Driving Out West (Part 2)

Beware this will be a long post for my journaling purposes...

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had an interesting time driving to Utah. While I was driving through the middle of nowhere Kansas, my check engine light came on. It made me nervous but my car seemed to be driving okay so I felt okay about continuing to drive.

 

I made it to the next town and got the light checked out at an auto parts store. They told me it was the knock sensor. I don't remember exactly what the knock sensor does but I told them where I was driving to and they said that I should be okay driving to Utah even with the check engine light on.

So I kept on driving and eventually the check engine light went off again and stayed off for the rest of the day. I was still a little nervous about it even though the light went off. Since my car seemed to be driving okay, I kept on driving and made it to the place I wanted to stay for the night. 

The next morning I drove through Denver and the mountain pass after Denver. That was a super stressful drive for me. I was trying hard not to have a panic attack as I was driving up the mountain pass.

 

The check engine light had stayed off until I got to the summit of the mountain pass and then it came back on again. I stopped at the next town and at this point I was bawling my eyes out. Since the drive had been so stressful that day and then my check engine light came on again, I called my parents and sister and cried. 

 

I eventually calmed down and went to another auto parts store where they told me the same thing the other store in Kansas had told me and that I should be fine. So I continued on my drive. The drive down the mountain pass was much more pleasant to me. I had calmed down and my car seemed to be doing better going down the mountain. 

I stopped in Grand Junction, Colorado to fill up on gas, go to the bathroom etc thinking it would be my last stop before my parent's house. I got off at a Grand Junction exit. I stopped at the end of the exit before turning right and when I pressed on the gas to move forward, my car wouldn't accelerate. It moved forward very slowly but was not accelerating like it should have been when pressing on the gas.

I immediately turned on my hazards and pulled into the first place I could turn into and parked my car. I called my parents and my sister and talked about what I should do. As I was talking to my parents I soon realized that I had turned into an auto repair shop parking lot but it was closed because it was Sunday.

As I looked around the area I was in I saw that there were multiple hotels within walking distance. So I left my car in the auto repair shop parking lot and walked to one of the hotels and got a room for the night. My sister, H, who lives in Utah (about 4 hours away) drove up that night for moral support. I'm glad she did. 

I went to the auto repair shop as soon as it opened the next morning and told them my situation. They told me that they couldn't fit me in until Friday that week (it was Monday morning). So I asked for phone numbers for other auto repair shops to see if they had any availability that day. I called three of them and all of them said that they couldn't fit me in until the end of the week also. So I called H (who was still at the hotel) and she said I could just leave my car there and she would drive me to Utah that day and then back the next weekend to pick up my car. 

I went back in to tell the people that I would just leave it there (instead of having it towed somewhere else). It happened to be a different person at the desk this time and I told him my situation and he said that that was totally fine if I left my car there the whole week. 

Since H had arrived at the hotel so late the night before, she needed to take a nap before we drove to Utah. I'm glad that she needed that nap. While she was sleeping, the auto repair shop called and said that they had looked at my car. They figured out what was wrong with it and said that they could get it fixed that day. Yay!!! It was my spark plugs. I was so happy that they ended up getting to it that day and that we hadn't left the area yet, because we would have if H hadn't needed a nap.

 H and I had to check out of the hotel and my car was not done yet so we went on a drive. 

We drove the scenic road of Colorado National Monument. The entrance to the road was not far from Grand Junction. They had scenic lookouts all along the drive and we stopped at a few. Here are some pictures from our drive!

 

 

 

 

 

It was a really pretty drive! 

I got the call from the auto repair shop almost as soon as we were done with the drive saying that my car was finished. Yay! 

H and I found a place a really yummy place to eat for lunch (that I can't remember the name of) and then went to pick up my car. I was so happy that they were able to get to my car that day. I'm thankful that I happened to pull into an auto repair shop parking lot. I'm thankful that there were hotels within walking distance of the shop. I'm thankful my sister drove to meet me. I'm thankful the shop got to my car that day. 

Apparently I have bad luck when driving my own car across country. Because when I moved out to Virginia from out west, my car (a different car than my current one) broke down outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. That time the problem was the oxygen sensor but it also caused my car to stop accelerating. My brother, M, was driving with me that time.

 

Driving Out West (Part 1)

I'm onto the next part of my trip and am in Utah now. I had an interesting time driving here (but I'm going to save that story for my next post). 

One of my friends from Virginia moved to Missouri last year. As I was planning my driving route from Tennessee to Virginia, I contacted my friend, K, to ask where she lived in Missouri and I ended up making her town a part of my route. 

I'm glad I got to see K and that I was able to visit with her for about an hour. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture with her. 

After I visited with K, I went to Adam-ondi-Ahman which is not too far from her town. I think I had been to Adam-ondi-Ahman as a child but didn't really remember it. It was interesting to see it as an adult.

 

 

Adam-ondi-Ahman was really pretty!

There was a couple standing at this rock when I walked up. I started chatting with them and they told me that Joseph Smith might have stood on this rock and taught people as they sat in the field below the rock. I don't know if it's true but it seemed like a decent spot to stand where people could see and hear you.

Adam-ondi-Ahman was in the middle of nowhere. Yes it was not too far from my friend's town but her town was teeny with no hotels or grocery stores or really anything besides homes and a school. 

The closest grocery store or Wal-Mart or hotel was 30 minutes away. 

As I was thinking about the gathering that will someday happen here I just kept on thinking that people will need to bring tents and food and plan on camping there because the closest hotels and grocery stores are thirty minutes away. 

I mean people could stay in the hotels too but depending on how many people end up being at the meeting, they'll fill up quickly. (I guess the church might provide food and temporary shelter there but that would be hard to arrange for so many people.)

 

I'm glad I was able to visit with K for a little while and that I was able to see Adam-ondi-Ahman. They were both nice stops on my road trip.

Burgess Falls State Park

My brother and I went on a hike at Burgess Falls State Park. It was about an hour drive from Nashville. 

The hike was only 1-1/2 miles long but the scenery was so beautiful! The pictures don't do the area justice.

 

The first falls!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second falls! 

I loved the trail!
 

And the third falls!

We hiked down to the top of the third falls! I loved it!

The waterfalls were so beautiful! I really enjoyed this hike!

Grand Ole Opry House Tour, Gaylord Opryland etc

I've been in Nashville a couple of weeks now and I've really liked the places I've visited so far!

I had off of work on Monday for Memorial Day. I went back to the Grand Ole Opry House and took a backstage tour. I also visited the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Opry Mills which are all in the same area.

 

If I were to go to a concert at the Grand Ole Opry House, this is where I would enter! We did not go through these doors for our tour, though.

This is what you would see soon after walking in for a show! Look at those beautiful guitars on the ceiling. Our tour guide said that that row of guitars was worth a lot of money (and you can't even see all of them in the picture). (I can't remember the exact amount of money she mentioned but a lot.)

 The entrance was beautiful!

This is our tour guide.  She was really good! Where she is standing is the side door where the artists enter the Opry House.

This is Studio A where the Hee Haw show was filmed before a live studio audience. Also they have events for the artists in this room.

The seats where the audience would sit in Studio A when filming.

 

Apparently when you write to an artist who is a member of the Grand Ole Opry House you can just put their name and the Grand Ole Opry House and a stamp on the envelope and it'll get to them. But the members of the House do have P.O. box numbers. The picture shows the boxes. Our tour guide said that Dolly Parton gets the most fan mail by far!

Some of the past and current members of the Grand Ole Opry House!

Our tour guide mentioned Minnie Pearl on our tour. I had never heard of her before. She said that one time Minnie bought a new hat for a show and right before she got on stage realized she hadn't taken off the price tag. She just tried to hide it in her hat but during a part of the show the tag came down. She was really embarrassed but continued to sing with it like that until the end of the show. 

From that point on, she ended up putting a price tag on all of her hats before a show and it became her signature look.

This dressing room was especially decorated for Minnie Pearl.

Wagonmaster dressing room! Some famous people have used this dressing room.

And we're about to go on stage and stand in the famous circle on the stage! The circle was brought from the original Grand Ole Opry located at the Ryman Auditorium.

And I got my picture taken in the Circle on the stage! They said we could sing into the microphone if we wanted but I was not brave enough. ;)

The view from the stage!

If you're ever in Nashville, you should definitely take a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House. It's worth the money it cost to go!

After my tour of the Grand Ole Opry House, I walked to the Gaylord Opryland and wandered around there.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this place but I saw online that if I'm at the Grand Ole Opry House that I should also visit the Gaylord Opryland. Can I just say that I loved this place?! It was so cool! I probably didn't even see all that I could see but what I did see was awesome!

There were massive indoor gardens in the hotel and it was so cool! Look at the waterfall!

The pictures don't really do the place justice!

After I finished exploring the Gaylord Opryland, I walked to Opry Mills (a large mall right across the street from the Grand Ole Opry House) and went to the Lindt Chocolate store to buy some Lindt truffles. 

I've only been to a Lindt store one other time but I love it because you can get unique flavors of the truffles that you can't buy in a grocery store.

After I was done at the Lindt store, I had done all that I could do within walking distance. So I hopped in my car and drove a couple of miles to Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge. The view from the bridge was gorgeous!

There wasn't much to do around the bridge so I just walked across it and back and enjoyed the beautiful scenery! 

It was a really nice day on Monday and I'm glad that I was able to do some exploring!