Monday, September 28 (continued)
“Hey, Reggie Man! We can go now! It’s fixed!”
“Let me explain things to the folks first, okay, li’l buddy?”
Barry at the Wal-Mart Auto Center in Richfield, Utah, tests the battery in the Perfect Tow Vehicle and finds that it needs to be replaced. He shows me the readings on the tester and explains them, which I understand and promptly forget. Something about it should read around 200 and it only reads at 70. Good enough for me.
Barry removes the old battery and hooks up the new one.
“You know, if you wipe down your battery now and then, it will last longer.”
“How does that help?”
“If your battery has a lot of dust and dirt on it, that can absorb the charge.” (I don’t know that he used the word “absorb.” Something like that.)
“I never heard anything like that. Well, we do go through a lot of dusty places.”
Okay, here are the details on the battery.
It’s an Ever Start, Maxx 78N. It cost $106.33. To that is added $12.00 “battery core fee” and $7.51 tax. The total cost is $125.84. If the battery fails within the next three years, Wal-Mart will replace it. For two years after that, it can be turned in for pro-rated credit on another battery.
Are there better batteries and better deals in the world?
Sure. I’m happy with what I purchased, mostly because it was convenient and quick. I’m also happy that the only thing wrong with the PTV is it needed a new battery.
We’re on the road again!
Before leaving Richfield, I buy groceries at Wal-Mart and dog food at Tractor Supply across the street.
Then I do a dumb thing. A very dumb thing. I’m so happy the Perfect Tow Vehicle is perfect again that I drive up the ramp onto Interstate 70 and motor southward without giving any thought to the fact that I might need to buy some gas.
Happily I roll along with the crew, right past the big sign sticking up in the sky above the town of Joseph . . . “Unleaded $2.63.” One would think this would jog my brain, cause me to look at the gas tank gauge maybe?
Nooooo. . . . I wait until there are several miles between us and any gas station, either behind us or in front of us or any where around us.
That’s when my gaze drops to the gas gauge.
“Oh no! We’re almost on empty!”
All the way across the Pahvant Mountains, long grades up and down, I try not to think about being stuck along the interstate waiting for someone to rescue us. My plan to spend the night at Castle Rock Campground is thrown out the window, simply because it takes gas to drive off the interstate to the campground.
At long last a sign before an exit says “Gas — 2.5 miles” with an arrow pointing north!
This is the exit for Cove Fort Historic Site.
I don’t care about history right now. I want gas!
Cove Fort (photo taken after I bought gas)
What a relief to pump gas into the PTV, even if it’s 40 cents more per gallon than way back there in Joseph!
Behind the “travel center” is an RV park.
After that stressful drive, it would be nice to stop for the day. Driving through the RV park I notice large propane tanks hooked up to each RV, but it doesn’t look like one of those RV parks where none of the RVs have moved in years. These RVs are fresh-looking. The grass is trimmed. Everything is neat.
An elderly man in a long-sleeved, white dress shirt and black pants steps out of his RV and hails me. I ask him about the park and he tells me it’s a private RV park. Meaning not for the public.
His wife comes to the door of their RV and clarifies.
“We’re missionaries,” she says.
We leave and I park the PTV in the truck area next to the travel center. After a lunch of rotisserie chicken shared with Bridget and Reggie, plus a brief walk-about, we are revived and ready to push on!
We backtrack past Cove Fort . . . .
Cove Fort, built in 1867 with lava rock rather than wood — That’s why it is still here.
We take Interstate 15 all the way to Beaver!
The crew and I camped near Beaver in 2012 at Upper Kents Lake, way up the mountain. I don’t want to climb a mountain right now. Route 153 enters Fishlake National Forest from Beaver and follows the course of Beaver River through the canyon which happens to be named — guess — Beaver Canyon, of course!
This boondock is right on the river in an easy pull-through.
I park the PTV and BLT in the site and the crew and I give it an inspection.
That’s when I notice cows resting in the shade nearby. I scoop up Reggie and toss him into the PTV before he notices them. We resume our search and find another campsite not much further up the road.
“I like this!”
“There’s Beaver River. Beautiful! This will work for us just fine.”
I put down the mat, the doggie beds, the toys . . . .
This is the view from our front door. The river flows in front of those rocks.
This is the view on the other side of our camp.
The site is closer to the road than we usually camp. There isn’t enough traffic to bother us.
After I relax a bit, I put up the Wilson antenna for internet.
See it?
Signal is weak and drops frequently. That’s the way it often is when one camps in a canyon! At least with the antenna I can read the comments on my blog.
We’re only a few miles from town. I can drive there for signal in order to blog.
The crew and I enjoy this camp from Monday, September 28 to Sunday, October 4.
More about our time camping near Beaver, Utah, in the next post!
rvsue
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“Bridget. Are you hovering?”
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