Today
has a couple turns I didn't anticipate. My plan was to visit the Hidden
Splendor airstrip northwest of Hanksville. To me it's an odd location -
why is it there? There was (is) a mine (long unused?) in the
valley south of the airstrip. A video or two show small airplanes
flying dow the canyon to land at the airstrip. The quality of the dirt
roads are a question. At the end of the asphalt and onto dirt I decied
to air down the tires for a smoother ride. In the process I noticed the
leaf spring bolt being loose. I went to tighten the nut but it would
not fully tighten - the threads of the bolt were deformed. I don't wish
to subject the bolt to 60+ miles of bumpy dirt so I'll air-up the tires
and turn for home. Smooth aslphalt will be good for it.
On the way back, I came across three separate motorists on the side of
the road. The first was within a mile or few of the car fire event from
my last trip through the area. The locations were noted on the map so I
wrote them up...
Assist 1 of 3
25 Minutes / a couple miles out of the way
Overheating Buick sedan. Texas plates with a hispanic kid that did not
speak English. He used text message translate to communicate. Car
stopped coming up a hill. It's running hot. Coolant recovery bottle was
full to the top with excess coolant on the ground.
Engine oil was 2x as high as it should be. Both radiator hoses were
spongy - there is pressure in the system and I'm not wanting to crack
the radiator cap. He asked where the nearest gas station was (Thompsion
Springs, 35 miles away). I gave the kid two gallons of water and told
him to roll down the windows, turn the A/C off, and turn the heater on
full hot - to pull more heat from the engine. The car started and he
drove off. `hope it worked well for him.
Assist 2 of 3
70 Minutes / 26 miles out of the way - down to the next exit and back.
Change a tire. Entering the Beavertail Mountain Tunnel headed towards
Debeque I noticed a farm truck on the westbound side with a lady
changing the left front tire. I didn't see anyone else around. Drive 11
miles up to the DeBeque exit and back to the truck. A guy was with her
but he was out of breath trying to bottle jack lift the truck. I pumped
a few times and the tire was high enough for a spare to be installed. I
removed the lug nuts & wheel. The lady was pulling the spare from
the back of the truck - a task for her. The guy was laying on the
ground under the truck with the jack. All a bit of a head scratcher.
Spare mounted and lug nuts tight he lowered the truck. The spare had a
bit of a bulge and I commented on airing it up. I didn't want to U-turn
my jeep on the narrow shoulder and commented the tire would certainly
make it down to the next exit, which also had a gas station, where I
could air it up there. They agreed. I headed off to the gas station but
they never arrived / passing it by. I wonder how far the low-air-spare
will make it.
Assist 3 of 3
13 Minutes / 1 mile
A nice looking old car had the trunk and hood up. It was right at an
exit. I'd like to at least look at the car. Pull up and the guy said it
just died. He had tools, jumper wires, test light in use. He believed
it to be the MSD coil and not fuel delivery. A higher performance motor
in the car. It was very clean. He was coming from a local car show. He
said he lived off-grid near DeBeque - he was one exit away / close to
home. While I was there his friend arrived. I snapped a picture and
said good-bye. 1964 Comet.
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