Tuesday, June 17 (continued)
Before we leave Nephi, Utah, here are a few photos taken around the town. Isn’t this a darling little trailer? (Note the pastel blue wheel and the nifty tow vehicle.)
Here’s someone more interested in style than storage space. A convertible for a tow vehicle . . . what fun!
Why the goat? I don’t know. Because it was there?
The crew and I leave Nephi in search of another camp further north.
Rather than joining the ongoing race toward Salt Lake City on Interstate-15, we mosey along on Route 41 to Mona and continue on Route 91 to Santaquin and Payson.
At Payson we become entangled in suburbia.
I want to pick up the other end of the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway which crosses the mountains of Uinta National Forest from east of Nephi to Payson. My Benchmark atlas shows a campground called Maple Bench.
As is my habit, I research the campground online. According to publiclands.org, Maple Bench Campground can accomodate RVs up to 35 feet. The PTV and BLT, both being 17 feet in length, total 34 feet. Okay, we’re good.
I weave around Payson, enduring a few close calls with pressured drivers on their lunch breaks cutting me off.
I find the Nebo Loop Road and begin the climb up to Maple Bench (5,800 ft).
Although it’s only a thousand-foot increase in elevation, the road is winding and steep in places. It’s beautifully paved. Cars zip up and down the mountain. I let a few pass. We go by a “No camping outside of campgrounds” sign.
Finally we arrive at the right-hand turn onto the road that goes up to the campground entrance. I turn onto this road and, lo and behold, I approach a sign that says, “Not recommended for trailers.”
Huh?
Ya’ coulda’ put the sign BEFORE the turn. I back the BLT down the road to park out of the way. I leave the crew and walk the half-mile up to the campground and determine that the PTV/BLT can handle the road with no problems.
However, by the time I reach the campground ON FOOT, it doesn’t look like much. Maybe it’s my mood. I am very annoyed. As I’m hoofing it back to the crew waiting in the PTV, I hear four gun shots.
That does it! I don’t want to camp here.
Well, there’s no boondocking in suburbia. In order to find a camp north of here, I’d have to get on the interstate and go up to Heber City and beyond. I don’t have enough fight in me right now to drive in heavy traffic. We’ll backtrack to Santaquin and camp at Tinney Flat.
It’s going to be cold up there.
It’s a dark and cold day at lower elevation. Rain is in the forecast for later today. Oh well, we’ll only stay one night. How bad could it be?
And now, boys and girls, you will see the importance of elevation in regards to air temperature and precipitation.
Here we are, camped at Tinney Flat.
Don’t laugh.
I’m getting ahead of the story . . .
As soon as we arrive, I leave the crew in the BLT and walk a check for $10 over to the camp host’s trailer. (Regular camp fee is $20, half-price with senior card). I mention Maple Bench and he tells me I’m better off here.
“It can get pretty chaotic over there,” he says.
It’s very cold!
By the time I walk back to our campsite, the campground is blanketed in mist. For heaven’s sake, we’re in a cloud!
I hurry into the warmth of the Best Little Trailer.
Sleet begins to fall. A few minutes later, it turns to snow!
I can’t help but laugh at the situation.
In January the crew and I basked in sunshine in Yuma, Arizona. There were several days the temperature reached well into the eighties.
Now it’s June and we’re in a winter wonderland of snow.
Gee, the Fourth of July is only seventeen days away!
The fourth of July.
You know, Independence Day . . . that holiday of blankets spread on the grass, picnics, hot dogs and watermelon, maybe a game of softball, fireworks on a warm night . . .
Okay, everybody . . . sing!
“Let’s take that road before us and sing a chorus or two,
Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.”
Well, at least there’s no need for insect repellant . . .
rvsue
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