Ready to leave Red Rock country!

May 9th - 14th, 2017
Koosharem Reservoir and Spanish Fork, UT

We tried out our OBD II reader and smartphone app to
monitor real time MPG etc. (but doesn't match actual?)!
12.7 would be really nice!

From Bryce, we knew we wanted to make our way closer to Salt Lake City mainly to visit a friend (extended family really!).  We heard from Milesaway (our Instagram friends!) that cell reception was a challenge at Capitol Reef NP (which we need for trip planning!) so we decided to find a place east of Capitol Reef and make it a day trip instead of staying in the area.  We also heard Hwy 12 was not to be missed but weren't sure we'd really enjoy it in a motorhome towing a car!  

Pat walked up the hill to get this shot for us.  Isn't it peaceful
looking?  At Koosharem Reservoir in Utah.

We decided to try the boondocking next to Koosharem Reservoir.  Any place near a lake would be great right?  It was indeed great but had a few drawbacks.  There were swarms of flying insects, no Verizon, it rained and we experienced our first concern driving in wet "clay" and now we see how ruts get formed!  Luckily it mostly dried out before we left with the motorhome - yikes!

What kind of fly is this?  They were
in swarms at Koosharem Reservoir!

So we sat out the rainy day and just chilled (with a quick trip into Richfield for shopping).  The next day we had a long day of driving to see Captol Reef NP and drove at least part of Hwy 12 (south to Boulder).   We were glad we didn't do it with the motorhome!  It was a pretty drive but not spectacular.  Perhaps the spectacular part was between Escalante and Boulder?  Regardless, Capitol Reef was another great NP and we were glad we included it in our Utah trip.

One of our favorite hikes (ok more like a walk)
through Grand Wash in Capitol Reef NP

Fun photo-op on the Grand Wash hike

Capitol Reef National Park

Spanish Fork city campground (parking lot!)

From there, we HAD to get cell coverage because trip planning is challenging without it!  So we decided to stay more in town and ended up in a city "campground" in Spanish Fork which turned out to be a parking lot!  But it had Verizon and electric/water and a separate dump so we could regroup for the next leg of our adventure.  And it was close enough to drive to Salt Lake City.

We met our friend(s!) at Wasatch Brewery in Salt Lake City and had a wonderful time catching up.   And wow!  This area is beautiful too.  I think Utah is my favorite state (outside of the PNW!) so far.

Highlights:  Seeing our extended family in SLC, adding another NP to our list!
Lowlights: Bugs and mud and no cell at Koosharem Reservoir

Great place for lunch and brews with friends!

Things we've learned:  Why people say don't drive in boondocking areas after it's rained!
Things we're wondering:  Where should we go from here?  North to Idaho?  Across Nevada to Lake Tahoe then north?  Aren't you amazed we didn't mention batteries?

Bryce Canyon NP, Boondocking in the woods, and the great convergence

May 3-9
Bryce National Park, UT

So…  We left Zion with no water in our tanks.  Our new friends milesawayeveryday from Instagram told us they filled their water tanks at an RV Park along the way to Bryce for free.  We planned to do the same and rolled up to Paradise RV park in Panguitch about 40 miles south of Bryce.  The manager was very nice and allowed me to fill our water tank while he watered the landscaping.  I may be overstating the desert wildlife around this RV park, but they needed water too.  Ellen left in the car to find our spot and I spent the next fifteen minutes waiting with a hose.  She programed my phone with our final (possible) destination and I was good to go.  As I headed toward Tome's Best Spring Rd. Ellen called and confirmed it was a good location and off I went.    My trusty Google Maps told me to turn on a Forest Service Rd. I looked at it with fear in my heart and did just that…   After driving about half a mile on this rutted, dusty, narrow road I called Ellen for confirmation.  "This is not the road you're looking for!".

This is Tom's Best Spring Road. Ellen Leading the way.

It was about a mile earlier.  I don't know if I was distracted or messed with by Google Maps.  No where to turn the thirty-one foot motorhome around and no foreseeable spot.  Now picture me driving off said rutted road into a field and turning around.  Back to the highway and back the mile to Tom's Best Spring Rd. and the waiting Ellen.  It was a better gravel road and we chose our spot on a side road in the woods.  Beautiful tall trees with enough of a clearing that our solar panels would be effective.  I even got to set up my new hammock between said trees.

Lost in the woods with hammock.  It was a hard day. Nap was necessary

Later that day I got a text from our new friends asking where we landed.  I told them we were "lost in the woods off Tom's Best Spring Rd.".  They were just down the road from us about a half a mile.  They invited us to join them after dinner at their campfire.  A good time was had by all.  We exchanged stories and they told us their experience in Bryce and outside at Red Canyon.  A small park just south of Bryce we had passed through on our way here.


The next day we entered Bryce drove up to the rim trail parking and hiked the Rim Trail as far as Sunrise lookout.  Not an awfully long way but we wanted to drive the whole park and decide the best strategy for seeing it.  We drove the length of the park and stopped at the high lookout points.  Magnificent!  One of the areas is called something like Fairyland or Castle and it all looked something crafted of spun sugar or cake frosting…   But red.  Hard to adequately describe.  We also (on the advice of our instagram friends) drove to Red Canyon.  A Little south of Bryce and hiked among the hoodoos.  I certainly got my steps in that day.

Red Canyon.  Hiking among the Hoodoos

Yes, this hike seemed to go on and on and on...

That night we joined our new friends for burgers on the campfire.  Great meal and then a gathering of other instagram fulltime Rvers arrived and we shared stories, laughter and like minded community around the campfire.

James cooking burgers over the campfire.  Oven mitts a must.

We stayed a few more days "lost in the woods" and  enjoyed the hikes around Bryce and being surrounded by tall trees.  

There are actual hikers down in that canyon

Natural Bridge

Waterfall near Mossy Cave.  Slightly outside Bryce

Happiness is...

April 26-May 3
Zion National Park, UT

...new batteries that work the way they're supposed to and meeting new InstaFriends!  Oh and Zion was pretty amazing too!

Where we boondocked outside Zion NP.  And the views
out front were spectacular as well!

When we arrived to the Zion area we had difficulty findinng a good boondocking spot.  As usual, I would drive the car ahead to check out the spots to make sure they were suitable and acceptable to the Ellen standards (not to mention navigable for the motorhome!).  We tried several along the Virgin river but they were too narrow, rutted, sandy in places and trees/bushes were just a little too close for our liking.  To top it off, cell reception wasn't great so letting Pat know back at home base was not working either.  So it was a bit more challenging than usual!  We finally found a wonderful spot on a bluff that had glorious views and no one around!  After we settled a little Pat went out to remove the bugs from the windshield so we could take great pictures from inside as well.  While he was out there, a black jeep passed behind us to the 2nd spot at this location which was on a long narrow road barely etched into the cliff.  Later, we climbed a hill that was beside us and took a picture of our motorhome and car and we noticed off in the distance up another hill we had company.  It was then we realized that black jeep might indeed be milesawayeveryday (the Instagram couple we stalked but never met, near Page, AZ).

Sunrise one morning lit the plateau behind us!

So we took a walk up the other hill and sure enough it had Florida plates and a broken passenger mirror (they had just posted they broke their mirror coming through the tunnel in Zion!).  Instead of leaving a note this time, we posted on their broken mirror Instagram feed that we found a strangely familiar motorhome just up the hill from us.  About 9:00 that evening, we had a knock on our door and it was them, so excited after reading our post and realizing we were neighbors!  We had a great 3 hour visit (yes for those who know us - way past pumpkin hour!).    This was the start of a great friendship on the road and was the second Instafriend meeting and the first where we got to spend more time together.  Great fun sharing with like minded folks!

Costco Golf Cart batteries to the rescue!

Back to Zion NP!  We kept going back and forth about when to go into the park.  We arrived on Wednesday and logic said we should go into the park on Thursday and Friday before the weekend crowds.  BUT we were just too excited to get to Costco to get the new batteries plus we knew it would be multiple trips (get the batteries, find some place to fully charge them, install them and return another day to return the old batteries to get the $15 core charge back).  So we opted to do that on Thursday.   We wanted to test the batteries with the hydrometer before we paid for them but they wouldn't let us but they assured us they are fully charged.  They read in the middle of good on the hydrometer so they were mostly charged.  So we brought them back to the motorhome and Pat installed them (they JUST fit!).

At the top of Canyon Overlook hike

We knew the wind storm would hit us here in Zion and it sure did!  The dust wasn't too bad but we did have to bring the slide in for much of our stay due to the wind  noise on the slide toppers.  We've been in worse wind but this one must have been at the right angle to cause quite a racket that seemed like the topper would be blown off!  We've since read there are ways to reduce that so perhaps we'll try that next time!


On Friday we went to Zion and drove hwy 9 which was very beautiful and passed through two tunnels through the rock (one really long!).  We pulled off by one of the tunnels to hike the Canyon Overlook trail.  I think this was our first moderate hike (mainly due to steep).  We usually do easy since we're not into that much pain but we're (I'm?) getting stronger and hikes are getting easier.   It was a GREAT hike with rewarding view at the end.

Zion walls - wow!

When we got back to the motorhome we were so excited to see the solar and battery had basically recovered almost all the 56 amp hours it was down from overnight.   We ended the day down 3 amp hours (we had no shade and it was clear).   Now we are wondering  how many amps our solar will recover under ideal conditions?  A story for another day I guess!

We don't often venture out after dinner (other than to see ideal sunset locations!) but we were feeling restless and decided to try a drive out on Zolob Terrace road was near where we were camped.  It turned out to be another highlight of this area.  We drove up to the reservoir and the changing landscape and views along the way at sunset were such a treat!

Cute little store with the BEST homemade ice cream!

We made the mistake of trying to get into Zion on Saturday around 10:00 am but the line was really long to get in and we knew that meant parking would also be a challenge.  So we went back to St. George to return the batteries, do some shopping, and drove out a scenic loop.     After dinner we had the best homemade ice cream with milesaway at Fort Zion Trading Post.

One of MANY whimsical sculptures
in the park at St. George

On Sunday, we sought out a United Methodist Church as we usually like to do and were intrigued to see St. George UMC had Praise Choir and Bells in addition to Choir.  When we got there, all the regulars were gone on a mission trip so no regular pastor, choir, bells, OR praise!  We cracked up when the pastor said "I'm not Pastor xxxx" and the organist said she's not the praise team!  Turned out this congregation was very friendly and we would for sure return again if we're in the area.  They even gave us sweet bread and a magnet for being new visitors!

Grafton Ghost Town

Turns out that Sunday in Utah is pretty quiet!  Most everything was closed!  But we did enjoy the Sculptures in the park downtown and when we returned to the Zion area we visited the ghost town of Grafton.

Monday we met trinklesontour and ppalmer21 another couple we have been following  on Instagram and hadn't had a chance to meet at either Verde Valley near Cottonwood nor Grand Canyon.  We texted them that we were getting on the shuttle in Zion and going to the end of the park and making our way back.  There was no cell coverage so we weren't sure what their plans were.

Wonderful easy hike along the river up to the Narrows
which were closed due to high water

We took the hike to the Narrows (which were closed due to high water) and that was fantastic (along the river and an easy hike).  On the way back on the trail we started looking for any couple that looked like them in case they had made it that far.  We didn't see them so we got on the shuttle and told ourselves they are probably on that shuttle that just passed etc.  When our shuttle stopped at the next stop, Pat pointed out a couple who were possibly them.  They had just gotten off the shuttle going the other way so we quickly scrambled off ours and as we approached they got back on theirs so we said oh well if it isn't them, we'll catch the shuttle back at the next stop.  "PPALMER21?" Pat said as we took approached them.  Excitement and hugs were exchanged when we realized we actually connected.  We got off the next stop and stood around chatting for a long time before we decided we should continue over dinner the next evening.

Zion Brewery outdoor patio!

So we stayed an extra day from our original plan to leave Tuesday so we could meet them at the Zion brewery for dinner and also go on the Pa'Rus trail on our bikes which we really wanted to do.  Both were well worth the extra day but we did run out of water.  We started with 2/3 tank so in the future we will make sure we are full if we even think we'll be there for close to a week.

Zion area is definitely one of our favorite stops so far!

Highlights:  Meeting two couples we follow on Instagram, best hiking and bike riding so far AND batteries that work now!
Lowlights:  Wilson electronics was in St. George so we contacted them Monday (they were closed over the weekend) but they didn't sell their latest cell booster and two places in the area didn't have them in stock.  Super disappointed.  We know we are getting into areas where cell reception will be more challenging.
Things we learned:  How happy (and care free!) one can be with new deep cycle batteries.  We still don't know if the performance issues we had on the old batteries were due to being bad batteries (not, according to Interstate but yes according to the hydrometer and multiple attempts to get them fully charged) OR due to being hybrid deep cycle and starter batteries.  But the new batteries are finally performing as as we were expecting based on everything we'd read!

Bike ride along Pa'rus trail - wonderful!

Things we're wondering:  how many amps can we recover with solar on clear days?  Cloudy days?   Partially shaded days?  How many amps will we use from sundown to sunup using maximum power (furnace, DISH, TV, charging our electronics etc.)?   So much to learn.    Always the question is how much battery did we really need and how much solar to replenish that!

Lees Ferry, Condor Egg, and The Colorado River

April 23 - 26
Lees Ferry near Page, AZ

After leaving Desert View Watchtower at the Grand Canyon we proceeded on Hwy 64 east. We were mildly concerned that this road might not be appropriate for RVs, but it turned out well with great views and decent road conditions.  We drove for about three hours, which is typical for us. We came to the crossroads of Hwy 89 and 89A and I waited with the RV while Ellen took the car and went ahead to check out our next possible camping spot.  On the map, my waiting point was the town of Bitter Springs.  It consisted of about a dozen houses and an LDS church.  Ellen called with the campground confirmation and I started the last eighteen miles of our drive to Lee's Ferry Campground.

The reason for the long prelude is to set up the last eighteen mile drive.  I entered the canyons bordering the Colorado River…

Lee's Ferry setup.  There were neighbors, but not real close.

Rising majestically on either side were red hills, you realize you are not paying proper attention to the road as you traverse this path.  You come to two side by side bridges spanning the river.  An old one used for pedestrians and a newer one for vehicles.  There was no one following me so I stopped on the bridge to look down on the river.  Then took a right and headed the last few miles to the campground.  It was on a hill overlooking the river with tiered sites.  Still boondocking, but it did have garbage, and restrooms.  After vulch-ing a site, our term for waiting like a vulture for someone to leave a site,  we set up in a great site overlooking the river.

Our View

It was a beautiful day and we decided to take a bike ride to see the extent of the campground and the beach.  Ellen had seen that high winds were coming and we wanted to enjoy the ride before the wind arrived. At the end of the road we found a parking lot for rafters of the section of the Colorado set up.  Sounded like great fun, but I think you bought your tickets elsewhere, and met your guides here…  Oh well, another time.   Rode back to the beach below the campground, but deep sand and the winds arrival kept my feet out of the water.  I did help rescue a pop up canopy that was rolling down the beach.  Did I say wind???

Navajo Bridge Visitor Center

The next day we returned to the bridges.  There was a visitor center there. The older of the two was called Navajo Bridge and was one of the first bridges spanning the Colorado river in Arizona.  Before that you had to take Lee's Ferry across.   A little over half way across the bridge there was a table, a spotting scope, a camera on a tripod, and two of the nicest folks you will ever meet.  They volunteer with the naturalists who keep track of the wildlife in the area.  They had spotted a Condor nest in the cliff above the river.  They were explaining to excited children and adults alike the significance of this find.  Everyone had a look through the scope and momma condor sitting on her egg.  If we waited long enough papa would return too.  This was a find of a lifetime as the condor usually nested in the cliffs much farther into the wilderness.

The Volunteer Table  (Insert smile here)

Old and new bridge. Left for walking only.  

View from Navajo Bridge

View of the river downstream of the dam.

The next day we took a drive to Page and stopped to view the dam that created Lake Powell.  Spectacular view!  We drove north to look at Wahweap RV Campground, where we might have stayed if they hadn't been full.  It was OK, but where we landed was better.  Also we wanted to drive up to Lone Rock, a place on the beach where an Instgramer we follow was staying.  We considered it, but were concerned about sand and wind.  Nice place!  We spotted the lone dark RV (all others were white) belonging to the folks we follow. They were not home so we left a post it note on their door, smiled and left.  Walmart for Grocery shopping and back home.

Lone Rock.  Lake Powell.  No wind...  yet.

Got up early the next morning and headed to Horseshoe Bend to beat the heat and crowds.  It was a wonderful hike and the view was everything we hoped for.  The morning sun made it interesting to get a good picture, but the lack of afternoon heat made up for this deficit.  Oh, and they were working on the trail, so we had to trek through the deep sand to reach the canyon view.  People kept ignoring the workers as they were told to stay off the regular trail and walk through the sand.  Like herding cats…  But the regular trail was much easier to traverse.  Just dodge the equipment doing the repairs.  From there we took a drive to Antelope point and lunched in the car while enjoying the view.

Beautiful Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend with us blocking the view.

Trail repair work blocking the trail.

Our last full day we did laundry, etc to get ready for our next destination/adventure.  From here we move on to Zion.  Marching as it were…

Campground panorama from the RV roof.