HIGHWAY TO THE SUN

The fridge and freezer are empty, the house is winterized and RV packed. The only way we can stop preparing and relax, is to move into the RV for a relaxing evening.

We make our traditional champagne toast to a safe and enjoyable journey, warm up some left overs and watch a movie before we turn in.

As soon as the sun is up we are ready to take off on this frosty morning. As always, there are a few things to take care off, but at 10:00 am we are finally on the road heading south, via Calgary.
By lunch time is has warmed up significantly. We find a nice spot at a rest area and bring the chairs out for a picnic lunch in the sun.
We reach High River around 4:00 pm, where we drop off some items for the Microcredit display booth for one of the Rotarians there. It happens to be that the Rotary club meets that evening and we are invited to join them and do a presentation about Project Amigo.
The club is preparing for its first art sale fundraiser and are setting up at the RV Showroom. That comes in really handy, perhaps they allow us to park inside the compounds for the night.

We get to meet John Andresen, who has been on a Project Amigo Workweek last year and will join us again in January. John invites us and other Rotarians for Tequila at his house before we attend the meeting. This club sponsors 4 University students at Project Amigo.

As soon as the sun comes up in the morning, we move along, direction Coutts to the US Border. We hear about the heavy snow in Lethbridge and are happy that we passed that already. With out new NEXUS pre approved Id card, the broder crossing is a breeze.

Through this area the wind is very strong and pushes our RV across the lanes. It reminds me of Patagonia. Dry dessert like and somewhat deserted.

We’re happy to see a turn out with a view point. It gives us an opportunity to stretch our legs and strengthen our heart muscles, by climbing the stairs to the view pont overlooking the Missouri river.
The scenery is beautiful; rugged mountains, canyons, valleys and lakes. We stay on the I15 Interstate and after a more than 8 hours on the road, we join the other Albertan RVers at the Wallmart RV park. Of course there are no services, other than “Shop All You Want”, but we are able to boondock for 3-4 days if we want to.

Day 2 of our journey starts at 6:00 am. The wind has died down, but it is only 2 degrees C. I dress warm for my early morning walk, which is a great start for the day.
By the time Ramiro is done with his technical work most RVers have left and we finally leave at 9:30.
Much later than planned, but we are still ahead of schedule.
We decide to get off the Interstate at Boulder and take the interior road, to avoid any high Passes and possible snow.
Looking at the clouds to the west, chance are that there is snow.
We’re on a single lane road now, which is fine, but we did not anticipate the road construction, which goes on for 15 km. Falls is just starting and the variation of colours is a real treat. Chet Atkins voice goes very well with the scenery that passes by us. Or is it us, passing by the scenery?
The cloud cover keeps the air from warming up and it stays at 16C for most of the morning.

When we reach Spencer we pull over for lunch and a sort walk through the village, or hamlet I should say; There are only half a dozen homes in this old Opal mine community. We find a nice rock to remind us of this place out in the middle of nowhere.
As we get closer to Utah, the temperature has warmed up significantly. We stop at a Shell service station and lady luck is with us; There is a sewer dump. We empty the tanks and fill up with fresh water. We’re good for a few more days.

The plan is to take a day off but we are not where we like to be, so we dry camp for another night at at Walmart in Layton, just north of Salt Lake City.

We have a few choices, we can play Rummikub all night, go shopping at Wallmart or turn in early. We choose the latter, which means we rise early.

The streets are wet in the morning, not from the rain, but from the sprinklers watering the lush, green grass in the residential area. I take my jacket off and wrap the sleeves around my waste; It’s only 6:30 am. What a beautiful day this is going to be.

Today we’re right on schedule and leave right at 8. It’s a good thing it is Sunday today, the traffic across Salt Lake City is light and we zoom right along with the rest of the traffic on the I15. It’s a long monotonous road, but we sing along with Elvis and other favorites to make it less boring.

Just south of Cedar City we turn east onto 9, direction Zion National Park.
At Springdale we find a nice RV park, right along the Virgin river.
Ahh, the air is warm. Winter jackets are packed away, and we settle in for a day and a half. Tomorrow is our R & R day. Ramiro needs a break from driving, and I need a break from card reading and sitting.