Our Hurricane Hinderance

We had a good day going. It may have started with frost on the windshield, but it warmed up quick. Breaking from the typical travel day, we opted to sightsee along the way, making stops at Navajo Lake and Cedar Breaks. We thought we would have an easy time finding an open campsite at our destination. Arriving mid-afternoon, we discovered that poor decisions may have been made. Although, after spending several weeks in Utah, maybe we weren’t destined to leave.

Most reviews said sites were plentiful, the road is dusty, but the views get better the farther you go, and also increasingly steepens as it climbs. This is in the Dixie National Forest near Leeds Kiln. Al should have went ahead to scout for open sites in the truck, but instead I was leading in the motorhome, and the road was much rougher than I expected. Most of the sites are just a few feet from the road, two have a little distance from it, but each site we came upon was occupied. We’d already passed the kiln, which is 4 miles from I-15, when I noticed the engine temperature was climbing. I pulled aside enough for Al to pass, as he could go faster to find us a site while I baby the motorhome along. Al made it to the end of the road at Oak Grove Campground, but those sites were too small for us to fit, as were several of the lower sites. We had gone over 8 miles, climbed 2500 feet in elevation, and not a site available. Coming back down, transmission in first gear, I had to ride the brakes most of the way. You may not see it but there’s a motorhome hiding somewhere in that cloud of dust.

At this point, I am considerably beyond stressed as the brakes are squealing, Suki is pacing, Cassie fell in the stepwell, and there’s a cloud of dust inside the RV as well. Getting to the bottom, Al says he may have located a BLM spot around 15 more miles away, and with an hour of daylight left, we rushed over to see what was available. We found La Verkin Overlook Road to be heavily rutted, but as did the many other RV owners there, we took it slow and got set up at coordinates 37.20635. -113.23980. At least we had a place to park it for the night.

The next morning, we scouted the area for less dust and a little more elbow room. As we were heading for the Sheep Bridge area, I asked Al to go ahead to check out Gould Wash as a backup. We found the spot taken, but the kind lady staying there pointed out another campsite close by, of which we made no delay in claiming. We quickly got level & set up, then decided to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon. The following morning, we turned the motorhome around, as previously facing south had it uncomfortably hot throughout the afternoon and evening. Keeping the sun off the windshield, that change made a world of a difference.

While here, we managed to get out a few times, exploring Hurricane, St. George, Grafton, Red Cliffs, Toquerville, and Babylon. Some of the routes we planned to travel were a bit more extreme than we’d expected, even turning back before our destination on a couple. We had been to Zion previously, and decided to refrain this time as the road to and from it seemed heavy with traffic. We also managed to semi-wash the motorhome, ridding it from the heavily dust-coated state.

Very few vehicles passed by our campsite, and being surrounded by mountains and buttes lended it a fortunately quiet and scenic spot. I would definitely boondock here again. Now, if only I could find a mode of transportation adequate enough to get me to some of those places.

I’ve been a little over-stressed lately. I have a list of things to address, but also have to research what parts I need ordered to get things accomplished. We need to figure out how to equip our rooftop solar panels for tilting as there isn’t enough direct sunlight or daylight hours for our batteries to fully recharge (we’ve been supplementing daily with the generator for the past month). We also need to make provisions for our new portable solar. The main slide on the motorhome needs manual assistance to retract, and the culprit is yet to be identified. The RV cord needs replacing as the plug is coming off the cord. Our leveling system drips on the ground, which means it needs cleaning off to find the leak source. Our refrigerator barely works and has been voraciously draining our batteries, but at least the replacement is on order. I wish Al would be willing and able to help me with them, but he’s going in and out of shutdown mode, leaving me overwhelmed yet again trying to figure everything out on my own. I am thankful to be at Jeff’s, where I can take care of these issues, and for his knowledge, suggestions, assistance, and accommodations. Hopefully I can brainstorm what we need and get parts here soon. The holiday season is fast approaching, too.

P.S. My apologies for the disheartened post... I’m coping as best I can. Oh, and we've been having internet connection issues, too. <sigh>

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