Monday, July 10, 2006 -
Capitol Reef,
Utah
Today we decided to take a scenic drive around and through Capitol Reef.
This drive consists of paved and unpaved roads. Since we have four wheel
drive, the ranger told us we should be able to make the trip. The
problem has been the rain on the unpaved portion. We started out driving
on the scenic drive east through the park until we reached the junction
with the Nortom-Bullfrog road. We continued along the Nortom-Bullfrog
road several miles until it changed to a dirt/gravel road. This
portion of the road was sandy and smooth is some parts and rough and
wash board bumpy in other parts. The scenery was magnificent! We were on
the ridge and some views were of the distant mountains and some were of
fertile, irrigated valleys. Along the way, we heard a disturbing high
pitched sound coming from the front right wheel. We slowed and proceeded
cautiously. We continued this way until we reached a landmark, the Cedar
Mesa campground. From here, it was shorter to return and retrace our
route than to continue for the rest of the loop. We considered several
possible causes, such as wheel bearings, brakes, or even a bad
serpentine belt. Shortly before we reached the paved portion, Bob jerked
the steering wheel sharply and the noise stopped. We continued
carefully, drove back through the park and returned to the campground.
After we reached our campground,
we walked to the front office and asked if they could recommend a good
local mechanic. The son of the owners of the Thousand Lake Campground had a
garage directly behind the campground. The manager called him, but he
was not available. She left a message for him to call back. We then went
grocery shopping in Bicknell. When we returned from shopping, we stopped
back at the office. The mechanic said he would stop by our campsite
later that evening. We later learned that in addition to running his
garage, he was a general contractor and was busy working on a house he
was building. He did not make it to our site because they were working
late. |