Sightseeing Our Way West.

 

Our departure from Devils Tower went without a hitch, sort of, which isn't always a sure thing after sitting in one spot for nearly four months.  I did notice that there was a puddle of dark red hydraulic fluid in my jack pad on the left rear corner.  When I raised the jacks it didn't pour a stream or anything and raised with no hesitation.  Okay for now but it will have to be tended to.  But we're out and on our way.  Not directly to our destination, Death Valley, though.  We have some chores and sightseeing to do.  

First on the list is to renew our driver licenses.  Last time we did it online but they only let you do that once every other time.  This time we have to appear in person at a Texas DMV.  Cyndee came up with a good travel plan to get this done as painlessly as possible.  She found a nice campground in Cheyenne, WY where we can take the camper, truck and cargo trailer and feel safe leaving them for a couple of days while we make an eight hour drive, one-way, to the nearest DMV.  Which happened to be just one town west of the town we grew up in.  So, on a Friday we departed Devils Tower (the extreme northeast corner of WY) and made the climb from 3,000' to Cheyenne at 6,000' (the extreme southeast corner of WY), spent Saturday mostly just kicking back and packing for our DMV road trip.  Sunday we got an early start and headed due south, passing through an unusually quiet Denver.  Even with loosing an hour going from mountain to central time, we pulled into the Dumas Hampton Inn by 4:00pm.  Which gave us a little time to put our feet up before meeting friends from Borger for supper at a local Tex-Mex.

We had appointments for first thing when the DMV opened Monday morning.  We went in as soon as the doors opened and they got right to us.  We were back on the road to WY shortly after 9:00am.  This time our passing through Denver we did not find it quiet at all.  Traffic was unpleasant but it was made a little more bearable knowing that there was a Buc-ee's just ahead.  I put a dent in the budget getting some of my favorite flavors of jerky at $29.99/lb!

Back in Cheyenne, we have a few more days at this campground and lucky for us its next door neighbor is a Camping World.  Our not-that-old sewer hose has succumbed to the elements and the last dump before leaving Devils Tower it looked like a lawn sprinkler.  So time to dent the budget some more.  A decent hose with robust connectors are not inexpensive.

Cheyenne is a legit old west town and the capital of WY.  There are quite a few things to see and do.  They have an old train depot, a grand building more commiserate with a large city back east, that has been restored and converted into an event center and train museum.  We spent hours in there.  In fact we exceeded the two hour parking limit and got a $20 parking ticket.
We tried out a couple of Mexican food restaurants over the course of our stay.  They all had the word Guadalajara in their name and I guess it indicated a regional style of food.  To both of us it seemed bland.  Not a fan.

As much as we were enjoying Cheyenne, it was time to move on.  Our reservations along Interstate 80 were set weeks ago, timed to get us to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park for our last layover before entering Death Valley, Vegas baby.

Speaking of I-80, it is an interstate highway that has posted speeds of 75 and 80mph.  We're not real popular with the general driving public.  The little trailer tires on our cargo trailer are only rated to a maximum speed of 65mph.  So we spend a lot of time in the far right lane tagging along with the eighteen wheelers.  But we get where we are going.

We overnighted in Rock Springs, WY at a fair grounds/event center.  This was a revisit as we stayed here on our way east.  Not a place I would seek out as a destination but met our needs as a layover.  Our next stop was Nephi, UT, south of Provo.  This place was brand new and pretty swanky, not to mention the most expensive place we've stayed at $70/night.  But its drive time between campgrounds and convenience to I-15 made it hard to pass up.
Rollin' Home RV Park, Nephi, UT
Next was our basecamp in Cedar City, UT, Indian Peaks RV Park.  Also just off I-15.  We'll be here four days as it is conveniently about midway between Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.  We're visiting both parks before staging up in Las Vegas.
Indian Peaks RV Park

Indian Peaks RV Park is on Paiute Tribal Lands
This park was interesting.  There was no management on site.  Everything was done by phone.  The park was gated and you checked in by calling to get the gate code.  Payment was by cash or check dropped in a slot in the door in the laundry room.  Everything is monitored by actively observed security cameras.  Our site, and most of the others, were significantly sloped from end to end.  To get level my front end was practically laying on the ground and the rear jacks were extended their full 18".  And that rear jack is still leaving a puddle of hydraulic fluid everywhere we have been.  It's got to be getting low on fluid.  But so far it has kept working.

We chose Zion to visit first.  It is about an hour and half drive from our campsite and we got an early start.  Sadly, so did everybody else.  The park was crowded and just finding a parking spot so we could catch one of the ginormous shuttle buses was an adventure in itself.  Between the crushing crowds and a sore foot that Cyndee had developed we didn't do much exploring from any of the bus stops.  My pictures are limited to the approach to the park and the drive to the west entrance tunnel.
Kolob Canyons, Zion NP
Kolob Canyons is remote and isolated from the main canyons of Zion.  It is only accessible from I-15 and while small, still worth the visit.
Kolob Canyons has its own version of The Narrows

The giant undercut as you approach the Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel
Haze from Canadian forest fires has been plaguing us most of the summer and has continued much further south and west.  Picture quality is suffering.

Bryce Canyon NP proved to be a more pleasant experience.  While there were plenty of people we could still park at popular trail heads and overlooks.  On day three of our stay at Indian Peaks RV Park we ventured into Bryce and had a good day of sightseeing and photography.  We were even able to leave the park, have lunch and return with no waiting at the entrance.
Looking back at the unofficial entrance to Bryce Canyon

Official Entrance














We enjoyed our day at Bryce immensely compared to Zion.  Although Zion is still Cyndee's favorite National Park.  We've got one more day at Indian Peaks RV Park and we'll use it to relax and do a little light shopping.  Then we'll be off to Las Vegas for a week or two stay to get some service work done

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