The area of Kanab, UT was our next temporary home. We found Country Rose RV Park in Fredonia for a couple of night’s respite. There is a popular trail in the area to access Peek-A-Boo slot canyon (AKA: Red Canyon Slot). We fully intended to conquer said hike…until we stopped by the visitor’s center in Kanab. There we were regaled with horror stories about the 4WD section of said trail winding through nothing but soft, pillowy, thick sand and the $1,000 cost of getting towed out after getting stuck, even in 4WD. Time for Plan B. Jeanne found the Best Friend’s Animal Sanctuary just north of town. It was a large stretch of land used as a sanctuary for various animals, as well as a large pet cemetery, and the road through provided some nice scenery.
Onward and upward, we were off to a few days stay at the St. George (UT) Elk’s Lodge. They have a nice lodge parking area with 13 power pedestals (30/50A) and the lot overlooks a 9-hole municipal golf course. The course was a beautiful deep green which was an awesome contrast to the bright red rock formations surrounding the lodge.
Home, at the St. George Elk’s LodgeLots of red rocks…Tribute to Veterans at the Elk’s LodgeYeah, it got a little busy.
We found Pioneer Park nearby and thought we might avail ourselves of some of that hiking. It was a bit disappointing, there really were no trails of any significant length, but the scenery was great. There is a “slot” canyon of sorts called St. George Narrows which we got up close with. I say “slot” a bit facetiously, it would only function as a through and through slot canyon if you have a waist line measurement of 2”. Jeanne and I had just been extolling the virtues of the area and its lack of homeless freak bums when by golly I stumbled upon a thrashed campsite inside a small windcave type crevice in the rocks. Such a pitiful eyesore…
Good-bye once again to St. George, we were pushing on towards the left coast. We discovered there is actually an Elk’s Lodge in Ely, NV so that seemed a good stop off for a couple of days. They share a gravel parking lot with the Hotel Nevada Casino, so in we went, dry camping only. It promptly came to our attention that we were coincidentally in time for The Great American Eclipse on 10/14/2023. Oh joy.
Our home at the Elk’s Lodge.Downtown shot of Ely, NVAll kinds of goobers come out for these eclipse thingies…Trying to fry my i-Phone camera, not a great shot but you can see the “ghost” image of the full eclipse
Once we “got eclipsed”, it was “On The Road Again” to another Country Rose RV Park, this one in Fernley, NV, for a couple of days getting shopping chores done. Then we opted to head over the mountains through Susanville and on to Redding for a stint helping Jeanne’s brother Dave while he underwent some minor eye surgery. We split our time between the Redding Elk’s Lodge and Win-River Casino. Deep sadness struck again. Woodrow Wilson has not been doing well for the past couple of years, firmly in the grasp of what we believe was Cushing’s Disease. We made the difficult decision to end Woody’s suffering at the Cottonwood Small Animal Clinic since he had been a patient of theirs several times over the years. Those people are top quality there, very respectful and compassionate. Vaya con dios, little buddy!
With Woody now in a way-better place, we chose to honor his memory with a lengthy day of hiking. No more limiting our away time to a couple of hours, we drove up to Mt. Lassen National Park. We picked out Brokeoff Mountain Trail to “break the ice” so to speak. Oh my, with a long period of only short hikes, this was tough! The trail is listed as “strenuous”. It was. Very. Strenuous. It is ALL uphill, some sections pretty steep, 3 3/4 miles to the top, with a 2,600’ elevation gain. It got a little windy and cold near the top as well. I say “near the top” because we ended up pulling up about a half mile short, out of gas and out of will. The views were still spectacular. After the knee-cracking, quad-burning, calf-burning return downhill, we headed for a little more torture. The trail to Kings Creek Falls, albeit a little less elevationally challenged, was about a 2 mile round trip. The poor ol’ legs barely held out but we made it to the falls. The downfall to enjoying Mt. Lassen Nat’l Park is it was severely scarred by the 2021 Dixie Fire, so a lot of the hiking is through burned out forest areas.
Our next goal was to head up to the area of The Goosenecks State Park in southern Utah. We found our new home site at said park for a mere $10 per night fee for boondocking only. The very tiny park only offers a few covered picnic table sites, some scattered garbage cans, and a couple of pit toilets. Other than that, there is a considerable amount of open space along a pretty rough dirt road to pick your poison from. The big plus is it is all along the bluff top looking down into the canyons of the meandering (in “gooseneck” formation – get it, “Gooseneck State Park”?!) San Juan River. The “park” tended to nearly empty out early each morning, but by dinnertime was increasing in population quickly. The scenery here was spectacular, as is usual in Utah.
A really l-o-o-o-o-ng shot of our home at Goosenecks State ParkA little closer view…The San Juan River “goosenecks” through the rock…Some of the scenery from our “home”The sun changed the scenery for us all day long!Nigh time for sunset…Rafters like hitting the San Juan River through the canyons.
We loaded up Woodrow Wilson and day tripped out of the park to check out Natural Bridges National Monument, about 45 miles away. Hwy. 261 took us up over the steep bluffs with only about a 3 mile gravel road section with hellacious switchback turns against sheer granite cliffs. No, Rosie will never make that trip, Jeep only… Natural Bridges Nat’l Monument has a small visitor center and then about a 9 mile one-way loop drive to access the 3 big natural bridges. Each had a parking area/trailhead with short (less than a mile) trails to their scenic overlooks and down to the bridges themselves. Horse Collar Ruin is the remains of an indian dwelling area of sorts and is also visible from the trailhead viewpoint. If one had no dog to have to deal with and was feeling a little frisky, there is an unimproved trail through the canyon floors to access all 3 bridges, at least 8 miles worth anyway. Unfortunately, we were limited to the short versions – Woody rules.
On the road to Natural BridgesSome of the view from near the top of the bluffMore view…History lesson……and down steep stairs climbing!Yes, this trail to Sipapu utilized some ladder climbing…More from Sipapu’s trailA side view of Sipapu BridgeSipapu BridgeKachina BridgeFurther back from Kachina…There’s a trail down there, somewhere!Parts of Horse Collar RuinMore Horse CollarOwachomo BridgeEerie rock formations, aliens?Cool colors on the rock faceAnother alien rock formation……and yet ANOTHER one!
A quick trip (5 whole miles!) outside Goosenecks S.P. found us staring up at Mexican Hat Rock in the “town” of, you guessed it, Mexican Hat. There is actually a boondocking campground surrounding the rock, they want you to register/pay on-line, I haven’t a clue as to the fees they ask.
Our grand finale for the area found Woody, Jeanne, and I on another day trip back into Arizona to Monument Valley and the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. The stretch of Hwy. 163 leading into the area was famous for a scene in the movie “Forest Gump” with Tom Hanks jogging down the middle of the deserted highway with some of the monuments in the background. Go ahead and try to recreate that one if you ever visit…there were all sorts of us tourist/sightseers parked along that stretch getting our own pix on the highway whilst dodging cars. The entire valley is vast and scenically rugged, but you can get a little more up close and personal if you pay the $8 per person fee to enter the Navajo Tribal Park. There is a hotel, visitor center, numerous offers of tour guides, and the 15 mile loop dirt/gravel nearly 4WD road that wanders through numerous “monuments” with cheeky names such as the Mitten Buttes, Elephant Butte, Camel Butte, Three Sisters, Merrick Butte, etc. It was pretty spectacular. I would say the area is a good pre-cursor to some of Utah’s other N.P.’s just a bit north of here. I’ll try my best not to screw up too many names on these pix.
OK, name that movie…A bit closer shot of the Gump mounds…Jeanne got her 4WD fix on this outing…The 2 Mitten Buttes and I think the Merrick Butte on the right…Elephant ButteCamel Butte (gee, how did I know?)A look at the Three Sisters near John Ford’s Point. (He made a few westerns in the area, using some guy named John Wayne I guess…The Three SistersThe Hub (of a wagon wheel)The ThumbI think this is the one they called The Totem PoleLikewise, I think this is the one they call The Yei Bi Chei
The Elk’s Lodge in Grand Junction was our next landing spot. The lodge itself is an old historical type building with a very cool lodge meeting room. They had electrical hookups in the parking lot for a few RV’s, but otherwise it was a dry RV spot.
Welcome to the Colorado Springs Elk’s LodgeOur home at the Elk’s LodgeA cool meeting room at the Lodge.
We found the Grand Mesa National Scenic Byway just outside of town, so the roadtrip was on. We got some scenic views of the valley floor as well as a curious Bambi who stared us down while I took pictures. The loop was about 63 miles in length.
God’s countryCool rock formationsViews from the topBambi watching usMore views from the topI think this lake was named Island Lake. I wonder why…
A walk down Main St. (just around the corner from the Elk’s Lodge) showed off some of the local art work scattered along the street. We also noted this area of Grand Junction, besides being near the police station, was home to numerous homeless folks. Not a great selling point for any possibility of landing here when we retire the full-time life.
A couple of days and it was onward and upward, more like eastbound and down, to the town of Glenwood Springs and our stay at Glenwood Canyon Resort. This was a very nice RV resort right on the Colorado River in a tight little canyon with great mountain views and a whitewater rafting business run right out the back of the resort.
Our home at Glenwood Canyon ResortRafters behind the resortLooking over some of the cabinsThis is a view from some of the tent sites at the resort. Willy Wonka’s chocolate river is actually the Colorado River after heavy rains.Some of the cabins are right on the riverDefiance Rafting Co.The clubhouse on the riverThe bicycle path along the riverMore of the cabins
Jeanne found the Hanging Lake Trail in her list of things to do. The trail requires a $12 permit per person to hike to the lake and they regulate how many hikers are on the trail at any time, a preservation effort by local government. We hit the trail bright and early one day with very little hiker congestion. The trail, a little over a mile to the lake, gains a lung-busting 1,100 feet in elevation, going straight up the mountain. Once we got to the top, we found the beautiful lake and a side trail further up the mountain to another waterfall with a feature called the Spouting Rock. Spouting Rock was directly below the waterfall and is a large volume of water spurting out of the rock creating a secondary waterfall. We relaxed in the serenity, had some snacks and recharged our batteries (so to speak), then enjoyed the all-down-hill return hike to the Jeep.
On another day we fired up the bicycles and headed out on the bike trail that runs next to the RV park. It follows the river east to the Hanging Lake Trail area and west into Glenwood Springs. Again, we enjoyed some scenic views in both directions, then I had a little “run-in” with a local chain link fence. It bit me pretty good and unbeknownst to me I lost my cell phone in the confrontation. But the good people of Colorado, at least one good samaritan, saved me by turning it in to the front desk of the Spa of the Rockies, a large mineral springs resort for which the aforementioned chain link fence was providing security.
We found another short adventure in downtown Glenwood Springs, the trail to Doc Holliday’s grave. It was a very short walk up the hill to the old Linwood Cemetery and the adjacent Potter’s Field (a cemetery for indigent and unknown folks commonly known as a pauper’s graveyard.) Besides Doc Holliday’s “gravesite”, Kid Curry was also buried, in the Potter’s Field. Kid Curry was associated with Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid & their Wild Bunch. And I say Doc Holliday’s “gravesite” because they are not all that sure where, exactly, he IS buried within the cemetery.
A few days in Glenwood Springs and it was off we went. Our next stop…(?)
Inching closer toward Yellowstone, we did a week’s stop at the Springville/Provo KOA, a prior stop of ours. Even though it is excruciatingly overpriced, it is in a good location for sights of the area and has a nice set up to keep the young’uns entertained. The temperatures for the whole stay were quite moderate compared to where we just left. The RV park itself was not busy at all, so the pool was very available without having to fight the crowds, and we all know how much Max LOVES those swimming pools… We never checked out the clubhouse before, but this time we did and found they have a very nice setup. There is a large full kitchen area, presumably for guests to host family meals; the (2) billiard tables are in good shape; there is (1) shuffleboard table also in good shape; TV’s throughout the large space and at least one had access to Amazon Prime; and a few arcade quality games including (2) mini-bowling lanes. The big bummer was the absolute terrible wifi at our site. (Inside the clubhouse seemed to be OK, I’ll know if I succeed in importing my photos to this blog post in a timely manner.)
Billiards or shuffleboard?OK, billiards it is…The arcadeInside the clubhouseMax the bowler, in the arcade.
Since Max got his first taste for fishing at the last stop without catching a fish, Jeanne found the Spring Lake Trout Farm in Payson just south of Springville. We took Max to the farm and holy moly he caught his first fish! And his second fish! And his third fish! And his fourth fish! We had to pull the plug on that fun in a hurry, they charge $8.50 per pound for the experience and at Max’s rate he was going to put us in the poor house quickly! The fish were all Rainbow’s and just under a pound each. The farm actually cleans/fillets your catch for you, so Max got some nice fillets to freeze and take home to enjoy a fish feed with his dad.
Spring Lake Trout FarmAnother view, looking at the second pond up above.Max reeling in his first whopper!“Yeah, baby. It’s a Rainbow!”
We took Max to check out the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo. That campus is HUGE! We walked a small area, checking out the Wilkinson Student’s Center, the BYU Duck Pond, the Bean Life Science Museum, and finished it off with a run on the BYU Creamery for some ice cream fun. The Bean Museum was an interesting collection of stuffed critters from around the world.
They take their ice cream seriously here at BYU!Max checking out the critters“Bear” with us, Max…(hardee har har!)Kinda wierd having a display for the evolution of man at a seriously religious institution like this.Max at the BYU Duck PondMax & Oma practicing some stair climbi
We decided to take Max out for his usual – cheeseburger – and chose the Strap Tank Brewery & Restaurant. It is part of a unique compound of shops owned/ran by Legends Motorcycle Co. Many of the businesses are inside stacked shipping containers converted to inhabitable businesses. We walked around the compound checking out the unique shops and I was surprised it held Max’s attention, he actually seemed to enjoy it.
Welcome to Legends MotorcyclesWelcome to Strap Tank Brewery & RestaurantInside Strap TankMax and Opa having a couple of cold ones. OK all you libtards out there, don’t get your panties in a twist. Max was having a “beer” of the root variety!Max’s first taste of onion rings!Shops made out of shipping containersThe shops at LegendsKnick-knacks galore!All kinds of antique “stuff”They tout 120 classic bikes throughout the museumHe wants your money!Max enjoyed it!Inside the Legends museum
Max got a viewing of the Bridal Veil Falls outside of Provo. It was his kind of waterfalls; not a lot of walking involved (you park right at the falls) and he got to wade in the small pool at the base. The Provo River runs right along the mountain and has an asphalt bike/hike trail that takes you to Vivian Park, about a 2 mile trail, one-way. We tried to get Max to finish it, but he ran out of gas about a mile into it. Oh well…
Jeanne found another hike in the area, a mile and a half shorty, that took us to Battle Creek Falls. We loaded up with Max and headed out to the trail on Father’s Day. The hike was moderately easy and Max had ample opportunity to go off trail and play in the creek and tree stands along the way. We got to the falls and were able to enjoy the views from the bottom as well as the top. Max enjoyed himself on this one…
Some of that ugly scenery along the trail at Battle Creek FallsIndiana MaxMax playing in the creekOma & Max tromping up the trailThe top of Battle Creek FallsMax doing his best Randy Orton (for you WWE fans)…Max & Oma crossing bridges together.“Max, don’t you be falling, Opa don’t do rescues any more!”A look at Battle Creek Falls from up highMax at the top of the fallsLooking up at the fallsMax at the bottom of the fallsYou never know who you will meet on the trail…
The Alpine Scenic Loop is just north of Provo, in the mountains where you will find the Sundance Mountain Resort, an enterprise established by THE Robert Redford. We wanted to drive the loop so we did. We were certainly treated to some spectacular views, and actually got a dusting of snow on us as we drove (imagine that, near the end of June of all times!). We also happened upon a couple of turnouts where mountain climbing aficionados practice their art over the American Fork River (not a real wide river, but still had some turbulence to the flow). At the first turnout we stopped and found a large tree trunk fallen across the river with a rope stretched between trees to use as a hand-hold to cross the river on the downed tree. We played on the “tree bridge” for a short while, then continued down the road until the second turnout. There we found another similarly setup “tree bridge” with accompanying hand-hold rope. I promptly got up and crossed that tree. However, I had noticed the rope was not stretched as taut as the last one but decided to continue across anyway. Bonehead move. As I neared the other side, I turned to take a photo downriver and found myself starting to keel over the side. Death grip on the rope, it sagged down with me but still allowed me to “go swimming” (unintentionally of course) and tear some skin off my knee and shin in the waste-high water and rocks. That will be on Max’s highlight reel for years to come I’m afraid. He’s still giggling about it…
Timpanogos Cave National Monument is also located along the Alpine Scenic Loop. It boasts a “short” mile and a half hike to the caves where you can enjoy guided tours that you purchase on-line. We again loaded Max up and headed out on another day of mild temperatures. The trail is asphalt/paved all the way up, and I DO MEAN “UP”! It is over 1,000’ elevation gain for the 1 1/2 mile hike! We made it, a huffin’ and a puffin’, then enjoyed a nice, cool tour inside the mountain (temperatures inside can get into the 40’s). The saving grace for us was that the return trip down the mountain was actually DOWN the mountain! Talk about screaming quads & hams!
That about catches us up for now. Until next post…
Well, OK, that is Hurricane, Utah. We based ourselves at the Hurricane/St. George KOA for a week. It just so happened the area was experiencing an unusual heat wave, many days well into triple digits, oh boy! But that did not stop us, first order of business was a morning run into Zion National Park. Max led us on a hike to the Lower Emerald Pool and a part way hike to the Middle Emerald Pool, but trooper that he was he ran out of gas near the top. It was only about 2 miles of hiking, mostly a concrete path, but there was some uphill effort and, hey, 10 year olds tend to easily run out of gas. On our shuttle ride back down to the visitor’s center we did stop off at the Court of the Patriarchs for a scenic view of that mountain formation.
Our home at the KOAThe Hurricane/St. George KOA has nice views of the Red CliffsLooking at the mountains across from the KOAThe ruins of an historical home at the KOAAnd dawn begins a new day of adventure at Zion NPMax ready to do battle with the trails…Max & Oma checking out a hole in the treeThe Virgin River at Zion NPOma takes a break…Max wanting to do a little rock scrambling…One of the few critters at the park…A little “stinker”taking aim…Max at the Virgin RiverThe Lower Emerald Pool waterfall was pretty much non-existentThe Court of the PatriarchsMax & Oma hiking the short trail to the viewing point
The KOA happens to be a mere “stones throw” from Quail Creek State Park and the small lake there. Jeanne has been wanting to try SUP (stand up paddleboarding) for a while, and they just happen to rent such toys at the park. We conned, er, talked Max into trying it as well and we had a fun day on a busy, somewhat choppy lake.
Max also wanted to try his hand at fishing. After an outfitting run to the local Walmart, Max hit the same lake for a couple of days in search of the big one that didn’t get away. Unfortunately, he got a couple of bites only, and that big one did in fact get away.
We really wanted to do a road trip to Bryce Canyon National Park for Max, but it would have been a 2 hour drive one-way and we decided that was too long to be able to maintain Max’s interest. We opted instead for a shorter road trip back into Zion NP for a run through the Zion/Mt. Carmel tunnel and some more scenery viewing. The tunnel is 1.1 miles cut into the mountain with several “windows” cut into the side for the only light provided (not considering the vehicle headlights). Max’s interest in checking out scenery, being dubious at best, I think his highlight from this outing was our raid on Taco Bell on our way back to the KOA.
Jeanne the 4-wheeling Queen learned of a local waterfall, Toquerville Falls, that is accessed via a relatively short (5.2 miles) ATV trail. Woodrow Wilson having been cooped up in his dog pen most days, we decided to load him & Max up for a little off-road adventure. The sign at the start of Spring Dr. just outside of Toquerville advises 4WD is recommended and by golly, THEY MEAN IT! The “road” was what I would call a medium level Jeep trail and Max definitely got an E-ticket ride for his first Jeep trail experience! Jeanne read somewhere that airing down was advised and, in hindsight, although I do agree with that advice, airing down is such a pain in the neck that I chose not to. There were a couple of pretty dicey spots in the road, one of which Jeanne actually ceded her pilot duties to me! The pay-off was well worth it, Toquerville Falls was a very nice set of waterfalls along La Verkin Creek. (Editor’s note: Unfortunately, this WordPress/Bluehost blog collaborative system continues to show it’s user-unfriendly qualities in that inserting media does not mix well with the Apple iCloud storage system for photos. I am unable to insert some of the more spectacular pix, yet again. This would be the main reason I am retiring from this blog world at the conclusion of this roadtrip with Max. I will continue to post photos on my Instagram account for as long as the censor czars will allow me to have that account – @two4trippin .)
Well, we’re getting ready for jacks-up. Our plans changed yet once more now that Yellowstone National Park is being pummeled by torrential rains/floods/rockslides/road cave-ins. Our original plans were to attack from the northern entrance, but that is the hardest hit area and may not reopen this summer. We have to play things by ear and plan on-the-fly, so stay tuned for more road-trip-fun with Max. Until next post…
Success! We managed to fill in all the gaps (even during the dreaded 4th of July week) with reservations for our stays leading up to our time at Glacier N.P. From St. George it was north for a few days’ return stay at the Springville KOA (Provo, UT). We wanted to drive the Alpine Loop and check out some of the trails off the loop, but weather gods were not looking favorably upon us, the Alpine Loop was actually closed (snow). So we settled on a little bicycle riding through downtown (the Provo/Orem area has very nice bike paths throughout the downtown areas). In fact, the trail along University Av (Hwy. 189) continues as the Provo River Trail. This takes one through Mt. Timpanogos Park, Canyon View Park, Canyon Glen Park, Nunn’s Park, Bridal Veil Falls, and into Vivian Park. We broke it up into 2 rides, about 25 miles and 10 miles respectively. Bridal Veil Falls was very scenic, as usual, and the Provo River was raging pretty good on this visit. Provo had a farmer’s market one day which we just had to attend. It turned out most of the “farmer’s market” was food tents (of the cooked/prepared type) and crafts. Jeanne managed to find the only booth that actually had produce for sale and appropriately ordered up some of their lettuce & kale.
Home, at Springville KOA.It was busy, not packed…Bridal Veil FallsA closer view…Bike riding through downtown Provo/OremA bridge over the river along the Provo River TrailHard to put up with these views, eh?! We just had to stop off for another goofy selfie…Hard to put up with these views, eh?! Jeanne did find the only booth selling produce.
Northward ho and into Jerome, ID for a couple night’s stay at the Snake River Elks Lodge while we waited to pick up our general delivery mail. The Elks Lodge is on an 18-hole golf course, very green, but otherwise the Jerome area is kinda dumpy, tons of farmland, not much to do. We had already checked out the Snake River area a few years back and this was mainly just a mail stop for us.
Our home at Snake River Elks Lodge. We had to stare out the front window at the hideously deep green grass of the 18-holer.This was the parking lot monitor directing us to our site…
Next stop…Dillon, MT at the Countryside RV Park for a few days. Dillon sits in a big bowl surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The area is very large and green, with cattle ranching seemingly the big agricultural endeavor here. We are starting to see more interesting critters now. Near the ID/MT border we saw a massive Golden Eagle take off from its perch on a fence. We saw what we both agreed was a badger scooting along near the roadway. And we are now in the middle of prairie dog country where the little yappers go non-stop. Pronghorn deer are also becoming more common sights. Jeanne also identified our avian neighbors as Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
Prairie Dogs galore! Home at Countryside RV Park in Dillon, MT.Lots of Yellow Headed Blackbirds here. Noisy little buggers!
Our big outing for this stop we decided to visit Bannack State Park, home to the ghost town of Bannack, the first territorial Capitol of Montana. The state does a nice job of maintaining the 50-60 buildings still remaining. We the people are even allowed to enter many of the buildings, some of them still containing artifacts from the mining town days. It was an interesting experience, however the state does such an outstanding job of maintaining the town, it was “too clean” as far as ghost towns go. The ghost town of Bodie, CA, is still at the top of my all-time favorite ghost towns, nationwide.
Welcome To Bannack State ParkThe scenic drive into the ghost town. One of the typical buildings at BannackThe Masonic Lodge/schoolhouse at Bannack.The first floor was the classroom, the Masons met upstairs.A bird’s eye view of Bannack.“Welcome my brothers and sisters! God’s house is always open, here at the Bannack Methodist church!”I did a stint in the Bannack jail… Inside one of the ghost dwellings.At the Bannack graveyard, some of the headstones are still there……and some of them are not.Checking out the gallows, perhaps getting fitted for a necktie?!?A look down Main St.A look down the other way on Main St.
Our last day here we drove the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway between Wise River and Dillon. It was very scenic, however we missed out on the little side trip to the ghost town of Coolidge and the Elkhorn Mine & Mill due to the road closure. Oh well, we got to see critters (badger, pronghorn, deer) as well as receiving a very light dusting of snow.
Some of the scenery along the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway.Lots of fly fishing in that thar river…They had a lot of small campgrounds along this byway as well, at least for smaller rigs…A homesteader in 1883 named Joe Maurice settled along this route and buried family members in this private cemetery.Beautiful views!$3 in our snow flurry. (Go ahead, you can figure it out!)
So, we’re jacks-up tomorrow continuing our way north, hopefully with little to no snow. Until next post…
(Tech notes: My cyber-incompetence just drives me nuts sometimes, OK, most-times. It seems a few years back, leading up to 2015, I managed to make a whole bunch of photos disappear from my blog posts. The captions remained, just no photos to view. I don’t know how, but I may have figured out how to fix it, it took a lot of trial-and-error, not to mention a few bottles of bourbon and cases of beer. I will slowly but surely be working on replacing all the missing pix, so bear with me. I just hope I can get the right pix in the right spots…)
We made one more trip back to Atascadero, CA, to visit Chad, Crissy, and the 2 granddaughters Hailey & Ellie. Another week at the Elks Lodge there, we managed to donate some blood at the Elks blood drive, babysit Hailey & Ellie while mom and dad had a date day at the day spa, and loaded up all to go see the Strawberry Festival in nearby Arroyo Grande. And, of course, Hailey got a little more fun time staying with Oma and Opa in “the camping bus”.
Hailey says, “Fun times with Oma and Opa!”Little Miss Ellie Grace says, “I am just so full of mischief!”Donuts! Breakfast of champions, at the “camping bus” with Little Miss Hailey Marie.Hailey’s biggest thrills while staying at the “camping bus” are her visits with Mr. Elk out front of the Elks Lodge.Hailey is going to show Oma how to take on a hike!Hailey takes a break during the hike, enjoying the flowers.Little Miss Ellie Grace may not be ready for a real hike like her big sis, but her newly acquired walking skills are improving daily.At the Strawberry Festival, Ellie and Oma watch Haily and mommy ride the camel. Hailey and mommy taking a cruise on a camel at the Strawberry Festival.Hailey and mommy taking a cruise on a camel at the Strawberry Festival.One of the performers wowing the crowd. Daddy having snacks and delegating stroller duty to the big sister. Ellie learning to roll in style.Had WAY too much fun with Oma and Opa!
But when it came time to flee Kalifornia once again, it was “pedal to the metal”, “east bound and down”, or any other famous quote you care to apply to it. Hwy. 58 through the Tehachapi Pass was our chosen pathway of escape. Our destination was St. George, UT, but we did not wish to do the long distance dance, so Jeanne found a nice OHV recreation area in the Mojave desert, the Jawbone Canyon OHV Area just north of California City and right off of Hwy. 58, just a short jaunt up Hwy. 14. It was easy access paved road into the area, with large open areas and plenty of room to keep the toad hooked up while maneuvering around into our chosen site for the night. We overnighted all by our lonesome in a large canyon, then headed out bright and early the next morning.
Our one-night home at Jawbone Canyon OHV.All by our lonesome… Plenty of room for ATV’s.“Be quiet! Don’t wake the neighbors!”The sun rises on another day at the Jawbone Canyon OHV area, Mojave desert.
We chose to do one more overnighter enroute to St. George, so we picked Buffalo Bill’s Casino in Primm, NV. They allow overnight RV’s and truckers out in the back lot (no charge). From Primm, we finished the drive into St. George, where we stayed at the Temple View RV Resort. The mountain views were very nice, as well as the Temple’s tower (this would be the Church of Jesus Christ & Latter Day Saints, St. George Temple).
Our overnight home in back of Buffalo Bill’s Casino.All by our lonesome, again!Home for a week at Temple View RV Resort.Temple View was not real busy while we were there, 90 degree temps and all…
St. George is a very nice city in Utah just over the border from Nevada. Only 90 minutes or so from Vegas, they are very outdoor oriented here. We took Woody on a walkabout around historic old town and the Temple. St. George has a lot of art scattered about old town as part of a program called, “Art Around The Corner”. Brigham Young’s winter home is here as well, which they give tours through but we passed on the tour. There are bicycle trails all over the place whether you like city trails or trails along the Virgin River. We made use of about 14 miles of this trail, stretched from St. George to Bloomington, just enough for my butt to regret it…
The Morman Temple in St. George. You CAN see the tower through the trees. Get it? Like “you can’t see the forest through the trees!” Get it? Sometimes I crack myself up… Art Around The Corner, in historic old town.Brigham Young’s winter home. I think we almost killed Woody on his downtown walk.On the bike trail along the Virgin River.Jeanne always trying to show me up!Views from the bicycle trail along the Virgin River.A view of the temple from the bike trail.View of Snow Canyon State Park from a scenic overlook.…another view……and yet another…
Jeanne found a slot canyon trail to torture me on, the Kanarra Falls slot canyon trail just outside of Kanarraville. We loaded up our mini backpacks and headed out. I don’t know how far you can go on this hike, the common hike takes one to the second set of falls in the canyon, some say it is a 3-4 mile hike. The “fun” part is the trail zig-zags across the Kanarra Creek and then the creek becomes the trail through the canyon. Currently, the flow of the creek is pretty strong with snowmelt, gets to about knee-high depth, and just to make it interesting, the water is about 48 degrees! We waded our way to the first waterfall in about 2 1/2 hours. At that point my feet and shins were fully numb and I found myself stumbling too much. That made our decision for us…time to turn around. It made it easier to accept the decision in that Woody had to be left behind at the bus (no dogs on trail) and because of that our non-Woody excursions are usually limited to about 5 hours. Even though we were forced to cut it short, this was a very scenic and well-worth-it hike. The hike requires a purchased permit ($12 person/ 150 permits per day only) which is easy to do on-line and then the kid at the kiosk just scans it off your phone.
Welcome to Kanarra Falls Trail. The beginning is a nice uphill jaunt.They mean it!Brrrrrrr! That water IS COLD!!!I think Jeanne handled the cold better than me…Nice views from the hike.We found some fellow hikers along the trail…Jeanne mugging for the camera.It’s just terrible scenery! Yup, Kanarra Creek is like a little rushing river right now…Gorgeous! Nice blue skies, too!Breathe deep and hold it! Not a lot of sun gets down here but everything stays nice and green!Getting into the slot now, nothing but water! Jeanne showing off! As I head up the first waterfall… Don’t fall off that ladder!This was at the top of the 1st falls and the point we turned back with numb feet…Another view… Jeanne’s on her way back…
Our time in St. George gave us an opportunity to further evaluate the area as a possible “landing zone” for when we make that decision. There are quite a few small suburbs to St. George, we really liked a few of them, and you never know, St. George might just beat out the Boise, Idaho area in our search for a “final resting place”. And, for those of you “literal vocabularians”, no, we are not searching for our gravesites.
This has been a true test, trying to plan out and get RV spots along our path to Glacier N.P., especially since the time encompasses the 4th of July holiday period and since many of the RV parks in this area of Montana are booked already. It seems here they have short seasons just as the northeast has. For those of us who try not to operate on the reservation system, it can be nerve-racking in certain parts of the country at particular times. But, hey, we persevere and plug along…That about catches us up for now. Until next post…
So we pull into Moab and get set up at our “home” for the stay at Portal RV Resort. For Moab to seemingly be the Jeeper’s center of the universe, it is a small podunk town. And if you need to look for parts and pieces to do any minor RV repair work, good luck. We found a livestock feed store (Farm & City Feed and RV Supply) that surprisingly carried some, if not limited, parts and pieces. But, me and Murphy, we are inseparable. They did carry the Shurflo water pump that I needed, but were out of stock at the moment. Fear not, for the nice folks were able to order one up within a couple of days. Well, once I got it, I put my mechanical incompetence to the test. I thought the swap out would be a piece of cake, all hand tightening of fittings, no tool other than a Phillips screwdriver to remove the base screws, and I am board certified in the correct use and care of said Phillips screwdrivers. I was all proud of myself as I neared the end of the repair…until I tried to attach the water pump strainer unit. Hand tighten, oh yeah, oh —— crap! 1 twist too many and “SNAP!” goes the plastic. So now I’m on the hunt for a simple piece of PVC elbow. Hit all 2 of the hardware stores and 1 plumbing supply place but failure strikes again. How I ended up at an auto parts store I have no clue but wouldn’t you know it, they had a stainless steel elbow for hydraulics that worked just beautiful! I kicked Murphy in the posterior region and reveled in my success. On to some fun.
I’ll tell you now, 5 days in Moab is not enough time to see and do. And if rain pops in on you, it shortens the time even more. We missed out on many miles of Jeep trails, as well as Canyonlands NP, so a return trip will be most necessary. But here now we made 2 day trips into Arches NP. Again, K9’s are not allowed on the trails, so Woody had to miss out. We took the wind-sucking hike uphill to Delicate Arch which is touted as the most photographed arch. The hike was not difficult as far as rock scrambling or challenging obstacles, but it was steady up hill and tended to make one suck wind much of the way (I just GOTTA lay off all them stouts and porters!). It is a one and a half mile, one-way trail that ascends about 500 feet. But boy-oh-boy what a view! Now don’t yell at me because I am going to post some photos and more than likely I will get wrong names associated with some; after all, there are over 2,000 catalogued arches in this park. But we visited (hiked) several of the main attractions such as Tunnel Arch, Landscape Arch, Skyline Arch, Fiery Furnace, Balanced Rock, Double Arch, North & South Windows, Turret Arch, & Three Gossips. You could easily spend 3-4 days in this park, not only are there hike-to formations to see, but there are a couple of Jeep trails that take one to see other features and off the beaten path.
The first thing that grabbed me was the need to give instructions in the pit toilet on how exactly to use a toilet!Jeanne did not need to huff and puff like the old guy did on the hike to Delicate Arch!Letting us know just how small we are… Checkin’ out Delicate Arch through another arch…Tunnel ArchSkyline ArchRed Sand Arch Broken Arch. Not really broken. Just a crack… Fiery FurnaceBalanced RockThree GossipsLandscape ArchOne of the Window Arches, I think this was the North Window…Turret ArchDouble Arch
One place we were able to include Woody in our exploits was the Dead Horse Point State Park. A hiking trail traverses along a very scenic canyon rim overlooking the Colorado River and parts of Canyonlands NP. And word has it the cliff scene from “Thelma & Louise” was filmed here. So Woody got his chance to take us out for about a three hour walkabout. The ranger we spoke to at the visitor center told us the trails were well marked. He should have said “well marked if you know how to follow cairns”. We did pretty well for the most part, only got off track a smidgeon toward the end of the loop.
Yup, it were a bit cool at the Dead Horse Point SP. Tough to have to look at such terrible landscapes!About 3 hrs. of non-stop views!“Are we there yet?”Just follow the cairns!I guess this cairn was for low flying aircraft. Hey, Forest F., you ever follow cairns from the sky?! There’s always a clown in the bunch…
With our time limited, Jeanne picked a Jeep trail to take, the Tusher Tunnel Trail. It is an easy trail, not a lot of challenges (OK, none at all). It ends at about a 100 yard natural tunnel through the mountain.
She tried to make the most out of a real easy trail…On the way to Tusher TunnelJeanne entering Tusher Tunnel.She found “the light at the end of the tunnel!”
Time up, we headed for the great state of Texas, our state of domicile. We overnighted at an overpriced Indian casino that ran the Route 66 RV Resort in Albuquerque, NM, then into Lubbock, TX for a few days. Stops at the Buddy Holly Center and Texas Tech University Museum were in order, while home basing at the Loop 289 RV Park.
Do we look good in Buddy Holly glasses? Me and my new buddy, Buddy…Checkin’ out the fossil displays at Texas Tech’s Museum.It would have been a little rough trying to be a full-time RVer in this Phaeton, circa 1900!
Onward and upward, a couple of uneventful and, ergo UNexciting days in the city of Abilene. Next stop Waco, TX and the Waco Lake COE campground. Nice, scenic site on the lake. Jeanne wanted to go see Magnolia’s, a shop of trinkets and a bakery all owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines. Jeanne tells me they have a TV show about fixer-upper houses and I now see they are getting plenty of bad press about being anti-LGBT based on their faith. I will elide any further personal comments on that subject based on my 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and because I have not succumbed to that liberal Kool-Aid drinking lifestyle.
Home at Waco Lake COE.Historical marker for the Waco suspension bridge.The Waco suspension bridge.Everything is bigger in Texas. Even the yard sculptures! Chip and Joanna’s place… Looks like they are old time Jeepers.
From Waco we wandered south to Pecan Park RV Park in San Marcos. This was a good base for sneaking into Austin to check things out. All other Texans we talk to speak of Austin in hushed tones and we have heard more than one liken it to the whacked out city of San Francisco. From what we saw, I agree. But we did get to visit LBJ’s Presidential Library. Everybody talks now of Obama’s massive government regulations but LBJ created his own share of regulations, and then some. The more of these Presidential libraries we see, the more I regret not having taken road trips with the kids when they were tadpoles and showing them some of this stuff.
This was our backyard at Pecan Park RV Park.LBJ’s Presidential Library.Interesting, the Smothers Brothers even apologized to LBJ for making fun of him on their TV show. Recreation of LBJ’s oval office.Several floors of archives at LBJ’s library.Are we in downtown Austin, or downtown San Francisco???! Foolin’ around in what I guess they call the SoCo district, South Congress Av., Austin.
In Austin we also took a short walk along a trail at Covert Park on Mt. Bonnell, along the Colorado River with a scenic vista overlooking some very nice homes I might be able to afford in another life.
Covert Park marker A nice view of how the rich folk live along the river.
Done with San Marcos, we sidled over to Bryan, TX to visit the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. One thing I had not known was George 43 had a sister, Robin, born in 1949 and passed in 1953 due to Leukemia. Sad. There was a lot of coverage on George 41’s military service and a nice section on Operation Desert Storm.
Jeanne’s trying to pick up on the Prez…41’s Presidential Library “The Gate of Kuwait”, a gift for 41.This is the final resting place for Robin Bush, as it will be for George H. W. and Barbara.
From Bryan it was on to Arlington, TX to take in George 43’s Presidential Library. We had missed it last time through a few years ago due to our great government’s inability to function (aka: the government shut-down over budget fight). Both LBJ’s and George 41’s libraries had some form of oval office display, but George 43 has an actual sized replica office. Another little trivia fact I was not aware of is 43 was actually a managing general partner of the Texas Rangers baseball organization back in his business days. There is a nice personal collection of signed baseballs on display here at the library.
George W. Bush’s Presidential Library.43’s baseball collection. Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Wow!43’s oval office.
Well, moving day tomorrow. I found the Freightliner service center here in Dallas and will be attempting to get some recall work, service work, and maybe my goofy dashboard warning lights and sirens looked at before continuing toward Nashville and the Griswold, er, Watkins Family Christmas Vacation. Merry Christmas to all!
So we finished up our bittersweet stopover in California. I say bittersweet because we LOVE spending time with our kids and grandkids, but unfortunately I HATE the state of California. We were both lifelong residents of that state and when I was growing up 50+ years ago it was a magnificent state. But time & evolution (plus a heavy influx of pigs & thugs over the years) have managed to destroy California. Driving through areas like Bakersfield, Salinas, San Jose, even Sonoma County it was disappointing to see the amount of garbage piled high along the roadways, the amount of graffiti scrawled all over everything, even the terrible conditions of the highways. Sad to say goodbye to the kids, but GLAD to be eastbound. We were headed for Utah and decided to do the Hwy. 80 to Reno and catch Hwy. 50 out of there. Since we had to swing north for Hwy. 80, we made a very short stop off to see the Gladiator (that’s Max, our grandson in Santa Rosa), just long enough to allow Jeanne to finish planning our family XMAS extravaganza that will occur in Nashville. Everyone is going to fly in for a few days of celebration and checking out that area in Tennessee.
We just could not decide what we wanted to be on Halloween, Policeman or Ninja…Ninja, or Policeman?The Gladiator with mom Jenn and Ma Jeanne cruisin’ along Santa Rosa Creek.
Our departure was “exciting” to say the least. Now, I freely admit I can NEVER be accused of being a handyman type, I basically have no mechanical skills; yes, I am hopeless in that realm. Just after leaving Santa Rosa, every warning light, every siren, every bell & whistle went off on my dash. Check engine warning, brake air, exhaust temp warning, something called “trans comm failure”, and many others. These things are all computerized and it all got triggered. My gauges went dead off and on. I lost no power or ability to steer and brake, and those bells, whistles, and warnings would stay on for a few seconds, then go back to normal function. I have had this happen to me twice before, scattered over the past 2 years, but only for a few seconds and then gone. I was in a Cummins shop within the past 6 months and had them check it out while installing some computer update, but they told me it was not part of the system they were responsible for and I should take it to a Freightliner shop. Since I have a couple of Freightliner recalls for minor issues already, I guess “Freightliner, here I come”, well, as soon as we’re done playing around and as long as we have no earth shattering problems. But for that first hour on the road, the on again off again bells and whistles drove us nuts. Amazingly, once we hit Hwy. 80 the dash stopped acting up.
Sparks Marina RV Resort was our first stop, a park we had stayed at before. We only stayed a couple days here, enough to hit Trader Joe’s and stock up for Utah. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, southern Utah is a beautiful area with all the national parks, but it is not very convenient. Large grocery stores are rare, so one must stock up on food and water before entering that state. Then it was onward across the state of Nevada on Hwy. 50, the section between Reno and Ely of which we had not been on before. Reno designated that stretch as the loneliest highway and we could see why. It was rare to pass anyone. The highway also wound up into the stratosphere on a few sections of very slow-going twisty-turny road. But we survived and made it to the megalopolis of Ely, NV, where we took another 2-day rest at the Prospector Casino. We did a short bicycle tour of the town on our non-travel day and relaxed in their hot tub, then hit the road east.
Texas Slim showing me how it’s done at Sparks Marina RV.The railroad museum at the big city of Ely, NV.Cruisin’ the main drag on our bikes, Ely, NV.
A lot of folks frequently ask us things like “what’s your favorite area(s)”, “how do you find boondock sites”, “how do you find places to stay”, etc. Favorite areas is a work in progress, the jury is still out on that one. There are many resources out there to help one wander the countryside. Our main guide for RV parks, both gov’t and privately run, is rvparkreviews.com . And I always suggest if you use these types of resources, please take the time to submit your own review – it runs on all of our input and is only effective if multiple people render their opinions. For boondocking, again, there are numerous resources out there for your choosing. We rely on several blogs done by folks like us who have hit the road as full-time RVers, I think we have a widget on this blog that lists the blogs we follow, I’m too lazy and technologically challenged to check. We are also members of the Escapee RV Club which enables us access to daysenddirectory.com , an 800-some page guide of free or low cost ($15 or less per night) campsites. And what is relative to where in the world we are now, we met Marianne Edwards at our stay in Jojoba Hills, CA. She is a visiting Canadian who happens to have put together a guide book entitled “RV Boondocking in Southern Utah – A Frugal Shunpiker’s Guide”. She can be found at frugal-rv-travel.com . Currently we are using this guide and it has some very nice boondock sites including where we are parked at this very moment. Additionally, since we are in the area for a specific purpose (having fun 4-wheeling in the outback, AKA: trying to destroy a perfectly good Jeep), Jeanne found a book published by FunTreks, Inc. entitled “Guide to Moab, UT Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails” (funtreks.com). That guide lists 80 trails in the area with good descriptive directions to help you get lost (insert sarcasm here).
Back to business. We made another 2-day stop at the Green River State Park in Green River, UT. Pretty much a hole in the wall town, a lot of abandoned business fronts, but it was centrally located for what we wanted to see, as described in Maryanne Edwards’ guide previously mentioned. First stop was the Sego Pictographs, Sego ghost town remnants, and their Boothill Cemetery, all just outside the tiny dustbowl town of Thompson. I was again dismayed at the graffiti that was included with the ancient pictographs. I know, I know, the pictographs were examples of early graffiti themselves, but hey, there is no need to mix civilizations now, is there? The ghost town had little left of it and the cemetery was definitely a “Boothill” style.
Graffiti, old and new at the Sego Pictographs. Boothill cemetery at what used to be Sego.Jeanne stands in the middle of downtown Sego, I guess…One of the very few structures still partially existing in Sego.
The other stop was for some dinosaur tracks at the Copper Ridge Sauropod Track Site just off Hwy. 191, on the way to Moab. The tracks were a bit different than looking at actual fossil bones, but still interesting.
Dino tracks but we saw none from Fred Flintstone… A footprint in time…
We found the boondock areas described in Maryanne’s guide out by Goblin Valley State Park and moved over there for some free stay and adventure time. Our “new backyard” was a large, slick-rock area just off Temple Mountain Rd., about 5 minutes from the state park. We barely got camp set up and Jeanne got hit with “The Itch”. She found a trail in her Fun Treks guide called the “Swasey Cabin Trail”, so off into the wilderness we went! It was about an 18 mile trail categorized by the guide as moderate, on an easy/moderate/difficult rating scale. After successfully surviving that death-defying feat, I can say the author of the guide, Charles A. Wells, is accurate in his ratings assessments. There were some pretty good obstacles that Jeanne conquered like a pro, especially the point 16.5 miles into the trail that Wells describes as a steep, rocky climb (toughest spot on the trail). It was! The Swasey Cabin itself was a relic of ages past, settled in at the bottom of some of the scenic mountain cliffs of the area. Just past the cabin we took a short walk up to what is called the Ice Box. That was a small, almost vertical slot canyon-looking crack in the mountain with a large tree growing in the middle of it and nearby, what looked like old mining equipment similar to a sluice. The other sight to see on this trail was the Eagle Canyon Arch. It was about 12.5 miles into the trail. The 18 miles took us three and a half hours to complete and it took Jeanne about 21 hours and counting to come off her adrenaline high. Harry, you would have been proud!
Our home out in the sticks near Goblin Valley St Pk. When Jeanne gets the itch, yup, we’re off to the wilderness with terrible views like this… Swasey’s Cabin at the foot of the mountain. I get my own personal little amphitheater here on the way to Ice Box.Chillin’ it in the Ice Box. This funky tree is still living and growing out of the Ice Box.Looks like left-over mining sluice. The Eagle Canyon Arch.4-wheeling Queen Jeanne conquers all!Here she comes, am I a little too close?“Honey, is our auto insurance paid up?”“Better get out of my way!”
Goblin Valley State Park was next on our list. It consists of 3 small valley areas of hoodoos of varying sizes and shapes. There are no designated trails throughout and you can actually climb on the rocks (at your own risk of course). They allow dogs on leash and the thing that stood out to us was how clean they keep the area. There are no garbage cans amongst the hoodoos, only cans at the observation point. Other than the “goblin” valleys, there are a couple of hike/bike trails around the exterior of those valleys and a campground. The park also has a disc golf course, some “holes” near a stray hoodoo or two (not in the valleys), which a ranger said was for tournament play only, not general use.
Like George Thorogood sang, “Hoodoo you love?” Must have been talking about Goblin Valley State Park… Hey, looky, a T-Rex and Richard Nixon!Now, there’s a hot tamale out there amongst the goblins…Break time!Disc Golf, anyone?
With all the hiking/biking/ATV/Jeep trails in the area, we chose to hike two trails that, when linked together, form an 8-mile loop, the Little Wild Horse Canyon Trail and the Bell Canyon Trail. We packed up our stuff, grabbed Woodrow Wilson (Woody, our K9) and headed out bright and early for our hike. The weather was perfect for hiking, a bit brisk in the morning but clear blue skies and not overly hot in the afternoon hours for this time of year. We pretty much were all by ourselves for the entire hike and we got to enjoy the several slot canyons without any human log jams. The slot canyons were spectacular and we lucked out with only a few small “puddles” to wade through, nothing deeper than shin-deep. 5-hours and no major injuries later we were back at the Jeep. It was a good workout for us, but Woody was really running out of gas at the end, the short-legged pooch that he is.
You mean we’re going in there?Gotta love these slots!Does it feel like the walls are closing in on you yet?A little more breathing room…“Just hold it up a little longer, long enough for me to squeeze through…”Uh-oh Woody, we gonna get a little wet…An other-worldly look through the slot…Break time, again!Yeah, there was a little climbing time…
We had to cut our boondock stop short here, the water pump for the rig was starting to self-destruct with screws holding the parts together shearing off. What a pain in the butt. So we packed up a day or two early and headed into Moab hoping to find an RV parts store. We found a farm & feed store that had a small RV parts department (go figger), but they were out of the Shur-flo pumps (of course, just my luck!). But the staff said they would order it for me and get it in 2-3 days, so all is not lost. So, stay tuned for our shenanigans in Moab, same Jeep time, same Jeep station…
The Garden City KOA was our home for a couple of days at Bear Lake. Lately we have been staying at a lot of KOA’s solely for their conveniences, even though I continue to whine about how high priced they seem to be, even the bare bones versions we have seen. But the Garden City KOA is one of the nicer KOA’s you’ll find anywhere. I would compare it to the Petaluma, CA KOA as far as being a total family campground, lots of activities on site, and it is right next to Bear Lake. During this short stay we took a drive up into Idaho and to the north end of the lake, it was not much to write home about. We also took a quick scouting trip into Logan, UT to scope out our next stop. On the drive through Logan Canyon (quite scenic in some spots) we came upon a cool spring, “Rick’s Spring”, which is actually a part of the Logan River.
A playground for growed ups.Two can play…Home at the Garden City KOAThe KOA at Garden City on Bear Lake.One of KOA’s famous bounce pillowsThey even had a super premium site with your own private hot tub, kids playground, and BBQ.
Traveland RV Park was our next stop in Logan, UT. Besides doing the necessary chores of the full-time RV enthusiast, we found a nice hiking trail (The Windcaves Trail) in Logan Canyon that took us up the mountain to a windcave and what is touted as a triple arch. For me, the triple arch looked more like a large cave with several holes in the roof, but hey, if they want to call it a triple arch, then triple arch it is!
All about the Wind Cave… Jeanne the hiking Queen, on the Wind Cave trailFlowers in the mountains…A look out over the valley from the Wind Cave and Triple Arches.Looks like a cave with holes in the roof to me! Daredevil standing on the arch…
Utah fun over, it was time to head into the Nevada desert (in the summertime?!?!? YUK!). We overnighted at the Winnemucca KOA, then on to Minden and the Silver City RV Resort. Surprisingly, this close to the 4th of July celebrations and the impending Oak Ridge Boys playing at one of the local casinos, we were able to get space for a few days. We just kinda hung out during this stop, but did get a chance to visit with one of my fellow former co-workers and his wife, Forrest and Nadine, who happen to live in the area (Forrest was one of our primary pilots we used back in my narc dope spotting days. And he is a damn fine pilot I might add…). We also made a day trip into South Shore (Lake Tahoe) in a feeble attempt to find somewhere to park the beast for our niece’s wedding. Obviously and of course, not an RV space to be had and not a one opportunity to boondock anywhere close. Oh well, Carson City is only a half hour drive from the wedding…
A natural bus driver, don’t you think?What happens when the bus is faster than the bird? Luckily, no breakage on the already newly replaced windshield!Home at Silver City RV Resort.
Wanting to escape the heat we chose to head south and back to the Mammoth Lakes area. And, as that guy Murphy was still actively pumping out legislation (Murphy’s Law, get it?!?), we ran smack dab into the Marina Wildfire at Mono Lake. A short delay and we got escorted through the fire and smoke, onward to Glass Creek. We dry camped at the Glass Creek NFS campground again, this time around with the aid of our recently installed solar panel system. The solar panels worked like a champ, even in the thick trees, no generator use except for a quick run of the microwave oven. During our stay here we did some Jeep/OHV trails (the camphost said there were about 2,200 miles of such trails all over the area). Since we’ve already done the Rainbow Falls and Devil’s Post Pile things, we settled for checking out the Hot Creek and Convict Lake areas. The weather was bee-a-you-tee-full here, with just a touch of rain one day. The campground was pretty full most days, being a huge OHV destination in the cool of the summer. The only thing we had to worry about was Woody getting bit while chasing the little chipmunks all over the place—currently the Bubonic Plague is problematic in the area.
Cruisin’ through the Marina fire at Mono Lake.Home once again at Glass Creek NFS campground.Convict Lake. A view from the top of Lookout Mountain just north of Mammoth Lakes. One of the Inyo Craters we stumbled upon whilst 4-wheelin’.Hot Creek and some of her hot springs.Don’t mess with Mother Nature!
After 6 nights it was time to head back north to the Reno area. On our way to Mammoth I got hit 3 times with the amber check engine light with simultaneous red “brake air” lights. I did not have any loss of air, the engine did not cut power, but it did happen 3 times going over the hill (4,000’ to almost 9,000’ elevation). So I found a Cummins service center in Sparks and scheduled for a plug-in diagnostic on the 5th, hopefully to only find out I got one of those famous gremlins wreaking havoc on my computer components. We found space available (4th of July weekend, no less!) at the Boomtown KOA and holed up there until my appointment on the 5th at Cummins.
In the meantime, more exciting news came our way. Keep in mind, we are a bit short of Medicare age. The county of Sonoma had forced us many moons ago to drop my wife Jeanne from my county retirees health plan due to excessive cost. But all was not lost. As we started out as full-timers, we began with a domicile in South Dakota. Actually found a PPO individual plan for Jeanne that was not too hard to swallow; $2,500 deductible, with an HSA, for just over $300 per month, through Coventry One. Way mo’ betta than what the county wanted to keep her covered. Well, that held out for about 7 months…until Jeanne got her first health insurance cancellation notice from the company, specifically naming the ACA as the cause of their discontinuing to offer individual PPO plans. She researched South Dakota plans and found there was not a lot of choice in viable replacement plans. But all was not lost. We, as it works out, are members of the Escapees RV Club, based in Livingston, TX. Jeanne researched Texas and found a lot more choices for health insurance and found a similar PPO plan to that from which she was just cancelled, through Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas. It had a $6,000 deductible, but otherwise was similar and was just short of $400 per month. So the decision was made, we became official Texans via the Escapees RV Club, and Jeanne’s health insurance was settled. Well, that held out for about 6 months…until she got her second health insurance cancellation notice, again specifically naming the ACA as the cause for their cessation of offering individual PPO plans. But all was not lost (is this getting old yet?). More research and Jeanne found Kyle at rverinsurance.com who specializes in assisting full time RV folks with insurance needs. He found her a Texas based EPO plan through United Health Care, similar to the last plan in deductible and HSA, but this one was about $500 per month. Still way mo’ betta than my county cost would have been, so, sign us up! Well, that held out for about 6 months! Letter number 3, you’re cancelled because we no longer will offer individual EPOs. Isn’t life just GRAND! So now we research again. But all is not lost. Jeanne has come across a new idea in health care. She found an outfit called Altrua Health Care Sharing Ministry. It is a religious based system, specifically not health insurance, but qualifies in all the government red tape as insurance as far as not having to pay penalties for being uninsured. There are several health care sharing ministries in operation now, but this one differs from some of the others in that your “premium” is actually a “donation” or “contribution” that goes into an escrow account. Members approved health costs are then paid from the escrow account. And the “Gold” plan with a $3,000 deductible for Jeanne as an individual was going to fang us for our “contribution” in the huge sum of $270 per month. It is a long story to explain coverage, if anyone wants to check it out I believe it is at www.Altruahealthshare.org. We are leaning hard toward this system, if anyone has any info to offer, good or bad, don’t hesitate to comment on this blog entry. Oh, by the way. My county retiree health insurance (out of state PPO through Blue Cross) just went up for me, to a staggering $800 per month, out of MY pocket. If I had chosen to keep Jeanne covered under the county retiree plan, our out-of-pocket expense for that plan, the only plan offered under our circumstances, would be a whopping $2,000 PER MONTH!!!!!! OUCH!
Enough whining, good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow…and Happy Independence Day to all, thanks to all that served to create our Land of the Free, because of the brave.
