For better or for worse

Click the photo for a slide show of today's travels. You will notice several things: 1) the changes in terrain, especially the colors of the rocks; 2) Jill's dad worked for the railroad, and our grandson, Josiah, is nuts about trains; 3) windmills are really big - compare the windmill vanes to the earthmover parked under the windmills!


Another successful travel day is under our belt. We left Moab Valley RV Park this morning with mixed emotions. We had a wonderful stay in Moab, and enjoyed ourselves. On the other hand, shortly after we arrived on Thursday, a travel trailer pulled in adjacent to us. When the doors of the Toyota Sequoia tow vehicle opened, people just kept pouring out of it. At the same time, another SUV pulled up to the cabin across the driveway pulling a trailer loaded with ATVs. More people piled out.

Joy, the matriarch of this clan, came over to greet us effusively and announce that more were coming the next day. When it was done there were 14 people involved - 7 adults and 7 children, ranging in age from about 1 to about 11 years of age. Guess where the hub of activity for this group was. That's right, at Grandma and Grandpa's trailer. I couldn't believe the amount of gear they unloaded.

The "shared" space between our two vehicles was about 12 feet wide and 40 feet long with a tree in the center and a picnic table on each end. Ostensibly, one end of the space was ours and the other end was theirs. Well, it wasn't long before tricycles and bicycles were whizzing past Sadie's door. There were children perched on "our" picnic table, presumably because "their" picnic table and an additional table that they had brought along were both covered with gear.

Now don't get me wrong. I like people, especially the ones I meet in campgrounds, and I adore children. But fourteen people in an area designed for about four is a bit of an overload. The clan was very friendly and not rowdy, but that many people just take up room and make a lot of noise. Consequently, we were not able to enjoy "our" yard, except when they were off "4-wheeling" or at the swimming pool. In retrospect, I think they did an amazing job of keeping the lid on things, but it would have been better if they had had an end space for their trailer, where they would not have had to "share" the yard.

We bid the park and the neighbors adieu and headed north on U.S. 191. We followed 191 all the way to I15, just south of Provo. At Provo, we exited and found the Lakeside RV Park, which is quite lovely. There are lots of trees (albeit cottonwoods, which are in the process of shedding their cotton!), and the lady who checked us in was sweet as could be. The trade off for the trees is that we are unable to get a clear view of the southern sky, so we can't get satellite TV reception. All things considered, that is a small price to pay.

Our trip today took us from 4,200 feet at Moab to 7,476 feet at the summit of Soldier Pass and back down to 4,500 feet at Provo. Sadie did amazingly well. Either I am getting used to driving her, or all this exercise is doing her some good. She purred along and took the hills in stride.

The terrain changed a great deal as you will discover in the slide show. Tomorrow, we will contact Jill's cousin Carol and see if we can get together with her and her husband. We haven't seen them for 5 years, so it will be fun to catch up with them.