicles, catastrophic things happen. You may recall my post about our trip to Escalante when the entire FRONT PASSENGER WHEEL came off of his car and rolled beside us until we came to a grinding halt on the interstate. There's also the time that he busted a ball joint on his Wildcat when we were on top of very steep, very narrow stretch of trail several miles behind a locked gate (shhhh...) at the bottom of some treacherous switchbacks under full moonlight and had to be rescued by friend on a quad and then hauled back into town on the quad in the back of his pickup truck. Epic. Then, a month later, we were hit by a Suburban traveling 75 mph on the highway and messed up the A-arm which then fully disintegrated on our way back, soaking wet from swimming in Clear Creek, and again, had to be rescued in the black of night by a good friend. Oh, and the time we took his SUV camping up to the rim and back into the wilderness and then the fuel pump went out. But, I digress.
We were barreling along just fine, air conditioner on blast, roughly 15 minutes (and right on time) from our destination when all of a sudden, the car just turned off. Just shut down. Dead. We coasted to a stop along the highway and he jumped out to see if he could assess the issue. It seemed more electric than fuel related, so he fiddled around with a few things, but couldn't seem to find the problem. We decided to just call roadside assistance and have it towed, bummed that we were so close to the kayak launch and weren't going to make it. The insurance company couldn't find our location, and we didn't really have any idea where we were either, just knew that we were 15 minutes from Lee's Ferry. Well, the agent in West Virginia, or wherever they are, had no idea where that was, so after several minutes of arguing, we were told to dial 911 and see if they could ping us with coordinates to give the tow truck driver. They couldn't find us either. So, we got out and started walking.
As we walked we couldn't help but notice a very dark thunderhead making it's way in our direction much more quickly than we'd anticipated, so decided to turn back and seek refuge in the car. Sitting there in silence and wondering what we were going to do, we thought we should give it one last try, and it fired right up! We turned back towards home and did just fine for about 30 minutes, and then it shut off again. We narrowed it down to an overheating issue, so we stopped, let the engine cool down, turned the heater on full blast and rolled the windows down, and were able to continue all the way back to Flagstaff where we stopped for dinner before reaching home.
Overall, we were so lucky to have gotten back home. Brian was super bummed that we didn't make the trip, but relieved that we didn't have to get a tow and pay to get everything fixed and back home. I couldn't help but think that we would have been rained out anyway, it stormed all the way home, and frankly, that would have been no fun in a kayak on the river considering that we were planning on it being very hot and very dry and not 63 and raining. I just couldn't help but think that we got off pretty easy.
Anyhoo, now I've got a whole day off with nothing planned and nice cool weather, so we got some major projects completed in the garage and then I figured I'd fill you in on our trip to San Diego last weekend before we head out for lunch and a movie :)
Desperate to see the ocean once more before summer's end, I managed to plan an impromptu trip to San Diego for the weekend. The weather was supposed to be perfect; the water, warm, and the crowds, minimal. We packed up and headed out early after work on Monday, stopping for the night in Yuma at the sleaziest motel we could find. Not really, but it was about 110 degrees out and remarkably humid for the desert, and we didn't have air conditioning of any sort in our dark little hovel. Needless to say, it was a long night, but we slept in a little and hit up the adjoining restaurant for a breakfast of french toast before hitting the road again for the final 2 hours to the beach.
Last weekend, I noticed that my car was making a strange sound and condensation from somewhere under the dash was starting to build- - possibly just from driving several hours through scorching desert temperatures with the air conditioner blasting. Anyway, Brian offered to drive this time, just to spare any possibility of a breakdown or something.
Here's the thing: for some reason, whenever he and I are together and he's driving his vehicles, catastrophic things happen. You may recall my post about our trip to Escalante when the entire FRONT PASSENGER WHEEL came off of his car and rolled beside us until we came to a grinding halt on the interstate. There's also the time that he busted a ball joint on his Wildcat when we were on top of very steep, very narrow stretch of trail several miles behind a locked gate (shhhh...) at the bottom of some treacherous switchbacks under full moonlight and had to be rescued by friend on a quad and then hauled back into town on the quad in the back of his pickup truck. Epic. Then, a month later, we were hit by a Suburban traveling 75 mph on the highway and messed up the A-arm which then fully disintegrated on our way back, soaking wet from swimming in Clear Creek, and again, had to be rescued in the black of night by a good friend. Oh, and the time we took his SUV camping up to the rim and back into the wilderness and then the fuel pump went out. But, I digress.
We were barreling along just fine, air conditioner on blast, roughly 15 minutes (and right on time) from our destination when all of a sudden, the car just turned off. Just shut down. Dead. We coasted to a stop along the highway and he jumped out to see if he could assess the issue. It seemed more electric than fuel related, so he fiddled around with a few things, but couldn't seem to find the problem. We decided to just call roadside assistance and have it towed, bummed that we were so close to the kayak launch and weren't going to make it. The insurance company couldn't find our location, and we didn't really have any idea where we were either, just knew that we were 15 minutes from Lee's Ferry. Well, the agent in West Virginia, or wherever they are, had no idea where that was, so after several minutes of arguing, we were told to dial 911 and see if they could ping us with coordinates to give the tow truck driver. They couldn't find us either. So, we got out and started walking.
As we walked we couldn't help but notice a very dark thunderhead making it's way in our direction much more quickly than we'd anticipated, so decided to turn back and seek refuge in the car. Sitting there in silence and wondering what we were going to do, we thought we should give it one last try, and it fired right up! We turned back towards home and did just fine for about 30 minutes, and then it shut off again. We narrowed it down to an overheating issue, so we stopped, let the engine cool down, turned the heater on full blast and rolled the windows down, and were able to continue all the way back to Flagstaff where we stopped for dinner before reaching home.
Overall, we were so lucky to have gotten back home. Brian was super bummed that we didn't make the trip, but relieved that we didn't have to get a tow and pay to get everything fixed and back home. I couldn't help but think that we would have been rained out anyway, it stormed all the way home, and frankly, that would have been no fun in a kayak on the river considering that we were planning on it being very hot and very dry and not 63 and raining. I just couldn't help but think that we got off pretty easy.
Anyhoo, now I've got a whole day off with nothing planned and nice cool weather, so we got some major projects completed in the garage and then I figured I'd fill you in on our trip to San Diego last weekend before we head out for lunch and a movie :)
Desperate to see the ocean once more before summer's end, I managed to plan an impromptu trip to San Diego for the weekend. The weather was supposed to be perfect; the water, warm, and the crowds, minimal. We packed up and headed out early after work on Monday, stopping for the night in Yuma at the sleaziest motel we could find. Not really, but it was about 110 degrees out and remarkably humid for the desert, and we didn't have air conditioning of any sort in our dark little hovel. Needless to say, it was a long night, but we slept in a little and hit up the adjoining restaurant for a breakfast of french toast before hitting the road again for the final 2 hours to the beach.
We drove directly to Ocean Beach, grabbed a few necessities and Starbucks and found a spot on the sand.
The water was so clear and warm...it was pretty perfect. After several hours of boogie boarding to our heart's content, we found our hotel, took a shower, and crashed for a couple of hours before walking to an amazing little Mexican Restaurant a few blocks down and then grabbing a couple of pints of ice cream to enjoy in our room.
The next morning, we grabbed breakfast and then made our way to Coronado where we played in the waves before exploring the island and then grabbing sushi at a local spot for lunch. After a few hours, we drove back to the hotel, took a nap, and enjoyed carryout.
It was such a great time and so relaxing...it felt amazing to just lay around in the sun and go for walks and sleep 12 hours a night. Usually, we're off on some adventure with lots of activity and careful planning, so it was nice to just be lazy for a weekend. I'm loving all of the little weekend getaways that we're managing to get in lately...hopefully we'll manage to make it to the Grand Canyon again in the next few weeks before it's too late. In the meantime, it's down to the nitty gritty which will be nice...lots of projects and more little local adventures since it's starting to cool down. I'll keep you posted :)