It’s get away day at the Grand Canyon. We had a great time, but we’ve got our sights set on the next stop in Zion. We’re staying at Zion Ponderosa Ranch and have a 5pm appointment for horseback riding! It’s only 4.5 hours away from our current location, so I’m assuming it should be a lovely, relaxing drive and day and we’ll get to appointment with plenty of time. Wait – don’t they say something about assuming?
Ryan and Dad roll in ahead of schedule with the camper and we finish up the last bit of packing, disconnect the sewer and water, raise the levels, and go to fire up the RV… Nothing. It powered on, but wasn’t turning over at all. Oh no, here we go.
First thing we thought of was a dead battery. I would have thought everything would be charging with us plugged in, but we did have one phone charger plugged in overnight – maybe that drained it. Luckily we have two jump boxes and 2 cars to jump off with. Plug up my brand new fully charged jump box and try to start – nothing. Ok… Maybe it just doesn’t have enough juice – let’s try Ryan’s… Nothing. Let’s try jumping off the running Jeep… Nothing. The console and voltmeter confirmed we had good voltage, so it’s not the battery.
Could the starter have gone bad? Ryan went full mechanic mode, found the starter and pulled it off so we could see if it was firing. We hooked it to the jump box and it was turning fine.
Not the starter (Ryan reinstalled that), maybe the starter solenoid? Ryan and Dad were already looking for parts stores… An hour away. We’re trying to find mobile rv mechanics, but nobody is answering. Before anybody goes off on a wild goose chase, I went with my usual answer to things – Google. Found a video about troubleshooting a Chevy 4500 express starting problems. 2nd thing they suggested was check the starter relay, which is in the fuse box. All of the relays were the same part number, so I swapped the AC condenser one for the starter relay, said a prayer, and tried to start it. VROOOMMM. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Let’s blow this joint. We load the Jeep up, and peel out of there like we stole something. We’re running an hour behind schedule, but still should have plenty of time.
To get to Zion, we need to go north. To go north, we need to get around the Grand Canyon. Our navigation took us on an awesome path east around the rim of the Canyon, so we got to see a bunch of amazing views we hadn’t seen yet. Bonus trip!
The one major side effect of switching the AC relay over to the starter, is we no longer have cold air blowing from the dash. This wasn’t a huge problem at 9 am when it was still somewhat cool with windows down. By 10:30 am, things are getting hot and it’s becoming a problem. There was actually an excessive heat advisory issued for today – could get up to 100 degrees. Luckily, we do have a backup plan. Noelle fired up the generator, that gives us power to run the RV roof AC unit. It’s somewhat slow to cool and competing against a blazing desert sun, but things gradually start to cool down.
And just when we thought things were getting back to normal about an hour into the drive, we climb a steep mountain road and Ryan calls to tell us to pull over – the Lexus is overheating!!! Oh no, here we go.
Something I forgot to mention two days ago, when we pulled in to the Grand Canyon campground, we noticed the smell of coolant and popped the hood to see coolant bubbling in the reserve tank and dried coolant all over the engine. Dad said it never showed as running hot, but we checked the oil, made sure it didn’t have a blown head gasket, and topped it off with water. We planned on keeping an eye on it and packed a jug of water just in case.
Well we’re into “just in case” territory now. We’re on the side of the road, in the middle of the desert, 90+ degrees out, and the coolant is boiling. We’re in big trouble. We shut it off and let it start to cool down. The theory is the thermostat has gone bad and is not circulating the coolant properly since we can’t find any visible leaks when it’s running. Luckily we are only about 30 minutes from Page, New Mexico that had an AutoZone. After it cools down, we fill up the radiator with that spare water jug and pull out hoping we can make it there.
We do make it there without it red lining although our coolant was down to below low again when we stopped. We buy a new thermostat, radiator cap, and 2 bottles of coolant, but not new AC relays because they were out of stock. Ryan pulled off the old thermostat in no time in the next door WalMart parking lot. We pop in the new one, fill up with fresh coolant and head out, hoping that will fix it.
At this point, we’re about 2 hours out, and our eta is 4:40. We need to be there by 4:45 to check in to ride horses, which the girls have been looking forward to for weeks. Can’t have any more delays, although sad girls will be the least of our problems if this Lexus can’t haul the camper for another 3000 miles. Let’s hope the issue is fixed.
The next 2 hours of driving is the most stressful of my life. Everytime we go up a hill, I talk to the car. Come on baby… You can do it… Just one more hill. We are going slow, but also need to pick up the pace to make it there on time. We pull in to Zion Ponderosa campground with normal temps at 4:42. If that doesn’t make you believe in miracles, I don’t know what will.
We check in, weigh in (220 lb limit for riders), and are issued our horses:
- Evan – Chief, tallest and fattest
- Noelle – Banjo
- Victoria – Blaze
- Lydia – Cobra, big snacker
- Dad – Casanova, prettiest horse with ego problem
- Ryan – Buster
- Jayne – Woody
We mounted into saddles and headed out. Victoria was a little scared at first because her house kept jerking the reigns out of her hands to eat, so eventually the guide grabbed her horses lead rope to walk her along and calm her down a bit. Ride went well – just a nice little ride up a hilly area next to main resort complex. Victoria’s horse and the lead horse started to get aggravated with each other so they had to rearrange things and put Victoria on a different horse, which upset Victoria a bit. Her next horse Aztec did better and she calmed down once we started moving. Lydia’s horse and my horse would stop to snack every chance they got. I think my felt the need to carb up for energy for heavy load it was carrying. Lydia’s horse can’t use that excuse.
Made it back and we checked in for our RV spot. Ryan and Dad are separated again, but they have a great location at the South campground inside Zion, but no hookups. As it turns out, I was mistaken about having full hookups here. When I booked this place last year, we had full hookups, but this time, the only thing available was dry rv camp spots. No water and no power – I think Noelle is going to kill me.
What made it worse was the checkin guy told me the spot was next to this weird well house shed that didn’t even look like a campsite. After todays events I’m already stressed out and close to exploding, but we parked in the spot and found one nice surprise – the well house had a live power plug on the side. Don’t think I’m supposed to plug in to that, but I’d rather plead ignorance and apologize than not have AC. Actually turned into a nice little site.
We finished the day with some pizza and swimming in the pool for the girls and hot showers to wash the stink of this day off of us. Can’t believe we made it here with all the challenges we faced. That’s what families do though – we may bicker occasionally and have multiple opinions on the right way yo do things, but when times get tough we support each other and handle it. I’m thankful we’re here and looking forward to seeing what Zion has in store for us tomorrow.
