Bryce Canyon National Park...

Our plan came together: get to the park early, but not too early.  Let some of the campers vacate their site, we can get a campsite in the park.

Heading there from last night's campground...

A couple tunnels to go through before you get to the park entrance...

And here we are...

I showed my "Geezer Pass" at the entrance, the lady smiled, gave us the park newspaper, and said, "Enjoy your stay."  She even recommended which campground we should check first, and suggested a loop where there were sites to accommodate our length.

We went directly to the North Campground, and took Loop A... we had our choice of a couple sites.  Neither were particularly level - this is not a "RV resort."  Our choice...

We first pulled into a site off the road... to far off-level.  We walked the loop and picked the site above.  In order to get level, we put some blocks under the low side and under the leveling jacks on that side...

It works.  The automatic levelers were happy.  No other set-up work to do, besides putting the slides out... there are no hook-ups.  National Park dry camping at its finest.  Oh, and for those of you who made fun of the glee I had when getting the "Geezer Pass" - it saved me $45 today... the $30 park entry fee, and half price camping... normally $30, but yours today for the low, low price of only $15!

Here's our "living on" side...

"Where are we?"

We put Izzy's lunch out and headed out.  First stop: got to pay for the campsite...

We walked to the parking area on the way to the Visitors Center...

11:00 am, and it was nearly full; that view above is just a small portion of the parking.  Our plan at the Visitors Center: look around and catch the park shuttle bus that takes you to different view points.  At Grand Canyon National Park, the shuttle bus is the only way you can get around on the south rim - no personal cars are allowed.  Here, you have the option... but, they warn you that parking can be very congested.  They don't warn you that the wait for the shuttle bus can be long and congested, too.  After a half hour of waiting, and no shuttle bus, we walked back to our campsite and got the scooters out.

Since it was getting close to lunch time, Joan made us a picnic lunch while I got the bikes ready.  The campground host came by to check sites and said, "Those scooters will be a perfect way to get around the park - you will like that A LOT better than waiting for a shuttle bus."

Yep.  We geared up and headed out.  Like most of the National Parks, the speed limit is 45 mph or less through Bryce.  If you aren't planning to hike the trails (and we weren't), this is one National Park that you can see in a day.  (We used to hear people at Yellowstone and the Tetons talk about "doing the park" - or both parks - in a single day!

Since all of the view points are essentially on the east side of the one road through the park, we decided to ride to the far south end of the park, see Rainbow Point, then work our way back, with the view points on our side of the road.  That road is only 18 miles, from the park entrance to the furthest view point.  Judging by the cars on the road, most people visit the first 3 or 4 view sites, then call it a day.

Unlike many of the National Parks, the roads here are in good repair, and fun to ride...

Finally saw one of the shuttle buses...

Out to Rainbow Point...

Check out that elevation.  No wonder I was out of breath making the walk to and from the Visitors Center.  The scooters could feel the elevation, too: didn't have our usual blistering pull off the line.  ;-)

Here is why people come to Bryce...

The views are breathtaking... no, that's not just the elevation.  I will post more photos of the scenery, but I can see where it might all start looking the same; not the case in person.  This park reminds me a bit of the Grand Canyon, on a slightly less "grand" scale, but even prettier because of the contrast with all the trees.

We had our picnic here, enjoying the view.  Time to head back to the scoots; proof that I was here, too...

Then, back on the scoots...

We stopped at other view points along the way: Inspiration Point, Bryce Point, Sunset Point - lots of points.

Natural Bridge; a misnomer, it is an arch, not a bridge.  Whatever you want to call it, it is impressive...

The people waiting for the shuttle bus...

Don't get me wrong - I think the shuttle bus is a good idea.  But, it looks to me like they need a few more of them to keep things moving.  These same people were still waiting, after we went to this view point, took a few shots, walked around a bit, and came back.

We did seem to start a "selfie" contest during all the picture taking.  I won't bore you will all the entries.  Well, one...

Good thing we were there early...

Weather weasels...

It may be an over-reaction to the flooding that took lives last week, but the weather guessers are calling for "potential severe flooding" in southern Utah, with a system that will be moving into the area on Tuesday.  In the words of the philosopher Billy Joel: "I'm moving out!"

We are going to cut our time short in this area.  Check out Bryce Canyon National Park today, do a drive-through at Zion tomorrow, then find a place away from the canyons to hunker down.  We are flexible.

See ya down the road.

Wanna see my Geezer Pass?

Traffic through the Salt Lake City valley was typical: a lot of cars, all doing a bit more than the speed limit.  Might have been the fact that it was a Saturday, but there were no slow-downs.  In fact, if I drove the speed limit, they were passing me on both sides.

We talked about stopping for the night at Beaver... just so I could make all kinds of immature beaver jokes.  Talking about the jokes being immature, not... well, you know.  When we called the Passport park in Beaver, they had one site left, and don't take reservations.  We decided to move on and get closer to Bryce Canyon National Park.

I-15 in Utah is interesting.  Yes, there is the traffic, but you are driving with a great view of the Wasatch Mountains.  You can't look too much at the businesses along the Interstate in the thick of it... it is pretty much 100+ miles of city that I-15 passes through.

South of the city stuff, the view changes...

Getting off I-15, the view from the 2 lane roads is pretty, as well...

Lots of curves and some steep up and down hill driving.  The Aspect handles it all just fine.

We stopped for the day at an RV park about 17 miles out of Bryce Canyon National Park...

The lady who checked us in moved at a snail's pace, but we aren't on a schedule.  We plan to head into the park in the morning - if we can find a spot to park the RV for the night, we'll go for that.  If not, we'll probably wind up doing a "drive through."  We'll go it with plenty of fresh water and empty holding tanks, just in case.

I called ahead to visit with a nice lady at the Bryce Visitors Center to ask her "What are the odds that I will get an RV site?"  The majority of campsites in the park are "first come, first gets."

She said, "Pretty good if you come in early.  After 2:00, the hunt for a campsite gets pretty crazy."

That's why we decided to stop where we are today.

The elevation here is about 6,400 feet.  Joan said, "Take your time getting the utilities set up."  Yep.  We have been at low elevations (as in: sea level) for quite a while... I may need a nap.  ;-)

Mountains...

Heading southeast.  Joan brought Izzy up with us for a while...

... riding on Joan's lap.  Izzy did this much of the time when we were traveling with the truck (and boat or 5th wheel).  Now that we have the motorhome, Iz likes to ride on the bed in back, nestled in her blanket or between the pillow shams.  Traveling in comfort.  ;-)  She does come out to have lunch.  Once we are down for the day, she is right at the door, ready to go for a walk and see... "Where are we now??"

The scenery was nice along this route - a mix of agriculture (lots of green stuff) and mountains.  As we got closer to Utah, the Wasatch Mountains come into view...

Rugged.  We moved from I-84 to I-15.  Our stop for the night is a Passport America park that is a mobile home community that also takes RVs.  The price is inexpensive, and we're off the road early so we can look over the brochures we picked up at the Utah Visitors Center.

We are heading to the National Parks in the southern part of the state, mainly Bryce Canyon and possibly Zion.  Weather depending.  Rain is in the forecast for next week.  This will be a day-by-day decision.

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On edit:  the last rays of the day on the mountains - the view from our dinette window...

There should be a rainbow...

We woke up this morning to the sound of a light sprinkle on the roof.  Not enough to even wet that lovely concrete pad we are on.  ;-)

We plan to roll into Phoenix late next week, with some National Park stops along the way.  Maybe.  The flooding in southern Utah seems to be spotty, not widespread.  Still.

Checking weather, it looks like there will be some precip the first part of the day along our route.  "Ah, let's just stay put for another day."  I walked to the office and got us another night here.  Plus, they allow you to wash your rig here.  It needs it, after driving in the rain.

When I got back to the motorhome, it started raining again.  I think I'll let that pass, then go out and get the grub off this coach.  Then, maybe get the scoots out and have a leisurely lunch.  Maybe a "power nap."

The weather is supposed to be dry for the next week or so, after today.

Oh look - the sun is shining through the raindrops.

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We washed the coach.  And the trailer.  Joan cleaned all the windows.  All polished up, nice and pretty.  Apparently, we shamed the folks in the big coach next to us... as we were putting our cleaning stuff away, they came out and got their cleaning stuff out.

We pulled out the scoots; shined them up, too.  Out for lunch, then some grocery shopping.  The sky was starting to look grayer, so we put the scoots away, and went over to the pool area for one more soak in the hot tub.

Joan decided to get some laundry done.  When I was walking back from carrying stuff to the laundry (not far), the neighbors were just finishing up their coach.  The guy looked at the sky to the northwest... yep, it's coming.  You could smell it in the air.

It wasn't a pounding rain... oh, it came down hard enough to completely saturate everything, but the gusty wind will make sure than anything blowing in that rain will stick to these two shiny motorhomes.

I knew I was tempting fate when I washed ours... when I saw the guy next door out washing his coach, it was almost a guarantee that Mother Nature would toss some rain our way.  She did.  Bitch.

Now, THIS is more like it...

Interstate all the way today.  No, that's not what the title is about.  But, the terrain and the scenery make this part of the drive interesting... for the Interstate.

We managed to get ready to roll before a light sprinkle dotted the windshield; it never turned into a full on rain.  We drove by a tree farm...

Yeah, a lousy photo, but the rows were perfect, and went on for miles.  Not sure what they do with skinny trees like this, but they have a lot of 'em.  We turned away from the Columbia River right at our stop last night - today, it was all land.  Some of it, rolling hills...

Which then turned to mountains...

Long uphill grades, followed by long downhills; this sign let me know that it thought I was going too fast for the upcoming curves...

Bits of fall colors here and there...

And, some areas of recent fires.

We crossed Oregon and into Idaho.  We started thinking about where to stop for the night.  We called ahead to a park that sounds good on paper - we'll see how that plays out.  In the meantime, while rolling through the Boise area, we saw a new Camping World and decided to stop... nothing particular we need, but we always find something to buy.  This is a new Camping World, and is (in my opinion) the worst parking lot layout I have seen at one of these places.

In the good ol' days, Camping World was a chain of stores that sold RV stuff and installed the stuff they sell.  Over the years, they have been bought by a corporation that owns Good Sam, Coast to Coast, Motorhome and Trailer Life magazines, all the Camping Worlds, and (I am sure) a bunch of other stuff.  They have turned all the Camping World stores into RV sales lots.  Oh, they still sell RV stuff, but it is apparent that their focus is on selling RVs - everything from the high-end diesel pushers to pop-up campers.  In the good ol' days, the parking lots had plenty of room for RVers to pull in with their rigs and shop in the store.  These days, almost every square inch of parking lot is full of their stuff... folks pulling in with an RV are hard pressed to find enough room to park.  This one was the worst - I had a choice of one spot, after another RV pulled out.

When we were done shopping (and did find a new hose holder), we were pinned in by rigs waiting to get in for service.  I nicely asked a guy with a motorcoach that was parked across the Fire Lane if he was going to be there long... "Yeah, I'm here for the long haul."

"Well it's a damn shame that I am going to have to ram your beautiful coach and push it out of the way so we can get out."

"I'm just kidding you there, young fella."

"I'm not kidding."  (I'm fine playing the "Who has more to lose" card)  He moved his coach back enough so we could squeeze between a couple others to thread our way out.

On to the RV park in Mountain Home, Idaho.  They advertised having "80 foot concrete pull-through sites," as well as other amenities.  We are probably going to see some rain tonight... I'd rather be on a paved site.

Pulling in... THIS is my idea of what an RV resort should be!  I went in to check in and pay... nice folks.  My new friend, Denny, escorted us to our site.  Gorgeous, long concrete sites, with full hook-ups, including cable, right where they should be.  You would think every RV park would be set up for easy access for today's RVs... you would be wrong.  Some parks were built back when RVs were smaller and had no slide outs.  Most don't have real paved sites... or, level sites.  This place has sites that have a bit of a slope at the front and rear, for drainage, but are level where the RV will be parked.  And utilities that are located smartly.

Look at all that beautiful concrete!!  None of those pesky trees that are over-grown and in the way.  If I wanted all that nature stuff, I'd go to a state park or something... I want my RV resort to be like this!  Look at how smart the utilities are laid out...

Easy access, whether your power and water are in the middle of the coach or towards the rear.  Look at all the room behind us...

Room to drop the ramp and roll the scoots out... without having to move the whole rig.  And, if you are into that nature stuff, look at the lush green grass between each site.  Seriously.  I love this place.  Oh, and it was 20% less $$ than either place we stayed on the coast.

As we were pulling in, Joan said, "I think they have a hot tub."

OMG, I am never leaving this place!