Yesssss......the trip to Moab was a bit of a dud for me and Konnie, and not the best start for Pat and Deb, either.

 We were doing about 55 mph down the highway, which is a bit of a strain on the ol' 3 speed CJ-7 to begin with, and we were fighting a 30-40 mph headwind the whole way... it really wasn't a fun drive. Then all of a sudden the temp gauge started rising quickly. Within 5 minutes, as we were pulling over at a wide spot in the canyon between Rifle and Grand Junction, we heard a "pop" and a bunch of steam came in the cabin. Pat and Deb were just a little ahead of us, so we radioed our predicament and they pulled over to wait for us.
 
The radiator actually blew apart at the upper tank seam! So Pat and Deb went into G Junction and got us a new radiator. I took the old one out while he was gone and we popped it in and were on our way again....(2.5 hours later ) but when we pulled into Grand Junction for gas, the jeep sputtered and barely made it to the gas station. We gassed it up, and when I started it, mass amounts of white smoke poured out of the exhaust. so, not much trouble diagnosing a blown head gasket. After almost having to force the Underwoods to continue to Moab without us, we filled the CJ up with water and headed to a campground.... it took two stops to let it cool down and refill with water, but we got the 8 miles after about an hour. The next morning we decided we would try to limp home.

Konnie went in to the store and got 10 gallon jugs of water and we hit the road. The first time we had to stop in about 4 miles to refill the radiator, but we were stopping at every light and going through town. The next section of town was 3.5 miles before it got to hot and was empty again. We knew if we could get to the highway, we should be able to get 20-30 miles again, like we did unknowingly on the trip into grand junction with the new radiator. Well.... we hit the highway and made it 24 miles. We stopped and refilled and were off again in about 5 minutes. Another 20 some miles and another quick refill stop and off we went. The next section was almost 30 miles and the temp gauge was still only about half way hot! too good to be true? yup. The engine started squealing like a stuck pig with a whistle in his mouth and a tea kettle in his butt. So I turned off the engine and we coasted as far as we could which was about 400 yards short of the exit at New Castle. We filled the radiator again, thinking our next stop would be the Harley Davidson store in Glenwood, but alas, the motor would not start this time. Too much stopping and starting for the ol' battery I assumed. First I called an old college buddy who lives just up the road in Silt, but he was on a Memorial Day Weekend Motorcycle trip, so we were on our own.

With sweet Konnie sitting in the Jeep on the side of the highway, I crossed the road and up a steep embankment to some houses and tried a few doors to see if anyone had a battery I could take down to the Jeep to get it started. I finally found a little Mexican guy who would come jump us. But the Jump didn't work. So he went back and got his big black neighbor to bring his truck down and tow us into the New Castle Shop and Save parking lot. Where we swallowed our pride and called in on one of the previous offers of assistance. The amazing Boston Bob offered to come all the way up from Conifer to fetch us with a trailer for my jeep, and his son Kyle in another vehicle to tow back our little camper. Aaron had also offered his assistance and Jerry was going to come along to help out as needed. I cant say enough about the quality of people we have in our club!

Konnie and I went into a little Chinese restaurant and had a couple of beers, and into the Shop and Save to kill some time, and then got a call from my Collage buddy, Joe. He came down to say "hi" and wait with us until Boston Bob and Kyle got there with the trailer. Well... turns out it was a good thing my Buddy Joe stopped by, because when they got there with the trailer (3 hours later) the trailer hitch they had to tow back our little camper had the wrong size ball, so Joe drove back to his house to get a BAW (Big Ass Wrench) to swap out my trailer hitch ball and the one rusted and scraped onto Bobs hitch. Finally got the ball on to the hitch and loaded up the Jeep and camper and hit the road.

We got home about 11:00 Saturday night, but we were home!

The next day Konnie and I took the camper (we were all set for camping that weekend) and Konnie's new (to her) TJ and headed up to the hills behind Central City. We set up camp, had a fire, drank some drinks, sang some songs and had a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Without the invaluable advice from Aaron on the phone, and the life saving 3 hour tour (each way) of Boston Bob and son to get us out of there, we might be looking at houses in New Castle about now! So a ton of thanks again to Pat and Deb for the initial Radiator fetching and sticking with us when they could have been enjoying a lovely evening in Moab together. Thanks to Konnie for putting up with me during all this. Thanks to Jerry Kennedy for his kind words and genuine concern for our well being and his looking up of Aaron's phone number, and to Aaron for the advice and diagnosis and offer of coming to get us, and a double thanks to Bob and Kyle for taking up 6-7 hours of their Holiday Saturday to come and save a couple of stranded souls.

 You guys all rock!