Day 2023004…Part 2…Rough Country!

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Las Vegas was a trial…finding a gas station that could accept my truck AND trailer…we ended up driving all the way to Kingman on that tank!

Speaking of gas, this trip has been…weird? Phenomenal? Our first tank, from Great Falls to rocker we got 8.2MPG. That is really good, particularly pulling the trailer through the mountains! From Rocker to Idaho Falls we got 9.2, close to the best ever with the trailer attached! Then Idaho Falls to North Salt Lake City we got 9.2 again! Through SLC to Fillmore, UT, we got 8.8MPG. Fillmore to Saint George was 9.1! And from Saint George to Kingman was 9.2 again! Then we made a 65 mile side trip sans trailer and we got 17MPG, which is pretty good for a winding mountain uphill road!

I think the secret has been to rigorously keep the transmission in fourth gear (Overdrive) while driving (it doesn’t work going up most hills…). Mostly this is 55-60MPH, but through SLC it was 65MPH! I think the other traffic caused a slipstream so we were drafting them. With a headwind we were lucky to keep going at 50MPH. Here is a air resistance chart I found. Going from 50MPH to 60 almost doubles the resistance; from 60 to 80 MORE than doubles it! And while that additional one to two MPG doesn’t sound like much, when it is up to 25% of your overall mileage, that is a lot!

If you have not driven south from Las Vegas in the last 20 years you will not recognize the roads at all. From Vegas to Hoover Dam is the newest Interstate, I11! All of the towns and casinos have been bypassed and replaced with beautiful four lane roads.

Here is the rapidly drying up Lake Mead.

Then it was across the bridge built to bypass Hoover Dam after 9/11, that you can’t see any views from (especially the Dam!) and into Arizona! Again!

This country is incredibly rugged, and looks harsher every time I see it!

That is the Colorado River down there…in WW2 some people worried that a U-Boat<?> could come up it <??> and torpedo Hoover Dam <???>…or something…they built four camouflaged pillboxes for machine guns to guard the dam! One still exists, but vandals caused it to be closed to the public.

Well, we made it through to Kingman, got our room, dropped the trailer and headed out on a small adventure!

Oatman, here we come!

(All photos are by the Dailylife Wife!)

~Curtis in Utah, Nevada and /\rizona! {!-{>

Filed in F150, Historic, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, On the Road, PAD 2023, Panorama, Photography, RV | | Comments (0)

Day 2023004…Part 1…Uh oh…

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

We woke up fairly early, planning on maybe going all the way. That dream ending quickly when we took the luggage out to the truck. Nada. No clicker for the door, no ummph from the ignition. Someone left their electric baked potato warmer plugged in all night. Back to breakfast and a call to AAA. They responded very fast (in about 1/4 the estimated time) and got the truck jumped and going…so fast I forgot to take a photo! A big thanks to Bracken’s Auto Tech and Tire! So here is a photo from last year to tide you over…it looks the same, just there was a brick wall behind it at the Hotel…

The snow had covered the mountains nearby, but it was bare and dry down at our level.

Then it was down the road to the Flying J! Two horrendous Rotaries (as they are called on Kauai)…gas, then back through the Rotaries…then down the road to Arizona! Or at least the 22 mile Arizona Strip!

Of course, nothing is that simple. They have such interesting Christmas decorations down in the South…where palm trees grow…this photo opportunity came about because, naturally, we got rotaried from the Rotaries…

Then off to the Strip!

The Arizona Strip is the corner of Arizona that I15 runs through. It is spectacular country, and is beautiful in any weather.

Then we hit Nevada…but missed the sign! So here is the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite. When you see the Virgin River Casino, you know you are really in Nevada.

Just out of Mesquite we hit a traffic jam. That big white thing…

I mean, we got to see these neat looking new Amazon vans…

…and Joshua Trees…

…but 40+ miles before you could pull over??? Well, it did move along at around 40MPH or so…

So what was it? Some secret new Air Force spy plane? An alien Spacecraft? Nope. Just someone’s very, very expensive party boat…

Then the traffic broke up and we all descended into beautiful…beautiful? Hack! Cough! Las Vegas!!!

(All Photos except the first one by the Dailylife Wife!)

~Curtis in Utah, Nevada and Arizona! {!-{>

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Day 2023003!

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Morning came way too early for some of us…

Then it was out to brush snow and warm up the truck.

(Photo by the Dailylife Wife!)

A dreary start to the day, deliberately late so as to miss the Salt Lake City morning rush hour. We did encounter this interesting steam/smoke column near Lehi…

(Photos by the Dailylife Wife!)

Then it was down, down, down I15. Actually the roads were bare, if not occasionally wet. We got snowed on lightly, but nothing ever stuck and it never became unusually slippery.

It started to break up as we passed Cedar City, for a short time.

As we headed down the hill toward Saint George (actually Washington…) you could see the edge of things.

And it was nice when we pulled off the freeway!

(Photo by the Dailylife Wife!)

We walked across the parking lot (the Holiday Inn there has nice RV parking in the back!) to the Korel Kafe. They made a good pizza: not too much sauce! (Vertical Panorama!)

Back in the room I had splurged: normally rooms with jetted tubs are pricey, but this was only $15 more, and it was a great tub! Fill it to the overflow and just lay back. My feet and head barely touched, and it was 6″ deeper than standard home units. The only downside was the lack of handholds. You tend to flounder when you try to sit up. It did feel pretty good though!

~Curtis in Utah! {!-{>

Filed in F150, Family, Food, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, On the Road, PAD 2023, Panorama, Photography, RV, Sunrises, Weather | | Comments (0)

Day 2023002! On the Road to Morocc…err, Arizona!

Monday, January 2, 2023

We got off in good time today: 7:05am! A quick stop at Hardee’s for breakfast. There was no way they want to let that trailer go through McDonalds!

Heading down the hill into the Sun and the Helena Valley.

At the South end of Elk Park, before heading down the hill into Butte, there were a few strange clouds. And it was -27 degrees?

Just over the hill and down a bit from the Continental Divide, the temps had warmed to a balmy -12 or so, and the mirrors fogged up from condensation…

The snowplows really throw the snow down here!

More funny clouds south of Dillon…

The rig with the Dailylife Wife staying warm at the Rest Area in Lima, /\/\onTana!

Into Idaho! And the only really slippery road of the day.

(Photo by the Dailylife Wife!)

Really strange clouds south of Idaho Falls…

Into Utah!

(Photo by the Dailylife Wife!)

We have had really good mileage today…8.2MPG GF to Rocker, and 9.3MPG Rocker to Idaho Falls! The last tank of the day we will fill and figure in the morning.

This is how: 55-60MPH and being in Fourth Gear when not running uphill.

After Tremonton, it started getting dark. And not just because the sun went down!

We finally made it to Layton, UT, and our Holiday Inn…at about 6pm! I didn’t think we could average 50MPH for the 545miles, but we did! There is a lot more margin if you are driving 75-80, but we stayed at 55-60. No really bad weather was a lot of it. So it was off to Outback, or “Out_ack” as their sign says. A long walk across the parking lot…

Baked Potato soup…it is really good here!

While I like the soup too, I decided on a Blooming Onion Burger…just to have a small taste of the Blooming Onion…it is so good and so hard on the digestion!!!

(Photo by the Dailylife Wife!)

A vertical panorama!

Outside it was kind of winter wonderland? A pretty, snowy tree by the Utility Box!

And way down yonder across the parking lot is our rig!

And here it is a little closer…

Hopefully a shorter day (by 200 miles!) to St.George and a Holiday Inn with a jetted tub to wash away two days of aches and pains. I think the hot tub at our RV Park will be getting more than a few visits from me this year!

Light snow (less than an inch) expected tomorrow…

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in F150, Family, Food, Historic, Holiday, Humor, Inspiration, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, Macro/Closeup, On the Road, PAD 2023, Panorama, Photography, RV, Sunrises, Sunsets, Weather | | Comments (0)

Day 2023001!

Monday, January 2, 2023

Happy New Year!

We are packing up to head south once again. It looks like we may have a three or four day window without too much severe weather to tow through. If you look at the open compartment, that is our outdoor kitchen. That we never use. I removed the refrigerator and ice maker so we can use it as storage. And as a space to hide the stowed pop-up power strip! More to come on installing that in a few days…

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in F150, Fall Colors, Holiday, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, Life at Home, PAD 2023, Photography, RV, Sunsets, Weather | | Comments (0)

Day 365

Monday, January 2, 2023

A magical way to end this disastrous Year of Our Lord 2022: my house seems to have turned into a pagoda…We had 6-8 inches of snow the day before Christmas. It was pretty much gone by the 31st.

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

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Day 364

Monday, January 2, 2023

One last selfie for 2022 as the gas prices start back up…

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

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Day 363

Monday, January 2, 2023

I had an Avis run to Belgrade. I took down a Ford Edge. A nice car with a HUGE screen…but when the night mode clicked off the screen turned mostly white. I never did find a way to turn the SCREEN off…

At the north end of the Canyon the Missouri River is ice choked…this is why we can’t have nice things in the Winter: the steamboats can’t get up this far through all of the ice!