Running your fridge on a battery is risky

This is my final post on the trip to and from Salt Lake City. The trip home took several days with great scenery. Vast vistas are impressive but more difficult to capture with a camera than Mountains.

These images were taken from the Dignity of Earth and Sky plaza near Chamberlin, South Dakota.

We were having difficulty reserving a camping spot so we decided to stay in a motel in Sioux Falls, SD. Setting up and taking down the camper is not a huge problem but after dark and after a long day of driving is not fun and sometimes you just give in. The problems started the next morning when I tried to start the car. The engine would not turn over and all kinds of strange things began to happen with the electronics. The screen displays changed rapidly and the audio made all kinds of strange noises rotating through the different speakers in the audio systems. I could not turn the system off so the weird things just kept happening. We suspected the battery because I had not disconnected the car from the camper and we guessed the fridge in the camper had drained the battery in the camper and the car. Always a dilemma - you can't turn off the fridge over night without doing something with the food.

We called for a jump (perhaps a mistake because someone also sitting in the parking lot later offered a jump). It took an hour and a half for a guy from a gas station to show up in his car with a portable battery pack. Hint - do not call a roadside assistance service. If you are in a city, just call a nearby garage. The 5 seconds to jump and $150 we had already paid solved the problem. We pulled out and I reached the interstate and found that the car would not go faster than 20 mph. I could not rev the engine and I was afraid to turn off the engine because I was not certain that the battery had time to recharge. The garage guy had left a number and we called. He said we should try turning off the car, waiting 30 seconds, and then try starting it again. If the car would not start he would find us and jump the car again without a charge. Great guy. I did as I was told and everything was fine. I guess the lesson is that new cars are just a computer with wheels. Just like your home computer, if you are having trouble try restarting and many problems go away. Your home computer is a little different because it plugs into the wall, but the rest of the process works the same. There were a few other residual issues. That check engine light indicated there was still a problem, but we read that unless the light was blinking the signal only means that a code has been stored and the light would be turned off when a dealer hooked up his machine to check the stored code. It turned out the next time we stopped and then restarted the car, the error light also disappeared. Evidently, sometimes you must restart your computer several times to get everything fixed.

Antelope Canyon X

 We drove South into Arizona to see Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is a series of slot canyons on the Navajo Reservation and requires special permission and payment for access. Cindy picked Antelope Canyon X from among the different options. The name comes from Antelope using the slots as a migration route. At one time the Navajo would block antelope in the canyon and kill them for food. When Lake Powell was filled this blocked the immigration path and the antelope found a different route. The following are images from our time in the canyon.

Our guide provided the following demonstrations (I had to compress so Blogger would accept). Videos are better if you expand to full size. 

Crocodile fossil

Here is the reason it is called Antelope Canyon X. 

Lesson learned

We did not understand when booking access to an Antelope Canyon visit that there were multiple slot canyons. Because one says that the canyon is accessible by the elderly and those with mobility problems a different slot is not necessarily the same. We just thought we were visiting Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon X is accessed by a trail that descends abruptly for a length of about two football fields. Some of this trail is deep sand and the rest steps and sand side by side. The climb back up to the vehicles was quite challenging and we had to stop several times to catch our breath and get our hearts to slow down. We were last in returning by a significant amount of time. Tough being the old folks. 

Snow Canyon State Park

Our strategy in Utah has been to avoid the popular National Parks and to visit far less populated State Parks. Today it was Snow Canyon State Park. The smoke of yesterday has cleared and it was a bright and warm day. We did walk a bit and we seem to have become more tolerant of the altitude. There are land tortoises in this park. We did not see one but assume the probability is about the same as a moose or bear. Interesting signs to read anyway.

Smoke in the Valleys

 We have headed toward southern Utah for a few days to explore some new territory and we will then head back to Salt Lake City to see Todd, Jess, and kids this weekend. We have set up camp at Gunlock State Park. The park is new and very nice. Plenty of open sites.

It has been very smokey because of nearby fires all the way down from Salt Lake City. NOAA Weather is warning that the air is very dangerous and we have decided to mostly stay in our camper or the car. The Ranger at the gate told Cindy that the smoke is coming from surrounding states, but the Utah fire map indicated there is a fire just North of our present location.

Multi-tasking

 I am having a unique but what may seem a trivial experience to many today. Recognizing such events may be the key to a good life. This insight relates to those situations when I sneak a look at my phone to check on something. For example, I am at a meeting and check to see how my favorite team is doing at that moment. Tonight we are in Utah and attending a volleyball match to watch our granddaughter Olive play. She plays in the back row so there are times when she is not on the court. I have been checking Twitter (X) to catch comments on the Trump-Harris debate. Tech and multitasking.