Day 41: Grand Canyon and T Rex issues

I wake up at 6:30. I don't particularly want to move so I lay in bed for another hour. I finally get up and get ready to go explore the Grand Canyon. I put my stuff in my truck and wander to the office to check out. I grab some complimentary breakfast and check out. The truck smells like gear oil. That can't be good. I check all over for leaks and see none. Weird, oh well maybe they spilled some when they changed the fluids in Tahoe....It has been wet up here for the first time since then and maybe that is causing the smell. I try to program my GPS for the Grand Canyon. Since it is a national park, this is an issue and my GPS can not find it. I pick a random location that is nearby and set off, following the signs I see along the road instead. My GPS constantly tells me to make U turns for a portion of the way....

Before I manage to get out of town, I stall my truck. Ugh. I hate doing that. The gears grind and the engine chokes as I try to restart and make the light after my fail. T Rex obliges as always and begrudgingly restarts  though I miss the light. Good truck!!

I make it out of town and observe the scenery. An evergreen forest eventually gives way to a Nebraska-esque landscape of desert-y shrubs and trees. Still no cacti though. As I drive, the snow slowly gives way to fog and finally changes to dry land. I make it the 75 miles to the park rather uneventfully. I stop just outside and grab some food and some postcards. I enter the park via the pre-paid pass line, since I now have my national parks annual pass. I flash my card and the park ranger flags me on through. I drive through the park, blasting my crappy pop music and marveling at the irony. I drive for a bit until I see a sign: Mather point this way. I decide to follow.

I reach Mather Point with little issue. I park and check my national parks guide book for the trail head I am looking for, Bright Angel Trail. It is nearby and I can't tell from my book if it is at this parking lot or further down. I get to the visitor center and ask for a brochure and map. You usually get these at the entrance station. However, since I went through the prepaid line, I did not get one. I check my newly acquired map: the trail head I am looking for is several miles away.

My first view of the Grand Canyon!

I wander off to Mather Point anyway and see my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. Wow. It is huge. And amazing. Just like the pictures, but bigger. There are tons of people here. Most of them are bundled up in heavy winter coats. I am amused by this and run around in my lightweight jacket. As I wander around the sidewalks, I see a water point. Sweet. I fill my water bottle with water fresh from the canyon. I still can't decide if it actually tastes better than normal water but it is still cool. I eventually head back to my truck and start driving to the trail head.

As I drive, I see license plates from many states. Michigan, Nebraska, California; people really do come from all over to see this place. I am proud to represent Alaska. I puzzle my way through a labyrinth of roads and eventually finally find myself at the Bright Angel trail head. I start down the trail. It is spectacular. Going down is the easy part. As I descend, I remember that I forgot my note to my grandmother in my truck. Shit. Well, I am not going back to get it. I continue down for a mile and a half. (not vertically, overall) I descend through maybe 2 and a half of the many rock formations along the canyon walls and a total of 1.5 miles before I decide to start back up. I want to hit a few more places in Northern AZ before returning to Mesa. I would love to go all the way to at least the edge of the Colorado River. However, there are signs all over advising against doing this in a day and I am short on time. I guess I will have to come back here some day and hike rim to rim. I don't think doing this by myself is a particularly good idea.

View from the top of the trail head

View from the furthest I went down the trail. If you look across, you can see a red layer in the rocks a few layers down... that is as low as I went. For all the work I did, I didn't get very far down....

The walk up is not nearly as pleasant as the walk down. I pass a lot of people both ascending and descending. I find that a lot of the people I encounter walking down the trail insist on either standing or walking in the middle of the fucking trail. Helloo. It is not exactly a wide trail and I am trying to go up. You have the easier job. I don't expect you to stop but please don't take up the entire trail. I make it back to the truck and set my GPS destination for Sunset Crater National Monument.

T Rex and the Grand Canyon

The route takes me along the Desert View road. There are many scenic pull outs. I stop at a few of these and manage to drop pieces of the letter to my grandmother into the canyon. This was the place that I remember her talking about the most. The last place I stop has a trail. I head along it for a short ways to get out of view of the other tourists. The path is snowy and I end up slipping and falling on my ass. Ouch. Luckily, shortly thereafter I find the perfect place to release my letter bit. I head back to the truck and continue on my way. I stop one more time at the Tusayan Ruins. Sadly, there is not of the ruins to see as it is all snowy here.

My GPS is estimating my arrival at the Sunset Crater at about 3. Bummer, I probably won't make it to the National Monuments south of Flagstaff before they close. (there are so many national parks and monuments on Arizona!!) Oh well. I drive along the little Colorado river area. The scenery is pretty cool, though not as impressive as the Grand Canyon.

As I drive, I see a turn off to the Wupatki National Monument. Why not, let's check it out. I make the turn and spend the next two hours checking out numerous pueblos in the area. The building style of these ruins is completely different from those I have seen further south. Really pretty cool. There are a few dozen ruins in the park. A handful are open for the public to see. I stop a few times and check out the various sites: Lomaki, Citadel, and finally Wupatki itself.

T Rex and the citadel ruin

I love how they integrated the existing rocks into their buildings!

The whole site! It was huge! Can you find the two parts of the pueblo and a ball court?

Eventually, I leave the Wupatki park. As I drive along the road from Wupatki to Sunset Crater national monument, a bobcat runs out in front of me. I slam on my brakes which thankfully work well and avoid hitting it. After the initial shock, I realize this is the first real, live bobcat I have seen in my life. Cool. About 10 miles down the road, I enter Sunset Crater National Monument. Aside from a large volcano and some lava flows, the park is not too impressive. Personally, I think Lava Beds National Monument was more exciting. However, at this point, it is nearly 5 and I am tired and hungry. I just want to be back in Mesa and done driving. My opinion of the park might be slightly affected by my current personal issues. I get through the park pretty quickly. I stop a few times and take a few pictures of my truck and some lava before heading on my way. I still smell gear oil every time I get near my truck. Weird, but I can't find the source. I decide to try washing it when I get back to Mesa and see if that fixes the smell.  If not, I guess I will have to take it in.

Sunset Crater and some lava....

A few miles later, I get back to the highway. I make the turn and hit the cruise control. I hear a horrible sound. It sounds like rubber grinding against something smooth at a high speed. My truck jerks wildly. I hit the breaks and pull off the road. It sounds like it came from the front end. I get out and check everything under the front end and it looks ok. I get back in the truck and slowly pull forward again. Same thing again. Fuck. I stop quickly and get out again. I check out the rear end this time. My driver side rear tire is covered in oil. There is a puddle forming on the pavement. I know that is not good. I crawl under my truck and know that my rear axle is seriously fucked. Well, I guess that is the source of the gear oil smell....

I know need to call a tow truck; driving my truck with that much fluid leaking is bad. I have no idea how to call a tow truck or where to even take it to get fixed. I have never had to get towed before. And 4000+ miles from home, I haven't the slightest idea where to tow it to. I say every curse word I know and consider sobbing before getting back in my truck a little more than slightly panicked. The good news is that I am only 10 or so miles out of Flagstaff and I have cell reception. I am really happy I was not still in the Grand Canyon (where I had great reception while I was hiking but none whatsoever on the road....)

I remember I have a car repair app on my phone. I usually use it to figure out how much a repair should cost. However, it has a roadside assistance feature. I call the number. They are extremely busy and will answer my call in the order that it was received. That isn't good enough for me! It is 4:40 and all the repair shops are going to be closed soon. I hang up and call my mom since I don't know what to do. No answer. I decide to use my GPS to find an auto repair shop. I have no idea what shops are going to be good and which ones are going to screw me. I have no time to go and try to check reviews and figure it out either.

I pick the first shop I see that has "repair" as opposed to "parts store" in the title. I look up the shop on my phone and call. "Uhhh, hi. My truck broke. Please help."  I don't really know what to say. I tell them I need a tow truck and ask if they can do it. They end up giving me a number of a tow company. I then ask them if I can have my truck fixed by tomorrow. They tell me that they don't know since they haven't a clue what is wrong with it. I tell them that there is gear oil leaking all over my driver side rear tire. They think it might be a wheel bearing and if they have the parts they can probably have it fixed by the end of the day tomorrow. Major if there. If that is what is wrong... I thank them and hang up to call the tow truck.

I call the number and a guy answers. He is nice and asks me a few questions about where I am. I tell him I am at mile 458 on highway 89. I am seriously sitting right by the sign. He asks if it is 89 or 89A. Uhhh, I don't know the difference. I apologize and tell him I don't know and that I am not local. I tell him I am north of Flagstaff and he seems to figure it out. He tells me he is on the way. I now need a place to stay. I get on my phone and start looking for hotels/motels. I find one near the repair shop I called. My phone won't let me book it. I yell profanity at it for a bit before trying again. I try another place about .2 miles further away with better success and book my room.

Now that I have done everything I can, I again consider sobbing while I wait for the tow truck. I call my mom again. No answer. I call Hanna to let her know I will not be back tonight. No answer. I had texted Brittany recently and we had talked some a little while again. However, now, no answer. I start calling people. I need to talk to someone to keep from crying. Finally, Tanya answers. Yay! "Hey Nanners (Banana is too cliche for Anna, so it has been shortened and modified to Nanners), what's up?" I tell her I am not good at all and explain the situation; talking about it helps a lot. We start talking about cars and such and before I know it the tow truck guy shows up. He pulls up in front of me and starts backing up. "Uhhh, Tanya, thank you sooo much for keeping me from crying, butttt the tow truck guy is here and he is backing up to my front and it's the back that is fucked so I gotta go..."  I hang up and hop out. Hey buddy, thanks so much for getting here, butttt it's the back axle that's the problem. It really should not be rolling anywhere.

He assures me that he is just going to tow the whole thing and nothing will be rolling on my truck. He jacks up the front and puts some wheels under my back tires. Oh good. I guess I should just trust that he knows what he is doing. He get my truck secured while I stand outside and shiver. (it's 35, 40 degrees out and I am not wearing much in the way of warm clothes) He tells me I can get in the tow truck. Oh good. I hop in. Without the wind, it is much warmer. He finishes getting T Rex secured and hops in. I am almost embarrassed that I have to get my beloved, super dependable Toyota towed. Hey, it has 265,000 miles on it. I would break after that too.

We take off and he adjusts the air pressure in his towing system. Apparently I have a heavy truck. We make smalltalk for a while until we get to the auto shop. He mentions that it could be the whole differential that broke. That is going to be insanely expensive. He also mentions it could be the wheel bearings, which will be about a quarter of the cost of fixing the differential. He keeps talking about broken differentials; that is not comforting. Personally, I am hoping for wheel bearings. Despite that, he is nice. As we drive, my mom and Hanna both call me back. Booo, bad timing. I text my mom and tell her I am ok and have things under control but my truck broke. I text her and let her know I will call her ASAP.

Pooorrrrr T Rex :(

We eventually make it to the repair shop. The mechanics are still there so I get out and talk to them. I tell them in as much detail as possible what happened. They suspect it is the wheel bearings and have me fill out paperwork. They tell me they will look at it first thing tomorrow and let me know what is up. Yay. I am standing outside freezing again so I get back in the tow truck. I see the tow truck driver and the mechanics looking at my truck. Shit, they are looking for the VIN number and I know it is hard to find. My door sticker is gone and the one on the windshield is really hard to see. I get out and tell them that. I pull out my insurance card which has the VIN. Finally, everyone has the information they need.

The tow truck guy is nice enough to drop me off at my hotel. I pay him (only $60... not bad since he had to technically go out of town to get me) and head to the motel office. I tell the office guy I have a reservation and give him my name. He gives me a paper to fill out. Name, address, phone number, and vehicle information. I give it back to him without the vehicle info since I have no truck at the moment. He looks confused and asks for my information. I try to explain my situation to him. There is a severe lack of understanding in our communication. I tell him that my truck broken and is not here and once I get it back I will be on my way. Eventually, I give him my truck information anyway. Make, model, license plate.... for my truck that will not be gracing this parking lot with its presence.

I ask if it is ok if I check out late. If my truck is fixed tomorrow it will be later and I would like to have a place to stay. He tells me housekeeping needs to come and that I can't check out too late. I ask if 4 is too late. It is. I ask what the latest I can check out is. 12:30 apparently. Ok, that is understandable. I just needed to know. Finally, everything is taken care of and I get my key.

I head to my room. I am not too awfully impressed. My $30 a night room last night was much nicer. This room has seen better days and I can totally hear the people in the room next door. They have a cat that meows very loudly. And they like to laugh. Constantly and loudly. Oh well, It could be worse. At least they are not having sex loudly. Yet....

I call my mom. My phone is about to die so I plug it in to the only plug I can find: in the bathroom (which is quite large and spacious at least). I stand in the bathroom and talk to her. I then call Hanna back (still in the bathroom. Man, my hair looks awful. I should brush it) and let her know what's up. She is driving so I let her go pretty quickly.

I decide to check out the repair shop that I have left my truck at online. The tow truck driver had said great things about them. The online reviews also say great things about them. A few reviewers claim to be in a similar situation as me; driving through, broke down, called them randomly and it worked out well. Ok, I feel a little bit better that I will get quality work and not get charged ridiculously. There is a bar across the street and I am hungry so I decide to head over.

I walk across the street to Granny's Bar. They hostesses ask if I want to sit in the restaurant, the sports bar, or some other area. I go for the sports bar with many TVs. I am alone and need some sort of entertainment. I wander through the tables and find one in a corner. I sit down and someone brings me a menu. The waitress comes over and I ask for a beer menu.

I look at the menus for a while. While I am looking, some random girl comes over and asks if I want to try a Bud Light Platinum. Uh, sure I will take a free beer that does not require getting hit on first. Even if it means I have to get my picture taken with it. She tells me about how great tasting it is and how it is 6% ABV. I am mostly impressed that I just got it for free and it is in a pretty blue bottle. I smile for my picture and go back to my table with my free beer. Turns out Bud Light Platinum is on special tonight. Sure, why not. I'll just drink that tonight; I need to save money anyway since I now have a potentially very expensive truck repair to pay for... The beer is actually is not too terrible. It's not like I am driving anywhere in the near future anyway. I drink it all night and a road beef sandwich which is awesome, watch some TV, and text my friends (On my phone that has been charged some but is still pretty close to dying). Around 9, I decide to head back. I make the short but cold and windy trek back to my hotel where I am now blogging and listening to the cat meow next door. Excellent, the people next door still have not decided to have sex.