August 19: A Hard Drive

Friday we left Moab for Price in order to consult a Mac specialist.  I suspected that my hard drive had failed and needed to be replaced.  It was a long drive, but getting the MacBook Pro working again would bring some peace of mind.  It meant that I would no longer have to look at the dreaded spinning wheel of doom on the computer screen or get kicked out of the Moab Library for hitting the table and swearing out loud at my machine.

It was a long drive, but the guy in Price helped us to find an Apple technician.  It does not take long to replace a hard drive, and so we were able to head back to Moab on Saturday after staying at a campground that prided itself on the on-site ducks.  (Enough said.)

On the way back to Moab, we decided to drive the unimproved road to Range Creek archaeological site.  We had planned to join an expedition later this month, but we would have to drive this road.  The college staffer at the Price Museum Visitor Center asked if we had 4-wheel drive, and then confidently told us we would have no problem.

Right.  I went two miles of the ten miles and decided there was no way I would continue.  We were going up and up a canyon wall on a one-lane road that was not even gravel or sand.  It was large rocks that had to be navigated slowly and ruts where the road was washed away--in some cases washing away the edge of the road.  What happens if someone is stupid enough to be driving down this canyon, I thought.  I decided not to stop to take photos, although they would have been great.  Slowly I turned around on a "wide" 15-foot segment of road--Janet telling me where the ditch on the non-canyon side of road was.

OK.  I exaggerated about getting kicked out of the library, but not about the road.  Down the mountain, we got back to pavement and pulled off to decide if we wanted to take a shortcut back to highway 6.  A woman stopped and us directions!  She was lost.  Take the shortcut, I told her.

If we take the Range Creek tour, it will be with a group that provides transportation.  Let someone else rip up his tires.

The Mac is now working fine.  Of course, I lost my Microsoft Word program, but the built-in word program seems to be fine.

We spent today putting photos back on the Mac and finishing our blogs.

Now we prepare to head further south, severing our ties to Moab.  We are headed to the San Juan River region and Cedar Mesa, canyon areas settled by the ancient 'Basketmaker" and Pueblo cultures between 500 B.C and 1300 A.D.  There will be some great rock art panels, but also a lot of canyon hikes and pueblo ruins.

We will be blogging less often, both because of time and because internet connections are not likely to be readily available.  We will see.