Another fun day in Utah

After seeing Heber Utah with friends we decided to come back and take a ride on the Heber Creeper. It took as along the river at an angle that we can not see from the road.

The ride was for 45 minutes and seemed to last  15. There was a train robbery,

songs and story telling that added to the enjoyment of the ride. This character really had some stories to tell. hehe

After a fun train ride we drove around a bit, ok, we weren't sure where we were going. But those are the best of times too. We came across a covered walking bridge and just had to stop and take a closer look, it was awesome.......

Another day well spent with the love of my life. And as always...
It's an adventure. :)

Almost forgot...... A visit to the Temple in Salt Lake City

Before we left Utah for the season, we met up with two special friends that we got to know in Yuma. We gave them a surprise visit one day and it was such a happy welcome. We sat and visited and caught up like we were family that had been gone on vacation. Since we couldn't stay longer, because we needed to get home to Lola, we set up a time a few days later to meet up again.

Arriving for our second visit to their home Betty and James even had things ready for Lola, a bed, treats, food and water. Lola took to their place like a duck to water, she loves them and loved being at their place as well. Mark helped Betty set up her New "Dish" system,  and James showed me around their lovely home. He also shared with me his love of coins and his beautiful collection of guns. WOW, is an understatement.

All the chatting and sharing done they took us to a great cafe for lunch. They had the whole day planned out well. When we finished eating they took us to the mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. What a wonder to behold. Going up a spiral walk with Betty we were surrounded by clouds, planets and stars and at the end was a huge statue of Christ. It literally brought tears to my eyes, very humbling. She took this picture of us.....

Everywhere you turned there were pictures depicting the stories from the bible...

We also went to the building where the Mormon Tabernacle choir performs......

The pipe organ was mind blowing........

What it must be like to hear a choir or sing in here!!!!!!!!!!

A non mormon is not allowed in the church itself but I got this picture from the outside....... it kind of looks like a castle.

After a fun filled day we bid them good bye until we see them again in November. What a great day.

From Cheyenne to Rapid City

Our trip out of Cheyenne was a beautiful drive through some of WY’s countryside. We have never been to WY so we really didn’t know how pretty it is there. The highway and countryside cleared of the snow and we got to see some very pretty areas. It seemed like everywhere we turned we saw antelope. Some area’s they stood by themselves grazing and other times there was a small herd of them enjoying the day just chewing away at the grassy land without a care in the world.

As we headed towards South Dakota the rolling plains turned into a mountainous climb that didn’t thrill me much to say the least. But we saw a side of South Dakota we had never seen before and it was beautiful. As we drew closer to our designated area the roads got steeper and narrower. I can’t really tell what the view was like because I had my eyes closed most of the way and my hands squeezed tight in prayer. And at one point, Mark asked me to keep my eyes closed until he told me to open them. Talk about scaring me spitless. When he said that I knew it was something where I would have lost it.  Mark is a great driver pulling our rig to safety but that doesn’t mean I liked the roads any better.

The Whispering Pines Campgrounds is a nice place in buried in the black hills pines. You can actually hear the pines whispering their song throughout the camp. There is plenty of room for Lola to enjoy when walking and the sites are nice as well. When we called for a reservation we were told that they weren’t actually open until Memorial day weekend, but they took us in anyway. That being said there are only three other campers here right now, so it is very nice and quiet. We will be checking out on Friday, to who knows where, before they campgrounds fills up.

From sleet to snowstorm

May 16, 2017

Left Provo behind and headed east to Colorado, Grand Junction to be exact.

Tried to make a tourist stop in Moab but there was a big rally going on so the place reminded me of a bee hive.

Well the 5er really got it's mountain climbing wings today as we crossed over the mountains on hwy 6/191/i70 old school right thru the center of the mountains both up and down and she shined.

Ran into rain that turned to sleet on one HILL that really got my attention as we were coming down a 7deg. grade with unguarded curves. But the towhaul worked like a charm and really saved the day. Awesome!

We are now in a parking lot running on solar and life is Grand. 

Always an Adventure

May 17, 2017

Put in about 7 1/2 hours and roughly 290 miles in the 5er yesterday traveling thru some more of this great country of ours. To say “I have seen things I ain't never seen before” would be an understatement of epic proportion.

I want to say every minute I have spent on this wonderful Adventure has been amazing for myself and I believe my lovely bride as well. And the number of people that are doing the same thing as us has surprised me.

They tell you some of the most friendly people you will meet are in the campsites you stay at and this has been proven true many times over as we have made some great friends along the path of our travels.

As some of you know we have put together a rather modest package to do our exploring in. And so have been parked next to some people that have many times more into there rigs than ours. But that difference is erased the minute we all start talking or even look like we might need some help.

Just yesterday I was setting up the ladder to go onto the roof to sweep off the slide outs and clean off the solar panels before we left. The guy next door who was getting ready to off load this Harley three wheeler from the aluminum bike trailer he pulled behind his Tiffin Motorhome asked if I needed any help. Now this is the same guy that has a Chev Pickup that is so tricked out I didn’t even know what brand it was. And as many of you know I have spent most of my life in the auto industry so to trick something out that much had to have been done by the pro.

So we got to talking and come to find out he guy holding my ladder, driving a $300,000+ dollar Motors Home and who knows how much money into his pickup and bike is from Alaska and is in the Gold Mining Industry. He and his wife are “full time” RV’ers too selling their home and traveling full time but he still flies up to Alaska two weeks out of every four as he still works.

My point being that I am not sure he and I would have met under the same much less any other conditions in life. So as they say we all put on our pants one leg at a time is proven time and time again while Cindy and I travel this great Voyage.

It’s always an Adventure

May 17, 2017

Don't feel too bad about being stuck here in Cheyenne, as the truck stops are full and stacked up in the lot and  out into the street and the motels are filling fast. Got stuck just pulling up to the pumps for fuel at the truck stop. We were very lucky to find a room available and they allowed pets too. First time we have been ground-based no wheels under us in eight months. Tell u the truth it feels like kind of weird concept.
The breakfast offered here at the motel are wonderful, the room is clean, the staff is super friendly and Lola took to it with no problem. hehe

May 18, 2017

Outside of the motel this morning. Parking lot is jammed with Semis and cars. Can't see the 5er out front to much snow on the trees. No one moving today sounds like most roads closed west, east, north and south. Freeway is like a morgue. The motel is running out of coffee as fast as they can make it. — at Cheyenne Quality Inn. The total snow fall for the two days was 14.5 inches of snow. 

Mothers Day dream

Happy Mothers Day Honey!

So today was the day I dotted on my bride almost all day. After letting her sleep in till 10:05 then making her breakfast in bed consisting of Poached Eggs with Caviar, Fruit, Warm Rolls and a Fresh pot of Piping Hot Coffee, Black just the way she likes it.

I cleaned the RV from top to bottom even the bathroom and washed all the windows both inside and out. Took out the garbage and even washed out the bin. Took down the chandler and washed each globe to a sparkling shean.

When she got back from the spa I took her out to our favorite place over looking the meandering river and over a bottle of the finest champaign I again pledged my undying love and devotion to her.......

***

Wow I then woke up and realized it had all been a dream. Good thing to cause I don’t even know what Poached Eggs are?

And because it was her day and not mine I changed my pants even though they were only a day old as a gift to her as she is alway on me for wearing them to long before a washing.

Yea and I set the table for breakfast (which she made). Of course that really only consisted of putting 2 forks spoons and glasses on the table as she had the plates next to the stove to put the omelets she was making. I even told her they looked very good!

Oh yea almost forgot I also buttered my own toast, and started buttering hers but she said something about wanting a little more bread than butter with the toast (Yea I know I didn’t understand her either) so I stopped doing it. Well as you can see she really had a wonderful Mother's Day!

It’s Always an Adventure!

Time to dry out.

The last week in Provo. Next Tuesday I can say good bye to the lake in front of our steps. Today we have to pick up the RV rug that is in front of the step. There is a nasty smell by our home and I believe it is because of the saturated ground under the rug. We have blocks of wood to step on as well, and they too are soaked and need to be dried in the sun. The neighbor has moved on so we will use the two picnic tables to drape the rug for it to dry. It is a plastic weave rug made for to put the ground without hurting the grass. But as wet as it is here it needs to air out before we can pack it away. I think I’ll gather branches that have fallen from the recent wind and put them in front of the step so we can get inside the camper without sinking in the mud. The campground waters every day and compound that water with the recent rains makes for a very wet area. The lady in the office was no help when I complained last week. I pity the person that gets lot # G-10 next.

The weekend was wet and windy but it was also when we met up with friends we met in Yuma. Craig and Sheralene met us at the Golden Corral for supper Saturday night. After many tight hugs and greetings we went inside to a very very busy buffet. We talked for over two hours non stop and it was so much fun. It took me a long time to settle down for the night to get some sleep. It was so great meeting up with them.  Since we love Utah and they live in Utah, we will see them again. :) We have other friends that live in Utah and we will be seeing them too.

Now it’s back to figuring out our next route to travel. Since the tourists have really taken over some of the big tourist attractions, we will be going a different way north than we had planned. Since Memorial Day is in the mix too we will be doing more dry camping then we have been doing. Which is fine by me, I don’t like being around a lot of people or kids!!  Mark has a great solar system working well so we can dry camp anywhere. We will just need to be more mindful of our water usage, what electrical appliance we use and when, and keep an eye on the black water tank and where we can dump. Not much to think about. LOL Who am I kidding. 

Time to get to some cleaning. Yes, even RV life has cleaning and laundry to do.

From Provo Utah

As they say, better late than never. We have been at the Lakeside RV Campgrounds since May 2nd. Again we pushed the miles to over a 6 hour drive so it took us a couple days to recoup. For some reason we set things up so we have to be in a spot in a short period of time so we have to push ourselves. We do however, stop to let Lola do her thing and us to stretch our legs and do our thing as well. hehe As always we have to stop for gas along the way. Going through the mountainous roads, pulling a loaded 36 foot RV, takes a bit of fuel, to say the least.

We were warmly greeted by the lady who checked us into the campgrounds. But finding our site was a big disappointment. It was mud and ruts with a little grass that had to be shared with the neighboring camper. Thankfully there was no close to the door camper at that time or now.  And I very much hope that it stays that way until we leave here. The site set up is very similar to the KOA buddy camping. And in my opinion is not a fun way to camp. Who wants a neighbors front door not but 15 feet from your front door? Not I. I highly doubt we will stay here again.  It is a very unfriendly camp but the view is amazing and it's quiet.

The campgrounds has nice trails for walking, and a dog run so Lola can be free for a bit. She hasn’t quite figured out that she can actually run and not get scolded for doing so. hehe  There is also a river that runs on the edge of one side with such clear water from the mountains. In the few days that we have been here the level has risen too. Looking out to the southeast  side of the campgrounds, you can see the beautiful snow capped mountains. It is an amazing sight to behold. We are so close they look enormous!!!!!!!! And yet we are still quite far from them. The birds are very busy chirping away in the morning sun looking for their mates. It’s been awhile since we have seen any birds other than crows and mourning doves.

Thursday we went into town to do laundry. The laundry room here is so small that there isn’t room for a folding table or your laundry baskets. The water at the laundromat in town had soft water, much to my delight and it was so very clean too. Just a few yards away was a quaint little coffee shop. We walked down for a treat. Mark had his usual black coffee and I had a caramel, mocha, iced latte, that was every bit as good as the one I would get in Hutch at the Kwik Trip which has been my favorite. I know that before we leave Provo, I will have a couple more of those. MMMMMMmmmm. As with every place in Utah the people were oh so friendly.

After the laundry and a great lunch at the Golden Corral,   we went for a drive around the area. We came across a state campgrounds that looked like a nice place to stay with many spots already reserved. I'm sure it will be packed for the Memorial day weekend. As always Mark enjoys taking the road less traveled and in doing so we came across a mountain fed river/stream. It was so peaceful and breathtaking that our cameras were snapping away. Along the path two walkers came at different times and asked if they could take pictures of us for us. That is Utah nice and friendly. It was so nice to share this beautiful place of God's creation with my one and only true love. 

Saturday we will be meeting up with some friends we met in Yuma this last winter. We are so excited to see them again. They are not full time RVers so connecting with them will be by luck. And we are lucky enough to be only an hour from them. We are also within an hour from another couple we met in Yuma and hope to surprise them with a visit. We have met some really wonderful people on our adventurous travel so far.