Another "adventure "

 Oh beautiful  Utah!

The stark, vast beauty. Miles and miles of emptiness.   The van pulling the camper uses a LOT of gas. The GPS chooses weird routes at times.

Lincoln, our hero!

Fallen Peace Officer Trail near Moab, Utah

Sometimes, the weird route, coupled with the vastness, and the fuel sucking-ness of towing a trailer up and down mountains can lead to an adventure.  I was driving.  Yes, me! Pulling a trailer for the second time on this trip. (Also, ever in my life). 

When the fuel gage needle slipped to barely below half a tank, I started looking for a place to fuel up. We cheered as we coasted into a station in a wide spot on the map... only to discover that  the station was out of business.  The fuel light was on... we had to keep going.... and going... and going...

There were NO fuel stations.  None. Zero. ZILCH!

Here I am, pulling a trailer up and down mountains! Making left and right turns.... like I knew what I was doing.  The twisty winding mountain roads (8% grade) are no place to run out of gas. We finally  hit a s-tr--aigh---t stretch. Praying that the GPS was wrong about 27 more miles to a town.

It wasn't. 

We ran out of gas. The long long long straight road ahead was good, as we could see for miles and miles that there was nothing in sight. The shoulders dropped  off, I coasted to a stop on the roadway. We were  easily avoided by the 10-12 cars that passed by over the next hour and a half.

No one was stopping.  Becky and Tyrel set out for town... or a cell phone signal. Ahead, I  saw what I thought  was an intersecting  road. I saw a red truck turn that direction from ahead of us. About half an hour  later, a red truck came from that "road" ( which turned out to be the driveway of a ranch)... and headed our way. Becky and Ty were just out of view, some three miles or so up the road. A young man was driving . Lincoln was his name. He asked if we needed help. I explained  we were out of gas, and that my daughter and grandson were walking in the direction ahead of us. Lincoln  turned around. He drove back and got Becky and Tyrel, and drove them the 20+ miles to town... and back. Intermittent cell   signal allowed text messages to go out from time to time.... enough to worry our family. 

Becky was able to text her fiancé, who called the local sheriff. Sheriff knew our rescuer! During the 1.75 hours we sat in the roadway... fewer than a dozen vehicles went by in either direction. From the moment we could perceive  headlights until the vehicle drove past us at 80ish mph... we had three to four and a half minutes. We could see a LOOONG WAY.

Becky returned with 4 gallons of gas in 3 plastic gas cans. Lincoln stayed until we were up and running, before  returning  to his ranch-hand job. We had the gas light on again before the van reached the nearest town! We're  snug and safe once again, in a former KOA until the morrow. Then off again  early  to see more of our beautiful  country. 

The Moms  ( Becky and I) struck camp in the dark this morning.  We were pleased at having the tent packed in the dark, in less time than the AHG girls  have yet managed  in daylight. We were temporarily  consternated when our early arrival  at Arches National  Park required a reservation! Fortunately, there was an available  slot..

We saw deer, which practically  let us pet them. ( We made no attempt!) And, a raven in the parking lot chatted with us for quite awhile!!

Definitely  a memorable  day.