IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!

UTAH - DAY ONE - 9.21.23

As the title says, "It's been too long" since Walt and I have been out in the RV for a trip.  When we went "home" this past spring we flew and the time we went away from the resort before that we were close by but were at least camping in the camper.

So we're on the road again.  Follow along as we explore UTAH!

We have spent the better part of two days getting ready for this trip.  I think we packed the entire house!  It should be a good while before we have to step foot inside a grocery store on this trip.  For other than milk and bread that is.

We were supposed to leave on Wednesday but then remembered we had to clear the garden of all the dead stuff before we left.  We'll harvest the onions, beets and carrots when we get back home.  That set us back and I really wanted to get some things done around the house before we left.

At precisely 9:57 this morning we pulled out of Juniper Ridge and at 9:24 I asked for the first time,,,,,,"Are we there yet?"  At 9:33 we had our first "pit stop".  The man can't hold his coffee, plain and simple!

At 10:54 Walt looked at the passenger side mirror and yelled (I'll clean this up for you)  Gee whiz, what is that silver thing flapping along side the camper?  I looked and saw it too.  My first thought was we had a blowout and it took the siding off.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  We did lose a piece of plastic that fit around the wheel wells.  Its replaceable but I'm sure it will cost an arm and a leg.

We stopped for gas about 10 minutes after we left.  Not really, but it sure didn't seem like we got very far before I heard, WOW! we're down to nearly a half of a tank of gas!  It didn't help that we were driving into the strong wind.  We paid $4.29 a gallon just outside of Winslow and  the 11.9 gallons set us back $51.30.

  Thankfully, traffic wasn't bad at all.

The rest of the trip was uneventful but it sure was pretty to look at.  We were on Route 89, at the this point, heading north.

The "colors" of our journey  changed from one minute to the next.  At one point its all earth tones....

,,,,,and the next the difference is startling!

We passed many, many "jewelry stores" along the way.  The Navajo women make their jewelry and sell it along the road in what looks like thrown together open air shacks, if you will.  Stands of those who were selling fry bread were passed quite frequently also.  I don't know that I've ever had fry bread and today wasn't the day to stop and try some.  Perhaps on the way back.

It was decided that we had better fill the tank one more time in Page, Arizona since we had no idea what gas would cost in Utah.  Once again, we paid $4.29 and the 19.1 gallons set us back another $82.30.  We are planning on being on the road for 4 to 6 weeks or until the money runs out, whichever comes first.  At this rate we might be home next week.  This sure is a long way from the $.32 we paid for gas when we were dating all those years ago.  It used to cost me $3.50 a WEEK for gas in my Pinto!

This is the sign we've been waiting to see!  

More scenery pictures as we traveled down the road.

Around 3:30 we pulled in the campground where we're staying for the next 2 or 3 days.  We're at the Kanab RV Corral in Kanab.  I went into the office to get us registered while Walt took the pup for a much needed walk.  With the military discount the first two nights cost us $91.20.  But THEN,,,,add in the Booking Site Fee ($3.00) ((what the hell is a Booking Site fee?))  $5.25 for the Transient Room tax.  EXCUSE ME, we brought our own room! and $7.72 for the 8.2% Sales Tax.  A whopping $107.17 for a little plot of land on which to park.  Ok, ok, we have full hook-ups but still!  I just can't but to compare it to the $7.50 a night we pay at the Elks Lodge in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

We did the channel scan thing on the TV once we got set up.  It was important to Walt to find out which channels we get because the Eagles play Monday Night Football this week.  It looks like we'll be looking for a sports bar come Monday because we get NO channels here!  Nothing by antenna!  Thank heaven we have lots of movies in the cabinet so as I write this he's watching Quigley Down Under,,,,,again.

Abby is enjoying herself.  Lots of new smells to explore in the dog park!  She is a wonderful traveler.  We put a baby crib mattress on the back seat of the truck so that she is comfy.  She sleeps a good part of the way with the gentle bounce of the crib mattress making it easy for her to drift off to doggie dreamland.  She's happy as long as she's with us.

The campground is one of several that are right in the center of town it seems.  Its adequate.  Nothing fancy but then we don't plan on spending a whole of time here in the park.  Tomorrow we are going to check out the Johnson Canyon Driving Tour.  One of the things we'll see on this driving tour is the town of "Dodge City" where some of the Gunsmoke TV shows were filmed.  We're looking forward to it.

After dinner we took a trip to the dog park, Walt watched a movie and I started writing the blog again.  Happy campers, all!

More tomorrow!