July 16 Driving to Utah

Sunday, July 16, 2006
Day 21
Driving to Utah

Driving, driving, driving, keep that truck a-driving…

We drove an awful lot today. Phew, it took 6 hours and 54 minutes to go 318 miles from Yellowstone, through the Grand Tetons, south through the rest of Wyoming, jigging into Idaho for about the tiniest amount you can imagine, and then into Utah. Ever been stuck behind a beef truck on a winding mountain road for like an hour? It is frozen onto my brain, “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner”. That is what the sign said. For the first few minutes I was like, “Oh, it smells like cows around here. Must be a farm.” Then it dawned on me that we were behind not one, but two beef trucks. They were behind a guy towing a small pickup truck with his larger one. With a rope. They were going 20 – 35 mph. For like an hour. Finally one of the beef trucks passed legally when we had a two lane road. Those two lanes ran out real quick and the other truck was already committed. He continued to pass the guy on the wrong side of the double yellow! Brave, or just frustrated, you decide.

So now we were still stuck behind the tow-ers. Granted the speed limit was anywhere from 40 to 50 mph, but the fastest he would go was 35. And he sure could have pulled over somewhere along the road to let the LINE of cars go past him. Eventually we had another double lane and we passed him. Phew. Finally. And yes, we gave him dirty NY looks as we passed. Sorry, couldn’t help it.

We did have car issues today before the whole towing and slowing incident. I think it may be due to the lower octane out here. We can’t figure out why “regular” gas has an octane of only 85 out this way. At home it is 87. We put some in one day not really thinking about it. Well, today on a big hill the car didn’t have any uumph. It actually stalled on the way down the hill. We pulled over and checked the oil, etc. No gauges were out of their normal range. We seemed OK, then the “check engine” light came on. This light indicated an emissions issue and, according to the car book, may have something to do with the gas. So, we quickly (like the next real town we came to) got a better grade of gas. Rod put in 91 to try to offset the 85. The car seems to be running fine now, but the light is still on. Will probably stay on for at least a whole tank of gas.

We had this light come on when we first got the car and it was a faulty emissions sensor that they replaced. This time I think it worked. Either bad gas at Yellowstone, or too low octane from a couple days ago. Either way, our hearts were pounding on every hill we climbed, but they were all A-OK after that initial problem. We love our car!

Today was around 100 degrees here in Utah. Tomorrow is supposed to be too, so we are going to “try” to get an early start as we drive to Elko, Nevada on the way to Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharri’s.