(I left you yesterday in the Valley of Fire campground after a day of doing pretty much nothing).

This morning I woke up well after sunrise. It felt good to finally sleep in. Checked my weather app, and it was a little bit chilly. I’m sure once the sun gets higher in the sky it’ll warm up nicely. While checking emails and social media (taking advantage of what was left of my Wi-Fi) I had a bit of breakfast and some coffee; and that’s when it dawned on me… the bighorn sheep! I quickly put on my shoes, grabbed my camera, and ran out the door. And there they were, the same spot as they were the day before, munching away on the bushes. A small crowd had gathered but the sheep couldn’t have cared less. Even though they were docile and otherwise engaged, I didn’t want to encroach on their territory. I’d have killed for a long lens though to zoom in on these awesome animals. But, they were wild, and no matter how oblivious they were to us humans, I had to keep my distance. I did the best I could with the lens I had (and then cropped the crap out of the photos in post. haha).

As the sheep were finishing up and leaving the area, I figured it was time to head back and get ready to leave myself. Another camper saw my camera and pointed out a blooming prickly pear cactus that I may want to capture. Pretty pink flowers, oh yes! Being in a bit of a hurry, I didn’t capture it very well, but it was pretty. It would have been fun looking for more. But… it wasn’t to be.

This blooming Prickly Pear Cactus caught my eye.

After that bit of excitement, I packed up for my ‘long’ trip to Kanab. The trip was about a 3-hour drive, approximately 180 miles. I unhooked the water and electricity and made use of my tire gauge. I had to check to see if the spare tire installed yesterday was fully inflated. Surprise, surprise, it was not. 60psi. Ugh… not again… I just hoped the pressure was low because it hadn’t been checked in a while, rather than having issues and was in need of repair. I’d have to stop at the gas station again to fill up the tire before heading out to the interstate. I was getting pretty tired of these tire issues. Arrgghh…

Before heading out I took a few photos of the RV and a video of the campsite.

Can’t beat the views from Valley of Fire, even in the campground! Ol’ Jezebel, looking pretty good in the early morning light.

Back inside, I made sure everything was secured so things wouldn’t be rolling off the counter or seats on my drive. And then I was off! Took a quick pit-stop at the Maverik gas station, again, and pumped up the one bad tire. It seemed to fill up ok this time, I didn’t hear the hissing I heard with the other tire. Perhaps it was the valve stem as the guy inferred the day before. Even though it only went to 70psi, I felt good that it would hold the pressure unlike the other one did. I called the Rental Assistance line again and told them that the spare was not fully inflated and that I was driving on 70psi tires. She assured me it was ok and to check it again when I stopped next. So that was that!

Heading north again on Nevada Hwy 169, where it would eventually meet with the interstate I-15, then I-15 through the upper northwest corner of Arizona; about 30 miles worth. This stretch of highway had some of the most gorgeous scenery; mainly the Virgin River Gorge. I would have snapped a photo with my phone, but, I didn’t want to take my hands off the wheel driving through it. You know a road is getting more sketchy when it goes from 70 mph to 55 mph. It was all I could do to keep my eyes on the road! Haha There’s a little day use and campground area near the northern end of the gorge that I had found when doing my trip research, and really wanted to spend the night. Unfortunately, it’s been under renovations for quite a while. Hopefully, next time I come through here it’ll be open. After the gorge, I was back in Utah. I kept heading north, and just past St. George I exited onto Utah Hwy. 9 and followed that through Hurricane (Utahans pronounce it Hur-a-kin), and then back south onto Utah Hwy 59 into Arizona, again. At the big ‘metropolis’ of Hilldale, UT/Colorado City, AZ, the highway switched to Arizona Hwy. 389. I followed that east to Fredonia where I met up with US Hwy. 89A, and then turned north into Kanab, Utah. Was a nice peaceful ride. No issues with traffic or even the tire. I got used to looking at that ol’ warning light on the dash.

When I got to the southern edge of Kanab, I saw Little’s Diesel Service; this was where I was told to take the RV to get the stove fixed. So I pulled in and told them who I was. They wondered where I was because they expected me yesterday. I shook my head and rolled my eyes in disgust. “No”, I told them, “Cruise America got it wrong. I told them I would be in Kanab on Thursday; today.” Cruise America’s incompetence was unreal. Unfortunately, the RV guy wasn’t there, he was on a call somewhere near the Kaibab Forest. I told them I was staying at the Kanab RV Corral and gave them my numbers (not sure what kind of service I’d have). I also told them about my tire issues, that they too needed to be fixed; and that if Cruise America wouldn’t approve it, I’d just pay for it myself because I wanted ALL my tires, including the spare, to be functional. They said they’d call, maybe even stop at the campground to perform the repair. That would have been ideal.

The RV Corral was only a few miles up the road from there. I pulled in and checked into the campground. What nice folks! So helpful and offered a bunch of options for tours, restaurants, etc. I told them I was in town for a photography conference, and she said others staying there were also going. I also reminded her of the box arriving for me from LensRentals the next day. She assured me she’d keep it safe.

My campsite was right next to the bathrooms/laundry building, which was nice. The campground wasn’t the most scenic place, I mean, it was very clean and well kept (and level), but it was just gravel and in the city. I guess I sacrificed scenery for convenience, which was fine. Perhaps I’d been spoiled by the last three super scenic spots I camped at. But, I was there to attend the conference, and it was close enough I could walk there rather than having to unhook and drive in every day. But even though it lacked the grand scenery, I think I had the nicest tree in the campground right next to me, it had pretty purple flowers. From my research, and confirmation from the campground, it was an Eastern Redbud tree.

Once parked and leveled, I had to do the dreaded tank dump… Eeesssshhhh. Found my box of rubber gloves and put a pair on, found the hose and attached it to the tube that attaches to the waste tanks, and then put the other end down the hole in the ground. “Ok”, I said, as I rubbed and then clapped my hands together stalling, “just gotta release the hounds!” So I went in search of the pull levers for the gray and black tanks, thinking “where did the Cruise America guy say they were again?” I looked and looked all over on the side of the RV. I then cringed wondering if they had been on the other side. But that made no sense (and they weren’t). Then I remembered (ah-ha!) they were in the back. I looked around to see if anyone was watching me (make a fool of myself); hee hee. After I located them, I looked closer, and both levers were identical. I remembered the guy said, “left is black, right is gray”, or did he? WHY DON’T RV MANUFACTURERS MAKE THE LEVERS THE COLOR OF THE TANKS? Seriously! That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You call them gray and black water, why not put a gray and black lever on them! Both levers were black, neither had any writing on them. I would think Cruise America could have at least put some colored tape around part of the lever to indicate which was which, you know, for us part-timers who are clueless. Nope. So… I had to choose, I looked at it in a practical manner, and decided I’d try the left as it was the one directly under the bathroom; path of least resistance, right? So, hopefully, it was the black tank. With my fingers crossed, I pulled the lever… YAY! I chose correctly! How do you know? Haahaa, the nose knows… and that’s all I’m gonna say about that!

(Standing there waiting for the tank to empty, I had visions of an old dumping incident run through my head. When I was a kid, a few years after my Mom & Dad bought their first RV in the late 1970s, our family made a yearly trip from our home in Wisconsin to central Florida during spring break. We went with other families. Once we were leaving a campground, can’t remember where now, but my Dad did his dump duty, and then the other family did theirs while we waited. This friend of my Dad’s was pretty particular about not getting ‘any’ on him. He wore heavy-duty work gloves and rubber boots. He was also pretty cheap “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” mentality. One of the two connectors on the hose was broken, I guess it had been for quite a while. He had dumped several times with just the one and it held fine. Well, his luck finally ran out. After making a colorful comment about its contents as he pulled the lever, the one connection failed, and the pressure of the release blew the hose off the tube, and sewage flew everywhere. I don’t think I laughed so hard as I did then, I know my Dad didn’t. And did it STINK! Visions like that never leave you. I smiled and thought “I never want that to happen to me, ever!”)

Not hearing any water rushing anymore, I grabbed the hose and shook it, made sure nothing was ‘lingering’ and shut the valve. Next, it was the gray water tank, and that went very smoothly. I went inside and ran some water down the sink and pulled the gray water lever again. When I was sure there was no more water draining, I pulled the hose out of the hole and placed it back in the slot where the hose was stored, and locked it. I gotta admit, I was pretty satisfied with my first dump experience. I took off the gloves and went inside and washed my hands, very thoroughly!

All this time I had been in contact with my friend Delfin, who had also signed up to attend this weekend’s conference, but he had a different vacation planned around it than I did. He booked photo tours and stayed in hotels. He also arrived earlier in the week, so he had been in Kanab a few days before I arrived. He already knew the good places to eat and how to get around. He picked me up with his rental car and we went out exploring.

Seeing it was a bit too early to get dinner, he wanted to find a certain landmark he had heard of. So we drove south into Fredonia. Never did find it. But oh the pretty clouds we came upon. Why didn’t we bring our cameras? SMH… I grabbed a few shots through the windshield with my phone. We then turned around and headed back into Kanab for dinner.

Looked like some angel rising from the desert; or maybe a ghost?

We had dinner at this local icon restaurant, the Iron Horse. (https://www.ironhorsekanab.com/) Back in the golden age of Hollywood, Kanab was dubbed “Little Hollywood” because of all the western movies made there. This was a popular haunt of many of the actors back in the day. It may have even been a filming location. I can’t remember where I read that to confirm. But the place was full of lots of old props and décor; it was kitschy-western but the food (and the beer) was great. We had a couple of beers and talked and talked. He told me about all his travels thus far, and I told him about mine. We finally ordered. I had the beef brisket, and oh my God… it was so good! I even splurged and had a real dessert, with real sugar. Ohhh boy… I’ve always loved ice cream, and even more, anything with cinnamon. Cinnamon topped ice cream, oh yes, and it was good!

In-house made vanilla ice cream with cinnamon sauce. YUM!

Afterward, we went out exploring, at least until it got dark. We went east out on Hwy 89 and up in a residential area. It was just beautiful up there. I don’t know why so many people crowd the National Parks in this area, the whole state could be a National Park! There’s no need to crowd into a tiny place when there’s so much beauty everywhere.

On our way back into town, we stopped at a gas station so I could get some cash and quarters for the laundry room. I bought a few things and got my quarters. Then he took me back to my RV. It was PRETTY CHILLY by this time. I think it had dipped down into the 50s by now. I got in and cranked that furnace. Brrrrr. I learned that the laundry room closed at 8 pm, so there would be no laundry tonight. After warming up some, I got my shower bag ready and went to the bathrooms for a shower. I knew it was going to be colder in the morning and I didn’t want to have to deal with a wet head in that 30+ degree (F) temperature. The showers were nice. The short walk back was NOT. Haahaa, damn it was cold!

After I returned I made sure I had all my info for the conference, clothes set out for the day. I didn’t want to forget anything in a rush. Then I took a few minutes to write in my journal about the day’s events before bed. Checked the temperature again, holy moly, upper 40s!

Tomorrow would be a big day; first day of the conference AND taking my RV to the shop. I was interested to see how that’d play out, and if I’d have to miss any of the events. Stay tuned for DAY 7 coming soon!