Into Arizona

We are so thankful that we made the decision to drive straight to AZ and not drive to IL for Patty's visit. Between the winter storm "Atlas" and all of the tornadoes reported in the plains, we would have been caught in one or both of those areas. The worst that we experienced on this trip to AZ was wind and a little bit of rain in Provo, UT. Yesterday was crystal clear and warm - a perfect day for travel.

It was about 7:45 AM when we hit the road yesterday AM. It was another pleasant day and a day filled with unusual and beautiful views. The drive from Kanab, UT along state route 89 was another reminder of the changing geography and the hills. These are just some of the photos taken along that stretch of highway, from Kanab to Page, AZ:

The Glen Canyon Dam is just before the town of Page, and we stopped to take a photo, even though the views were not the best from this particular location:

The water level was low and there was no water being released from the dam into the canyon.

We had to take a temporary road that was built along a 20 mile stretch of route 89 out of Page as a result of a landslide. It was funny driving along this temporary road and spotting all of the "rest areas" about every mile or so:

Basically, the drive from Page to Flagstaff was boring and not as pretty as the rest of our journey from Jackson, but we still captured these photos of some of the landscape:

We had forgotten that AZ was in a different time zone and we actually gained an hour on this leg of our trip. So, we were arriving in Flagstaff just after the noon hour when we thought we were there at 1 PM. The view of the San Francisco Peaks was excellent with all the fall colors:

At 1 PM local time, we pulled into the Thousand Trails campground:

The site where we wanted to stay for the 3 nights we will be here is the same one we stayed on the last time we visited a year ago. The site has no sewer hookup, so we emptied the tanks before driving to the site and setting up. Below is a shot of our site:

 

It is a huge site and we like it because we can park the truck behind us in the lodge parking lot.

We made it to AZ and are just about to our location in Peoria where we will spend the winter at Lake Pleasant. Today we will run a couple errands - the most important of which is to the DMV in Cottonwood to renew Josie's license. We then plan to visit the Cliff Castle Casino for our first visit to a casino in several months...

Racing The Storm

The winter storm was closing in on Wyoming and the affects were being felt in Provo where we spent our first night out. The wind just screamed all night long and we rocked and rolled all night to the point where we got up extra early to pack and leave. We left shortly after 7:30 AM and it would have been earlier except that we wanted to wait for daylight.

The start was windy, foggy and wet:

and the first hour was just pure ugly weather:

We eventually outraced the bad weather and the countryside started to improve:

After driving about 170 miles south on I-15, we turned off the Interstate onto route 20 and drove to state route 89 which would take us all the way to Kanab, our destination for yesterday.

The scenery was terrific and this was the first time we had traveled this particular route to AZ. Here are some shots of the beautiful drive along route 89 through southern Utah:

This part of the state of Utah actually splits the two National Parks - Zion and Bryce Canyon - and we could see the influence of each as we drove to Kanab.

We arrived at Kanab at around 1:30 in the afternoon and we got set up in our site, which was very disappointing. We are on the end of a row of sites that is barely wide enough or long enough to handle our truck and fifth wheel:

Since we arrived earlier than originally planned, we took a walk to the downtown area to check out the stores and businesses. Here are a couple shots of the downtown of Kanab, UT:

It isn't too bad, but we got spoiled with Jackson.

We came back to our site, watched a little TV - with all the rolling and jittery pictures on our "hurting" TV - and went to bed early to get another early start this morning.

Our destination tonight is Camp Verde in AZ and we have about 265 miles to cover before arriving at the Thousand Trails campground. The first part of the trip is again through an area we haven't been before, so we are anxious to get more unique photos on this leg of our trip...

First Day Travel to Provo

We were on the road by about 9:30 after a last minute visit by Donna. She told us that the lodge was "slammed" on Tuesday night as a result of the parks - Yellowstone and Grand Teton - closing because of Federal Funding lapses. People had to stay in Jackson because it was the last town going north through western Wyoming where any lodging would be available.

Our rig all ready to go:

We had a terrific day to travel weather-wise, and we had sunshine almost the entire trip. We beat the forecasted winter storm by one day. Whew!

Our trip was through some spectacular and colorful countryside. From the very start of the trip out of Jackson and going south, the colorful countryside was just beautiful. We had to sort through our pictures - almost 200 of them - to find some representative of the beauty we drove through.

The road south the first 12 miles was to Hoback Junction. These shots were taken through that section:

and this one driving through the canyon to Alpine:

We took many pictures of the mountains and countryside from Alpine to the Utah border:

where we finally stopped at a rest area, just inside the state line of Utah:

The route took us on a couple state highways that allowed us to avoid going through Salt Lake City, and took us past the towns of Park City and Heber. These shots were taken along those highways:

Just before arriving in the town of Provo, we drove by the Deer Creek State Park that was  very pretty and offered a little bit different scenery:

 

 

 

It was a little after 4 PM when we arrived at our destination in Provo at the Utah Lake State Park. We have a pull through site, on the lake, that allows us to remain "hitched" so we can get an early start this morning with very little to prepare. Here is our site in Provo:

 

 





Today will be a lot like yesterday - traveling about 250 miles vs almost 290 yesterday - and we will stay in Kanab, UT, which is very close to the AZ border. We hope to get an early start so we can arrive in Kanab at a decent hour to relax a little bit before bedtime. We hope it is as nice as yesterday's trip and that the weather continues to cooperate for us. The wind is howling this morning and may be a result of the front coming through to the north which is carrying the winter storm. We will get a much earlier start this morning to get away from the wind...

Preparations Complete

We took the truck to get washed and all gassed up while also stopping at the grocery store to get some last minute traveling goodies. Everything is about ready to go and all the preparations are made for our first travel day today.

The grill we used all summer long - and for last 5 years - has seen its last cookout. It was in such bad shape as we started to clean it that we pitched it and ordered a new one from Camping World to be delivered to our new address in Peoria, AZ where we will be in 5 days. We salvaged the grates from the grill to use on the new one which has the same size cooking area and is a better model of the one we ditched yesterday.

We also stopped at the lodge to pick up our final checks and to say goodbye to the staff. There aren't many changes planned over the winter except they will eliminate all but four of our smoking rooms for next year. We expect to see more changes, but they haven't been announced as yet. Donna will be working all winter behind the desk and she will keep us posted on all the changes as they occur.

The last shots before performing the final setup to leave are below. The first is of the setup for the bikes on the rear of the fifth wheel:

The rack will work fine and we hope the bikes make it OK with this arrangement.

The second is of the view behind our rig which will change next year:

They have already begun a project to erect a huge bus barn and offices for the (free) public bus service - called the Start Bus - to be completed on this space. They have already started clearing the area and have the site marked off to begin construction. There is suppose to be a wall built behind our area in the RV park, so the view is certain to change.

Our first stop tonight is a familiar one - Utah Lake State Park - in Provo Utah. It is the same location where we spent our first night out last year. See you next time from the road again...

Season Over

Our second season at the Virginian Lodge came to a close last evening at 11 PM. It was a bit busier than we anticipated, but still slow by peak season standards. We said our farewells to the lodge staff and management and are anxious to move on to our next chapter in this adventurous lifestyle.

There are more rigs in our RV park than at this time last year:

but the lodge is about as empty of guests as last year at the same time:

Notice that there are still puddles in the driveway as a result of all the rain we have had. It has not only been wet, but very cool and we have not had much time to prepare for our trip that begins tomorrow. Our space is below as it appears this morning before final preparations:

It has been a terrific home for us through the season and we would return to the same site next year should we follow through on our plans to return.

There has been a change in our planned trip to AZ. With the shutdown of many of the Federal businesses as a result of the budget crisis in Washington D.C., the National Parks will be closed - at least, that is the word we received last night. So, we cancelled our reservations at the Bryce Canyon RV Park and will stop, instead, at an RV park in Kanab, UT on Thursday night. We will arrive one day earlier at the Thousand Trails campground in Camp Verde. We still plan to arrive at Lake Pleasant in AZ on the scheduled day of October 7. We hope to stop at Bryce Canyon on the way back to WY next year.

We have lots to do today to get everything ready to go by tomorrow morning. It appears that the weather will cooperate today, and the chance for rain is only 10%. We hope to beat the expected return of snow that is in tomorrow's forecast. It will be a race south to stay ahead of the lousy weather...