HEBER VALLEY

We are currently parked in Heber City, UT, about 50 miles Southeast of Salt Lake city.  This is a beautiful, mountainous recreation heavy area.  Yesterday it was about 90 when we got here and today we will just barely make 80.  Tomorrow the temps start climbing again into the 90's.  That's still cooler than Las Vegas.

We are "camped" in the Mountain View RV park which is a very nice place and it also seems to be very full.  I think it is popular with the Salt Lake City crowd.  Late this afternoon my sister Kris will be coming to have dinner with us.  We are looking forward to that visit.  In the morning we will continue north to the "Canyons Of The Moon." in Idaho.

Tomorrow's route.  Bypasses Sale Lake City.  About 290 miles

Look closely at the snow marker, it is almost 6', yah think it snows here?

Pretty much the view out our windshield

Visit with Sister Kris

LEAVING LAS VEGAS - THE ESCAPE.

One problem with headings like the above - when you have a lot of family left behind they might take exception to my personal opinion concerning the heat.  Even our son Paul says, "Come on dad, it is not THAT bad."  Clearly I am a heat wimp.  It's not them it's me.  Although, I was tolerating it much better this year than last so maybe I was starting to acclimate - just in time to leave.

Anyway, today's report is short and sweet.  We left at 10 am this morning.  Changed one time zone, lost an hour, and arrived here 3:00 local time.  Uneventful drive other than watching the outside temp slowly fall as we gained elevation.  We are now at roughly 6,000 feet and the temp is in the mid 80's.

Friday we are headed to Heber City, UT which is east of Provo and about 180 miles from here.  An easy drive.  More on that later.  Right now I think I feel a nap coming on......

BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN BEAVER

All  the shopping and stocking is done.  Arlyene has paid her mom one list visit before we depart .  It appears we are ready to head out - and none too soon.

With some luck we will be in Beaver, UT tomorrow afternoon where it will be more like 88 or 89.  Let the cooling begin!

In the middle of July Arlyene will fly back here and spend about a week checking on  her mom's progress and giving some other family members a break while I house/dog sit in Idaho.  I think as long as I throw the ball often enough and far enough Rusty and I will get along just fine.

A CHANGE OF PLANS

After careful consideration we have decided to eliminate the Mesa Verde and Moab portion of our trip which will give us two more weeks here in Las Vegas to evaluate and decide what our best next steps will be with regards to Arlyene's mom.  Like I said in the prior post, (which turned out to be a little premature), sometime "Life Gets In The Way".

Luckily our air conditioners were fully serviced about a month ago and are doing an excellent job - BUT the webs between my Seattle Native toes are requiring lots of lotion to keep from drying out.

WAKE UP TIME!

With a yawn and a stretch it is time to wake up the old blog and brush off our blogging skills in anticipation of leaving Las Vegas on Friday June 2nd. This year the plan for the first part of our trip will take us someplace we have not been before in a state we have not been before now. Our goal for the first week of the trip is Mesa Verde National Park in Southwestern Colorado where we will spend about five days taking in the various sights in the area and enjoying somewhat cooler weather. (Might even need a blanket at night which has not been the case here for several days now.) Our next destination will be Moab, UT where we will visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We have been to both before and are looking forward to going back. With new tires on the Jeep we just might get some views we did not get last time when we had the pickup truck. 

PART ONE - Click on Map to Enlarge

From the town of Moab we hope to travel to Heber City, UT and visit my sister Kris who lives nearby in Sundance. From there we hope to spend a couple days in Arco, ID which is near to "Craters Of The Moon" National Monument and then work our way north through Montana to Coeur d' Alene, ID for a few days were we will stock up and get some routine coach maintenance done in Spokane before moving on north to Sagle, ID where we will visit our friends Larry and Linda who have a wonderfully large driveway with everything we need for a nice, long visit to include the 4th of July. While there we will take make a Jeep trip to Seattle, which we will cover in more detail later.

PART TWO - Click On Map To Enlarge

After returning to Sagle we will buddy travel with Larry and Linda in their motorhome down to Sisters, OR where we will meet up with three other couples for a reunion like the one we had last year up in Blaine, WA.   After Sisters Larry and Linda will return to Sagle and we will work our way back to Las Vegas stopping to see friends or relatives along the I-5 corridor starting in Medford. More on that part of the trip later too.

They say that sometime Life Gets In The Way of our plans and right now we are kind of in that spot. Arlyene's 92 year old mom fell and broke her hip a couple of days ago. She has had surgery and is awaiting an evaluation of what kind of rehab will be needed, where and for how long. We are torn about whether to proceed with our travel plans or not and the next few days will make that decision more clear for us. So until we know otherwise, this is our plan.

In the meantime we are also excited to see progress on our new addition here on our lot at the resort.  We now have a foundation for our new 100 sq foot utility building that will be a combination of storage space and a guest bathroom.  It will also be capable of housing a washer and dryer.  We are really, really hoping that it gets all done by the time we get back but the ways of contractors are often mysterious and our definitions of things related to working hours and days do not seem to align quite right.  We (I) are not going to stress about it and just trust that it is going to get done and get done correctly - even without me here to supervise......😱

Click To Enlarge

BAD BOYS

One of the things we like about spending a lot of time in Las Vegas is that it is so easy for our friends to come and visit us.  This week we had a brief visit from my older-than-me high school buddy Jim Iverson.  We did a nice day trip to Red Rock Canyon that included a hike which we followed up with some time in the SPA back here at the resort.  After that we went to the Monday Night service at our church.

Had a great time and hope you can come back again soon Jim.

MY MOON SHOT

Not what you might be thinking.  Not mooning anyone.  Just could not resist posting a couple of the photos I was able to take of the "Super Moon" last night.  Pretty cool to get a shot like this with my own camera.  A clear and calm desert night helped a lot too.