Tuesday, July 11, 2006 – Capitol Reef, Utah When Susan awoke, Bob asked her if she wanted to go out for breakfast and she agreed. We drove to Aquarius Restaurant in Bicknell. At each table, they had four or five humorous books written by Ben Goode. On the counter was a pile of magazines for customers to read. It reminded Bob of Mel's Diner. After breakfast, we drove back to the campground. We stopped at the campground office and the same woman called the mechanic again. He told her that he would come over to our campsite in fifteen minutes. When he arrived, we discussed the problem. Biggi thought that a small stone might have jammed itself in the wheel and caused the noise. He agreed to look at the car this evening around six o'clock. He needed to shingle the house he was building. After he left, we decided that it would be okay to drive the car today and we prepared for our morning tour of Capitol Reef. We only had one leg of the self-guided driving tour left. We started at the Visitor Center and went east on Highway 24. Our first stop was the Fruita Schoolhouse, which was built in 1892. The school had one room and included grades one through six for 22 students. The ranger told us that the students were full of pranks to delay the start of class. At the front of the room in a corner was a stool with a dunce cap on it. Bob told Susan to put the dunce cap on her head and he took a picture. At the second stop, we walked on a boardwalk to look at petroglyphs made by the Fremont Indians before the pioneers settled in the area. At the third stop, there was a hike to Hickman Bridge. We first walked along the Fremont River and started walking up the hill. When we arrived near the top of the hill, we saw a sign that told us that Hickman Bridge was .7 mile. We turned around and walked back down the hill. When we hiked near the river, Susan walked over and put her hand in the cold water. We skipped the fourth stop and stopped at the Behunin Cabin. The cabin was a small one-room house for a family of ten. Evidently, the parents and two small children slept inside the house while the boys slept in holes on the side of the cliff and the girls slept in a wagon bed outside. The family ate outside. At the sixth stop was a waterfall. The Fremont River rushed through a narrow passage at the side of the trail.When we returned to the campground, we rested and prepared supper so we could eat before Biggi came. When he arrived, Bob drove to his garage behind the campground. He put the Explored up on the lift and removed the tire. We inspected the wheel assembly and couldn't find any damage. Apparently the noise was caused by a small stone that dropped out when Bob sharply turned the wheel yesterday. We were relieved that there wasn't any permanent damage. |