Once again thank you for sharing your journey with us. It brought back lots of good memories of a similar trip I did in '93. After visiting my brother in SoCal, we headed across the Mojave desert and camped in the Hualapai? mountains before heading into the Grand Canyon via the south rim. From there we went on to Zion and Bryce Canyon before breaking a ball joint in Capitol Reef NP.
Fortunatly for us, me and a couple buddies from high school, we got a tow into the mighty town of Loa, Utah. Parts were three days out so the shop owner, who was also the tow truck driver as well as the local deacon, put us up on his backyard trampoline. Three days later our ball joint came in and the shop owner was kind enough to press it in the control arm of my VW bug for us. We assembled the car, eyeballing the alighnment, and got the heck outta Utah. Long haired fellers with Grateful Dead stickers on a beat up VW kinda put the locals on edge I think. Lol.
We ended up going through CO, WY, MT, and ID before making it home on three cylinders. Shot a cross threaded plug out 150 miles from home and limped on into town, Klamath Falls at the time. Good stuff!
These days I take maintenance issues much more seriously. I also got a haircut and parted ways with the VW.
I always do a walk around before leaving each morning as well as an under hood check. I also drive much more cautiously knowing what can happen. Your picture and words about the wreck and some others driving habits were spot on. Well said sir!