Heartland Road Tour

Grand Tetons

WOW!

Dog and I are at The Grand Tetons National Park. What a fantastic place. We’re staying at the Colter Campground. The campground, NOT the RV park with full hookups. :). Hey, the bathrooms have cold running water. It’s quite an upgrade from our recent camping areas. Cell (AT&T) coverage is poor at the campsite. How can I have 3 bars of 3G and not be able to access the Internet?

We got up early to catch some photos yesterday and today. Yesterday we went on to do the 50+ mile loop through the park. What a delight!

Heartland Road Tour

Idaho Falls

I decided to stop for the day in Idaho Falls. I’m not sure about the rest of the city but the area where I landed is lovely.

They get nearly all their electricity from a single hydroelectric station on the Snake River. I find that amazing for a city with a population of nearly 60,000.


This is the generating station. I’m used to seeing dams built across valleys to create lakes from which the turbines are driven. Here, the river has such a tremendous flow that they simply divert it through the turbines as is passes through the city.  What a nice, clean and unobtrusive power plant.

And then they built a lovely park along both sides of the river around the plant.


Of course, Heleigh had to go swimming.


At this point Idaho Falls is the highlight of her trip.

Cheers.

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Imagine the view

I can only imagine the view they have while floating above the Northern Utah Mountains. 

R.V.

Memorial Day in Heber City Utah

I was meandering north without a care in the world.  Because my usual Modus Operandi is to “wander at will”, I usually loose track of time and date.  All of a sudden it was Memorial Day weekend and every camping spot for miles and miles was full.  Darn!  I needed a place to lay low for the holiday.  I pulled into Heber City and found the WalMart.  I went in and spoke with the manager who graciously gave me permission to “asphalt camp” for the next couple days.

Heber City is a beautiful, upscale community.  I enjoyed walking around and exploring.  It turns out that an airport was just a block away and someone was having fun with a vintage warplane.

Vintage aircraft celebrating Memorial Day

I enjoyed my stay there.

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Oh what fun

I am going to have so much fun when I return home and get the HeartLand RoadTour Rewind images up on a good computer screen where I can see and edit them. 

Heartland Road Tour

Too long in the wasteland….

 


Too long in the wasteland of my mind.

I’m not certain it’s a bad thing however.

Yesterday I was at the Grand View overlook in Canyonlands – Island In The Sky. Tourists were in abundance (myself included I suppose). No matter where I walked I couldn’t escape this one couple. Apparently they were unable to think without doing it out loud. There was no escaping them!

This morning I’m leaving the high desert. We’re heading north.

What better way to start a road day than with a real breakfast from a restaurant?  I’ve been wanting an omelette for several days now.

Just how long can someone discuss bacon??? Two couples in a booth behind me managed to do so for the entire duration of my breakfast.

Oh well. I like bacon but can it dominate a conversation for half an hour?

1964 – Silence Is Golden – Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons

Cheers! Dog and I are heading to high country. Thanks for riding along.

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Homework

The thought just hit me that when I return home from the Heartland RoadTour Rewind it’ll take days and days to sort through photographs. 

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Ever changing scenery of Utah

Early morning on a highway from nowhere to someplace else. 


I love the mornings. Always have! In addition to giving me time to enjoy a new day, the light is awesome for photography. 

I can’t wait to get this image into the computer and make some subtle tweaks. 

This was on the edge of Capitol Reef National Park On Utah highway 24. 

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Utah is a big state. 

It’s large and geographically diverse enough to have some crazy differences in weather. 

Day before yesterday I was in the extremely warm and arid high desert. Today I’m in the middle latitudes and elevations and it’s cool and humid (relatively);). 


Yikes. Back down to the low 30 the next couple nights. 

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Oops. 

Drove to Canyonlands National Park today. To be precise, I drove to Squaw Flats campground at the Needles District of Canyonlands. I went past Arches and Moab thinking I’d hit them on my way back north. It was about a 175 mile trip. 

When I arrived, the campground was already full. Quite a few of the campers were scheduled to leave in the morning so I drove to Hamburger Rock Campground on BLM land outside Canyonlands to look for a place for tonight. I’d hoped the road was good and I’d find a campsite when I arrived. 

The road was ok. Washboard the whole way but passable. No sites we’re available there either. Or at least none that weren’t mud. 

I turned back and went to Canyonlands visitor center to grab maps and a bite to eat for the dog and myself. After a nice lunch in the RV, I decided to drive closer to Moab and look for a place to crash for the night. 

Huh??? When I turned the key, the motor turned over but didn’t start. I turned the key off and then tried again. This time it started. 

But the check engine light was on.   I keep a scanner attached to the computer port so I can monitor temperatures, engine load, etc.. I looked for a code and found P0335. Oh oh. Problems with the crankshaft position sensor. 

While it’s running ok, I know it failed once and I know the computer made note of it. I’ve already been traveling on some long lonely roads but I’m heading into Wyoming soon. I sure don’t need to break down there. 

I found a shop in Salt Lake and spoke with the service writer. They have the sensor and can squeeze me in tomorrow. So, I turned around and drove another 200 miles north to Price Utah. I’ve found a quiet (I hope) parking lot to get some sleep and will drive another couple hours to Salt Lake early in the A. M.  

Hopefully we’ll get in an out without too much damage. It’s going to wreck my budget but I’d like as little damage as possible. 

Is this when I should point out that donate button there on the page you have on your screen? You bet it is. Every penny helps. And thank you. 

Oh one more observation. You know all those funny jokes you see about Walmart customers?  Utah hasn’t many walmarts but I’m certain that the few they do, set the bar for the rest. Yikes!