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Wednesday, May 11, 2005 � This morning is quite chilly as we arose about 8:00am. I turned on some heat, using propane, and made some coffee with a new coffee we stopped and bought today named �Cravens�, out of Spokane, Washington. It is the best coffee I�ve ever had! We�re going to take a hike up one of the canyons here this morning before we leave the park. Once we did this, the view was fantastic. The first quarter mile was called �strenuous�, and they are right! Good test for the ole ticker. This has been a very nice park to stay in, and its only $10 but if you�re a senior, which we are at times, its $5. We hit the road sometime around eleven, and made our way west to Torre where we filled our tank, bought some beer, and a hat and left them a little over $500. Glad to help them out. This is the town Pearl lives in. We headed south from here on Hwy 12. A few miles out, we stopped at The Flute Shop. This is a quaint little store with flutes from High Spirits, as well as their own made flutes. I would have liked to buy a High Spirits F keyed flute, but we couldn�t negotiate much with the owner. When we left we climbed a long 8% grade. I told Patty I was glad we weren�t going in the other direction. I�d rather climb a steep long grade than descend one. When we got to the top, we stopped to take a picture. That�s when we realized we�d left our camera at the flute store. So back down the hill to retrieve it. I got to descend it after all. After we got the camera, we continued on towards Bryce, encountering grades as steep as 14%! We climbed as high as 9,500 feet too. We had many an eye full of beautiful country along the way, and stopped often. We came into Ruby�s Campground about 4:00pm, paid the $32 for the night, and will drive Sara into the Bryce tomorrow. We�re about a mile north of the park here. After setup, we went back to the commercial area of this resort. There�s a store, gas station, gift shop, camping & hiking gear, clothing, groceries, liquor store, rock shop, restaurant, caf�, pool and spa, etc. After buying a couple of things, we came back to Ol School just in time for it to start hailing, and then snowing. Lem tried to call us a couple of times, but the reception isn�t good enough to hear him. I think he may of heard from the lady in the gas station in Torre that we passed through, and was going to try to talk us into stopping at his place again. We just don�t have time for that. The low tonight is predicted at 23 degrees. We�re at 7,500-foot elevation. So we�ll just snuggle in, turn up the heater, cook a steak Joe gave us from one of his cows he slaughtered at his ranch in Mt Pleasant, and watch some more of that movie I mentioned. Catch you tomorrow. |
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Thursday, May 12, 2005 � Up at five this morning. I hear a light rain tapping lightly on the roof of Ol School. Actually, further investigation after this time of writing proved it was moisture dripping off the tree�s branches above us. Anyway, its still very dark out and I suspect pretty cold too. Although, we�ve stayed quite warm with four electric heaters on a thermostat running throughout the night. I left the cabinet doors in the kitchen and bathroom open to heat the pipes, and keep them from freezing. As far as that movie goes, we got about as far into it last night as we did the night before. That was barely past the credits. I think this will be another long, long movie. Last night we decided to change our route. Mostly due to the fact we spent a little more time in Moab than we originally anticipated. The plan now is to see Bryce today and leave this afternoon for Cedar Breaks National Monument. We haven�t been there, and we have seen Zion, so we�ll skip it this time. After some morning coffee, writing, and watching the sun arise, I prepare the bus to depart RV Hell. Although, not as bad as it could be, and I do forgive myself for the excuse it was below freezing and electricity was in order. Well, we get that done, move Ol School to a hiding place in a big parking lot, so we can tour Bryce in the Jeep. We get that done, and drove the eighteen miles to the end of the park. Upon the return drive, we stopped at each and every turnout. We walked the paths provided and took many, many pictures. Remember always, you cannot take too many pictures (digital only). Know this as truth and click you finger off, until you can�t bend it any longer. We�ve completed the Bryce canyon tour, and now head back west on 12 to 89 south to the Cedar Breaks turnoff on 14. On this particular scenic highway, we climbed to 10,000 feet; encountered switchbacks at 25MPH, on mostly 7% and 8% downgrades, light snow, and high blood pressure. Sure is fun though! We arrive near the summit and find the turnoff the Cedar Breaks is under about 8 feet of snow, and closed. So on over the hill we go, down into the valleys below, across the plains and up the hills that show themselves warm and inviting at about the lowest altitude of our trip thus far. That would be 4,600 feet. Just crossing into Nevada, we turned north on 93 for just one short mile, after a long straight drive through vast farmlands growing Alfalfa mostly, and pulled into the Cathedral Gorge State Campgrounds. I looked around and saw some kind of imitation of something I�d been seeing for last couple of days. At first I thought these folks were just a little too proud of their park asking $14 a night for some gravel, no hookups, and with nothing more than AFR�s in background, but then the place started growing on me, and the moral is; just show up, be quiet, and wait for good things to happen. By the way, AFR is another term I happened to learn this past week, and that makes two! AFR: Another F��.. Rock. We got here just about five tonight, set up in a very nice spot actually. I started a fire in the pit provided, and Patty made a salad and some hot wings. These sites are well cared for and clean. They�re nicely spaced away from your neighbor too. We had a truly beautiful evening enjoying our meal by a warm fire in southeastern Nevada, near the town of Panaca, just over the Utah/Nevada border tonight. While eating at the picnic table provided, we noticed across the road there are two handicap camping sites. One is occupied by an older couple in a fiver. As I was licking the hot sauce off my burning lips, Patty was spying on these folks. She amply noted that the man, was jostling about doing chores. Such as picking up things they had unpacked and replacing them into their rig. He also had a large dog that would jump up and place his feet upon the man�s chest. Patty noted this was done without knocking the man over. She came to the brilliant conclusion this man was not handicapped. I said, �calm down 99, he may have a wife that�s afflicted�. Sure enough, a while later a women appeared outside the trailer. However, she was walking about their campsite without any noticeable difficulty, and when she returned to her trailer she stopped on the first step to obviously wash her feet. She did this by standing on one foot, reaching around to her back, bending over washing the bottom of her other foot. I too joined in on the spying of these low-down scoundrel cheaters, and took several pictures, which we�ll hold in evidence. I guess the attraction of staying in such a site is that they are removed from the main camping area, and might provided a sense of having a more private space. Then it may be that the site is all concrete and level that appeals. I don�t know. As the fire burnt down, and the many stars lifted, Patty went in and drifted off to sleep on the couch. I had turned the heat on in the salon area and she didn�t want to go back to the bedroom as it was cooler there. I stayed with the fire until it burnt itself out and then turned in about ten. I watched another few minutes of the movie and fell asleep. |
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