MA to AZ and beyond

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We got up early. Not quite for sunrise, but Mandy had us moving shortly thereafter. I wasn't so enthusiastic as she was. After breakfast, we took a short drive to White Dome trailhead and went for a little hike. I think it was about 1 mile in a loop. It was our first slot canyon! It's pretty amazing down in one. This is one of not very many that we're able to go into with Loki. And we got there so early we had the whole place to ourselves! That part made it extra special. We wanted to get a couple hikes in before the day got too hot to move, hence the early start.



From there, we drove over to Fire Wave to check that out. I think this hike is about 1.5 miles out and back, or there's an optional additional trail that makes it a few miles loop. The rock formations here are really something. The colors and textures, too. It's all so diverse! We tried to find the optional trail and we were wrong twice, so we gave up the search. It felt like a bad omen. Plus, it was starting to get hot, and dog was getting a little droopy. We took the sign and headed back to the van.



From there, we headed to UTAH! St. George, to be precise. We tried out a few different locations before we finally found a spot we liked, just off route 18. Some BLM land. It was incredibly quiet. Someone drove by on a dirt bike once each direction, and that was all of the traffic we saw all night. We spent the afternoon cleaning and by we I mean Mandy did it all. Loki and I hung out outside to be out of the way. I worked on video editing, so it's not like I was doing nothing. I know that's what you assumed.





We stayed at the van for the night, cooking dinner, eating it, and generally relaxing, basking in a new state.

 

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Thursday, we got up lazily. I did some last-minute cleaning before 9am - mainly just the stainless bits. The stainless steel wipes I got don't seem to make the stainless any MORE clean than soap on a sponge, but it does seem to STAY clean for much longer. So, I'm sticking with it for now.

We met with a videographer to shoot a tiny home tour video. They post them on their YouTube channel called Tiny Home Tours. It was free and fun. Perhaps it will get our design concept out to more people, that would be neat. If not, it's no loss for us, other than an hour or so of our time. We weren't doing anything anyways.

We walked further into the BLM land afterwards. There was allegedly a camouflage camper at the next site. I wouldn't know, I couldn't see it. We walked and talked plans for the future. We found a tennis ball. What is it about a tennis ball that's so entertaining? It's like the perfect size and weight and bouncy-ness to kick or toss around. We kept it.

It started getting warm, so we turned back and got Loki inside. Everything else packed up, we went into St. George proper. And it turns out that we simply can't escape bikers. APPARENTLY, the Ironman triathlon world championship is here this weekend. And it's already packed with people. We wandered around what appears to be the finish line and eventually made for a brewery to have a cool spot to relax for a bit. Station II has an awesome patio with mister fans and a roof for shade. It was taken over by Subaru for a triathlon-related event until 4. So, we couldn't get in. I carried nothing but a van key, so I got zero pictures as we toured the town.

We walked over to Morty's because I was really feeling like a burger. It was okay but it honestly didn't hit the spot. But whatever. It saved us having to make food, which neither of us were in the mood to do. And it killed some time. We hung out in the grass under a tree by the van for a bit until 4. Yes, a real tree! They have them in Utah, it's crazy! I haven't seen so many in months. They have actual leaves! And the air holds so much more water than Arizona, you can easily smell the difference.

We went back up to Station II and had a beer because we'd already teased ourselves with it so why not. They were decent but didn't really blow us away. But the patio was great, and we enjoyed our time there. And Loki was cooperative, he just laid on the floor. That's always awesome. But after the beers, we ran some errands. We found a spot to dump grey water, and we picked up some Mother's Day cards, then we headed to the Barrel for the night.



We opened all the doors and windows around sunset to let the heat out. It seemed to cool off faster inside with the fan blowing in rather than out. We pulled down the bed earlyish so we could all start to unwind and cool off by being still for a while. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful.

 

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We took an early morning walk along a riverside trail to the post office to get dog moving before it was too hot outside for his little feetsies. As well as to send out some Mother's Day cards. The trail has signs at intervals noting distance to the post office, but there isn't actually a direct way to get there. It seemed kind of silly to us. We ended up climbing a bit of a hill that was not a trail, and then walking all the way around an adjacent building to get inside. We realized afterwards that the "right" way seems to be to walk a quarter mile past the post office to get out to street level, then circle back.



We spent some time chilling at the park we'd parked at when we got back to the van. There is a large pergola with several tables in the shade. It was a good spot. Mandy made us breakfast, and then we made moves to head out. Our main objective in St. George had been to get our van tour recorded. With that accomplished, we drove out of town and back towards Lake Mead. Our thought was, we have to be in Vegas Saturday night to pick up our friend, but it's going to be hot everywhere, so we should be near a lake to be able to cool off.



We drove back through the National Recreation Area and stopped at Callville to see what was good there. We walked down to the water and found that there was really no way to get into it other than falling off the dock. Loki would never, and with all the boats around I wasn't interested either. We left, and on our way out, we passed through the campground there. We saw that there was very little in the way of shade, so made that plan Z. If we HAD to, we could go back.

We continued on to Boulder Beach. This was a far better option. First, we were able to drive right out onto the beach. We didn't drive to the water's edge, for concern of getting stuck, so we walked the last little bit to the water. Loki made a friend, Otto, an adorable 6-month-old French bulldog who was SO PUMPED to play. I blew out a flip flop when I tried to extract it from the mud which is disappointing, I've had them for so long. The mud is literally like quicksand though; you can suddenly be up to your knees just by taking one step. Treacherous. We didn't stay long because wouldn't you know, it the winds picked up and we started getting sand blasted. Classic!



We drove back to pavement, and into the campground that's right there. Plenty of shade trees and available sites. We picked out one we liked annnd...couldn't pay for it. Cash only. So, I left Mandy and Loki and drove down to the marina which is itself a bit of a ride. Somehow, I could just feel it was going to be a time-consuming adventure. I walked out to the marina, located the ATM and it was malfunctioning. Communication error. I asked the bartender what to do. So, I drove to the next marina down the shore, further away. At least that ATM worked. Got cash, went back, paid. All in, it was probably an hour to go get twenty bucks.



I immediately got to building a fire so we could cook outside. I'd seen as high as 103F exterior temperature on the dash over the course of the day, so we wanted to keep it as cool as possible inside. We grilled a pork loin and mixed veggies over the fire. We had some wine to go with it. We left everything wide open in the van pretty much all night. Definitely well after we fell asleep. Which came in fits and starts. Neither of us slept much because of how hot it was. Loki was very alert at some point in the night, so we shut the doors in case he decided he saw something he wanted.

So, we're looking at air conditioning options, but aren't deciding anything yet. Maybe we'll adapt. Or maybe when we are truly free to roam and not required to be here to pick up a friend, we can just drive away from the heat. It seems like 120VAC units are a lot cheaper but would be more difficult to install because of the way our van is. 12VDC units start at like $2500 from what I've seen and approach double that. I'm not convinced it's worth it. Yet.

 

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Saturday, we woke up and took Loki to a sitter we found on Rover.com straight away. The sitter's house was right near the Hoover Dam, which was perfect (and a large part of why we chose to leave him there) because we were going to tour the dam. It was just a short ride, but the temperature outside was already soaring. We were comforted to know Loki would be inside a space with air conditioning. Mandy drove, and I rode in the passenger's seat which was SO WEIRD. It's been forever. So, we got there and checked in for a tour that would start about an hour and a half later. This was actually the perfect amount of wait time. We watched an introductory film of the dam's history, went up to the observation deck, and had a comfortable amount of time to stroll around the museum without feeling rushed or like we were bored waiting. The tour took us to the powerplant first, which was the most interesting to me because I've worked in aircraft engines, so a lot of the mechanical concepts are very similar. The scale was just insane though. A turbine rotor for example, which I'm accustomed to weighing in around a dozen pounds for a helicopter engine, to maybe a hundred for some of the larger stuff, weighs HUNDREDS OF TONS in the generators there. And there are 17 of those monsters. There was a rotor removed from one of them for maintenance, so we got a rare inside look which was pretty cool. It's hard to even discern what you're looking at, for the sheer size of the things. You lose the forest through the trees kinda thing. The other thing that really stood out to me was how much of the equipment there is original from the 1940s. They used a trolley system across the canyon to dump loads of cement into the forms and that is still in place and functional. Crazy. After the powerplant tour, we went inside an inspection and ventilation tunnel, literally inside the wall of the dam. These were kind of neat, although there wasn't a ton to see. They use a pretty rudimentary system of studs embedded into the cement blocks on either side of a seam to measure relative movement over time. It's simple, but it works, and can't really fail. Clever. We also got to peek out of a ventilation louver which was a really unique view of the canyon. And we learned there's a staircase from the bottom to the top. Luckily for us, they had enough generators online to run the elevator, so we didn't have to climb it. That's pretty much the whole tour, although they throw a ton of information at you really quickly the entire time. It was hard to keep up, and there wasn't much opportunity for questions. Still, it was a great tour and I'm glad we checked it out.









We grabbed lunch at The Dillinger before picking up Loki, since we almost never get to eat inside a restaurant alone. It was nice to be able to relax and not worry about if he's going to get antsy because he's bored before we're done or whatever. The burger was pretty good here, actually. The place was crazy busy, so we didn't dilly-dally long after eating. Plus, we missed dog. So, we picked him up shortly thereafter. Then, we headed to Bar Laundromat in Vegas. Or just outside Vegas? Not sure. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. But unfortunately, not in the way we hoped, if that makes sense? It wasn't like a cool new laundromat, that happened to serve alcohol. It was more like your typical keno bar that allows smoking inside and happened to have a few laundry machines available for use. So, whatever, we powered through it. There's definitely a niche there to be filled, though. If any of you are looking for a new business venture.

Then, we found a park close-ish to the airport, to finish out the day. We had some time to kill before picking up Chris at the airport. I think that was around 9:00pm. So, we watched the sunset, sitting in the grass, and then a dense haze set in as the air began to cool. Mountains that were once clearly visible slowly eroded from our view. We got a little bit lost on the way to the airport due to road construction, and then a road that simply no longer existed, but we made it and picked up our friend. From there, we decided to go back to the campground on Lake Mead we'd previously stayed at. Boulder Beach Campground. It's pretty nice there, and lots of sites to choose from. I think it used to be pretty much lakefront, but the water line has receded so much that now it's best to drive to the water. It's kind of sad to see. Anyway, we pretty much setup for sleeping straight away as we were all pretty tired, and it was getting late. Chris pitched his tent just outside our van. But it was new equipment, and only the second time he'd set it up, the first being inside his house. So, it wasn't totally fluid, but by the end of the week he'd learned quite a lot about tent setup. You'll see.

 

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Sunday, we wanted Chris to see the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, because we really loved it, and it was only slightly longer, but basically on the way we were headed. So, we drove through again so he could see it all. It's really interesting how each corner you turn, the landscape changes so dramatically. After that, and a quick grocery stop, we basically bee-lined it to Zion National Park. We didn't do a ton of research beforehand, so maybe we're just ignorant or whatever, I dunno, but it wasn't until we were there that we learned the general layout of the southern part of the park is two roads essentially in a Y. We would not be visiting the northern part, unfortunately. On the western leg, civilians cannot drive, and it's a dead end. Shuttles run back and forth all day long, making stops all along the route where there are hikes and things to see.



It was incredibly windy, and we arrived sometime in the afternoon, so we just got a feel for the lay of the park and explored things that were dog friendly. Which, sadly, isn't much in national parks. In general, they're allowed to stick to pavement, or go where vehicles are allowed, and that's about it. Hiking trails are almost a complete no-go. Occasionally, they're allowed on some here and there, but those are few and far between. We knew this much ahead of time, so it was not a big disappointment. We walked along the riverside trail where he's allowed to go and endured the winds while we did so. When we got back to the van, we'd completed about 4 miles, so it was a decent walk, but not strenuous at all. The canyon was incredible to behold. Like I said, not at all a disappointment.





We left the park, and found a place to stay the night, just outside the south park entrance. Unfortunately for Chris - well all of us, really, but him especially - the weather was not conducive to a relaxing night hanging out outside the van. The winds were classified as "moderate" but to us it felt extreme. It was 32 or 33mph, pretty much constant. I lent a hand in pitching the tent because it was just a sheer impossibility to do singlehandedly in those conditions. One wrong move before it was staked, and we'd have lost the tent forever. I can't run 32mph to catch it. But we got it done. Meanwhile, Mandy made tacos, rice, and beans for us for dinner. She had to restart the rice because we opened the door briefly and her pot of water filled with sand immediately. Yeah, it was like that. We did our best to minimize it, but we all just accepted that sand would be everywhere. After we ate, we chilled for a little bit, but went to bed fairly shortly thereafter. It was warm inside, and we couldn't really open the windows for relief, so we figured the best option was to just minimize our activity to try to cool off.

 

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Monday morning, Chris told us he rolled over and felt the sand fall off his face. We peeked inside before he took the tent down, and saw the floor was covered in a layer of fine red sand. Even with the fly on, the sand blew up underneath it and into the tent. Not ideal. But he was a trooper and didn't really care. As for inside the van, it was similar, but to a lesser extent. So much foot traffic in and out made it impossible to keep the sand out. But whatever, that's van life.



We took a short walk up the dirt road we'd camped on until the sun came up, and then we got to Zion as quickly as we reasonably could. We weren't rushing, by any means, but we wanted to arrive early as we'd noticed the parking lot could be a nightmare the day before. People circling, round and round, until a spot opened up. Some people took to just parking in the middle of the rows, although they remained in their cars, so not technically parked, I guess? I dunno. It was kind of a mess. But we had no difficulty when we arrived, but I'm not sure what time it was. Maybe 8 or 9ish? Mandy hopped on a shuttle from the visitor's center and took it for a ride all the way up the canyon. She got off at a couple stops along the way to do some short hikes and saw some waterfalls and small pools. A couple hours later, she got back, and we swapped dog duty.



What I didn't tell you was the day prior, Chris and I both entered the lottery to hike Angel's Landing. I won, he didn't. But he was my +1 and I his, so we both got to go anyways. We had to enter between noon and 3pm. We set out on the shuttle to the trailhead, and I realized I forgot my ID. So, we went back to the visitor's center, got it, then got back on the shuttle, back to the trailhead. I felt like an idiot. Oh well. We set out at 1:30pm on the trail. By 2:20, we'd reached the "saddle". There's a point where the hike levels off, and you can go one of two directions. There are basically two summits - Scout Lookout (I think?), and Angel's Landing. You can hike the one without the special permit. Or you can just stop at the split between the trails. Or, if you're lucky like we are, you can hike out on the knife edge to the overlook of the canyon.



We showed our winning lottery ticket and my ID and were allowed to climb out. I think the main reason for the permitting is to limit the number of people out there, because too many people there would literally be life-threatening. There are handrails along most of it, made of heavy chain links. Usually, it's on the uphill side, so there's nothing to prevent you falling off the edge. And the edge is very close at hand most of the way. A foot or two in many places. And the drop is I don't even know how far, maybe 1500 feet? It's not like a lot of hikes I've done where there's an edge and then it gets steep but if you stepped over you could probably scramble your way back up. It's the edge and then it is smooth, vertical wall. There's no coming back if you step off. It was perhaps less terrifying than skydiving, but it was a sustained terror for far longer than the instant of fear when you're shoved out of the plane. Floating to the ground under the chute was a lot of fun, so skydiving was only a brief moment of more terror than I've ever experienced. Hiking out the knife edge and back took about an hour or so, I think. And it was uncomfortable the entire time. Chris turned back after 10 minutes or so, citing his legs being so sore from nearly running up the first part of the hike. Whether it was that, or his fear, he can't be faulted (he's a CPA, so he'd JUST got off sitting at his desk for 5 months straight). I am too stubborn to turn back, even if it's for my own good. You guys never heard the Macchu Picchu story, yet. But anyway, we linked back up when I got back through the checkpoint and we hustled down the mountain. I think all in it took us about 4 hours and 30 minutes or so.





We met back up with Loki and Mandy at the van, and we piled in and headed out through the park. We took the eastern half of the Y, which IS drivable, and leads to a different park exit, on the eastern side. DUH. We continued on to I-don't-really-know-where, Utah. We found a site on BLM land on the top of a hill that was unoccupied, and it was honestly gorgeous. I wish I could tell you where it was, to recommend checking it out. Mount Carmel Junction area. On the east side of highway 89. I just looked at the map for a bit. Go there, it's awesome. We had some awesome weather, FINALLY. So, Chris built us a fire to cook some steaks for dinner. I prepped the veggies, and Mandy cooked them. I had a much-needed beer after that strenuous hike. And we got to sit around the fire and watch the sun set over the mountains to the west. It was beautiful. The serene weather persisted through the night, and we all slept comfortably.

 

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Tuesday, we wanted to do something a bit more dog-friendly, so we went to Red Canyon State Park. At least, I think that's what it was called. It's right next to Bryce Canyon. I'm pretty sure it was red-something, and it was definitely a state park. Anyways, we did a bit of a hike around there. A couple miles. It was, of course, windy as heck, again. Why shouldn't it be? But we made the best of it regardless. It wasn't terribly difficult, but we got to explore in and around a bunch of small arches and get up close to the red rocks. Plus, the best part, there was hardly anyone else there. A far cry from the situation at Zion the day previous. Once Loki started getting droopy, and we were all feeling pretty hungry, we headed back to the van to make some breakfast and come up with the plan for the rest of the day.





What we decided to do was basically just a drive-by of Bryce. We were right down the street, more or less, and it felt silly not to go. But Loki isn't allowed to do anything, so we just checked out some overlooks. It's pretty there. I think the amphitheater at Inspiration Point was the coolest feature of the landscape that we saw. It's really unique. Since we'd already done the hiking outside the park, we didn't really feel like we were missing out here. We didn't spend a ton of time in Bryce, maybe just a couple hours, in and out on the one 17-mile long road.



I found this awesome caddy when we stopped for groceries, so I had to take a couple:





From Bryce, we went to Torrey, UT. Middle of nowhere town. But there's some federal land there, so we camped for free again. Unfortunately, the site we found was about 20 feet from the highway, with minimal coverage. Fortunately, the highway was nearly unused all night. Maybe a car every 10 minutes or so, on the average. It was not a nuisance at all. It was actually a gorgeous spot with beautiful views all around. I took zero pictures, I'm sorry. I was focused on video, so you can monitor our YouTube channel if you want to see that; link is in my signature, we're Out of Ipswich on there. We had another fairly calm night here. A little bit of wind, but nothing serious. We had a small fire to take the edge off the cold as we wound down to go to sleep. We just burned a couple pieces of wood that were left behind by previous occupants, then put it out when it was down to nubs.

 

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Wednesday, we drove over to Moab. A bit of backstory is that Chris is one of our Jeeple. Jeep people. We were out on a trail forever ago and I dropped the gas tank out of my Wrangler. He was out on the trail with us, but we didn't know him very well. He offered us a ride home, and we were surprised to learn it was about 5 minutes from where he was living at the time, so he hardly went out of his way. We've been good friends ever since. Even though our wheeling days are on hold for now. But his Jeep is now bigger than ever. So, with that in mind, Moab was an obvious stop on this trip. You get it, right?

Our first stop on the way to Moab was Capitol Reef National Park. Our third national park in as many days. It was minutes from where we had camped the night before, so it was an obvious stop. It was on the way, even. We didn't spend a ton of time out of the van, but we did stop to check out some petroglyphs. It's definitely cool to see, but it's kind of strange how we protect old graffiti, and simultaneously chastise new. I do understand it, I'm just saying it's weird when you think of it that way. I wish that we knew what the old petroglyphs meant. Was it just someone's doodling to pass the time when they were bored? Were they trying to document something that happened? Were they trying to communicate with someone who may pass that location in the future? What were the artists' lives like when they made the carvings? Anyway, the rest of the park after that, we saw from the van's windows. We continued on into the open windblown hellscape and eventually came to pass by a Mars Research Center. I'm not sure that's the right name. It's on Cow Dung Road in the middle of nowhere, where the desert turns white. It looks more like the moon than Mars, but I get it. You can't really approach the facility, because that would disturb the experiments they're conducting, and there's not really any information available, but it was still neat to see outer space research happening right there. I think they're social in nature; something to do with how people withstand a remote habitat.

From there, we completed the last leg of the route to Moab. We endured some pretty intense crosswinds on the way, and my shoulders were tight by the end of it, from gripping the wheel. Without incident, we got there fairly early, but we encountered a bit of a situation once we arrived. Strong winds were forecast through the night. So, while there's a ton of open land we could have camped on, it wasn't that attractive to us, because there was zero protection from the winds for the tent. We opted instead to head to one of several campgrounds on the east side of the highway, just north of town. Our thinking was that most of the winds should blow over top of the canyon, and we'd be at least somewhat protected down inside. But then, it seemed everyone else had similar thinking, and there was a bit of a caravan on the one canyon road that services all the campgrounds. We pulled into the first to find it full, and then pulled out onto the road behind a vehicle that had just executed the same maneuver. The vehicle behind us followed as well. We were then passed by the following vehicle in a no-passing zone approaching a pretty blind corner. People were getting aggressive for campsites, I guess. Mandy suggested we go to the last campground and then work our way backwards, since it seemed most were going to the next-closest campground, step by step. So, we did, and we found one solitary open site and snagged it. A little while later, the vehicle that passed us over the solid line toured through the campground and left. So, I guess Mandy's strategy was the right one. Chris pitched his tent, and we utilized all the features to stake the tent and the fly securely to the ground. Then, we went into town to get the lay of the land. I really neglected the picture-taking this day, mainly because I was driving all day long, but I always take pictures of pay phones whenever I see one so:



We parked in what felt like a central location and walked for a while. We were in that state where we were feeling like we should try to find dinner in a while. Not yet hungry, but we would be, eventually, maybe. And we all felt like we should find somewhere outside we could sit outside with Loki. We found a restaurant that fit the bill straight away, so we marked that as plan B and continued walking. We eventually reached a point where it seemed like the business district was tapering off, so we turned back and went to The Spoke on Center, right where we started. Mandy and I just split an appetizer because we realized we weren't actually super hungry anyways. Loki was totally content to just chill next to our patio table and pass out. It went great. Afterwards, Chris and Mandy were feeling ice cream or gelato, so we went to the food truck lot and got some from Miss Gelato. I got some, too, to fit in. And it was actually wicked good. I don't typically love ice cream all that much, but it was the right call on a warm night.

After dessert, we went back to our campsite to find Chris' tent resembling a pancake more than a tent. 60mph gusts had flattened it. Not to be deterred, he popped it back up. We made some slight adjustments to the stakes and verified everything was snug and the tent had good tension in all directions. And then, we watched a gust blow it down and snap a pole right in front of our eyes. Minutes after we'd just finished. So, that ended the tent idea for the night. Yes, there is a repair piece, but ONLY one repair piece. And it didn't make sense to risk breaking the pole in another spot and rendering the tent useless for the remainder of his trip. So, we planned for him to sleep on the van floor. Not ideal, but not a big deal either. We played rummy inside the van for a while to round out the night until we were all good and tired, and then we went to our respective beds.

 

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Thursday, our ATV rental began at 8:00am. So that was priority. We went to High Point Hummer at 8 and got in line with everyone else. We filled out the papers, and listened to the basic operating informational session, and then we were free for the day to hopefully not roll the thing over. It was a Can-Am, I'm not sure of the model's name. Two-seater, side by side with a 900cc turbo. High Point gave us a couple maps of recommended trails to check out; one leisurely cruising, the other pretty substantial rock crawling. We opted to check out the crawling area first. The trail is called Fins 'n' Things, and it's pretty popular as far as I can tell. Chris did most of the driving, and I actually preferred passengering. That is a beast of a machine, though. There were so. many. times. I was sure it was going to roll over backwards or flop on its side, but no. Not a single issue all day long. I did a fair bit of driving, but there were a lot of really steep hill climbs, and I was positive that I'd hit a bump, bump the throttle, and send us over backwards to plummet to our death. And that was just nerve-wracking. But with Chris at the wheel, somehow, I could easily ignore all that and just enjoy the scenery. Willful ignorance, perhaps. After Fins 'n' Things, we checked out Hell's Gate as well. More of the same sort of terrain. Mickey's bathtub is just an insane obstacle. It's a vehicle-sized hole probably 15 feet deep, with vertical walls. We didn't dare enter it, but I would have liked to see someone else do it.



We stopped by a little after noon to meet up with Mandy. We decided to head over to the easier trails on the west side of town. There are difficult trails over there, but we were advised not to try them in the Can-Am. So, we just cruised up the canyon road. Top speed run. Up there, we found a bunch more campgrounds. We came back and Mandy and I swapped so she could get a ride and also check out the campgrounds. We all agreed they looked much better than where we'd stayed the night before, so we made a plan to stay there after we returned the rental.





It was an all-day rental, so it was due back at 6pm. 8am (more realistically, 9 once we got through all the initiation paperwork and training) to 6pm on the trail is a very long day. I had a ton of fun, but that's definitely a rental-only vehicle for me. As cool and impressive as it is, I can't see ever being able to justify needing it. I guess if I had a farm that was really expansive, very rugged terrain that I needed to access regularly or something, then it might make sense. But short of that, it was fun to wheel it for a day and I'm good for a while. We washed it off at the car wash, which was a whole big thing because the card machines wouldn't work, the change machines were out of service or didn't take the bills we had, but eventually we got it sorted. We dropped it off and headed back into the canyon on the west side of town to Ledge B Campground.



What a gorgeous spot. I know I keep saying that. But I guess you just can't go wrong in Utah? I dunno. Everywhere is just so picturesque! We setup and cooked dinner over the fire. Chris pitched his tent with the pole repair section because there was almost zero wind. Finally, a perfect-weather evening. We were all just present in it and appreciated the fine weather while we had it. While we finally had it.

 

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Friday morning, we found a hike in the canyon in which we'd stayed. I think it was Hunter Canyon. It's an easy two miles out and back, with a cool arch to check out. Unfortunately for us, it was overgrown, or we are idiots. I dunno. But approximately a mile-ish in, or so, we lost the trail. It turned into heavy bushwhacking, and I was all set with that. So was Loki. We all were. So, we turned back. Which didn't matter, anyways, because it's part of the adventure. The hiking is the point. Not where you get to.





After the hike, we headed out on the highway, northbound. Kind of aimless, but not entirely. As I was driving, Chris and Mandy sorted the destination. We basically flipped a coin on two different hot springs. Not actually, but we were all like "either is fine" until someone somehow decided on one. So, we headed to Meadow, UT. The naming is apt. I did the driving, so again we're a little light on pictures here. But holy moly what a gorgeous drive. There are a couple mountain passes to cross on the way. And we had the highway nearly to ourselves, which is always amazing. There are just grassy plains and rolling hills, which have become foreign to us, having been in Arizona so long. To see grass just naturally growing was so rejuvenating. I was beginning to feel like everywhere was just death. Not so. As we made our way north-ish we began to see mountains that still held snow. Beautiful. I wondered aloud if there were any I could ski.

Eventually, we descended into Meadow, which is just that. The largest I've probably ever seen though. Just nearly flat grassy plains as far as you can see, bounded by mountains all around. You can tell the mountains are giants, even though they appear tiny. It's a really beautiful place. So anyways, in the midst of all that, there's some privately-owned land. On that land, there's some holes. I think they're naturally formed, although I've never seen any quite like it. Almost as if there was a random air-pocket in the stone, right at the surface of the earth. And they're filled with water from hot springs. Three of them, at three different temperatures; cool-ish (but far from cold), bathtub-warm, and hot-tub-hot. This private landowner, who we've never met, is awesome because they make this spot open, for free, for anyone who wants to use the space. It's still kind of mind-blowing to me that that exists. FOR FREE!



We found a spot to park randomly, and I got out to walk around with Loki and Chris. Mandy was working on a small project, so she stayed in the van a bit to finish it up. We parked by what we later learned was the cold pool and walked towards the middle-temperature one. We didn't even make it that far before we stopped to chat with some people next to a bus. We were standing there talking for quite a while, by the end of it, they were so lovely. After the first few minutes, they made sure we would move the van nearer to their bus, so no one weird would move in right next to them. How they knew we weren't weird that quickly, I have no idea. But after we checked out the medium and hot pools, we did. And we were so glad to do it. Chris pitched his tent between their bus and our van. We got to know our neighbors really well, really fast, and by the time night rolled around, we were sitting around the fire with a dozen or so people from all walks. The topics of conversation around the fire were myriad and wonderful. We were up until midnight, saying we were going to go to the hot pool. But by the time we actually got up, we all only wanted to walk to our beds. The hot pool was a couple hundred yards walk, and we were simply not feeling it. Plus, it got chilly out. We were totally content to slide under the warm blankets and pass out.

 

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Saturday, I made Mandy get up early. We'd agreed to bail on the hot pool at night on the condition that we'd go first thing in the morning before anyone else got there. It was cold, but we walked over through the morning grogginess anyways, and hopped in. We stayed in as long as Loki would allow us. After a half hour or so, he started to get antsy and barked, so we went back to the van to get breakfast. We found Chris getting up, so we talked about our plans for the day. We were approaching the end of his stay, so we wanted to come up with a plan to get him to the airport on time. We realized that we didn't have any obligations besides the airport at 8am Sunday, so we could stay put where we were for most of the day, and just get closer to Salt Lake City by nightfall. So that's what we did. And it was absolutely the right call.





We went back to the hot pool with Chris once he was up and moving; Mandy hung out with Loki since she didn't care much to swim. We met more awesome people from all over the place, who do and have done all sorts of things. With no imminent deadlines, we felt like we could truly relax and connect with the people around us, which was so fulfilling. The day started to warm up, so we got out of the hot water as it was no longer fitting. And we took the rest of the day in pretty much the same way. If something felt like it should be done, or not be done, we did or did not do that thing. We threw the frisbee a while until it didn't feel like the thing to do anymore. Sheron, who we'd met at the campfire and was in a bus (but not the one we parked next to) offered her yoga instruction for free. So, we did some yoga in the middle of the meadow, and it was exactly what we wanted to do. We toured peoples' homes and talked about living on the road. We saw a military mobile command center converted to a home on an FMTV chassis that was the most unique and well-done build I've seen. What a machine!



In short, we spent real, quality time with a bunch of wonderful friends we'd only just met. And it was perfect. The springs and the landscape were amazing, but the people we met really made it something special. It was honestly a bit sad when we finally said our goodbyes and hit the road. The first time I've really felt sad like that to leave a place. Perhaps ever. But we had to, and so we did.



We made it up to Stansbury Island on Great Salt Lake sometime after 8pm. I think it was closer to 9, to be honest; time feels strange because there was still quite a lot of daylight lingering. We found a spot to park for the night and watched three cows mosey through, just off the site, through the bushes. Loki wanted to stay inside the van anyways, so there was no issue of him getting all fired up at the cows; he never even saw them. We watched the sunset for what felt like hours, and eventually went to bed, even though it was still strong twilight, well into the evening. With the moon nearly full, it never got truly dark at all.

 

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Sunday, we didn't stick around long. The site on Stansbury Island is fine, but nothing special. A far cry from the springs in Meadow, to be sure. Plus, we had to get to the airport to drop off Chris. So that's what we did first thing.

After the airport, which is super easy to navigate for passenger drop-off, by the way, we went to the grocery store to restock. Fun stuff. From there, to the laundromat. Then our plan was to clean the van (or at least start) and publish a video. So, Mandy found a park at random, Liberty Park, so Loki could get out and chill in the shade while we cleaned and edited video. What we didn't know was that it was the Urban Bird Festival day. Another thing we didn't know was that people in and around Salt Lake City apparently care very much for urban birds because it was a literal festival in the park. We arrived sometime before noon and there were cars entirely surrounding the park trying to find parking.



I think we did the full loop before we found a spot to park. Maybe twice, I don't know; I was in back. We were all hot and curious, so we got out and walked through the park. There was a drum circle, which was awesome. And all the accoutrement you would expect. I couldn't capture the scent, but if you've been to any festival, you know it. It was really interesting, and fascinating to people-watch. After a time, we checked out the rest of the park. There were all sorts of things going on. Lots of interesting cars, heavily modified. A flea-market-type of thing happening. Skateboarding, roller-blading, sleeping in tents, drinking, smoking. It was crazy. There were also areas of the park nearly devoid of people. It was a whole experience. We went back to the van to accomplish what we actually came for, but hurried so we could experience more of the festivities. Mandy swept and mopped the floor while I finished up the video and posted it. I cut my hair and then we went back out. It was too hot in the van anyways. So we wandered around throwing the frisbee all afternoon until we felt like making dinner.



We debated using one of the grills to make dinner so we could keep the heat out of the van, but Loki's developed a food-aggression in his old age, so we figured it best to keep the food away from other dogs that were minding their own in the park. We moved the van over a few spaces since there were a lot fewer cars around (although the party in the park seemed to be going stronger than ever), so we could open up all the doors and be in the shade and Loki had some grass to chill in right nearby while we cooked. I roasted us some broccoli and home fries and then pan-seared and baked a beef tri tip. It was so good, but it got up to about 90F inside the van. Not incredibly hot, actually, but a bit warm. Some people stopped by to ask a bunch of questions about van-life while I was cooking, and we were happy to answer them. They seemed genuinely fascinated. It was fun.

After dinner and cleanup, we headed back into the park to the top of the hill to catch the lunar eclipse. But unfortunately, it was cloudy, and there may have been a mountain in the way of the moon, so we didn't get to see anything magical happen. Aside from the festivities in the park, which were still ongoing. We hung around for a little while longer, and eventually set out to find a place to park. We just moved a block over from the park, since we were pretty sure there's no overnight parking inside the park. I could hear the drums still going well past 11pm when I fell asleep.

 

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We stuck around Salt Lake City Sunday night because Monday morning we had to go back to the airport again. This time I dropped Mandy off so she could fly out to a conference sort of thing. She does some consulting work on a quarterly basis that pays really well so it's a no-brainer. All travel expenses are covered from pretty much anywhere so that's a bonus, too. Loki and I dropped her off and went back to the park. From there, I pretty much spent the entire day writing our recent adventures.

It was pretty toasty, so Loki wanted to chill outside. Pro-tip, find a parking spot on the end so you can open the slider to a piece of grass or whatnot, at least a spot where no one's going to try to park. I cooked a rack of ribs and an ear of corn in the oven for dinner. Because it wasn't warm enough inside already, I guess. I saw 99.5 on our thermostat by the end of it. Dinner was fine but not worth the heat, honestly. Maybe the ribs didn't stay at temperature long enough, I'm not sure. And it's probably too early in the season yet for good corn. Oh well. We walked around a bunch and then opened the rear doors to the van. This helps it cool off much quicker. Another protip. Two for one special.

That was pretty much the whole day. We drove just down the street from the park to find a spot to sleep.

Tuesday we just went back to Liberty Park for the third day in a row. It's easy to revisit a known entity. I know no one's going to bother me there or be upset if I park there all day. It's convenient for dog-walking. There are people around so it's not wicked boring and lonely. There are garbage barrels to throw out our trash. It's a pretty good solution, and easier to just go back than try to find another. Plus, I only had to wait around 'til evening, anyways. I'd thought about heading up to a spot that might be more scenic near Park City or something, but ultimately it just felt wasteful to use the fuel to go there and back for a night, you know?

I did some cleaning and a bunch of reading. Luckily, the day was much cooler, and Loki was super chill all day long. He passed out in his bed between the seats for much of it. It was overcast and drizzled for a few minutes. So, it was just one of those days. But at 8pm-ish, we were back at the airport to pick Mandy up again. It was nice to have her back home. She was pumped that she had gotten a real hotel room for a night with an actual shower. She said she took a full ten minutes showering and it felt like forever. We grabbed some groceries for the next night's dinner and headed east.



We made it to the Home Depot in Park City. This Home Depot's management does not mind if you park overnight, though some do. So, we took advantage. We arrived around quarter of 10pm, and it was just getting dark outside. The daylight in Utah is wild. It always feels earlier than it actually is to us. 9pm is like just after sunset, and there's still plenty of twilight. I wouldn't really start to call it "dark" until 10 or so most of the time. And by 6am it's already plenty bright enough outside to see easily. I feel like it's definitely shifted our sleep schedules later. Perhaps that's just the lack of outside deadlines? I'm not sure. Probably a little of both. We had a couple items to buy in the Depot anyways, so it was an added convenience to wake up just outside, when they were open.

 

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We woke up at The Depot and went inside. I grabbed a #12 screw and nut and went back outside. I'm not trying to play the blame game here or anything so I will just say that we had "a guest" at some point who accidentally kicked the bottom rail of the shower door and it broke. It's honestly fine I did it a dozen times when we first moved in.

The Nautilus shower door comes with screws you're supposed to use to secure the frame together. I never did that because of the way that our shower is. There's a flange that would be in the way of installing the screws. So, I just never did. We relied on the plastic clips to retain everything. The kick broke the clip, so I had to install a bolt and nut. This is so minor I didn't even take a picture. Use your imaginations. I used stainless hardware.



After that whole ordeal (I literally finished it while Mandy walked Loki around the van), we headed towards...east. We didn't really have a destination when we first set out. Our goal is Denver by the weekend, to meet up with my cousin. Along the way, I was scouting ahead of us on Google maps. I found a state park called "Starvation" and I was like that sounds horrible let's go. So, I beamed up the address to the van and Mandy took us there.



It was actually not that terrible as the name implied. In fact, I even got food while we were there. There are grills in the day use area and there were a zillion sticks on the ground. I grabbed a bunch and made a tiny fire in the grill and cooked some bacon and eggs in the cast iron pan on it. Delicious! We walked around a bit, but it was all pavement. I jumped into the reservoir which was frigid. But I always have to go in really quick regardless. We finished editing and posted a video which took a while, actually. Then we decided to do dinner also even though it was early. I didn't want to wait the 2 hours left we had to drive before eating. I cooked inside this time, although it took a few minutes to decide. Ultimately, I figured since it was 2 pans it'd be too difficult to manage the fire. I did sausages in one pan and tortellini with pesto in the other. It was pretty delicious. We gobbled it up and hit the road.



We drove to middle of frickin' nowhere, Utah. Aka Jensen. We found a spot to park off the Tyrannosaurus Highway or whatever it's called that was super desolate. We didn't see another car or person the whole night which was wild. We could hear the highway if we listened close, but we didn't. It was pretty sweet. We went to sleep while it was still somewhat light out.

 

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We cruised out from Jensen midmorning after a little dog walk. We just did a straight shot to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. There are more hot springs there. I guess we're doing a hot springs tour of the country. Not really. But they're cool, and the price (free!) is right. These ones are called South Canyon Hot Springs. It's just down a short non-descript trail off a minor roadway. No signs or anything. There were a handful of people there while we were there, some came, some left. Fairly steady flow. But it wasn't at all crowded. They're pretty small pools, though. And shallow. Only about 3 feet, max. Actually, the perfect depth for sitting right on the floor. And Loki cooperated - for the most part - which was a bonus. He got a bunch of attention from the people there; everyone loves him.



After we got in, then got out, and air-dried, we eventually headed back to the van. We were originally thinking of trying to find a short hike, but Loki was being so lazy, we scrapped that plan. We decided instead to check out Casey Brewing in town. I was missing a good beer. Utah is such a disappointment in the beer department. Casey has some excellent choices. We were very impressed. We sampled most of what they had on offer. Probably a bit too much, but we were trying to make up for lost time spent in Utah. Not actually wasted time, Utah was amazing, and we don't NEED beers, it's not alcoholism, but it's just nice when there's nice weather to sit outside and have a tasty beverage. ANYWAYS.

We let loose a bit because we had already parked the van in a lot downtown where we were allowed to park up to 24 hours for free. So, we weren't concerned about driving anywhere. We only needed to be able to execute a short walk back to the van. While we were on the patio there, we struck up a conversation with a couple sitting nearby from Pennsylvania. They were on a two-week road trip in their van. They were very new to living in a van, and so had a bunch of questions for us and stories from the road. It was great to offer some insight to newbies, now that we are seasoned veterans. Hardly. That was a huge overstatement. For comedy. We're still very new to this by most peoples' standards; we've met many who are years into van/RV/bus-living. Our 5 months or so is "cute".



After we were finished with our beer samples, we went next door to Smoke for some barbecue. There are so many restaurants in this tiny space, we spent a while trying to decide where to eat, or if we should just cook food we already had. But I already spoiled it - Smoke was the ultimate decision. I got pulled pork mac and cheese with jalapenos which was really good. Mandy got a salad which wasn't really noteworthy. But we gobbled it all up and then went for a walk around town.



There were signs for hot springs along a walking path, so we followed those. We weren't sure what to expect, and weren't dressed for the water anyways, although it was shorts-and-t-shirt-with-flip-flops weather. But it seemed a convenient destination, and so that's where we went. It was a pay-to-play type situation, and you need a reservation ahead of time. Perhaps days in advance. So, we didn't go, obviously. But we accomplished the main goal, which was walking, anyways. We turned around and went back to the van to wind down and eventually go to sleep. The weather would change drastically overnight.