It’s 2 degrees below zero today with 6 inches of snow on the ground here in Billings, Montana, so as I sit looking out my window of course thoughts turn towards the upcoming spring 2015 trip, set to begin the first week of March. As I ponder this year’s destination, it occurs to me that it might be interesting to look back at some previous trips taken before I started blogging. When I first purchased the Lunch Box and my Canon “One-Shot” Camera I started writing emails to share my adventures with a few friends and family who are house-bound and can’t travel. As word of mouth spread, the list of people who wanted to get the emails grew to over 50. I started exploring other means of sharing and decided to start my blog, thelunchboxjournals.com, which is now being followed by people all over the globe. (Thanks again to all you lunchboxers!) Since I won’t be sharing a new adventure until March (and I’m a bit bored sitting here in Billings), I’ve decided to bring a couple of past adventures up from the old email journals to the blog. I hope they are still interesting to those who may have seen them before and enjoyable to those who haven’t. One of the things I noticed right away when reading these old emails is that the “photo” part of my “photo-journalism” has come a long way! Enjoy!
The wanderings of Spring 2012 took me, Augie the doggie, and friend Peggy from Fairview, Oregon (where I was living at the time) throughout the Four Corners area of the U.S. (the area where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona all come together). Here’s the way it all unfolded as written in spring 2012…
Day 1: Friday, April 6 Fairview, OR to Huntington, OR (about 340 miles) Raining in Fairview (just east of Portland, OR) as we set out around 9:00am, heading east on I-84 towards Farewell Bend State Park in Huntington, OR. The weather changes from rain to partly cloudy (The Dalles to Pendleton), to a blizzard (across the Blue Mountains at Meacham, OR), back to partly cloudy, back to snow (Baker City while we were getting gas) and then to snow at the campground in Farewell Bend State Park on the banks of the Snake River which turned to clear skies by bedtime. It got COLD and I was more than happy to turn on my electric blanket. Remember, I am a delicate little flower and I DON’T like to get cold feet. Augie sleeps in the cab-over with me, and he was happy to sleep on a warm bed as well. We know it was cold because other rigs in the campground woke up to frozen pipes. Our’s weren’t frozen, but I have a little water leak on the outside by the left rear tire well (right behind the kitchen sink). It didn‘t leak much, but enough that the water pump kicked on off and on throughout the night. Then in the morning I found ice cycles hanging. Given my extensive mechanical knowledge (that’s a joke for those who don’t know me personally!), the quick look showed absolutely nothing so I decided to go on and take the “wait and see” approach. As the journal progresses, you’ll find that this is a frequent strategy that I use in mechanical situations! The other one, of course, is to throw money at the problem…. The other disappointment was that we couldn’t use the new billion dollar satellite tv system (yeah, Dish Network!). Supposedly everywhere that we can get our Verizon cell phones to work, the satellite will work. Of course, with careful planning our first stop (Farewell Bend State Park) is along the Snake River where the pioneers left the Snake River and headed over land to the Columbia. Enough of a historical moment, the important thing is that it is down at river level at the beginning of Hell’s Canyon, and, yes, you guessed it, there is NO Verizon cell phone coverage and thus no television. The only thing that I can say is “Thank God” because if it had been Monday night and Dancing with the Stars was on, I would have found myself bundling it all up and heading down the road to a tv signal! The other highlight was getting gas for $3.85 in Baker City ($3.99 at the Safeway in Fairview before departure).
Day 2: Saturday, April 7, Huntington, OR to Brigham City, UT (about 300 miles) BORING!!!!! I knew this would be a slow day because we had interstate the entire way with nothing interesting to look at. The original plan was to go through John Day in central Oregon but at the last minute decided to take I-84 along the Columbia River because there was a blizzard in Eastern Oregon on Wednesday and so the safer plan was to take the freeway. Continuing on I-84 through southern Idaho (gas in Burley, ID, was $3.75 a gallon just before we turned southeast on I-84 towards Salt Lake City.) After a long day, the plan was to stop at Willard State Park, north of Salt Lake City but when we pulled in there wasn’t a decent spot to be found (because, unknown to us, it’s spring break in Utah), so we headed back up the road a couple of miles and stayed at the Golden Spike RV PK in Brigham City, UT. It was a good place to stop; quiet, clean restrooms but was in the middle of a bunch of trees so the satellite dish didn’t work again! Fortunately the park had cable tv so we plugged into that and were treated to the total lack of decent tv on Saturday night. I was flipping back and forth between “The Ten Commandments” and a 20 year-old episode of Law and Order while reading my book (for those interested in my literary efforts, I am working my way through the “Game of Thrones” historical fantasy series that is the basis for the series on HBO. Knights, dragons, lots of blood and “derring-do” Great stuff!) The downside is that the leak is still happening, but only when we have the water pump on for the system – I’ll bet that’s a clue, but, again, not much of a leak so I fell back again on my favorite strategy of doing nothing. Good night’s sleep, Augie sleeps all night long, too. (which means that I get to sleep as well!)
Day 3: Sunday, April 8 Brigham City, UT to Provo, UT (about 100 miles) This is planned to be a short day as it is Easter Sunday and we are going to cruise around Salt Lake City on a self-guided auto tour! You’ll find as we go along that I’ll refer a lot to “auto tours”. Because of my disability, we don’t do much walking, but like to drive around new towns, checking out history, architecture, shopping, etc. Salt Lake City is really well laid out, easy to maneuver around. We start at the capitol building because across the street is a great find ,the state visitor information center. Lots of good information, which is good, because neither of us can remember how to work the little camera I had purchased (a one-click). I do have to say that the whole Temple Square thing was interesting to see. You always see pictures of the Temple but actually all of the church office buildings are equally interesting, both in scale and architecture. The Utah state capital is also impressive, sitting above the down town area commanding views of the entire valley. We head up South Temple street towards the University of Utah, as it used to be THE address live on and is lined with old apartment buildings and interspersed with old mansions. Lots of interesting buildings to look at. The University of Utah is also up high and we wander around there until we find the actual “This is the Place” state park. It consists of a reconstruction of a Mormon pioneer village with characters living the roles, etc. The gift shop was jammed with stuff, but it was Easter Sunday and while you could walk through the village, none of the “stuff” was actually happening. I was too cheap to pay the $7 admission fee so we looked from the other side of the gates, and then tried to take a picture. The picture taking is still a project in progress as, again, neither of us could focus it. We have a great picture of me praying alongside the monument to Mormon families, but you’ll have to take our word for it since the picture is REALLY small. When we got back to the Lunch Box (that’s the name of the motor home for those who don’t know), I did find the instruction manual and had a short camera lesson. I think that next time I will be able to BOTH focus and zoom. Woo-Hoo!!!! We then cruised along Wasatch Way, a street that hugs the foothills above SLC, and gawked at the mansions along the way. Of course, there was a “directionally challenged moment” but I reminded my co-pilot of the Bentz creed for navigation: Follow the yellow line. If the road doesn’t have a yellow line down the middle, it doesn’t go anywhere important! This served us well, we got back to I-15 (the interstate) and found our way to Provo, where we are currently at Utah Lake State Park where I changed to shorts and short-sleeved shirt and flip flops as it was nearly 80 degrees under crystal clear blue skies….. THAT’S What I’m Talking About! Here’s a picture of the campground at Utah Lake State Park (this was the first try at using the new camera AND following the directions (!), transferring to the computer, and now pasting it into the journal…, hope it works!)
FINALLY the Dish Network works and I am currently watching the Amazing Race! And, oh yeah, gas in Salt Lake City is $3.61 a gallon (no, that is not a miss-print!) End of day 3 – tomorrow we head to canyon country and will be in the Moab, UT, area for the next four days (where it is forecasted to be in the low 80’s – not bragging, just sharing information!
Day 4: Monday, April 9, Provo, UT to Deadhorse Point State Park, Moab, UT The day started with great weather, clear skies, etc., and I managed to actually get on I-15 without getting hit (which nearly happened last night as we maneuvered through road construction at the exit for Utah Lake SP. We left the Salt Lake Valley and took Hwy 6 through the Wasatch Mountains to the “other” side of Utah. Great scenery, road clear with frost on the side, and an easy ride through the mountains to Price. The drive was uneventful as we took Hwy 6 to I-70 and then turned south on Hwy 191. We left Hwy 191 about 10 miles north of Moab and turned west. The road is essentially a dead end, passing first through Deadhorse Point State Park and then going on to Canyonlands National Park. We stopped and “camped” at Deadhorse State Park in the middle of spectacular scenery. Of course there was a bit of drama, it’s free range on the road into the park and the cows seemed to REALLY like the color of the motorhome, but no contact was made! I put camping in parentheses because, while there is no water or cable television, there IS electricity so the satellite TV works and we get to see DANCING WITH THE STARS!!!! Woo-Hoo! Essentially the two parks occupy a plateau between the Colorado River and the Green River, with spectacular canyons dropping off on either side. Here’s the view looking east down into the Colorado River Canyon towards Colorado at the edge by the Visitor Center about a quarter mile from where we camped.
Day 5: Tuesday, April 10, Deadhorse Point State Park to Canyonlands National Park to Moab, UT Another beautiful day with warm temperatures but we’re starting to hear rumors of a storm approaching by the end of the week. Oh well, for now, party hardy!!! The goal today is to visit Canyonlands and then head into Moab for three days at an “in town” RV park. As noted earlier, Canyonlands starts at the edge of Deadhorse as they share this immense plateau that is shaped like an arrowhead pointing south with the two rivers on either side. This is VERY rugged country and there is no road down to the actual confluence of the two rivers, you pretty much have to raft the river to see it. At the same time that Mother Nature is unfolding outdoors, the “to-do” list is also starting to grow. The list includes 1) the water pressure in the bathroom sink is non-existent (though the toilet works just fine, thank you very much!), a snap that holds the insulated cover over one of the sky lights is loose and it keeps falling down along with the Styrofoam insulation (You might not think this is much of an issue except Augie and I sleep about 20” under it), the screen on the door has come out of the track, and the kitchen water faucet keeps coming off. But I digress, let’s go back to mother nature and Canyonlands!
This is at the edge of the viewpoint about quarter mile from the campground at Deadhorse Point State Park looking south towards the confluence of the two rivers. The Colorado is on the extreme left and the Green River is on the extreme right. About 20 miles in front of us is where they come together. The picture doesn’t do it justice. After going through the various roads of the park, we head into Moab, which sits down in the Colorado River Valley in a canyon. We cruise town, check out the brew pub and the barbecue joint (we get to go out to happy hour in Moab!), and then settle in the RV park. It’s a nice place with lots of trees, which causes a bit of an issue because the satellite tv doesn’t work and the Dancing With The Stars results show starts at 7pm! Fortunately the park has cable television so we switch technology and breathe a sigh of relief. No need to go to a hotel room, because we have planned this entire trip around Dancing With The Stars… I then did my domestic chores. In short order I cleaned the screen in the bathroom faucet (solved the water pressure problem) tightened the screw on the kitchen faucet (solved the jerking the handle off problem), screwed the skylight cover snaps back in and took of the duct tape (yes, I carry clear duct tape, it works on everything), AND took the rubber cord out of the screen door and re-installed the screen. WHAT a manly domestic moment!!!!
Day 6: Arches National Park (8 miles north of Moab) We have three choices of activities for the two days left in Moab. For sure we are going to Arches National Park on one of the days, then either a 50 mile tour of the Colorado River gorge, or spend a day in town. The morning (again!) had spectacular weather but we know from the news that a storm is supposed to come that night, so the decision is to head out to Arches National Park. Absolutely the right decision. Just 20 minutes from town we spent the day touring this. Again, pictures don’t do the place just, it was just amazing!
We bought post cards for the pictures of the arches as it had become very windy, more crowded at view points, and just not optimum picture taking conditions but, somehow I did manage to take one more picture. Most of you haven’t actually seen the Lunch Box, but the bathroom is across the back and has a huge window in it. Here’s my favorite picture of the day, taken when I was sitting on the toilet looking out the back window. This is the life!We’re back in the RV park in the middle of a warm wind storm, hunkered down for the night. Tomorrow’s another day!
Day 7: Thursday, April 12, Moab, UT The weather has turned a bit; cooler, windier, and occasional brief intense rain showers. We have been looking at the Colorado River canyon from above, so we decided to take a side trip along Hwy 128, following the actual canyon bottom along the river east of Moab. Again, magnificent scenery and then the canyon opens up and we find a winery! Castle Creek Winery and Resort sit along the river where the canyon opens up into the Castle valley. We stop as the winery is open but find out that we are 25 minutes too early to taste – Utah state law doesn’t allow them to pour until noon! Doesn’t matter, the labels have cowboys and western themes so Peggy buys 4 bottles! We then go over to the resort where they have a small museum that documents many of the movies that have been shot in the area over the years (lots of John Wayne westerns but also Thelma and Louise). Here’s a picture of the winery and then of the valley from the parking lot below the winery.
On the way back we pulled off to the side of the road to have lunch. Here’s the view out the river side, it’s about straight down to the water…and the picture’s a bit distorted, we’re about 5 feet from the edge. While sitting there an intense rain/hail squall hit the canyon. The wind gusts were so strong that it rocked the Lunch Box pretty severely. Fortunately, I was sitting on the right side of the motorhome, so with all that extra weight on the land side, we didn’t budge towards the river down below. It was a good day to have a big butt! After waiting out the storm, we head back to town. That night we go out to the Blu Pig for barbeque and beer (Uinta Brewery Golden Spike Hefezweizen is now HIGHLY recommended!). It’s Thursday night and the campground is now full of real Americans in their Hummers, Jeeps, ATV’s, etc., ready to hit the great outdoors. They also come accompanied by their giant dogs, which get Augie so excited that he can’t poop! Only in America…..
Next up: Heading south
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