Heading to points south…

——–Sorry to have taken so long to post this. I was unsettled for a while——

Early in November, it was starting to look like an early winter here in Milton Freewater, so I planned a trip south to warmer climes. And this time, instead of heading straight south, I planned on a slightly SE route to visit some of the SW area I’ve either missed or haven’t been to in ages. So I decided to visit Glenn’s Ferry, Idaho, then turn south there and pass through Salt Lake City, stay in an RV park south of there, then visit Cuba, NM which is a small town somewhat close to some interesting Indian ruins. Then onto Arches NP, after which I’d planned on another visit and stay in Aztec, NM, then onto points south where it would be warmer. Eventually ending up in Mexico somewhere.

So, that’s the plan, lets see how it went!

First I headed to Tollgate (instead of Pendleton) via OR-204 E which took me through Tollgate then on to the little town of Elgin. This was a test route for me, I wanted to try it out because it’s a less steep roadway overall. It’s slightly longer and there are some steep grades, but not like Dead Man’s Hill outside of Pendleton. And soon as I got a little height on this road, it started to rain. Much preferred over snow which is coming to this area soon. After a short steep hill or three, the country looks like this.

And here’s the paper mill outside of Elgin. This is why there’s a town here since this is still a working paper mill/processing plant. And here’s downtown Elgin. It’s become a retirement area for RV’ers too so there are a couple of expensive RV parks near downtown. I don’t see the attraction myself. Probably has a laid back persona.

And after that short visit just passing through, heading due south in nice flat farmland to Island City, where I’ll pick up the I-84 Interstate highway heading to Glenn’s Ferry. So by taking this route, I was able to miss that very steep and very long section of highway outside of Pendleton.
Stopped at a roadside rest stop and there’s this…
This is the Snake River. Rather placid here.

And then I was at the Y Knot Winery & RV Campground. The RV park check in is across the street so I walked over there and made sure I’d be able to watch the Seahawks game on their TV (yes).

Nice place, and so I paid for 3 nights. Not in a hurry, weather was chilly but not too bad when you have a 50 amp site and a cold weather RV. Let the cat outside so she could explore around the RV, then headed over to the bar for a steak dinner. Filet Mignon. Under cooked, dammit. Rare instead of medium. Didn’t bother to send it back because it did taste great.

But, surprise! The Oregon Ducks game was on the TV so stayed there for the duration of the game. It’s November so they weren’t exactly crowded.

There is a golf course right next to the RV park but it was a bit to nippy to play. This is the exit from the winery. Kinda upscale.

And a couple blocks from the winery there are some views of the Snake. This is near the 3 Island Ford, the picture below shows the islands, that caused the deaths of so many early Oregon Trail pioneers. Even Marcus Whitman (of the Whitman Mission), Narcissa Whitman and their group crossed near here, and almost lost their mules and the wagon they were pulling when it tipped and rolled due to the strong current. Only a concerted effort by the men saved the wagon and the mules. They eventually had to lash the horses to the wagon to get it across. There is a faint scar on the hillside that is the actual Oregon Wagon Trail.
Many of the above shots were take from the public boat launch and park area, right on the Snake. G. Glenn had settled in the area and eventually, after 20 years of immigrants having trouble crossing at 3 Island Ford, built a ferry a few miles north of here.

And then I headed downtown Glenn’s Ferry and suddenly it all came back to me. I HAD stayed in GF before! In fact, I stayed here for a month back in ’04 or ’05. I’d totally forgotten until I saw these old buildings again.

Weird I’d forgotten that. Back then I stayed at a motel that had a few RV parking spaces and rented both my space and one of their cabins. Moved most of my electronics shop to the cabin while I designed and built a device to sense how much the RV tilted as it climbed a hill.

Kinda enjoyed my stay and vowed to come back but eventually forgot. And back then I only had a bike, no car, so I didn’t do much in the way of excursions. Anyway, this trip, I was able to drive around since I tow a car now and checked things out, found that RV park where I’d stayed a few days and drove off with my electrical umbilical still plugged in…ripped out their electrical box. Easy fix, had it all back in shape in 15 minutes. And found the RV park where I’d stayed the month and they were back to being just a motel…no RV parking any more. Other then those places, downtown, the winery, and the river, there’s not much to see there. The town has a population of around 1800. A nice quiet little town long past it’s better days. Should be inexpensive to live there if you’re looking to retire in a small town.

So after the 3 days and nights there at the winery, back on the road heading for Salt Lake City. Didn’t want to stay there because SLC is pretty expensive so I looked for a small town south of it. The night before I left GF, checked the map and figured I could make it to Helper, UT. There’s a few RV parks there and I just chose one at random. Not the best park in the world, but the price was high.

Here’s Kwan the Kat waiting to go outside after we arrived, wasn’t even set up yet and she’s meowing to go out.

On the road just south of SLC, climbing into the mountains to the east of there, these HUGE windmills. You can’t really tell from this picture but these are giants.

This looks a bit more like the area I was heading for…

Kind of a neat little RV park, named the Blue Cut RV Park, but like everything in Utah, WAY overpriced for what they had. I thought that $40/night was way too much for this standard type RV park in the boondocks. Kind of park where I’d see $25 to $35/night most places I’ve been. The water was off, but they have some strategically placed freeze protected water faucets where you’re supposed to fill your tank. My hose would have reached easily if I’d needed water. Kinda clever. They had already winterized the spigots at all the sites. But I didn’t need water anyway. Kwan the Kat really liked this park for some reason. Maybe the smell? But I got online and researched and saw that I was only 1.5 hours from Moab…and the Arches NP and that’s where I headed next AM. Wasn’t much in Helper anyway.

Next day, I’m soon out of the hills onto the flats and the temps are warmer during the day especially at night. Weather was pretty good. Light winds and that’s always welcomed.

Stopped at this rest stop and discovered that it’s…this…

And looking up (North) towards SLC in the above picture you can see the early season snows that I’m trying to get away from.

So from Helper, it was on to Moab, Utah. I wanted to visit Arches NP and so I selected a half way reasonably priced RV park there and left Helper around 11 AM. It’s only a 2 hour trip so I could take my time. Stopped for fuel in Price, UT following the route that the Mudflap app told me to take off the freeway but I passed an ordinary older Chevron station with a better price then what Mudflap offered so stopped there instead. Did have to drive 2-3 miles from the freeway but, it was a straight shot and my RV made it easily. And it wasn’t as far as the Mudflap station would have been. The station had just enough room for my RV, my car, and a turnabout around the back when the RV tank was filled up so easy to get back on the road…no right turns.

Dragged my feet enough that I arrived at the OK RV Park in Moab just around 2 pm. Initially paid for 3 nights but I discovered there is so much for a tourist to do here, that I eventually extended it so I stayed 8 nights. Anyway, here’s some shots of the travel between Helper and Moab.

Long lonely roads… There was this alkali desert area and then suddenly, a bunch of red cliffs and hills…

Note that the weather had been threatening most of this trip and as soon as I settled in Moab, it got nice! Can’t ask for more.

So here I settled for the next 8 days to do the tourist thing. The first excursion will be to Arches NP. And since it’s a NP, I can use my NP senior pass. Save bunches of money with that. You guys should all buy one when they are on sale, if they ever go on sale again. Mine only cost $7 on sale back in ’06 and now the ANNUAL pass is $80, but the senior LIFETIME pass is also $80. Mine is the lifetime one and I was able to get it because I was over 55 I think. At the time I was 58-59. Saved me bundles of money in the 17 years I’ve been full time RV’ing since I got it. [Edit: Nope, turns out you can buy the senior lifetime pass but at age 62, not 55. So I was at least 62 when I got it at a NP south of Phoenix. There’s a cool native ruin there.]

And here’s a few pics of the OK park. It’s near those tourist hot spots, Arches NP, and Canyon Lands NP, is now a very built up area, with huge motels and RV parks. Many facilities that cater to tourists too in downtown. Lots of international visitors so lots of upscale places here catering to them.

The particular RV park that I chose is on the outskirts of town like 5 miles from the center of downtown and it’s very economical compared to the other RV parks nearby. The office staff was very helpful in several ways with the tourist type questions I had.

It was just after 2 pm when I arrived and the sun eventually poked out around 3. At 4 pm, I drove down to the Alley Sports Pub & Grill for dinner and checked on their TVs in case I wanted to watch the next Seahawks game there. Lots of them.

So this is where I’ll end this article. Next time, we’ll be heading to Arches NP and tour around mainly by car, and have a few hikes. Very interesting. Got hundreds of pictures so you don’t wanna miss that.

Thanks for reading, see you next time!