K&K-What's Happenin': Changing location

May 4 found us finally loading the last bits and doing last minute maintenance on truck and RV. We didn't pull out of our drive until after sunset, but better late than never.

Pulling out of our private RV park in our back yard

The past few months we have been doing a daily geocache but since we had been busy all day, hadn't gotten away to locate one yet. We saw an easy find listed on the map just off the 101 on 19th, so pulled off and found it behind a Culver's. Since we were there, we decided to have the frozen custard flavor of the day (chocolate caramel twist or some such) to top off the Chinese take-out we had eaten before leaving the house. Spooning in the cold treat, we drove a few blocks on Deer Valley Rd. which we exited right onto I-17. Easy off, easy on...something quite valuable when you are dragging all that mass behind you!

We made it into Flagstaff without incident. Karl always likes to get a weight on the rig when we are loaded for a new venture, so we headed for the Little America truck stop scales - 29,875#! We filled with diesel, drove to the back lot and parked with the "big boys" for the night. A good night's sleep between purring big rigs made us ready for Monday morning. Driving across the scales showed we have either learned how to do this better or we've left something out for we were 600 lbs. lighter than all previous moves.

A few months ago we bought a geocaching travel bug we named "Route 66" and placed on a key chain with the U.S. highway Route 66 symbol. Wanting to launch it from a Route 66 commemorative cache, we headed for a short string of them located where we could get close with our rig. By the time we had dropped off our "bug" and logged into 3 more caches, I was more than ready for breakfast, so we headed for a trusty Cracker Barrel (they always have pull-through parking for tour buses and RV's).

The brakes had been behaving poorly the evening before, so Karl decided to check it before we left the parking lot. Oh, my. He isolated an electrical short on the trailer brakes with no easy fix. Well, the 5th wheel RV doubles as a moving van when we head for a new location, so with a bit of shuffling and a little unloading, our corner of the by now deserted Cracker Barrel back lot was turned into a mechanic's shop.

trouble shooting under dash

...and under he goes

Four hours later we were up and running again. As the last light of Monday disappeared, we pulled into Bluff, UT. Time to get out and stretch. Old Fort Bluff was just a shadow. They must roll up the streets of this little town before dark, because no one was stirring, not even a mouse. Well... lights were on in the houses, but there was no one out and about. Oh, well. We parked on the street in front of the old fort site which is across from the little post office and the fire barn. A sign said there was a library, but not sure just where that might have been. We walked the deserted side streets, found a cache next to the street on the back side of the old fort, breathed in the crisp night air and crawled back into the truck cab ready to head out again.

We repeated the process again when we drove through Blanding, UT. Then we really got serious about finding somewhere to park for the night. We had about decided that Moab was our best bet when we came around the corner leading to Hole in the Rock and saw the Rest Area sign which reminded us of this really nice facility. Sure enough, as we slowed down to turn in we saw a motor home and three big rigs bedded down for the night. We pulled along side and thankfully fell into our bed.

good morning world

..and another photo

In the morning, Karl thought he recalled there being a cache in this rest area. Sure enough, after looking it up, we found the coordinates and made an easy "find" getting a little walk and some sweet morning air at the same time. He wanted pictures to post on the TB website, so that took a little while, but finally we got on the road and rolled into Moab 20 minutes later for a welcomed breakfast.

We made our way to our final destination in easy stages, stopping for 3 more caches along I-70 before leaving the interstate at Grand Junction, CO. Rolling into Delta mid afternoon, we had plenty of time to set up our site at the RV park before night fall. Home Sweet Home!