Boulder City, NV

We had a short but tiring driving day today due to the strong and gusty winds. The good news was that it was mostly down hill. We went from about 4800’ in Virgin, UT to 2400’ here in Boulder City, NV.

I wasn’t going to bother with a post today because we have not really done anything but drive. Then I realized the whole purpose of this stop is to record another state on our states visited map in the right column of this blog. We are now at 27 states after hanging at 26 since the fall of 2013. So, here is to Nevada our first new state in two years! By the way, our criteria for counting a state is that we must sleep over at least one night in a state to take credit for it. Barbara and I have been to nearly every state, but this map records our journey in our RV.

We are staying the night at Canyon Trails RV Park. It is a nicely kept, medium sized park with paved roads and gravel sites. There is a nice pool and clean restrooms, although we have not used either. There is a nice fenced dog area and lots of friendly dogs for Bella to play with. She and Jasper spent a good bit of time wrestling in the road and came away pretty dirty, so…

An interesting feature of this park is the cactus gardens at the end of each row. There are some very old cacti here and they are starting to bloom. Not quite ready for photos, though, but the old desert artifacts with them were worthy of a shot.

We will be leaving early in the morning, well, early for us. It is forecast to be another windy day and we would like to be well down the road before the winds peak in the afternoon. It is expected to be well over six hours of driving to reach Agave Gulch in Tucson.

Bryce National Park

We drove over to Bryce Canyon today. It turned out to be a long way off. We spent more time on the road than we did in the park. It was worth the drive, certainly, but we were real tired by the time we got home to watch DWTS. Can’t miss that just because we are on the road.

We found a bowl of chili at the lodge general store. It was appropriate because it was cool and windy in the park. I am not sure what the elevation was at the general store, but at the overview at the end of the park road we were at 9100’. No wonder the jeep was having a little trouble keeping up.

Overall, we think we enjoyed Zion NP a bit more. Truthfully, we just spent a week in Moab driving through some spectacular country. Perhaps we are gaded and were not as receptive to the grandeur as someone arriving from Las Vegas, only a few hours away. We noted that at both parks the majority of visitors seemed to be international with German and Japanese the most noted groups. Hoped they has a great time!

Zion River RV Resort, Virgin, UT

Another great day! We were off to Zion National Park this morning and, like everyone predicted, parking in the park was full by 10:00. We managed to get a place along the highway just outside the entrance and just a short walk to the pedestrian entrance. We love our Golden Age Pass. Just show the pass with an ID and in you go without paying the $25 entry fee. How cool is that?

The park is actually fairly small; at least the portion in the canyon, and it was very busy. Personal vehicles are restricted, and visitors are required to use the free shuttle to get around in the park. They come often, so it is not a problem.

We hiked a few trails and checked out the museum. It was a great time. Next time we will come prepared to hike The Narrows, the trail that follows the river upstream through the narrow canyon. I say follow, actually, it requires walking in the river since the cliffs come right down to the waters edge.

Narrows Trail entrance

The desert is starting to bloom

We are enjoying our stay at the Zion River RV Resort. It is a well-run park with paved sites and access roads. NO DUST! YEA! We got back to the campground in time for the complimentary wine and cheese gathering at the social hall. It gave us a chance to mingle with our neighbors. If you are traveling through this area Zion River RV Resort is worth checking out. We are very happy with them.

The Virgin River runs along the RV park

Moab, UT FMCA 4-Wheelers Rally

It was a nice drive from Durango to Moab, UT and we arrived early enough to join friends John and Jane Canfield for BBQ at their campsite. We are here for the 20^th Anniversary of the FMCA 4-Wheelers, an off-road group. John and Jane are staying at Portal RV Park, the host site for the club’s main activities. We did not make reservations early enough, so stayed at another RV park on the other side of town.

We spent the week at Spanish Trails RV Park. It is a nice park with clean facilities and friendly, cooperative management. It is being expanded, so there will soon be several new campsites available. The access roads and sites are gravel and dirt, so it can get dusty, but there is a nice patch of grass and picnic table at each site.

View from Spanish Trail at sundown.

Trail rides were held each day except Thursday, which featured a treasure hunt. The hunt was well thought out, and executed, but the scoring got a bit messed up and there was no way to determine the winner. Each driving day started with a trail ride at 9:00 and was followed by happy hour at 4:30 and dinner at 5:30. The weather did not cooperate and a couple of the dinners, which were outdoors, were a bit damp. The Portal RV Park gave us a thank you dinner and luckily they thought ahead and changed the venue to a large indoor catering facility called the Bar M Chuckwagon.  There were over three hundred club members attending this rally and we were able to comfortably get them all in the Bar M while the rains came down. We had a nice chicken dinner and a live band provided the entertainment.

This was our second time in Moab, our first time driving the trails here. For those of you that are familiar with this activity, we rode the following trails: Seven Mile Rim, Fallen Peace Officer, Hidden Canyon, 3-D, Long Canyon, Hells Revenge, and Hey Joe Canyon.

Sunday found us on the road again as we headed west to Zion National Park.

Durango, CO

We rolled in to Durango yesterday around two in the afternoon after a very pleasant drive up from Albuquerque. It was a gorgeous day and the views of Georgia O’Keefe’s favored countryside were magnificent.

We are staying at the Alpen Rose RV Park on the north side of Durango near the Animas River. This is a very nicely maintained campground staffed with friendly folks. Our neighbors are great, too.

The Durango-Silverton train passes our site twice a day.

The views from the campsite are great, and there is a huge dog park where Bella has romped with the other dogs in the park. She has been having a ball. Today we visited the historic downtown where there are several nice restaurants and shops, as well as the station from which the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge railroad departs. While in town we stopped for lunch at the roof top Balcony Bar & Grill where we had a nice view of the main drag.

This is a college town, so there are lots young folks around. Transportation by bicycle is encouraged and the town is very bike-friendly. There is a nice bike/walking path that runs along the river, and we took the time to stroll along a good bit of it. Kayakers were running the mild rapids and there were lots of runners and cyclists on the path itself. Bella walked it with us and went nuts over all the new smells!

The Durango area is well worth a visit if you have not been before. It is a great stepping-off point for visiting the San Juan Mountains and the back country mining towns such as Silverton and Ouray.

We leave in the morning for the relatively short hop over to Moab to meet up with other members of the Family Motor Coach Association 4 Wheelers for a week of off-roading in the jeep. We are looking forward to a lot of fun.

Enchanted Trails, Albuquerque, NM

This is at least our third stay at Enchanted Trails RV Park on the west side of Albuquerque. We have enjoyed our stays here. They have a nice clean park with a nice gift shop. Like many southwestern RV parks it is mostly gravel with a few shade tees. We have met some nice folks here when staying more than one night, but tonight we will pretty much stay to ourselves and leave in the morning.

One of the nice features here is the antique camping site where there are 1950's vintage autos and trailers set up around a little garden. Someone here enjoys restoring campers, and they do a nice job. The trailer can e rented for the night.

Anyone looking for a place to stay in Albuquerque would find this a handy stop. Camping World is next door and there is  La Mesa dealer down the street. Flying J is one exit away. What else could you want? Oh, Walmart is not too far either.

Vega, TX

Has it been forty days and forty nights yet? I though we were having a draught.

Yet another day of driving in rain. We left Southlake, TX and headed north on TX287 to Amarillo to hook up with I-40 and points west. Good plan, but soggy execution. Even Bella has had enough and spend a good portion of the trip zonked on the sofa.

We pulled in to the Walnut RV Park in Vega, TX just before sunset and found it to be less than advertised. Of the forty plus sites on the website only ten were in use. All but one of those sites was pretty much underwater. The only dry one was taken up by some guy with  Chevy Volt getting a charge. To say the least we were not pleased with this campground, but we did not have two more hours of driving in the rain in us. We hooked up the electric only, got the TV going, and called it a day.

Anything is doable with a good dog and a glass of wine.