Sunday, October 16, 2011 (Travel to Brigham City, Utah)

We didn’t get away as early as we had planned this morning...we actually slept in.  It was almost 7am before we got up...that’s quite amazing for me.  And Steve has been waking up early ever since his early mornings during his hunting trip...so we were surprised.  Yeah, I know that 7am isn’t sleeping in for most people but when you normally wake up before 6am...it’s sleeping in for me!

It was 9:40 by the time we left Fairmont RV Park.  We continued east on I-90 taking the exit to I-15 south just before Butte.  The “big skies” of Montana were big “cloudy” skies today...dark, dark clouds.  It wasn’t long before we hit rain...and it just poured!  That’s one way of getting rid of all the smacked bugs covering the windshield and front of the truck!  We usually don’t travel if rain is in the forecast because Steve doesn’t want to take a chance on having water forced into the trailer at highway speeds. Well on our first pee break I noticed a small amount of water on the floor from the big slider closest to the door. Sheesh! Luckily it was the only one.   

The countryside really varies and quite beautiful (even in the rain and clouds)...the leaves are changing and the colours are quite spectacular... 

Clark Canyon Reservior...

Instead of packing a lunch which I normally do, we decided that we would stop at a restaurant for lunch.  That way Steve would have more of a break from driving rather than the usual 15 minutes stop at a rest area.  We had hoped to be able to pull of the Interstate in Idaho Falls...the trick was to find someplace with enough room to park the rig.  Unfortunately we didn’t find any of the restaurant signs along the freeway very appetizing and then as we went over an overpass, we saw an Olive Garden restaurant and it looked like it had a big parking lot (or adjacent parking). Hey, that hadn’t been listed on any of the highway signs!  And of course, there were no more exits...we were too late...sheesh! 

So we continued onto Blackfoot where we took an exit...there was a sign for a Wingers Bar and Grill, a Burger King and an Arby’s.  We really wanted a “sit down” restaurant, not a fast food place so Wingers sounded good.  As we pulled into the Walmart parking lot, we were very surprised at how RV unfriendly it was.  Steve had quite a time manoeuvring the rig on the tight corners and it didn’t look like we were going to find a place to park.  But thankfully, there was a stretch of empty spots on the far side of the lot and we managed to park there. We walked over to the smaller strip mall where Wingers was only to find that it was closed down...hmmm...well, I guess Arby’s will do.  Neither one of us had been to an Arby’s before...not exactly what we had wanted for our restaurant choice.  Oh well...the price was right!  When we got back to the truck, Steve checked the coolant levels and there doesn’t appear to be any further evidence of leaks...whew!

Our original thought had been to drive as far as Pocatello, Idaho but that was only about another half hour down the road.  So we thought we would continue onto Brigham City, Utah...I had done some research of RV parks in both places last night “just in case”.  Besides, we really wanted to just get into Utah and then take our time for a few weeks exploring some of the National Parks...Arches, Canyonlands and Moab (a town between both parks).

These are pictures I took as we drove through (on the freeway) Pacatello...a very pretty area...

We arrived at Golden Spike RV Park at about 4:45 p.m.  Brigham City is about an hour north of Salt Lake City.  We were a little disappointed in the park.  Although “big rig friendly”, the original site assigned to us (#8) had huge trees on both sides and there was no way we would have been able to get into it.  The woman inside the office realized that and came out and told us to go down to #6 or #4...they were open.  We chose #4...completely free of trees.  The sites are so close together though...there is a narrow strip of lovely green grass between each site but we have our neighbour’s sewer and water/power hook-ups right outside our front door!  Oh well, it will do for tonight....then we decided it would also do us for 2 nights...after a 6 ½ hour drive, Steve wanted a day off.  So we will have a leisurely day tomorrow...there is good Wi-Fi so maybe I’ll finally be able to get our blog totally up-to-date!

We were relaxing in front of the TV when the wind started...there was a cold front coming through.  A few minutes later Dennis and Suzanne called via Skype...it was quite funny talking to them while huge gusts of wind rocked the trailer!  The storm was supposed to blow through quickly but there would be strong winds tonight with cooler temperatures tomorrow...but it was supposed to be sunny. 

We had an early night...poor Steve was exhausted...he isn’t used to these long driving days.  After all, for the last 3 ½ months, our typical driving day was maybe 40 minutes to a couple of hours!!