Getting dragged a little

Garvin and I have been granted residency in Utah, because we're still here!

This morning I headed off to the DMV bright and early to get a temporary permit.  I left Garvin with instructions to finish packing up his things, strip our beds, and we'd leave shortly after I got back. There was no line at the DMV so I walked right up and handed the nice lady the title. She informed me the seller's father had not signed it in the right place and would have to sign it again. That meant a trip back down to Salt Lake.

Not what I expected to hear.

On the way to the DMV, the "Check Engine" light had come on.  This did not please me, but it went off after a bit, so I thought maybe the engine just needed to warm up.  When I left the DMV, the light came on again.  No matter how I looked at it, I was headed to Salt Lake.

The mechanic determined a wire on the new wiper washer pump had come loose.  An hour later I was heading across town to get the signature in the right place on the title.

Wouldn't you know, the engine light came back on, and the brakes were vibrating more than I thought normal, even for a large, heavy vehicle.  After getting the right signature, I went back to the mechanic.  By this time of course, the engine light had gone off, but he drove around the block and agreed with me about the brakes.

We now have new rotors and brake pads.

It was going to be several hours to do the work, and there was still the little matter of the DMV, being Friday and all.  Erin drove down and brought me back to Park City.  Her second trip to Salt Lake in 24 hours, as my personal chauffeur.

Back to the nice lady at the DMV.  She had me out of there in 5 minutes.  I now have a temporary permit allowing me to drive the RV to Colorado.  If we don't make it there by October 4th, well I'm not really sure what will happen, but it won't be good, on many levels.

Jeff, my new mechanic friend, thinks the engine light was on because of the loose wire on the pump.  They ran the motor, trying to get the light to come back on and it didn't, so hopefully he's right.

The good news -- we have new brakes, we were not on our way to Colorado when we realized we needed new brakes, we had another great day with family, my sister is still smiling -- really, it's all good news.

I'm not even saying what our departure plan is.  When we make it to Colorado, I'll let you know.

It's official -- we have an RV!!!

We really are going on this road trip.  I think I'm still in denial, or maybe it's shock.  I was starting to question if this adventure was going to happen, at least in the way we'd planned.  Craig, always with the "can do" attitude, was sure we'd find an RV.  I was sure things would work out for the best, but I was preparing myself that maybe "for the best" wasn't what I'd originally imagined. Remember -- Let Go or Be Dragged.

I drove our new (only to us, it's a '94) RV up from Salt Lake this afternoon. The experience was much better than expected, though I was very tentative at first.  I'm hoping my trepidation about driving it lasts long enough to cure me of my lead foot tendencies, and makes me a more observant driver.  I'm worried I'll forget I cannot make tight turns or drive under low hanging objects.

Here it is -- taken last week when we first arrived.  The first of many, I expect.

We bought the RV from a lovely gal in Salt Lake who assured me if she could drive it, so could I. That was very comforting.  Really.  She's this petite little thing; I figured if she liked driving it, I'll be ok.

Park City is normally about a 7 hour drive to Avon, and that's when I'm by myself, in a zippy vehicle. The RV was doing 65 mph up the pass to my sister's house, but I think that's about as fast as I want to go.  Garvin and me for over 400 miles, with just a radio.  No iPod hookup, no CD's.  I'm excited -- can't wait to see what his reaction is!

A week ago tonight, Erin and Dave showed us RV, with Robin Williams.  If you haven't seen it, and you're ok with fairly predictable humor, it's a hoot.  Or maybe it's just funny because that could very well be us.  I hope not.  This afternoon I kept looking out Erin's window to make sure our new purchase hadn't rolled down the street.  Thankfully, it's now parked on a level driveway next door.

We're sad to leave.  We've had a truly wonderful week with my sister and her family.  Wednesday we had a great time at Park City's fun zone.  Zip line, alpine coaster, alpine slide -- much screaming and carrying on -- even the kids.  Thank you so much Erin, Dave, Ellie, Ben, Eric, Phoebe, Caroline, and baby Kevin!

We have an RV -- almost!

I did not drive an RV back to Colorado today, but I might later this week.  If all continues to go well, the RV will be serviced by the end of the day Wednesday, though we're thinking realistically it will be sometime Thursday.  Because we've had several other possible deals fall through, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic, but not counting my chickens, or RV's, until everything is checked out and we're good to go.

In the meantime, my sweet sister (both my sisters are sweet, just to clarify!) and her family are graciously hosting us in Park City while we wait.  We've had moose sightings (two in their driveway at the same time), lots of cousin playtime, sister time, and general all around good fun.

They are taking very good care of us.

I'm loving the red and orange leaves, since we have mostly yellow in Colorado.  Utah has scrub oaks.

Photos, finally

Hopefully from now on I'll post a few photos at a time instead of a big batch all at once.  Until that time comes, here's a bunch from the last two weeks.

Garvin and I are in Park City visiting my sister and waiting to hear about the results of an RV inspection.  If all goes well, we will drive back to Colorado in it on Tuesday.  That should be interesting.  

Garvin, the ham, pretending to be an old man after he picked fruit in Capitol Reef National Park.  We learned Mormons settled this narrow valley in the late 1800's, and planted orchards.  They farmed here until the outbreak of WWII.  

Sword fighting in Zion.  Is my child the only one who travels into national parks with a wooden sword?!  I'm thinking yes.  He has had it on his belt  during most of our trip and then wants to sword fight with Craig, frequently.  This was the trail leading to the Narrows, which we decided not to hike due to rising water levels after a rainstorm.

The next four photos were all taken at Bryce Canyon -- my favorite national park, though Yellowstone is right up there.  This first photo is a "Where's Waldo" type, with Garvin down at the lower right corner carrying his new purchase, a walking stick.  Though Craig and I have decided it is a magic stick because Garvin has turned into a rock star hiker.  We couldn't keep up with him coming out of the canyon.

 Why did Garvin love this hike, and this particular formation?  Because it's a weapon, of course.  This is called Thor's Hammer.

I can't imagine ever getting tired of looking at these formations.  They fascinate me.

And, the final national park for this leg of the trip, the Grand Canyon

Yes, we are those people who wear matching shirts.  There's a story behind these, which I won't bore you with, but I felt good giving the tired hikers something to talk about as they came out of the canyon.  And, Garvin's magic hiking stick is still working.  He blazed a trail going down and back.  We did not hike to the bottom, just a two hour round trip.  This may be considered un-American, but I liked hiking in Bryce Canyon better.

We have seen so many rainbows.  It's been a little rainy, but we've managed to finish our hikes just before the sky opens.  After downpour #1 on this particular afternoon, we watched the storm move across the canyon, complete with lightning and a lot of thunder.

Route 66 -- Seligman, AZ.  The Snow Cap has been serving tourists since the late 40's.  We had a chili dog, some onion rings, and a hot fudge sundae.  I have to say I felt a little sick as we drove out of town.

Rubbing the feet of this statue at Hoover Dam is supposed to bring good luck in Vegas.  I did win $12 at the only slot machine I tried -- we were literally walking out the door of the hotel on our last day, so maybe I need to go back to Hoover Dam . . . 

What's more Vegas than the Statue of Liberty made of jelly beans?  Maybe one of Elvis.

If you don't watch Pawn Stars on the History Channel, then this photo won't mean anything to you.

Garvin spotted this on our first night and said, "Well, we definitely have to go there."  You can imagine the level of quality merchandise in the store.  To his credit, he didn't buy anything.

National Parks

In the past week we've been in  Capitol Reef National Park, Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon.  Rain has been following us wherever we go, but luckily our hikes all ended just before a downpour began.  And, it's given Garvin plenty of time to peruse EVERY souvenir shop in each park.

The only damp part was the tipi outside of Bryce Canyon.  Hotels and campgrounds have been full, or nearly so, everywhere we've gone.  Our options at Bryce were to sleep in our tent, or go for a tipi.  At 7:00 on the first night there we were hungry, all the places we'd checked were full, and it was threatening rain; the tipi sounded better than setting up the tent.  Craig rigged a small lean-to inside the tipi with a tarp, so any rain coming in from the top would avoid us.  The tarp worked well, but couldn't overcome the holes in the side of the tipi.  At 8:30 the next night we were in the laundromat of the campground drying one of the sleeping bags.  But, it was easily fixed and all was well.

During our hike to a natural bridge in Capitol Reef National Park, Garvin wanted to pretend we were different nationalities when other hikers came towards us, so he said, "Mommy, pretend you're French and say bonjour." I laughed and asked him what we'd do if the people were French; he thought that was pretty funny.  When the next couple passed, the man turned to me and said "Allo."  We couldn't believe it.  Garvin said "Try German" -- guess the nationality of the next people who passed!  Then he said, "Try Chinese," and laughed saying, "Probably no one would believe we were Chinese, would they?"  The next two couples who passed us were Asian, though I don't know what nationalities. We gave up the game.

From Capitol Reef we headed south to Zion National Park. It's a stunning place -- Craig says he has no memory of our trip here almost 20 years ago. I know for a fact that we attempted some of The Narrows hike, which takes you through the Virgin River in a narrow canyon.  However, I don't have any memory of driving through the park.

We were thwarted in hiking the Narrows this time due to rain. There was a brief shower, but it was enough to cause a small flash flood on the road, a raging waterfall out the side of a cliff, and raise the water level in the Narrows by almost 200 cubic feet per second. We opted to pass and try again next year. We still enjoyed several great hikes, a ranger talk on park predators (did you know there's a wasp whose sole purpose is to seek out tarantulas, kill them and lay one egg in their abdomen?) We also had a celebrity sighting.  Billy Zane sat down at the table next to us for breakfast.  Remember him?  We don't know if he was with his wife and baby daughter, his sister and niece . . . We've been meaning to Google him, but haven't gotten around to it.  He was very pleasant.  We didn't let on we knew who he was, much to Garvin's dismay.

We head to Vegas today.  Garvin can hardly stand it.  Photos to come, I promise!

Let Go or Be Dragged

This is my new motto.  I've repeated it often over the past week.  The Noot travel plan was to leave Tuesday, Sept. 6 on a two week road trip to test the RV.  Instead, we left yesterday, in our Outback, without an RV.  Craig has been looking all summer.  We've inspected several, even came close to buying one, like the one we drove to Colorado Springs to see last week, but we were nervous about the roof's condition.  

Let Go or Be Dragged comes from a magnet I bought about a month ago in Manitou Springs, CO.  My plan was to put it on the refrigerator of the RV we thought we were buying.  It's possible we'll still find one before we head east in early October.  We'll see.  If not, I'll have to find a place in the car to attach it as a reminder.

As many of you know, we're taking another trip to be other places.  This time it's to various spots in the U.S., and then onto China in late January.  I can tell you what we know about our travel arrangements at this point.  We have tickets leaving Denver on Jan. 6th, with a four day layover in Tokyo, arriving in Bangkok on Jan. 11th, and leaving Shanghai on July 12th.  Beyond that, we'll all be finding out together, because we are making this up as we go.  The "plan" is to live in China for 6 months, traveling in Thailand in January, and who knows where starting in early June till mid-July.


For now, on the first leg of our jaunt, we made it all the way to Grand Junction from Avon (143 miles).  Though that was the plan since we had to stop and pick up the new, thicker camping pads Craig put on hold at REI.  We've decided that since we're of a certain age, our backpacking pads are no longer enough padding when camping.  


Over the next week or so, we'll explore Capital Reef Nation Park, Bryce and Zion, and other area sights.  Then we're headed to Vegas, baby!  Garvin is beside himself -- the flashy lights are much more exciting than the world's natural wonders.  Craig can attend a trade show, so it's a good excuse.


I'll update as we find an internet connection.  Photos to come as well.  Here we go!