This is probably going to be the longest blog I’ve ever written, but today was “one for the blogs.” Read on and you’ll see why!
We got a pretty early start leaving MOAB, stopping at the PEACE TREE CAFE for an energizing breakfast. Eric had a Peanut Butter Wrap – Chunky peanut butter, granola, banana, apple, & blueberries wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, and a Watermelon Burst Smoothie – watermelon juice, pineapple sherbet, strawberries and peaches. I had a Roma Egg Wrap – Scrambled eggs, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach wrapped in a sun-dried tomato tortilla, and Garden Sweet -- fresh-squeezed juice of carrots, beets, celery and cucumber. Delicious and oh-so-healthy!
We drove for a while and I was feeling really thirsty so we stopped in Bluff, Utah for coffee at COMB RIDGE COFFEE. This place seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, but inside it was so lovely. Big tables and chairs, couches, a desk with computer, and racks of magazines made it a place in which you’d like to stay for hours.
There is a table with jewelry for sale on display, and paintings all around by local artists. They not only provide delicious drinks, but support the diverse and unique artisans in the Four Corners area. It was wonderful!
After that, we headed south to FOUR CORNERS, where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet. It is the only point in the United States shared by four states. It was surrounded by booths where American Indians were selling jewelry, pottery, etc. I managed to take two pictures of Eric sitting on the floor, which is the monument, but the batteries on my camera went dead (again). We met four young people from the Czech Republic there and I took pictures of them with their camera and they took our picture with their camera and emailed it to me, so I have one of me and Eric together.
We hit the road, heading west to US-191, so we could go south to the Petrified Forest in Arizona, where we were staying tonight in a nearby campground, but we got a flat. We didn’t even realize it, until another driver notified Eric, because it was on one of the four back tires. Eric felt like the RV wasn’t handling well, but it was so unbelievably windy that he thought it was the wind pushing the RV. We pulled over to the side and we both got out. We were, literally, in the middle of nowhere. Desert to the left and desert to the right, for as far as the eye could see. Not the kind of desert you picture – all sand dunes and maybe an oasis somewhere in the distance. This was the Arizona Desert with sand, dirt, and short shrubs – no oasis.
Eric proceeded to try to change the flat. I kept telling him to let me call GOOD SAM CLUB, because we have roadside assistance, but he wanted to do it himself. After a few minutes a sheriff pulled up and stayed around while Eric tried to get the tire off. The conditions were so hard, because we were on the edge of this ravine and it was SO, SO windy! Stuff kept blowing into the ravine and either the sheriff or Eric (or I) would go and get it. Eric was also getting all kinds of sand and dirt in his eyes. It was horrible.
Eric just couldn’t get the flat tire off and he and the cop couldn’t figure out why. He was using a hammer, a crow-bar and still it wouldn’t budge! Meanwhile, I called GOOD SAM CLUB and they said they were sending someone, but it would probably be about an hour. It was 5:30pm, so we expected them to come by 6:30pm and were hoping they’d get there before it got dark. The sheriff left and Eric finally got the tire off, but discovered that the inside tire on the same side was also very low on air. He fixed the flat, but the spare was low on air, too, so we decided to wait until the tow truck arrived, to see if he had a compressor to fill up the low tires.
Eric said we should probably get four new back tires (we just got two new front ones), because they’re all pretty old. It will be expensive, but I guess better safe than sorry! The flat we got today is the one we took from the front and put on the back when we got the two new front tires!
We waited until 6:30pm and, when the tow truck still didn’t arrive, I called GOOD SAM CLUB back up and they put me on hold to find out what the story was. The guy came back on and told me that the tow company couldn’t find someone to send out, but they never called me to let me know! I was SO mad. I told the guy that I understood if they couldn’t find someone, but how could they not let me know? The guy said he was going to call the police to send assistance and I said we HAD assistance, but we let the cop go, because we thought a tow truck was coming! Thank goodness another cop came soon afterwards. We don’t know if a passing trucker called in that there was an RV with a flat, or if they just drive along this road very often, but we were SO lucky.
We have had the BEST experiences with police throughout our trip. First, Eric got pulled over for having his license plate covered (by the tarp covering our bicycles) and ended up having a great conversation (and no ticket). Then, we had two of Arizona’s finest stop to help and both were very concerned and helpful. Good Sam? Not so much.
Eric finished changing the tire while the second cop kept traffic away and then stopped traffic completely, so that Eric could make a u-turn and we could head back towards Four Corners, because I had found out (using the computer) that there was a GOODYEAR TIRE store in Farmington, New Mexico, and we were going to head there to stay overnight and go to the tire place in the morning to buy four new back tires.
By the time we left, it was after 8:00pm. We had to drive 40 miles per hour, since the spare and the tire next to it were both very low. Eric went to a gas station and tried to fill the tires with the compressor, but we know (from previous experience) that those things never work well and he wasn’t able to fill them at all. So, we drove at a snail’s pace all the way (over 50 miles) to Farmington, New Mexico.
I had researched on the computer and found out about a campground right in Farmington (where the GOODYEAR place was), so we headed there, exhausted and dirty – me from standing in the windy dust and Eric from lying on the ground for 2 hours changing the tire (he was filthy). We washed as good as we could in the RV, but we both desperately needed a shower.
We drove, nervously, and by now we were both hungry, too, so when we got to Farmington we decided to find a place to eat and were lucky enough to go into a place called EMILIO’S GRILL & BAR. They were about to close, since it was 10:00pm, but we told them we had a flat and were exhausted and hungry and they welcomed us in and fed us the most delicious meal. They were cleaning and shutting down for the night all around us, but they took such good care of us and were so kind. They spoke Spanish, and not much English, but we managed to communicate our thanks and gratefulness to them. I was so mad at myself, because I couldn’t remember any of my Spanish, except to keep saying I was sorry and thank you!
We finally pulled into the RV place around 11:00pm, but it was completely dark, desolate looking and very run-down. We thought it might be dark because it was so late, but we have arrived very late at other campgrounds and there’s always some activity and some lights on. We realized it was deserted, and wasn’t even open for business. It looked like the Bates Motel of campgrounds and I got the creeps. We got out of there FAST.
We saw a sign for another campground, so we headed there and were so relieved to see that the office was still open and there were actually people inside. I went in to register and told them that we had a flat, had been on the side of the road for hours and just wanted to take a shower. They informed me that the campground had no showers. Now, we have been to at least 20 campgrounds across the United States of America and this is the FIRST time a campground didn’t have a shower! They said they only had an outside bathroom (I didn’t ask for details on what that even meant). So, of course, we left. We were laughing, because it was so ridiculous, but also so tired and frustrated that we felt like crying, too!
We had seen a WAL-MART and had heard many times that RVs are okay to park there overnight, so we went and parked and washed up as good as we could in the RV bathroom and just fell into an exhausted sleep. All I can say is, “What a night!”