Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

So here I am, on my way from Iowa City, IA to Las Vegas, NV. I recently graduated, have a friend that lives out there that I can stay with, and have decided its the best time to move somewhere exciting and new.

My car. Its a 1991 Jeep Cherokee with about 117k miles on it. Its been running not lately but not overheating. Thought I had that under control. OOPS. My roommate from Iowa is also moving out and we're driving together, in seperate cars, all packed up with crap.

We left Saturday morning. After about 150 miles my car starts getting a little too warm on the engine temp guage for my liking. We slow down a bit but its still high so I turn on my heater full blast (I had been driving with my windows down as my car doesn't have A/C lolz). Temp goes down to an exceptable level and we drive to Denver and my dad uses his frequent hotel stayer points to get us a free room.

Today, Sunday, we take off and drive through the mountains. At the top of Loveland Pass and the Tunnel my car gets dangerously hot, but just at the right moment we hit the downslope of the mountain and its smooth sailing for the next 200 or so miles. At about Grand Junction my car is heating up again and I start leading the way so that I can set a pace that I think my car can handle. By the way, I'm driving with my drivers window down and the heater on full blast again. Getting out of my car into the 90 degree heat is a welcome relief, its hot in there. We drive along a ways and pass Green River, Utah.

As we're going up a mountainous slope disaster strikes. Temp guage going up and won't stop, we pull off onto Black Dragon View Point. As I stop my resevoir tank boils over. [censored]. We wait a bit and I have a gallon of water I put in there. We try to make it to the next exit. We get about a mile and game over, have to stop, its too hot again and I don't want to permanently destroy something costly (if I haven't already). We drive the 20 miles back to Green River to get coolant and more water to hopefully solve the problem. Guess what doesn't work.

So my friend wants to continue on to Vegas still as he has a lizard in his car's front seat. So we decide that since he wants to keep going and I can't since I have all my stuff here in, and on top of, my truck, I need to find a place to stay. My dad gets me a hotel room again and I call the tow truck.

So here I sit, in the Comfort Inn in Green River, Utah with about 350$ to my name and a car full of everything I own. I've already paid the tow truck driver 145$ to get my car about half a mile down the road to a NAPA store that opens at 8am tomorrow. I'm hoping that they can fix it quickly and cheaply and that I won't have to do odd jobs in Utah (kill tourists) to make enough cash to get to Vegas. I need to be in Vegas by thursday to keep a scheduled job interview on track, so here's to hoping it all works out.


Cliff Notes: Truck breaks, friend continues on to Vegas, stranded for the moment in Green River, Utah with 350$ and a broken truck with all my life's belongings in it. Going to offer repair man a 2007FP and a 2000FWP to fix it, hopefully he'll bite.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

No credit card?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

SOunds like you are in one of those movies where:

A. some guy kills you in the middle of the desert
B. You meet a hot chick with a biker boy friend, and bang her. Drama ensues, you eventually kill him and bury the body.

Lame story so far. Maybe you should plan better next time?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

No, I have access to a limited amount from my dad and sister if it comes to that, but that's about it.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

is there a reason you didnt check your oil, top off the radiator, and fill up a gallon jug with water on saturday night?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Good luck with that.

T

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
So my friend wants to continue on to Vegas still as he has a lizard in his car's front seat.

[/ QUOTE ]
Anyone else find this the funniest part of the TR?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Call dad!

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So my friend wants to continue on to Vegas still as he has a lizard in his car's front seat.

[/ QUOTE ]
Anyone else find this the funniest part of the TR?

[/ QUOTE ]

I liked:

[ QUOTE ]
Going to offer repair man a 2007FP and a 2000FWP to fix it, hopefully he'll bite.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
is there a reason you didnt check your oil, top off the radiator, and fill up a gallon jug with water on saturday night?

[/ QUOTE ]

Had a gallon jug in there for the past month or so, so I had that. Checked the oil before we left and today, it wasn't at the add line but I put some in and I checked the coolant before I left and earlier today.

I took my car in for a tune up earlier this week and they checked all the fluids and whatnot and I asked them to check the fans and belts and stuff. They cleaned my throttle body and glued up the broken fan casing corner and said everything else looked alright except my alignment, which I didn't have a chance to get fixed. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
is there a reason you didnt check your oil, top off the radiator, and fill up a gallon jug with water on saturday night?

[/ QUOTE ]

Had a gallon jug in there for the past month or so, so I had that. Checked the oil before we left and today, it wasn't at the add line but I put some in and I checked the coolant before I left and earlier today.

I took my car in for a tune up earlier this week and they checked all the fluids and whatnot and I asked them to check the fans and belts and stuff. They cleaned my throttle body and glued up the broken fan casing corner and said everything else looked alright except my alignment, which I didn't have a chance to get fixed. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]


alrighty then. time to pawn that bad boy off on someone else hehe....

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

When your car started getting hot in altoona is about when you should have called game off and decided to stop at meadows. I have no idea how you went all the way to utah before you put water in.

Best of luck making it to the interview.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

LOL, I was almost stranded in Green River one time on a drive down to Vegas when my starter had a dead spot, luckily it started up fine after my buddy and I wasted 15 minutes at BK. Not too much going on around there.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
When your car started getting hot in altoona is about when you should have called game off and decided to stop at meadows. I have no idea how you went all the way to utah before you put water in.

[/ QUOTE ]

How was I going to put water in? It was full each time I checked it and wasn't losing any until the final boil over. I put water in 2 times after that and it did not leak out, it stayed in until I started it and let it run for 2 minutes or so and then it would boil over, out of the resevoir bottle. Where else should I be adding more water?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
When your car started getting hot in altoona is about when you should have called game off and decided to stop at meadows. I have no idea how you went all the way to utah before you put water in.

[/ QUOTE ]

How was I going to put water in? It was full each time I checked it and wasn't losing any until the final boil over. I put water in 2 times after that and it did not leak out, it stayed in until I started it and let it run for 2 minutes or so and then it would boil over, out of the resevoir bottle. Where else should I be adding more water?

[/ QUOTE ]

wasn't aware of this, ignore other post

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

OP, whenever your vehicle starts heating up like that and doesn't need anymore coolant go to a self serve car wash. Spray your entire engine and all other parts that get hot with water. A whole bunch of steam will come off. Also, you can put ice in the reservoir w/ the coolant. I've had a lot of experience w/ high mile vehicles. Sometimes you have to get creative.

It sounds like you have a cracked engine head. Hope I'm wrong. Did your oil have any h20 in it? You should be praying that its just be a bad gasket or faulty water pump @ worst. Good Luck.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Sounds like a thermastat that is stuck closed. Cheap fix...

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like a thermastat that is stuck closed. Cheap fix...

[/ QUOTE ]

Your prob right. And, this made me think of the time I had a bad thermostat, replaced it myself and ended up putting it in backwards. The car didn't last too long after that...

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
is there a reason you don't have a credit card for use in emergencies like this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

I have a credit card, but it has a small limit and the last of it was used to pay the tow truck driver. I should have gotten another one before I came out, but I didn't. I really shouldn't put myself into anymore debt though, university was waaaaay too much. I messed up big time in that department.

Isn't spraying a hot engine with water a bad idea as it can crack the metal and whatnot?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

That's the second time you've said "whatnot" in this thread. I find that funny.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

I was with a friend driving back from CA when we stopped for gas in Fallon, NV. It was about midnight on a Friday. The Bronco we were in wouldn't start again, and we had to push it to a parking space and wait for the next morning. The next day being a Saturday, there were only a couple places open, and the mechanic at the oil change place we took it to first said that it needed to go up on a lift to be fixed. Welcome to a weekend in sunny Fallon!

After staying in a fleabag motel for a couple days and getting stared at by townies - a rare situation where the whole room legitimately went silent, like in the movies - the car was fixed on Monday and we drove East. Just outside of town, we saw a mile marker. "Elko, NV - 300 miles." Thank god we broke down just before the desert instead of sometime in the middle.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

whohaveya > whatnot

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

I haven't heard back from the repair shop yet, but I have good news. NETELLER allowing withdrawls now gave me an extra 400 bucks, please let it be more than enough. Updates soon, I hope.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
I haven't heard back from the repair shop yet, but I have good news. NETELLER allowing withdrawls now gave me an extra 400 bucks, please let it be more than enough. Updates soon, I hope.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://sodsbrood.com/dhalgren/wp-con...8125910735.jpg

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Don't rain on my parade, NETELLER means it this time. They're going to hook me up and its really only going to take up to 3 business days, you'll see!

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

I like this post. No panic, no tears or requests for help.

Good luck on your journey, at worst, you'll have a good story to tell.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

rjoe,

While stuck inside of Utah, do you have the Denver blues again?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

I guess I'm left wondering why you're heading to Vegas with only $350. You don't have any roll for poker?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

I haven't been playing poker for awhile. I'm moving there to mainly to live and work and then build up a little cash and then I'll start playing live again to try and make a little more money. Playing poker, while not at the bottom, is fairly low on my list of priorities right now.

Unless someone wants to buy these monitors, then I'd use that for starter to a proper roll. Unless of course the repair guy takes them, but I'll get back to you on that one.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

i opened this thread thinking that 'mrs. utah' was going to have something to do with it

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Your friend sucks for not staying with you, to hell with the lizard.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

sell car
bus
XXXXX_????
gambool

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
rjoe,

While stuck inside of Utah, do you have the Denver blues again?

[/ QUOTE ]

kerouac?

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Porn Star Tabitha Stevens lives in or near Green River, UT

While you're waiting

1. Find out from the locals where she lives
2. Go knock on her door
3. ????
4. Better Trip Report

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Trip report doesn't deliver. "Stranded in Utah With No Money". You have like $350, plus some on your CC, a couple of monitors you were hoping to pawn, and access to Neteller and your family. So you have quite a bit of money/access to money/resources. Good for you because Utah would be a craptastic place to rely on the good will of others - they'd be more interested in converting you to Mormonism than letting you leave their state.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

To be fair, when I made this I didn't know about the NETELLER monies and the 350$ is the money in my bank and the leftover on my credit card. I don't expect anyone in this town to buy monitors, but we'll see. I'd become mormon in a second if they could magically transport me to Vegas.

Putting "Stranded With a Little Money" just didn't have the eye grabbing power I was looking for. I'm in Utah overnight, I need people to post so I'm not bored. :P

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
rjoe,

While stuck inside of Utah, do you have the Denver blues again?

[/ QUOTE ]

kerouac?

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, n00b.

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Well, I gotta leave the hotel room. Not sure where I'm going to go sit around for the next few hours but I'll let you guys know about my awesome adventures later tonight! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: Stranded in Utah With No Money: A Trip Report
 

Emergency roadside towing costs about 2 bucks every 6 months on your car insurance bill.... might want to look into that.

You may already have it on your plan.... if you do send the bill into your agent.