Dreams DO come true

To finish the week we went back to the Elks Lodge where we had been told that the Sunday Brunch was “Spectacular”. And there endeth the first full month of our adventures.

Monday was a day out to the Badlands NP and a stop at Wall Drug on the way. 

If you’ve driven on I95 on the East Coast going to Florida you’ve no doubt seen the miles and miles of signs for “South of the Border”. Wall’s is the western version with signs that started in Wyoming!! Same kind of place too but smaller.

Badlands was nice with some extremely subtle colors if you looked for them.

Tuesday we decided to move from Tee Pee to the Elks Lodge for another week in Rapid City then we’ll head off for Yellowstone. One of our dreams has been to sit talking with fellow RV’ers and swap destinations and campgrounds. We finally did that on Sunday after brunch at the Elks and we’re looking forward to following up on the tips.

Almost as soon as our wheels stopped rolling the people we’d met on Sunday came up and we started chattering like old friends. Mike and Suzy with Lucy the dog were so welcoming, then the neighbors on the other side Lee and Marilyn stopped and said hi. Bob and Sandy too and then Marty, it was quite overwhelming. At the end of the day we spontaneously gathered for drinks, swapping news about our days, where we were going, where we’d been. The best places to camp, what to see and do in all the places we’d been. Barbara and I were living our dream. We all trooped over the Lodge and had dinner together.

Our new friends all headed out in different directions for the day. Devils Tower or the Badlands. while we went and got a new windshield in the Fiesta and spent a very good afternoon at the Journey Museum which leads you thru the history of the Black Hills from the beginnings of the planet to modern day. A very well laid out and well planned museum

Rapid City has a President on every corner! They really do, they are Bronze statues and you can get a good workout taking the “Presidents Walk” seeing them all.

One of the nice things abut being retired is that you don't have to be in a hurry to get anywhere. While we were exploring some back roads we saw a sign "RC Aero Event" I took this to be a Radio Controlled Airplane Fly In and we followed the sign to a field where gigantic sized model airplanes were flying aerobatic patterns that were amazing. A nice find!

In celebration of our 1 month n the road anniversary I posted an update to the “Shanty Shakers website back in San Diego. When we got back to the rig on Saturday there was a note from some fellow Shanty Shakers who are work camping in Spearfish about 50 miles down the road. Bill and Jeanne had seen our post and dropped by while shopping in the area but we missed them when they dropped by. We called them and on Sunday went to visit them.

Work Campers exchange their labor for free camping. In broad terms they work around 24 hours a week as a couple at a campground or historic area. They get a full hookup site for their RV and perhaps free electric, cable TV and propane depending on the job. The jobs can last the summer or the whole year. If you go to a national park a lot of the people working there are likely work campers doing things from driving the tour bus to serving at the counter in the gift store. Full Timers like it because they get to spend time with somebody other than their spouses!

Bill and Jeanne have been working at the Historic Fish Hatchery in Spearfish for the summer and really like the place. We walked around the place and it is a very interesting and picturesque place. 

After sitting talking about places and things all afternoon they took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. That dream came true TWICE this week.

End of our first month on the road

We had reservations for the Tee Pee campground. I think we’ll enjoy this place, it’s very quiet and pleasing to the eye.

The owners are really nice and really helpful. We decided to stay a whole week more so we could get our mail, have the drapes we ordered before we left San Diego delivered and to get our drivers licenses and registrations.

The DL office is closed Mondays so we decided to leave everything until Tuesday and get it all done at once. 

Meanwhile we explored the town, went shopping at Cabellas (our favorite outdoors mega store) and locate the Firehouse Brewery for lunch and to select a beer we liked for our growler as we have a movie night planned.

All laundry done, pork steaks grilled we poured a little wine for Barbara, A nice ESB for me, popped some popcorn and settled in to watch “The second best exotic marigold hotel”. It has been cold all day so we laughed as we put on long pants and sweaters for the first time this trip and dug out a second blanket to put on the bed. We had to turn the volume up at one point due to the noise of the rain falling on the roof.

And it stayed cold and rainy for a couple of days which gave us the opportunity to get our Drivers Licenses and vehicle registrations done. Not an altogether seamless task but far, far better than San Diego or Baltimore would have been. There were so few people at the DMV that you could walk in without an appointment and be done in 30 minutes.

This week has been the Central State Fair and Rodeo. Being a city slicker I haven’t been to a rodeo before and we went before 3pm when admission was free. This is a real country – county fair with all the usual arts and crafts. livestock, vendors etc. On top of which were events you’d never see in a less rural event: Mutton Busting where little kids ride bucking sheep in a pen! And pig wresting where a team of 4 people (Some  - big strapping farmers, some young 12-13 year old girls) get into a mud filled arena with 4 color coded pigs and attempt to single out the one they have been assigned and place it in a feed trough. Oh yes I forgot – they soak each pig in a gallon of vegetable oil first!!

Then the rodeo. This one was described as a “Rancher Rodeo” and the events were centered around ranch type work. Teams of riders “Roped, Doctored and Trailered” cattle against the clock, Then they had to round up and milk a “Wild Cow”. The Wild Cows were HUGE with gigantic horns and believe me they didn’t want to be milked! The teams had to milk them into a beer bottle, sprint across the stadium and show a judge there was some small amount of milk actually in the bottle. After one round the “Cow” was so ticked off it started charging the horses and riders like a bull in a bullfight. The night finished with Bronc Riding but for Ranch Rodeo the rider can choose to use BOTH hands to hang on with. We had a lot of fun and got back after 9.30pm which for us lately is a late night!

Our next tourist event was Mount Rushmore. Crazy Horse and Custer State Park. The line of traffic to get into Rushmore was about ½ mile long, we went past the entrance did a U turn and ended up taking pictures from the road and heading to the Crazy Horse monument which is a self-funded by the tribe. The monument is pretty impressive but their ambition is to set up a 4 year accredited school for Native Americans. The displays of artifacts, art and photographs had our full attention for several hours. 

We finished the day driving back along 16A thru the Custer State Park which was an excellent twisty road through mountains and lakes with a great overlook of Rushmore through the trees.

We saw an ad for “Kool Deadwood Nights” apparently with free bands and a hot rod show and so off we went. Drove thru Sturgis on the way, nothing special without a million bikes! The road to Deadwood was nice but the town was wall to wall traffic. Just as I gave up on getting a parking space we saw a sign off the right and drove into the first spot right by the road! Next to Deadwood Dicks too so we sampled some nice Red Ale before crossing the road and trying the Elks Lodge which was right there! So were the bands and a portion of the car show. Dinner was disappointing, a tourist quality steak that was tough as leather.

As we went to bed the wind came up and it shook the rig for the next 24 hours! We decided on maintenance and washing for entertainment. We restrung one of the day/night shades that had broken, I tightened down the flange bolts on the commode to fix a slight leak and Barbara did the laundry. PHEW a heavy day!!

Minuteman Silo Elmsworth AFB

Part of the Air an Space Museum tour.

To finish the week we went back to the Elks Lodge where we had been told that the Sunday Brunch was “Spectacular”. $11 each and not only as much as you cared to eat but as much as you DARED to eat if you liked! Very nice buffet plus a custom made omelet if you wanted, fruit and desert. We retreated to the rig and had a quiet day digesting!

And there endeth the first full month of our adventures.

Full-timing Week 3

The next day we went to Arches and to Canyon Lands NP’s. They were OK but not as good as Zion and Bryce.

Off again to Vernal UT - 217 miles. We stopped at the campground gas station to fill up on the way out. Their price board was blank. Regular was $2.89 in the town. It was $3.69 at the campground – no wonder they left the board blank. We had 100 miles worth of gas so we didn’t buy any there. When we got to the Interstate there was a small gas station with another blank price board. They wanted $4.79 a gallon! We drove to Green River 50 miles further on and got it for $2.89.

Taking Hwy 191 North was nice, 2 lanes thru nice little towns and picturesque scenery. Then after Price where it was marked on the map as “Scenic Route” it started to climb and get really twisty. 20 mph curves. 8% grades! At one point we were down in 1^st gear and the engine was redlined. My foot was literally on the floorboards and we were going 30 mph! I didn’t get to see much of the scenery and there was nowhere to pull off. After cresting at 9150 feet we had the same only downhill. I was like a wet rag after 50 miles when it got back to more normal (less scenic) surrounds. Thank goodness for being in the RV. We pulled over and had lunch!!

Vernal is near Dinosaur NM and the city lets you know it. We were staying at the Fossil RV Park! Not a bad little place right in the center of town and $35 a night with full hookups wasn’t going to break the bank. Compared to “Arches Resort” in Moab I was a steal. It even had shade trees and grass.

Of course we had to visit the Dinosaur NP. This is where the Carnegie Museum quarried thousands of dinosaur fossils out of the rock, many of them are still on display in their natural state.

Next we visited the Dinosaur Brew Pub and finally the Utah Natural History museum where they had a very good display of --- you guessed it---Dinosaurs.

Still the beer from Vernal Breweries was pretty good!

Barbara LOOK OUT!!

North to Rock Springs had us climbing more 8% grades in 1^st gear past Flaming Gorge NRA then on to the high plains. Along the way we went thru miles of road works and gravel which resulted in a cracked windshield for the Fiesta being towed behind.

We spent the night at Walmart and sampled a brew at the Bitter Creek Brew Pub then moved on to Riverton for a night in the casino there. We’re aiming for a $25 a night average camping cost so some free nights at Walmart and the like help counter the expensive nights in Moab.

Bar rail support

The next morning sipping coffee I realized that we had done things the day before that I could never have dreamed of when I was a kid back in England.

We’d crossed the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide, seen the ruts left by the wagon trains on the Oregon Trail and now we were camping in a town surrounded by the Indian Reservations.

I watched the usual cowboy movies and TV shows as a kid. My imagination would conjure up gunfights and Indian attacks as we played. But if I’d told my parents that one day I’d do the things I had done in just the last day, well even they would have warned me not to get carried away with my dreams.

And yet my Mum always did say that when I was little I’d told her that one day I’d live in America and send her $100 a week! Sorry Mum the check is in the mail!

I’m kind of tingling writing this as I realize how blessed I have been to be given the opportunity to go from a rough inner city area like the North End of Birkenhead (a notoriously violent area) to the freedom of travelling this wonderful land.

The next 120 miles were less interesting, except for herds of prong horn antelope, the high plains are just that. Plain! Undulating grassland with occasional “Nodding Donkey” oil wells, each with a cluster of tanks to store the oil until it’s picked up by a road tanker. We had never thought of Wyoming as an oil and gas state but arriving in Casper revealed miles and miles of engineering shops and other support activities for the fields out there.

We stayed at Fort Casper RV park and using our Passport America membership got 2 nights for $44 instead of $88. That paid for the annual membership in one go!

We’ve used Escapees, Good Sam and Passport America to get discounts so far all of which have paid for our annual dues in each. Especially Good Sam - because we got a free 1 year trial membership at an RV show last year!!

Casper was nice, the park very busy with Oil Field workers, was clean but fairly basic. It was owned by the Isaac Walton League and had 2 fishing ponds as well as being on the Platte River.

The Platte is the reason for Casper being here. A fort was built to protect the best crossing of the river for the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. Later the first transcontinental telegraph used the same route. There’s a very nice little museum right next to the campground and a reproduction of the original fort.

Another 120 miles closer to our immediate goal of Rapid City brought us to Gillette WY of which we knew absolutely nothing. It was a pleasantly modern city of about 20,000 people based around the low sulfur coal that’s mined there. Another night at Walmart let us sample a delicious brew at the Prairie Fire Brewery named Bushwhacker which deservedly won a gold medal recently.

Leaving Gillette things began to get more interesting the hills started to roll and pines sprouted at the side of the road. By the time we crossed the state line we could see why they are called the Black Hills.

We had reservations at the Tee Pee campground just outside Rapid City. I think we’ll enjoy this place, it’s very quiet and pleasing to the eye.

Tires what a rotten trick

To continue to my comparison of RV's and Ships I wanted to bring up tires.

Updated 4/29/18

RV's have them on their wheels and use them to keep them going down the road safely and comfortably. Ships have them hanging down their sides on ropes and use them to cushion the blow when the Captain screws up and smacks sideways into the pier.

Where's the connection? Well RV tires are big, they don't get a great deal of mileage on them so they don't usually get worn out. Instead they sit in the sunshine and ozone, which chemically deteriorates the structure of the tire. If you see an ad for a rig that says "Tires good - slight ozone checking" what it is really saying is "Tires rotted out just waiting for the worst moment so they can blow out". Rotted out RV tires make good bumpers for ships but not much else. 

Sound scary? Well it is.

We all know what tires are. They are the black things under the wheels that wear out every couple of years. Or they are on a car, where the annual mileage is around 20,000 miles and they get replaced every 5 or so years due to wear. On a car they are fairly lightly loaded and get inflated to about 30 psi.
On an RV the tires might only see 1500 miles a year so the tread looks great. Surely that ozone cracking on the sidewall can't be bad? Well it is, RV tires are only good for about 5-7 years depending on how they've been treated and then they need replacing due to age. The RV weighs around 20,000 lbs loaded and ready to go. That's 10 TONS. Properly inflated they can have 80 to 120 psi in them which means when one deflates it EXPLODES.

Ever see those huge chunks of tire on the Interstates? 

Exploded tire.

Most of the ragged bits of tire are from truck tires, but RV tires are basically truck tires too. There is a date code on tires, check them even when buying new tires as the dealer might slip a set of tires on that have been sitting around for 2 years and now you have tires that are only only good for another 3 years. And RV tires are EXPENSIVE.

The date code on my new tires

This means they were made in the 8th week of 2015

Hard to read but this is the manufacturer's label giving the

MAXIMUM load at the tire's MAXIMUM pressure

Most manufacturer's websites can give you the appropriator pressure at your SPECIFIC load

Given the dangers of a tire exploding on a 10 ton projectile travelling at 60 mph down a steep twisty road with a mountain on one side and a 1000' drop on the other, it should make all of us want to take good care of the tires!!

How to do that? Well you may have seen RV's with white covers over the tires. That's not a fashion statement, they reflect the UV rays away from the body of the tires and prolongs the life of them.



How often do you check the tire pressures on your car? Many people rarely do unless they start hearing a grinding noise going around corners when the rim drags on the pavement. That's really bad for tires.

Under inflation is one of the most common causes of tire failure. Under inflation causes damage because when properly inflated the air in the tire keeps the tire the right shape and gives cushioning to the tire structure when it hits a bump. Low pressure lets the tire deflect more and roll around on the rim during cornering. All that twisting builds up heat in the structure of the tire that it was never designed to take (Unless you have run flat tires. But I don't believe they make RV tires like that). 
And that's just on your car. 

The big tires on an RV if under inflated also affect the steering and upset the balance of the rig due to one corner being lower than the others. Where there are dual rear wheels, if one tire has low pressure then all the load goes onto the other tire, drastically overloading it.

If you want a lecture (like this one) on tire care - talk to a motorcyclist. They are very focused on tire care because they have only 2 of them between their butts and the road, and if only 1 of those 2 tires suddenly deflates they are immediately out of control.

So get a good tire pressure gauge that will read up to 150 psi. You probably aren't going to find one in the local auto store so you'll need to look in an RV store or truck stop. Then you're going to need some way of inflating the tires to the required pressure. A little auto tire pump that plugs into the cigarette lighter isn't going to hack it. Look for one that is capable of 150 psi.
Gas stations may not have air supplies and even if they do it isn't likely they will have one that will go up to 150 psi. Be prepared, get a good compressor.

 Our compressor stowed away

RV's have more wheels than cars, at the back they generally have dual tires. One wheel sits inside the other on the same axle. This allows a greater load range on the axle. Some RV's have 2 rear axles. This is called a "Tag axle" and the second one isn't driven, it just takes some of the weight off the driven axle and allows an even greater load range. For dual wheels some method of reaching the inside valve is needed for checking pressure and inflation. Some people install valve extenders. Ours came that way but then one rear tire started losing pressure constantly. 

We were in for new front tires (at $450 a piece!!) so I asked them to see if they could find the leak in the rear. It was the valve extender. A nice looking gadget but not a good idea. The tire dealer showed me that truck tires (basically the same as RV tires) don't use the extenders they use a "Push/Pull" tire gauge and inflater. The valve stem on it's own is much more reliable. When we bought this rig the previous owner told us they'd had a tire blow out on the rear due to a leaky valve extender.

The guilty party - a valve extender

The valve without the extender

Harder to get to but much more reliable.

All the tires on all the axles have to be kept properly inflated so look for all the valve stems. I make it a habit to check the tire pressures and the air pressure in the rear suspension air bags the day before we leave home and once a week when on the road. That gives me plenty of time to do it and to correct problems if I find them. I carry spare valve cores and a tool to replace them as (apart from a puncture) they are the second most likely reason for a slowly deflating tire. (In my opinion based on my experience.)

A heavy duty tire pressure gauge

this one reads up to 180 psi and has both a "Pull" and "Push" feature on the end

An electronic tire pressure gauge

Accurate, light and small

Great for air bags and car tires

2 different "Push/Pull" inflators

Vave core tool to tighten and replace cores if needed

A valve core seals inside the valve stem and keeps the air in the tire.

So what tire pressure is the tire supposed to be inflated to? There's a Max Load and Max Pressure label molded into the tires. Is that it?
No it's not. As is says that's the max pressure allowable at the maximum load. If you inflate the tires to that pressure you will have a hard ride, the tire will wear out in the center before the sides and the tire will overheat, meaning you risk that dreaded explosion again. 
Around the drivers door or the drivers seat there will be a data plate that gives the maximum axle weights and Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). Right on that plate will be the recommended tire pressures. On my rig it's 80 psi. Some rigs it's as high as 120 psi. Check your own data plate and use those pressures as a starting point. Get the rig weighed fully loaded. Weigh each axle independently and consult the tire manufacturer's website for the appropriate pressure at your specific loading. The Escapees have a program called "Smart Weigh" and they do all this and measure your actual overall height for about $50. Well worth it.

If you are just getting used to a vehicle it's a good idea to make a note of the pressure when you check it, before you add any air. That way you get to know if one tire looses air faster than another and you can watch that one, check for a nail in the tire or consider replacing the valve core, valve extender or having the tire remounted if the the loss of pressure is excessive.

Why do tire lose pressure at all? Well nothing is perfect and a valve core may not seal perfectly, there may have been dirt on the rim when the tire was mounted, the tire extender may be causing a leak and air molecules can slowly find their way thru the structure of the tire. Another thing that may make tires appear to lose pressure is temperature.

Hands up all those who know and live by Boyle's Law.

Nobody but us engineers huh? Mr Boyle who the Law (as in Law of Physics) is named for did some experiments with gas sealed in a container. He found out that if the container filled with a gas stays the same size and the temperature changes then the pressure in the container changes in relation to the temperature. There is more to it but that's the bit that we are concerned with. What it tells us that if the tire is hot when you set the tire pressures then when the tire cools down the pressure will be less than if we had set it when cold.

Tires heat up when we drive down the road due to friction between the tire and the road and the flexing of the tire as if hits bumps and goes round corners etc. The recommended tire pressures take this into account and will still give a comfortable ride. 
(In a situation where you have a partial deflation on a warm tire for some reason and you have to add air to one tire when hot, you can take readings on the other hot tires and inflate the low tire to that pressure just to get you somewhere where you can let the tires cool overnight.).

If you set the tire pressures in the snow up a mountain somewhere then drive down into Death Valley then the tire pressure will be different than recommended next morning due to the temperature and altitude difference. These variations aren't drastic enough to make you stop driving every time the temperature changes but if you are going out into the desert you might want to check the tires the first day after you get there.

My goodness you are sorry you started reading this right??

So what about filling the tires with nitrogen like the racers do in NASCAR?? In my opinion (and opinions are just like butts, everyone has one) nitrogen is just a way to part you from your money. The stuff that causes air to expand when heated is the moisture in it. Nitrogen can have less moisture in it if DRY nitrogen is used.

I know from testing instrumentation systems on ships that DRY nitrogen is nice stuff, it's very stable and doesn't corrode delicate systems. I also know from bitter experience that all nitrogen isn't DRY NITROGEN and will lead to mysterious expansion/contraction and corrosion in delicate systems. Now just as there is such a thing as dry nitrogen there is also such a thing as DRY AIR. Industrial air compressors can be equipped with dryers that take most of the moisture out of the air. 

If you would like 72% pure nitrogen in your tire FOR FREE. Just fill them with air which is 72% nitrogen naturally. 
There is some spin on nitrogen atoms being larger that air atoms so they don't leak thru the tire wall as fast.

Humbug (in my opinion) you'll never be able to measure the difference with your tire gauge.

The reason race teams use DRY nitrogen is consistency and availability. They can go to any industrial gas supply dealer around the world and get exactly the same product. If they use compressed air it varies in moisture content based on variations in the humidity wherever the compressor is located. The moisture content dictates the amount of expansion due to temperature change and in a race car the tire temperature can change rapidly during heavy braking and cornering. Race cars are set up on the ragged edge of performance and repeat-ability in all things affecting the braking and cornering. It is essential to getting the car tuned to that ragged edge as quickly as possible. Eliminating moisture from the tires allows them to do that.

So where does that leave us, apart from confused?? Well unless you need to consistently drive your 10 ton RV on the ragged edge of its cornering ability forget about nitrogen in the tires. Go out and buy a race car. If you want to drive your RV in safety and comfort (and without the distraction of the tires exploding now and then) you should fill them to the recommended tire pressure and check them regularly. 

And give your old tires to a friendly Ship's Captain so he can hang them down the side of his ship and stop him scratching the paint when he hits the pier.

Update 4/29/18
It's 3 years or so since I wrote the original post so I have a few additions.

Last year we had a rear inner tire explode while we were driving. It was 7 years old. The original owner told us Goodyears were good for 8 years and we were planning on replacing them that winter anyway.

When the tire went the rig shook and there was considerable noise from the right rear. The rig wasn't at all uncontrollable, although I imagine a front blowout would be scary. We were on a 2 lane road in Alabama. We were doubly lucky because the ragged tire carcass didn't do any structural damage to the rig.

Fortunately the rig came with a spare which although unworn was 10 years old. It had no sidewall cracks but we considered it "for emergencies only". When we got the new tire the tire tech inspected the inside of the old tires and picked the best one to replace the spare.

We called our insurance company Geico as we have breakdown coverage thru them (Only 1 per year however). They sent a truck tire mobile unit and he replaced the wheel at the side of the road. We were on our way in an hour or so.

We found a Goodyear dealer in Birmingham AL and bought 4 new rear tires. That came to about $2200! Unfortunately even though I asked them to put long valve stems on they didn't. They did reinstall the valve extenders I already had but they left the 2 outside stems just barely reachable.

I didn't realize until later they also fitted the hub caps on miss-aligned.

Through a couple of stupid things I did we towed the Fiesta with the brakes on and did a bunch of damage to the that. A year later we towed the new Mazda with the steering lock on and wrecked the rim and tires on that.

Sometimes I'm not too bright and it took these two incidents to wake me up to the fact that I needed a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)!!

That led to another journey and more money being spent at tire stores getting the wheels taken off, valve extensions added, valve extensions leaking, re-aligning hubcaps. A whole bunch of pain and misery.

I have learned from bitter experience to not use the metal valve extenders like these.

One tire store connected these 2 valve extenders to allow the TPMS monitor to fit. They leaked badly.

And also not to connect two or more together. Every time you do that you double the number of failure points. I've gone back to the one piece metal braided hoses which seem to be OK.

A one piece valve extender for the outer dually tire and the clip that holds it to the hubcap.

The Tire Minder TPMS we have has screw on sensors in place of the tire valve cap. Unfortunately the new car comes with rubber valve stems and I don't think they are suitable for the weight of these and I have to find ANOTHER tire shop to see if I can get aluminum valve stems fitted.

A Tire Minder TPMS pressure/temperature monitor

The complete TPMS system with enough sensors for the 6 RV tires and 4 Toad Tires was about $700 but we could have saved MUCH more than that in the 2 incidents we had with the toad brakes and tires. I would recommend getting something like this as you cannot tell from the RV drivers seat if a tire on the toad has deflated.

Week 2

7000 feet in Flagstaff AZ a National Forest campground in Coconino Forest called Pine Crest

We got on the road again and made Page AZ where we stopped at the ELKS Lodge for 3 nights and explored Page, The Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell and Zion NP.

It was our first experience of ELKS camping, we were welcomed with open arms. They had a pot luck dinner going our first night there but because we didn’t know, we hadn’t prepared a dish. They made us go get plates and join in regardless.

Lake Powell Dam

The road up to Zion was nice but the park itself was superb. Beware though that there’s a tunnel that if your vehicle is wider than 11’ and taller than 11’-6” it requires the tunnel be closed while you drive down the centerline. They charge you $15 each way for that. If you are planning on camping in the park in an RV you need reservations well in advance and plan to come in from the west (Springdale) side

On, On - got to enjoy ourselves more!

One of 2 tunnels in Zion NP

Zion NP

Next was Panguitch UT and the Hitch N Post campground on Main Street. A nice little park about 27 miles from the entrance to Bryce NP. They charge $35 a night for an RV in summer but they give discounts for Good Sam’s Club and Escapees (and Escapees get 5% more discount than GS!!) Full hookups, laundry, small club room and walking distance from the pretty little town of Panguitch (Native American for Big Fish). We walked down to the “Gem” movie theater and tried their hand made ice cream. YUMMY!

Gem theater Panguitch with Ice Cream Parlor

Old Fire House Panguitch

We liked this park and town very much. Extremely friendly lady at the desk.

One scary moment was when we came to unhitch the car and found that one of the new locks for the tow hitch had fallen off and the car was only attached by a hair!! I’ll be double checking those locks in future. Luckily we have a spare.

Hitch pin nearly gone!

We booked in for 2 days. We did Bryce Canyon NP on the full day but we did a few things wrong. We didn’t get up and out early enough and stopped for ice along the way. Then we decided to get the shuttle bus rather than drive as the literature said there was limited parking at the scenic outlooks. We found that the first shuttle only went a little way into the park and that the other shuttle that went all the way in only ran twice a day and you had to make reservation for it. We missed that second shuttle, basically wasted more time on the short shuttle and by the time we got back to the car and on our way the park was packed with people. Live and learn!! 

Bryce Canyon NP

It was a nice park with wonderful scenery but we are about burned out on masses of people in National Parks.

From Panguitch we decided to do our longest leg so far. We drove 250 miles to Moab staying at Arch View RV “Resort”. My guess they call it a resort because charging $60 a night for a dirt campground with a small swimming pool would be embarrassing even for them. The slowest check-in I’ve ever seen too. They were so embarrassed by it they gave me a free cup of coffee. Why it takes 4 pages and 2 signatures to give you a campsite is beyond me.

Of course I might have been a little stressed out as Barbara has stumbled and fallen in a Loves truck stop during a break we took. Luckily it appears that she’s only twisted her knee, sprained her ankle and bruised her hip. ONLY!

We had a day off for Barbara to recover and did a little shopping in Moab. We accidentally found ourselves in the Moab Brewery.

One thing you need to know about Utah is that they have weird laws about alcohol. Up until recently you could not buy alcohol except with a meal. There were no bars. If you wanted a drink you had to go to a “Club” which was a bar but you had to buy a membership. Recent changes mean there are now bars. The Moab Brewery has a restaurant and also a tavern. The tavern lets you sit at the bar and drink a beer. WHOOO-HOOO!

The next day we went to Arches and to Canyonlands NP’s. They were OK but not as good as Zion and Bryce.

They call this park "Arches NP" for some reason??