Well, all good things must come to an end, and today we leave the beautiful Southwest for home. We woke early to try to hit the road for our first of three driving segments...today is going to be a six-hour drive. The morning is brisk and clear, and the wind is stronger this morning than any previous morning; looks like we've timed this thing pretty well again! Before we leave our campsite we need to pack up our gear and batten down the hatches. It's exciting to be getting underway for home, and yet it is bittersweet too, because it is here that we need to say goodbye to our friends, hosts, camping and hiking friends, Sue and Fletcher. We also hate to leave the North Rim Campground which is now our favorite campground of all time. We pledge to return...someday soon.
With the exception of the first hour or two, the route is the same as the drive to get here and therefore the scenery is the same...but this time Patty's passenger seat is on the opposite side of the road so we still have some new "moving pictures" to share. Let's start with a few nice photos of Arizona and Utah as we head north...
Cowboy Butte on the way to Kanab...
Because we are pretty self-contained and self-sufficient in the RoadTrek, we often just pull off the road for lunch, whether it's at a scenic rest area, a viewpoint, or just a wide spot on the shoulder that affords a great view. Today was no exception, and after failing to see, decide--and brake!-- at a few opportune locations, we finally spotted a great turnout and managed to get whoaed-up in a cloud of dust and a few extra feet of braking room. It turned out to be a pretty spectacular roadside stop, and when we parked and took a look around it got even better...a classic western river view compete with oxbow bends. Soon after we stopped, popped open the side doors and made ourselves comfortable, a few other people pulled off...we probably attracted their attention from the road, and once they realized we had chosen to stop (rather than being a disabled vehicle), they stopped too and ended up getting some bonus photos for their vacation albums!
Here are a few more photos Patty took while hanging on for dear life to the top of the RV....just kidding, she was safely strapped into the passenger seat with the window down and the wind blowing through her hair...Just a warning to anyone wanting to try what Patty has done, we did kill one bug on the front of her camera...
Since we have divided our return drive into three segments, we have decided to try staying two nights in RV parks...not only will it be a great experience, but it is also less expensive than hotels, and it allows us to do our own thing in our home on wheels. We're really looking forward to seeing what the parks are like and how it feels...we can be kind of particular...
Our first overnight is at East Bay RV Park and Campground in Springville, Utah. It didn't dawn on us until we were almost in Springville that this may be one of those parks that people actually live in full time in lieu of a more traditional permanent residence...when we made reservations we were thinking about these parks from only our vantage point, as RVers who are on their way to some place else...well, we'll see!
As it turns out, this RV park had a mix of all of the above...full-timers, part-timers, and passers-through like us...We checked in with the delightful ladies in the office who were wearing their embroidered T-shirts and were so glad to see us. They gave us a very nice slot in which to park...no one was close by, and we were adjacent to the comfort station. Most important, they gave us "his and hers" passwords for Internet access on our iPads...what a welcome! Here's a photo of the office...
Now, for those of you who, like us, have never spent any time in an RV park, the comfort station is the little building in which you will find all of the critical necessities...toilets, showers, laundry machines and vending machines. This comfort station was deluxe...6 private bathrooms (each with a toilet, sink, and shower) 3 sets of laundry machines, and soda and snack vending machines, all protected by an access code. We gotta say, this is not so bad...we'll give it a full test when we shower in the morning!
Our address is 418 Dogwood and actually there is a pretty nice view here. Springville is just south of Provo and is nestled in the foothills of the Uinta Mountains (think F-Troop and the Heckawe indians..."you in ta mountains?"). We plug the van in, nice to have electricity...and notice a peculiar odor, is that septic? No, not quite, chemical? No that's not it either. Cattle yard? Whatever it is, it is not the most attractive fresh air we have breathed in the last two weeks...but, being the adventurers we are, we pour a glass of wine and get down to photo sorting and blog posting before we head out to dinner.
Do you think we have enough wireless technology in our little van...?! Patty traded in her Droid phone for the iPhone right before we headed out on our adventure, and she loves, loves, LOVES it! As we approached Springville in the RoadTrek, Patty did a bit of online research on her phone about where to eat...she googled, she Yelped, she Urbanspooned, she mapped...and after reviewing menus online at 70 miles per hour (aren't we living in a great age of technology?!) we decided to have a healthy meal at Ginger's Garden Cafe. Now, Gingers is a little health-food cafe tucked inside Christopher's Herb Store, which, by the way, has the most extensive herb offering we've ever seen, and it got pretty good reviews on Urbanspoon.
Downtown Springville is quite quaint...small storefronts, older buildings, and small bronze sculptures on pedestals along the sidewalks...
To try to deliver the highest quality writing in our blog, Michael consults with one of America's literary giants who happened to be sitting on a park bench in Springvile...Mark Twain!
While we were in town, we stocked up on a few grocery items, gassed up the van for tomorrow's long day (8 hours) of driving, and returned to 418 Dogwood. After putting a final polish on our blog post, we turned in for the night...good night Springville!
Miles traveled: 345. Travel time: 7 hours. Bugs killed: dozens (plus 4 mosquitos inside the rig)
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