Destination for the Summer In Sight

 

We've had a grand time in Colorado but it is getting time to get closer to our summer gig location, Dutch John, Utah.  We're right on schedule and will be able to do our planned stop in Thompson Springs, Utah (a tiny berg just north of Moab) and base camp there to explore the southeast portion of Utah.  Meaning Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Capitol Reef NP and Moab.

But first we have to get there.  It is a heck of pull through mountain valleys, passes, switchbacks, 8% grades (both up and down) and narrow two-lanes.  Thanking my lucky stars that I was able to replace my '06 truck, Big Gulp with Chief, a '22 F-550.  Big Gulp's motor was just too tired to ever have been able to make the grade.  Chief didn't exactly make it effortlessly, I used every drop of horsepower getting up some long inclines.  With my foot on the floor I topped out some of the climbs at a mere 35mph.

Besides being a little white knuckle-ish, the drive was beautiful.  I kept radioing Cyndee and telling her it looks like Radiator Springs and Lightning McQueen are going to be around the next mesa.  We passed through Moab and joined a long line of all kinds of recreational equipment heading for I-80.  Once we got to the interstate we hopped on for five miles and then took the exit for Thompson Springs.  But I'll be dog-gone if it wasn't the spitting image of Radiator Springs!

Thompson Springs, UT spread out in front of a couple of the 
many mesas in the area.  Ballard RV Park made up about 80%
of the town.

That does it, I just know Lightning McQueen is around here somewhere.

Ballard RV Park in Radiator Springs, I mean Thompson Springs, was our base camp for the next couple of weeks.  We have LOTS of sightseeing to do and this off the beaten path campground is a perfect choice and way, way below the $125+ a night crowded campgrounds around Moab.  When we make reservations for a campground we always disclose that we have truck-trailer and a chase vehicle that is also towing a small cargo trailer.  Some campgrounds won't allow the extra trailer, sometimes for aesthetics, sometimes because they literally don't have room to put it anywhere. But in Ballard's case they told us they had something just for us.  And boy did they.  Our site was a generous 150' long pull-thru.

Looonnnng gravel site. No grass, it is the desert, Utah after all.
No picnic table, the one seen is our neighbor's, a permanent resident. 

Like I said, looonng site.  Truck, SUV and cargo trailer all fit, easily, at rear of camper.

As it has been all along our route this spring, Thompson Springs was recovering from a hard, heavy snowfall winter and frequent spring rainstorms that are accelerating the melt runoff.  We were told that our site had just had a refreshing of its gravel the day before because it had become a deeply rutted mud pit in previous days.  And I believe them because when I drove over it both the truck and trailer sunk up to their rims in what must have been a foot deep gravel.  I had to use four wheel drive to pull up the last couple of feet.  It didn't help that the sight was not level, I was pulling in uphill, not much but enough that it made a lot of difference.

Speaking of level, getting the rig leveled was a pretty good workout for the leveling system.  The slope from front to back was pretty significant but it was also diagonally unlevel.

Getting level took some doing.  Leveling jack on the left had to be nearly fully retracted while the one on the right is extended almost a foot and a half.  The jacks in the back almost ran out of stroke before they got the backend up to level.

Getting the rear of the coach up enough to achieve level
lifted the rear axle wheels off the ground.

All level with a pleasant view out the rear window.

Now it is off to Moab for fuel for Chief and some local fare for Cyndee and I.  Moab has a Smith's supermarket, which is a Kroger property, which we have loyalty cards for, which gets us discounts on fuel, which is ludicrously high here.  So it is back on I-80 west for 5 miles to Crescent Junction, the Moab exit.  At Crescent Junction there is absolutely nothing save Papa Joe's Gas and Go.  It would be generous to call Papa Joe's "rustic" but there was a smidge of commerce going on.

As we slowed coming down the exit ramp adjacent to Papa Joe's we spotted a familiar face at the gas station.  I knew Lightning McQueen was around these parts!

Chief meets Lightning McQueen.

After the meet and greet at Papa Joe's we got on down to Moab and got fueled up and something to eat.  The heavy duty touring begins tomorrow.