UTB: Moab - Uraling to see the Merrimac and the Monitor Buttes

UTB: Utah Boondocking

Today was a down day, time to pull a little maintenance on our rigs.  Some, like John C. and Tim L. decided to go hiking to Delicate Arch within the Arches National Park.

One of our fellow Uralisti, Ed aka Mundo Bravo experienced catastrophic engine engines the day before.  His rig had been burning oil and finally the engine made unhealthy noises as he was nearing a U-Haul rental center.

So today, he rode home.  Hopefully it won't be too expensive an engine fix!

Ed's rig in the back of the U-Haul truck of shame.

I checked over the components involving air into the engine on Scarlett; hunting for a still elusive air leak which I suspect is causing a high idle when the engine is warm.  Found the left compliance fitting bolts a little loose, so tightened them but failed to find an air leak; at least the high idle is down from a high of 1320 rpm to just 1200 rmp....still high but its progress!

After doing the maintenance, I climbed the boulder-strewn hillside next to the campsite for this pic:

Noon came and I headed over to the Archview Campground as there were plans for a ride to Onion Creek.  However, as I headed to fuel up, I saw Dana, the usual organizer of these Ural gatherings, pulling in with his van and trailer!

No room at the inn within the campground so he decided to boondock and I led him to my campsite. 

Dana's camper van and trailer with his 2003 Patrol and Rokkon

Another fellow Uralista, Dan K., showed up near 3PM and parked his year 2000 Gulfstream Cavalier in back of Uma the URRV.

We has us our own little enclave now.  We didn't use the word compound, too negative a connotation it seems.

By the time they were settled in and setup, it was late afternoon and so we headed over to Archview to find out what was going on if anything.

Turns out, Tim L. and John C. did go to Onion creek (pics to follow soon hopefully).  No sign of the "jersey boys", Rich and Dave so they were probably off doing some riding. 

Dana visited with folks, went into town with Dan K. to say hello to the girls at the Quesadilla Truck while I chose to ride towards the Merrimac and Monitor Butte Scenic Overlook area for pictures:

 These rock piles caught my eye first, so I included them

in the shot of the Merrimac (left) and Monitor (right) buttes.

No way to really pose one's rig in the parking lot above, but a short ride down the UT 313 and I found a sandy trail that allowed this angle on the buttes.

Did I mention it was sandy?  Although you can see the spot was nice and scenic:

I also got Scarlett slightly stuck and buried in the loose sand where I'd chosen to park her.  Out came the shovel, some digging, some smoking of the clutch later, Scarlett was free and I started heading back to camp.

Here's rocky ridge with some cool looking rock formations formed by erosion.

Across the street there's something for the eye as well in terms of another rock formation.

Finally, a closer look at part of the rock formations across the highway:

Back at the Archview Campground, while Dana dealt with a flat pusher tire, I chatted with Tim L. and John C. who'd successfully returned from riding to Onion Creek (pics from Tim to follow as soon as he can process and uploaded them).

6PM came and went, we (Dana, Dan K. Tim L. and yours truly) to ride over to the boondocking site for dinner.

After dinner we sat in the cool evening temperature, discussing and solving the problems of the world, swapping ride tales and having a good time.

We'll see where we end up riding tomorrow, there remain perhaps 5 rigs in the campground.  The other group of Ural riders (from California) are leaving tomorrow; they chose to do their own riding as we tend to go down trails they prefer to not do.

Dan K. gave me a small bottle of fuel injector cleaner, I dumped about 3 ounces into my almost full gas tank, hoping it might help clear the high idle issue.