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Home Back to USA 2002 Index Back to Part 4 - Arizona 1
Part 5 - Golden Circle of the West - Utah and Northern Arizona.
"It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery." - Demosthenes [B.C. 384-322]
For a full description of the scenic features of Utah and the rest of the South West USA go to http://www.americansouthwest.net/
Terminology SONPS (Safe Overnight Parking Spots) AKA Boondocking in the USA. Symbol
Heading NW to Utah, I15 passes through the Virgin River Gorge, and offers some quite spectacular scenery along the way. There are also plenty of wide parking areas along it to stop, and boondock if you didn't mind the traffic noise.
We refueled at the Flying J truck stop before St George, who had a big sign for unleaded gas at $1.349 which was the best price we had seen in days, only to find it was $1.299 everywhere in St George. So you never can be sure where is the best deal. It seems that as the different states levy tax on gas and these vary a lot (California is notably high) that you get differences in price as you cross borders. So it seems Flying J were exploiting their position as first gas station on I15 in Utah, along with their, now tarnished, reputation for usually competitive prices, to milk an extra 5 cents a gallon from motorists.
In St George a stop at Deseret Industries, the Mormon's operated thrift store, produced a large French cooks knife for 75 cents, which we needed in the production of "real food". Although you can pick up some needed items for your RV cheaply in these shops, and cheap clothing, some of their stock seems ready for the junk pile, and I wonder if it is an indication of just how serious poverty is in the US that they try to sell some of it at all.
We are now getting into the area known as 'The Golden Circle" of the west for scenic attractions, southern Utah and the Grand Canyon of northern Arizona, which has one of the best concentrations of features of interest to the international tourist.
Zion NP. Utah.
11/04/2002 Thursday, La Verkin Overlook. UT
The Zion NP campground has a dump station and drinking water, outside the campground entrance, so you can dump and fill with water free, and then camp free on the BLM site only 10 miles away.
The tunnel on the Mount Carmel Highway is manned from 8AM to 8PM by rangers. So presumably before and after those times traffic is light and you may be able to transit the tunnel without paying the $10 fee imposed on vehicles over 3.4M high or 2..4M wide (most motorhomes).
Zion scenic drive is closed to all private traffic,(from March 28 to October 27) and shuttle busses running about every 7 minutes from the visitor center are used to access the canyon. Another shuttle also connects to Springdale just outside the park.
We took the shuttle to the end of the road, stopping off at several points for short walks and to take photos, and walked back from the last shuttle stop to the next. Walking along the road is perhaps the best way to see a range of views of the canyon, that you miss when riding in the shuttle bus.
Zion NP is a scenic attraction of world class and a must see on your RV tour of the USA. Lots to see and ample information when you get there. Allow several days if you want to do several of the walks and have time to take photos in the just right morning or afternoon light. If you are into rock climbing it would be paradise.
12/04/2002 Friday, Zion NP. UT.
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Zion canyon, where the shuttle busses take you. Ride the bus up and walk back along the road to really see the canyon.
We suspect that the fuel taken on at the last Flying J is bad, as since doing so the engine has been idling roughly, and this morning the generator died after starting, and refused to start. I managed to get it going with a bit of fiddling, but the timing of events points to the fuel. A check of the fuel filters however did not show a lot of dirt, so perhaps the octane rating is extremely bad.
The early morning rain and cloud cleared by 9AM and we again took the shuttle to Zion Lodge and walked the Emerald Pools trail. The drought of this season all over the desert areas of the US has left little flow in the streams and springs and the Emerald Pools were more like the Brown Rock Holes, but it would be a worthwhile walk in a more normal season. Walking another sector of the canyon road provided some good photo opportunities, and we recommend this as an easy way to get the best views. We would have liked to do the Angel's Landing walk, but we are still getting over the severe flu, and Sharon felt she wasn't up to the 1500 foot climb, but this would be one of the best 4 hour walks in the park if you are fit and don't mind heights.
We drove up the public section of the road to the tunnel, and this is not something to be missed, providing excellent panoramic views into the canyon, also the noted "Blind Arch", even if you don't want to actually drive through the tunnel to the East entrance of the park. There are several excellent viewing areas with ample turning room for a large RV before the tunnel, but less room just before the ranger station at the entrance where we did a three point turn, as we wanted to head toward the Kolob Canyons in the NW of Zion NP, and then go into Cedar City for supplies before heading for Bryce Canyon via UT14 and Cedar Breaks NM.
We used the dump station and filled with drinking water outside the entrance to the South campground, freely accessible even if you are not staying in the NP campgrounds, before returning to the BLM area beside the Virgin River, 10 miles west of the park entrance, to boondock for another quiet night with a number of other campers and RV's.
Petrol and supplies are much dearer near the parks and you should stock up on food, drink and fuel in StGeorge or Cedar City, before venturing off Interstate 15 into the canyon country.
13/4/2002 Saturday, BLM Virgin River UT
Kolob Canyons - Zion NP (North West Section)
Returning to UT9 at Virgin we proceeded west to UT17 and via Toquerville to I15 and on to the Kolob Canyons exit. This part of Zion NP is not so much visited. There is an entrance station, but no one checks for fees or passes unless you volunteer, and a 5 mile scenic drive offering wonderful views of the Kolob Canyons, which have a distinct character significantly different to the main canyons of Zion and are well worth a visit if you come to Zion NP. Not a place to stay as there is no campsite, but a pleasent lunch stop on the way to Zion.
Kolob Canyon, Well worth a visit.
Cedar City is THE place to well and truly stock up your RV with supplies, you won't find such good specials and competitive prices anywhere else once you head in to the canyon country. The next decent size town Moab is small by comparison, and has only one modern supermarket which isn't a patch on Wal-Mart's "Always Supermarket." There is no Wal-Mart in Moab.
Comparative Pricing Notes - USA - Australia and Asia on technology products.
A replacement watch battery a No 377, very common type, which you can buy for A$0.50 cents (US$0.25) in Australia at a "cheap shop", was US$1.96 at Wal-Mart and $2.95 in their jewelry department, and $1.27 next day in a supermarket, same brand! Similar high prices were noted for small batteries for my 35mm camera metering system. Things like this are worth having a spare with you, cheaper at home and you don't have to go looking.
It also shows that even Wal-Mart will severely price gauge on small items that they think you won't price check, just like K-Mart back home in Australia, which started out with a reputation for discounting, but now are often far more expensive than other stores on small items, and rely on "specials" to attract customers.
Film processing will also cost you around US$6 to $8 for 24 6x4 inch prints, 1 hour service "Dollar Parity" and therefore about twice the price of Australia. Two day service at Wal-Mart is around $4.00 for 24 6x4 prints. Film is also cheaper in Australia compared to Wal-Mart prices, (Around US$6 for 4x24 200ASA Kodak) and a lot cheaper than elsewhere in the USA. If you buy it in a National Park store it will cost you an arm and a leg!!
Printer ink jet cartridges are about the same price, (Exchange Parity) but Kodak Premium Picture Paper ink jet glossy paper 200gsm is considerably more expensive than Australia, unless you buy on the Internet, or at a discounter like Sam's Club, where I bought 150 sheets of 250gsm glossy photo paper for US$19,95 less a cash rebate of $5 if you are as Sam's club member (letter size, not A4, but it's OK for 10x8 or 2 5x7 prints) . Best buy in Australia I've found is 50 sheets A4 200gsm Kodak Premium Picture Paper for A$26,95 at K-Mart in Brisbane.
Blank CD's are about the same, quite a range of prices depending on brand and quantity, but no real bargains to be had.
Prices for Digital Cameras, Compact Flash Memory cards, etc are generally much lower from Internet retailers than from ordinary US stores, but they only ship to US addressees generally, and won't send by mail to a Post Office General Delivery, allegedly because of credit card fraud. Not all are reliable and you need to check their feedback ratings. For instance a Minolta Dimage 7 (5.2 mega pixel, 7x optical zoom lens ,equivalent to 28mm-200mm in a 35mm camera, and with measured much superior lens quality to the more popular Cannon Powershot) digital camera is $799 on the Internet to which some sellers will add excessive freight charges. Best street price I found (May 2002) is around $899 plus state sales tax ( about 6% to 8% depending which US state you buy it in). There seems to be no sales tax on Internet sales. This camera sells in Australia for A$2,400, (March 2002). There are even bigger differences on other newly released high end digital cameras between US and Australian prices.
As for computers, the biggest price differences between Australia and the US (at exchange parity) are on the latest top end models, up to 50% less than you'll pay at Harvey Norman in Australia for a 256 meg RAM, 1.1 gig Celeron, 20Gig HD, CD-RW-DVD combo drive and 14.1 inch screen .
The latest technology Nickel Metal Hydride type of rechargeable AA size cells (needed for POWER HUNGRY digital cameras that use AA cells) can be had for US$2 each on the Internet. A little more in stores. These are not widely available in Australia, and where they are, they are over twice the price for batteries of lower capacity.
So the pattern is clear. The latest high tech, digital cameras, computers etc., best buy is in the USA (CompUSA or Circuit City, national retail chains) or Asia, (Pantip Plaza in Bangkok is a great place, literally hundreds of computer shops in a huge shopping plaza, although the very latest technology will be released in the USA before it is readily available in Thailand, even though it's all made in Asia)
There is a of lack of competition and price gouging by the main distributors in Australia for any new technology. For routine "established" items, they are usually cheaper at home in Australia than in the USA where gradually dollar parity begins to apply as things get older. Asia is ALWAYS cheaper, for computer components, RAM, hard disk drives, CR-RW's, CD-RW-DVD's and particularly on small items like plugs, cords, connectors, which sell for around 20% of what you'll pay in a place like Harvey Norman in Australia.
This comes about because of the artificially low value of the A$ (supposedly floating, but in reality pegged low by collusion between international financiers and Australia's puppet governments. This policy applies because of Australia's assigned position in the "New World Order", as a politically stable and reliable provider of cheap raw materials, minerals etc., and as an attractive cheap tourist destination, which is not encouraged to become an effective hi-tech industrial competitor). Combined with the pricing policies of multinational corporations, that exploit each market to the ultimate that consumers will bear, the price charged for goods bears little relationship to the actual cost of production, which is often minimal in China and other newly industrialised countries. Therefore if consumers will pay A$1 in Australia, and US$1 in the USA and One Pound in the UK, for an identical item, that costs say US$0.20 to make, then that's the price that will be asked.
Hence opportunities are created for parallel importing, and so called cheap shops, "Dollar Stores" or "Pound Shops", Dollar Tree Stores in the US, Crazy Clark's in Australia, second tier retailers that evolve to fill the gaps created by the dinosaur mentality of the once dominant retailers. Hence the progressive demise of K-Mart and Sears and JC Penny in the USA, the general demise of department stores, and the rise of Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree in the USA.
Are you reading this Coles-Myer in Australia! Roll on Aldi, the new European discount grocery retailer that should rattle your chain boys.
14/04/2002 Sunday, Cedar City UT
UT14 climbs from Cedar City towards Cedar Breaks NM, but the access road to the NM was still closed to traffic due to snow, so we proceeded through the Dixi National Forest (NF) to US89 heading for Bryce Canyon. There are a number of scenic pull outs and some side roads into the forest that could be used as SONPS
(Safe Overnight Parking Spots) to boondock, although the area is not very appealing for more than a transit stop. The road is noted as a "Scenic Byway" and does provide some pleasant scenery along the way.
Bryce Canyon. Utah.
Apart from the most famous views if Bryce Canyon over the main amphitheater near the park entrance, there are many other points of scenic interest often overlooked by tourists, along an 18 mile canyon rim drive. Bryce NP has started a shuttle bus service similar to that at Zion NP, but it starts operating later in the season, May 23, and you can still drive along the scenic route in your own car if you wish, unlike at Zion, where no private traffic is allowed during the shuttle operating season.
Bryce canyon from Bryce Point ©
Bryce Canyon is spectacularly different, and one of the must not miss places on your RV tour of the USA.
A little problem with a water leak in Bounder was discovered today. Carpet near the wardrobe was wet. Removing the bottom panel of the wardrobe revealed a pipe attached to the water heater with worm drive hose clamps was leaking. Tightening the clamps seems to have fixed the problem for now. Hope it's permanent. Soon all dried out in this very dry air.
15/04/2002 Monday, Bryce Canyon NP. UT
Homo Tripodicus Erectus, ("Tripod Man") was again seen in abundance around the rim of the canyon, looking very professional setting up for the perfect shot, and engaging in other mysterious rituals which neither anthropologists or photographers have been able to agree on the significance of! Very similar to the variety seen at Zion NP, but these specimens were more heavily coated against the colder climate here. I wonder why so many people carry large tripods here, when even with slow 100ASA film you can get speeds of 1/250 second or better and still use a small enough aperture for more than adequate depth of field. Elsewhere on the planet you see the occasional "Tripod Man", but in the US they inhabit the National Parks in plague proportions. Perhaps tourists have been feeding them too much, and caused a subtle imbalance of nature, and some culling is needed by the rangers!
We walked the rim to Sunrise Point and down the Queens Garden trail, 0.8 miles, and along the Navajo Loop trail via Wall Street back to Sunset Point, 1.2 miles. You have to walk down into Bryce to fully experience the fantastic rock formations. Although there are many longer trails if you want to do extended hiking, the route we followed provides probably the best condensed experience and can be done in a couple of hours, allowing time to pause and take photos and admire the rock formations. We found a full afternoon and morning sufficient time to see the sights of Bryce and decided to move on just before lunch and head to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
Retracing our route to US89 we headed south to Kanab and Fredonia AZ.
One of the notable features of this area of the US, in fact a lot of the parts we have been through so far, is the large amount of junk in people's yards. Often all around a house will be rusting old cars, bits of machinery, and piles of metal or old wood or just heaps of anonymous junk. Are there no rubbish tips here, or are people just junk hoarders? You occasionally see similar sights anywhere in the world I admit, but here it is so common as to almost be some sort of contagious epidemic. I can't imagine that most of them have any real use for much of it, and I wonder that it seems not to bother their sense if order, or of aesthetics? Have they no pride in their homes, because it sure gives that impression?
Very strong winds were blowing and a dust storm was coming in from the desert. At about 2.30 PM, after some miles of fighting the strong cross gusts, at one stage suddenly swirling clouds of red dust were whipped up in front of us cutting visibility dangerously. I guessed where my side of the road was for a couple of seconds and hoped there was no on coming traffic, and as we slowed the thick dust was gone and I decided to stop as soon as possible, and pulled off the road. We waited a few minutes for the worst gusts to pass before continuing another couple of miles, looking for a more suitable location to sit out the dust storm. We found a rest area at Fredonia and stopped there, along with several other RV's whose drivers also thought it imprudent to continue in the windy dusty conditions.
One of the other drivers reported that there had been a major accident in I15 involving several RV's caught in the dust storm, and this underlined the wisdom of our decision to stop. The Fredonia "welcome" stop is normally locked at night, but the manager left it open as there were a number of RV's taking refuge there. We were buffeted by strong gusts for some hours, the 13,000 pounds of Bounder rocking in the breeze, as the site was quite exposed, although safely off the highway. We boondocked there for the night to wait out the storm.
They have a lot of dust in Arizona!
16/4/2002 Tuesday, Fredonia AZ
Proceeding along US89 we see notices telling us that AZ67 to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is still closed for winter. Guess I should have read my research notes more carefully, as I did know it wasn't open 'til mid May, but had forgotten it, as we hadn't intended to be in this area so soon, but because southern Arizona was so boring and the Sierras of California are still snowed in, here we are.
At a scenic overlook on US 89 Indians are selling jewelry, silver with local polished stones, made into necklaces, bracelets and ear rings for mostly $4 to $8, necklaces around $15-20. I wonder if they still make them all themselves, of if some of the stuff is now imported from Asia?
As it is so far around to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and we would have to retrace our steps to go on to other places, we won't go there now. If we can do it later on in the holiday we will, but we have seen it in 1978 so if not, we will just enjoy other areas. Heading first for Marble Canyon to cross the Colorado River, and then on to Monument Valley.
US89A passes by the Vermilion Cliffs through desert grassland country. While an interesting formation along the way, I don't think they are anything special after the more spectacular scenery at Zion and Bryce.
The Vermilion Cliffs.
Some sections of road do not seem to have been "adopted" by any civic minded group, to clean up the rubbish, as there are bottles and cans strewn along. It seems that unless volunteer groups adopt a section of road to keep it clean, no local authority does, and the junk is just left. Along the roads you see blue and white notices crediting the group responsible, or in some cases individuals, who have "adopted" so many miles to clean up trash. No money any more, I suppose is the cry of government. Well why not, if it was possible 50 years ago, why not now? And why are people such pigs as to discard their trash out the car window? You would think with all the show of national pride with flags everywhere, that America would be cleaner than it is, but if it wasn't for the volunteer groups, it seems all the roads would be littered with trash. The "peasants" (who have no pride and litter their country) are revolting in the USA, just like other places. Have a bit of class - Don't litter America!
We stop for lunch at the Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River at Marble Canyon, where there are interesting displays about the history of the area and the early European explorers and Mormon settlers.
Wal-Mart have a good range of walking boots here for between $20 and $40 for some that look really well made. I need a new pair as the soles of my Van-Walk boots that are only 8 years old and haven't had a lot of use are decomposing, the spongy material in the heels is cracking and turning to powder. Planned obsolescence in boots, or simply lack of materials science in formulating the rubbery compound?
The ones I like in Wal-Mart are $39.98, the oldest maker of hiking boots in the world says the label, since 1879, an American company, but the boots are now made in China! I think the footwear here is generally better quality and better value than we get back in Australia, even though most of it is also made in China. For instance I don't think I could buy as good a pair of hiking boots in Brisbane for A$75-80, the exchange equivalent value of the Wal-Mart ones. My boots that are falling to bits cost NZ$157 (about US$60) in 1994 in Auckland New Zealand.
We fill up with water at the service station in Page where we buy gas. Sharon asks the friendly Indian lady in the shop if the water is OK to drink. She looks horrified and says, "We have bottled water here for drinking", but sure we can fill our tanks. It is just the Page town water supply, and I taste it before filling the tank. A bit of mineral taste, but it is clean and free from any sediment and doesn't taste bad at all. Again I wonder what all the fuss about bottled water is about?
Over the past 550 miles we have averaged 6.63MPG, driving very steadily and sitting on 55 MPH average speed, but also covering a lot of mountain climbing. We hope that the high consumption will be repaid by not having any major mechanical problems and repair bills, which was a major factor in me deciding to buy Bounder because of the very low mileage.
I had read of other English tourists with a 23 foot Fleetwood Tioga that had around 60,000 miles when they bought it, and they had endless trouble and expense on a 12 month tour costing many thousands of dollars to fix, including an engine and transmission rebuild.
If we cover 14,000 miles at an average $1.50 (so far it is averaging around $1.35) a gallon it will cost us $3167.00 for fuel. That's more than I anticipated, but lets do a few sums. If I hadn't bought Bounder and had gone to Phoenix and stayed in a motel for a week and hired a car, to look for another vehicle, it would have cost at least $600, down the drain, more if it took longer than a week to find one.
I am now very comfortable with driving Bounder and have got used to the size, and it is certainly a very livable vehicle, and could accommodate four people as the table converts into a double bed too. Everything is still working properly, and it has excellent hill climbing power. No vehicle is perfect and as we found on our European tour in 2000, you have to be willing to compromise, or you could spend half your holiday hunting for a vehicle. After all some residents of the US on the RV Internet news groups talk of having spent a year or two, looking for the "perfect" vehicle.
17/04/2002 Wednesday, Page AZ
We haven't found any really appealing campsite where we just want to stay and relax for a few days. The major sights at the National Parks are a long way apart and the country in between is not the sort of place we want to stay for days. We will Look around Lake Powell today, and see if there is a Library in Page that has Internet access.
Well Page has a library and I was able to get free Internet access, get e-mail and upload files to this site. They let me connect my own computer to their fax line for up to 15 minutes free, as well as use their computers for an hour. Apparently most towns have a public library in the USA with similar facilities.
After lunch in the library car park we head out to Lake Powell and Glenn Canyon Dam where there is an interesting visitor center describing the history of the dam and its construction. After visiting the center, but not the dam, because the tour into the power station is still closed after the September 11th attacks, we debate whether to go to Lone Rock Beach campsite ($6 per night) on Lake Powell or head off towards Monument Valley. I recalled the reports of another touring English couple about the noise of speed boats and campers with overgrown stereo systems and egos and underdeveloped brains at Lone Rock Beach, and decided to head off. Besides Lake Powell's surroundings are very dry and rocky desert and don't look real appealing to us, despite its popularity with locals for water sports.
Heading SE on US98 to Kaibito to join US160 we pass through a variety of semi desert terrain, with strong cross winds blowing drifting sand across the roads, I fear another dust storm, but it does not eventuate. Sharon, now more recovered from the flu, and functioning properly again as navigator, reads through the notes we have compiled from the Internet over the past year and notes that at the Navajo National Monument (NM) they have free campsites, and it is on our route just a few miles ahead.
Navajo National Monument. Arizona.
We anticipate relaxing here for a few days, as nice campsites like this are not easy to find in this desert environment, and dare I say it again, its FREE, GRATIS and FOR NOTHING, as well as being an attractive campsite!
18/04/2002 Thursday, Navajo NM. AZ
The visitors center has many artifacts from the Anasazi Indian period and reproductions of their dwellings, and a video. There are several walks overlooking the ruins of cliff dwellings, built into a naturally formed alcove in the canyon below. Along the way there are explanations of the uses of plants, particularly medicinal, and many of the plants have a strong herb like smell if you crush one of the generally small hard leaves. Ranger led walks into the canyon to the ruins of Betatakin are at present still closed for the winter, even though it is well into Spring.
This is an interesting smaller National Monument, but its particular appeal is the well treed campground. There are toilets and sinks for dish washing, but no showers or other facilities. Not that it is a concern to us, as we have it all in the vehicle.
Bounder Maintenance Matters.
Now we are feeling better, still recovering from the flu, I spend the afternoon doing some minor maintenance on Bounder and Sharon starts doing her scrap book of clippings from brochures and tickets, postcards etc., depicting our travels.
Some loose screws on a cover strip at the back of Bounder draw my attention, so I remove the strip and find the screws are badly rusted and there are signs of water getting in under the strip. The sheets of fiberglass cladding have never been properly overlapped when Bounder was built, and the consequent gap under the cover strip has allowed water in, when the sealing compound has dried out and shrunk.
Fortunately as Bounder has spent all its life in Phoenix where it is very dry most of the time, the damage seems confined to the screw holes and superficially to the underlying plywood for only about half an inch, although the fiber glass outer skin has delaminated from the underlying plywood below the cover strip, structural members seem sound. I remove the old compound from the back of the cover strip, and fill the strip with silicone rubber compound. I also inject construction adhesive into the screw holes and fill the gap between the fiberglass sheets with silicone compound, then replace the cover strip and put back the old screws, until I can buy some new slightly larger ones to replace them.
A bead of silicone is run along the top of the strip to seal it to the fiberglass sheet it covers. You can get a really neat finish by dipping a finger in dish washing detergent and smoothing out the bead of silicone. The detergent stops it sticking to your finger. Almost finished, but I don't have enough silicone to complete sealing below the strip, which actually doesn't fully cover the top of the lower sheet all along, there is a small gap of about 1mm. This can be easily sealed, but it must have been like this since new and no one has ever fixed it.
In a wet cold climate problems like this can lead to serious structural rot in the wooden frame on motor homes, often seen in the roof, and evidenced by water stains. There doesn't seem to be any of this in Bounder, although there are a couple of places where minor leaks around windows have delaminated small areas of plywood causing the interior finish to lift, but as it has dried out quickly in Phoenix no major rot has occurred. I will buy some more sealing compound and fix any other small potential leaks we find.
I also find the left side rear view mirror mounting bracket is slightly loose as the two top mounting screws are rusted where water has go in and rotted the wood around the screws. I'll fix this by getting two slightly longer coach screws, filling the holes with construction adhesive and remounting the mirror bracket on a bed of sealing compound.
The paneling on the cover door to the generator compartment was coming out of the frame, so some construction adhesive and a bit of refitting soon had this fixed. There are a couple screw holes in the fiberglass body panels where a fitting has been moved, but no one has sealed them, so I inject adhesive into them to seal them against moisture.
I also clean around all the small access doors, where dust had accumulated so I can see the condition of the sealing compound. Generally it looks good, and there are only a couple of places where I will inject some new sealant when I get at the next Wal-Mart.
With this attention Bounder should be good for many years as everything is structurally sound.
19/04/2002 Friday, Navajo NM. AZ
20/04/2002 Saturday, Navajo NM. AZ
Three peaceful nights in Navajo NM is enough and we are ready to move on. Returning to US160, a very good road having recently been resurfaced, we are soon in Kayenta and find a large Bashar's Supermarket to restock perishable supplies. Gas is $1.45, but we don't need any yet. (Bad move, next time I fueled in Moab, the big smoke of the area in SE Utah, gas was $1.53. Gas is often cheapest on Indian reservations.)
Kayenta is about THE best place I have found to stock up on alcohol. Old Smuggler Scotch $15.99 for 1.75 Liter, 4 Liter flagons of Carlo Rossi Californian wine, $6.95. Indian reservations seem to be the best places to buy good specials on grog. Buy up before you get into Utah. The puritanical Mormon influence has alcohol sales restricted to official state run liquor stores, so other than lite beer, in some supermarkets, you can't buy a drink anywhere. Christ, it's almost as primitive as Queensland in Australia!
We turn north on US163 toward Utah and Monument Valley. There is a mixture of sleet and dust storms whipped up by a forecast 45 knot wind.
Monument Valley - Utah
At intervals along the road there are sheds with rough tables, all unoccupied today, where in more seasonal weather the Indians sell jewelry to passing tourists. We heard from a Ranger at Navajo NM that the present very windy conditions are not unusual for this time of year and perhaps a visit to this area would be more pleasant at some other time, although I'm not sure when that would be. The wind is bitterly cold at the 6,000' elevation, and a few minutes outside the van to take a photo is all we are willing to endure.
Monument Valley is a purely scenic attraction for an RV tourist, by that I mean that there is no where attractive to stay in my opinion, although there are a couple of isolated motels for car based tourists. The scenery is different and spectacular, and highway US163 is worth travelling for this, but it is a very inhospitable area and of such extreme climate that I'm not sure when is the best time to see it.
Opinions differ on the driving direction which affords the best views. We turned around after driving in from the South West and drove back a couple of miles over the most notable section, both afford good views, and I recommend this approach to anyone.
All you can do here is drive through, or take a so called tour from one of the local motels on the private Indian land, which I think would be a total waste of money to just see different aspects of the same rock formations, that you can see from the road in your RV, and there are no accessible walking trails. I can't say this is a must see area on an RV tour, although it is very famous, and we both wanted to see it. As it is on the way from the Grand Canyon towards many of the attractions of southern Utah such as Canyonlands NP and Arches NP, and the town of Moab, you will probably pass through anyway.
We considered going along UT267 to the Natural Bridges NM, but signs warn that the road is not suitable for RV's. However I have a report from the Internet of an authoritative source (link below) reporting taking a 24' RV over it with no problems, so for an experienced confident driver able to assess conditions realistically, I would take such warnings with a grain of salt. However after reviewing the information about Natural Bridges NM from http://www.americansouthwest.net/ we decided to give it a miss in favor of continuing on US163 to Bluff, and thence US191 to visit Canyonlands NP, Moab and Arches NP. The latter reportedly offering a much more interesting array of formations than Natural Bridges NM, which has only three bridges.
At the junction of UT261 and US163 many RV's stop to take a picture of the interesting and most complex wavy coloured strata in the nearby hills, and views back over Mexican Hat, an interesting balanced rock formation close to the nondescript small town of the same name, probably having no other contemporary reason for its existence than its proximity to the aforesaid rock formation.
Along US 163 we stopped for lunch at a scenic pull out affording a wonderful panorama back over Monument Valley in the distance, occasionally obscured by dust storms in the valley below, and the Valley of the Gods and rugged mesas to the North West. We did not venture into the Valley of the Gods as it was a dirt road and with a large RV, bumping along 17 miles of dirt road didn't appeal, however if you have a smaller vehicle or 4WD I believe it is an excellent scenic byway.
Proceeding NW via Bluff and N to Blanding, we found a helpful visitor information center with FREE MAPS and information on the area. Some of the roads through the Manti La Sal National Forest would probably offer an interesting drive with a smaller vehicle, or 4WD.
Ten miles north of Blanding is the Devil's Canyon National Forest (NF) Campground, which we investigated but didn't stay. It appeared to be bit dilapidated and the only occupant was the "campground host". Camping, normally $10 per night was discounted to $5, as there was no water provided, as it is still out of season. The spaces are far too small, short and narrow for toady's RV's, and it seems to date from a time when most people in the USA went camping with a car and a tent, now long gone. In this climate I'm surprised they didn't all freeze to death! If this is typical of National Forest campsites, then the US Forest Service needs to update it's ideas and facilities. Some free BLM areas are better. Not only that but there is little attractive to us about the area. As an overnight transit stop I'd rather boondock, and that's exactly what we did.
I have said it before and it is worth repeating. In today's world, every tin pot town is trying to promote every piece of historical trivia, and every curious rock formation, more then three feet high, as one of the scenic wonders of the world! The goal, the tourist dollar, and therefore you have to become very discerning to filter out the bullshit from the truly worthwhile. We are in the process of doing just that, and I think that by the time we finish with Arizona and Utah, if we haven't been "canyoned to death", we'll be able to offer at least an informed opinion on what's worth seeing to the international tourist, and what's just another rock, or just another hole in the ground.
The scale we apply is a global scale, and a harsh one, so if some comments seem too critical, tough cheddar, globalization applies to tourism too. Therefore the comments we give are going to be a tad more critical than what you read in tourist brochures, or those written by Americans who may be enamored by their own country, or intending to promote a special interest in an area.
There is of course no accounting for taste, and opinions will vary greatly, this is only ours, but by understanding our perspective you should be able to judge for your self the relevance of the advice we give.
The places that "measure up" so far, Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon (South Rim, based on our 1978 visit) and the Navajo NM, all have pleasant on site RV facilities or good nearby boondocks, and Monument Valley is good scenery to drive through.
Once you have seen the highlights, it all starts to blend into an endless repetition of canyons, cliffs, gulches, washes and holes in the ground. Apart from the highlights, you have many miles of plain boring desert, although picking the scenic routes, as marked on maps, adds greatly to the scenic interest when driving. The fact that so many Americans tour all over an essentially inhospitable region in enormous RV's, and perhaps think it's ALL wonderful, is more a testimony to the fact that to the urban American, particularly from the high population density areas of the eastern part of the country, it is all new, and the vast emptiness is a fascination in itself, as well as a national mythology about the Wild West; much akin to the Australian bush or outback mythology.
From an Australian perspective, accustomed as we are to our own more than adequate supply of desert, albeit very different in character from here, which is even vaster with an even higher degree of emptiness, it is the unique landform features, such as we have listed, that are of major interest, not so much the intervening miles of desert. Others may want to consider this in planning an itinerary, when assessing what would be of any real appeal to many international tourists.
There is outstanding landscape beauty here, and there is so much of it, that the tourist must be selective. We prefer a ,"less is more" philosophy, preferring to enjoy selected areas leisurely rather than trying to see everything in haste. We advise a similar approach, to confine oneself to a few of the highlights, otherwise a tour could become an odyssey with no finality.
Have you consulted your 'Automotive Relationship Counselor" of late? What the bloody hell is an "Automotive Relationship Counselor", you may well ask? Well, they have 'em in Page AZ, at the Ford dealership. We heard it on the radio, and yes, as Sharon opined, that's just a fancy term for a sleazy used car salesman! Only in America, as the saying goes! But, I have to admit, that as a Foundation Life fellow of the Royal Crapological Society, I considered this particular piece of haute bullshit to be worthy of a special commendation.
21/04/2002 Sunday, BLM area, Newspaper Rock, on UT211, Utah.
It underlines the extreme variation in climate here dependent on altitude. Last week we were in 30°C+ temperatures, with warm nights, when in the low desert country of southern Arizona. The Colorado Plateau is a different climate zone
The BLM boondock area is quite pleasant, well treed for summer shade, with the trees just now coming into leaf, and a fresh running stream. Quite an ideal place to camp, just the sort of place we like. Although we may return to spend another night or two here we decide to move on towards The Needles area of Canyonlands NP, some 22 miles further along UT211. Beyond Newspaper Rock the scenery along the road becomes truly spectacular. The storms and strong winds of the last few days are gone, and visibility is the best it has been, there is little atmospheric haze, a very good day for photos.
Canyonlands National Park - Needles (Southern) Area
We were both overwhelmed at the scenic grandeur and diversity of landscape both in approaching the NP along UT211, and within the NP. Although I had seen photos of the area, they failed to do it justice, and in our opinion this lesser known area ranks with the more world famous attractions. It is as worthy of acclaim as the Grand Canyon itself.
Big Spring Canyon.
HIGHLY COMMENDED, we include this area on the list of must not miss destinations on an RV tour of the USA.
Campground facilities are limited and few places are available. There is water and toilets, individual parking places with a table and BBQ, but nothing else. The setting is pleasantly treed, and wonderful views are nearby. The campsite was full at 10.30AM and we decided to explore some of the shorter walks to fill in the day. Back country hiking and 4WD access are available to many remote areas of the park, but even in an RV limited to the main roads and with short hikes there is magnificent scenery with panoramic vistas, to rival any we have seen thus far in the USA. Few large RV's were noted in the campground, although the access is good. It seems the area is less well known even within the USA. However several hundred thousand people visit each year.
National Park campgrounds, although generally providing only very basic facilities are usually in pleasant locations and well set out with individual marked places. Charges mostly range from $5, mostly $10 to $16 a night, not cheap for camping. They are usually inadequate to cater for demand in peak seasons. Don't count on getting a place in one. Be prepared to boondock nearby, on BLM land, or wherever you can find.
If you want to save money commercial campgrounds are mostly not worth considering as they often charge $15 to $30 a night for "full hook ups", (sewer, water and electricity connections) which you don't need because American RV's, even small ones, ( Class C, 18 to 20 feet) have it all built in. Even some class B and Pick Up Camper units come with shower and toilet built in. Why many Americans want, and pay, for "full hook ups" for short stays, I don't comprehend. Maybe they have more money than sense?
By developing your boondocking skills to the level of an art form, you should seldom have to pay anything for camping fees, with a bit of help from Wal-Mart!
After completing the Pothole Point Walk before lunch, and the Slickrock Trail in the afternoon, both of which provide stunning views over the canyons and mesas, we parked again at the Pothole Point parking area to have dinner, and hopefully to stay the night, as the campground was full. Unfortunately about 7PM as we were having dinner a ranger came along and told us we could not stay the night there. However interestingly she advises that we could stay "as long as we were awake", the implication being that rules are rubbery, and if you give the right answers you might just get away with it. For instance, OK we're both insomniacs, we want to see the dawn! As the NP facilities are obviously inadequate for demand, it seems rather bureaucratic to hassle people for parking overnight, to go outside the NP and do exactly the same thing on other public land, as we are completely self contained and would cause no problem by spending the night in a car park.
We used our electric leveling jack system, along with some stout planks of wood that were stowed in one of the under floor storage bins,where I also found the large wheel brace. We were able to considerably improve the incline of the site using the front jacks. In the process discovering that with the wooden blocks in place the jacks are powerful enough to raise the wheels off the ground, so now we know how to go about changing a wheel on this monster. It can actually jack itself up. Could we lift one of the huge wheels, I don't know, maybe call the AAA if we have to.
22/04/2002 Monday, BLM Indian Creek Canyon, 4M from Canyonlands NP.
Several neighboring RV's leave early, about 6.30AM, possibly to try and find a place in the NP campground. We don't think it is worth the effort. It is only five miles into the NP, and the view from here is just as good as in the park. We can commute to the park for two gallons of gas a day, $3 for gas as against about $14 to camp in the park. Here our campsite is defined by huge red sandstone rocks, providing warmth and shelter from the wind. There is no water, but we still have half a tank full and can make it last a week if we are careful. I don't know how much the fresh water tank holds exactly, but it must be in the order of over 100 gallons. It takes an age to fill even with a hose running full on. We are content to stay here and relax, and go into the NP later in the day for another walk.
Sharon starts picking up small pieces of rubbish, shards of glass, can tops, bits of wire, a couple of drink cans, from around the base of the rocks. The area isn't badly littered, just small bits of rubbish, and we will often do a clean up of a campsite. It's our way of making a small contribution in appreciation of the facility if it is free. There are no rubbish bins at most BLM areas, and you are expected to take your rubbish with you. National parks do provide rubbish bins at campsites, picnic areas and some view points. Compared to the roadsides that haven't been adopted by somebody for litter control, the BLM areas, and the National Parks, are very clean. Most RV owners and campers take their rubbish away and don't litter, but there are always a few "pissants" who are truly revolting, and thoughtlessly scatter their trash around. They used to shoot horse thieves out here in the Wild West; it might be a good policy to introduce again, for litterbugs!
It is pleasant in the campsite and Sharon works on her scrap book and I do these notes, we end up spending the whole day here and don't go back to the NP at all. The scenery and sunset are just as good here anyway.
23/04/2002 Tuesday, BLM Indian Creek Canyon. UT.
There are longer day and overnight walks from the Squaw Flat Campground which connect up with 4WD tracks, making this park quite an adventurers playground. No doubt the longer walks lead to some spectacular scenery, but the Pothole Point and Slickrock Trail we did two days ago would be hard to beat, and are highly recommended.
Canyonlands, southern Needles section, view from "The Neck". ©
There is a hose tap at the water points in the NP campground A, and the Squaw Flat trailhead, and we fill our tank. We have only used a bit over half a tank since leaving Page last Wednesday, so we can go for quite a long time between water stops.
The NP campground is still full at 7.30AM. A ranger told us that Spring and Autumn are the peak seasons here, as it is too hot in summer. So this is probably a good indicator of what we can expect at other National Parks as the summer holiday season approaches in July and August, campground full signs, so we will be boondocking almost all the time.
After our mourning hikes and lunch, we return to the Newspaper Rock BLM free campsite 22 miles along UT211 from the NP, and park beside the river. A good place to do some washing, with plenty of water. There are warnings in some of the National Parks not to drink untreated stream water, as it may contain Gihadia parasites, which are common in many countries, so we only use the stream water for washing cloths. At dusk a 40 foot RV towing a 4WD joins us to spend the night.
23/04/2002 Wednesday, Newspaper Rock BLM Free Campsite.
The C133 leads on across undulating country, where we saw a herd of Mule Deer, to the Needles Overlook picnic area. From here panoramic vistas, rivaling those of the Grand Canyon, present one with a spectacle of natural grandeur awesome in its magnificence and infinite in its detail. Go and see for yourself, such things can't be adequately described, and short of a 360° screen cinema, photos don't do it justice. Highly Commended.
Returning to US191 we head north to Moab, passing through new and interesting rock formations of red and white sandstone. We begin to see the first arch formations, which are signposted along US191, and scenic viewing areas are provided. There is a nice rest area on US191 a few miles south of Moab, which would be a good place to boondock, as long as you don't admit to staying overnight, apparently it isn't permitted at Utah highway rest stops. Gets very technical. Admit nothing, know nothing, say nothing, act dumb, and don't talk yourself into gaol (that's jail).
Moab, despite being the largest town in SE Utah, isn't very big and has only one modern supermarket, and is purely a tourist town, dependent on it's proximity to Arches NP and Canyonlands NP. Not very competitive pricing, relatively few good supermarket specials and high petrol (gas) prices. We find the visitor information center very helpful, free maps and brochures etc., but not so much the public library for Internet access. They have a single segregated Internet computer for visitors, and there is a queue, on a list, of about six people waiting for a 15 minute time slot. Visitors are not permitted to use the other Internet machines, unlike in Page where they were most helpful and visitor friendly. We can't use a phone line for a few minutes to upload files, they only have two, unlike in Page. The visitor center can't suggest anywhere to connect a computer to a a phone line, and are aware of and apologise for their technological backwardness in Moab. Must get too many tourists, and don't have to try very hard.
We went to the Moab "Thrift Shop", a not very salubrious establishment in a blue tin shed, looking for odd items for our campervan (Sorry! RV) Found a plastic cutlery try for the kitchen drawer, $1. I decided to look for some classical music tapes, as we have a cassette player, that probably works, like everything else in Bounder. Apart from one FM station in Phoenix there is NO classical music broadcasting that we have heard in all the Wild West. They have lots, hundreds, of tapes, for 25 cents; but a bit of Mozart or Beethoven, no way, not a single one. Must be that the only bit of musical culture in the west is in Salt Lake City, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. What they do have an oddly disproportionate number of tapes of, is lots of is sermons, save me from SIN!, Bible tub thumping fire and brimstone stuff, also self improvement and personal development sort of tapes. Must be a lot of awfully wicked folks with poor self images, searching for answers, around these parts, if the sample of second hand tapes in the thrift shop is any indication.
There seem to be more than the usual number of really weird looking people in Moab. I mean strange, unwashed, wildly eccentric, unkempt oddballs, and that's only some we saw while shopping in the supermarket, and walking down the main street. Christ, they make me look like a Wall Street broker, and I'm a bearded nonconformist Orthodox Iconoclast! Maybe they are the folks that threw away all those tapes, that are now gathering dust in the thrift store. Didn't help, I suppose!
We have heard on the Internet of a place to camp along UT128, called Goose Island. UT128 is a designated Scenic Byway along the Colorado River NW of Moab. There are BLM campgrounds beside the Colorado River, at locations scattered for 28 miles along UT128, upstream from the junction of US 191. Goose Island is a pleasant site, with marked shaded sites close to the river, but it is full, as is the next site "Negro Bill" camping area, clearly there is an inadequacy of sites for camping.
Eventually we find a vacant very poor quality site further up river. It is so rough and unattractive that I am surprised the BLM has the bloody hide to try to charge anything to stay there, but they do, many of the free BLM camps are much better. We will only be here overnight, then go into Arches NP early in the morning for breakfast. Although the Colorado River's canyon is ruggedly attractive, and pleasantly vegetated sites like Goose Island are fine, a rough dust pan by the side of the road hardly qualifies as a fee for service campground in my book.
So as the BLM has attempted to turn every available boondock site along UT128 into a "fee area", I recommend you just drive through, see the sights, and find better boondocks elsewhere. Try some of the following!
- Immediately north of the river bridge on US191 there is a road to the right along the river. Early in the morning we observed several vans boondocking in parking areas within a few hundred meters of the bridge.
- Along US191 approximately 1 mile north of the bridge there is a section of old road loop on the RHS.
- Further on towards Arches NP there is a dirt road that leads up a hill off on the LHS of US191 beside an electric power switch yard or transformer station.
- Nearby on the RHS of US191 there is a large flat area that has been used to store road metal.
- On the NE side of US191 past the Arches NP entrance the visitor center staff referred to a small old road side loop that may be suitable for a SONP. We saw several potential SONPS along US191.
- South of Moab on the North East side of US191, just north of Plateau Rd there is a large open paved area where trucks sometimes park, near an establishment called "Sportsman".
- Along UT313 to Canyonlands there are a number of BLM free campsites, details at an information board on the RHS not far from the junction of US191.
- On UT313 to Canyonlands NP about for or five miles from US191 a dirt track leads to the right and back on to US 191 further north. Near the track turnoff is a flat area known as Debinky Well that can be used as a boondock according to the information center staff.
Free RV Dumpsite in Moab. According to a list from the Arches NP visitor center the Packcreek Campark, 1259 Murphy Lane Moab, Tel 259 2982, has a free RV dumpsite. (Not confirmed by us) Or if a free dump site isn't to your liking, the KOA campground will accept your excrement for the more substantial sum of $10, the top fee on the list for Moab. I presume that for your $10 your waste products are treated with a superior degree of reverence, and perhaps you may even receive the personal attentions of an Excrement Disposal Counselor, a cousin of the Automotive Relationship Counselor in Page AZ. Well you'd need to get something for your $10!
Personally I'd go for the free site and spend the money on something useful. Shit is just shit, no matter whose dump site you put it in. There must be some fools around to pay good money out like that when all the other sites in Moab charge much less, and there is even a free site.
I think people are becoming, being brainwashed to be, too tolerant of the ubiquitous "user pays" policy, so beloved of the capitalist system. It is getting to the stage where the user is expected to pay for almost nothing, campsites not even as good as a third rate free roadside boondock, and they have the cheek to call it a "Semi Developed Camping Area". You need another Boston Tea Party, you Yanks, only this time the villain isn't King George, but your own bureaucracy gone mad, and always wanting to screw you for another dollar. National Parks are an area of government responsibility that ought to receive a much higher level of public funding than they do, in Australia, and it seems in the USA too, where they seem to be far too heavily dependent on fee revenue, and becoming more so. User pays, becomes an excuse for government under funding of the sacred National Estate.
An Australian Queensland State Government a few years ago, headed by an old battle-ax by the name of Joan Sheldon, attempted to introduce a system of entry fees for Queensland's National Parks, but backed off in the face of public hostility. Now they charge camping fees, bad enough, but entry is still free, unlike the state of New South Wales. National parks are an area of prime public responsibility and ought to be freely available for the enjoyment of all, funded by the community, through general taxation revenue.
Subjecting National Parks to the user pays philosophy demeans the sanctity of the national estate, which it is the duty of all civilized and enlightened peoples and governments to conserve for posterity, and to make freely available to all people for their enjoyment. What a much better cause for federal budget allocations than more money for the military industrial complex to squander on ever more obscene implements of destruction.
Our Holiday Budget Notes.
In over a week the only money we have spent is $23 for food in Kayenta. Of course we have used fuel, petrol and LPG, and we have a National Parks Pass, and have used some of our food stocks, but with no camp fees to pay, it is a very economical way to travel. Even with the high fuel consumption in an RV, the cost compared to staying in motels and touring with a car, and buying meals out is very much less. Cost is one factor, but the real advantage is the convenience and flexibility that it provides. Not having to adhere to any set schedule, nor follow any set route; being able to stop for meals anywhere you like to admire the view, and to take as much or as little time at places you visit as you want; these are the other very great advantages of an RV holiday.
Of course the overall cost will depend on how much we sell our RV, Bounder, for when we have finished with it. On our European trip in 2000 we sold our campervan for only £500 less than we paid, after 12,000 miles, and sold within three days of first advertising it. We bought well, and offered good value on resale. To rent an RV here in the USA is in the order of $1,000 per week. So no matter what we sell for, on a six month holiday, it is vastly cheaper than renting. We will auction on the Internet using Ebay and can expect to get a very substantial portion of our initial investment back, as we will still be offering a very low mileage vehicle, in even better order than when we bought it.
Arches NP - More than just arches!
25/04/2002 Thursday. Colorado River Gorge, via Moab. UT.
Arches NP is famous for, well dare I say, it's arches, but there is a lot more to it than just arches. The drive in from the visitor center passes some very spectacular and unusual rock formations. Park Avenue,
a small canyon with towering segmented walls has a very interesting short walk, with lots of great potential photo opportunities. Further along the drive there are towering rock 'fences", pinnacles and balancing rocks, before you even get to the arches. Park Avenue Canyon - Arches NP >
In the Windows Section of the park the most spectacular feature is the Double Arch, which we walked to, and there are a number of interesting rock formations, which make taking the side road to this part of the park worthwhile.
The NP staff and volunteers were carting in rocks to mark the edge of the trail, and we helped a little by carrying some small rocks from their truck a few hundred yards up the trail to where they were laying them. They seemed to really appreciate the gesture.
Double Arch - Windows Section - Arches NP
Ravings on National Parks Administration.
What I found really odd was that they were transporting rocks into the area, with the efforts of staff and volunteers, when there were hundreds of tons of identical rocks nearby, that had fallen and were continuing to fall from the cliffs near Double Arch. I asked one of the staff why they simply didn't use the nearby rocks. The answer being that they didn't want to disturb the area. This didn't make any sense as they were inevitably "disturbing" the area by the very act of laying rocks along the path, and by having a formal path at all. Also they had to "disturb" another area to collect the rocks in the first place. Taking the relatively small quantity of rocks from huge piles of fallen rocks nearby would not even have been noticeable. They were expending considerable effort and energy to do it, and surely the efforts of the willing and enthusiastic volunteers could have been more effectively directed into something that would be of more lasting conservation value to the endangered plants and animals of the region.
This sort of illogical policy results from the extreme "preservationist" mentality which infiltrates many National Parks administrations worldwide. The difference between preservation and conservation is not only a matter of semantics, but reflects different views of how parks and public lands should be managed. The "preservationist" view point seeks to "preserve", that is totally avoid ALL changes, in a natural asset, which is of course contrary to nature itself. Prervatioinists are the political element that seek to severely limit usage of the national estate to so called "wilderness activities", to the exclusion of most other recreational uses.
In short "Preservationists" are a minority, but a very vocal purist and extremist elite, within the conservation movement, who want to lock up National Parks and public lands, and exclude almost everybody, apart from themselves. True "Conservationists" seek balanced use, accommodating as many recreational uses as possible, consistent with protection of the landscape, flora and fauna, through scientific study and management, minimal essential regulation, land zoning systems and public education.
An ongoing battle for "balanced land use" has to be fought in most countries to prevent extremist preservationists from "locking up" vast tracts of land, and excluding all other uses except hiking, or "bushwalking" as it is called in Australia. That is not to say that some areas should not be set aside as wilderness, but experience in the conservation movement has taught me that unless this element is contained, and opposed, they would selfishly claim every last acre of National Parks or other public land, and attempt to "preserve" it, primarily for their own type of recreation, as distinct from balanced conservation, by excluding all other users, such as 4WD tourists, car based tourists, fishermen, hunters, cyclists, bird watchers, rock climbers, rock hounds,etc.
Excessive or unreasonable exclusion of such interest groups from access to public lands and parks alienates support for the globally essential task of true conservation, which has as a core principle, balanced land use, combined with effective zoning schemes, and usage regulations, to accommodate as broad a range of activities as possible, managed to conserve landscape, flora and fauna in the most effective long term manner.
Generally a fairly good balance appears to be achieved in the American National Parks that I have seen, consistent with the available landforms, and the high demands placed on them for recreational activity. However the NPS does need to open up a few more acres, from the hundreds of thousands of acres in the parks, for campsites, so that more people can more easily enjoy the attractions of the great National Parks, and stay within them overnight, instead of having to commute in and out, using up unnecessary fuel and energy.
The Delicate Arch area is much visited with two walks, either a short walk of about 2Km to a view point to see the arch from a distance, (also a more distant viewpoint at the car park) or a 4.8 Km walk up to the arch itself, which is located high on a sandstone cliff. We opted for the 2Km walk as the longer one takes over 3 hours and we wanted to visit Landscape Arch instead.
The Devils Garden Trail from near the campground leads to 9 arches, including Landscape, Wall, Partition and Navajo Arches, which are the ones we visited and photographed.
Homo Tripodicus Erectus was sighted again in Arches NP. Several particularly large male specimens were observed engaged in ritual activities.
The campground is pleasantly set, and well laid out, among large rocks and trees, and costs $10 a night. It is usually full early in the morning, far too small for demand. There is no RV dump site.
You can see a broad selection of the attractions of Arches NP in a full day, although more time would be required to do both the Delicate Arch walk and the Devils Garden Trail as well as tour the other sites along the road.
Canyonlands NP - Island in the Sky Section.
26/04/2002 Friday. BLM Free camp, on UT313, Near Moab, Utah.
After a lot of walking to arches yesterday we start the day easily by doing a few housekeeping chores and writing these notes at the free BLM campsite. Quite a pleasant spot in a canyon beside UT313 with a small creek running through it. Several other RV's and campers are here. Leaving about 10AM we pass many more BLM free campsite areas along UT313
The best views are from the Grand View Point overlook where a 1 mile (each way) cliff side trail leads from the car park, itself providing excellent views, to the point affording the ultimate visual panoramic feast. You can see the 4WD roads in the canyons below, and Canyonlands is an excelent destination to explore if you have a 4WD vehicle. A 4WD pickup camper would be the ideal RV for this area, and the majority of RVs in the campground were of this type.
The Willow Flat Campground was, unusually for a NP site, not fully occupied by early afternoon.At $5 a night it was not only convenient, but cheaper than the fuel cost of commuting to the free BLM areas outside the park and back, so we claimed a spot and paid our money. Only the third night of paid camping so far on our holiday. It is a well set out camp with small trees providing more shelter than shade, and quite a nice place to spend a night.
We took advantage of the short drive time to "home" to use the time to cook a damper. Damper is an Australian bush cooking style of simple flour and water based cake, to which various ingredients can be added to produce plain, sweet, fruit or savory varieties. In this case I added raisins for a Fruit Damper, the only other ingredients being a little baking soda, sugar and salt. Traditionally done in a "Camp Oven" or "Dutch Oven" and cooked in the coals of a camp fire, we cheated and used the gas oven in our RV. Our excuse being, that we don't have a Camp Oven, and that it was so windy outside that it would probably have been been either impossible or dangerous to start an open fire in the fire pit, provided at each campsite. It was delicious and being hungry from our walk we devoured most of it while still hot, with butter and strawberry jam. Yum, yum!
The views from Island in the Sky are certainly spectacular, and the area is well worth including on your itinerary, if you have time. However if time is limited and you have to choose which section of Canyonlands NP to visit, we recommend The Needles Section, as it was to us the more impressive and varied, and if you have time also combine it with a visit to the Needles Overlook.
If your particular interest is in geology, don't miss the Upheaval Dome in Island in the Sky Section, described as the most unusual and scientifically controversial geological feature in Utah.
They have a lot of rocks in Utah, and it's a bugger of a place to buy a drink!
27/04/2002 Willow Flat Camp, Canyonlands NP. Utah.
We drive to the mysterious Upheaval Dome and hike to the two overlooks, quite a rough trail to the further one, for an only slightly different view of this interesting feature. Two possible theories are proposed for its creation, a meteorite impact and an upwelling of ancient salt deposits.
On the way out of Canyonlands NP we stop at "The Neck" a narrow bridge of land connecting two mesas. There are excellent views over the Green River and the 4WD road leading down to the White Mesa track, a 4WD road skirting the rim of the deeper second level of smaller canyons below the White Mesa capstone.
This is an excellent area for four wheel drive touring, and I am almost wishing I'd got a 4WD pickup camper. In fact the big American utes (pickup trucks) like the Ford 350, dual cab, or extended cab, 4WD with dual wheels on the back axle, would make an ideal 4WD campervan back in Australia. Fitted with a large pickup camper body, that can be left at a campsite by using the inbuilt jacking system and then just driving the pickup truck out from under it, is an ideal system. You are then left with a pure 4WD, with no excess weight aloft to tackle the more difficult 4WD tracks, from you campsite base, where you leave "home" behind you, sitting on its jacks. I'm surprised the larger American 4WD utes haven't been seen in Australia in larger numbers, they fill a need that isn't being met by the smaller Japanese vehicles like the Toyota Landcruiser.
Leaving Canyonlands NP we head North on US191 to Green River where we find a free RV dumpsite (from our listing taken from the internet ) and proceed, through country consisting of a boring desert moonscape, no one wants to stop here, on to Price where there is a new (April 2002) Wal-Mart Supercenter
On the 80%, Sugar, Salt and Spuds. -Why is it So? - (Political Rave.)
Skip this wild incoherent lunatic's raving and cut to the RV story.It is an officially recognized fact that about 80% of the American population over 25 years of age is overweight, by various degrees, ranging from marginal to clinically morbid obesity. American television programs discuss the "problem" openly, so it's not just me being unkind to Americans.
In the National Parks, you don't see the 80%, you see a fit youthful and fit older American population, part of the 20% of free thinkers, who haven't allowed themselves to become victims of exploitation, "slaves" of the system.
We have noticed that processed, canned and packaged food, even bread, in supermarkets generally contains a high level of sugar and/or salt, even more so than in Australia. We have to be selective and read every label carefully to try to minimize the amount in products we buy. It seems some Americans are aware of it. In looking for sugar free peanut butter in a supermarket in Phoenix, the staff member who helped us find it commented, "Yes, lots of sugar in everything, that's the American way". The consumption of sugar and caffeine laden drinks is also actively promoted, through marketing.
In the words of the late Professor Julius Summner-Miller, I am prompted to ask, "Why is it so?". It is well known to medical science that excessive intake of both sugar and salt has severe adverse medical and health consequences. Those effects are manifestly obvious, the 80% obesity rate. Also the high rates of diabetes and heart disease. The USA is also, in some ways, the most medically and technologically advanced country in the world, yet even in the face of widespread knowledge of the causes of these problems, a significant majority of the population make lifestyle and dietary choices leading to profound health problems, and nothing really effective is done to prevent it. Why is it so?
Both sugar and salt tend to be almost "addictive", using the term in a loose lay manner. The palette develops a tolerance for high levels of salt, if you eat a high salt diet, food without it tastes bland. On the other hand you can wean yourself off excess salt by gradual withdrawal, and food with little or no added salt again resumes its normal natural flavor. Similarly with sugar.
Apart from the sugar and salt problem, there is the high fat content in the fast food produced mainly by large corporations, and the huge consumption of potato chips or French fries, as they are known here. Again a very cheap ingredient, potato, promoted as a major dietary component, cooked in oil. Not that we don't like the occasional serving of chips, which we usually cook fresh ourselves, but here they are served with almost everything. And the signs at the fast food counters say, "Don't forget your fries and Coke".
Both sugar and salt are very cheap ingredients, and their addition enhances the flavor of other bland cheap or low quality ingredients. Most food in the USA is produced by large corporations, where profit is the sole dominant motive. Hence if the population can be conditioned to accept food with lots of salt, fried potato and sugar, the potential for profit is enhanced, and it becomes a self sustaining strategy.
I recall reading in The Australian Financial Review in the 1970's of detailed plans by the major food corporations of the world to undertake massive marketing (brainwashing) campaigns to tap into the then increasing disposable income of the masses, by promoting the consumption of high value added prepared, packaged and take away foods. These being the products particularly high in fat, sugar and salt. Here in the US the astounding success of this malevolent social engineering is clearly apparent.
The resultant health problems are of no concern to the food companies whose products and marketing contribute to them. In fact health problems are another source if immense corporate profit in the US for drug companies and the medical industry. Drugs are much dearer in the USA than in most other countries, and drugs on which patents have expired, but which are still highly effective are not actively marketed. (Even paracetamol is not sold in the USA because of this. They market a drug called acetominofin for similar purposes) Some Americans have started to take trips to Mexico to buy their drugs, as the price differences are so high as to make it worthwhile. Medical costs are also by far the highest in the world and medical insurance expensive and beyond the reach of many poorer people.
So here is a situation where huge corporations profit both from the production of sugary salty foods, and other corporations, but ultimately through trusts and cross holdings controlled by the same small super elite, benefit from the health problems created by the bad dietary habits. The 80% who are brainwashed into accepting this situation as normal, are in fact a kind of modern day class of slaves. Their entire lives dedicated to an ongoing cycle of consumption, of high profit goods and services of the major corporations. What little money they have left after buying the dietary junk, goes on medical treatment for the resultant problems, so they have nothing left, never accumulate any wealth, and remain dependent on credit and in debt and paying high interest rates to the financial corporations, owned ultimately, by guess who? The same!
You might ask why nothing effective is done to rectify the situation by government? The problem is well known, the causes clear, the solutions relatively simple. After all isn't the government democratically elected? In a nutshell government is effectively controlled by the corporations. The people may elect, but the companies control. For the corporations, and their ultimate major controlling owners, it isn't a problem at all, but a deliberately created situation from which they reap enormous profits. It is only a problem to the "slaves" themselves, they don't count, and they don't even recognize the problem, let alone the situation they are in. So even the slaves are happy, well sort of, they have been conditioned to be so dumb they don't even know what they are! And it is spreading all over the world, Australia is well up there. Twenty years ago you never saw fat kids in Singapore or Thailand, have a good look now, next time you're passing through.
If this sounds like a conspiracy theory, then it is. But I challenge anyone who has some knowledge of what is going on, the reported history of the plot in the worlds financial press over 30 years, and a little knowledge of the complex web of ownership of major holdings in global corporations, to come up with a better answer to this weird paradox, and to explain, "Why is it so?"
28/04/2002 Sunday, Price. UT
We find the State Liquor Store, a dismal looking shed with barred doors, of course it is closed on Sunday, and Monday. I was just curious, we don't want to buy anything. I imagine the prices are sky high and the range poor judging by the size of the place, there is only room to stack six crates of beer! The public dunny in the park is bigger, and looks better. Utah must be as close as it gets to prohibition. They have great canyons, and a lot of rocks, in Utah, but it's a bugger of a place to buy a drink.
On Retail Competition.
Price is a small town about 130 miles SE of Salt Lake City. The New Wal-Mart has just opened at the other end of town from the longer established K-Mart, both are of super-center size. On a Sunday afternoon K-Mart was as quiet as a morgue. One check out was open, we were almost the only customers, well there may have been a few others, but this is a store of vast proportions, so you would hardly notice. Wal-Mart had been far busier earlier in the day. This small town clearly can't support two giant retailers like this. Could the strategy of Wal-Mart be to drive K-Mart to the wall and out of business?
Already there isn't a lot of choice in retailing in the US, small business is confined to the poor small towns, and occupies a much smaller sector of the retail economy than in Australia.
With corporate mergers and the decline of traditional department stores, some serious financial analysts see a trend, not only in retailing, but in the economy generally, toward sector domination by monopoly or oligopoly corporate organizations. You'll go to "The Shop" to buy things, because there is only "The Shop", all the competition has been either driven out of business by predatory pricing tactics, merged with or taken over on the stock market by "The Shop". Same with "The Bank" etc.
Far fetched you think, well you can see it happening here in America, antitrust laws or not.
29/04/2002 Monday, Price. UT
We find the public library and get to use the Internet free, to check email and the latest in digital camera prices. The library doesn't have a phone line they will let me use to upload these files, it isn't easy to find one here. I'm wanting to buy a Minolta Dimage 7 or Diimage S404 digital camera. Apparently good deals offered, but some of the feedback about delivery times isn't too good. Seems that real shops can't or won't match the prices offered on the Internet. The main problem is where to get it delivered to. So I find that the if the seller will use the postal service instead of Federal Express or UPS, I can have packages sent to general delivery, same as letters. Maybe that's how to do it. But I want to try and buy one in Salt Lake City if possible.
A few more minor repairs on Bounder, the glove box door hinge screws are pulling out, liquid nails glue fixes that, a water pipe connection comes apart, tighten the hose clamp and it's OK, the toilet door catch breaks and we cant get into our dunny. Some pieces of wire we have found cut up to make miniature reinforcing bars combined with some high strength quick setting epoxy glue repair the broken catch actuating bar and that's fixed. You need to be a handyman to own an RV, there are always little things that need fixing.
We finally get around to phoning the travel insurance in Sydney and arrange to send them all the paperwork for Sharon's hospital bill of US$1039.55 for what we had intended to be no more than a visit to the doctor, albeit late at night. We photo copy all the copious medical reports and receipts for our airline tickets that entitle us the the free Gold Mastercard travel insurance, and find the post office. The insurance person wants us to FAX them , I refuse, it's too hard and expensive. I finally get through to them that they can't contact us, we will phone them in two weeks to see what is happening. We have to pay A$200 excess, they don't want a cheque until they accept the claim. I want to send it now, no they don't want that. Finally we agree that if I send a covering letter authorizing them to bill my Mastercard if and when they accept the claim that will do. By the time we get all this together, write a letter and get it all posted, and do a bit more shopping it's 4.30PM, too late to start driving, so back to Wal-Mart for a third night. No one we ask knows if there is an LPG distributor in town where we can fill up with propane gas.
On top of it all I start coming down with another round cold or flu like symptoms. We are hardly over the last lot, viruses must queue up to infect you in this country.
30/04/2002 Tuesday, Price, UT
Down in the valley along UT 89, the worlds champion junk collectors live around here. I've mentioned it before, but in this area there is junk of the highest order around houses, of astounding variety and a quantum to make a scrap metal merchant's heart of rusty iron swoon.. In stark contrast, but this is the land of contrasts, on the outskirts of Provo we find a lot of new housing estates, of surprisingly high quality. Nice gardens, neat and tidy, and NO JUNK! These are houses just like back home in a good middle class area, we were beginning to think we wouldn't find any in the US. The contrast to the poverty stricken appearance of many of the small rural towns is striking.
By mid afteernoon I'm feeling fairly awful with the new improved flu, and we decide to seek refuge in the nearest Wal-Mart Super Center at Orem, to rest for the night and possibly next day too. As usual we aren't alone and six vans spend the night with us.
Average fuel consumption over 1745 miles 6.43MPG
1/5/2002 Wednesday, Orem, UT
Now please pay attention here. You may be thinking Yuk, who wants to live in a supermarket car park? Well no one wants to all the time, but many in town RV parks are really less attractive than the car park. Often no trees, and RV's cheek by jowl, there is always more breathing space in the car park. There may be some nice RV parks true, but first you have to find them, and then they will cost you probably US$15 to $25 a night. Wal-Mart's are easy to find, secure, you usually have "neighbors" in other RVs doing the same thing, it's close to the shop to buy anything, and it's usually quiet at night, except for the occasional visit from the sweeping machine cleaning the park. So for a place to stop in towns, when in transit for a night or two between destinations, they are hard to beat. No hookups you say! Really you haven't been paying attention. YOU DON"T NEED HOOKUPS! We haven't had one night on hookups since starting out in Phoenix, and we are doing fine. It's all in the mind, tell yourself you must have hookups and you'll start believing it, and be around $150 a week the poorer for it.
As I felt up to it in the afternoon we decide to explore a little and drive back on to I15 and take the exit to
Salt Lake City - an oasis in a cultural and architectural desert.
2/5/2002 Thursday, Provo Canyon, UT.
We proceed quickly on into Salt Lake, as half melted ski fields aren't very gripping, and are soon in the city, stopping off to explore shops. We park in a Sears store park and go browsing. I'm amazed how few customers there are, just like the Sears store in Vancouver WA, that one was quiet as a morgue. I can't see how they stay in business. We intend to spend a few days in Salt Lake, and use the light rail system to commute into the city. Staying at Wal-Mart, of which there are four.
3/5/2002 Friday, Salt Lake City, UT.
We explore the shops around the area of the Murrey Wal-Mart and spend the morning writing up our notes. In the afternoon I find a camera store that has the Minolta Dimage 7 digital camera I want, and they will sell it for $100 less than Amazon or Sam's Club, unfortunately I have to pay Utah sales tax, unless they can ship the camera to me out of state, so that eats up $56, but still it's about what I figured I'd have to pay. So I buy it, along with a 64Megabyte Compact Flash Card, they wanted $69, but readily matched the price of Circuit City of $44. Wal-Mart have a suitable camera bag for $10, I now have all I need to start a digital photo record of our travels. We move to the West Jordan Wal-Mart Supercenter for tonight.
Flags. I've never seen a place with more flags, or bigger flags, than the USA. Flags are everywhere, on cars, on private houses, huge flags on commercial buildings, must be 10 meters long, and on government buildings. Is it a display of genuine patriotism, and do people really understand their countries real role in the world? I think the answers are YES and NO respectively.
I've heard it said that the average American took almost no interest in the countries foreign policy until the events of September 11th 2001. The suggestion being that therefore the foreign policy was allowed to drift poles apart from what the average American would want, had they taken any interest, and that since then a few people were beginning to link cause and effect.
The question remains, even if a few average Americans do come to take a real interest in foreign policy, and goodness knows they should, because the US is probably by far the most dominant influence in international affairs, and exercises that influence with a degree of both covert and overt ruthless determination that would alarm many Americans were they to ever understand the extent of it, could anything be changed?
Many of the relatively few thinking concerned and informed Americans, who are not part of the ruling elite, doubt that it would, believing that since the assassination of the Kennedy brothers that real democracy is an illusion, and that in fact the country suffered a defacto coup, from which the democratic process has never recovered. No genuinely independent Presidential candidate would ever get past the party selection machines, even if he were brave enough to put his life on the line, for the sake of ruling in the interests of the American people, instead of the corporate establishment elite.
Two books "Farewell America" and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" (see them on amazon.com) which offer an alternative, some claim a more realistic account of historical events, tell of these concerns. If there is any substance to these matters, I am certain that the average American has zero comprehension of it. But it's something they really ought to check up on!
4/5/2002 Saturday, Salt Lake City, UT
Then a trip to the Flying J Truck Stop (2100 South Street, west off I15) to use the RV dumpsite and fill with fresh water for free, on the way home to wal-Mart finding an oriental grocery to stock up on Asian sauces and spices we use in cooking, then dinner at a buffet took up all of the day. Not impressed with the buffet food, dishes are too sweet generally, ranging from chicken in a BBQ sauce to deserts are full of sugar. We resolve not to be tempted by any more buffets.
5/5/2002 Sunday, Salt Lake City, UT
© Temple Square is beautifully landscaped with colorful flowers. The architecture of the Temple and Tabernacle is such a wonderful relief from the concrete block house monotony of American Western towns, and there is an interesting museum of the early years of Mormon settlement of Utah. You can easily spend most of the day there if you attend the concert, take the guided tour of Temple Square, and see the excellent, and entertaining, historical documentary drama film about the persecution and migration of the Mormons to Utah, then go to the museum; and it is ALL free.
A number of campervans (RVs) were parked at the visitor center and it is a good free place to park for the tour of the State Capital building too. No overnight parking allowed though, so go to Wal-Mart where you are welcome and safe.
Lunch for us is Thai food of excellent quality in a shopping center basement food center opposite Temple Square, surprisingly authentic. About $5 a serve, numerically the same as back home in Queensland. (Dollar parity applies.)
6/5/2002 Monday, Salt Lake City, UT
Temple Square in Salt Lake City. One of the few places in all of western America that we visited that had any nice city gardens. Full marks to the Mormons on civic pride. ©
It was of concern to me that after bleeding the brakes and indicating that I should take the vehicle for a test drive, they had failed to top up the brake fluid reservoir, until I reminded the junior mechanic of this and had him do it. When he removed the reservoir cover, which is located in a very awkward position under the floor and accessed via the front left wheel arch, so that you can only see the fluid level with a mirror, I felt the fluid level with my finger, and because of the brake bleeding process it was almost empty. Had they left it as it was, as I feel certain would have happened had I not drawn the omission to their attention, the vehicle would have been dangerously low on brake fluid. They lacked any special equipment such as an oil syringe to fill the reservoir in its difficult location, and eventually used a small oil can to laboriously squirt brake fluid into it piecemeal. I was concerned that the can could have been contaminated with oil, but the mechanic assured me they had cleaned it out first. I personally checked that it was full when he said it was , because by now I was concerned as to their level of professional competence.
They were unable to give a precise quote for parts before removing the cylinder, claiming several alternatives were possible for the type of cylinder and indicated when asked for a quote, that the final bill would be between $330 and $450. When the job was almost finished they said it would be $380 then they claimed to have had four cylinders delivered before getting the correct one, which of course was later claimed to be the most expensive, and the final bill with $131 for labor and tax came to $475.
I insisted that the senior mechanic do the test drive, and everything seemed to be working fine and the job seems OK. However the inability or reluctance to do anything other than fit a new cylinder replacement, that may have been able to fix the problem far more cheaply, coupled with the apparent failure to properly top up the fluid after brake bleeding, until prompted to do so, raised questions in my mind as to the level of professional competence, particularly as the establishment advertised as a brake service business, and is recommenced by the AAA.
I again refer to the problems with levels of auto service competence related by other international tourists visiting the US and reporting on the Internet, and can only caution others to question repairers carefully and keep a close eye on what is done if you can. The experience of others, and mine now, in both cases I have encountered, suggests that standards of vehicle repairs in the US leave a lot to be desired.
In this case I perhaps should have asked for several referrals from the AAA and asked more questions when getting the quote about having the cylinder replaced with a reconditioned one, and perhaps got a second quote, but when touring you don't want to be held up for days, and at least they were able to do it promptly. At least it's fixed and seems OK and we have the AAA guarantee.
[ Note :- I later found that they had not replaced the lid on the brake fluid reservoir properly and I had been loosing brake fluid until a warning light came on. The brake master cylinder is in a very awkward position, only accessible through a small hole under the left front wheel arch, and you can only see into it with a mechanics mirror, but that's no excuse for them not closing the lid properly. I topped it up and made sure the lit was properly clipped in place myself. More dangerous incompetence.]
7/5/2002 Tuesday, Salt lake City, UT
Particularly interesting is the Gold Room, in the style of a 19th centuary European palace, now restored and used on special state ocasions. ©
After lunch we went to the Joseph Smith memorial building in Temple Square, where there is the Mormon family research center, where you can conduct genealogical research free. Also the family history library has the worlds most comprehensive genealogy resources. There are helpful volunteer staff and even if you only have a casual interest in your family history, these are most interesting places to visit. You can also access the Internet using the computers in the center.
Gross incompetence and dishonesty in vehicle repairs widespread in the USA.
8/5/2002 Wednesday, Salt lake City, UT
It starts off real well with the "mechanic" who has been told that there is a serious fuel leak from the fuel pump, starts to crawl under the vehicle with a lighted cigarette in his hand. I stop him, pointing out the obvious danger. Are all American mechanics as stupid as this?
This is three times out of three that the people actually assigned to do the work appear to be untrained and incompetent. After about 20 minutes the pump is off and the part ordered. When its finally finished he has spent a bit over an hour working in the car, over a period of 90 minutes since we entered the shop.
The boss then advises that the pump cost more than than indicated $30 and in fact came to $70, OK, maybe so, so I don't gripe, then he types out the bill. The labor is listed as 11/2 hours, when clearly it wasn't that, I was there all the time. I challenge him about it, without a word he snatches the bill from my hand and proceeds to grumble about how he has done me such a great favor by doing the job at short notice, and this is the thanks he gets, as he types out the bill again, this time with only one hours labor. He goes on to grumble how he has broken his first rule! I ask him what that is, his reply, letting the customer be present while the job is done. Is this guy stupid as well as dishonest? I reply by asking does he usually apply that rule so he can cheat all of his customers? He then proceeds to accuse me of intending to cancel payment on my cheque as soon as I leave the shop, before he has even been paid! He wont take credit or debit cards.
I now suspect that I have been cheated on both the cost of the fuel pump, and the brake master cylinder which was replaced yesterday, by the workshop giving an estimate, but claiming to be unsure of the exact part until it is removed, then claiming that the part actually fitted cost considerably more than the one on which the estimate was based, because it was in some way special or in the latest case a larger one for RV's.
I advise all foreign RV tourists to regard all US auto service establishments as potentially criminally dishonest until they prove otherwise, demand a written quote including precise parts descriptions before they start work, get a fixed price for the labor, and insist on being present while the work is done. My experience in all three cases so far reflects the concerns of others reporting on the Internet. I have found a staggering degree of technical incompetence, coupled with a highly dangerous disregard for safety, and what I can only describe as fraudulent behavior in attempting to use various ruses, so called mistakes, and outright lies to overcharge for work.
9/5/2002 Thursday, Salt Lake City
Off to the Flying J truck stop on 2100 South to dump our tanks, fill with fresh water, (not the tap next to the dump it's not potable, use the one about 50 yards away beside a garden bed, that's town water according to the office staff) and use their free table phones with jacks in the restaurant, where you can plug in a computer and access 1-800 numbers. All we have to buy is a couple of coffees and some chips and we can upload these pages and use the Internet with my own computer.
The repairs so far needed by Bounder, aircon regassing, brake master cylinder and fuel pump are of a nature consistent with aging of seals and rubber components such as the pump diaphragm and are not surprising on a 15 year old vehicle despite its low mileage.
Dinosaur National Monument.
10/5/2002 Friday US40, UT
We drove on to the Dinosaur National Monument. The dinosaur quarry exhibit is interesting, and well worth a visit, and is easily taken in in an hour or two. There are most unusual geological formations at the split mountain.
Although there is a campground 5 miles east, we only checked it out but didn't stay. It is by a river, pleasant enough but nothing outstanding and as it was still early afternoon and it was $12 to camp there, we decided to return to Vernal, head north towards Flaming Gorge and boondock along the way.
Dinosaur bones, clearly visible in the rock,
at the Dinosaur NM. ©
Red Fleet Dinosaur Trackway Trail.
US191 has a number of suitable places to boondock north ofVernal, and
we turned down a side road to the Dinosaur Tracks walking trail a little
way north of the road to Red Fleet State Park. It is a very quiet road
with several good SONPS and we parked for the night and explored a newly forming
side canyon on foot. In fact the surroundings are scenically more interesting
than the National Monument campground, and of course it's FREE!
Bounder at the SONP (boondock) on the road to Red Fleet Dinosaur Trackway Trail. ©
A
signposted trail leads 1.5 miles (each way) to the lake where Dinosaur footprints
are preserved in the rock along the waters edge. Dersert cacti and other wildflowers
aer in bloom in early May.
Red Fleet Reservoir Trail. ©
11/05.2002 Saturday, Red Fleet Reservoir Dinosaur Trackway, UT 
Not
a car went by last night at our quiet boondock on the road to Red Fleet Dinosaur
Trackway Trailhead and we set out on the walk to the lake about 8AM. The
trail is easy, although described as moderate to difficult in the information
at the trailhead.
Dinosaur footprint in rock, Red Fleet Reservoir. ©
There are excellent views of the complex strata and over the lake as you make your way along the trail. As last winters snows were unusually light the lake level is well down and all the dinosaur tracks are exposed. They are better viewed in the morning or evening light when shadows make them more clearly visible, although some are quite distinct.
.
Heading on along US191 to the Flaming Gorge area, it started to snow
heavily, and we decided to stop early in the afternoon at a fine SONP or boondocking
spot (a short track leads off on the right) just about a mile or so before the
junction with UT44, watch the snow fall, (because we don't get a lot of snow
in Brisbane Australia, and its interesting if you haven't been up to your knees
in it all your life) and cook a cake in our LPG oven, while I figured out more
about my new digital camera, and Sharon worked on her scrap book. Taking your
time, to do as you please, is one of the great joys of a campervan holiday.
Boondock off US191, about a mile S of UT44. Why pay to camp, this is free. ©
12/5/2002 Sunday, Near Flaming Gorge,UT.
We drive back on US191 to UT44 to Manila as we have been told at a visitor center that the route along the western side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir is more scenic than US191 along the eastern side. There are a number of National Forest camp grounds along these roads, but most are still locked up from the winter closure. The US Forest service seems to delight in locking things up, lest anyone get in and spend a free night camping, without paying the beloved user fee.
While some have some trees and are reasonably attractive, many campgrounds in this broad area (all the western USA!!) are desolate and unappealing. Open windswept sites on the banks of barren lakes with not a tree in sight. That Americans probably go there later in the summer (most are still locked up in mid May), must reflect the excess of demand and the paucity of supply of genuinly attractive camping places. No wonder they love it when they come to Australia.
Sheep Creek National Geological Area.
There is one interesting thing along UT44, that is the side loop road through the Sheep Creek National Geological Area, which is the lone highlight of the day's drive. Apart from numerous places to boondock along US191 and UT44, Sheep Creek is worth a visit if you like canyons and unusual rock strata.
There is a small picnic area, signed no overnight camping, which may not be a bad thing as there is a monument to a family drowned in a flash flood in 1965 while camping at the site. Summer thunderstorms can flood small canyons like Sheep Creek Canyon.
Once you return from the Sheep Creek Canyon loop road to UT44 and reach Manila and enter Wyoming there is nothing more of great scenic interest along Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area along WY530 to Green River.
Sheep Creek Canyon. ©
From what we saw, with the exception of Sheep Creek Canyon, Red Fleet, and possibly the drive to the lake off the Sheep Creek NGA loop, the Flaming Gorge NRA seems to us to be rathur overrated, as a scenic attraction. Americans love their toys, more than most boys, and power boats are high on the list, that's why many of these quite desolate high desert dams are popular, they can roar around in power boats, but to international tourists there is little else of great scenic, historic or cultural interest.
Sheep Creek Canyon, National Geological Area. A fascinating quiet byway, and in our opinion the sole scenic highlight of the much overrated Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.
"Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe." - Burke [1729-1797]
More Photos yet to be added. Of the earlier section of this page taken with a Minolta 35mm SLR,
Photos from Salt lake City on taken with a Minolta Dimage 7 digital camera. ©
