Friday, Nov 20:
We leave Cookeville Walmart early in the dark and drive onward hoping to possibly make it home (not in my eyes because we are talking a good 15+ hours of my being a passenger). Well it was not to be (no kidding). Just before Harrisonburg, VA we hear ALARM< ALARM of tire pressure monitor, rapid deflating passenger side inner tire of duelies. We were near and exit and Harrisonburg and David changed the tire at a mcdonald’s/truck stop between curse words. Back on the road we headed to a tire place to have all four rear tire stems replaced with metal ones and also the spare. This was not the first trip where we had valve stem problems. $56 later (ALL METAL THIS TIME) and off we went on our journey. But wait, its not over yet! A few exits down (NO exaggeration)…ALARM, ALARM tire pressure gauge goes off on the right front tire (no duelies of course) and again, rapid deflation with no exit in sight and we roll to a stop at 12PSI. We are on route 81 heading north and dark is quickly approaching. We pull out the Progressive Roadside Service card and wait for someone else to change the tire on this very busy road where everyone is flying by us. We always head out of the lane next to people having roadside issues but NOPE, no one was. We waited for an hour for him to show up but were appreciative of someone else doing it. Again we did not make our destination (mine anyway) of Mohegan sun Casino in Wilkes, Barre, pa. Roadside service arrived with A tire iron. No Flashlight/dark so he was going to use his phone, no compressor…just him. David had taken off the tire and was ready for him…after waiting and waiting. After they left we were able to SQUEEZe out on congested I-81 north where we quickly got off the first exit we found and parked it overnight at the Walmart in New Market PA (north of Harrisonburg). ZZZZZZZZZZ after a quick trip into walmart to get toilet paper.
Thurs, Nov 19:
The back roads from broken bow, OK were a bit slow and through small towns but scenic. Hopped on route 40 only to discover that In Arkansas and Tennesse, route 40 is well travelled by trucks…lots of trucks and more trucks than route 81. Would not do that route again. One hour stop on route 40 due to a fire in a truck and we would not make our destination. Our evening was spent sleeping at a Walmart in Cookeville, TN…a quiet night was had by all after the crazy kids with noisy cars got over their fun. Is there not anywhere else teenagers of driving age can hang out other than Walmart…really!
Weds, Nov 18:
Ardmore was fairly close to broken bow, OK our destination for tonight…a few hours after we spent too much time tryng to find GLUTEN FREE Ibuprofin…which I never have to take but back problem forced it on me.
Today we spent the night with friends in Broken Bow, OK…
Thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks Jim and Sandra!
Tuesday, Nov 17:
With New Mexico in lockdown for COVID, the roads were pretty sparse. Today we headed to Ardmore, OK Walmart to overnight and do some shopping. A train early in the morning did not wake me and it was a busy Walmart. Note to self, don’t do this one again. We parked over against far end of property by pick up area.
Monday, Nov 16:
Bright and early we said good buy to Graham and Melissa and off we headed east. Our destination was Valley of Fires Recreation Area near Carrizozo, NM. $6 with the old guy pass got us a service less spot (same one as last time) and water nearby, Dump/water fill/Trash…a bargain. Arrived in afternoon. Walked the trail where you can see the lava that pushed up from deep within the earth. Early to bed.
Sat, Oct 24 – Day 44 – Nov 15, 2020 -
We left our parking spot at 6:45am and drove. No cell service on the REZ despite periodic cell towers. Errands in Holbrook, AZ (free dump @ maverick). Laundry Sudzy’s in Snowflake, Taylor Walmart, Water @ Maverick in Show Low….and done! To Son’s house near Concho, AZ for two weeks or more to help him assemble a BIG commercial garage on his property.
One Friday we were heading to Walmart to do a grocery pick up and as soon as we got on the paved road (from 6 miles of gravel), ALARM for tire monitor went off. Show low is about 13 miles away? So I am reading off the tire pressure and its going down fast but we roll into discount tire with 16psi still in the passenger side outer tire of duelies. They discover it is the valve stem and we were rolling in short time with complimentary new stem. I mentioned at the time, should we not do the other one? Nope says the expert.
Friday, Oct 23 – Day 43: Valley of the Gods, Utah
Today we took a walk from our boondocking spot. Mali was in rare form thinking that EVERY bush had a lizard in it…she went from bush to bush while on the leash. Another relaxing day with incredible 360 views in VOG. At 3pm we left separately and headed for the 261 junction to hook jeep to rv and head down the road to junction of 261 and 163. Tomorrow we will arrive at son Grahams property in Show Low/Concho area
Thurs, Oct 22 – Day 42: Valley of the Gods, Utah
We are positioning ourselves for returning to sons house near Show Low/Concho Arizona on Saturday. But today was exploration into VOG. First thing I drove around and found a spot…surprisingly for a Thursday, there were a lot of rv’s in there. I knew where to look and found a nice one with 360 degree views and on one else in sight…perfect! David and rv eventually found me!
Weds, Oct 21 – Day 41: Valley of the Gods, Utah
Today we departed Lake Powell. Aiming for Comb Wash BLM campground enjoying the scenic drive to and then from Hite. We arrived after lunch at the campground (free dispersed so nothing offered. Found a spot that we could get into in the far part of the small campground. It was very nice and under cottonwood trees that were in full yellows. Out here in the desert that is something to appreciate! I went for a nap and David took Mali and Jeep on a dirt road 24 mile drive. He arrived back as I woke up. We both decided that the “dirt/sand” of this camping spot was just far too messy. Picture this: light terra cotta colored pastry flour/very dry and about 3” thick so that if you walk on it it poofs up making dust clouds. Now picture a dog on a long line running and playing in this stuff with her ball. NOPE as much as I wanted trees had to give them up…WAY messy for the few hours we were there. When a jeep ride revealed that some other areas were not for us, we opted to hit Blanding for some food supplies and then head to Sand Creek BLM Campground or Valley of the Gods. By the way the ride that cuts through the lower part of Comb Wash colorwise is really very striking (north also has its merits but the south particularly colorful…route 163 going from east to west as you go through the cut).Sand Creek turned out to be settled in with a cloud of dust so we arrived at VOG as it was almost dark. A long day of travel to find someplace to stay. We drove in to VOG and found a barely suitable pull through that would take us to morning when we could find something better in the light.
Tues, Oct 20 – Day 40: Stanton creek Campground Glen Canyon
Decided to stay another day and we explored the other part of the park/marina area. We are in the $6 (old guy pass) dispersed camping area which offers pit toilets and trash (on the way out). WELL the marina area had a free dump station so we put that on our list for tomorrow and potable water as well. We found convenience store for ice cream and chips…a complete junk food extravaganza. Hagen Daz 14.5 oz times 2 and a 2 person bag of chips (NO more) = $23.82….I nearly fainted! But I wanted and got that ice cream and chips!
Mon, Oct 19 – Day 39: Stanton Campground in Glen Canyon National Recreation area/Lake Powel
Today we decided to move to somewhere else. Lake Powell was our destination and we found a cheap campground in this national park (Glen Canyon)…$6 with the old guy pass. First Stop (but north) was Hanksville to stock up on a few things. The market there provided us with expensive lettuce and tomatoes and a few other things. Due to the busier than ever last weekend, they had not gallon jugs of water…hot on our list. Trash was dispersed at the gas station and the market. Water was procured from one of the gas stations. All set, we headed south on route 95 and then 276 to the end. Stanton Campground is a cheap dispersed campground/not free. We could have camped on the water but everyone else had the same idea and I didn’t want David to have to drag our class C all the way down there….S L O W L Y. We found a large spot not as close to the water which was perfect. AND people by the water could hear each other talk even if not that close. We have cell service also. This ride down here was pretty scenic and almost as much as the grand canyond (according to David)…lots of ups and downs. 84 degrees today! Still hot in mid/late October…a warm year here with little rain this season. Walk in the evening.
Saturday, Oct 17 – Day 37: BLM lands just south of the Magic Bus on route 95 south of Hanksville.
David is off to hike Mt. Ellen with Mali. I don’t do well at elevations like that just existing…let alone walking AND Elevation (11,000 feet) so I am wisely staying at 5,000 ft. I walked the quiet area around our boondocking site and got some things done around rv (like vacuuming washing floor when 6 feet/paws are gone). David enjoyed his hike but not the 2 hour jeep ride to get there/longer than he expected. David also found out that the reason everywhere is crazy with people is that Today is the first day of Deer season and people were out sooner scoping out WHERE to find the deer. The area around Little Egypt is known for bucks with big racks…a man thing for sure.
Fri, Oct 16 – Day 36: BLM lands just south of the Magic Bus on route 95 south of Hanksville.
A quiet night was had by all and it was nice and cool. We left early for a stop in Hanksville to get gas in both vehicles. A short drive to Little Egypt confirmed what we thought….that this is Utah School holiday and people are out in droves. The parking lot had lots of day use side by side visitors and rv’s parked for the long weekend. We could see off in the distance that the spot we were aiming for was taken. Again, we recouped and ended up using a BLM road to park just south of the Magic Bus (an old Winnebago decorated by the roadside). With no one else on this road (you could see) it was a quick sale! We settled on a spot after a quick cruise with jeep. By 3pm I was a bit bored and asked David if he wanted to drive the jeep up that steep hill to the Benches. He said, yes. As always, when we got to the top, he said, “Let’s keep going”. Me: okay. After awhile I was saying, I sure hope this goes through and doesn’t just abruptly stop (no maps with us). David had no trouble driving the jeep up or down anything. There were a few dicey spots (like steep downs) that I needed to get out and walk. David said, “to me, it looks more dangerous for you to walk down in crocs than to remain as passenger and drive down.” We drove for about 1.5 hours on that road. I began saying somewhere in the middle…”I sure hope we don’t have to turn around to go back and that this comes out on the paved road.” It did with my navigating and selecting roads that were better used and going in the right direction. Although I did think we were further south than we were. So we are here all by ourselves…yes!
Thurs, Oct 15 – Day 35: BLM Lands outside Goblin Valley SP
Today was Dinosaur day…I was so excited to see this but have to say it was a little underwhelming. I had days to build it up in my head. One dinosaur model/life size…just one. Only one building was open…smaller building than I envisioned and no open quarry. We returned to boondocking site and decided to move on to a boondocking site just north of route 70 to check out some areas of interest north of there. We could have done it from where we were at the time but decided that since the weekend was coming we should “claim our turf” before they arrived. WELL, with almost an rv in every driveway in Utah, I should not have been surprised but I was. The area we scoped out was like an rv city with MANY OHV’s/side by sides/dirt bikes/4 wheelers. We found one spot that boasted a blast of dust if anyone went by (highly likely and often). The road (off exit 131 route 70 utah) was gravel and VERY washboard. Intead we opted to head to the BLM lands outside Goblin Valley to replan for one night as it was getting dark fast. Found the ONLY spot left on the rim (lucky at this time of day 7pm) and planted ourselves.
Weds, Oct 14 – Day 34: BLM Lands outside Jurassic National Monutment.
Today was a relaxing day in morning as Mali woke me twice last night to go out/diarehia and I was very tired. In the afternoon we went to take a look and walk around by the “humbug Overlook” sign by Jurassic National Monument. An easy drive on well maintained gravel road; there was one short steep and slightly rocky part that even the family suv could go on. This led into a valley but at the end of the road there was a surprise. Map said “steep dropoff” at the roads end and what it really should have said was, “canyon”. Do not drive further because it won’t be pretty. The only thing there telling someone to not go further was a skinny BLM sign 4 feet tall x 3” (max) saying “no Vehicles”. I’ve seen better signage for WAY less. This should have been a fence. Nice looking canyon with some great colors. There was a walk down path but we did not do it.
Tuesday, Oct 13 – Day 33: BLM lands outside of Jurassic National Monument.
Left early and shopped at Walmart..spent like $200 which included an outside mat that was about 5 x 7 feet as it is very dusty here with so little rain. We headed to Jurassic National Monument and found that when were a few miles short of it (on a good gravel road but slow for rv/not so for me in jeep) that it was open Thursday or Sunday. We decided to leave the rv temporarily parked and head out on jeep to find something suitable for a few days of waiting and exploring. We did and it is pretty barren where we are parked so Mali has her 100 foot long line to use….and that she did! From our spot we can see the road but there MAY be 4 cars a day on it so…not bad. We took a ride to see if there was a gate at monument and yup there was…darn.
Mon, Oct 12 – Day 32: Horse Canyon Road enroute to Price, UT
Today was move day and errand day and that was accomplished in Green River, Utah: dump, water refill, trash, propane, food shopping, laundry ($2 load) and then a short drive to horseshoe canyon to park overnight. We left our boondocking spot near Goblin Valley and arrived tonight around 2:30pm. We did not score the best site and there are not really many good ones but we did get a pull through off the road about 200 feet so we can still hear road noise but it is kind of scenic. Took a couple of short walks.
Sat, Oct 10 – Day 30: BLM lands outside of Goblin Valley
Jeep ride up back behind temple mountain and up to route 70/ice cream in green river/back to rv via route 24. Still around 82- 85 degrees during the day but tomorrow the temps will be a more seasonable 70’s…whoopie! 85 degrees with or without high humidity is still hot…add a breeze and its better but I will still hide in the shade.
Fri, Oct 9 – Day 29: BLM lands outside of Goblin Valley
With 3 day weekend/Columbus day coming on Monday, we are sticking with our spot. We decided to take a road trip on Wild Horse Canyon road and to take it if we could (conditions wise) to route 24/paved for ice cream at the market there. It was roughly 30 miles to the paved route 24. The drive was no problem for our stock tired jeep; when they age out we will change that up to a more aggressive tire. We were also not sure if we would be able to cross the Muddy Creek with said tires but we were going to try…wanted that ice cream AND did not want to have to turn around! We looked at a couple of spots and they were NOPE. I took off on foot to investigate and found a potential spot that David agreed with and off we went. Of note is the fact that it has been DRY, DRY, DRY here. We went past Factory Butte on our drive…a big imposing bute of mostly grey. Sent David into the store and I got two delicious hagen daaz vanilla ice cream cups! Perfect! Back to rv to play with dog. Note to self: next time camp below one of the buttes on Wild Horse Canyon road. We also scooped up some water from muddy creek to use for our toilet flushing.
Thurs, Oct 8 – Day 28: BLM lands outside of Goblin Valley
BLM lands outside of Goblin Valley state park in Utah…hike up the san Raphael swell…I diy hike if you will. A somewhat cloudy day so good for hiking in 85 degree weather and early to beat the heat…perfect on both accounts. We did not go all the way to the top. MORE relaxing.
Weds, Oct 7 – Day 27: BLM lands outside of Goblin Valley
Today we drove about 38 miles of slow dirt road to Colonnade Arch which hovered over the green river. A long drive and we did not stop at THE Gallery/ghost panel in horseshoe canyon (NO DOGS, BOOO!). The actual hike to the arches was about 1.25 miles one way. NO one else back there…we did see one truck coming in on the way out.
Mon, Oct 5 – Day 25: Valley of the Gods to : BLM lands outside of Goblin Valley
We would have stayed one more day at Valley of the Gods but I want cooler weather so we are heading north. Let’s see where we end up tonight!
BLM Lands outside Goblin Valley State Park it is! We easily secured a spot…maybe one left.
