3 seasons...

We had a nice sunset last night...

The air quality around Salt Lake City is less than great.  That makes for lousy breathing conditions, but the sunsets sure are pretty.

Heading north out of Ogden this morning, we ran into a drizzly rain just a few miles north...

And that is pretty much how the day played out until just south of Boise, Idaho.  The temps went from mid-50s to mid-40s to mid-70s.  By the time we pulled into an RV park in Nampa, the sun was out.  We got off the road early today, with the plan to get some shopping done before we get to Washington State.  We're all for supporting the local economies, but Washington is a bit punitive on the purchase of adult beverages.  And, some things are hard to come by on San Juan Island.  The truck and boat aren't going to hold much more, though.  ;-)

Back to the boat, and the sky had turned gray, but the temp was warm.  I think we're going to get rained on this evening... but, at least it won't be snow.

According to Mapquest, almost 2,300 miles covered, less than 600 miles to go.

Running by the Wasatch...

We were out early, and enjoyed the beautiful drive in southern Utah; two lane road with scenery reminiscent of Zion and Bryce National Parks.  While we were higher in elevation than any time yesterday, the road was as steep or twisty...

As we drove north, we could see snow on the peaks of the Wasatch Range...

We made a stop so I could check on a battery charger for the boat.  Seems that we can't drive by this place...

Anyone recognize that building in the background?

It was mostly overcast all day; we drove through a few sprinkles and there is a 30% chance of precip this evening.  It would be nice to have some humidity.  We had a tailwind most of the day - even with the up and down of the mountain roads, we got our best mpg of the trip (so far), logging 14.6 miles per gallon.

We stopped at a Passport park north of Salt Lake City that we visited on our way south last fall... the manager remembered us; I'm guessing he doesn't see that many people staying in a boat.  It is a mobile home park, but they put RVs in any empty spots that they have... and they didn't have many empty spots.  That is a trend that we are seeing all along our route so far: RV parks are mostly full.

We got in early enough today to set up the satellite TV and have a relaxing meal at a nearby Mexican restaurant... we missed Cinco de Mayo yesterday.

If all goes well, we are about 3 full days away from Anacortes.

At one point today, Joan said, "These mountains sure are beautiful.  And, look - they have lots for sale with 'mountain views'."

"Yep, and snow and cold in the winter.  But, I get it -  if you can't have a view of the water, the mountains would be a good second choice." ;-)

Twistin'...

Nothing like we did last summer (anyone get the Chubby Checker reference?).  We got off the Interstate today, diagonal to the northwest.  The roads went from this...

To this...

There was interesting scenery to view...

... but, the road kept getting narrower and steeper.  As we climbed further, there were switchbacks...

If that looks steep to you, keep in mind that the camera never shows it as steep as it really is!

Big Red did a fine job hauling the weight, but the rough and narrow road had me slowed down a bit.  Of course, cars behind us got impatient, and occasionally tried to pass on a double yellow line.  At one point, the road was so narrow that Wild Blue's port side trailer tires were just touching the yellow line and the starboard side tires were on the white line; and no shoulder.  I pulled over where I could to let traffic pass, but there were not a lot of opportunities for that.  It turned into a lot of work.  At one point, there was a Highway Patrol vehicle on the other side... Joan said, "You probably saved some of those people from getting a ticket."  I was more concerned with not beating up our equipment.

It took all day to do about 375 miles.

We are down for the night in an RV park... no cable TV to be had.  We may have to break out the Yahtzee and converse.  ;-)

High desert...

My sinuses like humidity.  They were not happy while we were in the desert visiting Steph and Dan; they had settled in nicely while we were back in the Tropical Tip.  It didn't take long for them to get cranky this trip... we are in the high desert (NW Texas, New Mexico)... the humidity this afternoon is 6%.  On the bright side, the strong headwinds have moderated, and we are seeing between 13 and 14 mpg.

The scenery pretty much all looks like this...

The rest areas feature this...

Pockets of civilization are far apart, and gas stations in that outback are pricy - over $4 per gallon for diesel.  We didn't need those stops, fortunately.

The miles we can make in a day haven't timed out for staying in Passport parks since we left the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  We were amazed at the number of small RV parks along Hwy 287 in Texas, and most of them were full or nearly so.  We are doing 350 - 400 miles per day right now.  This is what a nice RV park in the high desert looks like...

Gravel, but the pea-size gravel keeps the blowing dirt down.  Well, so does the lighter wind. ;-)  This park has cable TV and very nice showers/rest rooms.  I am looking forward to getting Wild Blue back in the water so we can use our own shower again.  The upside (there's always an upside), you can stand in the RV park showers for a while to rehydrate the sinuses.

Little Izzy has been her usual good traveler self.  If she wants to nap, she generally goes into her carrier.  When we stop, she goes into the carrier without being told.  She usually rides on or beside the center console when she's being social.  We put her carrier in the cockpit while we plugged in power and cable.  Here's how comfortable she is with the carrier...

Yes, she sat on the carrier - she likes to take the high ground. ;-)

Mornings are still chilly: below 40º, but the daytimes have been pleasant, around 70º (but it does take it a while to warm up to that).  We have been picking our route based on weather.  Tomorrow will be a northerly trek and a commitment to a route west of the Rockies.

While we did have quite a bit of driving while we were in Arlington, it was over 1,000 miles just in Texas... fully 1/3 of the distance from the Tropical Tip to Anacortes is in the Lone Star State.  If everything goes as planned, tomorrow should put us just over half way.

The "prettiest part" is still ahead.  ;-)

On edit: little Izzy walking around...

There were some people checking in, in a motorhome.  Their little dog barked annoyingly.  Little Izzy said, "Don't they have rules about that??"

Right on the nose...

No, Joan didn't punch me.  Mother Nature, however, did, kinda... we had strong, gusty winds right on the nose all day long.  It cut our miles per gallon from 13 (a couple days ago), to 10 (barely).  And, it was COLD... as in: we had to wear our winter Gore-Tex coats kinda cold.

I sent Stephanie a text to let her know we are down for the night.  She has a big of a fixation with armadillos... maybe because she has never seen one.  We saw a dead one the other day.  And, another one today.  Here's the story...

We were driving along, plugging into the headwind, when a conversion van roared past us.  Up ahead, I saw an armadillo starting to go across the road.  The conversion van slammed on the brakes!  They didn't hit the armadillo, but that boomerang shaped TV antenna they had on top came off and slammed into that armadillo with a direct hit to the head... yeah, it killed him.

Joan said, "Did you see that??"

"Yes," I said, "That armadillo died from an STD."

"A what???"

"Yeah, a bad case of van-aerial disease."

(rimshot)

No, not really.  But, how often do you get to pull out that old joke?? ;-)

We are in an old RV park in Amarillo... and we did see another armadillo today, but no sign of a van aerial.  The sun came out, but it took all day to warm up, finally topping out just below 70º at 5:00 this afternoon.  Since we were down for the day, little Izzy got some time in the cockpit...

That is our long, super-model cat.  She was having fun watching the birds fly by.  And, just looking cute...

We're watching weather close tonight, trying to decide: up east of the Rockies, or west through New Mexico, then north.

A change in the weather...

We had the air conditioning running when we went to bed.  This morning, we have the heat going.  A cold front is moving through the area, dropping the temps by 40º compared to yesterday, with winds gusting to 40 mph.  Any direction we want to go looks like more of the same.  Yes, they are using the "S-word" (snow) northwest of us (parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado).  I have my own s-word to respond to that.

----------------

I hate when that happens...

I was discussing traveling with the boat with one of my brothers-in-law yesterday.  I mentioned how I don't like to use the RV park or marina showers; they have a 5th wheel, and he said he prefers using the campground showers: "All the hot water you want, and you don't have to wipe down the shower."

This morning, we schlepped our stuff through the drizzly cold to the RV park showers.  I lined up my toiletries on the shelf above the sink and started shaving.  I bumped the shelf... my toothbrush teetered, then... fell right into the waste basket.  Yeah, I'm gonna miss that toothbrush.

My heart is heavy...

We attended our sister-in-law's funeral today.  My heart aches for her husband (Joan's youngest brother) and their adult kids.  Two beautiful grandkids that aren't going to get to know their Grandma.  Like Joan and me, they had been together since high school.

Joan's family is wonderful (great taste in in-laws, too); the siblings are all strong and independent, and there for each other.

Hug your loved ones.  Don't miss any opportunity to tell them how much they mean to you.