Sunday, August 31, 2014

It was Joani's birthday, so I wanted to make it special for her.  Of course, I'm not very good at that sort of stuff, so my plan included some shopping, a museum and eating out.  The only thing that could possibly be considered special was that some of the shopping was at "girl" stores and I just read in the car so she could take her time.

Before we hit the road, she opened a package from Katie.  Katie had recently taken up knitting and had become very proficient very quickly. She knitted Joani a cozy that buttoned around a mug.  The birthday girl loved it and immediately set out to capture it from all sides in a single picture. 

Thank you, Katie!  I love my mug cozy!

On the way to the museum, we realized (thanks to Google maps) it was closed on Sundays.  Our life on the road has taught us to improvise when plans need to change.  We added a little extra shopping, went to eat a bit earlier and managed to fill the day.  Joani found some nice jeans that fit perfectly and they were marked way down (birthday bonus).

Saturday, August 30, 2014

I caught just a little bit of a commercial inviting everyone to join in the Swiss Days Celebration.  I thought I heard them say it was Labor Day weekend in Heber City.  Since it was the Labor Day weekend and we were ready for a drive in the mountains, we headed out.  It was overcast, but that just meant it was cool enough for Sam to ride along.

Our route took us north on US 189 which followed the Jordan River. We passed 10 parks on our way and we noticed a walking/biking trail also followed the river most of the way.  We passed a lot of hardy souls who thought it was warm enough to be tubing down the river (I suspect they were pretty blue when they got out of the water!). 

Heber City is just a 30-mile drive along Hwy 189 from our site in Springville/Provo KOA.

The Jordan River flows out of Deer Creek Reservoir where we saw a watercraft density to rival that of Lake Lanier in Georgia on its busiest day.  It doesn't show well in the pictures (we didn't stop because the parking seemed to all be taken), but believe me, we followed the shoreline for more than six miles and I never saw a break in the lake traffic.

We stopped in Heber City for some lunch and tried to get our bearings. We didn't see any signs or banners and found absolutely no celebration!  Heber City appeared to be pretty upscale with a lot of new shopping areas.  We walked around a couple Sam friendly stores (mostly to walk off some of our lunch) and finally learned the Swiss Days celebration (in Heber Valley - not Heber City) was in the adjacent town of Midway about three miles west.  A clerk cautioned that it would be extremely crowded - that (and rain) was all it took to talk us out of visiting.  Where did our sense of adventure go?

Fall has begun in the mountains.  Where did the summer go!?

There were a lot of little waterfalls along Hwy 189, but Bridal Veil Falls was the most impressive.  There were crazy people climbing all over the loose boulders.  I spotted people more than 2/3's of the way up the falls. 

A falls looks far less impressive when it is just off the side of the road.  Somehow a two or more mile hike seems to add to the majesty.

That is just an observation, not a complaint.  With the threat of rain, this was not a good day for a hike.

Nice outing even without the Swiss Days Festivities!

Tuesay, August 26, 2014

OK, this was a new one for me.  A mid-engine, class A motorhome with a rear garage!  This was a 2007 Travel Supreme.  It was designed to hold a Mini Cooper, but the car was too heavy to work well.  When the SmartCar was introduced it fit nicely.  Of course, you have to give up a car's worth of volume for this convenience.  You have to climb up on the bed and there's a lot less basement.  These folks were from California and this was their first motorhome.  They had only had it a few months but seemed very happy with their selection. 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

There was some pretty heavy rain all through the night.  Sam did not get a lot of sleep and thought it would be alright to peek over the edge of the bed and pant in my face.  That meant I didn't get a lot of sleep either.  I think at this point it would be safe to assume he will never get over his fear of rain.  Along with the rain, it was pretty cool as well, maybe into the high 40's or low 50's, but I would not have guessed just how cold it was up on the mountains surrounding us.

Snow in August!  Really?

Apparently, it was a quite a bit colder at the top of the mountain behind our coach and the rain last night created a winter wonderland.  Beautiful!

As Sam and I took our morning walk, we passed a policeman setting up orange cones around a corner.  He said the bicycle leg of a triathlon would be passing through the campground.  After the first rider passed by, I waited for 3-4 minutes before for second one and another 1 or 2 minutes before I saw the third racer.  Just as I started thinking there probably would not be very many people in a race like this, they started passing by in larger groups.  I learned from one guy who was fixing a flat tire that the number of race entries was capped at 500!  I also found out it was a "half-triathlon," so they only had to do a leisurely 56 miles on the bicycles.

David found out our campground was part of a triathlon route.

It was fun watching the big rigs dodge the cyclers.

The participants came back through the same way.  David watched some of the cyclists go the wrong way. . .

. . . and ended up helping the rest by pointing the way.  He stood there for over an hour waving them on.  The route took them down a one-way road - the wrong way!  He received many, many shouts of appreciation.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Joani had wanted a new commode for as long as I could remember. She had done a lot of research and settled on one particular model (Dometic 320).  It was in-stock at Camping World and the guy was happy to match an internet price, so we had another project to tackle, Yea!

When we installed the floor I had capped the plumbing line with a shut-off valve, so removal of the old commode was no problem. Unfortunately, the flange collar did not line up with the new holes, so it required a few trips to Home Depot before finding just the right parts to remedy that situation.

The new unit did not include a sprayer (something Joani strongly felt was required).  I had intended to tap into the supply line but looking at the vacuum breaker module it was pretty clear they were almost identical.  Just a little modification and the module from the old unit was installed in the new unit with the required sprayer neatly included.

The last obstacle was connecting the supply line.  In a house, there are standards for most all plumbing, but Dometic did not feel the need to conform - their's was not a household product.  The valve was sized for a standard home faucet supply line (instead of a standard toilet supply line) except that there was no clearance for a standard cone washer.

After studying the mismatching plumbing for a while I decided to replace the cone washer with an "O-ring".  I was not sure just how well my fix would work, but everything tightened up well and held pressure nicely.  The last step was to replace the heavy enameled wood seat/cover (which had no place in a moving house) with a nicely molded plastic, soft close cover and the installation was complete.

Sunday, August 16, 2014

There are a lot of openings in the coach ceiling that allow the heat in on a sunny day.  Our air conditioners ran a lot to overcome the heat gain and on very sunny days they struggled to keep up, running continuously just to make it a little cooler inside (don't mean to be complaining - that little bit of cooling was much appreciated).  Our solution: custom cut styrofoam inserts for each of the fans and the shower skylight.

There was a Home Depot just a mile away - the perfect place to find supplies for our projects.  It had been several months since we roamed the aisles at a Home Depot, so we spent quite a while looking at new items and thinking about how we could put them to good use.  Joani found the perfect material for vent covers.  It was styrofoam with mylar (shiny aluminum) on one side and a plastic barrier on the other side (used to wrap the outside of a house and create a moisture barrier.)

The shower skylight was approximately 38 inches square and Joani had a plan to double the foam for each cover so we chose a 4 x 8 foot x 1/2 inch thick sheet (less than $8).  A well-placed cut (leaving pieces larger than required for the shower) allowed it to easily fit into the car.

Joani made a cardboard template for the shower skylight opening then transferred the shape to the styrofoam board.  She cut the board easily with a snap blade razor knife.  After a test fit in the opening she joined the two pieces (mylar sides out) with aluminum duct tape.  The Fan-tas-tic vent covers were easy square cuts. 

Another strip of tape across the top of each insert served as a pull to help remove the covers when they are installed.  A nice tight fit (and the extreme light weight of the material) ensures the inserts stay in place.

Even though it was the middle of the day, you wouldn't know it looking back towards the bedroom!  With the nightshades down and the vent covers in place, it was dark.  No more waking up with the sun (unless we want to).

Thursday, August 14, 2014

We were in Gros Ventre campground in Grand Teton National Park for four weeks and saw a lot more than last year, but there is still more to explore the next time we visit.  The Tetons have had, without doubt, more wildlife than we have seen in any single park so far.

Joani found us a park near Provo, UT with full hook-ups. After a month of rationing water and having to run the generator to charge batteries, full hook-ups sounded like quite a treat!  She actually had planned a stop (overnighting at a Flying J) halfway (to go easy on the driver). But, the thought of a long, long, hot shower kept me driving straight through to the Springville/Provo KOA, a whopping 343.4 miles (70,331.9 total).

The scenery during our drive was fantastic!

A little of the rolling hills and curves can be seen in the picture below. About half of the day's driving was on secondary roads and a half was on Interstate highways.  I usually prefer the secondary or back roads, since the scenery is almost always better.  Often, the back roads have better pavement and less traffic as well.

As far as we could remember, this was our first stay in a KOA park (usually too pricey).  We wanted to stay for a while with the hope that the weather would cool a bit before moving on to the southeast Utah parks and Moab.  Staying for a month also made the daily rate more affordable.  This park had just recently become a KOA park and seemed to have just about everything we could ask for (a jacuzzi would have been nice, but no).  It was clean and not too crowded.  We picked a site close to the pool and laundry (a months worth of dirty clothes awaited me) and settled in.  Later in the afternoon, as the sun hung low in the west, we were treated to a beautiful sunset - what a great end to a long day!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

We had tried twice already to visit the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, but each time we arrived too late to find a place in the limited parking.  This morning we headed out earlier and found ourselves in a bison jam along the road.  These guys couldn't decide which side of the road they wanted and nobody was going to nudge them along with their car, so we waited for what seemed like a half hour, though it was probably not more than 5 minutes, before we could continue.

Along the Moose-Wilson road, Joani spotted an owl perched in a tree. We stopped at the next available pull-out and walked back.  He was still there waiting on us!  Of course, as people saw us with our cameras out they stopped on the road and created a jam.  I'm not sure we have ever seen an owl in the wild - Joani gets all of the credit for spotting it from a moving car.

I assumed this was a Barred Owl, but research says not in the Tetons.

It looks like this may be a Great Gray (or Grey) owl, (similar in looks, but larger - with yellow eyes.)

When we arrived at the Rockefeller center, the last parking space in the lot was filled by the car in front of us.  It hit me that there were probably a half dozen cars in the lot that had passed us while we were owl watching.  They were able to park before us, but they didn't get to commune with the cool owl.  We only had to wait for about 15 minutes before someone left and we could claim a parking spot.  

Consulting the map, we chose to head to the lake on the Woodland Trail and return on the Lake Creek Trail.  That was the opposite of what almost everyone else did, so we enjoyed a lot of quiet time to ourselves.  Like the Bradley and Taggart Lakes trails, the Phelps Lake hike was very popular, but the big difference was that the number of people at any one time around Phelps Lake was limited (and strictly enforced) by the parking.

While hiking, we heard of some bear sightings, but insects and flowers were the only wildlife we captured in pictures.

Green Darner Dragonfly

The lake, of course, was beautiful and we both agreed the length and difficulty of the hike were just about ideal for us (moderate effort, 3-mile round trip).  I'm sure the combination of sun, clouds, high 70's and low humidity helped to make the hike more enjoyable as well.  There was a trail making a complete loop around the lake, but at 7 miles we opted to just enjoy the view along the south end of the lake.  The panorama captures the expanse of the scene.  There was a calm inlet off of the main lake where the water was like glass.

The flower below was so unusual, I set up the tripod and tried a lot of different exposures, but I still don't think I adequately captured what we saw.

Yellow Columbine

Joani's camera has a fantastic macro capability, as you can see with the fly and ants enjoying the tiny flower below.

As we moved around the bottom of the lake looking more towards the east the color of the water changed.  I was amazed by the range of color we could see from this point - deep purple farthest away, then shades of blue, turquoise, green and finally yellows and brown at our feet.

Leafy Aster

I see a fish complete with bubbles. (Wait, fish don't have bubbles, do they.)

I think it must a Betta fish building his "love" nest

The loop hike ended back at the Rockefeller Preserve visitors center. Inside, there were some nice multimedia presentations displaying the beauty of the preserve through the seasons.  Another room allowed you to immerse yourself in the sounds of the forest.  Along one wall there was a large (maybe 6 x 10 foot) mosaic that was a picture of Phelps Lake when viewed from a distance, but closer, the thousands of individual pictures from the areas could be seen.

As we headed back to the car, we saw angry gray clouds billowing above us.  They had come in from the west over the mountains and appeared ready to burst.  I stopped for some pictures of the Rockefeller Preserve building when the thunder started to roll.  It required some quick stepping to get to the car just as the first large raindrops started to fall. 

LSR Preserve visitors center, 7,573 sq. ft., opened in 2008.

Monday, August 11, 2014

During Sam's early morning walk, I spotted another moose.  This one was a big bull moose, so I hurried back and got Joani and a camera. When we caught up with Mr. Moose he had wandered back towards the river and into the dense undergrowth.  Joani followed him along the river's edge, while I circled around ahead of his path.

I'm a firm believer of "Be careful what you wish for..."

But, this time, there was no downside!

As I waited for him to emerge from the underbrush, it never occurred to me that he had the option of simply crossing the river.  Joani was able to get some really nice pictures as he waded towards the other side. 

I was hoping for a big bull with large paddles and good light.

Nearly our last day, but my desires were realized.

I followed from a distance on the campground side of the Gros Ventre River, and then he decided to cross - looking into the sun.  Thank you, big bull!

This parting shot will be a lasting memory of Teton National Park!

Later in the afternoon, on the way into Jackson, we stopped along the roadside for some more cloud drama over the Tetons.  We were very fortunate to have so many opportunities to experience the beauty of the park.

The lighting changed drastically from moment to moment so that sometimes we would see the perfect light, but it would change before we could stop for the picture.  Watching the cloud drama move and change over the Tetons was special, with or without a camera.