We are winding down this adventure and the stories about it. Yesterday’s part was Day 6. We made it to Colorado National Monument at dusk and found a campsite.

I woke up early and wanted to explore the area.

I walked to the nearby Visitor Center (closed at that hour), picked up a brochure and map, and started walking the Canyon Rim Trail.

This is a view of Monument Canyon as the sun comes up.

A view of the valley we’d driven through to get here. The towns of Fruita and Grand Junction are along the Colorado River. The road switchbacks its way along the canyon walls. It’s amazing to read the stories of how this road was built in the early 1900’s with one man, John Otto, the instigator and tireless promoter of this monument. After walking this trail I went back to the truck to see if Dan was up.

He and I walked the same trail later that morning.

Views of the canyon. Click to see them larger (I think).

Here is a panoramic view of he same landscape. There was more spectacular scenery as we drove the road that winds through the monument. We came in from the Fruita side on the east and left going to Grand Junction. This monument was designated in 1911 and I had never heard of it. I only found it by seeing it on our maps. It is well worth the visit. Maybe someday we’ll have the chance to go back and walk some of the trails.

While we were driving through the monument Dan noticed that the battery warning light was blinking. We thought we had dealt with that with the alternator replacement less than 24 hours ago.

We drove into Grand Junction and found another O’Reilly’s. They tested the alternator and battery and declared them both OK. When you have the hood of the car up in front of an auto part store, other people (guys working on their own cars) come to see what’s going on and offer advice. There were a few who had opinions about the problem. One of them recommended that we go to Sparky’s to have it checked out. Sparky wasn’t there and the UPS driver, who was also looking for Sparky, sent us to ASAP, who sent us to Big O. That Big O send us to a different Big O that would have the equipment to check electronic stuff. They tested the alternator and some other electrical things and declared everything OK. That put us about three hours behind our plan for the day.

We got on the road, thinking it might be possible to make it home by early morning if we slept a few hours in a rest stop.

We were still driving through beautiful country. This is east of Green River.

At Green River we drove north towards Price, planning to take I-80 as the fastest way home. About half way to Salt Lake City there is a small town called Helper. If this wasn’t already Day 7 of a seven day trip I would have stopped at a museum there. I was intrigued by the name as well as the scenery through this canyon. I found out that Helper was a hub for coal mining and the railroad. From the Helper website: “Helper is named for the extra engines historically required to help trains up the steep mountain grade to Soldier Summit.” I may not have made it to the museum, but now I have spend some time on the website and found this video, Helper, UT, Where Coal Meets Canvas, that tells about the modern revival of a town that was on a steep decline with the end of the coal mining era. It is an 11 minute video that is an uplifting story.

That plan of driving almost straight through was short lived.

When we were between Provo and Salt Lake City the warning light came on again and the battery gauge showed that we were losing charge quickly. Dan pulled off the freeway at a shopping center in Draper and we called AAA. This was about 8:30 p.m. The tow truck driver recommended a mechanic who he said would fit us in first thing in the morning and he dropped us off at a motel that was near enough for us to walk to the mechanic.

To be continued again…