November 27, 2005

November 27, 2005

Hatch, Utah to Tuba City, Arizona

YEAR 2 DAY 163

 

WHOA ! ! ! We just found out ( at 7:30 P.M. ) that the temperature overnight in the Bryce Canyon area where we were, dropped to -2 degrees F. ! That would explain some of today's problems.

When I showered this morning, I filled the shower waste water holding tank, and used up the rest of the water in the fresh water holding tank. < sigh > There was an inch or so of standing water in the shower stall, so I had to drain the holding tank before we departed. I couldn't get the drain valve open. It was frozen. I pulled and pulled, worried that I would break the valve, or the valve handle, or tear the rubber seals on the valve. I finally managed to get the valve open, and drained the bathroom grey water. Before we left I went over to the Class C from B.C. with the couple from England to give them some tourist information booklets from Las Vegas. There was snow on the ground, and it was very cold.

Between very cold temperature, and high elevation thin air, I had a lot of difficulty starting Dee-Dee. Diesels are hard to start in cold temperatures, and at high elevation, it was particularly a problem. Belched a lot of black smoke into the campground. We departed Riverside Resort & RV Park, heading south on Hwy. 89. We stopped for diesel in Mount Carmel Junction. The Chevron station we were at had a trailer dump station, so it gave us an opportunity to refill the fresh water. We tried to drain the kitchen grey water tank, and the black water tank, but the black water tank valve was frozen shut. I was unable to get it open, so we had a full fresh water tank, but only 2 of the 3 waste holding tanks emptied. Oh, well. I was hopeful that it would thaw by tonight. The Chevron station didn't have propane, so we drove across the street to Texaco and refilled a propane tank. We continued south on Hwy. 89 to Kanab where it turned east. Bo got sick and vomited in the truck. He's never done that before. We stopped for lunch, and to clean up the truck, at a BLM ( Bureau of Land Management ) Information Centre at the entrance to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument area. It's an area where archaeologists have uncovered dinosaur bones and fossils.

We cleaned the mess Bo made in the truck, had lunch, then continued east on Hwy. 89. We had descended from about 8000 feet to about 5000 feet, so itwas a little warmer, but very windy. Shortly after Hwy. 89 turned south again, it crossed from Utah into Arizona. We crossed the Glen Canyon Dam at Page, where we stopped to buy some groceries at Safeway, and a few supplies at Wal-Mart, as well as take some photos of Glen Canyon. As we were leaving Page, Lorri phoned. Joanne chatted with her for awhile as we headed out of Page, continuing south on Hwy. 89 through bright red cliffs and canyons. Fascinating scenery ! We were hoping to make it all the way to the Grand Canyon today, but we didn't make it. As it was getting dark about 5:30, we turned east on Hwy. 160 into the Navajo Nation area. We stopped at Tuba City, at the Quality Inn which has a very nice RV park. We checked in at the hotel front desk, then found our assigned site in their RV park. We extended the slides, and connected the power, and decided that was all we were going to set up for tonight.

Joanne took a shower, since I used up all the water this morning before she showered, and I went to the hotel lobby to sign onto Wi-Fi to update my blog, send and receive e-mail. By the time I returned to the trailer, Joanne had finished showering and preparing supper. We had supper. I worked on today's journal, then did today's accounting. I downloaded and processed today's photos while we watched the news and weather on TV. Tonight's overnight temperature here will be 21 degrees F.. If the black water tank valve thawed today, it will be frozen again tomorrow morning. The temperature is supposed to be very cold, for this area, for the next week. Darn !

I've just walked Bo ( 10:45 P.M. ). Since there is Wi-Fi in the hotel, I'm going to the lobby to get online and post this entry to my blog before reading today's newspaper in bed.

DSK