We made it to the half way point of our journey today – Monticello, Utah.  We left Silverthorne, Colorado.  I was trying to fill up the truck on our way out of town and I got so frustrated I gave up.  This was the slowest gas pump ever – I was getting about 1 gallon per minute out of the thing.  I ran it as long as I could.  Everybody went to the potty, got the necessary drinks, and settled in.  We could have gone to have breakfast and taken a nap.  After 22 gallons and approximately 22 minutes, I gave up.  That was close enough – there would be other chances along the way.

We stayed on I-70 for the biggest part of the day.  We stopped a couple of times for bio brakes and to stretch our legs.  At one point we were slightly delayed when the truck went into “limp home mode” due to driver error.  When the driver alert system says to “keep driving – cleaning diesel exhaust filter” you shouldn’t shut the truck down before that message disappears.  Who knew?  Somebody must have thought that I would actually read the owners manual.  Not so much.  The entire family was on their cell phones googling the issue and had the answer pretty quickly.  Problem resolved in short order.  I was glad that it wasn’t bad diesel from the gallon a minute station from earlier today.

We stopped at Doc Holliday Harley Davidson looking for some gloves for me.  No joy.  I was pretty agitated from the earlier truck miscue and we skipped the Doc Holliday museum.  I hope I don’t regret making the family give up this stop.

We did manage to stop at Fruita, CO for a great lunch.  While we were there Spencer filled us in on Mike the Headless Chicken.  Mike was a real chicken who lost most of his head from a misguided axe chop.  His owner went on to make a lot of money displaying Mike right up until his untimely demise (choking on a piece of corn – Mike that is – not his owner).  The town has a lot of fun events centered around Mike.  They have the 5K “run like a headless chicken race”, the headless chicken festival, etc.  They even put a statue of a headless chicken in the downtown area.  It seems to be working to draw people into the town – it worked on us.

Leaving Mike (and several bad chicken jokes) behind in Colorado we set sail for our destination – Monticello, Utah.  Which was another 200 miles or so down the road.  We stopped at the Utah Welcome center which is actually 40 miles inside the state line.  I found that odd.  Welcome centers usually want you to feel welcome right away once you change states.  Utah must be comfortable enough to make you wait 40 miles until you feel their hospitality.

The final miles to Monticello clicked off very slowly even though the speed limit on Utah highways is 80.  We drove straight to the house even though their website says a GPS will take you to the wrong place.  The door passcode worked so I was certain that we were home.

We unloaded luggage for the last time for several days.  We also unloaded the motorcycles and unhooked the trailer.  I think I actually heard the truck give a big sigh of relief at that point.  We had been pulling that trailer at 75 in 100 degree heat.  The truck ran pretty much flawlessly.  That is more than I can say for myself.  We ran into Monticello and had a marginal meal with very poor service at one of the local establishments.  This was followed by a trip to the local supermarket where we stocked up on a few necessities.

We finally had a chance to look over the house.  I am somewhat disappointed.  The house is big – just as advertised.  It is need of some repair and some upgrading.  The hosts should have sent someone in to turn on the AC so it would cool off some by the time we arrived.  No such luck.  It was hot in every room.  We fired up as many fans as were on site and 3 hours later the house is beginning to cool off. The place is good it just doesn’t live up to my expectations (and the nightly rate).

We sat outside drinking a cold adult beverage watching storms off in the distance.  The lightning put on quite a show for us.  We need to figure out something to do for tomorrow but for now I’m content to listen to the quiet and contemplate being half way home.