Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Virgin, Utah

 

We had no problems negotiating the Zion tunnel, just paid our $15 and that was it. The woman who took our money didn’t even question our length (no more than 50’), but when we got to the tunnel the employee there asked if she had measured us, since we looked quite long. We told them our RV was 30’ and our car surely wasn’t 20’, but he warned us about the winding road and Jim said it wouldn’t be a problem. Fortunately it was not. When we went through it in 2009 from the west we did not hook up the car so no questions asked.

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Jim said this was a record for taking too much time to find a suitable campsite. Mark and Bobbie ended up down the road a mile or so, but we liked this spot since we needed to make room for at least four RVs. Laurelee caught up to us before we made our decision, and we all concluded this was the best area. A couple hours later and we were settled in. Coincidently Jim and Allison, who are at the nearby RV park, were riding their bikes on the road so they stopped to chat.

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And just so happens some other Lazy Daze friends are camped nearby, and we didn’t even realize they would be here. It’s a small world.

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But there is plenty of room for everyone, and this is our view.

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I went for a bike ride around the neighborhood the day we arrived, then yesterday we took the bikes up to Gooseberry Mesa. Don’t go up this road without a high clearance vehicle. Got lost trying to find the trailhead but we finally made it and rode one of the easy trails. Not so easy for us, and Jim’s chain came off on a rocky uphill section which caused him to stop abruptly and fall over. He was fine, but it cut our ride a little short. He thought he was going to have to walk back but managed to get the chain back on. Problem was it wouldn’t shift so he rode back a few miles in one gear. Apparently Mark and Bobbie found some other good trails up there. The views are incredible. We even came to a small pond.

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After we got back Jim worked on his bike and it now seems to be shifting fine. Then he worked on the generator, which had a new fuel pump and filter put on in Bend, OR in July. We had been smelling gas occasionally and he figured out there was a small leak from the fuel filter. He spoke with the guy who repaired it and he said around the time he repaired ours he has since had two others that had defective fuel filters that were also leaking. He told Jim how to replace it, so we found one at an RV place in St. George yesterday. We’ll see today if Jim can put the new one on and it solves the problem. While in town we also went to the state liquor store, pet store, and Walmart. Didn’t get home until 7:30, and we were happy to see that Suzanne had arrived and settled in just down the road.

Today we’re back to hiking with the group.

10 comments:

  1. You went to the State Liquor Store??? Waaaa, I'm still drinking "piss-water."
    Sorry we couldn't meet up yesterday…try the Windmill trail next time, it follows right along the rim's edge. Oh, and take us with you :)
    I like your site better. I hope the bike racers don't invade. Knowing Jim, he will send them all up to our site :)
    Box Canyon Mark

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  2. Love your campsite................so just where is this beautiful place, and the place you stayed outside Capital Reef. (can you send me e-mail on that?) We live in the 4 corners area and love to go out camping, hiking and mountain biking (I feel the pain of the chain and the one gear.........been there too). Someday we will take to the road full time too but not quite ready..............love your lifestyle and adventures.

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  3. Your next to last photo is spectacular! What a great time you are all enjoying.

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  4. What a beautiful place your group has moved to. Glad to hear the bike got fixed up and that the generator will be on the mend soon. Your pictures are just so lovely. What a wonderful yard you chose.

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  5. Y'all just seemed to find more and more awesome aces to stop. Glad Jim didn't get seriously hurt. Enjoy!

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  6. Looks like a great neighborhood to me - what a view!

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  7. Yes, you do have the views for sure! Beautiful location. Enjoy your red rocks! Happy hiking and biking!

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  8. Great spot! Is it on Campendium? If not, can you send me the location? Also, how was the cell service there? Will we see you soon? Four questions is probably enough for now. :)

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  9. Looks great! I wish I could pull up in the neighborhood and join you for happy hour. One day soon. Putting a lot of time into dreaming up our airstream, and you made me think about length. We were joking about that a few days ago. Says the person in charge of enforcing length of vehicles through the tunnel, "How long is your rig?". Says Randy " well, the truck is x feet long and the airstream is x feet long. That adds up to 32 feet. Hopefully they can't add or measure.

    Happy Halloween!

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