Monday, July 25, 2011

What? No Plans? No Itinerary?

Yep, you heard it straight from the horse's mouth--wait a minute, that was a couple of days ago on the trail ride! Ok, you heard it straight from Sparky's mouth. My brother Rich and his wife and daughter came over last night for the last time before we left and they asked, so, where are you guys headed? We just shook our heads and said we didn't know. We got up this morning, and I said to Eldy, do you know how far you want to go today? And he says, no, let's just get out of the heat, I'm ready to get out of here....I said, me, too! And you gotta have trust in your partner that this is going to be an adventure, because we don't know where the he** we are going today!

So we did something we haven't done in such a long time I can't remember...we set off with NO PLANS, NO KNOWN DESTINATION, except we decided we're heading north. We have decided to head back to Washington for my brother's wedding August 6th. We're going to do Flying J's, Walmarts, and a few other cheapies to save on the gas costs of heading 1300 miles back there to the Leavenworth area. I know, we're crazy, WE JUST CAME FROM THERE! but Charlie couldn't be at the family reunion. So we're heading back to Leavenworth. He's my baby brother, and I've just GOT to be at his wedding! And to take photos, of course! And make him and Kris a scrapbooked wedding album for their wedding present...(I get it, I get it...I knew you'd want to be there, says E.) He's such a sweetie....we are really stretching our budget to go back to Washington, but he knows how much this means to me to be able to go to the wedding...so we are on the road again....


Here's the adventure part, besides  no plan, no known mileage for the day...we just thought we'd keep driving, and when the urge to stop and rest for the night strikes, we'll stop. There's just one problem with that...sometimes the parks can be full when you are stopping on the spur of the moment. Sparky wanted to stop in Page, Arizona to see the Antelope Canyons and take the Navajo tour (20.00 a person). The only decent parks in Page were FULL...We called while on the road....OK, we kept going...Next stop, Glen Canyon Dam...I've never seen a big dam before so when Eldy knew I was crushed at not being able to do Antelope Canyon, he stopped at the dam so I could get some cool photos of the dam and the Glen Canyon Recreation Area, knowing that that would push us arriving at who-knows-where later than who-knows-when!.. But that was a neat stop!    Onward, Eldo!

Next stop near Bryce...the city of Panguitch--campgrounds were full, even the KOA...and we were too big for them!  Onward, Eldo...How about Beaver, Utah! We were too big for the campgrounds in Beaver. At that point, Eldo said, "THE HECK WITH THEM!" Actually, he used stronger words, but I'm trying to clean up my act and watch the language in the blog. "WE'RE TRUCKIN' ON!" Eldo is a marathon driver when he's had a good night's sleep the night before!  So here we are, it's 8:30 tonight, we're still driving, but we're stopping in Scipio, UT at the Flying J.  I cooked dinner for Eldy tonight on the propane stove and made cheeseburgers while he kept driving...that was fun! What else made our adventure fun today and not stressful? The beautiful scenery, AND a photo opp I missed--a dad standing on the top of his RV at the side of the road while Junior traipsed across the highway to a big red rock boulder carrying a big blue, blowup alien doll. His dad was going to get the perfect vacation photo, I presume!  Too funny! We saw some beautiful scenery traveling leaving Sedona traveling through Utah on highway 89. We saw the Vermillion Cliffs, and some spectacular geological formations traveling at heights up to 7000 feet. Utah is a very beautiful state, even if you are just driving through it!
Vermillion Cliffs looking out the motorhome window
See you on the road tomorrow. I think today's long drive and adventure will be followed by a little more meticulous planning by Eldo for tomorrow. Unless he's up for another day full of surprises! Who knows where Eldo goes tomorrow? Not even Sparky knows!
another part of Utah
Time to say goodnite.......
At dusk, driving down highway 15

3 comments:

  1. I'm hoping to get to southern Utah next Spring.

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  2. Well, if you're driving/cooking vittles/and then blogging about it (while still driving) I'm duly impressed, ... and maybe a little envious.
    Hopefully Eldy didn't need a catheter, but I don't want to divulge any issues I just might have on that front. Something to be said for carting around your own restroom is all.

    Keep it between the ditches.

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  3. Wow these are gorgeous photos. You must have SOME camera to have done these out the windows. The colors are fantastic.

    You guys are really troopers. Over about 150 miles in a day and I am Grunchetta. I love RVing but I hate driving (and riding). :-)

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