Anxious to begin our adventure, we woke at what seemed the crack of dawn. When we finally got in touch with the supplier of our RV, we realized we wouldn’t get as early a start as we originally had planned. Arrangements were finally made, the girls went off to shop and the boys went to get familiar with the RV. After what seemed to be too many delays, we took possession of our home for the next 3 weeks!
Eddie was first to drive! What a hoot! Traffic was at a crawl leaving Vegas, and it seemed we would never reach the “open road”. It was about the same time that traffic lightened up that we took notice of the changed terrain. The parched, black dessert of scrub brush gave way to vistas of mountains in varying color and hue. The road opened up before us, and of course Marie and I couldn’t resist one little chorus of “This Land is Your Land…” Have you ever seen a purple mountain majesty? Drive from Vegas to Utah and you’ll discover the awe and power of those words.
The small piece of Arizona that we drove through, took us through the Virgin River Gorge. Absolutely unbelievable. Hairpin turns not unlike the Amalfi Coast, all the while feeling like you could reach out and touch the rising mountains. Driving through Hurricane Valley, we finally reached Utah. The terrain had changed yet again. We were surrounded by striated mountains, a preliminary look at red rocks – something we knew we’d see later on in Sedona, but not expecting here. At this time, it’s important to note that it was dusk and we still had 30 miles to go – going about 35 in a 75 mph area!
When we finally got to Zion, mere shadows of mountains could be discerned, except for a wall of white very high to our left. I realized this mountain face was reflecting the last lingering rays of sun. Spectacular! In a nano second we were pitched into complete darkness. Lenny was driving now, and we were concerned we might miss the turn off for the park, since we could see nothing, forget about trying to read anything.
We finally made it to the park entrance, and were told to stop at the Visitor’s Center. OK – where do you park this thing? Throwing caution to the wind, Lenny just pulled across a bunch of spots. Now we couldn’t find the Center! I remembered that I had packed a flashlight, so off we went. We weren’t nervous…yet. The Center was closed and locked up tight. I had visions of us spending the night in a Wal Mart parking lot! (Something the brochures and literature funnily referred to!). Making our way back to the parking lot we couldn’t find the darned thing!! Lenny asked if it could’ve been towed already? Now I had a knot in my stomach. How could we have gotten so turned around? Our little pin-light of a flashlight was of no values in that pitch darkness. We finally found it (how can you miss the elephant in the room?) and quickly tried to find the camping area we were assigned to (as told to us by the ranger at the initial entry booth. Now we get to ranger #2. She gives us the appropriate passes , and we find our site. Thank God it’s a pull-through! Did you see the size of this thing? Anyhow, we get settled, hooked up, find a bathroom, and pull out the details of this campground. As Eddie is reading and finding out about our activities for tomorrow, he finds Hints and Tips for Campers:
It is best to arrive at campground before dark! Now you tell us!!
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HOORAY! We have been waiting to hear tales of your trip! We are not surprised that this first one if full of antics. For Dad & Uncle Ed's sake, you may want to keep the singing to a minimum ... 3 weeks is a long time to exhaust your music catalogue... Hope you're getting settled in, and thanks for the pic of the RV. We love your new digs! L,D,A,T
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