We were up by 7 a.m. yesterday, which is way too early for us, but we had a lot of miles to travel. We pulled out of Pony Express RV Resort in North Salt Lake, took Interstate 215 around the west side of Salt Lake City to where it joined Interstate 15 on the south side of town. I-215 was a nice road, but as soon as we hit I-15, we ran into heavy traffic and road construction that lasted all the way south to Spanish Fork. By the time we left the interstate there and got onto U.S. Highway 6, I was sure glad to get off the superslab.

It was 133 miles to Interstate 70 at Green River, and a lot of it was two lane road. U.S. 6 is a good road, but not one where you’ll go very fast. In some places it is narrow, there are no shoulders, and it does some climbing.

It also has a couple of steep downgrades, but they are relatively short.

Did I mention it has a lot of twists and turns, especially as it goes through Price Canyon? Note the road sign. It didn’t exaggerate!

Price Canyon was pretty impressive, in spite of the bug on the windshield.

We also had several stretches of road construction to deal with. At one point, the road was down to one lane, and we passed a long line of cars and trucks headed the other way who were waiting for their turn to go.

We also saw a wind farm. Nothing strange about that, except most of them that we have seen are on top of ridges to get the most wind. But these were down low.

Miss Terry ran down the batteries in both of our Olympus digital cameras, but she got some great pictures. There were quite a few railroads tunnels through the mountains.

Once we passed the little town of Price, about halfway along U.S. 6, the road became wider and the countryside flatter. We even had some four lane stretches of roadway.

It was hot! When we got onto Interstate 70, my dashboard thermometer said it was 104 degrees, and later on, as we crossed into Colorado, it was 106! But, our Winnebago performed well and climbed up the steepest grades without hesitation.

We saw some gorgeous scenery in western Colorado, including lots of impressive rock formations.

The scenery was absolutely spectacular, and the highway had lots of curves and, of course, more construction zones.

The highway follows the river, and we saw lots of rafters and fly fishermen.

Did I mention the road construction?

The battery in the second camera died just as we got to Glenwood Canyon, which was disappointing, because it was breathtaking.  I want to go back and drive this stretch of road in the van, and see it again.

We arrived at River Dance RV Resort in Gypsum just after 4 p.m., covering 397 miles in one day. That’s a lot of driving, and we much prefer 250-300 mile days. But sometimes you just do what you have to do.

Rusty and Rebecca at River Dance are super friendly people and really made us feel welcome. There was a little snafu, because the full hookup site they had reserved for us was still occupied by the previous person, and he was off sightseeing somewhere.  Rusty had us pull into another site, with water and electric, so we could plug in and have our air conditioner on while we waited. They were both very apologetic, but what the heck, things happen. It was no big deal.

Once we got into our site, we had a great view out of our windshield. You can’t see the Eagle River in this picture, but it runs right alongside the campground, and if we had time, I’d launch our kayaks.

Here is the view behind us. I don’t think there is ten feet in flat land in all of the western half of Colorado!

By the time we were settled into our site and hooked up, we were famished. Terry drove the 7 miles to Pazzo’s Pizza, in Eagle, where we had one of the best pizzas we have had in years.

Between getting up earlier than usual, the long drive, and the elevation, we were really worn out by the time we finished dinner and got back to the campground. The mosquitoes here are about as big as sparrows, and as aggressive as hawks, so we made a mad dash for the RV. But I still got bitten two or three times before I could get the door unlocked and we could get inside.

Today we plan to sleep late, and then do a whole lot of nothing. We had a busy week in Salt Lake City, and we have a busy weekend ahead of us, so we need to take advantage of every quiet moment we can.

Thought For The Day – The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.

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Keep your raincoats buttoned up, you perverts! That’s not what I’m talking about!

Do you flash your headlights to let truckers and other RVs know it is safe to pull back into the lane ahead of you after they pass? I’m curious. If you do (and we all should), how many of them blink their marker lights or tap their brake lights to say thank you?

That used to be the norm, from the days I first started driving, but it seems to me that fewer and fewer truckers take the time to send this little thank you message these days. Why is that? Have the truckers changed, or has society in general changed that much, that not many people bother to acknowledge simple courtesies any more?

Or, are we part of the problem ourselves? Do we alienate a lot of truckers by our actions?

I’ve noticed lately that a lot of RVers don’t seem to understand basic etiquette. Things like pulling away from the fuel pump at a truck stop when done, so the next fellow in line can fill his tank. Over and over we see RVs blocking the fuel islands while the wife or husband goes inside to pay, and some trucker sits there waiting to get back on the road. I’ve seen more than one RVer fill his tank, then wash his windshield, and then go inside to pay, while the wife sits in her seat and never steps outside. That’s just wrong.

When we pull up to a fuel island, Terry goes inside to pay if they won’t take a credit card at the pump, and then while I am filling the tank, she cleans the windshield. As soon as the tank is full, she goes back inside to settle our bill and get a receipt, while I pull far enough forward to clear the pump with our motorhome and van.

We have spent many nights parked at truck stops, and when we do, we always park in the designated RV area, if they have one. If not, we get as far away and as far over to the side as we can, both to give the truckers room to park, and because it’s usually a little quieter.

Now that we have a motorhome with a much more powerful engine than our old bus conversion had, I will admit that I do gloat when I pass an eighteen wheeler on a long hill. But, I also watch my rear view mirror, and if I see another truck coming in the left lane, I’ll stay over and wait to pass slower traffic until he has gone on by. I can regain my momentum faster than a heavily loaded truck, and I don’t want to slow them down. These are working men and women!

On the road, whenever we see an eighteen wheeler coming up the onramp, we get over to the left or center lane if we can, so they can build up speed before they merge into traffic. I have noticed, however, that even when we do this to make their lives easier, not many truckers signal a thank you.

But that’s okay, I still do my thing. I just enjoy being a flasher.

Thought For The Day – Where do forest rangers go to “get away from it all?”

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We woke up to gusty winds and scattered showers Sunday morning. Normally, we would roll over and go back to sleep on such a gloomy morning, but we had company coming, so we had to get in gear.

About 11 a.m. Mel and Charlene Schwartz arrived for a visit. I wrote about Mel and Charlene’s close call when a tree limb came through their windshield in an earlier blog post titled Life Is A Crapshoot. We were happy to see them safe and sound, and we had a very nice visit, talking about our mutual RV adventures. One of the best things about the RV lifestyle is the wonderful people we have met in our travels!

I guess my reputation for being a night owl has preceded me here to Pony Express RV Park,  because Mel said when they stopped at the office to find out what site we are in, the person at the desk said “Are you sure you won’t be waking him up?”

After Mel and Charlene left, Terry worked on a crochet project she has been busy with, and I tried to answer a backlog of e-mail that had piled up. Our internet service on our Verizon air card has been really flakey here. Sometimes it is very fast, and five minutes later it is about as slow as sludge. Since the park’s WiFi system is having problems of it’s own, communication is pretty spotty at times. So if you have written me and not received a reply, please be patient, and I’ll try to get to you as soon as possible.

By mid-afternoon the sky had cleared up, and it began to get pretty warm. We sure are pleased with the basement air conditioning in our Ultimate Advantage. Our first Class A motorhome, and our bus conversion, both had rooftop air conditioners, and we much prefer the basement unit. It is much quieter, and even on the 90+ degree days we have had here in Salt Lake City, it gets so cold inside the motorhome that we have to adjust the thermostat upward.

I had an interesting e-mail the other day from longtime readers Mary and Frank Maniaci, with a question for all of you. They wrote that they had issues with their Winegard satellite dish, contacted both Winegard and Camping World, and that the two companies coordinated to get their problems fixed.  They had just finished writing letters and emails commending both companies because in their words – “We will be the first to complain when something is wrong, but feel that obligates us to comment when things are right.  Are we  the rule or the exception when it comes to writing letters of commendation to those that deserve it?”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always try to compliment good service, whether it be in an RV repair shop, a store, or a restaurant. Having been a business owner much of my life, I sure have heard my share of complaints, and I can tell you that, in my experience anyway, while the complimentary  comments may not come as frequently, they are always very much appreciated. So how about you? Do you write letters, call, or e-mail to say thanks for a job well done?

Thought For The Day – A fair-weather friend is one who is always around when he needs you.

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Thanks to everybody who e-mailed me saying get well. It seems to be working. I was in bed by midnight Saturday night. I just crashed and slept eleven hours. When I woke up yesterday I felt a lot better, and by day’s end I was almost back to normal. I knew I was feeling better when my appetite returned!

While I was so out of it, Terry was working hard, and managed to get all of the envelopes stuffed for the new issue.  I don’t know how that lady does it! Today we’ll drive back to Flagstaff to drop everything off at the mail service, and we’ll hit a few RV parks in Flagstaff and here in Williams, dropping off bundles of sample copies of the paper. Then we can relax and get back to having fun.

I’m afraid to even look at the news right now. In addition to the two forest fires burning around Flagstaff that I wrote about previously, two new fires have started. One burned over 3,000 acres yesterday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes, and the other, the fourth fire currently burning in the area, was still going strong yesterday evening. Here is the view of the smoke from one of the fires, looking out our RV windshield from our site at Canyon Gateway RV Park.

While Terry was finishing up the mailing yesterday, I uploaded the new digital edition for our online subscribers, and discovered an unexpected benefit of using the new InDesign page layout program. Previous PDF issues of the digital paper averaged about 22 MB in size, and InDesign lets me upload them with the same quality, at just under 6 MB, which means it opens and downloads faster for our subscribers.

Now that we have the paper done, we plan to head toward the California coast. We originally were going to stop in Kingman, Arizona for a day or so to visit my friend Mike Howard, but having just been sick, I don’t want to take any chance of passing anything on to him. So we’ll stop and abuse Mike’s hospitality another time.

That is if the wind dies down a bit. It’s been blowing hard ever since we got here, and I don’t like to drive the motorhome when I have to battle the wind every mile. What fun is that? That’s the great thing about the fulltime RV lifestyle, we don’t have to rush to get anywhere, because  wherever we are, we’re at home!

Bad Nick spent some time at the computer yesterday, posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled This Land Isn’t Our Land. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – If you can’t feed ‘em, don’t breed ‘em.

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As I reported in yesterday’s blog, firefighters were hoping the wind would hold off and not make battling the Eagle Rock forest fire that is burning northeast of Williams, Arizona any more difficult.

But Friday evening, the wind began blowing and it still hasn’t stopped. Yesterday the winds were steady at 35 mph, with gusts over 45, and today doesn’t look any better. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, a 400 acre fire is now burning just south of the Little America Resort, right off of Interstate 40 in Flagstaff. The news says this fire was man-caused, and police are interviewing a person of interest.

Sitting here on top of an open hill at Canyon Gateway RV Park in Williams, we can really feel the wind. We have a view of Interstate 40 down the hill through our windshield, and in spite of the high winds, we saw quite a few big RVs on the road battling the wind. It makes me wonder where they have to be so badly that they’d drive in those conditions.

I want to thank my son-in-law, Jim Robinson, and my granddaughters Hailey and Destiny for the unforgettable Father’s Day gift they gave me. Just before we left Show Low, they all came down with the stomach flu, and Friday night it nailed me big time. I’d have to feel 200% better just to die.

Poor Miss Terry worked hard all day yesterday stuffing envelopes with the new issue, while I napped off and on, drank ginger ale, and sniveled. I feel guilty because she wouldn’t even let me carry the finished plastic bins of envelopes out to the van. Those things are pretty heavy, and I just didn’t have the strength to even lift one.

I had no appetite all day long, but finally about 8 p.m. Terry talked me into eating some Jello. I’m usually up until at least 2 a.m., but as soon as I post this blog entry, I’m headed for bed. I’m sorry there isn’t much of a blog today, my brain is so foggy I can’t even type.

Before I close, I hope you take some time today to call your dad and wish him happy Father’s Day. It’s the best gift you can give him.  And if your father has passed on, take a moment or two to remember him. I think he’ll know. And to my own dad, I think of you often, and miss you every day of my life. If my own kids look back someday and think of me with even half of the love and respect that I do you, I will consider my life a success.

Thought For The Day – Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad.

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