Are you just itching for a little adventure? Are you tired of wearing that mask and staying home? Are you tried of working and just need a vacation? The answer for us was a resounding YES! We are now fully vaccinated and are ready to get back out there. Where should we go? How about Southern Utah? We have never been there. We’ve heard it is beautiful and it’s May. What better time.

Now we did not just pop up one day and say, “Hey, let’s go to Utah.”  We did some planning.  Months of planning actually.  Finally found a place to take the RV and Keith did all the booking of the activities.  I have learned over the years that Keith does a great job of planning activities and I have gotten really good at trusting his selections.  Full disclosure here.  Sometimes Keith plans activities and I’m terrified at what he has scheduled for us.  He is really good at putting me outside of my comfort zone. He calls it “broadening my horizons.”  I have NEVER been a risk taker or thrill seeker.  Just not in my DNA.  My husband on the other hand?  Well you get the point.  But again, I have learned to trust that he would not put my life in danger, on purpose, and I usually love doing the things he schedules. 

It will take us two full days to get to Utah in the RV.  It takes longer to get anywhere in the RV.  Our goal was to get as far as Albuquerque on day one and day two arrive in Utah.  There is a really nice KOA campground in Albuquerque.  We stayed there last summer when we went to Ouray, Colorado.  We knew this route so there was nothing new or exciting really.  Oh wait, we stopped at a rest stop on Hwy 287 in Texas to use the restroom.  As we pulled in and started to walk up to the facility there it was, the sign from Hell.  “Watch for snakes.  They are watching you.”  Really?    I helped Keith drive a couple of times, we both took naps and listened to a good book.  We arrived safely in Albuquerque, tucked ourselves into the KOA and called it day.

My eyes popped open at 5 a.m. so I got up, made my coffee and turned on the Albuquerque news.  The weather man reported that we would have some rain on our journey and high gusting winds.  None of that is good news when you are in a high profile vehicle, AKA our RV.   We headed west out of Albuquerque and there were four hot air balloons in the air and more on the ground waiting to go up.  Some day we would like to go back during their big hot air balloon fiesta. 

As we continued on west, the rain did start and then the wind kicked up. The scenery was nothing great. Lots of nothing and lots of areas of what appeared to be high poverty. The rain stopped, the wind got worse. Gusts almost blew us off the road a couple of times. Keith drove all the way today. When we got just outside of Flagstaff, we took Highway 89 north to Marble Canyon. Probably another hour and a half through some of the ugliest terrain I have ever seen. Dirt, dirt, mounds of dirt more mounds of dirt and blowing dirt. Lots of blowing dirt and red sand skies.

Along this stretch of road there were old structures set up that were probably used as places for the residents of the area to sell jewelry and other items that they make. These looked abandoned and unusable. They did seem to have a use however. Over the course of the journey along this road, I saw two people stopped to “potty” behind them. I’m thinking they thought if they went behind these facilities they could not be seen by anyone driving down the road. For the woman and the man that I saw, you would be incorrect in your assumption. I certainly saw you. Got a little chuckle out of it actually.

We finally arrived at Marble Canyon. There was a massive pedestrian bridge that crossed the gorge. It was absolutely beautiful. The water running through the canyon was a beautiful color of blue green. Reminded me of the beautiful waters of the Caribbean. There were people taking rafting rides. If Keith had known about that ahead of time, he might have tried to “broaden my horizons.”

We finally crossed into Utah and made it to our stop at the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. We checked in, found our spot and settled in for the evening. To say that Keith was exhausted was an understatement. The temperature is much cooler here and we are actually having to use the heater in the RV. Guess we better get a good night’s sleep; the adventure part of the trip starts tomorrow.