Category: Finding Dory2

Hey guess what y’all. You know how it’s summer? And you know how we’re in the desert? You’ll never believe this, but it gets really hot here. I know. Shocker right? So we have no hookups for three nights in Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. Which means no AC. But hey, we have so many fans, it’s not even funny. So I’m sure we’ll be fine.

Let’s start back to leaving Fruita, which we were both sad to do. Our route on this day would take us on Highway 12 for the most exciting stretch of it. I’ve known about this thing called “The Hogsback” for a really long time. I knew it was a stretch of the road with steep drop-offs on both sides with no guard rails and it caused me to chicken out on taking this road several years back. This time, I felt ready to tackle it, but not without some trepidation.

We began with the ultimate anti-climax of hitting road construction that stopped us dead for probably thirty minutes while we waited for a pilot car. There was a long line of cars that got stuck and people were getting out of their cars, or off their motorcycles, seeking shade under the bushes while we waited. It was annoying, and why they were working on a Sunday was a point of discussion among the sadly stuck. Finally, the pilot car driver returned and we got ready to follow. We were the first in line and the driver tore off at speeds higher than the posted speed limit. This was a particularly steep and windy section of the road so she was way far ahead and out of sight pretty quickly. The construction seemed to go on forever and it was unclear whether we’d passed the end of it or not, with no pilot car to be seen. That is a pilot car fail if you ask me. Like, she had one job. So we pulled off at a visitor information center where Richard got info. Everyone there seemed equally annoyed with how the construction project was being handled, so at least we felt validated. They gave us reassurance about the Hogsback and sent us on our way.

Really it was a shame the construction put such a damper on the journey because this is one of the most spectacular roads I have ever been on. We did get to appreciate it for the rest of the way at least and future travelers will enjoy a nice new road surface. The summit takes you up to 9600’ with a jaw dropping view of the whole “Grand Staircase” region. From that vantage point, you can see a huge crescent that looks like the world just ends and disappears over a precipice. Above that, you can make out the multicolored layers of rock, marking different territories by their varying levels of erosion. This “staircase” is what defines the entire Colorado Plateau, stretching from Bryce in the north, to the Grand Canyon in the south. This is the theme of our summer and the most impressive pieces lie along Highway 12.

We descended all the way down into the town of Boulder, which I thought would be a lot bigger. Climbing out of that, you pass through a Disneyland version of the natural world, where it just doesn’t seem possible to have that much striking scenery in one place. Then finally we came to the Hogsback. No panic attacks, not clutching at the steering wheel, no biggie. It was about a mile of being on the ridge, but the road was plenty wide enough and I never felt I might careen over the side. At the end of the day, it was less daunting than a lot of places on Highway 1, or even the ridgy part of the road to Fremont Peak State Park. No problem. Once upon a time, Richard was going to ride this, and we both decided it would be not that fun. It is a nonstop assault of steep climbing and descending, hitting 14% at times. There is very little shoulder and enough car traffic that it would be stressful, in equal parts mentally and physically. So he was glad to drive that particular section.

We passed through the town of Escalante (which we have been pronouncing with a latin “ay” at the end and have been told the locals do not pronounce it). The state park is really nice. It sits next to the Wide Hollow Reservoir and many of the sites have some good tree shade. Ours for the first night, however, did not. This was also the first place we’d been to for a while where there was LTE from the campground. That was great from the checking in with the world perspective, but not so great from the checking in with work for Richard perspective. It was a hard shift coming off Capitol Reef for him.

We switched sites the next day, due to not being able to reserve one for three nights in a row, and that was an improvement. Site 6 had trees for afternoon shade and that really helped. Don’t get me wrong, it was still plenty hot and we learned that pouring water on your head while fully clothed is wonderful. Inside the trailer was way too hot midday, so we chilled in our Nemo chairs and enjoyed the breeze, alternately spraying ourselves with the Aquabot, or going full douse. After dinner, we braved the trail up to see the petrified wood, and that is totally worth it. Petrified wood is cool and there is a lot of it in this part, hence the name I guess. It is far more colorful than I imagined and the light at the end of the day really makes it sparkle.

Richard got in a ride along 12 from the campground to a lookout point, and I got in some boating on the reservoir. Besides that, there are only a few stores in town, but I killed as much time as I could in those during the hot parts of the day because they are air conditioned. It’s a little awkward when you’re the only one in a very small grocery store and you have to pretend to read labels on the five boxes of cereal they have. I made sure to buy something. I will give a shout out to the Escalante Mercantile store because they have a very hip selection of high end and specialty food items. They also have fresh sandwiches, salads and baked goods, which made an excellent dinner our last night there.

I would recommend this park and for sure get up to see the petrified wood. We noticed some of the sites had hookups, but most did not. Some have shade and some do not. Sorry I didn’t note the good and shady ones, but 7 is one of them. All of the ones closest to the water had good shade.

We’re in an “extreme heat” situation in the southwest that is going to get more intense over the next couple of days. Luckily, we will have hookups for a while now. 

Total miles: 77.4, 15.6 mpg. Site 7 (no shade cover or tree shade), then site 6 (shade cover and tree shade in the afternoon). Some sites by the water have hookups. Pretty good LTE for both. Good dump, potable water. Trash dumpster by kiosk. Boat launch. Town of Escalante has some grocery stores, but limited in scope. Try Escalante Mercantile for organic, gluten free, and specialty produce.

Capitol Reef is ridiculous. It is over the top, too much. I mean, come on. Stop it already. There are too many breathtaking views to describe and not enough words in the thesaurus to write anything reasonable about this place. There must be poetry dedicated to this wonder of the world, but I am neither a poet, nor a photographer, so all you’ll get here are a bajillion iPhone pictures and a log of what we did while here.

And first off, I will end the suspense of the wind advisory travel. Short version: Honda Passports rock. I think this was about as intense as the wind storm I drove through with the Acura several years ago. I think the Passport handled better. And given we were driving into headwinds a lot of the time, getting 15.5 mpg is not too bad. I wonder if it’s the higher ground clearance or wider stance, but all I know is that we didn’t get pushed around at all. Winning in wind.

The drive along highway 24 was spectacular, even while windy. The previously flat stretches of landscape slowly begin to rise as you continue west, until you come into the last few miles of canyon before the park. Then you’re driving through gorgeous gorges all the way there.

Richard has been excited about Fruita campground since we started planning this. In fact, every time he has said the word, he’s done a squeee face and flapped a little. It has lived up to every expectation and then some. Our site is spacious and sits at the foot of the loop so you can stare right at the canyon wall while you chill in your Nemo chairs in the shade. Right there the journey is worth the price of admission.

After getting set up, we did the Fremont River trail, but I only made it to the first of two overlooks. It starts out pleasantly, following the river with periods of shade. Once you get to the gate though, it climbs up the side of the canyon wall and is very sun exposed and up up up. Once we made it to the overlook, I told Richard I was tapping out and cut him loose to go check out the second one. It was only another quarter mile or so, but I was done. Plus, it was still super windy and I was ready to be on the ground. We had a great Blue Apron dinner and watched “Galaxy Quest” so that we could be excited when the crew went to Goblin Valley.

Friday Richard rode the Scenic Road and I drove it. I thought we’d already seen the scenic road and had a hard time believing the extent of how freaking scenic that drive is. It’s just crazy. At the end, we caught the unpaved road that leads to the Capitol Gorge Trail. Again I love the off roadiness of Bruce2, although I did see plenty of minivans and sedans doing the same drive. I just feel we “looked” better out there.

At the trailhead, there is a vault toilet and a shaded sitting area. The trail itself goes about a mile down the canyon wash, with one spur trail taking you to “The Tanks.” That’s a .2 mile climb up to some natural rock basins that usually hold water. They are dry now, but the park rangers will tell you not to walk through them because there are species of fairy shrimp whose eggs can sit there dried out for ten years and still survive.

The rest of the trail only continues another maybe quarter mile past that spur and I’m glad we did it because we spotted a family of bighorn sheep with the most adorable baby. Dad was just standing in the middle of the trail ahead of us when I saw him. He then bounded up to the rock wall and stared at us disapprovingly until we passed by and left his family in peace. That was cool.

Richard rode the scenic road the other direction and we gaped in awe again as we viewed the landscape from the other side. We went to a ranger talk that afternoon so we could learn a little more about the geography. The ranger had some nice visual aids to help explain the tectonic forces at work that caused all this. It gets its name “Reef” from the fact that it acted as a barrier to travel, much like a barrier reef would do in the ocean. The “Capitol” part comes from one of the sandstone domes that early explorers decided looked like a Capitol building. And the layers of multicolored exposed rock are the result the great subduction and uplift caused by the “Laramide Orogeny,” which happened between 75 and 35 million years ago. Capitol Reef is called a Waterpocket Fold, which is a kind of “Monocline,” and the west side has been lifted over 7,000 feet higher than corresponding layers to the east. 

Lastly on Friday, after nappy time for me, I made a makeshift Blue Apron. You can’t always get kale or red grapes or shallots on the road, so I’m learning how to make substitutions with things like green beans, green onions, and red pears. Then we took in the sunset at a place called Sunset Point. That seemed like something I would be interested in. Pictures don’t do it justice, with the enormous rock pillars casting shadows on the multicolored reef wall as the sun went down. It was just beautiful. Also, it had 2 bars of LTE at Panorama Point. Sweet.

Our last day was Saturday and Richard hiked the Cohab Canyon overlook trail in the morning. I had zero interest in that one because it starts with a straight up vertical climb. That was a great one for him to do solo and he did an excellent job not getting lost. Meanwhile, I showered and washed my pants using the Scrubba and a clothes line idea I wanted to try out. He also did great adhering to his ETR and we headed out to nearby Torrey for a food shopping day and to get out of the heat. He didn’t get enough exercise hiking a vertical trail, so he biked the 11 miles while I drove and tried to upload photos when I got into service. That was successful (though slow) enough that I was able to get caught up on the blog. The shopping adventure was both a fail and a triumph in that I had forgotten all of the recipe cards I use to create a shopping list. Also, the tiny store in Torrey didn’t have a lot so we pressed on to the “big city” of Loa where there was a good food market. I recreated the last four recipes I’d done from memory and just shopped for those. I don’t know, I was impressed with myself for that.

After dinner, we went out for our last hike in this beautiful place. The Grand Wash trail is perfect to do around 7pm on a hot summer night because the sun will have gone down enough to put the whole place in shade. You get to do a bit of off roading before you get to the trailhead and from there it is a gentle walk down the wash. We made it most of the way and got through the “Narrows,” which was what I was interested in. If you keep going another half mile, you’ll hit the other side of it, which is on highway 24. Instead, we turned around and walked back, getting to the car just after sunset with plenty of light. What a perfect hike to round out a perfect trip.

This was one of our all time favorite national parks, and favorite campground. It is deep in the middle of spectacular scenery, with lush green grass and a running stream nearby. There was plenty of shade from the trees and you can even buy pies and cinnamon rolls from a little building in the campground called “Giffords Farm.” You can pick fruit when it is available from the orchard too. I guess the only downside is the lack of cell service, but that can be an upside too. It was just awesome and we were sad to leave.

Total miles: 70.6, 15.5. Site B 27. Nice site. No hookups but good solar with afternoon shade. Great views, plenty of space between sites. Good dump with potable water. No cell service unless you go to Panorama Point. Good fast WiFi at the visitor center. Grey water/rinse sink at the bathroom. Pies and baked goods available at the Giffords Farm building, but they sell out fast!

Wow, what a great one night stop! It was hard to get reservations at this place and I can see why. There are only 27 sites and there is a lot to see. I was in it for seeing where “Galaxy Quest” shot the scenes with pig lizard and Gorignak. Turns out there are people out there who actually took the time to match movie backdrops to the exact locations inside the rocky valley where the actors stood. I feel more nerdy knowing that is a thing, but also more sane knowing it wasn’t me.

To start the day, we had to bid farewell to Linda with dogs, who is making a beeline for home. Just too much crazy for one trip and we wish her safe travels and less tight quarters when she gets home. We hit the road with a shopping stop planned in Green River. This is about the only town along that stretch of highway 70 and it’s not much to speak of. We did find an adequate grocery store so that we were ready to head into the 24/12 national park extravaganza.

After about twenty miles down highway 24, I dropped Richard at the start of Temple Mountain Road so he could ride it, and then headed up to the park. He rolled in with enough time for us to go check out the “goblins” in Goblin Valley before dinner. This area is a geological oddity in its unique mix of silt and sandstone deposits. The erosion that has taken place in this valley produced hoodoos unlike any others. The big bulbous spherical rocks that sit atop delicate and fast eroding bases do in fact resemble fantastical creatures. And there is a whole army of them all assembled in one place where you can walk among them freely. It’s very surreal and looked like a fake set someone threw together and left behind.

We went back for a Blue Apron “Togarashi Chicken” dinner and I opted to cook indoory in Dory, since the wind was picking up. I can now give a full review of the new Suburban stove and I totally love it. The flame is more even and the dial is way more sensitive, allowing me to really control the cooking temperature. The rice was the best I’ve ever made while camping and did not boil over. And the chicken tenders cooked to perfection without creating smoke. I had come to just accept that cooking inside meant smoke, to the point that we always removed the “cooking timer” (aka smoke detector) and ran the ceiling fan full blast before starting. There just wasn’t any smoke this time and I attribute that to the lower and more even flame. The stove also starts more easily with a better ignition switch. I am super happy about it.

After dinner, we went out to the trail for the “Three Sisters” to watch the sunset. It was a toss up for a while whether the sun would get blocked by clouds, but instead we got a full show. It was one of the more beautiful sunsets I’ve seen and it was made even more picturesque with the backdrop of these iconic hoodoos. I took a lot more pictures than I’m posting.

The wind had been increasing since the afternoon, but instead of dissipating, it had grown alarmingly. Wind is not my favorite towing weather and I was wondering when it was going to let up. After the sunset, we went over to the Goblin Valley overlook and picnic table area, the one place anywhere where you can get any cell service, and Richard looked into weather forecasts. It said the wind advisory was going to last until around 10am the next morning. So it seemed like if we killed some time with a morning hike, we might miss some of it. We were wrong, but the hike was fun.

We did the “Carmel Canyon” trail right after coffee and shower. The 1.5 mile loop takes you through a deep valley with a short stretch of slot canyon. The descent down to the canyon floor was steep and a little slippery with sand on sandstone underfoot, but I scooted down on my butt in some places and made it around the loop like a boss. A slow, butt scooting boss!

We then got in our last cell service fix and found out the wind was going to last until 10pm. If anything, the gusts were getting stronger. Like actual dust storms were forming and everything was getting covered in fine red sand. At least we would not be driving busy highways, so we packed up and planned to just go slow. We filled the fresh water tank in Dory and did not dump the waste tanks so that she would have more weight to counter the wind buffeting.

Stay tuned to hear about how it went. Next stop: Capitol Reef National Park!

Total miles: 112.9, 17.7. Site 22 – handicap site and we called to see if that was ok. It is, as long as there is nothing else available when you make the booking. No hookups. Good dump station with both rinse water and potable water. Only place with any kind of cell service is at parking area shade cover for the valley. Vault toilets at parking area and regular bathrooms in campground. Not sure about showers. It has been a long time since we’ve been in a campground bathroom at all. Nice shade covers and picnic tables at the sites with wind panels, but it depends which direction the wind is coming from if they work.

This is a really nice campground. Located on the other side of the canyon from Canyonlands National Park, this state park offers well maintained sites with paved pads, shade structures, and electric hookups. It is also about two thousand feet higher than Moab, so when it is pushing 100 degrees down there, it can be mid eighties up top. In fact, most of the time, we were seeing seventies, so that was awesome.

I dropped Richard at the intersection of highway 191 and 313, which goes all the way to the national park. There is a turnoff to the left that takes you to Dead Horse Point State Park, for a total of around a 22 mile ride. He had an uphill, wind in his face kind of a ride to get to the campground. I got to the site well before him and did all of the set up. That’s a lot of work! I tipped my hat to Linda who was already set up and does this all by herself every single time.

We grilled an early dinner and found the West Rim Trail, which takes you right to the very edge of the canyon. Richard got a tutorial in finding trails over rocky surfaces and we waited out the sunset. It was a bit too overcast for much of a show and we felt occasional droplets of almost rain.

Tuesday morning we verified with temperature gun data that the plexiglass windows let in significantly more heat than the aluminum walls. We have been finding Dory2 to be noticeably cooler than Lola, even in some heat, and tested whether that had anything to do with the lack of the BFW. The gun has spoken and we hereby state our hypothesis that having no BFW is less hot than having a BFW, by a statistically significant margin. We also submit that it helps to keep the privacy curtains closed on the sunny side. We are open to peer review.

We headed into Canyonlands around 10:30 and found a long line of cars going in. We worried that the Grand View Trail we wanted to do would have no parking, but I managed to squeeze Bruce and his off-road badass self onto the side of the road in a way that seemed legal. Then we hit the trail.

The national park brochure uses the word “stunning” to describe this hike and I can’t argue. In fact, I can’t come up with better words. Richard has a hard time believing there is any canyon bigger, so he will probably be impressed when we go to the Grand Canyon. The hike is about a mile out and a mile back with very little elevation change. There are stairs at the start and some steps in the middle, but it was not too strenuous for me. And the steps more than paid for themselves with the views.

When we got back, Richard got on his bike and rode back to the Visitor Center while I drove and stopped at view points. He said it was spectacular riding with mostly downhill if you do it in that direction.  One of the descents was a little scary, but mostly because of the wind.

Dinner was another grilled Blue Apron recreation. Those are going very well and I have yet to cook inside Dory2. The stove is a new model and I’m anxious to try it out. Dory1 and Lola’s stoves are the same and the flame control is not that great. It’s either full on, as low as it goes, or a tiny variation of that. Rice almost always boils over, even at the lowest setting. We shall see….

On our last night, we did the same hike again and tried to meet up with Linda. I just have to take a moment here and say how grateful we are that she came out with us to pick up. She had just gotten a new puppy (of the same lineage as T-Rex) and with her daughter’s youngster doggie, she had four in tow. That’s a lot and she’s the first to say that. We dubbed this trip the #wtfdytwh summer adventure. We all knew better than to hit the southwest in the summer time, let alone with four dogs. So here we are, not being terribly surprised, but it’s still hard to see it all unfolding, in glorious technicolor doggie detail. We love you Linda, and are very grateful you braved this to hang with us

This was a favorite park for us. It is worth it to go out the “Point” where apparently all the horses died. The story goes that wild horses were herded out to an inescapable bluff and fenced in, but no one bothered to supply food or water. History is brutal, but the view is nice. The stars are mind blowing too. If you go there, be sure to check them out.

Tomorrow we part ways with our BFF as she heads home and we continue in the desert. It has been an epic trip so far but we will miss our friend.

Total miles: 162.3, 19.0. Site 20, electric hookups, but no drinking water inside the park; be sure to fill up on water before coming. Good dump and water available for hose rinsing. Not great cell service, except in specific points near the rim. At the end of the Grand View Trail, we got LTE, but it was slow. No WiFi in either the state or national parks.

While we have been grateful for the ability to travel in a nearly post pandemic country, there remain lots of things that are still closed. This includes most of the tours through native lands and national parks. I know there is much more to see in Mesa Verde than what we witnessed from a distance, but it was still quite impressive.

On our way out of Colorado, backtracking through Durango, we stopped at a hardware store because we realized we now have the wrong size lug nut socket fitting and we need to check the lug nuts after about a hundred miles. This coincided nicely with enough cell service to upload pictures and do some blog posting. We are now in the land of low cell service, so blog posts will be done well after the fact. The only way I’ve found to manage this is to keep photos in albums and write posts in a note that I can copy later.

It wasn’t a long drive to Mesa Verde, so we arrived in the early afternoon. The Morefield Campground is located inside the park and, though the sites are reservable, they are not assigned. We arrived before Linda and held a site for her next to us. It’s a huge campground, with close to 400 sites, but doesn’t feel it. Some down lower are close together, but ours were nicely spaced.

Once situated, Richard headed out on a bike ride along the national park road, up to the Sun Temple. Linda and I headed up later and found him just before the meetup point. He was plenty tired after 21 miles into the wind, so he put his bike in the back and we drove the loop again together so I could see all of the pull outs and displays. This is a fascinating park, with an amazing natural and anthropological history. I’ll bet the tours into the dwellings must be amazing.

We stopped at one final lookout, at Park Point, before returning to Dory. Richard got in a sunset hike along the Knife’s Point Trail. I was not aware he was going to do the whole trail and was bummed to have missed it, but now we know what we need to work on in terms of communication. That is all part and parcel of these long trips together and it’s all good. We now have a procedure whereby he needs to tell me his ETR, or Estimated Time of Return, for his “I’m just going to check this out” excursions. I can then decide whether or not it’s something I want to join in on. And he will know that if something is going to take two or three hours, rather than twenty minutes, he should check in or come back. Traveling together in a <100 sq ft trailer automatically means you get to also work on your marriage. Yipee!

Total miles: 113.9, 16.0 mpg. Site 312. Great solar. No hookups. Not great cell for either of us. There are places on the national park road, like Park Point, where you get good LTE. Otherwise inconsistent. Two dumps with rinse water. Both good dumps. Store, gas, laundry at the Morefield check in office location.

This was a big day. It’s funny, even though we have already done this twice before with the same model trailer, this felt every bit as exciting as the first time, maybe more so. We had to make a few miles to Durango Four Corners RV, where Dory2 has been patiently waiting for a couple of months. Normally, one would take delivery in Quebec, like we did the first time. But now, with borders closed, Safari Condo has had to get creative in how they get their trailers to the customers. They have had a business partnership with Durango RV for a couple of years as a place where you can rent Altos – the only place in the entire U.S. So now they are able to ship units across the border to Durango and U.S. customers are able to take delivery without the customs logistics. Win win all around.

We headed out with Linda and pointed our Altos eastward. The stay in Monument Valley was very nice, as was the drive through northern Arizona. We had planned on stopping at Four Corners, but that was very very closed. So with one stop for gas and one for a bite of lunch at a rest stop, we got there just a bit after 3pm.

I need to give shout outs and huge thanks to many people here. The people at Four Corners RV – Mike, Ele, Justin and Elizabeth among others, could not have been more helpful and accommodating for us. I don’t imagine they get that many people coming in with an Alto to pick up an Alto, requesting space in their parking lot for a day or two to transfer belongings over. But anything we asked was met with a “no problem” from them, plus a tour of their impressive new facility. They really will have quite the service department this side of the Canadian border for anything related to Safari Condo. So as we approached the place, it was not immediately obvious where Dory2 was, since there are quite a number of Altos on their lot.

But we spotted her, protected under a canopy, looking beautiful with her dual propane tanks, massive 440 watt solar panels, and beautifully smooth front wall, uninterrupted by any Big Front Windows. Her production number is 2143 and I spotted that too. For the record, I did look up the number to see if it stood for anything noteworthy. It is prime, and the digits 1-2-3-4 add up to ten, but that’s about it. I thought maybe there’d be something happening on that star date in the future, but no.

The first viewing was quite emotional. Mike got Francois on the phone from Quebec so he could ‘be there’ in the moment. Then Linda kept prodding us to have a look at the back. Francois had been hinting that there was another surprise in store for us, but I never would have guessed this one. Linda, who knows us really well, figured the “Just Keep Swimming” decal that we had on Dory was special to us. She was quite right. One of the most painful images from Dory’s crash was seeing that decal all squished. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. I was planning to get one for Dory2 when we got home, but Linda arranged to have it put on, in the exact same location, and Francois got to see me choke up over it over FaceTime. We also got to meet Stuffed Dory from the surprise Making Dory photo shoot. She is going to get her picture taken a lot, I can tell you that.

We are both over the moon at how great Dory2 looks. I absolutely love the new blue fabric and grey concrete countertops. There have been some little changes and modifications over the years and I’m a fan of all of them. One we noticed right away being a new style latch for the bathroom door! So much nicer than the push button kind, we won’t even have to swap it out. The layout is thankfully exactly the same as Lola or we would not have been able to fit everything. The only exception to that is a new style utensil drawer and I’m not quite sure why they changed it. Works fine but we lost the chopsticks space (Richard brought 2 this time, thanks for wondering). 

Things that will be new for us are all in the tech realm. In addition to the 440 watt solar panels, we got 2 lithium batteries that should provide all the storage capacity we could need. Because of that, we got an inverter, which allows for some short use of appliance that require 120v, like the microwave for instance. The van had one of those and the one time I used it to heat up leftovers at the beach made me interested in getting one. She’s got all the upgrades we loved in Lola, like the Truma Combi for heating and water heating, plus the large fridge that makes it possible to pack four Blue Aprons and 3 frozen dinners, plus all the pantry items. I love it very much. The backup camera is a new system, as are the Caravan Movers, so we will have to see how those compare.

Other general observations include noticing that the black wedge cushions are covered with a bit softer, more luxurious material, the front of the fridge is white and smooth instead of ridged and silver, the stove is a different model, and the backsplash behind the sink is wood tone instead of silver. We haven’t used the stove much to compare so we’ll see how it does with cooking rice.

We hung out all day long in the parking lot at Durango on Thursday. Richard had to work so he spent the day in Lola with great LTE. I spent the day putting up hooks and organizers and Dorifying. It turns out there is a lot involved in both Dorifying, and un-Dorifying. Richard needed to undo the 30amp fused wire he put in Lola to run coffee on our way here. Because he did not want to be electrocuted by anything coming from the solar panels while he worked, he waited until nightfall Wednesday. He then put Lola back together electrically, just the way we got her. Dory2 came next and now Richard knows how to shut off the battery power. We have run both the coffee machine and the projector off the new wire and it all works. The first thing we did to test the system was watch “Finding Nemo” on the big screen. Because of course.

It was a lot of work and I was super tired by the end of the day Thursday, with one Blue Apron left. It was a grill meal, which is awkward when you are camped in an RV lot. But now the grill is way easier to get to, so we pulled it out and made a delicious steak and panzanella salad with bread toasted on the grill. Just as the timer went off for the steaks, it started to rain. We ate our first dinner inside Dory with the romance lighting package, complete with unmeltable LED candles, fully installed.

I’m having a little moment. Dory is fully ours, with all our stuff the way we love it. We sat inside listening to the rain on the roof, one of my all time favorite things, I am so grateful for all the people who helped, and those who expressed sympathy and support when we lost our Dory. Dory2 is awesome and it only took six months to get here, thanks to the incredible people at Safari Condo.

Lola Too is also due for an ode of gratitude. She got us through the toughest of times and we are still grateful to Randy for everything he did to get her ready for us. We are keeping her for sure. She is our lifeline for the just in cases. And we would love to pay the Alto love forward by lending her out to friends.

We are set and ready to head out. We really hope not to crash again, but I guess we’ve learned that we can handle it if it happens. It takes a lot of adulting to make all of the pieces come together, but it is more than worth it for the sheer joy of the hard core playtime we get in return. There is nothing we would rather do in life than enjoy traveling together in an Alto. If it takes having six or seven on hand at all times, then so be it.

Total miles: 189.3, 16.2, 4 hours 45 min. Parking lot was great. 🙂 Great solar, enough Verizon LTE for Richard to log into work.

It was hard to say goodbye to our site in Zion this morning, given the beautiful landscape, but there was more in store for this day. Unfortunately for Richard, who had to get some work done while on the road, there was no shortage of nice scenery, as our route took us down around the bottom side of Grand Staircase, Escalante National Monument. Plus, the highlight was that our buddy was waiting for us at the end of the day.

I am making a note to myself that going through the Zion tunnel without a one way pass is perfectly fine. Altos fit in the category of “Undersize Vehicles” which means you can just go through without waiting. There is plenty of room for two way traffic, even if it is nerve wracking. For some reason, it did not bother me at all this time.

We took a short lunch break at a lookout point for Wahweap, AZ, which is on Lake Powell. We have reservations there later in the summer, but we do wonder if it will be prohibitively hot by then. We started the day at around three thousand feet, climbed up to over six thousand, and descended back to three by the time we got to that lookout. The temperatures varied with the rise and fall in elevation, so it’s a sure bet that the campground/marina right down by the water will be a hot point. The view of Glen Canyon stretching out over the horizon was impressive, as was the sight of the massive dam and bridge spanning the huge canyon. 

We entered Monument Valley from the southwest side. I was expecting to see that iconic “Forest Gump” view and later realized that one appears when you approach from the east. After we got settled in, we went out and drove the 12 miles just to get that view. Richard rode back and met back at the campground. The campground itself is uniquely styled. It is set back into a red rock canyon so you are surrounded by amazing rock formations. It has a lodge, market, and various other services, making it a real mini town out in the middle of mostly landscape.

Waiting for us at the campground was our courageous BFF, Linda with dogs. She has had more than her fair share of glitches on this trip, what with flaming wheels, and just today a flat tire on her 4Runner. She is a traveling trooper and has dealt with all of these setbacks while making new mechanic and tire repair friends on the way. At the very end of the day she was able to get out to see Goosnecks State Park, which was on her bucket list. We ended the day with one last excursion out to see the sunset play off the monuments. It is a very beautiful place and I would come back to Goulding’s if we were to return.

Dinner that night was a Blue Apron Charred Gochujang Pork Chops with Sour Cherry Soy Sauce and Ginger Honey Carrots. OMG. That was good.

One more sleep before we meet Dory2!

Total miles: 241.6, 16.4 mpg, 6 hours, 26 min. Full hookups. Ok LTE for both but not enough to upload pictures to WordPress. 

What a great day! We pulled out of the KOA early and split up. Richard took off on his bike to ride the 34 miles to Zion while I went to the day use area of Quail Creek State Park and put in my boat. It was going to be a hot day, and by that I mean low 90s, and perfect weather for getting in the water.

Quail Creek is a spectacular place to go boating. You are surrounded by kayenta colored mountains for a stunning backdrop. If you head all the way to the far end where the river inlet is, you will see a forest of beautiful trees that you can paddle through for quite a way. There were lots of kayaks and SUPs in this part of the reservoir. The area nearer the dam was home to all sorts of powered watercraft. I was out there a good couple of hours before Richard texted that he was close to Zion.

I packed up my boat and drove up to meet him before the kiosk so that we could both enter with a new annual National Parks Pass. There was no wait to get in, despite the holiday weekend, and we scooted right into our site. What a premium site this is too! With views of Watchman and right by the Virgin River, we didn’t really want to leave. It was the hottest part of the day too, so we found some shade and hung out in our Nemo chairs until it was a decent time to think about dinner.

Before we left, we ordered our last box of Blue Apron to be delivered Thursday. We specifically selected four meals we thought could be done on the road and two of them were designed for grilling. We had the most amazing spicy Italian sausage burgers with sharp cheddar cheese and grilled onions, along side a salad of arugula and cherry tomatoes. Richard is not allowed to make yummy sounds at home when we have Blue Apron because it annoys the “kids.” But he had full permission and we both took advantage of the “YUM!” freedom.

After dinner, I did in fact get on my pretty blue bike. Go me! We rode the popular Pa-rus Trail and up a section of the canyon road that is closed to most traffic. When I say “up,” I didn’t realize how steadily uphill it was until we came back. At that point, I was very impressed with myself for having done so much up. It was not steep, but it was a lot for someone who has not been on a bike in quite a long time. To say it was spectacular doesn’t capture it. I did this ride when we were here before, so I didn’t take pictures with quite the same level of overkill this time. Everyone else seems to have E-bikes these days and I certainly do see the appeal. Downsides (besides cost) would be weight and the need to recharge them. But it sure would be fun to zip up an incline without working up such a sweat that the shuttle drivers appear worried about me.

Perfect day! It’s a one nighter here, but so so worth it!

Total miles: 34, ? mpg. ? time. Site B 46. Amazing site. Riverside with shade and hookups. 1-2 bars of LTE for both. Got an “Undersize Vehicle Pass” at the entrance to go through the tunnel without paying to go one way. Might want to pay anyway. Gassed up in Virgin before heading to the park. Looks like a good dump here with water fill up.

Another long day of track making, but the scenery turned decidedly more interesting, with a WOW finale. Heading north on I 15, we exited California, passing along the northern border of Mohave National Preserve. We then said hello to Nevada, which welcomed us enthusiastically with casinos, solar arrays, and Las Vegas traffic. For that, we mentally geared up, stopping to top up the gas tank and tummies, plus empty the bladders so we could push all the way through the city without stopping. We managed quite well, thank you, and I earned a cookie.

We were really excited all day long about playing a prank on our daughter. We always try to give her a heads up on Sundays when we are on our way home so that she can mentally prepare. Around noon, I send a text saying “ETA 2:30” or whatever time we think we’ll be home. We totally did that today because we are horrible people. We thought it was hilarious. She did not. We won’t do it again, but that one was worth it (for us).

I will note that as we approached Primm, NV on the border with California, we saw the most otherworldly solar array I have ever seen. I’ve seen massive solar farms before, with miles of black panels covering the landscape, but this one also had enormous towers with mirrors that helped to direct the solar energy to the heating of water. You could see the glow from miles off and it looked like a scene from an alien invasion movie. Just a few more of those and I’ll bet you could aim them at a single point and destroy Alderaan.

Just after crossing the the Nevada border we cut through a tiny corner of Arizona. Here you get to go through the Virgin River Canyon and that is spectacular. It looks very much like the road is going to take you, Wile E. Coyote-style, into the side of a mountain range. Just at the last minute, the sliver of a gorge opens up and twisty turns you along the path of the river. Often, the highway is suspended high above, making multiple river crossings, though you only get brief glimpses of the Virgin River below.

Once you come out of that, you quickly enter Utah. Steadily, the color of the rock begins to come to life with vibrant rusts and deep reds. This is where you get excited, knowing you are getting close to Zion. Our first night brought us to the St. George/Hurricane KOA because this is far easier to book than Zion. However, we did score a site for the next day and will be a mere 35 miles away. This is the reward for the slog days and I think it will be worth it. We passed by the Quail Creek State Park and campground where there was a beautiful lake. I may just try to get in a little boating tomorrow while Richard rides up to Zion. He got in a reconnaissance ride right after we settled in while I napped a bit in the AC.

The only other event of interest today is that we nearly got all our credit cards cancelled while getting gas in Baker, CA. We had forgotten to alert our banks that we are traveling because that was not on any checklist. Phone calls ensued and all is well, and there is a new item on the ‘Long Trips’ checklist. Having no credit cards could have been an interesting plot twist. Glad it didn’t come to that.

Total miles: 284.0, 16.6 mpg, 4 hours 42 min. Site 57, but yanno, KOA tightly spaced so doesn’t matter. Terrible cell service for both and molasses slow wifi. Full hookups.