170427 Fruita, Colorado

170427 Fruita, Colorado
(Grand Junction)

As we drove toward our next campground, we were overtaken by a brand-new 1947 Ford coupe.  It had modern wheels and tires under it, and it sounded like it may have had a modern engine, but otherwise it seemed original on the outside--and shiny-new.  (And not hot-rodded, which I greatly appreciated; except for the wheels and tires, it appeared stock.)  My speed is usually 60 when a steep upgrade doesn't reduce that; this little coupe rolled past me easily--and beautifully.  (Speed limit in the countryside is 80.)

Waves of wind in the camp.
Warm enough that we could eat our late-midday snack with the door open.

Into town to mine the visitor's center, then to a great little shop for some excellent coffee. We spoke a little with the owner, who was justifiably proud of having been open for a whole year.  He was roasting his own beans, and the coffee was very good.

After coffee--late afternoon closing time--we walked into the former elementary school, now the City offices, to see what it was like inside.  All updated; nothing of interest to see there, except for some posters about local subjects, including a local legend or celebrity: Mike, the Headless Chicken.  (I have no idea.)

From there, we strolled into nearby neighborhoods, where we were soon challenged by a voice from a house we were passing:  "Hey--are you following me?"  It was the coffee house owner working on the renovation of a(nother) house.  (The coffee place was in a renovated house.)  We all laughed, and we apologized for getting caught.  Nice fellow.

After our walk, we drove around town a bit--it's not a big place--and noted a few houses that had been worked on, giving the impression of a little boom. This is a mountain-biking region, and apparently this little town is benefitting from its proximity to Moab--and likely its lower costs.  A mountain-biking festival was in town for the weekend.

We then drove out of town into the hills, where hiking and equestrian trail-heads were all along the natural-surface roads.

A little before dusk we drove back to camp for dinner and more little wind-squalls.

Mark_
R/V _Serenity_, Fruita, CO (near Grand Junction)

170426 Green River State Park, UT-

This is a beautiful drive from Heyburn, ID--especially the part of it that winds along beside the river and railroad.  Later, some of the uphill grades can seem like pretty long grinds, and the downhills can seem pretty long and even exhilarating.  Thrill-rides with a trailer behind--and scenery all around.

We arrived at about dinnertime to a park that was 99% full--and we had no reservation.  We got the next-to-last slip--and people aborted entering the last one because it was too short.  Our good luck.

Fine.  We had been on the road for eight hours; although I have driven for longer than that, I didn't like it better.  We were glad to stop for the evening in a pretty little park.

Mark_
R/V _Serenity_, Green River State Park, UT

170425 Heyburn ID-

City of Rocks

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Rocks_National_Reserve>

We arose to an alarm clock so we could have plenty of daylight for this feature.  Good thing; it was pretty amazing, and we stayed out into the early evening.

The story is that the westward wagon-train parties went through there, and said that the collection of large (stacks and broken piles of) rock(s) resembled a "city".  Perhaps, from a distance, viewed askance, through a prism of suffering and hunger, the tortured brain might see this and think "city", but that impression would be more like imaginative hopefulness than anything else.  It was landscape run amok, with rocky outcroppings everywhere.

It is pretty amazing, though.  I nearly despaired of being able to adequately photograph what we were seeing--but I did end up making 300 attempts (to be posted later).

The weather was also remarkable.  In the first place, the mountains all around had plenty of snow on them.  Also, there were patches along where we were walking.  Finally, we experienced three or four brief periods of unmistakable snowing--just a few little thin falls of tiny particles of snow-like substance that weren't flakes, and were too dry for sleet.

On the way home, we stopped for a closer look at what appeared to be an old school campus: several three-story brick buildings grouped in grassy lawns, with a heat plant (smokestack, etc.) on the edge.  It looked like a small college campus, and it turned out to be that: a teacher's college <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_State_Normal_School>.  Most of the buildings were disused and in somewhat poor condition, but there was evidence that someone cared: All had good, recent, roofs.  

The day had opened very cool and quite breezy.  Later, both discomforts were moderated.  All in all: wonderful!

Mark_

R/V _Serenity_, Heyburn, ID

170424 Heyburn, ID-

Arrived at about noon after a nice drive through the countryside on US-30.  Not long after backing into our slip, we began experiencing wave after wave of wind and rain squalls.  I wore rain gear to complete the docking process (which was lengthy, because I had been careless in arranging the contents of my black water tank, rendering the in-slip pumpout uncertain and time-consuming).

All okay, though; re-arrangement and pumpout were accomplished, and the real rain didn't begin until four or five seconds after I had my lines Flemished.  (Utilities connected [all three, this time], stabilizers down, and the hitch insert off the truck and stowed.)

Anyway, after departing the Hagerman area, the scenic value of the roadside diminished somewhat as the land flattened and became more purely agricultural.  Nothing against potatoes or beans, of course, nor against beef or milk or clover or wool.

At dinnertime, we have done nothing beyond sitting around, catching up on some online news, and checking to see that we can actually visit the area we have planned for tomorrow: City of Rocks.  (There have been reports of snow.)

Mark_
R/V _Serenity_
Just yards from the Snake River
Heyburn, ID (near Burley)

170423 Pictures so far

I have taken some pictures.  If you want to see some of what we have been seeing, your _Plan A_ should have been to come with us.  Here is your _Plan B_:

• Emigrant Springs State Park: <https://goo.gl/photos/ZNafDuNmCSWLmgkG9>
• Devil's Washbowl, Malad River: <https://goo.gl/photos/DeHRuongnSySqfZ19>
• White pelicans: <https://goo.gl/photos/3uoxXfauEcw3Ermr6>
• Wood-stave water pipe: <https://goo.gl/photos/erJxbV435GdQ4MGVA>
• Thousand Springs (leaking aquifer): <https://goo.gl/photos/ad4JiAVSsqo9EwSt6>
• Shoshone Falls, Twin Falls, ID: <https://goo.gl/photos/zhJENTAz8kbGFVmP6>

See?  You should have come along.

Mark_
R/V _Serenity_

170423 Hagerman, ID; Twin Falls

After sleeping in a bit, we drove to Twin Falls.  

Shoshone Falls was pouring a great deal of water--many times what we had seen during our previous visit here in August of 2015.  On that occasion there was a large amount of naked rock.  This time, not so much.  

There may also have been more tourists, although this is difficult to judge.  I did have the impression of more canine-Americans on the trails and walkways.  (This is the case _everywhere_!)  Build that wall!

At mid-afternoon snack time, we found a pleasant picnic table near the Snake River, unpacked our stuff--and put it all away again.  The perfectly nice East Indian family in the next table shelter was playing Indian pop music from their boom box or car system or whatever, and although the music itself was not objectionable on its face, and wasn't even terribly loud, we judged it incompatible with a pleasant and quiet afternoon beneath beautiful trees next to a major river.  We left in disgust.

On our return to camp, we found that the Good Sam Club rendezvous has left; except for the constant, mechanical, cooing of a murder (a coven?) of doves nearby, it's pretty quiet here at present.  The highway is only about a single block away from our site, but its traffic is infrequent and in no particular hurry, so not much noise comes from there.  Even the residents' little dogs are asleep, or something.

Unlike many, this park has excellent wi-fi.  We had been seeing a number of other hotspots as well, most of which had disappeared when the weekend crowd departed.  One remained: nerdsontheroad.  

Next to us is a large 5th-wheel trailer, with dirt bikes, pets, and a bunch of gear stowed beneath the trailer.  The hipster-looking young people seemed wrong for _early retirement_ but did seem to be full-timing, so I guessed _tech worker/s_ of some sort.  Just now it dawned on me that one of the wi-fi points I had been seeing might be theirs; on checking I found that it had remained after the great bulk of the others disappeared coincident with the departure of most of the rest of the campground's transients.

I was correct in some of my conjecture about them:  <http://nerdsontheroad.com> are in site # 37, Hagerman Village RV Campground, Hagerman, ID.  Cindy says that the site is not of much interest.  No recent images, so there may be no point in looking for _Serenity_ there.

There is, apparently, more or less nothing interesting about them beyond the fact that our speculation about their story was correct to some extent.

It has been a sunny and warm day, and the evening remains warm.  Having _Serenity_'s doors and ports open for a change made for a very pleasant evening.

Mark_

R/V _Serenity_, Hagerman, ID 

170422 Hagerman, ID sightseeing

Visitor's center:

  Pix of the Hagerman Horse fossil <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagerman_horse>.

  Information about local sights, including Thousand Springs (where the aquifer leaks out of shattered basaltic rock faces), Ritter Island State Park, and Devil's Washbowl at Malad Gorge.  

Weather was warm and sunny--although so breezy that long-lens photography was difficult.

Pix of white pelicans on the Snake.

I saw my first (I believe) pheasant couple at the side of the road.  Because of where Cindy has lived, this was nothing new for her.  I thought it quite a colorful novelty.

More of this area tomorrow.


Mark_
R/V _Serenity_, Hagerman, ID

170421 Hagerman, ID

Wind!  I neglected to mention in yesterday's log that we experienced the windiest driving that I believe we ever have had while towing.  We were never in the kind of danger that fills a corner of YouTube, but vehicle motion was pretty energetic.  The truck tracks well, so the driving was not difficult as such--just that we could feel it moving beneath us in a way that is pretty unusual.  The trailer stayed right where it belonged, centered in my mirrors.

Today we were glad to have been carrying a 5-gallon can of extra gasoline; we stopped alongside in a freeway exit and poured it into the tank so that we could feel easy about the last few miles before we hit town.  The fuel was a year old, but it was still flammable; we made it to Costco without worry.  We might have made it anyway, but we decided not to bother with the bet; the hassle and potential danger of running dry while pulling a grade or entering an intersection would have taking some of the fun out of a day of driving through scenery.  Maneuvering without power steering or brake assist is not something I wish to practice.  That spare fuel adds a pleasant sensation of comfort in a vehicle that carries only 25 gallons of fuel in its main tank, and sometimes burns through it at a shocking rate.

Today's drive along I-84 was spectacular.  There are winding canyon runs along the Snake River, and spectacular vistas in broad valleys and from high passes.  We have traveled that way a number of times before, but on this occasion it was during daytime in brilliant sunshine.

We met about six Airstreams--two of which were still in their shrink-wrap as if headed for dealers.  We did see one dealer, in Caldwall, ID, but all but one of those trailers was headed away from there.  Rendezvous, perhaps.

We also met two Bigfoots--both slide-in truck campers.

In general, lots of RVs are out plying the highways--and staying overnight in the campgrounds.  Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area Campground (last night) was far from full, but this night's park (Hagerman RV Village, Hagerman, ID) has turned away at least one potential customer--the unhappy no-reservation-holding fellow immediately before us.

This is a pleasant park, with trees and grass at the sites, and wi-fi that works out in the campground. We will be here for three nights; there are fossils, springs, and waterfalls to be examined.

All is going well.  We are grateful to be out and to have this chance to stop and look at some things we have only read about.

Mark_

R/V _Serenity_, Hagerman, ID

 

170420 Emigrant Springs Heritage Center campground

We have departed early on the Ranger cruise to Four Corners.  Note that by "early" I mean "before the others"; it was not so early in the morning for us.  We cast off at about 0925; we arrived in the campground at about 1645, got set up (without unhitching), and found the promised campsite water not actually available. We had not bothered filling our water tank the last time we were out, so there was nothing at all to do but to up-anchor and roll around the corner to take on water at the restroom.  Not an actual problem.

Although it is next to the busy interstate highway and therefore very far from quiet, this is a pretty little park, with spacious, open, campsites among a mixture of ponderosa pine and other conifers.

Also present in surprising abundance: piles of snow. As we drove up, there was quite a bit of snow next to the highway (some of the passes are at nearly 3500'), but we thought it quite a novelty to park next to it in the campground.  Temperature at present is 46 F., so perhaps those piles won't grow any while we are here.

My Scangauge is working again, so we can again be treated to the knowledge that downhill we might get as much as 50-some miles per gallon.  This ready access to data from the truck's engine-management computer is not an entirely un-mixed blessing, however; uphill we watch fuel efficiency drop to 5 m.p.g. or worse.

Never mind that.  It would be unseemly to complain about the cost of dragging the absolute lap of luxury behind one's mode of transport.  Big refrigerator, hot meals, hot showers, room to stretch out, and warm or cool (as needed) shelter among the trees (or, occasionally, the Walmart _clientele_); this is a great thing.

Tomorrow we will look for a scenic byway that should be around here: Blue Mountain Scenic Byway, which follows an old route in parallel to the new-tangled Inteerstate highway.

We have had bright sunshine, rain, blue sky, clouds of the white and the ominous varieties.  We have dodged trucks and construction cones; we have looked up at snow-covered mountains; from the tops of steep and long switch-back systems we have looked into valleys full of orchards and vineyards--all of this during DAY 1!

Excellent.

Mark_
SERENITY
Emigrant Springs State Park, OR