Tuesday, October 27, 2015 (Travel to Virgin River Canyon BLM Campground, Littlefield, AZ)

I was up bright and early this morning...yup...5:30! A neighbour starting up his truck woke me up and since it was travel day for us, I wanted to make sure I had time for my usual coffee start to the day.

For those of us that prefer to boondock (Ray and Deb), Steve stumbled across this site by accident too late in our trip to explore Zion BLM Camping.

We pulled out of Zion River Resort at 8:55...ten minutes later than we had planned but our ETA at RVZZ  was 9:32 which would make us 'almost' on time for our 9:30 appointment. It was a beautiful day as we headed back to I-15 south...

We had no problem finding RVZZ in Washington, Utah. Even though they were booked two weeks in advance, when Steve called last week and told them that we were referred by Zion River Resort (large ad in their pamphlet), they agreed to look after us right away.

Steve supervising the poor tech Troy at the sani dump. He's trying to figure out why our recently replaced and modified grey water gate valve wasn't allowing water to drain. Unpleasant as this job was for Troy laying on his back in the sani dump,  we're sure he's glad it wasn't the black tank that he had to drain :-)
Okay so the new gate valve was removed and found to be working. The tech asked if we were sure we had anything in the tank. Steve told him that there should be about 6 days of dishwater in there. He then inquired about all the spray foam that he could see sticking out from the underbelly. Steve told him that's where they cut into the underbelly to get access to the old gate valve. You see, the original gate valve was the cable style and they didn't have stock, so they cut into the exposed pipe hanging in front of the tire and installed the lever style gate valve instead. Don't know why the factory didn't do the same as it's much more preferable, especially for servicing.
So Troy climbed under there...

...removed the spray foam, then the pipe to drain the tank...lots of stinky water now!

He found that the tech at Traveland RV in Fort Langley applied too much silicone sealant. This picture was taken after the tech had already stuck his finger in it. The silicone had almost created a diaphragm with a 3/4" hole instead of the 1 1/2". This allowed debris to build up until the hole became blocked. Now we are waiting to hear back from Traveland RV about our $453 U.S. bill that will probably come to around $580 Canadian with the current exchange rate! We sure hope Traveland stands behind their work and reimburses us for this expense,

Well, it's a good thing that we were't planning on a long travel day today...it was almost 1:00 when we were back on the road headed south. We crossed the border into Arizona and before long...

 ...we were entering the Virgin River Canyon...

 The Virgin River...

 Our turnoff to the campground...

There were a number of RV's in the campground but we lucked out, getting one of the best pull-out sites overlooking the canyon....sweet! It's a short paved road just off the highway and quite peaceful.
Camping is $8.00 per night and Day Use is $2.00. Water is available but no sani dump.

View from our rig...

Steve missed a great shot of this military helicopter flying low and banking through the canyon right in front of us because the camera wouldn't focus...sheesh! Well, at least he got this shot...

After we were all set up, we lazed outside taking in the beauty that was in front of us..and maybe shutting our eyes for a bit of a snooze. Before it was bevie time, we decided to go for a walk around the campground. Steve took a few pictures... a pull through site...

 That's our rig down there in the distance...the longest one...

There's a hiking trail that starts next to our site that we'll have to check out...

Washrooms...

Again, from our site...

 The colors in the rock is stunning...

After dinner, we watched our usual Tuesday night programs on TV...for some reason, though, I was having a hard time staying awake. Oh right, we gained an hour when we crossed into Arizona...that means that I was actually up at 4:30 this morning...no wonder I couldn't keep my eyes open by 9:00!