October 15, 2014

October 9, 2014

Well, it has been a rough visit here at Hill AFB with the electrical problems we had, but all-in-all, we got through the crisis just as we always do.

A lot of folks have asked us if we save money by full-time RV'ing as opposed to owning a stick and bricks house.  No, I don’t think so.  Even though we have no property taxes, utility bills (we sometimes have to pay for electric service), etc., our costs are in other places.  When we aren’t hosting, we have to pay for space rent and of course we have to fork over a lot of cash for fuel, our biggest expense.

Yeah, we don’t have to worry about replacing a roof, hot water heater or a furnace in a house.  Oh wait, yes we do.  We have those in our house on wheels too and the costs associated with them are usually much higher than for a “real” house.

So, all-in-all, no it isn’t cheaper to live out here on the road.  But, how do you measure seeing the things we have seen and done anyway?  You can’t put a price on visiting the Mormon Handcart Historical Site in Wyoming and having a docent guide choke up when telling us about what happened there.

Or, how about climbing to the top of Independence Rock and seeing the inscriptions carved into it’s surface.  Sitting at the top, we actually felt some of what those pioneer’s went through.

On our trip through Washington, DC we visited the National Archives.  To stand if front of the original documents that formed this great nation was awe inspiring to say the least.  Then, to visit Arlington National Cemetery and watch the change of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns was amazing.  Joyce and I believe that every American should make the trip to our nations capital at least once in their lives.

I could go on and on about what we have done and seen in the past seven years but you get the picture.  Looking back on those years, we probably wouldn’t change much at all.  Joyce and I are truly blessed to be doing what we are.

We left Hill AFB about 10 AM and made the trip down to Spanish Fork, UT where we will spend a few days visiting Ron & Katie Cutler who live in Payson.  We first met them when we co-hosted at Vail Lake Resort near Temecula, CA and who we haven’t seen in three years.  We will be staying at the Canyon View RV Park which is owned by the city.  Nothing fancy here but we’ve got good 30-amp electrical service and water with a dump station on site.

October 11, 2014

Good Morning All!

Yesterday was absolutely a beautiful day here in the Payson, UT area so rather sit around the house, Ron, Katie, Joyce and I drove up Santiquan Canyon Road which winds it’s way up through the canyon by the same name.  On the way up, we stopped at Subway and got some sandwiches for a picnic.  Ron told us that the fall colors peaked a week or so ago but as you can see in the pictures, there was plenty of beautiful foliage left for us to enjoy.

Eventually that road connected with the Nebo Loop Road where we turned north and headed to Payson Lakes where we planned to have our lunch.  This is very high and wide open country with some of the most magnificent views Joyce and I have seen in a long time.  And, at about 9000 feet up on the mountain, the air was clean with just a few puffy clouds in the sky.

Ron & Katie

 Fall colors.  Purty!

After having our lunch at the lake we headed down the mountain and back to Ron & Katie’s home where they fixed a delicious steak dinner.  What a wonderful day!

October 15, 2014

On the 11th, we  drove up into the mountains east of Payson to Ron and Katie’s ten acre property where they have their 5th-wheel trailer parked.  They use it for get-aways and during hunting season it turns into a hunting camp.

When we got there, their son-in-law was just loading his spike elk that he had harvested then night before.  We estimated that it weighed about 350 pounds on the hoof so it was a struggle to get it down the mountain where it was killed and back to camp.  After he got it to the butcher it weighed 265 pounds hanging which will yield about 160 pounds of meat.

We spent the day just lounging around, enjoying the beautiful day and each others company.  Katie and Joyce prepared a wonderful beans and ham-hock supper and of course we all ate way too much.

Joyce and I were planning to leave Spanish Fork on Sunday the 12th but after checking the weather on our route south, we did some alternate planning.  There was high winds predicted in the Price, UT area with gusts up to 50 MPH so we said the heck with that and stayed where we were for one more day.

Katie and Joyce did some sewing and the Katie made us a delicious spaghetti supper.  Instead of hamburger she made the sauce with elk.  Outstanding!

Thank you so much Ron and Katie for making our visit to Payson a memorable one.  We will remember our time with you and your family forever.

On Monday we hooked up our towed and headed south on Highway 6 to Moab, UT and to the OK RV Park, arriving about 3 PM.  After getting setup, we had refreshments with our neighbors and new friends, Mike and Mary who are here from southern Colorado.

Yesterday we started our sight-seeing here in the Moab area by visiting Arches National Park.  I’m not going to describe every part of our tour but suffice it to say, this is one of the most beautiful and amazing places on earth.  Put Arches on your Bucket List for sure.

Arches National Park

Just one of the over 2000 arches in the park.

 Balanced Rock

 A new arch forming.  Eventually all arches collapse.

 Havin' our lunch.  Met some folks from San Antonio, TX here.

 Delicate Arch.  The hike up to the arch was just too much for us.  Maybe next time we visit.

More soon.

Barry & Joyce