Category Archives: Utah

Rain, Rain

I’ll open today’s post by giving thanks to all those who have served our country. My thoughts go out to those who have sacrificed in the name of freedom.

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned Donna’s bike ride on Thursday. She told me how quiet the roads were and how she enjoyed riding through the countryside with the snow-covered Wasatch mountains as a backdrop. Here are a couple of photos she took while she was out.

Wild flowers, horses, cattle and irrigation

Pond, geese and grass

Yesterday, after posting to the blog, I went out for a walk. I walked up 6th street to highway 113, then I walked east to Main Street. The housing in this area is an interesting mix. There are newer looking duplexes on 6th, then older homes on the streets east of there. Some of the houses are obviously rental units with unkempt yards, while others are nicely maintained.

The corner of 600 West and hwy 113

On highway 113, I saw this old mansion for sale. The sign said it had 21 rooms and nine bathrooms! It also boasted of upgraded electrical installation and modern heating. The asking price was $749,000.

For sale – 21 rooms with nine baths

I spent about an hour strolling through the town. The sky was overcast all morning. By 2pm, a light rain started to fall. The rain was intermittent and light, so we decided to walk down to the old Heber train station. We bought tickets for the Wild West Days train ride.

The train took us south, out through the countryside. The rain made it impossible to capture an image through the windows – besides, I forgot my Samsung Galaxy back in our coach. As we rolled along, we saw huge houses on horse farms. We rolled along in the old train over the Provo River and made a stop on the tracks at a point marked “Charleston.”

The engineer unhooked the locomotive and switched it to an adjacent track. He drove past the passenger cars and switched it back onto the main track. Once on the main track, he hooked up to the train cars again, on the opposite end, to pull us back to the station. The train robbery entertainment was geared towards the kids on board. Most of the passengers were young families with children. It was an entertaining ride and we enjoyed the scenery. But it wasn’t worth the $15 ticket price.

We walked back to our coach in the rain. Of course, as soon as we got inside it stopped raining. It was only a brief break in the precipitation though. I had the TV on and watched two documentaries about the late Formula One driver, Ayrton Senna. Later, Donna and I watched two more episodes from the first season of Lost.

Cloudy sunset over the Wasatch range

This morning we woke to the sound of rain on our roof. Donna bought tickets for a Crawfish Festival in a town nearby called Midway. She’s picking up a rental car this morning. The forecast calls for more rain this afternoon, making the scooter impractical for transportation to the festival.

Heber City Honor System

While Donna was out on her bicycle, I walked into town yesterday. I walked to the shopping center at the junction of US40 and US189, a little over a mile from here. I stopped at the Chase Bank and made a deposit for Donna, then walked to WalMart to buy ground beef. I’d mentioned to Donna that I had a hankering for spaghetti with meat sauce. She said she would make beef ragu if I picked up a pound of ground beef.

I followed a different route back to the fairground. I wanted to explore. The route I chose turned out to be a dead end, but I was able to continue through a field. I came to the old Heber City train station. I looked around at some of the old trains there. The track ends on the north side of the station. I don’t know how far south the track runs.

Heber Station

They had posters advertising the “Wild West Days” event, May 23 – 26. Donna had read something about it online the night before. One of the activities is a train ride in an old western train. The 45-minute ride includes entertainment in the form of a train robbery. We will probably buy tickets and take the ride this afternoon, unless the weather prevents us from walking to the station.

The thunder showers forecast for yesterday afternoon never materialized. Now the weather guessers are calling for thunder showers this afternoon. It’s cool, overcast and cloudy this morning. I’m more inclined to believe the forecast today than yesterday. We had fine weather yesterday, except for the afternoon wind.

Dirt lot with water, electricity and sewer

When we pulled in here, there was only one RV in the lot. It looks like he’s been here for awhile. We had our choice of 149 sites to choose from. The east end of the lot looked to be drier and more level. Yesterday, a truck pulling an Airstream travel trailer pulled in. He drove around the lot a couple of times, looking the place over. He must have come to the same conclusion as me as he picked a spot near us.

They’re an older couple from Tennessee. His name is Ted. He introduced himself and told me it was his first visit to this site. They’re here for a square dance event. This site is convenient for them and he liked the price! Although we don’t have any amenities here, it’s hard to beat having a full hook-up site for $15/night. By the way, we’re staying here on the honor system. There’s a locked wooden box on the gate and we just drop our payment (cash or check) into the slot. The caretaker swings by every evening to collect the “rent.”

We’ll stay here for the weekend, then move to Salt Lake City on Monday. Donna can get a couple more training rides in. There’s great bicycling around here on quiet roads. I haven’t taken the scooter out yet. I’ll get it out tomorrow and explore.

Fairground to Fairground

Yesterday was a moving day. We took our time and had a leisurely morning. Since we were dry camped, I didn’t have to prepare much for travel.

We knew there was a fish fry scheduled at a grassy park in the fairgrounds where we stayed overnight. At 11am, we walked over there to see what it was all about. It turned out to be a private affair for employees of Conoco-Phillips. The guys preparing the fish gave us a sample of catfish, deep-fried with a corn meal coating. It was delicious.

We pulled out of the fairgrounds around 11:30am. Our first stop was only 10 miles up US6 at Helper, Utah. Helper is a small, authentic old west town, about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Helper is located at the mouth of Price Canyon, alongside the Price River. This is the east side of the Wasatch Plateau. Back in the day, trains traveling westward toward Salt Lake City had to climb the grade up the plateau. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) stationed “helper” engines at the train terminal here to help the trains climb the grade. That’s how the town got its name.

On April 21, 1897, Butch Cassidy robbed the Pleasant Valley Coal Company in nearby Castle Gate. It’s said that Butch spent time in Helper before and after his famous string of robberies. Today, Amtrak provides service to the train depot in Helper. The California Zephyr stops here daily, in both directions between Chicago, Illinois and Emeryville, California.

We walked through the three or four blocks of downtown and stopped at the Rock Eatery for lunch. If you ever get to Helper, you must try the rock chips. They are thinly sliced, fresh potato chips with an amazing seasoned salt. Light, crispy and delightful. Nothing in a bag comes close.

Rock Eatery in the two-story building

We left Helper around 12:45 and drove a few miles up US6. At the junction of US6 and US191, we entered Indian Canyon on US191. This route is off the beaten path, but we wanted to check out a few things along the way. I was sure it would be a scenic drive. The highway climbs up the steep canyon with grades up to 8%. At times we were in third gear, cruising up the grade under 40 mph, holding easily at 1900 rpm. I didn’t push the engine too hard, so the coolant temperature never reached 200 degrees on the guage.

US191

We topped out at the Indian Canyon summit at 9,114 feet above sea level. Helper was well below us at 5,800 feet. Donna shot a few photos of the windshield view. There were several tractor/trailer rigs pulling double tanker trailers. This steep, twisty grade had to be a handful with that load. As we climbed, we soon found out why the trucks were here. Oil is being pumped out of the ground in the area. They don’t have any pipelines – the crude oil is pumped into storage tanks, then transferred to tanker trucks for transport to refineries.

Crude oil pump and storage tank alongside US191

We saw a couple of ranches at the head of the canyon. I imagine it’s a tough way to raise cattle with the high elevation and steep canyon walls.

Cattle ranch at Indian Canyon

We passed through the Ashley National Forest and descended toward Duchesne. There was a long 8% downgrade. I had the Jake brake on stage 2 (high) and still had to use the brake pedal for a couple of curves. This is the longest downhill run of that steepness that I’ve ever driven.

Duchesne is situated at an elevation of 5,500 feet above sea level. We turned west on US40 there and proceeded to climb and descend a series of ridges that took us back up around 7,500 feet above sea level and back down to 5,500 feet.

We pulled off at a scenic overlook on the north side of the highway, about four miles west of Duchesne at Starvation Reservoir. The parking lot is a large loop, ideal for big rigs. We stretched our legs and looked around. I took a photo of a placard detailing some of the history of the area. It’s hard to imagine exploration of this rugged land at the time of the American Revolution in the east.

History from 1776 – click to enlarge

Starvation Reservoir view

US40 continued to climb and fall, finally topping out at 8,020 feet above sea level at Daniels Canyon. Along the way we passed Strawberry Reservoir and saw a few areas that looked promising for an overnight dry camp. That was one of the reasons for taking this route – to scope out spots for overnight stops in the future.

Here are some shots Donna took through the windshield.

Dropping down to Strawberry Reservoir – Snow on the peaks ahead

US40 at Strawberry Reservoir

We made our way to Heber City and found the Wasatch County Fairgrounds RV lot. There was a moment of confusion though. The lot has 150 full hook-up sites in what is basically a dirt parking lot surrounded by a chain link fence. I couldn’t see where to enter the lot and the road we were told to take was an obvious dead end.

I held station at the intersection, trying to figure out the best way in. Donna got on her cell phone and called the caretaker of the lot. He told us to proceed down the dead end road and we would see the entrance. I pulled forward across the intersection and saw an open gate immediately on my right. No way could I make that turn into the park. I continued down the road thinking I was really in a bad spot with no way to turn around. At the far end of the fence, we found another open gate. I backed up about 50 feet, swung wide to the left and made the turn into the gate. Whew! Disaster avoided.

We’re currently hooked up with 30 amp service, water and sewer. Like I said, it’s basically a dirt parking lot with hook-ups near an industrial park surrounded by housing. The longer range view of the mountains in the Uinta National Forest is spectacular though. Donna is looking forward to biking in the area and will head out this morning.

I plan to walk to the shopping center in town, about a mile from here. I’ll take care of some banking and pick up a few items we need. The weather guessers are calling for thunder showers this afternoon.

Here are a few photos of an old train displayed across the street from our site.

Unexpected Finds

Donna and I rode the scooter to the City Market in Fruita on Monday. She stocked up on groceries – mostly produce. We had a full load of goods when we rode home. Afterwards, I rode to the Liquor Barn and replenished my beer and vodka supply. I don’t want to deal with it while we’re traveling through Utah. The alcoholic beverage laws in Utah are so restrictive, and it’s expensive there. I spent most of the afternoon getting the trailer squared away and loading everything in it.

I was up early Tuesday morning. Donna had set an alarm for 7am. However, someone in the RV park fired up his Harley (equipped with straight pipes) and let it run for five minutes at 6:15am. Really considerate. I got up at 6:30am. I’d already dumped and flushed the holding tanks the night before. We had everything buttoned up and fired up the engine a little before 8am.

We made a five-mile loop through the area before pulling into Diesel Services, Inc (DSI) – right across the street from the RV park. I did this to get the transmission temperature up before they drained the fluid. Hot automatic transmission fluid (ATF) drains faster and more completely than cold fluid.

I dropped our trailer in their lot and then went inside. The service manager, David, had me back our coach in front of one of the service bays. The shop was full of commercial equipment being worked on. So Andrew, the mechanic assigned to the job, had to work on our coach on the ground in front of the service bay.

Old ATF filters removed from transmission

Andrew rolled under the coach on a creeper and recorded the serial number of the transmission. He did this to ensure that the right filters would be installed. DSI gets the filters from an Allison wholesale distributor nearby. He drained the fluid and removed the old filters. Andrew didn’t mind me watching him work and we talked as he went about his business. He told me the old fluid looked and felt like the TranSynd® synthetic fluid. The old filters looked good – there was no visible sign of debris. In the future, I’ll have fluid analysis performed to ensure that the fluid is good and no contaminates are present. Certain contaminates can indicate failure of various components.

The new filter kit included the filters, cover gaskets and new O-rings. Andrew did a thorough job of removing the old gaskets and cleaning the sealing surface. Once the new filters were installed and drain plug replaced, he began pumping TranSynd® ATF into the transmission. This led to a moment of confusion. The filter kit indicated that 16 quarts (four gallons) were required to refill the transmission. The Allison wholesale distributor said to put 17 quarts in. Overfilling the transmission would not be good. If it’s overfilled, the ATF gets aerated and foams, reducing its ability to lubricate and cool the transmission. Once overfilled, the drain plug would have to be removed and replaced before too much expensive ATF is drained out.

Andrew cleans the filter covers and preps for installation

Andrew pumped four gallons of fluid into the transmission. We waited a few minutes for it to reach the sump, then I started the engine. At high idle, I put the transmission into gear and cycled it between drive, neutral and reverse to pump fluid throughout the transmission. Checking the ATF level can be a bit tricky. The dipstick is marked for checking cold and has another mark for checking when hot (the fluid expands with heat). The dipstick showed the fluid level to be inbetween the two marks. This seemed about right to me. Andrew and David agreed. The transmission was neither cold nor completely up to operating temperature. I paid the bill, including $42 for an extra gallon of TranSynd® ATF to take with me.

We stopped at the visitor center in Fruita, parked the coach and walked to El Tapatio for lunch. Then we drove west on I-70 into Utah. We stopped at the visitor center in Utah near Thompson Springs about an hour later. This is a nice stop. The center has attendants who can answer questions and they gave us a Utah road map. There are hiking trails leading off into the hills behind the center.

While we were stopped, I checked the ATF level, now that it was fully up to temperature. The level was low. I added about a quart of TranSynd® and we got back on the road. Our next stop was at Green River. Our plan was to check out a boondocking spot there, just outside of town. It sounded good – within walking distance to restaurants and a brewery.

When we pulled into the parking area, which looked to be an old, out-of-business gas station, the lot was fairly level. However, it was right next to the highway and railroad tracks. It was also totally exposed and the wind was blowing hard. To cap it off, there was a construction crew across the street with heavy dirt-moving equipment. It smelled like they uncovered a tar pit. We decided to move on northbound on US6. Before we moved, I checked the ATF again. Still low. I added another quart, bringing the total volume to 18 quarts. The transmission level is now at the full mark. I confirmed the ATF level by checking it electronically. The Allison shifter is electronic and it can check the fluid level through sensors. Apparently, we had a very good drain of the ATF. It’s always hard to tell how much fluid is still in the transmission before refilling.

The driving was tiring. We battled gusty wind all day. The wind was coming from the west, shifting to the south at times. On I-70, it was mostly headwind. On US6, it was a cross wind, occasionally shifting to a tailwind. I was tired by the time we reached Price.

We were planning to go to the only RV park we could find in Price, but then we saw a sign for fairgrounds which we decided to follow. We stopped at the RV dump station next to a ball field. Donna called the fairground office and obtained permission to camp overnight. The woman told her that from where we were, we just needed to continue on down the road to the fairgrounds. We drove out of the dump station, east on Fairground Road. We soon found ourselves back in town. Apparently, we were supposed to go the other way on Fairground Road. I turned around in a large parking lot and drove back the way we came. When we got to the fairgrounds, Donna phoned again to clarify where it would be permissible to park. The woman in the office was very nice. She gave us directions and told us we would be fine for one night – no charge. She gave Donna her cell phone number and told her to call if we encountered any problems.

We found a level spot in front of the grandstands. Ours is the only vehicle parked in this area. The restrooms are open. They have running water and are clean. There’s even free public wifi! Off to the west of us, there’s a motocross track. A couple of guys were riding on the track when we arrived, but they left a little while later.

After we set up, we took a stroll. We found another motorhome back in a dirt lot, hidden by a large metal barn. We didn’t see anyone around though. This morning, I saw it pull out.

Today, we’ll move to Heber City. There’s another county fairgrounds in Heber City that has full hook-ups for $15/night. Nice! Our plan is to stay there for five nights before heading to Salt Lake City where we have reservations at a KOA campground.

Fruita Loops

I was surprised when I realized today is Thursday. I lose track sometimes. I thought we arrived in Grand Junction on Monday and today would be Wednesday. I lost a day somewhere. We actually arrived here on Tuesday.

The temperature reached the upper 60s yesterday with light wind. Very agreeable weather, perfect for Donna to take a bike ride. She followed the back roads and ventured into the foothills north of here. The roads are really quiet. Cars passed her occasionally, but she said they gave her plenty of room.

We’re on the western slope at an elevation of about 4,600 feet above sea level. The mighty Rockies rise east of us and the peaks are covered in snow. The local terrain is fairly flat with some rolling hills. It’s semi-rural. Most of the houses around us have horses, cattle, Llamas or other livestock on the property. Donna shot a few pictures while she was out on her bicycle.

Cattle along the roadside

BLM land to the north

Colorful with snow covered peaks in the background

Colorful landscape with snow-covered peaks in the background

Donna followed 21 Road north, away from the town of Fruita. The roads are laid out on a grid. The north/south roads are numbered. The east/west roads are given alphabetical designations. This makes it easy to find your way around.

Eventually she climbed to a trail head at the end of the road. From there, it’s BLM land. There was sign with a map describing the permitted use of the public land in the Special Recreation Management Area.

BLM sign

Two girls riding horses approached. Donna took their picture. Horses are very popular around here.

Out for a ride

While Donna was putting in 25 miles on her bicycle, I went out to explore on the scooter. I rode east into Grand Junction. I found a shopping mall. I crossed over the Colorado River and followed highway 340. It’s a scenic road with a high butte to the south and the river bottom on the north. The Colorado National Monument is on the butte. We’ll take the scooter and tour through the monument today or tomorrow. I put in about 30 miles, but I didn’t get the exercise that Donna got!

For dinner last night, Donna prepared sweet and spicy garlic chicken.This was a new recipe. It was spicy and tasty!

Sweet and spicy garlic chicken served with smashed Klondike rose potatoes

The news out of San Diego is frightening. We saw some coverage on the news last night and also have been following it on Facebook. There are a number of wildfires burning in San Diego County. My thoughts go out to those who’ve suffered losses or are threatened by the fires.

The Long and Winding Road

I stayed up late Monday night watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We had the heat pumps running, but I thought it would get too cold overnight for them to be effective. Before I went to bed, I set the mode on the climate control to furnace. This changes the heating mechanism from the air conditioning/heat pumps to the propane furnace.

What I neglected to do was adjust the thermostat. The heat pumps run warm air through the air conditioning ducts in the ceiling. Due to the placement of the thermistors (sensors for the thermostat), the thermostat reads a temperature higher than the intended setting. This is because the ceiling ducts blow right at the sensors. This causes the heat pumps to shut off before we reach a comfortable setting in the coach. So when we have the heat pumps on, I set the thermostat higher than the intended comfort level. For example, if I want the coach to be at an average temperature of 68 degrees, I set the heat pump at 73 degrees.

Conversely, our propane furnace blows heated air through ducts near the floor. As the warm air rises, it cools. By the time it reaches the sensors at the ceiling, the temperature is below the intended setting. So the thermostat commands the furnace to to keep running and the average coach temperature is higher than intended.

I went to bed with the climate control set to furnace, but the temperature setting was at the setting for the heat pump. A few hours later, I woke to the sound of the furnace blasting and me lying in bed, warm with no covers. It was 75 degrees in the coach! I got up and reset the thermostat and couldn’t help but wonder how much propane I’d burned.

In the morning Donna cooked up a full breakfast of eggs, pancakes and bacon. We showered and set a target of a 10:30am departure. We had things squared away and the Cummins ISL diesel warming up at 10:35am.

We drove north through Moab and turned east at Highway 128. This road meanders through steep, narrow, rocky canyons along the Colorado River. From Moab, it angles northeast and terminates at I-70. We wanted to check out some of the boondocking sites along this way that we’d heard about. The roadway is narrow with a rock wall off to the right and no shoulder. I was cognizant of how far my right rear view mirror extended. I didn’t want to repeat yesterday’s episode of rubbing the housing.

Donna enjoyed the view and snapped several windshield photos along the way. I enjoyed bits and pieces, but this is a road that demands attention – regardless of of the vehicle you’re driving. I would estimate our average speed allowed us to cover the 40 miles or so in about an hour. The speed limit varies – it’s only 35mph in some tight stretches with poor road visibility and up to 55mph in flat, open areas. Here are some windshield views Donna snapped. The black angular line in the photos is the windshield wiper arm.

Rock wall at the edge of the right side of the road

An open stretch of road with a large mesa ahead

Blind crest with multi-colored rock walls

Road narrows

Another open section with incredible rock formations

We only found one area that could accommodate a rig our size. It’s called Goose Island Campground and it’s on BLM land just a few miles from Moab and also Arches National Park. It’s right on the river with a one-way loop that would make it easy to enter and exit.

We hit I-70 east and made our way into Colorado. Once again, I’m so impressed and grateful to have a Cummins ISL with a two-stage (Jacobs) brake. We had no issues at all with the sudden inclines and downgrades. I didn’t need to touch my brake pedal on highway 128 or I-70.

We found the Colorado Welcome Center at exit 19 and pulled off. The roundabout at the top of the off-ramp was poorly marked, but we made our way without incident. The welcome center has large RV lanes and a free dump station with fresh water! Nice!

We both needed comfort breaks and went inside. The facilities are very clean. The information center has all of the brochures you could ever ask for and more. We picked out a few with information about local cycling routes and then Donna inquired about lunch nearby. We were told we could leave our coach in the lot and walk to restaurants in the area. We went to a Mexican restaurant called El Tapatio.

As we were walking to the restaurant, I had to tell Donna about a guy I used to work for, Joe Sheridan. Joe was the manager of our group back in the mid-80s. Joe spent his entire life on the Atlantic Coast before moving to Michigan in the ’80s. Mexican names and food were a mystery to him.

We were setting up a national service meeting for Audi dealers and selected The Point at Tapatio in Phoenix as the site. Joe said to me, “What is it, Ta PAT-ee-oh… Ta Pay-show… how do you say this?” Growing up in southern California, it was easy for me to see it’s Ta-pa-TEE-oh. I went on to tell Donna that Joe was a great guy and one of the best bosses I’ve ever had.

The lunch was superb. Donna had the enchiladas suizas, a traditional Mexico City dish and I had chile verde enchiladas. I would give this meal a strong 4.5 on a scale of 5. They also had an extensive selection of top shelf tequilas. We didn’t sample, as we needed to get back on the road.

About six miles east on I-70, we exited and found the West Junction RV Park. I had booked online the night before. The online reservation system queried our vehicle type, length, whether we had a trailer and how long the trailer was. Once I completed the information, it told me that a suitable site was available and showed the rate. I booked and my credit card was billed.

When we pulled in, the check-in was seamless. They had all of my information on their computer. The gal at the desk called one of the camp hosts to escort us to our site and he led the way to our site. That’s when things began to unravel.

I had a map of the campground and saw where site 48 was located. As I followed the cart, I became concerned. The site had a very tight entry and exiting was iffy, if at all possible with a coach of our size towing a trailer. The guide seemed to have his doubts as well. He stopped and we talked. He said we could approach from a different direction if I followed him.

We rolled along through the RV park and made a turn around back near the office. This was a simple U-turn for the guide in a golf cart, but was impossible for my 278-inch wheelbase. I inched back and forth to get the trailer into a position to complete the turn. He finally came over and said, “Maybe I should see if we have another site.”

He came back a few minutes later and said he had another site. He told me to follow him out of the park to the street, so we could re-enter the park from the north. Again he whipped the golf cart into the park and made a 180-degree turn that was impossible for me to complete. I had to jockey back and forth carefully. I was concerned about jack-knifing the trailer. Once I completed the 180-degree turn, getting into the new site was easy and we didn’t have to drop the trailer. You would think that the person working at the RV park, assigned to escort you to your site, would have some notion of what it takes to turn a 40-foot motorhome and trailer.

We were told there would be an additional charge for the new site, because it had a cable TV hook-up. Donna went to office and talked to the owner. The owner wouldn’t budge. She insisted that we had to pay whether we used cable TV or not. As I was setting up, the owner came out. She apparently had a change of heart and said they wouldn’t add the additional charge. I thanked her and went about my business.

Once we were set up, Donna and I took the scooter out to reconnoiter the area. Donna is looking for routes to ride her bicycle. We rode west into the town of Fruita. We found some decent roads. Only a few have bike lanes, but the traffic here is very light.

Donna is planning to go out for a ride today. I’ll explore the area and see what it’s like to the east. Our location is roughly centered between Fruita to the west and Grand Junction to the east.

One of Those Days

I described the Internet woes we experienced over the weekend in my last post. With no chance to research, I didn’t want to book an RV park in Moab by looking at a campground guide. I thought we could drive up to Moab, have a look around, then decide where we wanted to stay. Neither of us had been here before.

View through the windshield Donna shot along the way

Things don’t always go as smoothly as envisioned. I’m usually optimistic about finding a suitable place to stay. But, it turned out that this was not a good week to show up unannounced in Moab. They have an off-road rally here, called Rally on the Rocks this week. Every place is booked up through Sunday.

We found a large pull-through site at Spanish Trails RV park for one night only. Once we were settled in, we fired up our laptops and started looking at options. I have to admit, I wasn’t in my best humor. Although today’s drive was only a little over 100 miles, it was a tiring drive up and down steep grades with a stiff wind. The cross winds are challenging in a big rig. You have to stay alert.

Before we found this site, we had pulled into the Moab Valley RV Resort to inquire. The entrance lane is restricted by steel posts, about four feet high at the end of the lane entering the park. After checking at the office and finding that we missed the last site large enough for our rig by 10 minutes, we needed to pull through and turn around. The posts at the end of the lane are spaced about 10 feet apart. This might sound like plenty of room, considering our rig is eight and a half feet wide. Eighteen inches of clearance equates to nine inches on each side. Steel poles four feet high cannot even be seen once I’ve started through.

I set my trajectory and made sure I pulled far enough through before starting to turn. If I turned too soon, the side of the coach on the inner part of the turn would scrape from cutting the corner or the side of the wall on the outside of the turn would scrape due to swing-out.

Once we were safely past the posts, I had to figure out how to get turned around in this tight RV park and exit the narrow lane leading out. How can they advertise this as a big-rig friendly park?

I looked at my options and thought the road encircling the park would be the best way around. When I came to the first 90 degree corner, I discovered it was really tight. I pulled forward and cut the wheel hard. No go. It was too narrow and I wouldn’t clear the fence on the perimeter. I backed up a few feet and cut it again. My right hand rear view mirror was barely clearing the chain link fence. My left rear wheel climbed the curb on the inside of the corner. I went very slowly, but climbing over the curb tilted the coach and my mirror struck the fence. I hate it when this stuff happens. I don’t think there was any other way through though. This park is very poorly laid out. You really should be able to drive a big rig around the perimeter of an RV park!

My demeanor wasn’t improving. We drove back through town to our present site. I was happy to find that the wifi here works and we have a solid Internet connection. After I went online to look at possible destinations that won’t take us too far away tomorrow, it was time to mix a cocktail.

I broke out my trusty martini shaker and glass. As I was putting ice into the shaker, I bumped my martini glass. I’ve had this set for more than 10 years. Crash! Martini glass is dust.

Sometimes it’s just one of those days. But I have to remind myself of all the great times, adventures and fun this lifestyle brings. Days like this are bound to come along every now and then. They are more than offset by some of the greatest days imaginable. It’s been 99% good, 1% of the time you have one of those days.

This can offset even the worst days

We’re heading to Colorado, to the Junction West RV Park. It’s located between Fruita and Grand Junction, Colorado. There’s supposed to be great biking and hiking in the area. We’ve booked a week there. Since it’s just off of I-70, I’m counting on good Internet connectivity.

We changed up our itinerary from there. We won’t go to Denver after all. The availability of suitable parks in the area we want is limited. Access to the airport would have been tough. We didn’t even have any good options for getting a rental car. So when we leave Grand Junction, we’ll go to Salt Lake City. We’ve booked at a park there that has light rail transport to the airport. Donna changed her ticket to Phoenix to fly out of Salt Lake City instead of Denver.

No Vacancy in Moab

It’s Monday afternoon. I started this post yesterday, but we lost our internet connection in Bluff, Utah. It can get frustrating. The RV Park internet was down and Verizon couldn’t hold a signal.

On Saturday, before we left Lone Rock Beach at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, our new friends from the Netherlands, Rob and Bettea, stopped by. They were leaving, heading south to Flagstaff, then into the Grand Canyon National Park – the opposite route of our travels. Rob wanted to see what an American 40-foot motorhome was like inside. Donna gave them the tour. Then we took a look at their European (French) RV built on a Toyota HiLux chassis.

Rob is quite tall and he told me our motorhome is the only RV he’s ever been in where he could stand up straight. Their RV is small, but efficient. Inside, it’s much like the cabin of a small sailboat. The diesel engine in his Toyota gets about 25 miles per gallon.

We’ve run across quite a few European visitors over the past nine months. There seem to be two types. There are those who spend an extended amount of time here, say three to six months, and spend at least a few days at each stopping point to sightsee. The other type tries to see the entire country in three to five weeks. They check in to the RV park in the afternoon. They go sightseeing for an hour or two and are on the road again first thing in the morning.

We decided to leave Lone Rock Beach and hit the road around 10:30am. Friday was very windy and the forecast for Saturday was not only wind, but also rain arriving by evening. I didn’t want to be in the soft sand and dirt if it was going to rain. We drove back to Page and stopped at Walmart again. We stocked up on a few things, then headed out on highway 98. We climbed about two thousand feet on this highway to an elevation of nearly 6,000 feet before we descended down to US160.

It was scenic east of the town of Kayenta. We passed Church Rock and Baby Rocks which are interesting rock formations the wind has sculpted. The Navajo reservation (officially called the Navajo Nation) is the largest native American reservation in the country. It covers approximately 27,000 square miles (about the size of West Virginia) in three states – Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The entire Hopi reservation is encompassed by the Navajo Nation.

We crossed about half of the width of the reservation before turning north on US191. US 191 is very rough in places. Although the speed limit was 65mph, I had to slow to about 45mph through some areas.

We pulled into Cottonwood RV Park in Bluff, Utah around 4pm, local time (we lost an hour coming from Arizona to Utah). We booked a site for two nights and quickly set up in a large pull-through site and didn’t have to drop the trailer.

The wifi worked fine when we first used it Saturday evening. After a while, it became very unstable and ultimately unusable. We shut down our laptops and watched the first two episodes of Lost before retiring for the night.

On Sunday morning, we were frustrated by the unstable wifi again. I couldn’t even get the Verizon Jetpack to work reliably. We had strong winds again and a few rain showers. Around noon, Donna and I strolled into town. We’re located on the west end of town. The east end of town is about a mile down the road.

As we walked through town, we found historic Fort Bluff. Much of this old site has been reconstructed. Entry is free. We found the old cabins, wagons and buildings to be interesting.

Donna in front of a meeting room at historic Fort Bluff

Donna entering a meeting room at historic Fort Bluff

They had many nicely restored covered wagons

One of many nicely restored covered wagons

From there, we walked to the east end of town where the Two Rock Trading Post and Two Rock Cafe are located. The photo shows where they got the name “Two Rock.” The rock formation is also known as the Navajo Twins.

Navajo Twins rock formation

We ate at the cafe. The food was good and the service was excellent. I had a Navajo pizza, which is a pizza made with a fry bread crust. Donna had the chili (and some of my pizza). I also ordered a Utah craft beer from a Salt Lake City brewery called Squatters. I had their pale ale called Full Suspension. The beer was only 4% ABV, but balanced nicely and was easy to enjoy.

Full Suspension Pale Ale

This morning, we were frustrated with the Internet connectivity again. Donna was able to establish a connection with the RV park wifi. I couldn’t get anything.

It was windy and cold out. We decided to head north. We pulled out around 10:45am and followed US191. The road is newly paved and very smooth between Bluff and Blanding. We stopped in Blanding and topped up our fuel tank with 50 gallons of diesel fuel.

We climbed to an elevation of more than 7,000 feet before descending into Moab. Our coach is currently sitting at an elevation of 4,550 feet at the Spanish Trail RV Park, just south of the town.

When we arrived in Moab, we drove all the way through town. We saw several RV parks on both ends of town. I pulled over in a wide shoulder on the north end of town. We had 4G service, so Donna fired up her laptop to look for an RV park. We didn’t have a reservation anywhere, and didn’t know what was available. We weren’t able to do much research with no Internet in Bluff.

It turns out that our timing is impeccably bad. There’s an off-road rally starting tomorrow in Moab, called the Rally on the Rocks. It runs through Sunday. All of the RV parks are booked for the rally. We found this park for the night, but nothing for the rest of the week.

We’ll come up with a plan and move on tomorrow.

Wahweap Bay

Donna went hiking yesterday morning up on the mesa overlooking Lone Rock Beach. Here are a few photos she took.

Sand dune and rock

Wahweap Bay

Sand dunes and Lone Rock

On her way back, she stopped and met our neighbors. Rob and Bettea are from the Netherlands. They are on a five and half month tour of the USA in their 4-wheel drive Toyota camper.

Rob and Betty

After lunch, we took the scooter down US89 to the Wahweap Bay Resort and Marina. This is more of the Glen Canyon Recreational Area. We were able to enter with our annual pass, otherwise we would have had to pay a daily use fee of $15.

They have an RV park there with full hook-ups. Full hook-up sites are expensive though – $48/night. We checked out the RV sites. Very nice, but our $10/night site is working for us.

They also have a marina dedicated for houseboat rentals. Cars can be parked for up to 14 days while you cruise the 180-mile length of Lake Powell in a houseboat. Sounds like a good time!

View from road to Wahweap

Another view from the road to Wahweap

Last night, while Donna was hoop dancing, I managed to get one last shot of Lone Rock. As the sun was setting, the rock was lit perfectly.

Sunset on Lone Rock

This morning, we’re packing up and moving on. We’ll head back to Page and stock up at Walmart. Then we’ll take BIA 98 over to US160 east. At US19, we’ll head north to Bluff, Utah.

Rough Road Ahead

I think we woke up a little groggy yesterday. We only had two margaritas each the night before, celebrating our 8th anniversary, but mixed drinks, especially tequila, don’t sit well with me.

We went about our usual chores to break camp, but we had a twist. Donna had to return the rental car and I would follow to meet her at the Hertz agency. We were pressing a bit since we needed to have the car back before 10am or face additional charges. Donna rolled out at 9:30am and I followed shortly after.

The first SNAFU came when the Hertz agency couldn’t generate an invoice. They had a computer glitch of some sort. I was double parked in the road with my four-way flashers on, waiting for Donna to come out. There wasn’t much traffic, so it wasn’t a big deal. We finally got out of there with the agent promising to e-mail the invoice.

From there, we rolled up US89 to the Conoco station I’d checked out before. It had easy access and trucker lanes with long pull-throughs. As we pulled in, Donna noticed that the trucker lanes were priced higher than the regular car lanes. This is due to the difference in highway taxes for trucks versus passenger cars.

The gas station had a lot of real estate, so I could turn around and line up at a passenger car lane that had diesel fuel. I was feeling pretty good about this as I extended the generator slide on the front cap to allow access to our fuel fillers.

I stepped out and ran my credit card through the reader and began to pump fuel. I looked up and felt a shock I can’t describe. I saw our living room slide cocked away from the body of our coach. The top of the slide out was four or five inches away from the wall it should be seated against while the bottom of the slide looked to be seated against the side of the coach.

Oh no! How could this be?

I went back into the coach and told Donna we had a problem. I apparently missed a big issue on my walk-around before leaving the park. I didn’t look up. I had been driving down the road with the living room slide unsecured.

After pumping $256 worth of diesel fuel into our tank, I pulled away from the pump and circled the station. Luckily, this station has a lot of pavement to accommodate big trucks. We pulled off to the side. I opened the trailer and retrieved our ladders.

After examining the outside of the slide and using our short ladder to look inside the coach, I found that the slide seal had rolled and was jamming the slide. I pulled, poked and prodded for the next 30 minutes. When I thought I had the seal in a position that would allow the slide to move in, I shot it with 3M dry silicon spray to ease its movement. This sounds simple, but the entire operation entailed an hour of effort.

I held my breath and pushed the slide retract button. It came in and seated. Whew! We have a problem to solve though. This isn’t a good thing and it won’t just heal itself.

From there, we rolled up US89. The road climbed past Sunset Crater, then we descended most of the way to Cameron and onwards north. Just past Cameron, there was a sign that said “Rough Road Next 24 Miles.” It didn’t seem too bad at first. The speed limit was 65 mph, I had the cruise control set at 62 mph, which seemed comfortable. There were passing lanes every few miles, socars that wanted to cruise faster could overtake me. Suddenly, without warning, the road became a series of whoop-de-doos, something made for a motorcycle supercross track. We were literally launched into the air, I felt the front suspension top out twice before I could slow down and regain control. It was ridiculous. What was the Arizona Department of Transportation thinking? They had a rough road sign 10 miles before this section and no warning when the going really got rough.

We were both thinking of a lunch and potty break as we approached Gap, AZ. US89 suffered a landslide on February 20, 2013 and the road is still closed 26 miles north of Gap. If you want to go to Page, you need to make a right turn at Gap onto BIA 20. This is poorly marked, but lucky for us, Donna caught the sign. But, we were unable to find a suitable stopping point at Gap. It’s just a cross roads with a gas station and trading post.

BIA 20 is a Navajo Nation roadway that takes you 40+ miles through Lechee to Page. The road has no shoulder or turn outs, it’s just a slog all the way to Page. When we finally found Page we stopped at WalMart. Donna was famished and my bladder was at its limit.

We walked a quarter of a mile down the highway in search of food. Donna had noticed a pizzeria sign on our way in. When we got there, it was either closed or out of business. But we saw another restaurant offering a Mandarin buffet. This could work. Both of us were hungry. We walked across the lot and were surprised to see the place busy at 2pm.

The food was decent, I’d give it a 3.5 on a scale of 5. We went for seconds. Our hunger satisfied, we walked back to our coach.

It was a short drive through Page to the Glen Canyon Bridge. We crossed the bridge and looked for the visitor center. We found the Carl Hayden Visitor Center. You must stop here if you are in the area. The parking lot can accommodate a big rig. The views are great and the center is nothing short of a museum.

Glen Canyon Bridge

Looking across the Glen Canyon Dam

Top of the Glen Canyon Dam

I couldn’t capture the scope of the entire dam, but this gives some sense of depth.

Lake Powell is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States (only Lake Mead is larger). It generates power for the grid encompassing Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.

Donna next to a turbine that’s one-fifth scale of the actual turbines in the dam

Wahweap marina in the background, prickly pear flowering in the foreground

Wahweap Marina in the background with flowering prickly pear cactus in the foreground

We drove up the highway and pulled off at the Lone Rock Road. This is an entrance to the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. Our National Parks pass got us in without paying the $15 per vehicle entrance fee. We paid $20 for an overnight camping pass for two nights ($10 per night).

The road is paved for a couple of miles in and there are two paved parking areas. One is in view from the entrance, the other is just before the pavement ends. The last parking area has a wide turnaround.

We stopped at the last paved parking area to walk and look the area over. A guy who obviously knew the area directed us to the best dirt road in. We trusted his advice and could see rigs in the area he directed us toward.

Here’s our latest spot on the planet.

This is why it’s called Lone Rock.

The beach at Lone Rock

Our latest hideaway

We’re currently set up with only the bedrooms slides out. The living room slide started to bind again and it needs attention. I don’t want to break anything, or have the slide stuck in an open position. Fortunately, our floorplan is livable even with the slide in. We have a little less space and Donna can’t access her spice cabinet, but other than that, it’s fine.

We strolled down along the beach. The sand is very fine, like powdered sugar. When we returned, we set our camp chairs in the shade of the coach and enjoyed the view with tortilla chips and homemade guacamole. Donna made unstuffed cabbage rolls for dinner on the induction cooktop.

We have a weak Verizon signal – most of time it’s only 1X. The Jetpack picks up 3G at times, allowing us to access the Internet.

No big plans for today. Tomorrow we’ll head back down to Page, then cross the Navajo reservation and follow US191 to Bluff, Utah.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Utah

Rain, Rain

Heber City Honor System

Fairground to Fairground

Unexpected Finds

Fruita Loops

The Long and Winding Road

One of Those Days

No Vacancy in Moab

Wahweap Bay

Rough Road Ahead

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