Dianne and I each have our personal list of things to bring for a four-week camping trip to southern Arizona. Combined, we pack food, tent, food, air mattress, food, hiking boots, food, packs, food, cameras, food, clothes, food, laptops and more food.
Did I mention food?
My favorite wife grew up at the base of Donner Pass and was greatly influenced by the tragedy that ensued there. She always packs enough food to make sure that we don’t end up like those pioneers who in 1846 found themselves trapped in the mountains with only each other to eat.
Instead of resorting to cannibalism as they did, Dianne always packs enough sustenance to survive weeks away from a Kroger’s. We had two 30-liter food crates and a pair of ultra-light coolers stuffed with edibles in boxes, cans, bottles and plastic wrap. There was no way we could carry all that and still have room for our beer and wine supplies.
We spent all Sunday morning and half the afternoon whittling stuff down until it would finally fit into the space available. Around mid-afternoon, we were off, motoring down I-70 and into Utah.
As always, we stopped at one of our favorite rest areas just east of Crescent Junction. As I backed out of our parking space, I heard an ugly grinding sound coming from under the truck.
I stopped, took a look and discovered there was a large protective piece of the truck dangling down, scraping along the pavement. It was a plastic cover that bolts beneath the transmission and transfer case. Along with new blinker fluid, I had just had the transmission and transfer case oil changed at the local Nissan dealership. I guess the high school dropout who did the work didn’t tighten the bolts when he replaced the cover.
I hope he remembered to put in the oil.
Rather than trying to crawl under the truck in the rest area parking lot, I figured we’d just continue on. If it was still attached when we got to Blanding, we’d deal with it there.
The plastic part was still dangling when we got to our lodging in Blanding. Tomorrow, while I was researching a story about Edge of the Cedars State Park, Dianne would find a mechanic to either take the dangling cover off or bolt it back on.