More long-winded BS--America the Beautiful, a trip report version 2

[64zebra]

Sorry Grady, I had to make a sequel to your trip report I give you full credit for the title

I've been playing catch up on a lot of stuff since coming back from vacation 3 weeks ago, so being on the forum was pretty far down on the list.
Planned this vacation starting 6 months ago. Got hotel reservations, tickets pre-paid for necessary reservations on some attractions/activities, and got maps showing reciprocity and lists of requirements/regulations on weapons and CCW for each state we were to visit.

V-day arrives (vacation day)
Along with all the usual stuff for a trip, my G17 and 30 with spare mags, flashlights, & OC were all ready to go. Printouts of the info stated above in a folder easily accessible for the wife and me (she had her G26 too )
We leave Texas early enough in the morning to take our time to get to Durango, Colorado and relax for the train ride the next day. No issues with carrying in NM or CO.
We get about 40 miles east of Albuquerque and the coolant gauge spikes up to H so we immediately pull over. Needless to say 3 hours into our 10 day vacation having car trouble made my blood pressure go like the coolant indicator. I pop the hood and steam comes out. Coolant bubbling on the intake manifold
A New Mexico DOT maintenance truck pulls up and recommends a place up the road for towing and gave us a number. 30 mins later the SUV is on the tow and the family is riding in the cab of the 4 door tow truck. Get to shop, they look at it, get a replacement thermostat housing, 2 hours later its put back on and the test drive.......failure, head is warped blowing coolant out on the manifold
At this point we get a rental car to continue the trip since I have pre-paid reservations and other stuff I can't get refunded. That, and I have a 6 year old son that has been looking forward to riding a train the next day for the last 6 months. The shop owner is kind enough to hook us up with a ride to the rental car office at the airport. I made sure all weapons were well concealed and we get loaded up there and get headed out of Albuquerque. So much for getting to Durango early and relaxing....got in bed around 0145.
Now the plans had to change. I had to get on the laptop and cancel hotel reservations in a couple of places and make some new ones since we'd be coming back down to Albuquerque to get our car instead of the original plans No Nebraska now, where the wife's CHL would be no good (only place in our original trip plans).
Next day tired as all get out but son is busting with happiness about riding the train today Thank goodness train had free refills on java. No issues carrying on the train. Didn't encounter any train robbers.

Next day's plan was to head up to Ogden, UT and do some museum things, wife never been to Utah so new sights for her. Wife is driving in I-15 in Ogden, we're 2 miles from the exit to the hotel.....when..........one of my fellow LEOs lights us up. Wife starts freaking out (I never figured out why she reacted this way). Speeding....nope, swerving.....nope, rental car so tags up to date, etc....who knows, I just tell her to chill out and calm down. Trooper comes to my window on the passenger side and does the intro. She gives me her DL and we explain its a rental. He asks for the rental papers so I show him. He asks where we're going, and I reply about 2 exits down we're getting off to our hotel for the night. He explains he stopped us since she "crossed over the fog line and hit the rumble strips" (I had to think about it for a second since here in Texas we just call it the shoulder, I've never heard it called the fog line). I didn't bust out my badge and play that card.
He asks the wife to step out and come back to his car. I find out when we're all done that he had asked her if she'd been drinking (of course not), and she said she was really tired and her eyes were red/bloodshot since we'd come through SLC and the smoke from the fires they were having was affecting her. He believed her and he was again concerned about her being too hard to drive. She told him, no my husband is a cop and he wouldn't let me drive if it was dangerous. He said oh yeah, where, etc blah blah. We get on our way. Never did figure out why he really pulled us over since we never drifted off the road and actually moved from center lane to right side after letting a car get on from a ramp where he had someone pulled over already. Maybe it was the car we let on from the ramp. Oh well.

No problems in Wyoming. Went to South Dakota and visited Mount Rushmore. It was very cool, I recommend it. At 2130 (I think) each night they show a film on each of the President's on the mountain and they have every current or former member of the military come on stage to read their names out and be recognized. Nice touch.

Nothing else to report except the car wasn't ready when we came back through Albuquerque due to parts problems from factory warehouse . No other LEO encounters, no CCW situations although I had info prepared for us with state laws, etc.

I have to give Kudos to the towing company in Wagon Wheel, NM. They were great in helping us with the breakdown and recommending us to One Stop Auto Shop in Albuquerque. They treated us right and busted their tails in getting our car fixed.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[jsnole]

Glad you made it back safe and sound. Sorry about the car trouble!

[Bark'n]

I hate car troubles in the middle of a trip. But dog gone it... I sure like car travel as opposed to flying.

I love seeing the sights and hanging out in places along the way.

Glad things went well other than the mechanical problems.

Great report!

[RMS]

Glad you were able to salvage portions of you vacation, especially where your son got to ride the train. The best vacations were those when our sons were young.

[tns0038]

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Sorry to hear about your car troubles. Was it covered by warranty or how much did it cost ya.

[DropTop]

glad ya had fun and made it back ok. i love cross country road trips. i do one every year( it's the HOT ROD POWER TOUR put on by hot rod magazine). this year i had to miss it because my car decided to stop working the week before we left and i couldn't get it running in time to leave. taking a road trip is a great way to see the country.

[lee n. field]

We leave Texas early enough in the morning to take our time to get to Durango, Colorado and relax for the train ride the next day. No issues with carrying in NM or CO.

What train? I thought Amtrak was gun-unfriendly.

[Wiggy]

Mount Rushmore is great ain't it? Although, I think it's a lot smaller than it always looks in the pictures.

When I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB, I could see the fireworks over Mt. Rushmore on the fourth of July from my window.

[64zebra]

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Sorry to hear about your car troubles. Was it covered by warranty or how much did it cost ya.

out of warranty.......$2700.....so much for my emergency fund and gun/ammo savings

What train? I thought Amtrak was gun-unfriendly.

not Amtrak, was just the historic Durango-Silverton NGRR

and yes Wiggy.....it was smaller in person than I expected but very cool nonetheless

[grady]

Great trip report. I admit I did a double-take when I saw the title.

It sound like you all had a great trip except for the vehicle breaking down and perhaps the additional stress on you of having to change plans and such. I'm guessing it was much less stressful for your son. He'll probably have fond memories of this trip forever.

You covered a lot of ground on this trip. Lots of country out there.

I saw Mt. Rushmore in '64, but I haven't been back. Should have taken our daughter but haven't yet. Maybe next year.

Glad you found an honest repair shop. The vulnerability of breaking down on trip and hoping not to get shafted by the repair shop is a real stresser.

Thanks for the trip report. I hope your family all had a great time.

[64zebra]

Great trip report. I admit I did a double-take when I saw the title.

It sound like you all had a great trip except for the vehicle breaking down and perhaps the additional stress on you of having to change plans and such. I'm guessing it was much less stressful for your son. He'll probably have fond memories of this trip forever.

You covered a lot of ground on this trip. Lots of country out there.

I saw Mt. Rushmore in '64, but I haven't been back. Should have taken our daughter but haven't yet. Maybe next year.

Glad you found an honest repair shop. The vulnerability of breaking down on trip and hoping not to get shafted by the repair shop is a real stresser.

Thanks for the trip report. I hope your family all had a great time.

yeah we covered a lot of ground, was good for the wife and son since they hadn't seen any of those states, beautiful driving country

and I was very thankful I was directed to good people for the tow & repair shop