We left the Ranger in the hands of a friend in Ajo with instructions to sell it for as much as possible while telling the truth about the issues (we were beginning to suspect a blown head gasket or even cracked head). By the time we hit Moab, she called us to say that the pickup was sold for our asking price! Maybe we should have asked for more? We recouped about three-quarters of what we spent trying to fix it, so I guess it's a lesson learned. The new old pickup has issues that didn't show up on the test drive, but it's towing the trailer with no effort.
We headed out of Ajo much later than planned, at about 3 p.m. with a 6+ hour drive ahead of us. Both of us are night-blind, so we pushed as fast as we could, bearing in mind that pushing an F250 means getting about 8 mpg. Still, we pulled into Tuba City at nearly 10 p.m. after some very tense driving on two lane highways north of Flagstaff. Gas stops and driving under the speed limit added an hour to the time that Mapquest calculated. We were extremely happy to see the hotel in Tuba City! It's a beautiful new facility, the first hotel built on Hopi land in 50 years. It's called the Moenkopi Legacy, in case you need a hotel while passing through the reservations in northeastern Arizona.
The next day, somewhat more rested than the day before, we headed out at 8:30 and made it to Moab with no issues. A quick stop to say hi to Budd's sister and we were off again. Along the way we decided to leave the pickup and trailer at a Thompson Springs gas station while we made our side trip to Grand Junction. An extra, unnecessary 160-mile loop would have cost an extra, unnecessary $60 just in gas. So we got the rig settled, left contact info with the station manager (who had graciously given permission for this scheme), and hopped back on the road. I had been in text contact with our daughter Laurie, who was also headed for Grand Junction, and learned that they were passing through Crescent Junction, just 5 miles behind us, when we got back on the road. As Budd was now at the wheel, Laurie and I continued to text and next thing we knew, she and her husband were right behind us! We let them take the lead, which turned out to be very lucky.
Budd is waiting to pack the laptop so we can continue on to Salt Lake, so I'll make the dramatic story very quick... A few miles afterward, Budd glanced in the rear view mirror and was alarmed to note that the car following us was rapidly gaining on us, with no indication that the driver was going to change lanes. At the last possible moment, he honked the horn and swerved left. We don't know whether she was asleep, or what, but it appeared that the driver didn't realize we were there. She looked up, swerved right (thank goodness!) and passed us on the shoulder doing about 90. She swerved back into the lane between us and Laurie's car, around them on the left, and was at the horizon before any of us could breathe again. I'm so glad Laurie's husband, a much less experienced driver than Budd, wasn't faced with that decision!
All's well that ends well, though, so we're very lucky. I have to save the account of the surprise birthday party for another day, so Budd can pack up the laptop. Suffice to say a good time was had by all.
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