RV-Dreams Journal

Day 3 - Four-Day Self-Guided Trip On The Green River - (Canyonlands NP, Utah)

It was another beautiful night and we slept fairly well.  We prepared better and woke up warm enough that we didn't even need a morning fire.

Linda made coffee and we took our time getting started.  I put on a change of clothes.  It was sunny and warming up quickly, so I started out in shorts and a t-shirt today.  We broke camp, loaded up, and were on the river by 8:30.

Our goal today was to make our morning float on our last day less than 10 miles, preferably under 6 miles.  Since we were at mile 22, I wanted to go at least 16 miles today.

We had a good current this morning and almost no wind again.  I took a shot of Turk's Head as soon as we got out there.

We spun around to look back toward last night's campsite.

I still can't tell why this rock is called Turk's Head, but it was sure colorful this morning.  :)

This is the section of the river that is visible from the Green River Overlook in the Island Of The Sky District of Canyonlands.  Just a few weeks ago when Linda's sister came to visit, we were looking down on this area.  Here was the zoom from that day at the overlook.

Turk's Head is the lone rock formation out in the canyon in the right center.  We certainly didn't get to see such colors from high above.  And we had no idea then that we would be floating through that canyon today.  What a life!  :)

We were again just drifting at somewhere between 2.5 and 3 mph.  A perfect current and a bright blue sky.

It was already starting out as a great day on the river.  The sights, the sounds, the unspoiled beauty, being out there all by ourselves with a quiet mutual appreciation of what we were experiencing .... it was everything we'd hoped it would be.  That feeling was what drew us into full-time RVing in the first place.  :)

We continued our journey.  We passed close to rock walls and looked up at the various overhangs and ledges.

As we moved downriver, we started noticing the walls getting higher and higher.

With awe-inspiring views and soul-nourishing solitude, our heads swiveled back and forth to make sure we didn't miss anything.  In addition to the wonderful sounds of nature, the only other noises we heard were the scratching of my three-day-old whiskers against my life jacket and Linda's pony-tail swishing back and forth on hers.  :)

With about ten miles to go before the confluence with the Colorado River, Linda spotted a pretty good campsite.  But I wanted to get in at least a couple more miles.  We had to be out of the river, all packed up, and ready to be picked up by our jet-boat shuttle by 1:00 tomorrow.  I didn't want to have to get up too early or float too far in the morning.

However, we started to run into the same problem as the first day.  There just weren't that many campsites in the next few miles with those big walls.

Finally, we saw a beach between the four and five-mile mark.  But the kayakers we had seen the day before and earlier today were already there.

We made our way over to ask if they were planning to camp or just stopping for a break.  In a stroke of kindness, before we could ask, they invited us to camp there with them for the night.  They knew we didn't have many more options.  We didn't want to take any chances, so we accepted the offer.  We had gone about 18 miles and had been on the river about six and a half hours.  It was a little after 3:00.

Frank is from Grand Junction and Larry is from Denver.  They are retirees and members of the Rocky Mountain Sea Kayak Club.

They left us a nice section of the beach, and Frank took a picture of us once we got our tent up.

It's hard to tell, but the white sand was a good two feet higher than the river.  Still, we pulled the Foldcat all the way out of the water and tied it off just in case there was a big rise in water overnight.

Looking back up the river past Frank and Larry's tents.

I jumped inside our tent to get this shot looking out the front door.  :)

As the afternoon went on, the lighting downriver got a little better.

As the four of us sat and talked, we noticed a Western Grebe hanging out along the beach.

It was surprisingly bold and swam right by us a couple of times.  Beautiful bird.

Looking around, I noticed these "kissing rocks" downriver high to the right and barely visible from our campsite.

Linda heated up some Chef Boyardee spaghetti & meatballs.  Not exactly a culinary delight, but it wasn't so bad tonight after we smothered it in real parmesan.  :)

I got the fire going and we broke out the marshmallows.  We invited the boys over for a campfire, but they decided to sit and read.

As it got darker, a pair of geese wandered up at the end of the beach.  Soon we heard the "peep, peep" of goslings.  Linda spotted two of them.  They weren't nearly as skittish as the ones from last night.  The babies walked right up to the Foldcat.

I walked back over to the fire.  It was time to get out the tripod for a shot of Linda with her fire and the river canyon in the background.

We didn't want to carry any firewood home, so we stayed up later than the prior two nights and watched most of it burn.  Once we'd had enough, we were ready for bed.  We noticed that it had started clouding up just a bit as we slipped into our tent for the night.  Better keep that rain fly on.  :)

Another fine, gorgeous day.  We were having so much fun and camping with strangers tonight gave it a little twist.  What an experience!  :) 

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Day 2 - Four-Day Self-Guided Trip On The Green River - (Canyonlands NP, Utah)

We got to sleep okay last night.  But, with the rain fly off the tent, we didn't bundle up quite enough.  By morning, we were pretty cold.

We awoke to the songs of the Spotted Towhee and the various voices of the Yellow-breasted Chat.  Out of our tent, we were happy to see 1) we didn't get washed away, and 2) it was a lovely, calm morning.

Notice the difference in the river's surface from yesterday.

I started a fire to get us warmed up as Linda waited for her coffee to brew.  We went with pop-tarts for breakfast.  :)

After breakfast and Linda's two cups of coffee, we broke camp and loaded the boat.  We launched around 8:30.  We were told to make our miles in the morning each day as the wind always picks up in the afternoon and always blows upriver.

Today, we would shoot for at least 15 miles.  We weren't on the river long before I was taking pictures.

As we came around the corner, we got a good look at "The Buttes of the Cross" on the right.

It's actually two buttes that line up in a cross formation at certain angles.

A closer look.

The views just kept coming.

Compared to yesterday when we heard nothing but the constant whoosh of the wind, today we could hear all sorts of sounds.

The two of us were, as usual, very quiet on the river.  We could hear the wide variety of birds singing their joyous songs as we drifted.  The honking of the Canada Geese echoed as they flew through the canyon.  That eerie, lonely, amazing sound gave us goose bumps.  :)

Sections of the bank fell into the river from erosion.  With the canyon walls amplifying the sound, it was like hearing mini-glaciers calve into the river.  Undercurrents would hit underwater structures and boil up to the surface like small whales creating swirling water with their tails.

Fabulous!  :)

The sounds of nature were only broken by a group of passing canoeists.

All the paddlers were moving quite a bit faster than we were.  :)

We just kept floating with the current and were making nearly 3 mph.  This was one of my favorite shots from the day.

That huge rock on the left had separated from a wall and loomed on the side of the river.

More buttes as we floated.

A look behind us as one of those boils came up under the boat and spun us around.

We went past this spire on our left.

Notice the kayaker going by.

His partner was coming up behind us.

They were slicing through the calm water and were out of sight in no time.

As you can see, the Green River isn't very green this time of year.  :)

It was starting to get very warm.  For the first time, I came out of my long sleeves and zipped off the legs of my hiking pants making instant shorts.  Of course, that called for a thick layer of sunscreen.  :)

We started the loop around the rock known as Turk's Head.

Finishing the first straight-a-way and going into the turn.

Moving through the bend.

Once we went around the bend, Linda spotted a sandy beach.  With our struggles to find a campsite yesterday, Linda was ready to check this one out.

It was a winner.  :)  It was only 1:30 and we had only gone 14 miles, but we couldn't pass up that spot.

We unloaded and quickly threw the tent up.  We opted to use the rain fly for a little extra warmth tonight.  :)

We had our own little lagoon by our campsite.

The bonus was we had a family of geese.  The parents came out with four little goslings.  :)

They were a little wary of us, so I never could get a good shot.

Since we stopped so early in the day, I looked for something to do.  We were surrounded by water and thick brush and trees, so I couldn't do any exploring.

Linda used our biodegradable soap and took a wipe-down bath.  I sat in the shade of the tent and did some birdwatching.

On the first day, we saw lots of Great Blue Herons, but none today.  We also saw a small flock of White-faced Ibis yesterday.  Today, we had the Chats and the Spotted Towhees, along with Mountain Bluebirds and various flycatchers and gnatcatchers.  Later in the day, we had a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

The hawk came after the geese decided to relocate their babies.  We watched them swim out of the lagoon and up the river close to the bank where the current wasn't too bad.  Soon we saw them floating back downriver to a spot on the other side directly opposite us.  They purposely went upstream first so the babies could make it to the other side without having to swim across the main current.  More amazing nature.  :)

We set up our chairs on the hard-packed sand dune where we had a little shade.

Every now and then, I like to give you a shot from my perspective looking out over my feet.  :)

We hung out there the rest of the afternoon.  Linda read and I checked the map for a potential stopping point tomorrow.  The sun was sinking as we started thinking about dinner.

Here is Linda's new camp stove.  It folds up into a flat little eight inch square.

You just set a Sterno can in there and light it.  Each can lasts about two hours.

Okay, so I have to tell you about .... the potty.  As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, all solid waste has to be carried out.

Kind of industrial looking, huh?  :)  Well, I hear that it is quite an improvement over previous models.  To this day, the outfitters refer to these backcountry potties as "groovers".  Why?  Well, because they tend to leave deep grooves in your .... Uh, I think you get the idea.  :)

We noticed the replacement cost of that thing at $300 when we were filling out our paperwork.  We certainly didn't want to lose it, but for $30 it was well worth the rental.  Especially considering we don't have to clean it out - they do that.  :)

Okay.  Got that discussion out of the way.  It had to be done.  :)

Just put that out of your mind.  That's what we had to do as we prepared for dinner.

Once again, Linda heated up chili and I roasted hot dogs.  More chili-cheese-burrito-dogs.  But tonight, we were in the mood for dessert.  Out came the marshmallows.

It was a wonderful night by the fire by the river.

So, Day 1 was a bit of a struggle, but lots better than sitting in an office or even being a camphost.  Day 2 was nearly perfect.  :)

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Day 1 - Four-Day Self-Guided Trip On The Green River - (Canyonlands NP, Utah)

We were up at 6:00 a.m. to make sure we arrived at Tag-A-Long Expeditions by 8:00.

We were packed and ready to go.  At the last minute, we decided to grab a couple bundles of wood.  We knew we would be pushing our 500 pound weight limit on the Foldcat, but we were concerned that we might not find enough dry driftwood on the river with water levels rising from snowmelt in the upper elevations.

On the ride through Arches to Moab, we heard today's forecast.  Uh oh.  Not good.  It was to be one of those windy days with gusts up to 40 mph.  We had been watching the weather and that was new.  :)

We also heard news reports of a capsized boat on Lake Powell and stranded kayakers farther south.  All was due to high winds.  Yikes.  Linda didn't need to hear that.  :)

We pondered putting off the trip, but we were packed and all arrangements had been made.  We'd get through today and the weather sounded great the rest of the time.

At Tag-A-Long, we showed our permit from the National Park Service for our trip.  Almost all of the 52 miles of the Stillwater Canyon portion of the Green River lies within Canyonlands National Park, and a $20 permit is required.

We finished up some paperwork, signed the usual legal disclaimer of liability, and then found our shuttle driver, Justin, out back.  Justin helped us load everything into the truck and got the items we rented - a small toilet and a fire pan.  Part of the permit requirements are that you have to carry out your solid waste and you are not allowed to have ground fires.

We also had to have an extra paddle, which we brought.  Tag-A-Long also requires you to carry an extra life jacket and an emergency "throw".  We didn't know about that, but Justin got those for us with no extra charge.

We were loaded up and ready to go.

We drove past Arches north on Hwy 191.

We turned left off of 191 like we were going to the Island In The Sky District of Canyonlands National Park.

Long before we reached the park, we turned right onto Mineral Bottom Road, a dirt road that leads to the last boat launch on the Green River.  As we got to the switchbacks leading down to the river, Justin stopped so I could get a picture of the road and the beginning of Stillwater Canyon.

One more stop on the way down for a look upriver ...

and downriver.

Wow.  Mineral Bottom boat launch was a mess.  There were people, rafts, and gear everywhere as a group was just coming off the river.

We unloaded all our stuff and waited patiently.  Justin helped us lug gear to the river's edge and we pumped up the Foldcat as others looked on with curiosity.

Sheesh, it was windy.  But we were ready to launch.

It was 10:18 a.m.  With the wind, Justin said 10 miles would be a good day.  He helped us shove off and the trip was underway.

It took us about a minute to remember that the oars don't work well with two people and a fully loaded boat.  We quickly took them out of the oar locks and abandoned that plan.  We used them as paddles just like we did on the Buffalo National River in October 2006.

Once we were in the center of the river, I started taking pictures in all directions.  :)

Upriver.

Downriver.

River right.

River left.

I kept the camera handy at all times.  :)

The wind was rough, but the current was strong enough most of the time that we could still float without paddling and make a little progress - about 2 m.p.h.

However, as the day went on, the winds got stronger and they were always in our face.  Canoers were having a hard time as they passed.

Our high profile inflatable would make it even more difficult for us.

In a couple places, the river was really wide and the sustained winds were blowing us backwards.  We were getting frustrated.  My goal today was 15 miles so that we could have more leisurely floats on days 2 and 3.  Now it was looking like 10 miles was going to be tough.

But we knew we had to keep going as the winds were not going to get any better.  Linda & I paddled our hearts out.  I was grunting with every stroke and we just kept pushing.  The wind would die a tad, and we would paddle harder.  We just tried to get through the rough stretches and make it around the next bend where there might be a wind break.

Eventually we'd get through, and I would have my hands free for a couple minutes to take another picture.

But then it would be back to the struggle.  This formation came into view, and we thought we would never get to it.

Tired, and a bit irritable, we got there.  There were little contoured slot canyons all around the base on this side.

It looked like some neat hiking, but we didn't come prepared to hike.  We had a limited amount of time to cover 52 miles, and we hoped to enjoy the float.  Of course, we weren't getting to enjoy this first day as much as we would've liked.  :)

Still, there were moments.  :)

We kept plugging away and finally got our ten miles in.  We were ready to be out of the wind, so we started looking for campsites.

Now, we were told NOT to camp on sandbars.  There was no way to know how far the water might rise overnight.  So we avoided those and started looking for a sandy beach.  Unfortunately, there weren't many campsites suitable for us in that stretch.  We had to keep going.  Ugh.

We were getting to our breaking point as we hit another blustery stretch where two foot waves were blowing upriver against the current.  We were both saying "This isn't any fun" as we kept paddling and looking for any place we could beach the boat.

Now we were on the other side of our old friend.  I don't know if the pillar was laughing at us or watching out for us.  :)

Finally, we found a spot where we could dock.  The wind was still fierce and blowing upcanyon right into us, but we had to stop.

At least it was a beautiful spot.  :)

I checked my watch and it was about 6:30.  We had been on the water for eight hours and we were spent.  The good news was that we somehow managed to go 16 miles.

We unloaded all our gear and picked out a site for the tent.

But it was still far too windy to set up.  There wasn't much we could do except wait it out.

Ah, we eventually noticed the waves settling down a bit.  So we put our chairs out by the river's edge to take in the view.

We watched the sun sink over the rocks.

We were starting to recover.  :)

We set up a little kitchen area using some trees for a windbreak.  Then we went ahead and put up the tent.

However, upon further review, we realized that we were set up in a channel that the river had cut.  In a few days - hopefully it would be that long :) - our campsite would be covered in water.

Down by the boat, I stuck a stick in the ground so I could monitor the water level.  I made sure I pulled the boat up onto shore a little more and tied it off.

Linda fired up her new little Sterno stove and heated up some chili.  I got a fire going.  It was a good thing we brought firewood as the driftwood was scarce.  However, we probably could have gathered enough dead Tamarisk.  That's an invasive species that we are allowed to burn in the backcountry.

We were still getting an occasional gust.  Just as Linda was saying "Hope our chairs don't blow in the fire", a blast came through.  Sure enough, the chair went right into the fire.  Linda was closer, so she yanked the chair up and the fire pan went flying.

Somehow, there was no damage to the chair and we avoided starting a forest fire.  It was sorta that kind of day.  :)

I cleaned up the mess and got the fire going again.  I roasted some hot dogs.  We brought tortillas instead of bread as we figured it would pack better and we wouldn't have to worry about them getting crushed.

So we sat down and devoured our chili-cheese-burrito-dogs.  That hit the spot.  :)

Linda was getting happier as the wind continued to settle down and she had a campfire in our fire pan to mess with.

Then I checked the water level.  It had crept into our channel about ten feet.  After some back-and-forth, we decided to re-locate the tent farther back to somewhat higher ground.  We weren't thrilled about doing it in the dark, but we would sleep better.

Our tent is pretty easy to set up.  With our headlamps, we had it in place in just a few minutes.

Whew!  What a day.  In the overall scheme of things, it was a fantastic experience, but there were certainly some trying times.

We were ready for bed.  The wind was gone, the stars were out in force, and we left the rain fly off the tent so we could enjoy the full effect of our first night in the wilderness.  Crickets and the gentle swishing of the willows lulled us to sleep under the gorgeous night sky.

We just hoped we wouldn't be too sore to get up in the morning.  :) 

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Preparing For Adventure - (Moab, UT)

We had a nice relaxing morning.  Then we went into Moab.

Linda did laundry and I filled up a propane cylinder.  But the main purpose of our trip to town was to pick up supplies for our river trip which starts tomorrow (Tuesday).

I suppose I can let you in on it now.  :)

This photo is from our visit to the Island In The Sky district of Canyonlands National Park.

That's from the Green River Overlook.  And sometime in the next four days, we will be floating through that canyon.  :)

We will be doing a four day flatwater trip that covers 52 miles through Stillwater Canyon on the Green River through Canyonlands National Park.  Just the two of us.  :)

We will be shuttled to a put-in point by Tag-A-Long Expeditions.  We will float and camp for three nights.  On the fourth day, we will reach the end of the Green River where it runs into the Colorado - The Confluence.  Once on the Colorado, we will be picked up by a Jet Boat which will whisk us back up the Colorado River to Moab.

So we picked up a few camping supplies and food for our trip.  Our biggest concern was how we were going to transport everything.  We'll have to take the Foldcat in order to have enough room.

When we got back home, we pumped up the Foldcat.  We needed to see how we were going to lay out everything we needed for four days.  We didn't want to be dropped off on the side of the river and not have room for everything.  :)

We did surprisingly well at scaling back.  Everything fit just fine, and we have space left over.

We got lots of looks setting up a boat in the campground.  :)

We deflated the Foldcat and loaded it into the Jeep with everything else.  We have to be at Tag-A-Long at 8:00 in the morning.

After we got everything packed, this Mountain Bluebird came by to wish us luck.  :)

We double-checked everything and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

We're pretty excited.  You'll hear all about it when we get back.  :)

I was going to prepare some entries to post automatically over the next couple of days.  But I decided our readers would be okay for a few days until we could get back and recount our trip.  Don't forget about us while we're gone.  :)

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Back In Our Home - (Moab, UT)

We slept in a little this morning, but it was soon time to get busy.  It was a little cooler than it had been, but that was okay since we were going to get plenty of exercise.

Linda made numerous trips from the cabin to the RV.  She was in charge of the little stuff and getting it back where it goes.  We used our two laundry baskets to transport much of our belongings.

I was in charge of the larger items like our printer, laptops, DVR, RV, recliners, and TV.  I also got called to duty when she packed a laundry basket a little too full and heavy.  :)

I got help with the TV from one of our rangers, Mike.  I got the DVR hooked up and Linda helped me screw the TV back to its swivel platform.

Hmm.  The DVR wasn't communicating with the TV.  Sheesh.  I knew I had all the connections right.  After pondering that for a few minutes, I checked the "channel" switch on the back of the DVR.  Ah, that was it.  It must have gotten changed from channel 4 to 3 while I was moving it.  Now it works.  :)

I got the ladder out and took our cellular antenna down from the cabin.  I re-mounted it back on the top of our RV ladder for our remaining time here.

By then, our RV refrigerator was cold enough to transport the items from the cabin fridge/freezer.  That was the last thing we had to do.

We were finished moving around 2:00.  Not too bad.  We learned some lessons last year and didn't move nearly as much stuff into the cabin this year.

It was good to be back in our home, even if it doesn't have as big a kitchen or bathroom as the cabin.  :)

We rested and even snuck in short naps over the next couple of hours.  Then we walked up to Site 22 where RV Dreamers Barb & Greg (Keeping Up With The Joneses) were parked.

They had let us know they were coming, so we put them in the site (if it is available) we always save for our friends with larger rigs.  One of the perks of the job is we get to take care of our friends.  They still have to pay, but we can get them in.  :)

Of course, this will be the last time we get to do that here at Arches.  In return, knowing we were moving today, they invited us for dinner.

Greg & Barb found our website in the Fall of 2005.  We corresponded a few times and they started full-timing in 2007.  We've been in touch since, but we hadn't yet met.  Today they came in during our move, and we took time out for greetings and hugs.   :)

It was about 4:00 when we walked to their site.  They have a beautiful Grand Junction fifth wheel - I believe it is the 35TMS floorplan.

We sat outside and got caught up.

Though we correspond with lots of folks and can remember most of them, we have trouble recalling the details of each reader's present situation.  :)

Notice the "RVLIVIN" license plate on their truck.  :)

Like us, they are equipped with solar panels, four house batteries, and an inverter.  They also have a Sea Eagle boat.  Their version of the Jeep is a scooter they haul on the back of the fifth wheel.  :)

We had Greg & Barb recount their entry into full-timing.  And since they have been camphosts on Redfish Lake in Idaho for two summers now, we compared notes and stories.

We had a wonderful dinner as we continued to chat.  Then it looked like a front was moving in and Linda & I were ready to retire.  Of course, it started raining as we headed down the hill.

We haven't done much running in awhile, but we scampered down to our rig before we got soaked.  Whew!  It's good to be home.  :)

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Last Day On The Job As Camphosts At Arches - (Moab, UT)

It started out as a pretty nice morning.  We didn't have any illegal campers on our early round.

What surprised us was that it took until 9:15 for all the sites to be handed out at the visitors center.  We only had six and it was a Saturday.

As the morning progressed, we got out our tent that we had bought over a year ago.  It was still in the box.  But we needed to get it out and set it up to make sure we knew what we were doing.  There's a little hint.  In the next few days, we will be doing a little trip that will require us to camp in the tent.  Actually, that's the second hint.  The first was the river permit I got the other day.  :)

No problem with the tent set-up until the wind started picking up.  I was going to get pictures, but we needed to quickly break it down and get it back in its little carrying case before it blew away like a tumbleweed.

As I babysat the radio, Linda started transporting much of her kitchen stuff back to the rig.  She was getting a headstart on our move.

Everything was smooth in the campground until the weather started to turn in the afternoon.  The wind came back with significant gusts, occasional rain, and cooler temps.  Once again, tents were shredding and campers were leaving. 

But the minute a site vacated, even with 40 mph gusts, there would be someone at our door wanting a site.  We don't have to give a "hard sell" to anyone to fill a site.  :)

With the wind still howling, we turned over the reigns to Tim at 4:00 for the last time.  We take ownership of the campground while we are here, and it's weird that we are done.

But there wasn't any time to think about that.  We had to get ready to go into town to meet Cardinal John for dinner.  We arrived at Canyonlands Campground "in the heart of Moab" a little after 6:00.

Wow.  It was packed and there were some big rigs in there, but the whole place was really claustrophobic.  No room between sites and very little room to maneuver.  You won't catch H & L staying there.  :)

With the classic car show in town, people were lined up along both sides of the streets like they were getting ready for a parade.  There isn't anything official.  The classic cars just cruise up and down Main Street for hours.

With the extra traffic, we headed out for our dinner reservations a little early.  The weather still wasn't very good, but it was a pretty drive up Hwy 128 along the river to Red Cliffs Lodge.

We arrived around 7:00, a half hour before our reservations.  I took the opportunity to take a few pics.

I had John pose out on the deck with the Colorado River and some red rock buttes in the background.

It was a shame the weather wasn't better.  We could have eaten outside.

Oh well.  While we waited for our table, John bought a round of drinks in the bar.

Red Cliffs Lodge has its own winery, Castle Creek Winery.  Linda was very impressed with their Cabernet.  :)

We chatted until it was time to be seated.  We got a nice table with a view.

Some sun was starting to get through the clouds and it illuminated the buttes, so I stepped back outside for another shot or two.

Back inside, Linda ordered steak, John had trout, and I, of course, had ribs.

The food was well prepared and delicious.  It wasn't overly fancy, and had nice, subtle flavor.  Well worth the reasonable $15 - $25 prices.

John treated us to dinner and we had a great evening.  By the time were were finished, it was dark, the wind had subsided a bit, and some stars were starting to peek through the clouds.

John reminded us that he is to be known as the reader who has come the farthest to visit us - twice.  :)

In 2007, he and Cathy came from St. Louis to Woodland Park, CO.  Okay, they were nearby for other reasons, but they made a point to come see us.  :)

This time, he came from St. Louis to Moab via Chicago.  And he purposely routed his trip to visit Arches.  Hmmm.  I'm thinking it was Arches that was the draw, and we just happened to be here.  :)

He says he has to come and see us because it is apparent from our travel map that we are clearly avoiding St. Louis.  :)

John's having a great time on his RV adventure, and things we talk about in the Journal are now starting to make sense to him as he gains first-hand experience.  It was the same way for us when we started - it was all abstract until we actually experienced RV living and travel.  :)

We dropped John off back in Moab with hugs & handshakes, thanked him (even though we were not supposed to do that), and bid him well on the rest of his journey.  I'm sure we'll meet again and we have an open invitation if we ever do get near St. Louis.  :)

It was getting close to 10:00 and we were pretty tired.  We made our way through the cruising traffic in Moab, and drove back through the park.

The drive is not nearly as impressive in the pitch black.  We imagined what it must be like for first-time visitors to arrive at night, drive into the campground, and then awake to such a unique, beautiful environment having no idea what they passed in the dark.  It makes me smile just thinking about that.  :)

Back home, we were ready for bed.  Tomorrow, we will be concentrating on moving back into the fifth wheel, and we should be sleeping in the Cambridge by tomorrow night.

Our camphost replacements don't arrive until May 2, and they don't have an RV, so there is no hurry for us to leave.  In fact, we have permission to leave the rig where it is while we are off on our little trip next week.  Good deal.  :)

Well, that's about it for today.  Tomorrow there will be more on moving, more RV-Dreamers arriving, and maybe another hint on our upcoming trip.  :)

 

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Another Windy Day In The Campground - (Moab, UT)

I forgot to mention yesterday that we got a brief visit from another RV-Dreams couple that was passing through.  The Meyers from Saskatchewan popped in late in the afternoon.

They have been reading since the end of 2005 and have corresponded with us a few times.  We were still in work mode and just about to sit down to a quick dinner, so we didn't get a chance to talk much.  But it was still wonderful meeting them.  :)

This morning went smoothly and our nine sites given out at the visitors center arrived promptly.  And we had a half a dozen others that showed up looking for sites.

As it turned out, four sites vacated at various times during the day due to the wind.  The 10th party in line this morning didn't get a site at the visitors center, but drove up to the campground anyway.  They got lucky.  Someone left early and they ended up getting one of the best sites in the campground.

A lot of times, it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.  We usually have sites vacate on days like today with sustained winds of 20 - 30 mph and gusts in the 40 mph range.  But we never know which sites or when.  When they do vacate, we never even need to call the sites into the front as there is usually someone coming along within the hour to pounce on them.  :)

In the early afternoon during our slow time, a small rental RV showed up out in front of our cabin.  It was Cardinal John, one of our longtime readers from St. Louis.

John wanted to get his feet wet in this RVing thing.  Several months ago he responded to an opportunity to transport new rental RVs from Chicago to Los Angeles for Cruise America.  So he made Arches a stop on his journey.

It was cute RV and looked easy to handle.  But this one was no bigger on the inside that a large truck camper.  Heck, some of the truck campers we've seen here have a lot more room.  :)

We knew John was coming, but he wasn't sure he wanted to do the "no hook-up thing" here in our campground.  So he got reservations at an RV park in Moab.  Good thing he made reservations, because there is a classic car show here this weekend.  That's why we were getting so many people looking for sites - apparently there was nothing in town. 

So far, John seems to really be enjoying his trip.  Now he wishes his wife, Cathy, would've come.  We got to meet both of them back in 2007.  Great folks.

John is another of many that come here and realize the pictures don't do it justice.  :)  He'd been driving awhile, so we gave him some quick sightseeing options on his way out.  We're getting together tomorrow night for dinner.

As the day went on, the wind teased everyone.  It would get calm for a few minutes and then a massive gust would blow through.  Then we would get sustained winds again.  It usually calms down at night, but it wasn't supposed to tonight.

On one of my evening rounds, I stopped long enough to take this picture of the sun setting between some formations in the dark clouds.

It looked like it might be a long night for our campers.  :)

Linda & I settled in for the evening knowing we had several reserved sites that still were not occupied.  That's always a concern.

When the reserved sites aren't occupied, folks that drive in late without a campsite often just pull into any empty space.  That creates a possibility for a late-night knock on the door when the reservation shows up in the middle of the night and someone is in their site.

I finished up a 2008 Year-end Financial Recap that I have been working on for a couple of days.  I'll get it posted very soon.

Then we went to bed hoping to get some sleep.  We were hoping the simple expectation of a possible knock on the door wouldn't keep us awake.  Of course the wind gusts rattle our screen door and make it sound like a knock.  If we sleep well, it will be a miracle.  :)

Tomorrow is our last day on shift as a camphost here at Arches.  We will hang around for the rest of the month, but we are officially done tomorrow afternoon.  We will start moving back into the RV and then we have one last big adventure planned before we leave.  You'll hear about it soon enough.  :)

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The Colorado River Daily - (Moab, UT)

Linda didn't want to get up.  Since I was going to be playing all day, I did the morning round myself.  :)

Before Tim & I left for our trip, Linda was already dealing with issues.  We only had five sites given out this morning.  The first person in line at the visitors center had a long toy hauler trailer.  However, the other folks that got sites passed him on the way to the campground and they took the largest sites.  He was not very happy.

But Linda charmed him and took care of him.  He's going to get a really good site tomorrow, and now he's very happy.  :)

Tim & I took off around 9:00.  After we both ran a couple of errands, we made it to our launch point and were ready to get on the water at 11:00 to do the 13-mile trip known locally as The Colorado River Daily.

Tim had to pose with the SE-370.  :)

 

Let's pull back on the shot at the Hittle Bottom Recreation Site boat ramp.

So, off we went.  First the right side.

Then the left - looking toward Fisher Towers with the La Sals peeking over.

We saw quite a few Great Blue Herons - like the one you can barely see on the shore in this shot.

There were also a few duck species, Canada Geese, and a small flock of White-faced Ibis.

The first part of our trip had very calm water.

But I noticed the water seemed to be at a higher level, muddier, and with more debris than just two days ago.  It was looking like just two days of snow melt in the mountains was going to make this trip a bit interesting.  :)

Different scenery from the other day, but still quite nice.  :)

Okay, here are a couple more.

Now for one of those look-backs.  The wispy clouds were pretty cool.  :)

We passed the Sorrel River Ranch.

Another lodge in a beautiful setting.

We went through several Class II rapids, and Tim was having a ball.  The water was certainly "bigger" than two days ago.

After passing through Rocky Rapid, we pulled off at a sand bar to take a break and drain the boat.  That was our half-way point.

There is a self-bailing plug in the SE-370, but I still keep it closed while on the water.  :)

Rocky Rapid is where Linda & I put in two days ago.  We watched as a commercial outfitter launched a few boats.

I didn't take too many photos from the second half of our trip today since I documented that part in the April 21 entry.  :)

We continued on and the wind was really picking up.  It was blowing upriver right in our face.  Never a good thing in an inflatable.  :)

We paddled through the wind past Red Cliffs Lodge and into White's Rapid.  As Linda said the other day - "YIKES!"

If that wasn't a Class III rapid then, it certainly was today.  We hit two big holes back-to-back and a side wave almost turned us over.  We were balanced on our right side for a split second, but the boat bounced us back into position.  It's really hard to turn one of these boats over, but we were close.  :)

Tim's inexperience in whitewater showed a bit and he panicked a couple of times.  He got confused on my instructions, and it was difficult to keep us in position.  But we got through the toughest part and he loved it.  :)

We pulled over at Sandy Beach for another break and to drain the boat again after White's Rapid.

We talked to this couple from Salt Lake City for a few minutes.

She was finishing up a very nice painting.  :)

We paddled more in the second half of our journey as we needed to get through the wind.  After a total time of three hours and forty-five minutes, we docked at Take-Out Beach.

We were pretty wet and the water was coooold, but we had a great time.  I think Tim might be doing a bit more boating while he is here through the summer.  :)

An experienced river man was sitting on his raft at our take-out.  He was pretty impressed with the Sea Eagle and commented on the Jet-boat Seats, the spray skirts, and the bailing plug.  Well allrighty then.  :)

Tim & I cleaned up the boat, rolled it up, and loaded it in his truck.  He then hauled us back to Hittle Bottom to the Jeep.  We put the boat and accessories in their bag.

Tim went on his way and I put on the change of clothes I brought.  I then went into Moab to get a river permit for another trip Linda & I are going to do.  It's a big one, and I'm really excited.  You'll have to stay tuned to learn more.  :)

Back at the campground, I arrived just in time to poll the campers to see who would be extending.  Linda had done a great job during the day, and there wasn't much that we had to do tonight.

A happy campground.  And at least one very happy river-running camphost.  :)

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Lovely, Laid-Back Day In The Campground - (Moab, UT)

It was about 50 degrees with clear skies when we did our 6:45 a.m. round.  No squatters.  :)

We had twelve sites given away at visitors center, and all of them had arrived and chosen their sites by 9:00.  Unusual that they all arrived that quickly, but that makes things easier for us.

Around 11:00 we were just about ready to call in two more sites, when a couple from Idaho arrived.  They handed me a handwritten piece of paper with a reservation number.

Hmmm.  We don't have that name and the reservation is for Site #3 which is not a reservable site.  I had a hunch their reservation was in a different campground.

I called the reservation system and provided the reservation number.  Sure enough, the reservation (made over the phone) was at the Devil's Canyon Campground in the National Forest about an hour south of Moab.  That happens from time to time.  :)

Fortunately, we still had a site and fixed them up.  They were happy.  :)

With a full campground and a beautiful day of sun and 80 degrees, we didn't have a whole lot to do this afternoon.  I worked on a financial entry and researched another possible river trip.

As the sun started to set, I took a few pictures.  Pics most of you have seen lots of times before.  :)

Here is a view of Site 21, a very popular site for good reason.

Another angle.

Here is the view as you start down into the reservable section.

I missed the best part of the sunset while I was checking for generators and talking to campers.  But I took this shot from the Canyon Wren Group Site anyway.

We put a couple of tenters in the vacant group sites, and that was pretty much it for our evening.  A quiet night.

Tomorrow, I'll do the morning round with Linda and then I'm playing the rest of the day.  When Tim heard that we had our own boat and floated the Colorado, he wanted to get in on the fun before we got out of town.  Linda offered to work the campground by herself, so I could take him out on his day off tomorrow.

We're going to get an earlier start and do a little bit longer float.  But I have instructions to be back by busy time around 4:00 p.m.  :)

More boring river and red rock cliff pics tomorrow.  :)

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Colorado River Canoe Trip - (Moab, UT)

It was last June since we had taken one of our boats on a river.  Since we flipped the canoe on the Chama in New Mexico, Linda hasn't exactly been wanting to attempt anything with rapids.

She agreed to ease back in today with short trip on the Colorado.  We decided to do the half-day run most of the outfitters in town do on their commercial raft trips.

We headed out and drove 16 miles north on Hwy 128 along the Colorado.  We arrived at our launch point at Rocky Rapid around 11:00 a.m.

For those that have been following for a while, you know we have three Sea Eagle inflatable boats.

Our first purchase was the Sea Eagle SE-330 canoe/kayak.  The SE-330 is an entry level Sea Eagle.  We love it!  It's a great boat for RVers with its compact storage.  It's also very stable, reliable, and durable.  The only issue with it is that it is really a little too small for two people and you can't carry much cargo.  We manage just fine, but it would be uncomfortable for a taller couple.

Our second was the Sea Eagle Foldcat 375fc.  This inflatable pontoon boat is excellent for fishing and motoring across lakes.  It takes up waaaayyy more storage space, but we still love it.  That was the boat we took on the best two-day adventure we've had since we've been on the road - floating twenty-four miles of the Buffalo National River at the end of October 2006.

And last year Tim & Crystal from InflatableBoats4Less.com sent us the Sea Eagle SE-370 to demo.  It looks just like the SE-330 except it has 14 more inches in length for extra leg room, and it is made of stronger material.

Since we haven't given the SE-370 a good test yet, we decided to take it for todays trip.

Here is Linda pumping it up with the foot pump on the bank.

Inflated and ready to paddle through some beautiful red rock country.

On the water and on our way, we looked back to where we started.

Which is bluer?  Linda's life jacket or the sky?  :)

We floated through some minor Class I and Class II rapids.  Linda had a little anxiety, but we got through them just fine.  :)

Downriver, we approached the Red Cliffs Lodge.

We spun around and took a look behind us.

Whether we are hiking or boating, we always try to remember to turn around and see where we've been.  The views looking back often surprise us.  :)

We turned back around and prepared for White's Rapid in the bend of the river at Red Cliffs Lodge.  White's Rapid is the one Class III rapid we had to contend with, and we were both a little apprehensive.  :)

Linda let out a big "YIKES!" as we hit a hole with the water about three feet over our heads.  Fortunately, the SE-370 climbed right up the wall of water and let us down softly just like it was supposed to do.  Whew!  Got through that one.  :)

Once again ... looking back at the massive red rock wall.

You'd think these red rocks would get boring as we floated past.  :)

After our six or seven mile float through rapids, flatwater, and the red rock canyon, we reached our take-out point - Take Out Beach.

We had a great trip.  We got a little wet, conquered some minor rapids, and enjoyed the wonderful scenery as the temps were up around 80 degrees.  I don't get excited about much, but I love being on the water, and I was pretty pumped up today.  It had been way too long.  :)

As for boat performance, the SE-370 seems to ride a little higher in the water than the SE-330 and cuts a little better.  It is definitely more roomy, but doesn't seem quite as stable as the 330.  Don't get me wrong, it's still plenty stable, but the 330 is more stable - mostly due to physics (shorter boat at same width).

The SE-370 is still the new kid on the block for us, but it's starting to feel like a part of the inflatable family.  :)

As always, if anyone has any questions about inflatable boats, let us know.  And if you are ready to buy one, be sure to contact our friends Tim & Crystal at InflatableBoats4Less.com and tell them "Howard sent me".  They guarantee the lowest prices on Sea Eagle boats and they have put together some really nice packages.  :)

On our way to the put-in, we had dropped off the Jeep at Take Out Beach.  So we rolled up the boat and loaded it.  We drove back to our launch point to get the truck.

On the way back, we stopped at Red Cliffs Lodge to check their dinner menu.  We have a guest coming Saturday and we thought that might be a nice place to go.  Here is a view from the back of the Lodge.

Back in Moab, I went to fill up the truck with diesel while Linda went on to the campground. 

We offered to take over for Tim early in exchange for him taking over for us at the same time on Saturday.  He agreed, so we got into "uniform" and did the switchover at 4:00 p.m.

It was a warm, easy evening.  A nice, relaxing end to a very good day.  :)

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