Message in a Bottle

Caught in Ketchum! We have been in Ketchum, Idaho since last Sunday and it appears we may be stranded here for the next few days as well...boo! It is a wonderful town, but at this point we are ready to be on our way and out of the famous potato state!

This is how you crosswalk in Ketchum...total control!

On Monday we found a mechanic and dropped the Jeep off. It was returned to us Monday night. Layke, the mechanic, replaced a gasket in the engine and told us he thought that would do it. Needless to say, we were excited and hopeful that the problem had been fixed. We went mountain biking, swam in natural hot springs, relaxed in the town of Ketchum, explored its old ski town charm, camped, and camped, and camped! We have had to move campsites three times thus far due to a regulation limiting length of stay. We are becoming quicker at tearing down and setting up camp. We also now have learned not to leave any belongings outside of the tent. A fox is now the proud of owner of one size 10 men's Chaco. Blast!

Ketchum's mountain biking is second to none in the lower 48! There are thousands of miles of trails all around Ketchum, Hailey, and Bellevue.  The trails are filled with challenging uphills, flowing single tracks, and even some downhilling. After most rides you can cool off in the Big Wood River. All these towns are within 15 miles of where we are currently.  There is great fishing up the Salmon River (aptly named) and awesome opportunities for kayaking. The town itself is attractive and quaint. It's a mecca for all things outdoors. What more could you ask for, especially if your stranded!

To backtrack a little, we learned quickly Tuesday morning on our way to Redfish Lake that the gasket was not the problem. As we drove up farther into the mountains the Jeep began spewing oil and smoking like a smoldering firepit. We were super disappointed and decided to turn around so as not to waste anymore time in getting the repair under way. The Jeep, or heap, or lemon, or whatever you want to call it was BACK in the shop for the seventh time in the last three weeks! Layke ran some compressive test on the engine and determined that one of the pistons rings was broken and the engine needed to be...rebuilt. What a bunch of pie! We talked about it for the better part of the day and called Dad Hendrickson. After we determined replacing the engine was the best option given our circumstances. We told the mechanic to order the engine and he told us to expect it by Friday or Monday. As we tried to leave, the Jeep made some horrible noises, like a muffled gun shot. There was smoke coming from the vents and the exhaust. We immediately turned around to return once again to the shop. The mechanic gave us an Isuzu truck and said, "I hope you're okay with this it's a little more white trash than you're probably used to". 

It runs great, better than the stupid Jeep, and it has 192,000 miles on it! We have showered once (in a mountain stream) in the last two weeks, we have been wearing the same clothes for a week, we stink, we are dirty, we are hungry, we are tired, and we now have very little money (Thanks Just Eats Every Penny)! Stay tuned for some more Ketchum adventures and hopefully a shower.