A Twisted Bit of Travel

Early in June the mister and I were invited to tag along with my sister, brother-in-law and a group of friendly folk for a Southwestern motorcycle trip. We decided that we would be the support vehicle for the last half of the trip. While it was only a four day get away….wow!

We arose early on Wednesday morning (5am) and gathered all of our things to head to the airport. We had no troubles with security lines and were happy to have a relaxing, albeit, early breakfast. Truth be told, I was already growly because the airline had changed our direct flight to one where we had to make a connection in Salt Lake City. Instead of arriving in Las Vegas at 10ish local time we didn’t land until 12ish. This would later become a very important detail. Painfully so.

Our flights were uneventful but 4 hours in the air is never fun and then add that extra hour languishing around in the SLC airport. Which flipped me out with their crazy enclosed smoking rooms! We finally arrive in Las Vegas, get our bags and then head to the rental car garage to pick up our ride. What a cluster! Didn’t Curly and Larry know we were coming? Why are there a dozen people standing here and you say you have no mid sized cars? Matters not, the guy finally (45 minutes later) gets us a car…a white Nissan Altima….and we are on our way. I am chomping at the bit because we have a dinner date at the North Rim Lodge at 7:30, it is a 5 hour drive and time now is past 1pm.

As we drive through North Vegas I declare I am hungry (it is after 3pm at my house) and we make a quick fast food trip and get back on the freeway. Let’s make tracks dude! I tell the mister that the car just doesn’t seem to have the horsepower that it should. (Actually I think I called it a gutless wonder.) But we are rolling along great leaving Nevada then entering Utah. I jump off of the 15 and head toward Hurricane and highway 59. I spy with my little eye…a Walgreens…we stopped to buy a case of water and jetted on down the road.

In the back of my mind I am hoping that I make it to the rim before the sun begins to set and the animals start to come out. The North Rim is remote and there are lots of animals and big ones too! We head south out of Utah and into Arizona turning off of 59 onto highway 89 at Fredonia, Arizona. While the terrain here seems fairly flat, I can see that we will be gaining a good bit of altitude as we proceed. About 12 miles out of Fredonia, with the cruise control on, the car begins to lose speed. A lot of speed. I tap the brake and then press the gas to the floor and I got nothing except a sinking feeling in my gut. The mister picks up on my body language that something ain’t right. The car is rapidly slowing, the hills are getting higher and I submarining in the seat I am pushing the gas pedal down so far.

He says “Are you pushing the gas?”

Me “yes”

Him “All the way??”

Me “yes”

Him “To the floor???”

Me “YES!”

Then we giggled but damn we were worried. I know that Arizona and cell phones are the sketchiest of friends and I certainly didn’t want to be out here with Mr. No Shoulders and his buddies on this empty highway walking to look for help. I pulled off and called the rental car company. They were friendly and a bit helpful but she suggested that I may have had the car in manual mode and overheated the engine. Ah, no. I learned to drive a stick and I know what a whining, wailing gear sounds like and this ain’t it. Just for the record, the car was never overheated and nothing smelled. We sat there for a few minutes and decided to move along. *fingers crossed*

We made it about 3 more miles….the car barely made it up the grade at 20 miles per hour. I had seen a sign for a scenic overlook and hoped to make it there. We did. Barely. It was now 4pm.

I called the rental car company back again. This time I told them “I am broken down, the car isn’t drivable and I am in a remote area”. He asked me a number of questions about where I was located. I have a great sense of direction and often study my travel maps prior to getting on the road as technology isn’t alway reliable. However, if you aren’t familiar with a place how do you tell them “I am between the overlook and Jacob’s Lake” if you don’t know what the next attraction up the road is? Once we got that hammered out he said he would have to locate a car for me and he would call me back with the details. Another 30 minutes go by. He calls to tell me that the nearest location with a car and flatbed (this Altima has to go away and they have to bring me a new car) is in Bryce Canyon, Utah which is 2 hours away. At this point I am thinking that we still might make our dinner date at the Lodge.

The mister often laughs at me because I always have some snacks in my purse AKA my bag of tricks. This time he wasn’t laughing. I didn’t eat since I was still full from lunch but he chewed through some gummies and cookies, all washed down with a bottle of water that we purchased in Hurricane, Utah. We weren’t happy about breaking down but I was grateful for a number of things: It wasn’t hot, it wasn’t winter, it wasn’t raining, we were safely off the road, we could walk around, we had food and water, we felt safe, there were pit toilets (pew!), the scenery was lovely and the car ran so we could charge our phones and at least stay in contact with my sister. It could have been oh so much worse. I was happy to spend my time waiting at the LeFevre Overlook compared to where I might have been!

Time moved on and the sun continued to sink. I wasn’t happy that this was happening but I couldn’t let me get worked into a lather. What purpose would that serve? Now I would have two issues; being pissed off and I was still stuck. So the mister and I hung out, chatted, laughed and made the most of it. But I was tired and I knew I still had a 90 minute drive ahead of me. Darkness set in.

We waited a total of 5 hours and 15 minutes for our replacement vehicle. Not quite what I had hoped for. It was nearly 9:30pm and I was tired of waiting and anxious to get going. I was so grateful when I heard the tow truck lurching up the hill with my new ride.

Scott, our knight in shining yellow steel, saved the day! We quickly unloaded the Altima and placed all of our belongings into the new car. I signed some paperwork, gave Scott a tip (the rental car company did a poor job of relating to the tow company where we were stranded) and got the hell out of the LeFevre Overlook!

This area is remote, winding, hilly and once ol’ Sol sets it is nothing but dark thirty. Once I turned off to highway 67 and headed into the park I knew that I would have a whole new set of issues to deal with.

All I could see was glowing eyes everywhere! In the road, on the sides of the road, crossing the road….ugh! I had to be cautious but I just wanted to get there. In retrospect, we probably should have gone back to Fredonia but I don’t know that there was a hotel there to even stay in. What I did was not safe and upon speaking to the people working in the park they NEVER drive there after dark.

We saw hundreds of mule deer

A few elk

I later learned there is a huge herd of buffalo at the North Rim. I can’t even imagine hitting one of these guys with a car!

Then there is the apex predator, the mountain lion who could chase the smaller creatures into my path! A scary drive, to say the least.

A little after 11pm we finally rolled into the lodging area. We parked, unloaded, and met my sister in our cabin. They had some sandwiches, chips and water for us and I was grateful for that. We related our adventure to her and discussed the importance of timing. I cannot help but think that if our flight hadn’t been changed from a direct flight to a connection and we had arrived in Las Vegas 2 hours earlier as originally planned, we wouldn’t have even been given that car and none of this would have happened.

That was one crazy day that I hope to never repeat but I was happy that we made it without incident. The next morning we arose and walked to the lodge for breakfast. The view really was a vast improvement over what we dealt with yesterday and made all of the previous troubles worthwhile!

No one ever wants to break down….especially not in a rental car and far from home. But if we all have to have our turn at this, I hopefully have paid my dues and this never happens again.