It didn’t take much preparation to hit the road again after boondocking at Fort Deseret. We just pulled in the slides and secured a few things before resuming our journey south on UT257. At Milford we hit UT130 south. The wind steadily increased all morning and by noon it was gusting over 30mph. I don’t enjoy driving a big rig in gusty winds and would’ve pulled off if I could. But there wasn’t any place to stop. UT130 is a narrow, two-lane highway with no shoulder. It made the drive mentally taxing. Lucky for me it was a short drive of about 140 miles.

The route was a gradual climb that steepened south of Minersville. The grade plus the headwinds had me keeping a close eye on the engine coolant temperature, but it wasn’t an issue as I manually downshifted anytime it reached 195 degrees and kept the temperature in check. We topped out at 6,570 feet above sea level, then gradually descended to Cedar City. We’re at an elevation of 5,470 feet above sea level now.

I received a text message from Iron Springs RV Park with directions to the park and it instructed me to pull into site B2 – no need to check in. We found the site and it’s 80 feet long as advertised, but quite narrow. This RV park is new and they’re still working on improvements and amenities like pickleball courts. We’re about 10 miles west of Cedar City and it’s fairly remote.

Donna took a hike Saturday afternoon on a trail that started by the lodge – I wasn’t up for much after the hard driving. At the lodge, she met an employee who told her about an interesting sight in the area. On Sunday, Donna rode her bike past Granite Mountain to the old, abandoned Western Iron Ore pit mine.

The pit holds water that’s a deep blue color and locally it’s known as 2,000 Flushes. I read the name is derived from the color making it look like a toilet bowl full of blue cleaner. The water in the pit is toxic though – the color comes from iron and copper traces and it’s also polluted with arsenic, uranium and mercury.

This morning we took a drive to Kolob Canyons – a section of Zion National Park about 40 miles north of Zion Canyon. The Visitor Center was closed and no shuttlebuses were running. There wasn’t a ranger on duty to check passes or collect fees – I didn’t need my America the Beautiful Senior Parks Pass. We took the driving tour – a five-mile scenic drive past trailhead parking areas and scenic pull-outs. It was near mid-day so the pictures are a bit washed out – it’s much more colorful than the pictures show. Some of pictures have a bit of haze – we’re out of the heavy smoke areas, but there’s still some smoke in the air.

The five-mile tour climbs all the way in and tops out over 6,000 feet above sea level. It was a pleasant drive in Midget-San with the top down.

Our neighbor here at Iron Springs RV Park has an interesting vehicle that could’ve been a workable alternative to Midget-San for us. He has a 1964 VW Beetle that’s been converted to a Baja Bug.

The engine is highly modified – I’m not sure of the displacement but I’m pretty sure it’s a stroker with larger pistons and cylinders.

Back in the 1970s, I had a Baja Bug with a 1959 oval window body. It was lightened and was punched out to 1790cc with dual Solex carburetors. It was a lot of fun.

I almost forgot to mention a milestone for our Alpine Coach. The odometer turned over 100,000 miles on the way here. When we bought this coach in January of 2014, it had just under 55,000 miles on it. We’ve put a little over 45,000 miles on it in nearly seven years. That’s under 7,000 miles per year.

The temperature reached the low 80s Saturday and Sunday and it’s still a little windy. The winds should calm down tomorrow and we’ll be fine to hit the road on Wednesday. It should be a little cooler too. We’ll cross the Arizona border and spend some time in northern Arizona before heading down to Lake Pleasant.