RV-Dreams Journal

Moab Day - (Moab, UT)

The weather was a little rough starting out, but other than some wind, it turned into a pretty day for our weekly trip to Moab.

We stopped at the Moab Mailing Center where we had some items shipped.  We had run out of window seed feeders for our Ho-Hummers inventory.

We needed to fill an order, so the first priority was picking up the feeders so we could get them in the mail.  We were also looking for some items we had shipped in from Cabela's.

We ordered Linda some Leki trekking poles and a couple other things using gift cards we got through our Visa debit card reward points.  Sometimes we forget about those reward points we earn each month just by using our wonderful Merrill Lynch checking account (FAQ #14) debit card.

So I dropped Linda off at the laundry and went off roaming as I tend to do.  I wanted to see the Moab Golf Course to see if it was as pretty as this photo on the website.

The backdrop of the course is definitely spectacular, but the course itself looked like most municipal courses I've seen.  It wasn't very impressive.

I then drove on to Ken's Lake to check out the campground.  Now Ken's Lake is just a reservoir where snow runoff water is stored for use in the summer.  It is stocked for fishing, but the lake itself is not very pretty - it looks like an oversized retention pond.

However, the BLM campground (no hook-ups) is the best BLM campground I've seen in the area for large RVs.  It can accomodate any size rig easily and the views from the campground are very nice.

There is even a waterfall in these red rocks about a 1/2 mile from the campground.

We might move to Ken's Lake for a few days before we leave the area.

Driving back into town, I stopped at Moab 4 X 4 Outpost to see of our skid plates for the Jeep had arrived.  Not yet.

By the time I got back, Linda was finished with the laundry.  So I picked her up and we decided to just walk through some of the stores downtown.

Our intent was to see if any of them might be interested in carrying her DreamLife Creations beaded jewelry on a consignment basis.  The first shop we entered was Earth Spirit.

We met the owner, another Linda, and just like that, she was interested in carrying some bracelets.  She said she will only carry consignment items if she is the exclusive seller in Moab - no problem for us.  :)

So she picked out a few designs, ordered a few more, and we are going to sign a contract and get set up next week.  That was easy, and I didn't have to go in any other stores.  :)

After that, we went to the Moab Brewery for a late lunch/early dinner.  We had heard it was one of the better places to eat in Moab, and it didn't disappoint.

Finally, we did our grocery shopping and headed back.

After a walk around the campground, we just settled in for a nice, peaceful evening.

I've made it through about a third of my website "To Do" list, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.  Did you notice that I've been increasing the font size on the RV-Dreams.com pages as I make changes?  Hope so.  Otherwise, I've wasted a lot of time doing it.  :)

Well, tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny, so we are going to head out of the park to check out other area attractions.  The photos will be back big time in the next entry.

Until then.  :) 

March Financial Summary

March 2008 Results

Campground Fees $0.00 - Budget $0.00

Free campsite for March in return for volunteering as a Campground Host at Arches National Park in Moab, UT.  

RV Clubs $0.00 - Budget $0.00

RV Insurance $0.00 - Budget $0.00

Propane $101.14 - Budget $10.00

We knew we would not be reimbursed for propane at Arches because we are living in a park residence.  We anticipated using the furnace on occasion to keep our rig warm, but we had no idea that it would be as cold as it was overnight.  So we ate up quite a bit of propane.  The rig is plugged in, but we have only battery power generated by solar, so we couldn't run electric heat in the rig.  Oh well, it was our only significant overage for the month and we are still working on getting some of it reimbursed.  :)

Cell Phones $85.06 - Budget $85.00

Satellite Internet $0.00 - Budget $0.00

Note:  Satellite internet is no longer included in our regular expenses.  We now classify it as a business expense.  We paid $798 in December 2007 for all of 2008. 

RV Taxes/Registration $563.60 - Budget $636.00

Overbudgeted by a bit.

Satellite TV $79.01 - Budget $75.00

RV Maintenance $0.00 - Budget $50.00

Diesel $0.00 - Budget $0.00

Didn't take the truck anywhere in March.

Gas $94.20 - Budget $170.00

Expected to drive a lot more while exploring the area.  However, we spent most of March just seeing everything there is to see in Arches.  We drove the Jeep 535 miles and I was expecting somewhere in the range of about 1,200.  Our average gas cost was $3.127 per gallon.

Truck Maintenance $0.00 - Budget $35.00

Jeep Maintenance $0.00 - Budget $20.00

Truck Insurance $707.60 - Budget $745.00

Jeep Insurance $0.00 - Budget $0.00

Truck Taxes/Registration $578.37 - Budget $600.00

Jeep Taxes/Registration $0.00 - Budget $0.00

Groceries & Dining Out $456.75 ($14.73 per day) - Budget $450.00

Our Groceries & Dining Out budget for 2008 is based on $12 per day per month for groceries PLUS $90 for dining out.   

Laundry, Clothing, Hair Care $42.99 - Budget $75.00

Entertainment $40.96 ($1.32 per day) - Budget $275.00

Lots of free stuff to do around here.  :)

Insurance - Health, Life, Umbrella, Etc. $333.48 - Budget $381.00

Monthly health insurance premium and umbrella policy.  Umbrella policy came in under the $200 budget for that item.

Medical & Dental Expenses $0.00 - Budget $50.00

Miscellaneous $145.88 - Budget $150.00

Emergencies/Budget Cushion $0.00 - Budget $500.00

Totals $3,229.04 ($104.16 per day) - Budget $4,307.00 with Budget Cushion or $3,807.00 without.

We did really well in again in March.  I'm very pleased.

For a look at this year's numbers through March go to Our 2008 Actual Expenses. To see our budget month-by-month click on Our 2008 Budget.

On the business income side, it was a good month at $1,000.  But it was a heavy expense month as well with a couple web hosting bills due and some gear "necessary" for workamping.  :)  Still, we had a respectable net income of $307 for the month.

Our business income & expense summary statement is now available at Our 2008 Business Financial Summary page.

Good Day To Stay In - (Moab, UT)

We felt sorry for the campers.  It was overcast and the wind blew relentlessly all day long.

We were glad to be in the cabin.  :)

Linda got her hair coloring done and made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies.  One of our campers gave us some cooking oil, butter, and oats rather than throwing it all away.  So she put them to good use.  :)

And I finally got some web pages ready for release.  I hardly moved from my recliner all day.

So, I've revised our Earning A Living On The Road page.  And I linked to several other pages I created related to workamping.

Here is the list and links:

• Workamping Overview
• What Is Workamping?
• Types of Workamping Jobs Available
• Expected Commitments
• How Much Can You Make?
• Volunteering For A Campsite
• Working For Pay Vs. Volunteering
• Tax Implications of Workamping

That last one can be a little mind-numbing, but it includes a bunch of things I learned that I hadn't thought about before going on the road.  Maybe it will save someone a headache or two .... or maybe it will just give someone a headache.  :)

I've still got more pages to add, but I'm comfortable with these for now after spending hours and hours on them.

And that's about it.  Nothing more to tell for today.  Hopefully, the wind will calm down, and we can get out and about during the rest of our time off this week.

But if it doesn't, there will be other days.  Another difference between vacationers and full-timers.  While weather can ruin a vacation, it's just a temporary inconvenience for a full-timer.  :)

Saturday "Blues" - (Moab, UT)

That'd be North Carolina blue.  :)

The Louisville women's team had the lady Tar Heels down 18 points before losing by four.

The men's team played poorly in the first half, then erased a 12-point halftime deficit in the second half to tie the score.  But ultimately, they were beaten by a better team and the best player in the nation.

Oh well.  It was a good run, but us Cardinal fans have very high expectations.  :)

As for the rest of our day, we started with some "illegal" campers.  Now these 6 folks didn't just park and sleep in their vehicle.

They pitched a huge tent in the middle of the night between two other sites.  I was just about to go wake them up when one of our rangers stopped by.

So he went with me to roust them.  They didn't give him any lip, paid their money, packed up, and moved on.

They tend to prefer to do that rather than pay the $75 per person fine.  :)

The rest of the day was pretty calm.  Once again, we had a couple sites leave early and we were able to make the day of some campers.

One father & his little girl were over-joyed.  And when Linda gave them a partial bag of marshmallows so they wouldn't have to drive all the way to Moab, the dad said "You guys are our lucky charms!  I'd buy a lottery ticket from you if you sold them."

Little moments like that are so special.  Having "illegal" campers every night couldn't wipe out the memories of those two smiles.  Nor can a couple of basketball games that didn't turn out the way we wanted.  :)

A Calm Friday - (Moab, UT)

Yep, even though we had lots of sites turning over today, it was pretty calm.

I've done about eight new web pages, and I was hoping to release them today so I could show you that I have been doing something.  :)  But they're still not quite up to my standards.

Between concentrating on that and the basketball tournament, I wasn't much help until after dark.  Linda took charge of dealing with campers after we did our 10:00 am clean-up/check-out round.

She did a little afternoon shuffling and we picked up some miniature Reese's cup "bribes".  :)

Yesterday, she had to deal with a pretty bad kid's bike wreck.  Well, he was lucky - a little scraped up and shaken after he flipped that sucker, but he was okay.

Today she dealt with a dog left alone at a campsite that chewed through its leash and was running around.  Fortunately, a neighboring camper caught him before he got lost.  The owners were only gone for about an hour and a half, so the anxious pup calmed down.

Other than giving information about trails, tire places, auto parts places, the RV service center, the hospital (just in case), and where to get a shower, the rest of our time was pretty easy.

We did sell some firewood and the new load of firewood arrived.  Between the two camphost couples, we're selling between 100 and 120 bundles a week.

Funny thing.  The lady of the husband/wife team that brings the firewood said she stumbled upon our Journal when she Googled "firewood" and "Moab".   :)

Anyway, we finished off our leftover ribs and I watched basketball.  What's up with all the lopsided scores?  Linda popped in the Chat Room for awhile.

Tomorrow, the Louisville women's team plays North Carolina at 10:00 am our time.  And the Louisville men's team plays North Carolina at 7:00 pm our time.  I'm just hoping both sets of Tar Heels are a little off their game.  :)

One thing is for sure.  I will be absent from the shift-change campfire.  This game is too big to get TIVOed.  :)

All I Could Think About Was Basketball - (Moab, UT)

I love March Madness and the NCAA basketball tournament!  And with both my alma maters, Louisville & Western Kentucky, playing tonight in the Sweet Sixteen, I couldn't wait for the games to start.

With our Distant Network Service through DirecTV, I could watch Louisville vs. Tennessee on the New York station and Western vs. UCLA on the L.A. station.

Couple that with the slow cooked ribs Linda had in the crockpot, and my evening was planned.  Linda knew she would have to do all the rounds between 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm.  :)

During the day, I wrote more web content and we took care of our normal duties.  It was an easy "work" day.

Fortunately, our campers cooperated.  All of our reserved sites checked in before dark.

We did have a few sites leave early, which meant we could accomodate some walk-ins.  And once again, we had to do a little camper shuffling to make everyone happy.

But we started joking that all it would cost them was chocolate.  One fellow Kentuckian gave us two large chocolate bars, and another guy quickly went to a compartment in his RV and gave us his kid's leftover Easter candy.  :)

Just a little bonus on top of our $70 every-two-weeks "paycheck".  :)

I did take time out between the early and late games to take a sunset photo.

Thought I better throw a photo in somewhere since I've been slacking.  :)

Linda did the "generator" round at 8:00 just as the really important games came on.  While she was out, she decided to go to the nightly ranger presentation at the ampitheater.

She returned to tell me she got complaints about yelling and screaming coming from the cabin.  Funny girl.  :)

My Cardinals played well in beating a really, really good Tennessee team.  And our Hilltoppers, after looking like they were going to get blown out, gave us some exciting moments in the second half before fading in the end.

On top of the beautiful location and a gorgeous sunset, it was college basketball, ribs, and all the chocolate we could eat.  It just doesn't get much better than that!  :)

The Camper Shuffle - (Moab, UT)

Wow!  Once again, thank you for your support in the comments to yesterday's Journal.  :)

I worked on web pages almost all day.  I've written a lot of new content.  Unfortunately, they are not fully polished yet, and it's too early to release them for viewing.

But we're getting there.

In the meantime, we have this camphosting thing we are doing.  Have you heard about that?  It sort of interrupts our day every once in awhile.  :)

Today, we filled all of our sites very early - even the "convenience" sites we hold back because there is almost always someone that wants to stay an extra day.

But for the second time, we had one site that paid for two nights but didn't let anyone know so we could change their ticket.  We didn't know that until I went to kick them out at the 10:00 am checkout time.  Oops.  :) 

So we overbooked, and Linda & I had to apologize and move the guy that had "claimed" that prime site to another site.  Then we were short a site based on the envelopes given out at the entrance.

So we found the last "entrance envelope" person a site, but they would have to move in the morning.  More apologies.

Then we had someone that took a reserved site that was available due to a cancellation.  They were supposed to only get it for one night, but we gave them two since the canceled reservation had been for two nights.

Then we got our reservation reports (which should have arrived at least the day before).  Oops again.  The site we just gave for two nights had already been reserved again for the second night.  Now they would have to move in the morning, and we had to apologize again.  Sheesh.

Our apologies were pretty well received and we got everyone worked out.  After all the shuffling, they all ended up with better sites, but I know it was a pain.

Later in the day, it got pretty windy and some folks left early.

That worked out.  You see, folks make reservations for any site they can get.  Often, our campers with reservations have to move once or even twice during their stays.  And if they want to extend, they might have to move a third time into a non-reservable site.

Because of the early departures, we got to put one of those "multiple move" reservations in their final site where they won't have to move.  That tends to make them very happy.  :)

And we were able to accomodate two ladies that brought five kids in just hoping for a site.  They were extremely grateful.  See?  It never hurts to ask - we never know what might come available in the course of a day.  :)

Unfortunately, all this shuffling occurred during a beautiful sunset.  I was too busy running around in the golf cart to get photos.  :)

Ah, but it was a peaceful evening.  No one came to get firewood after 9:00, no one checked in after 9:00, and our campers were pretty quiet during my last round.

I suppose it could have been a pretty boring day if not for the camper shuffle.  :)

Another "Job" In The Near Future? - (Moab, UT)

Due to the downturn of the stock market for this year, we've been contemplating "working" a few months after the RV-Dreams Rally.

We are still not ready to work 40 hours a week for a paycheck, but it wouldn't hurt to pick up a little stipend and save on expenses if we can find another good situation like this one.

So today we spent two or three hours working on a position with a guest ranch in Colorado.  It's in the wilderness outside Pagosa Springs at 8,000 feet elevation with lots of hiking and outdoor activities.  We are looking at July through October.

I don't want to give too many details just yet.  We have spoken at length with the proprietor, and we are negotiating some mutually beneficial terms.  We will probably make a road trip over there before we finalize anything.  Stay tuned.

Other than the potential "job", I worked on website updates.  I'm trying to tweak as much as I can before I have to publish Rally information on some of the mainstream RV forums.

With cancellations on the rise due to economic reasons, we need to go outside our circle to see if we can fill our open spots.  I hate to do that because a few vocal folks on those forums just think we're self-serving people trying to make a buck.

Well, yeah, we are trying to make a buck.  We've never hidden that fact since we have no steady social security or pension check.  :)  But the folks that come to our website and read the information know that we don't even come close to financially covering the hours we put in.  :)

Anyway, I guess I'll be posting Rally information in the other forums soon.  With only a couple months left, we have to give people time to make plans.

Wish me luck!  Hopefully, I can avoid wasting my time defending what we do here.  :)

After our lengthy discussion on our potential "job", Linda did a little reading out in the sun.  According to our weather station, it got up to 71 yesterday.

I finally got to wear short sleeves.  Shorts can't be far behind.  :)

We were going to do a short hike from here in the campground, but it got a little too breezy to be hiking out in the blowing sand.

After a taco dinner, we ended the day with our shift-change campfire.  We are on four days this week.

Hopefully, it will be a little less eventful than last week.  :)

Scenic Drive On Hwy 128 & La Sal Mountain Loop - (Moab, UT)

Yawn.  Another gorgeous day here in Moab.  And warmer, too.  :)

We did some administrative stuff this morning before heading into town for our weekly trip to do laundry, hit the post office, and go to the grocery.  But after laundry and before the grocery, we decided to take one of the scenic drives listed on the DiscoverMoab.com website (a wonderful resource by the way).

We took the Scenic Byway 128 and La Sal Mountain Loop combination.  Scenic Byway 128 runs 44 miles through deep canyons along the Colorado River.  We only did the first 17 miles before turning off toward the La Sal Mountains.

But even that section is spectacular.  We'll get more photos when things green up a bit and we do a river trip of our own.

There are 22 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campgrounds in the Moab area and half of them are located along the Colorado River on Scenic Byway 128.  We passed seven of those today.

None of the campgrounds have hook-ups, dump stations, or flush toilets.  Three of the seven we passed have RV sites, and two of them can accomodate rigs up to 40 feet.  The Big Bend Campground looked the most promising for larger RVs.

For those readers that don't RV, at mile 14, we passed the Red Cliffs Lodge, and after missing our turn, we found the Sorrel River Ranch at mile 17.  The Sorrel River Ranch has its own spa and provides luxury out in the middle of nowhere.  Those two resorts are just a bit different than the BLM campgrounds.  :)

We turned around and made a stop at the Rocky Rapids recreation area.

I scrambled out onto some rocks in the middle of the Colorado for a slightly different view.

Our timing happened to be just right.  I got to take some photos of a couple of rafts coming down the river, ...

and I got to see what route they took through the rapids for future reference.

That looks like fun.  Can't wait to get out there!

Nice!  And this area's red rock cliffs are small compared to what lies ahead for them downriver.  :)

Before we moved on, I spotted another bare, twisted tree begging for a photograph.  :)

After backtracking about a mile, we turned onto the loop road toward Castle Valley and the mountains.

Here we have the "Priest and the Nuns" on the left and "Castle Rock" on in the center.

The dry desert transitions to the alpine forest.

Another view of the transition from the mountains' perspective.

Adding a little zoom to the shot of the valley.

Moving on to higher elevations.

There are two mountain lake side-roads that were closed as we passed.  We'll have to come back as there are few things more beautiful than alpine lakes with mountain reflections.

Continuing on.

We also discovered a gorgeous bed and breakfast up in these mountains - Whispering Oaks Ranch. 

From there we started making a descent back into Moab.  There is still a good two feet of snow up in the mountains, but the roads were clear (except for a couple snow-packed icy spots).

Back in Moab, we made our stop at the City Market and took on some fuel.

As we headed toward Arches, Linda spotted something on the rocks.

She has a good eye.  There are four Bighorn Sheep in the above photo ... and that's zoomed in.  :)

Here is a closer look at one getting ready to jump down to a lower resting spot.

And here are a couple of the others.

These all appeared to be females and young males as none of them had the large, curved horns of the older males.   And these are Desert Bighorns which are much smaller than their Rocky Mountain Bighorn cousins.

We had been looking for the Bighorns since we arrived.  I thought I had seen them, including a large male, near the road in the same place along Hwy 191 the day we came in.

But I dismissed it as a hallucination since it had been a long day of driving.  I thought I was looking at statues of sheep, and I wasn't about to stop the rig and turn around to confirm.  :)

Turns out they are known to hang out in that spot about a mile and a half before the park entrance.  So Linda has been scanning the rocks every time we pass.  And today she spotted them.

Back at the cabin, we unloaded and had dinner.  Then we took a walk around the campground for exercise and to get a feel for our campers since we take over Tuesday night.

Even when off duty, we like to know which sites are taken and for how long.  Then our shift-change campfires help fill in the unknowns.  :)

Well, we have done every trail in Arches and we've knocked out one of the scenic driving tours.  It'll only take us another six months or so to see all the rest of the sights and do the hiking and river running we want to do.  :)

We might just have to come back next year.  :)

Klondike Bluffs Tower Arch Trail - (Moab, UT)

We slept great!

The only thing on the agenda today was to hike the only public access trail in the park that we hadn't yet hiked.

But first, Linda fixed us some breakfast using a recipe from the upcoming RV-Dreams Family Favorites Cookbook.

It was something called Easy Melted Marshmallow Cinnamon Rolls.  Excellent, and very easy according to Linda.  :)

We finally got out the door around 11:00.  We drove the dirt road over to Klondike Bluffs and parked at the trailhead.

The first part of the trail is up through the rocks.  It's fairly steep and requires some effort.

Looking back down at the parking area ...

before heading over the ridge line.

You've figured out by now that these dead trees fascinate me and make for interesting photos.  :)

This middle part of the hike was downhill amongst beautiful scenery.

Red towers framed by junipers.

At this point, we started going uphill again.

Most of my shots are taken with the sun to my back, but I thought this one into the sun turned out pretty cool.

Much of the last part of the trail is uphill through thick sand.  That makes for quite a workout.

Now we are entering into the area of the Tower Arch.

After 1.7 miles, we came to the arch.

I had hiked to this arch before, but came from the 4WD trail parking lot - a much easier hike if your vehicle will make it out the 4WD  road.

Tower Arch is huge.

Linda sat down in the shade of the arch and relaxed for a bit.

Just behond Linda against the rock were two guys from Arkansas.  They were in town as vendors for the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab.  But today, they were looking for some solitude away from the crowds.

They were the only other people we saw.  Tower Arch is the place to come to escape from the crowds as the trailhead requires 8 miles of driving off the main road and then a 3.4 mile roundtrip hike.  Most visitors won't make that commitment of time when they can see so much more closer to the main park road.

We grabbed a nice spot just in the sun under the arch and looked out at a fabulous view.

After sitting awhile, I got up to take this shot from below.

For all of today's photos, check out the slideshow.

Tower Arch Trail Slideshow

We enjoyed our time on this hike.  And we will remember it for the times we want to spend a few hours alone.

We hiked out (a bit easier), and we made our way back to the cabin.

My Louisville Cardinals were playing today, so I had to get back to watch.  Of course CBS wasn't showing their game.  But I discovered that CBS.com is broadcasting all the games on their website ... for FREE!

So I got to watch the game on my laptop.  Glad I got the 17-inch screen.  :)

Linda took a two-hour nap.

Then we got a call from a reader.  Greg & Linda (the view from the juniper tree) were coming through Moab.  So we made plans to meet them for a quick dinner as they were passing through.

Greg and I have been corresponding for awhile.  He and Linda are full-timing in their Hitchhiker fifth wheel.  Being a former pastor, his writings encompass spiritual discovery and a little philosophy as well as travels.

We met at Denny's and we had a nice chat for an hour or so over dinner (well, breakfast for dinner).  Then they had to be on their way.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Ruth & Duane, out of Greeley, CO, came to visit us yesterday.  That was an unexpeted surprise.  More nice folks in the planning stages of full-timing.  :)

Back home, we watched a little TV and Linda worked on a new bracelet order.  By the way, she wanted me to show you this Arches bracelet she designed.  :)

She incorporated some of the major landmarks in the park.  We might be able to sell a couple of those around Moab.

Well, that about covers it.  Until tomorrow.  :)