After a great nights sleep Tyler and I enjoyed some morning Frisbee before attempting to leave Coconinos National Forest. Tyler spotted a horny toad watching our game.
About that volcanic soil, it has the consistency of pea stone and sand. That said, should you stray from the road even a little bit you sink. This part of the Coconinos National Forest is a designated ORV use area. Consequently the trail is braided by off road vehicle and motorcycle tracks in all directions. I lost the road in the maze of tracks and within seconds found the Jeep buried to its axles. What a way to start the day. I had Tyler gather small rocks while I aired down our tires to improve traction and broke out our shovel to provide a path for our tires. I placed Tyler's gathered rocks behind our tires and was able to back the Jeep back on to the "road". All told we were freed in 15 minutes. We retraced our tracks back to the main road through the forest and headed to Sunset Crater Volcano, the source of all this volcanic material.
We walked a lava field near the crater before heading to the Visitor Center. Having so much recent experience with volcanic materials, Tyler was able to quickly complete his Junior Ranger work.
On our way to Cottonwood to see Aunt Marie and Uncle John we found an oil change place and had the Jeep serviced, I watched them closely and they were thorough. That said after lunch I found the Jeep to be leaking from the front and rear axles. I immediately drove back to the oil change place and had them reinspect their work. They were quick to point out it was leaking from areas they hadn't worked on. No smoking gun, I left somewhat frustrated as I know nothing was leaking prior to their work. Checking for leaks is one of my daily inspections along with tires, belts, cooling and oil.
We drove down route 89A into Sedona and on to Cottonwood. I missed a lot of the scenery in Sedona as I was fixated on finding a muffler shop. My band-aid approach had failed as while on the lift at the oil change place I noticed there was now a 3"x2" hole in the muffler.
We made it to Aunt Marie's and Uncle John's around 3:30PM. Uncle John showed me to a muffler shop and we left the truck for the night.
1 comment:
What??!! You just drove straight through Sedona??? I hope you backtracked after you got your muffler fixed. The landscape of Sedona is like no other. I'vê been following your blog all along just waiting for you to get to Sedona, to see what you think... and you drive straight through!!! I'm disappointed Steve. Disappointed.
-Eric
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