No Destination : hoyden and two dogs hit the road full-time

Hey internets working! It's fickle here out boondocking past Escalate, Utah. Better than zero connectivity at Kodachrome, tho I'll probably go back there cuz I liked it a lot!

UPDATE: Start date got moved to June 5 (because of previous commitment of my volunteering at Overnight Expo! That's a terrible sentence, but y'all get it. :) )

This gives me relax time to find a place and get set up! Yay!
 
No internet at Kodachrome because that CG is surrounded by high cliffs. You must take the trail up the side of those cliffs to the top at the entrance of the CG. Great view into CG and surrounding area.
 
hoyden said:
Hey internets working! It's fickle here out boondocking past Escalate, Utah. Better than zero connectivity at Kodachrome, tho I'll probably go back there cuz I liked it a lot!

UPDATE: Start date got moved to June 5 (because of previous commitment of my volunteering at Overnight Expo! That's a terrible sentence, but y'all get it. :) )

This gives me relax time to find a place and get set up! Yay!
Wondered if you'd be able to make it to Expo, see you there.
 
Thanks y'all! But I think I have enough character, thank you very much. You can keep your sweaty sheets.

That doesn't sound right. Ha!

I'm currently in Bryce Harper NP. In the campground! I was going to boondock, but it's $15 w/my National Park Pass and there are some awesome hikes here.

Last night I camped at a spot outside Escalate where I boondocked last year when I was crazy hot! I didn't know it was the same spot til I turned on the dirt road. Ha! I have pics on my camera and will post a real write-up soonish.

Had a(nother) turnbuckle failure on Cottonwood Canyon Road the other day. Der. I think I remember the bump that killed it. That turnbuckle had been loosening past couplea days and I kept having to tighten it. Grr. Have spares now, and hopefully fixed for good.

Tuesday I meet Cayuse to caravan into Tuweep!
 
Oh! 4G at my campground spot! I''ve got 3 rental Class C RVs almost surrounding me, two with generators running right now, but I have internets, so whatever. :-D
 
Stalking Light said:
Wondered if you'd be able to make it to Expo, see you there.
Yeah! Yay! I'm volunteering again - this time they are giving me a walkee-talkee and a supervisory role - suckers! :-D

But I think I'll camp with FWC camp this year instead of with the volunteers.

I hope FWC is having a camp again?!? Yes?!?!
 
hoyden said:
Yeah! Yay! I'm volunteering again - this time they are giving me a walkee-talkee and a supervisory role - suckers! :-D

But I think I'll camp with FWC camp this year instead of with the volunteers.

I hope FWC is having a camp again?!? Yes?!?!
I emailed Stan about it but haven't heard back about how big their booth will be at the new site, I'm hoping to camp with them too.
 
Wait, wait, wait. I thought we were going to get a years worth of 'road stories' and now you are going to IBM? What happened to the friends and family discount at ATC or FWC???? Come on! :).

Ok, I get it.... you need to be able to feed the pups and put gas in the truck.
 
kmcintyre - I didn't hear back from FWC on that job! Guess they caught wind of my 'friends and family' discount side workings... ;-)

Food for pups and truck (and me) is a good thing.
I'd start a "Go Fund Me" but somehow I doubt I'd get much donation for "I don't wanna work, I just wanna play" funding. Ha!

It's chilly in Bryce and rain threatening for this afternoon. Gonna go make sure my propane is topped off and find some lunch. I'm currently at the Visitor's Center hogging their WiFi. Took a nice little hike with Argos this morning! After the rain today, I'll go back up and this time remember to bring my camera!
 
One of these days I'll upload my photos and do an actual write-up. I'm tired this evening. After spending a lot of cold and wet nights and days the past couple of weeks, the impending storm and darkness across the horizon was too much. I had popped up at Pipe Spring National Monument, after paying my ten bucks for a tent site and was pretty content with toilet close-by and did a load of laundry. Well, I washed Pugsly's dirty doggie bed. Worth the $3.50. I went to take a shower, but none of the three would turn on. Boo.

After a couple of hours, the wind was getting to me. It was strong enough that walking was difficult! The darkness on the horizon loomed... and I skedaddled.

First, I went into Fredonia about 14 miles up the road. I stopped in at what looked to be a quaint little motel with cabins. Sign out front said "$39 cabins". I went in and was hit with a wall of cat urine smell. The elderly lady proprietor spied and me and shuffled out. She was very sweet, but as she was looking for her pen, I glanced at Trip Advisor and saw "bed bugs". I ran away...

...to Kanab. I'm currently at a cute motel "Sun 'n Sand Motel" Fuggit. I need a shower.
(ooh, here's their actual website - that other link is the Trip Advisor reviews)
This will be an expensive shower (actually, not too terribly bad) but I must admit that sitting on a bed, with cable and internets and plumbing is rather nice. Especially after weathering rainy Kodachrome, a sleet/snow/rain "wintry mix" off and on for a couple of days at Bryce Canyon, and rain while popping-down this morning at Zion not to mention all the people. SO MANY PEOPLE! Holy cow Zion was a zoo. Beautiful, but reminded me why I don't do National Parks, even moreso than at Bryce.
 
Lady Bug, you are easing back into civilization.............................best of luck with the job and your future. Just don't forget to feed your wild side now and again.
 
Wild side is getting fed still! Cayuse is heading this direction as I type and we will meet up tomorrow for an adventure into Tuweep! :D

But yeah, I can tell that my head is partly back in civilization. I'm worried about Pugsly and how to take care of her once I start working. That concern actually woke me at 2am last night. :(

I've been trying to decide what to do with April til the Expo and a big part of me wants to go back to my friend's ranch in Skull Valley.
If he hasn't rented his main house, I will probably go there for a week or two at least. Someone has to run that tractor!

I've thought about heading PNW to visit some old friends, but I just don't feel like driving that much. Maybe that feeling will change, but having a deadline changes my relationship to adventuring and adds a layer of stress that I somewhat resent.

In a way, I think that shorter deadlines are easier (for me). A four day weekend. I can get into that mode. But a month+ is enough time to lose oneself in the travel, but with the annoyance of having to check the calendar and make sure are in a position for timely return.

I know... I over-think. I got it from my dad. :)
 
Thanks!
Probably won't get to Best Friends this trip - but I have visited there before! The other day I did look online to see about camping and/or volunteering there for a day or two, but no camping spots were available. Too short notice, I guess. Next time!

The motel I'm staying apparently gets a lot of folks from Best Friends - and it's very dog friendly!
I hadn't even looked it up, just randomly found it! Neat!
 
allanb - As much as I hate the crowds, Bryce was worth it and the crowds weren't too bad. Perhaps cuz of the weather, though I don't think so. The campgrounds were full. I think it's just such a large space and lots of good hiking. It's worth a looksee into that abyss...

as for Zion... I must go back. It's amazing. But I'll do it much differently. I won't bother with the shuttle. Oddly, the shuttle tour made me lonely. Maybe I was just tired. Regardless, I think it was the hyper-control park stuff that I experienced that did me in,. Dogs only on one (crowded) walking path, shuttle-in-only, crazy amount of people - the campgrounds were pretty full, but that was actually okay, it was the full parking lot of day trippers that was the worst. So many people. There are prescribed hikes and you take the shuttle to those specific hikes and all those people were there.

The differently I'd do would be to go on the longer hikes. Fewer people. I actually like having some people around on hikes - going solo gives me the heebie-jeebies - but not a crowded hike like a lot of the shorter ones I saw. Also, I'd definitely go up to the central and north areas. The touristy part of the park is that southern part. Here's a .pdf of the map - scroll down.

Look how little of the park is seen from the southern area. That's where Hwy 9 goes through - which is amazing scenery, especially the part coming in from the East Entrance (that's where I entered. If you are claustrophobic, might wanna skip that tho, there's a crazy long tunnel). I'd like to take the Kolob Terrace Road and camp out at Lava Point
 
allanb said:
Cool, thanks for the tips, I haven't started to research Bryce and Zion yet.
I'll be bringing the tw200. If we meet up end of April, first of may, giving it a good try out will help give ya something to do :)
OOH! AWESOME! YES!
 
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