November 25, 2005

November 25, 2005

Hurricane to Hatch, Utah

YEAR 2 DAY 161

 

Today was partially sunny, warm where we started from, and cold where we ended up.

This morning I phoned Arizona State Parks to inquire about campground host positions in January or February. Their campground host positions are all filled until April. DARN ! We really lost out by using the Good Sam RV Club Campground Host Program as a middleman. We should have applied directly, and next year certainly will do so, probably in July for a January / February assignment. As we were hitching up and preparing for departure, I ripped an almost new Eukanuba cat food t-shirt. DARN !

We left Zion's Gate RV Resort, heading east on Hwy. 9 through Hurricane to Leeds. We turned northwest on Hwy. 17 and took it to Interstate 15. We drove north on I-15 to the north entrance of Zion National Park, the entrance to Kolob Canyons. While Joanne prepared lunch in the trailer, I unhitched the truck from the trailer. We had lunch, and left the trailer in the parking lot of the Visitor Centre while we drove up into Kolob Canyons. Very scenic. I found it interesting that the road asphalt in this part of Utah is red, not black. The cliffs and canyons are red, the soil is red, so I guess the gravel used in asphalt must be red also. We stopped for many photos. It got colder as we drove higher. We drove back down to the Visitor Centre, and hitched up the trailer again.

We continued north on I-15 to Cedar City. We stopped at Cedar City to fill up with diesel, and shop at Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Joanne went to Wal-Mart while I went to Home Depot next door. At Cedar City we turned onto Hwy. 130 going north for a short distance, then turned east on Hwy. 14. Dee-Dee faced her toughest challenge yet. An 18 mile long ascent, at an 8% grade, to an elevation of 9900 feet. Whew ! It was brutal, but she was up to the task, although barely. By mile 14, the maximum speed we could achieve was down to about 40 km./hr. / 25 mph, in first gear. We made it over the summit, and continued on the High Plains to Hwy. 89. We turned north on Hwy. 89 and drove to Hatch, where we stopped for the night at Riverside Resort & RV Park. The office was closed, so we found ourselves a site. We were the only rig here. The water was turned off, so all we hooked up was electricity. It was very cold. We had the furnace running all night, and turned on the Arctic Pack to heatthe holding tanks and plumbing.

I did today's accounting and photos while Joanne prepared supper. We had supper, then I worked on today's journal entry while Joanne washed dishes. I printed the MasterCard statements I downloaded about a week ago, and have already paid. Tonight I reconciled them. I don’t usually pay bills before reconciling them, but I wanted to get the bills paid while we had Wi-Fi access, and good cell phone service.

Tomorrow we'll take a day trip to Bryce Canyon National Park.

DSK