you’re the most that I’ve attempted, couldn’t even put a dent in

Day 10 – Moab, UT to Grand Junction, CO

We woke up on our last day in Moab and hit the amazing pool one more time.

We also circled back to the Rock Shop to grab something Zach spent the night thinking over before he purchased. New bolo tie coming to a Zoom courtroom near you soon.

From Moab, we were pointed to Grand Junction, CO, with a trip through Colorado National Monument starting on the Fruita, CO side on the way.

We were nearly halfway through the park, about a quarter mile from the Visitor’s Center, enjoying the winding narrow road with an insane dropoff on one side, when we began Beth’s Project Management Adventure, an unplanned side quest.

We blew the engine of our beloved Hyundai Santa Fe at the top of the Colorado National Monument only 3 days before we were expected back home, 1,200 miles away.

It sounds a lot more dramatic than it was – we certainly didn’t know that’s what had just happened. About a quarter mile from the parking lot of the visitor’s center, we started hearing a loud ticking sound that I’d later diagnose as a “lifter tick” after watching YouTube videos. Within 5 seconds of me rolling down the window and saying “do you hear that?” to Zach, he got a yellow engine light on the dash. He pulled into the visitor’s center into a nice clear towing spot and shut it down. We decided not to F around with whether or not it would get back to town or leave us somewhere less friendly if we tried.

While I found a tow truck on a Sunday night in a town I’ve never been, Zach took Ada inside and got her certified as a Junior Forest Ranger. She took a test and had a swearing-in ceremony and everything.

Get you a man with that level of chill.

Our tow truck came up the same side of the Monument we had, so we went back down the direction we’d already come. There’s nothing quite like taking one of these insane mountain roads in just the largest truck possible. I would have paid $200 for this even if my car wasn’t broken. During that ride, I learned that the “recovery” in “towing and recovery” in this area of Colorado is less about repossession and more about people who fall off mountains in their cars.

We took the tow driver’s advice in choosing a shop to take the car to, as he advised that most everyone in town was so busy they wouldn’t be able to get to it for days, but maybe his guy could. We packed up 1 night’s worth of clothes and necessities and took an Uber from the auto shop to our hotel – our originally scheduled hotel in Grand Junction. We technically weren’t off-schedule yet.

We grabbed some Italian food, hopped on the hotel shuttle out to the airport and rented a cheap car for 3 very optimistic days, hit the hotel pool, did some disc golfing, did some research about Hyundai hydraulic lifters, and checked the work calendar to see what would happen if we just didn’t get home for another week.

Project Management Adventures to be continued on Day 11.

Today’s title from “I Can’t Love You Anymore” by Maren Morris.