Monday, June 30
After a very warm Sunday without the usual breeze, the crew and I break camp this morning and say goodbye to Pelican Lake, southwest of Vernal, Utah.
Our practice run up the ten switchbacks of Highway 191 going north toward Flaming Gorge was a success! It gave me the confidence to tow the Best Little Trailer up that steep and windy road.
I check the oil (good) and gas up in Vernal. A stop at Wal-Mart for groceries and we’re on our way! At Steinaker State Park, I dump tanks and take on fresh water ($7 reg/$4 senior discount).
The day is sunny and bright.
The landscape as we ascend the mountain is stunning, much more than the photos I took on a rainy day (posted previously). The Perfect Tow Vehicle gives a steady pull in 2nd gear. The last and steepest section, between the 9th and 10th switchback, I shift to first gear. Since the engine temperature only increases slightly, I don’t make any rest stops on the way up, preferring to maintain our momentum.
It’s gorgeous on top of the mountain!
I turn onto Red Cloud Loop Road (we drove the west end of this road through Dry Canyon recently) and travel through aspens, spruce and firs on a wide, paved road, eight miles to East Park Campground in Ashley National Forest.
I turn onto the road that goes to the campground. We go over a creek and through a meadow.
The reservoir and boat ramp come into view. Lovely!
As we enter the campground a deer leaps up the bank and into the road. It stops, glances quickly our way, and disappears in the trees. Gee, that’s a nice welcome! I discover to my delight that no one is here!
I pick the site I like best and let out the crew. The piney, cool air is invigorating!
Bridget, Spike, and I walk down to the pay station and deposit the fee envelope ($8 regular/$4 senior pass). I pay for two nights. We can use this as our base camp to explore. Maybe I’ll move us to a boondock.
“Okay! Let’s go down to the lake!”
Tuesday, July 1
I’m typing this post in the parking lot of Flaming Gorge Resort/Store, connected to its WiFi.
We would be happy to camp in Ashley National Forest in the Flaming Gorge area for the rest of the summer — It’s so beautiful and boondocks are plentiful!
However, no internet.
I have many photos I’d love to share with you, but this connection keeps dropping. I won’t be able to post as often as I usually do. If you don’t hear from us, it means we’re having a great time at our camp and at Flaming Gorge!
rvsue
THANK YOU, RVSUE SHOPPERS!
I hope you’ll continue to shop Amazon even though the crew and I can’t be here right now! Thank you for your orders. Here is a sample of recent purchases:
Tovolo King Cube Ice Tray
Diono Convertible Car Seat
Camco Water Heater Tank Rinser
Lifetime 4-Foot Adjustable Height Folding Table
Withings Pulse O2 Activity, Sleep, and Heart Rate Monitor
Wilson Electronics Sleek 4G Cell Phone Signal Booster Cradle for 2G 3G and 4G on Verizon AT&T Sprint and T-Mobile Networks with Home/Office Accessory Kit
Great site you have there. My. Mom spent 6 months in Rock Springs Wyoming while her friend worked there. They toured around on weekends. She was so amazed with Flaming Gorge.. hope you get a good pic to share. Canada Day. Here, very hot, so glad I have the lake to cool off in.
Hi, Sue. Good to see you and the babies are doing fine and have such a beautiful campsite. Take care.
Cat Lady
Over the creek and through the meadow, to RVSue’s camp we go…..
EVERYBODY SING!!!
I wonder if I could sneak in behind a few of those trees and build myself a little discrete cabin…..
That’s where my mind went too LadyBug. Now of course I can’t get it out of my head!!! Hope you’re having a nice mild summer in Tennessee.
I’m evil that way!! bwahahahaha
We were having nice and mild (mild for us, anyway) until a few days ago, when it shot into the mid-90s with high humidity. But we’ve got a cold front coming through today and tomorrow they’re saying we’ll be lucky to hit the low 80s!! Then back to the mid-90s by Sunday.
This is a beautiful spot!! I am now up to May 2012 reading your past blog & realize if I didn’t read the comments, my progress would be better..however, there is a lot of good information in those comments.
We bought our full time trailer..anyway, we are going to get it soon, from a neighbor…2002 model, & not much $$, but in excellent condition!!
Ok, back to your blog! Thanks for all the pictures!
Lov the purple flowers. Beautiful area. Have a great time there.
Sue, that spot is wonderful, hope my husband and I get on the road soon, we hope to see a lot of that area too.
That’s a beautiful base camp to have all to yourselves and makes it easy to understand the lure of spending the summer in that Forest.Taking the drive up in one shot had to feel great to have accomplished.Really glad you three have so much you all enjoy around you.Great to hear from you!
Hi RVSue
Love the pictures! Would like to be sitting next to that lake right now. I can almost feel that cool air! Here in Florida it is in the 90’s and feels like it is in the 100’s. Due to some things that need doing, I will be in Florida for sure for another year. But that is not bad as there is still many places still to explore even tho I have lived here most of my life. Still, my dream is to travel in the West as you do now. So thanks again for letting me tag along thru your blog.
Patricia. Chuck and I are volunteering @ Hillsborough RiverState Park as campground hosts Come explore this way. We are between Zepherhills and Tampa off 301.
Lovely place to kick back and breathe in all the fresh air and absorb the peace and quiet! Beautiful lupines! Spike gets to soak and Bridget gets to watch him! Great spot Sue! You have done it again.
Love the blue lupine, we have it grown wild here, but it is long since dried up locally. It is nice to see your wonderful site, have a great visit, and again thanks for sharing your adventures!
Hi Sue….
I made the top 10 – whoo-hoo!! 🙂
This is beautiful! Have fun!!
Hi Sue,
That is a beautiful lake….looks so peaceful! I love the fact that you all have it to yourselves! The pictures of the nutcakes are precious! The purple lupine (?) flowers are just gorgeous!
Enjoy your day! 🙂
I forgot to ask….was the PTV happier towing now that is has a new air filter? Hope you noticed a positive effect! 🙂
No caption necessary for the pictures of Spike while in his soaking bliss. Again, Utah is such a beautiful place. Enjoy your stay.
Aargh, net dependence. I’m loving everything about my current boondocking site except the not-that-great-to-begin-with cell signal that disappears at sunset. Do I suffer through withdrawal or move? Suffer or move? Suffer or move?
You sound like a regular trucker….shift…downshift…work it Desert Woman! All you need is an air horn! I only know one gear “D” for drive. Have no clue…when you use 1st or 2nd!
Absolutely gorgeous! Love the rock stairs at the campsite. The crew look happy! Yay Spike gets to soak! It’s going to be hard to leave that site!
Hot and muggy here in the ADK’s. Tornado alert! Oh wonderful! I much rather deal with earthquakes! A storm is brewing for the OBX. Hey Alan….batten down the hatches…..crappy weather is once again headed your way!
Hmmm…wonder how Desert Ginger is doing on her way to recovery?
Saw a new gadget…called Antigravity Batteries Micro-Start XP-1. Portable power supply that can jump start vehicles (our boat) power and charge laptops, cellphones, camera and DVDs. It’s very compact…just a bit larger than an iPhone and takes up no room for storage. Charge holds for 6 months. Perfect for anyone and they sell them on Amazon.
Gotta go…the sky’s a rumbling!
LOL cinandjules: here in Texas I feel more “comfy” with tornadoes (if you can call if ‘comfy’ – – ) earthquakes would be a terrifying phenomenon for me!
Sue, you and the crew find the most marvelous camps. Indeed you are living what you were meant to do! While I selfishly want to read many posts, at the same time I want you to NOT WORRY about the blog!! This is your life! Live it to the fullest! Internet or not! You’re amazing, the Crew is amazing, and I wish all of the richest blessings for you (which I believe you have definitely received).
Jool in North Texas
Twisters cause far more death and destruction each year than earthquakes do in a decade, and they happen in a much larger percentage of the country. I lived in California for 20 years and experienced a few shakers. It quickly becomes no big deal.
Very interesting battery. 44 watt-hours according to their ad. A car on a warm day will take at least 100 amps at 13 volts. That equals 1300 watts. So with 100% efficiency it would crank a car for about 2 minutes; much less on a zero degree day. Lot of positive reviews … what can I say??
Maybe it will start a Smart Car. NO way I would trust it. My diesel would chew it up and s__t it out. 🙂
Can you say it in a way we can understand? Watts volts amps= a foreign language.
I watched it jump the boat’s battery with no problem. Much less in zero degrees? Isn’t a battery a battery?
Scratches head…….and butt while I’m at it! 🙂
Okay, to start an engine that is in good running order it would work fine. If the car had run out of gas and needed to be cranked for a couple minutes to pump gas then not so Okay; OK? Or NY winters!
Okay…..I got it!
Or NY winters? Funny funny. My dear old Jules didn’t start up my car since last September when I was in SUNNY California. Not only was the battery dead it was frozen. Nothing saving that one!
We have one of those huge battery jumper/tire inflater gizmo that has to be stored in the root cellar during the winter.
This little handy device is quite small!
Plus I’m a gadget hoarder! Thanks for explaining it Mick!
OBX is my brothers problem. Sill it is just a tropical storm. There is always a 15-20 mph wind in the OBX, so 40-50 is no big deal. The house is on the market, got a few nibbles. One guy wants it, made an offer and is now trying to find a different mortgage co.
Beautiful camp site, Sue, I knew Spikey would love the lake for his soak. Great photos too. Timber n’ me
Oh my goodness…Spike is gonna soak for days!! (Well, at least 2) Have a great time. It looks wonderful!
When you put the senior pass rate $$ into the envelope and drop it in box, how does the collector of the money know that you actually HAVE a senior pass?
The collector would have absolutely no way of knowing if you only put the money in an envelope and did not fill out ALL the information asked for on the envelope. However, two of the bits of information required are your Senior Pass Card number and you name. You may get away with putting just any number in the required box, or use any name, but IF the collector were to try and match the number to your name there could be a problem. The fine does appear to be too severe if I am reading CRF 71.12 correctly however the issuance of an arrest warrant could prove troublesome.
Doesn’t Sue usually write a check,(simply noting her card# on it)at that type of camp site?Thought I’d read that in a reply once.
Here’s a thought:
Is there a check and balance on the collector?
Paying by cash is simple but a check might be safer for the institution…who checks the collector? Who is to say what campsite is occupied and not. Too easy to pocket the cash.
On the other hand I’m not so sure if I personally would want my bank acct info floating around. How often do they collect said fees?
With that….do you protect the collector or yourself?
That’s always my thought too, Cinandjules (NY). For this reason I always pay with personal checks or credit card.
Besides name, senior card number one also needs to include a license plate number. The money collected from campers help those great campsites open and maintained hence I never feel bad about paying when tent camping. I actually witnessed one time when a forest ranger asked one couple to add all needed information.
I hang my Senior Access Pass on the mirror of my PTV, as instructed. Some hosts require it; some want to see it when you drive into the site.
Don’t make extra work for the FS worker or embarrassment for yourself. If you are old enough, just trot down to the FS field office and buy the pass.
That was all very interesting and helpful, thanks everybody.
When we were in Flaming Gorge a few years ago we had full Verizon signal up on the rim at Canyon Rim campground (review on my blog). Lots of dispersed camping around there too. I think once you get up on the rim and away from the water you’ll find some signal. Love that area!
Nina
Wonderful pics, again. I can almost smell the piney fragrance! Sue, you do such a great job of capturing the essence of your locations.
I agree totally, Applegirl! I’ve always hated reading anything at all. I just couldn’t stay interested. Once I started following Sue, I couldn’t stop. She captivates with her descriptions. Sorry, just had to add that. Love ya Sue! Hehe!
Hi Sue!
You have a gorgeous site! I love how you “live” life! Enjoy! Be safe where ever you go!
YowZah! Lady! You made the switchbacks! What a reward at the top! It seems if you read Nina’s post and go up that ridge once in awhile, you could hang there for as long as your heart tells you!
Lovely place. Indeed!
That site reminds me of one we had at Rabbit Blanket campground in Lake Superior Provincial Park, in Ontario. Sort of dual-level, and then down to the lake. On to the soak!
Oh Sue I have been catching up on the last three posts, I’ve been camping. Love the explorations!!!!! The absolutlely beautiful State Park with the strange rock formations and amazing colors. Now the Flaming George…WOW, gosh I love exploring with you. I know you don’t have wifi now so no need to respond. I am enjoying the ride so much.
You and crew please take the time to enjoy the area you are in…happy adventures….Thanks so much and take care.
Great soaking area.
Dear little Spike…water, mud and a view to enjoy while soaking. How perfect!
Nice campsite you have Sue. Don’t you just love the fresh scent of pine?
Good Morning Sue,
If you have enough internet connection,go to Bluffin’ It(April 20,2014 post) and look at the bottom photo.The path to take there- with no indication of what it leads to…-by letting imagination soar,makes it’s call to be taken compelling…
Pausing here at the top of the bend,to let the debris of the year’s storm settle,I’m celebrating everything I found as the turbulence blew me through new pages of the story.This page,The Land of RVSue and crew is the happiest place to visit!Dreams shared,hurt ones nursed,excitement sparking,wow! -Hope you’re especially enjoying things today,too.
With Spike’s approval recorded we know that it is a perfect location. And a little nature-imposed “down-time” can’t be all bad :-). We, of course, carry on like good blogorinos and keep each other entertained.
I too wonder how DesertGinger is doing with her rehab and hope she checks in real soon.
Love that you post some of the Amazon purchases here – so many great ideas to add to my own wish list!
Enjoy the pines and the cool breezes, hope it stays quiet over the holiday weekend.
Unbelievable! You are showing us some great destinations when we head out. So glad I got the Utah Benchmark to follow you. Even though we are basking in the beauty here currently, we are keeping an eager eye on your camping nuggets.
Hi DeGin, We are missing you here and wishing you the Best.
Yeah,Ginger,I look for those letters- Desert Ginger- every time a new comment pops up!Know you are often being thought of with affection…
That area DOES look very inviting indeed!!! I wonder if it will be hot in August however?? Of course, coming from HOT HUMID south…we know that if an area is hot in the daytime…so long as it gets nice and cool at night…it is bearable. That is what I hated about NC…for weeks and weeks and weeks it was nearly as hot all night as it was in the day time…and that was simply awful!! Not to speak of all the bugs!!
Oh do enjoy such a beautiful place. So pretty and I am loving the sunshine and sparkling waters!! A little different to our outlook at the moment in South Australia with dreary drizzly grey skies!! Shame about the lack of internet, but sometimes maybe you need a rest, hey!!
Just like hiking. The hard part is always getting UP the mountain.
But somehow it’s always worth it when you get there.
Hi Sue, Still here and following. I’m working in Wyoming this summer.
I have a question for Mick about Inverters. I notice on the solar heading you picked the Modified sine wave inverter as opposed to the pure. Sue uses a laptop so do you think that it will mess up the laptop? Pure sine seems to be close to AC and I’m a little perplexed from reading reviews that you would pick the modified?
Pure sinewave converters will have less harmonic content than modified sinewave converters and probably less electrical noise on the power line, but all modern electronic devices operate on low voltage DC current and the incoming AC is just used to charge the DC battery. The conversion circuits have filters that eliminate most of the noise caused by changing the AC into DC and the battery itself acts as a filter. The only place a pure sinewave supply would be better is in low level analog circuits normally associated with precision measurements. You will never know the difference on your laptop as it is a digital device. Sorry about the “techy verbiage” but you asked a techy question and I can’t come up with a simple analogy. Well let me try: would water falling over Niagara Falls cause your house lights to flicker? Probably not as there is too much in between. LOL
There are a couple of important specifications you should ask about; one is the conversion efficiency and the other is the idle power draw (power input when the power output is zero). This is like your “wall warts” (battery charger thingeys) being warm when you are not using whatever is plugged into them.
A good inverter would be above 90% efficient and have less than 1% draw when idle; 500 watt inverter should draw less than 5 watts when not being used.
Cinandjules will have a baby when she wades through this reply … well you can name the baby “Mix”
LOL. I started reading your reply….two words into it “sinewave” I said to myself…oh hell…he’s talking in another language again!
When I got to “less harmonic content”…I started laughing!
So I read it numerous times….and apparently my reading comprehension skills are zero when it comes to this techy verbiage.
We are more likely to have a cow than a baby! Meet Mix our calf!
Hah! 🙂
Thanks Mick! I really didn’t want to spend the extra money on pure sine. So many people were going on and on that a modified would blow up their computer etc… I’m going with the modified and very funny analogy… LoL! I finally bough 80 watt solar to see if I like it and an inverter was next. Love having a Tech Wizard on Sue’s blog and thanks for taking the time to help the blogerinos out. 🙂
Laurie
Love the picture of Spike soaking, what a sweet dog, what a beautiful life you provide for the nut cakes. It’s 108 degrees here in the West Valley, yesterday 101, your cool lakeside site looks pretty inviting a nice breeze would feel great. But in spite of the heat I love Arizona and the desert landscape.
I hope you are enjoying the solitude and beauty of your campsite. Love to you and crew.
We’ve done those switchbacks twice — once going up with just a pickup & a cargo trailer; the second time a few years back going DOWN into Vernal with the semi, 38′ 5th wheel & Jeep. The second time was quite exciting! Thank goodness for engine brakes. And it’s ever so thoughtful that Utah counts down the switchbacks for you so you know how many you still have left. Beautiful area there. We stopped at the sorta-rest area up top before heading down & checked out some boondocking areas. There’s actually a large area for folks to find themselves an open spot or meadow…don’t remember the road name.
Have a safe and Happy 4th!
Amazon rocks! Mahalo!
HELLO, DEAR BLOGORINOS!
Thank you for all your wonderful comments. I read and enjoyed every one of them! I’m not able to reply individually, so I appreciate you answering each other’s questions.
Again the crew and I are in the parking lot of the Flaming Gorge Resort in order to use the WiFi. It’s too far from our camp to come here every day. As much as I love hearing from you and I do miss you, especially when drinking my coffee in the morning, it is good to be away from the computer. I’m going to try to write a post now . . . .
🙂
🙂
East park is my favorite me&my family been going for years. My uncle Boyd &family discover it early 1960s .I remember my child hood memories there that special place early 1970s been going there ever since.lots of wonderful memories families friends miss those who have pass on.hopefully the young will carry on visit east park a very special place. Oh the fishing is really good to dry flies spinners lots of rainbows & brook trout. Try the grey hackel or grizzly fly or blue wing olive or black nat.or panther marten spinners if you take boat.just be careful of those thunderstorms hopefully pass on by then I’ll cast out bubble & fly watching my children catch fish oh how I wish I was here east park gods land.have fun enjoy when you visit
Hi, Alan,
I’m very pleased my post about East Park brought back happy memories. Thanks for writing.