{"id":6225,"date":"2023-05-26T15:33:45","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T21:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/?p=6225"},"modified":"2023-05-26T15:38:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T21:38:12","slug":"loco-spring-driver-2023-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grunschev.com\/wordpress\/2023\/05\/loco-spring-driver-2023-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"LOCO Spring Driver 2023, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Saturday, May 20<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cfree\u201d breakfast at this hotel was out of the ordinary: build your own breakfast burritos. Soft corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, and green chili. Unfortunately, the corn tortilla wasn\u2019t up to the job: any attempt to pick it up to eat it resulted in catastrophic containment failure. It was far from the best breakfast burrito I’ve had, but compared to the “free” hotel breakfasts I’ve had on my last couple of trips, it was a step up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s plan for the group was to spend the morning at the Colorado National Monument. We\u2019d have our picnic lunch at the visitor center, departing at 12:30. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to get my brake caliper bolt taken care of. I went to the place around the corner but it was deserted. I got the phone out and searched for another place. I went there, it was also closed. The next one was an address that turned out to be smack in the middle of a mobile home park. Fourth, fifth, and sixth places all closed. All of these shops were within a couple of miles of each other. Searching for another shop was a bit like doom scrolling: closed, closed, closed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That left me with few choices. I could go to the local Walmart or a new car dealer. I elected to try the local Buick dealer. Yes, in retrospect, I would have saved myself some time by trying to call all those places, but I thought it would be easier just to show up rather than trying to describe my issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did have to describe the issue to the Buick dealer and that resulted in being put on hold while the person who answered my call talked to a service writer. I didn\u2019t bother telling them what kind of car I was driving, just that I need this thing done pronto and that I could do it myself in ten minutes if I had the tools. They said they could help me out, so off I went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, they weren\u2019t busy. Naturally, they were surprised to see a Lotus. Every new car dealer service department I’ve been to has a protocol they follow: log the VIN in their system, get my name and address and mileage of the car. A guy even wanted to plug a tool into the OBDII port, but the service writer told him not to bother. When they went to take it to the shop, I was asked if it was a manual transmission. These days, nobody knows how to drive stick, so it took them another minute to get someone who could work a manual transmission to move it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took a seat in their lounge and waited, wondering both how long it would take and how much they\u2019d charge me. I was a bit surprised when, half an hour later, the service writer came to the lounge to give me my keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked him, \u201cWhat\u2019s the damage?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo charge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow. That was better than I could have expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lacking the notes for the trip, I relied on my phone to navigate me to the Colorado National Monument. There are two entrances. The group\u2019s plan was to enter through the southern one and exit through the northern one. Naturally, my phone directed me to the northern one. I didn\u2019t realize this until I started seeing familiar cars going the other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to take a couple of very short hikes. One was right after the entrance I was supposed to use and the other about midway through the drive. Due to all my running around, I didn\u2019t have time to go all the way to the other end, do the hikes, and make it to our picnic spot in the allotted time. So I just did the second, shorter hike. It\u2019s all good: at least I got out of the car and walked about a mile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This short hike starts near the Coke Ovens overlook. There’s a much longer trail here as well, but I just headed to a spot right next to the Coke Ovens rock formation. It’s about half a mile from the road to the end, and descends a bit less than two hundred feet. The other trail here is the Independence Monument trail. I encountered a German couple who were on their way up. “It is much farther than you’re going, and it’s quite hot!” There is an entire network of trails around here which might be more fun in April when it’s not so hot. (Not that today was hot, but the sun was shining brightly, and it looks like there is very little shade to be found.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After my little hike, I went back to the visitor center to find the rest of the group for our picnic. I left the picnic a few minutes early. Everybody else had been able to gas up in the morning. I needed a pit stop. Rather than leave with the group only to be abandoned at a gas station, I left early. I record my fuel consumption every time I fill up. I made my notes and was a bit surprised that this last tank yielded me 36.6 miles per gallon. When I looked up from my phone, I saw a green Europa pass by and get on the highway. But I only saw the one car, and I think he joined us midway through the day yesterday, so I thought maybe he was heading off on his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fired up the car and hit the highway. We had a few miles of interstate to deal with, so I got on the highway and established a leisurely pace, five or ten miles an hour under the limit. This was a calculated risk. If I had missed seeing 20 brightly colored cars passing the gas station, I\u2019d be getting farther and farther behind. Without directions. If the Europa was on his own, the group would catch me and all would be good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before long, I saw a long line of brightly colored cars in my mirror. I was back in the pack!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our stint on the interstate, we finally would be driving on roads I\u2019d never traveled. I love new roads. This one goes over Grand Mesa and is called the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway. Wikipedia tells me that Grand Mesa is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometime after we left the interstate and started climbing the Mesa, I spotted Ross driving the other way. What the? How did he get ahead of us, and why was he going the other way? A few turns later, I found out why. It turns out the green Europa wasn\u2019t off on his own, he was at the tail of a group of cars who left before Mike. They were all, except Ross, parked on the side of the road. Well, not exactly the side of the road. They were as far off the road as they could get, which wasn\u2019t far. Everybody\u2019s left tires were still on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris W. had his 4-way flashers on and everybody was out of their cars. We learned that they came around a bend to find some large rocks on the road. One rock was described as the size of your head. Ross hit it, the next car managed to miss it, and Chris W. hit it. Ross couldn\u2019t continue and took his car back to the last town while the gang set to work attempting to patch Chris\u2019s tire. They tried a couple of plugs, but there was no way they could fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cindy lives not terribly far from here, and she has a full set of tires mounted and balanced, so she went home to get a tire so Chris could continue. The rest of us continued on our way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n