FIRE!! The jeep is toast!

Overview of the Blue Basin in John Day Nat. Monument

In the Blue Basin

Weds, June 21 - Due to the time change we got a very early start from the Clyde Holiday State Campground,  A good breakfast stop was found in Dayville at the Dayville Cafe.  After plates of eggs, toast, biscuits & gravy and hashbrowns we couldn't finish, we were presented with the "pie list".  Now if you know Ted you know he cannot resist homemade pie, so a takeout slice of freshly made apple pie was in order.  Along with the pie came the waitress' recommendations for hiking and overlooks in the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds.  Our plan had been to hike the Blue Basin trail (4 miles) which was confirmed by the waitress as the best way to start the day.  Since she lives in the area, she suggested that we drive by Cathedral Rock (not worth stopping) and continue on to Foree Area, which had two short trails.  

Our first hike went off without a hitch.  The formations are volcanic ash from the Cascade mountains with a bluish/green color and look like hoodoos due to the erosion that has occurred.  Many of the fossils found in the area are made up of material that was buried in the layers of volcanic ash.  The fossil beds are dispersed across 20,000 square mile of eastern Oregon.  Exploration and study have continued since the late 1800's and new fossils are still being found today.

We then left the RV in the parking lot and took the jeep to the Foree Area about 3 miles down the road.  As we turned into the parking lot, we both commented that it smelled like someone had a wood fire.  We parked the jeep and walked up the short Story in the Stone trail, sat on a bench to view the surroundings and saw smoke!!  And it was coming from our jeep!!   Ted took off at a run and by the time he got there it was clear that we had an engine fire!

Luckily someone else in the parking lot had a fire extinguisher and we were able to put out the fire.  But the jeep is toast, literally!  The couple who had the fire extinguisher took Ted back to our RV and we were able to push the Jeep around to where we could hook it up to the RV tow bar.

The rest of the trip went without incident to our stop for tonight - Crook County RV Park in Prineville, OR.  Our original plan was to stay in Mitchell, OR, a former trans-America bike trip stop, but we needed to get to where we had cell phone/internet service and a chance to figure out what to do with the jeep now.

After a little internet searching, Ted found an article with a very similar picture of another Jeep with an engine fire.  They had found a fuel injector with with a cracked O-ring leaking gas onto the engine.  Our fire seemed to start at the fuel injector as well.  There is considerable burned wiring, 2 fuel injectors are completely melted, the AC hoses are cracked, the brake and radiator fluid reservoirs are melted, the air filter canister is melted, heater hoses are burned, the radiator shroud is melted around the radiator fan, and who knows what else may be damaged.