Trip 78-Pt 2

Trip 78, 2005 West, Part 2

Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Ham woke me up VERY early and said he was going to go look for water pumps for Nanny and Dave’s Lazy Days. So, I stayed in the back trying to snooze when he went bumping down the road; and, I do mean bumping. I’ve ridden back there a few times and I am always amazed at how bumpy it really is. By the time, Ham had gone to one RV place and had no luck; I was wide awake at the second one and ready to get dressed. The second one had what he was looking for but the thing cost $225 and it wasn’t returnable no matter what.

We found a Deli that had bagels and cream cheese and passable coffee. That sufficed for breakfast. Then we went back to good old home-away-from home, WalMart, to do some grocery shopping to get supplies to go off into the boonies. Ham went in and stocked up while I wrote an answer to a letter since I wouldn’t be available online for a week or more.

One more stop to Krispy Kreme to get a couple dozen donuts to take to the campers. We toodled on down the road munching on the absolutely sweetest donut I have ever eaten, but drinking one of the best cups of coffee we’ve had…well, there was Starbucks.

Finally, we said good-bye to civilization and headed west for adventures, unbounded, in the Moab area. We left I-70 and took Rt. 128, which ended up being quite a spectacular drive. It followed a canyon that was cut by the ubiquitous Colorado River. The rocks were red and those that had fallen were myriad in shape. The varnish streamed down the cliffs like some giant had poured paint. It was a spectacular canyon. We determined that it was one of our very favorite ones. I said I liked it much better than the Grand Canyon since we just view the Grand Canyon from the top. We had driven this road ten years ago. Ham seems to have a memory like a lobster trap, but I had little recollection of it. I decided that was a good thing, since it was like having a brand new experience. Think of all the places to revisit and it will be like a whole new experience.

Moab was a shock and a surprise. We knew that it would have grown but we never realized how much. Besides the growth, there was some kind of Jeep festival in town and the place was crawling with Jeeps and the people who came in them.

Ham stopped to get gas and Nannie called and said that they were at a bar/pizza place about three blocks back the way we came. So, without much effort, we found the place and a parking place to boot. Good for us! We wandered and wandered the whole restaurant and couldn’t find anyone we knew. Then Nan Lou called again and said to look in the bar. Sure enough, there was Dave with Chris sitting in Dave’s favorite position in front of a drink. The ‘girls’, those being Nannie and Chris’s wife, Theresa, were out shopping. Pretty soon, here they came with many bags of purchases.

It was time to hit the road. We followed Chris’ pickup truck. When we left the paved road the unpaved got pretty scary. Very narrow with horseshoe bends and switchback curves. The LER shuddered, shook, and trembled with the effort, but plodded on valiantly. Finally, the campsite appeared and Chris’ truck disappeared into it. We tried one way in but it seemed like it was too steep and fortunately, there was another entrance. At last we were here. These people had a small village set up and were circled to fend off the Indian attack, I think. We added our van. There were six, yes six, motorcycles. Some of the camper/friends had left so I am wondering how many were there when everyone was present.

Well, we met Luke and Jacob, Jacob being Chris and Theresa’s kid and then wondered around looking in trailers. Nan Lou fixed us a bowl of her very spicy chili, which we thought was dinner. She and Dave laughed and said it was lunch. Lunch at 5:30 or so in the afternoon! We thought we had dinner and we would just turn in, but were informed that we had to stay up to eat Chris and Theresa’s tenderloin dinner cooked in the Dutch oven.

Now, camping professionals that we are, that was a new experience for us. They got the ash (coals?) very hot and set the pot on the red embers, then poured more on the flat lid. So, keeping things going like this for hours, eventually, you are rewarded with a one-pot meal, that supposedly surpasses all others, which it did. I was full from the chili, but ate again. Now, I was REALLY full and paid for it with heartburn until I chewed a couple of Tums at two in the morning. The thing is, we have been eating a light breakfast and then having a bigger meal at 4:30 or so in the afternoon and that was all we have been eating. If I kept eating this way, I would be as big as one of these boulders that give way and crash down to the bottom of the cliffs.

When it was polite to do so, we said goodnight to one and all and turned in. I think it was because we were trying to conserve energy and didn’t run the furnace, but I was really cold. I put on my green knit sleeping hat right away. Later, after Ham went to sleep, I woke him up rummaging around to find my wool sleeping socks. Later, in the wee hours of the morning, it seemed to get warmer. Ham had thrown off the red bag. I had taken
off the hat; and, later, the socks went too. nl

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

We awakened pretty early and took care of our morning personal toilet at a leisurely pace followed by a breakfast fit for the fussiest gourmand. Well, bagels, bananas, and Taster’s Choice Nescafe, if you really want to know. I went off for a little walk to explore the adjacent canyon and found Prickly Pear and little barrel cacti along with many rocky formations and gullies, arroyos to those in the west, where I think we are.

Later Nan Lou One and Two and the two furry critters accompanied me as I gave a guided tour of the newly discovered wilderness that I will mark with a flag for the newly founded Republic Of HamLou. The dogs were a fit running up and down the sloped sides of the arroyos as they tried to eviscerate each other. Beau got the worst of it all and limped back on three legs worrying everyone that he might have something broken.

Later, after much attention, he started to use the injured foot/leg and was declared healthy. Even later, we wandered the dirt trails around this area. Nannie, biker woman extraordinaire, donned her biker clothing and did a bunch of circles around the camping area roads. She looks rather formidable with padded elbows, knees, big boots, and full face covering helmet. If she keeps it up, she will want her own moto cross cycle.

Earlier in the day there were rain showers on and off turning the fine dirt into a thin layer of goo. It dried quickly with the strong winds and the low humidity between each shower. I turned the LER around so there was some grass outside our door and not the goo.

By the time night came upon us I had had enough of the wind and cold and begged off, through Nannie, the fireside sitting and excellent Dutch oven cooked chicken. Nannie brought us a big plateful of chicken and veggies and we ate in the comfort of the LER like the wimps we are.

We turned in pretty early and read for just a short while. I guess the wilds of Utah are tiring on the old folks. hb

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Ham again cooked an excellent breakfast. Quite healthy and tasty! A little salt would have been nice for the hard boiled eggs and tomatoes; but perhaps this wilderness camping will help wean us away from too much salt.

We saw Theresa wandering around aimlessly and learned the men had gone off trail riding.

Finally, we decided to move our lazy rear ends and took a nice walk farther on down the road. There is a very nice free- standing rock formation on the right. I declared that my own, even though “billions and billions” of campers have been here for years. I am assuming they didn’t have brains enough to claim it, so I did. So there! The rock cliffs were on the left. They were nice too. So, pioneers that we are, Theresa and dog, Data, Nan Lou and her two Cotons, and Ham and I made quite a little crew. Beau and Lizzie, the Cotons, had to bark at everything and every body in sight. We thought they had met their match when two enormous German Shepherds came rushing and barking to the edge of their campsite. They were very, very well trained (unlike some small dogs we know) and came skidding to a halt at the edge of their property and just watched us. Wow! What great dogs!

Theresa took a short tour of the LER which took all of about 90 seconds. Then, we toured her and Chris’ new trailer. Such room! There is even a garage room in the back to haul motorcycles and has a bed for son, Jacob. The bath, with a large shower, is in between the two rooms.

We came back to rest a bit and then it was time to get cleaned up for the trip in for dinner. The men came strolling back at their leisure, then took their time getting cleaned up, so I really have no idea what time we left. There was enough light left to enjoy the light and shadows playing on the cliffs. They are really beautiful.

We got into town with all the Jeeps and found the little Mexican restaurant. Chris was driving so he had been pointing out trails they had taken on their motorcycles and the other Jeep trails. Actually these people are nuts. Nan Lou showed Ham two burns she received the first day she got here. Exhaust pipes get hot.

Anyway, there was a forty- five minute wait to be seated. Chris and Dave tossed down their shooters. I ordered a virgin Mary which tasted good but I’m not sure it was worth the $3.50 cost for a doctored up wee glass of tomato juice.

It had started to rain rather briskly when we came out. This time we were told to go with Luke in his Bronco. I was surprised and utterly delighted that he had lumbar support in the passenger seat. Who would have believed in a vehicle like that? I don’t know if someone warned him, or if he is just, naturally, a careful driver; but he drove very, very sensibly all the way down to the campground. Pretty unusual for a twenty year old guy, I’d say.

Nannie looked very nice in the silk shirt I gave her to wear. I felt it only right since she gave me two pairs of shoes. I think she was a bit overwhelmed the joint birthday dinner in a restaurant full of loud and rowdy Jeepers. Ah to be young, loud, and rowdy again, we could have out louded all of them in our prime. God, it’s hard to believe she’s forty. But we won’t tell.

When we got back it was time to go to bed. I didn’t feel so well and my back was hurting a lot. All in all it was a pretty good day. nl

Friday, March 25, 2005

I awakened for a few minutes around five or six to hear the patter of rain. It sounded steady and not like the little showers we’ve had for the past two days. Later, around an hour or two later actually, I again awakened and still heard the rain. It felt pretty cold also, colder than the last two days. Finally I figured I was awake for the day as Nan Lou sleepily said good morning and peeked out the window. It was discouraging to see the lake on three sides of the LER. I was glad I had turned it around the other day so if we were to venture out we wouldn’t have to wade through muddy water.

We were still lying around when Nannie came-a-calling. This gave us a chance to give her the four remaining birthday gifts. Nan Lou had wrapped several that would be sure to make her feel really old as she celebrates number forty. The really serious one, earrings, seemed to be appreciated by Child Number One.

We breakfasted on another bagel, egg, and tomato breakfast, which I must say is pretty good thanks to Nan Lou’s fine tomatoes from Costco.

Nannie went back and forth between us and Dave in the Lazy Daze several times as we watched the rain come and go while reading our ever present mysteries. On one of the trips to visit us we had an exciting game of Scrabble, Nannie won. I was a distant third.

The rain kept falling on and off all day. Chris, Jacob, and Luke went off of their dirt bikes around noon and came back about five. By then the lake had spread and the area by Chris’ trailer and the Lazy Daze was setting in a couple of inches of water. I tried to move the LER to higher ground. It moved six inches back and sunk in the mud. It was stuck in the slippery muddy clay-like goo all around us. Most of which was under several of inches of water. A little later Chris thought it would be a good idea to drive out and look for a different area that was dryer. He found one down the road a piece and thought it would be best to get the LER on higher ground first, before we all left. After struggling to get into position to pull the LER backward with a stout tow strap. It didn’t work, too slippery. Then with his pickup hooked to the LER, Luke’s Bronco hooked to the pickup, and three guys pushing, it finally moved. After much tugging and pushing I was able to make it onto higher ground. By this time it was evident that getting the Lazy Daze, Chris’ trailer, and the LER out of the area was pretty much impossible, at least doing it tonight. Yes, it was dark, with rain changing to sleet and even snow, and tomorrow was looked at as another day.

The dirt road we used into the area was now a river of muddy water. The other road I had been leery of using was muddy with a large washed out track going down it. The hump I thought was so high the LER would get hung up on was looking worse. Chris said that tomorrow we could flag down some of the many four-wheelers going up and down the hard packed road we came in on and they would be pleased to show their stuff and get us all out. I think it might take a ten-ton wrecker with a couple hundred feet of cable to winch us out; but what do I know. Maybe by May it will dry out and we can get out if the dirt road gets graded. We do have three dogs that might prove tasty done up in the Dutch Oven. Yum, Yum!

My sneakers are not waterproof. Even if they were, the six inch deep water would have done a pretty good job on my feet. I broke out the Gortex and actually stayed pretty warm and dry through it all. I feel sorry for the others with all their wet equipment that has to be packed up before they get out of here. I’m sure Luke must feel pretty lousy with his unheated soggy tent. Maybe he can spend the night with Jacob in the trailers garage.

All through this little ordeal Nan Lou worried about me. Hoo Haa! I am Klark Bent, able to turn into Superguy and leap deep puddles in a couple of bounds. Faster than a speeding pullet, and more powerful than a CocoPuff. hb

And all this time I was staying warm and dry in the rapidly flooding LER. I couldn’t really tell what was going on. There were lots of conferences of a few too many people. I could see their silhouettes, nothing more. When Ham jumped in the van, he was so preoccupied, I didn’t want to make a peep. In other words, I not only felt, but also was actually, pretty useless. With the temperature below freezing now, I think we are going to be here a very long time. If all goes well, the sun would come out and everything would melt and dry out, and the clay would become very hard, like a pot that has been fired. nl

Saturday, March 26, 2005

I don’t think Ham slept a wink last night worrying about getting out of here. I’m not sure what time we rolled out of bed. It was probably eight or eight thirty. Chris was already packing up their trailer; and, I think Nannie and Dave were too. Ham just wanted a peanut butter sandwich and milk for breakfast. Really, I think that he thinks he is the only one who can cook a hot meal.

The plan was to wait until things dried out. So, I watched everyone else work. Then, all at once Ham jumped in the van and started it declaring it was time to leave. Oooh! Scary!

I was totally stunned to look back at the road and there was Chris already up on the main road. We were following the Lazy Daze-----Nan Lou was with us. Dave went up the rutty road and out onto the main road, just like an old pro. Gulp! It was our turn!

Ham backed the LER up (and Thank God, it didn’t get stuck) and just gunned it up the rutty path. Right at the top, two vehicles were waiting to pass each other because Chris and Dave were blocking one lane. This meant Ham had to stop right at the top of the hill. Wouldn’t you know? But, surprise of all surprises, we pulled right out on the main road behind Dave. Then, the boys followed in the Bronco. The first challenge was conquered. Ham says, “Was God really the one to thank for not getting stuck, or was it the intrepid backing skill of Klark Bent?”

The next one was really scary. This one was fording the creek, which had, of course, filled a lot from all the rain. The sides were shaped like a very wide V. This was NOT a little flat creek like you find in Brown County. There was just a slight covering of water over the rocks when we drove in. Now, it was half way up the wheels. More scary! Chris of course, had to go through first, pulling that big trailer. I really don’t know how he did it. The back of the trailer dipped down and the bumper was completely covered. I don’t think he did any damage to it, though. Next, Dave, who plowed right through as if it were no problem at all,
OK, now it was Hammie’s turn. Some nut in a four- wheel drive Toyota, went zooming around us as Ham was planning and scoping. things out. Then, when through with his acrobatics, he became the expert and traffic director. Ham did an excellent job of ignoring him. He zoomed across at an angle, and before you could say, “Ford that creek!” We were on the other side. What a relief that was. We thought we were home free. Little did we know. Ham says, “The good old LER deserves a little credit for our camp ground exit and this creek crossing. I heard the sound of something on the bottom scraping at both places and pictured pieces being left behind or gooey stuff leaking from expensive parts. Luckily, there was nothing like that. OK, thank God for it all.”

Feeling all relaxed and at peace with the world, we were just going right a long, when Ham said something erudite, like, “Oh, oh!” Dave had disappeared around a bend (they were all blind curves because of the cliffs) and there sat the small trailer with two motorcycles right in the middle of the road. I forgot to mention that the Lazy Daze was pulling that. Nan Lou started yelping on the walkie talkie for him to stop. Of course, we couldn’t see him. Ham got out to review the situation. And, it seems the cotter pin (?) that held the hitch on had fallen off.

It was very lucky, indeed, or perhaps the motorcycle gods were watching over that small trailer, because it would have been a complete disaster if this had happened on a hill or one of the horseshoe curves. Anyway, Ham, with his great inventive mind, began to immediately try to figure out how to jury rig something until we could get the thing to town. In the meantime, the boys turned around to go back to the creek to see if they could find the missing thingy. Fat chance, I thought.

Well, I was wrong, they found it! At least the most important part, the hitch pin. The locking pin was long gone. Then Luke did something, which Ham may or may not describe. Anyway, Luke spent quite a while under the Lazy Daze trying to put things back together. Finally, we were on out way again. We had made it up the muddy hill, forded the creek, and avoided the motorcycle trailer incident, nothing more could happen, right? Wrong! Ham says, “Luke pounded out a locking pin from a piece of chain link and worked it into the hitch pin to hold it all together.”

Fairly quickly, we came to Dave who had stopped in the middle of the road again behind a car with four young lads standing about looking confused. There was barely enough room to get around them, and, believe me, the drop off was pretty intimidating. After finding out what was wrong, Ham said they had broken an axle, or something. Jeeps and such kept squeezing by between the cars and the precipitous edge. Well, Dave declared he was going to take two of the lads with him to town, and he, too, squeezed by. We are narrower than their vehicle so we took our turn and were on our way, at last, again.

We were practically right at the switch back curves and I, personally, were glad when they were behind us. Ahh! At last a paved road appeared. Civilization! We dumped out trash and went on to meet Chris and Theresa who were just getting ready to unhook the trailer and go back to see what had gone wrong. We invited them to lunch; but, they, understandably, wanted to get through the mountains before dark, so declined. However, Theresa did give me a sample of Chris’ jambalaya. I have always wanted to taste it. Since it is so spicy, I may just have to have a taste and not a serving.

We all said our good-byes with Nannie getting quite teary and went our separate ways.
Whew! Alone at last! What to do?

We went to Arches to camp but with all these Jeep Safari people, the campground was full. Then, we went back to Rt. 128, the nice road we came in on four or five days ago and stopped at the first BLM campground we saw, Goose Island, and found a very nice site.

We had phone service so Ham downloaded mail, but by the time that was all done, I was too tired to answer it. So, we climbed into bed, both exhausted from such a stressful day. nl

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Happy Easter!

We awakened to a bright sunny day and just lay around for a while listening to the slam bang of the doors on the giant metal dumpster we were parked next to. At least we didn’t have to haul our trash around looking for it. Our choice for breakfast was Denny’s or the Arch’s café, part of some motel way on the other side of town, but still in town. Since Denny’s, and their dirty décor are everywhere we went to Arch’s. A pretty good choice, except for my real eggs and hash browns. I got a kick out of the waitress who told me their only eggs were the kind that came in the shell when I asked about imitation eggs. I guess I deserved that since I can never remember that they are called egg beaters.

We watched people and decided that these off-roaders are mostly of the redneck types. The beards are a little different than those at home. Many are neatly trimmed down the side of the face with neat mustaches and then long and straight from the chin. One guy had at least seven inches of chin whiskers. I wonder if that is a Mormon thing. Yesterday at the Moab Diner I mentioned that we were eating with a much younger crowd here than were usually around us at the places we frequent.

With the big Jeep thing ending today there was a noticeable exodus from the city. Many Jeep and Jeep type vehicles driving out on their own power, many being trailered, and several on loaded up multi car haulers were heading out. I was surprised at the modified and special built types of off-road things that are here. I guess this weeklong Jeep thing is a big deal with off-roaders from all over. It’s sort of like being in Daytona for the big motorcycle week. I think we have to go to Sturgis for their motorcycle week. I don’t know where Sturgis is.

After breakfast we stopped at the City Market, a Kroger like place, for a few necessities. I saw some pretty good looking sushi there and the fish guy told me they make it fresh every morning there in the store. After a nap in the LER Nan Lou and I returned and bought a bunch of California-like roll and edamame which we ate at the campsite with Wendy’s ice tea. Not quite like Ocean World or Sakura, but pretty good.

We are back at the Goose Island site and parked next to the Colorado River and just across from a 300 foot high cliff. It reminds Nan Lou of the site in Chaco canyon which had old cliff dweller places at the base of the cliff and not a river.

The cell phone online connection has worked rather well with both Net 2 Quick and National Access available. One of these days National Access might just vanish when Verizon decides we shouldn’t be using it. Or, maybe they’ll be charging us many dollars per minute and we’ll end up in the poor house.

It is getting dark and we are using the LER’s lights now that we are out of the boonies. If the battery goes belly up I figure it’ll be time to hit the road for other far off places. hb

Monday, March 28, 2005

We were up early. Before 10:00. The first thing that happened when I stepped out of the LER was the approach of our neighbor across the way. It was the husband of the woman who asked Nan Lou last night if we were staying today. Nan Lou told her that we didn’t know what we were doing. Even this morning we didn’t even know what we were doing; but I told the guy that we wouldn’t be coming back to this campground. He was happy as a chicken in a cornfield and we talked a lot about where we had been and where we were going. You know how it goes; the first liar doesn’t have a chance.

After that it was time for a rose burial. This last rose remained beautiful for many days and didn’t deserve the garbage can. Being on the banks of the Colorado it was only fitting to toss it in for its ride downstream. It floated away in all its majesty as we watched from the bank.

Since I was feeling like oatmeal, we went to Denny’s, which was pretty close. It was cleaner than most Denny’s but the service was slow, slow, slow. I don’t think it was the waitress, I think it was the kitchen, maybe the cook was stranded out somewhere on Kane Creek Trail, the road to our campsite. The food was adequate except Nan Lou’s all sausage was served as one sausage and one piece of barely cooked translucent flaccid bacon. Uck, nobody likes flaccid bacon.

Then we did the main attraction of any tourist town, the shops. They were all located in one block so it was pretty easy to do. Nan Lou bought a long shirt, or is it a short dress, or is it a truck stop nightie? We even found an old Kinky book that we got for $7.75. We recently bought one through Amazon, but this might be a good deal and resalable. After the shops were done with I hit the Post Office to mail Nannies lights and sweater to her.

By then we were a wee bit hungry and went to Wendy’s. It was too crowded so we headed for Mickey’s. It was empty. We ate sparingly of the nasty fat filled meat, fish, and fries.

After eating we had sort of decided where we were going—Canyonlands National Park. The Island In The Sky part. We had been to another part ten years ago and were not to impressed at the sights one had from the paved roads. Island is southwest of Moab but you have to go north of Moab and then back south on a different road to get there. Canyonlands has three visiting areas and they are not connected and have to be accessed form different directions and different places. I guess the drive was in the neighborhood of 35 miles. There is one campground there with a capacity of 12 sites. We got the last open one. They couldn’t tell us at the entrance we came through if there was space or not. At least there were several BLM camping areas on the road to the park where we could have gone if Willow Point was full. With the pass we have the fee was only $2.50. Can’t beat that.

We drove around to most of the view points before dark and were a little more impressed with it than the other place from ten years ago. The haze and lighting were bad for photos along with the problems the little Nikon digital camera was having. I thought it has shit the bed, but after messing with it and reformatting the little memory card it seems to be working. Maybe I’ll go to the nearest view- point tomorrow before we leave and try a few more.

One of the areas we stopped at was up at 6000 feet and looked over a canyon floor, which had its own canyon in it. The info sign told us to look at the old trails from the 1950s made when uranium and oil were sought here. It all stopped in 1964 when Canyonlands was made a National Park.

All in all it is impressive and really big. It would be nice to get closer or even down at the bottoms. The closeness of places like Kane Creek Canyon where we camped with Nannie and her friends is more interesting, I think. It’s kind of like the Grand Canyon, too big for me to fully appreciate from the edge. I like to sit in the back.

Back at the campsite Nan Lou cooked another salmon, cracker, and tomato delight. It was very tasty. She even shared her cherry turndown with me. I like her. hb
Gee Thanks, Oh Great Traveling Companion! nl

Continued in Part 3

The above three photos are taken along the two lane road into Moab, Utah.

The following four photos are of our campsite and environs. I believe it is southwest of Moab along a very rough rock and dirt road.

The following three photos are:

Mom cautioning daughter about the perils of off road biking.

Daughter trying to find reverse gear.

Three movers and shakers talking about the right time to shake booties.

Beau has a sore leg and thinks he is
in hiding under the LER.

Soon the water would be a couple of inches deep around the RV in the background.

A bit of an optical illusion in the above two photos. The inept photographer just couldn't show that the tent was actually attached to the top of the pickup. It folded up into a case on the pickup.

Time to say goodbye. Everything picked up and packed away. I had a few fears about the steep rise from our campsite and the river crossing. All went OK except the bike trailer lost a hitch pin and came loose going up a hill on the other side of the creek.

Tenderfoot campers looking at cycle
trailer that came loose and was left
behind.

One last look.

The view from the 12 site campground
at Willow Point. I think that's the
Green River way down there in the canyon, in a canyon.

Way down there are the old roads
from the uranium mining days which
I would love to explore when I get a
4X4 campervan.