We’ve forgotten how to camp without
an electric hook-up – the propane alarm started beeping at 3am as we'd failed to take the fuse out and the
electricity level was too low. So after
I’d pulled the relevant fuse out and changed the fridge-freezer to run on
propane I tried to get to sleep again, only partly successfully. But we were not bothered by anyone in the
morning and having taken a couple of snaps of the campsite and a local Moab
sign we hit the road.  |
| Not too shabby for a free campsite..... |
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| The Colorado river |
This photo needs a little explanation. I am clutching my 'America Unchained' Dave Gorman book because Moab is especially relevant to the storyline. Not wanting to spoil it for any potential readers, Dave (as I like to call him) spent a number of days in Moab - but not by choice! I got Simon to take this pic so that I could tweet Dave about our visit, and he even replied! But that's just Dave for you...
On our way
out of Moab we spotted a hitch-hiker by the side of the road. Agreeing we should pay back the good karma of
having found a free campsite by helping someone else out, we picked him up.
JD was heading towards Salt Lake
City but this meant we could give him a lift most of the way across Utah so he
was with us for a few hours. Being
homeless he doesn’t get as many chances as us to wash or shower so we had to
forgive his somewhat pungent aroma! He
is ex-army and has been living rough for most of the four years since he left
the forces having served in Iraq and Afghanistan, struggling to deal with
normal life. Or.... he is AWOL and avoiding
paying child support so living beneath the radar - You choose! He was a nice enough chap and we drove
the same route with him on board that we were due to drive today anyway, he
just lucked out by getting a luxurious lift in our RV…. And lunch! He had to tolerate us stopping for photographs
at more view points that he was underwhelmed by, but he kept saying ‘I’ve got
nothing to do and all day to do it’.
At one point today there were some
menacing clouds about and as we climbed a pass through some mountains we even
drove through a scattering of snow (right) making us think twice about where we
may stop for the night.
We dropped JD
off at Interstate 15 where we wished each other well as he continued North and
we did a short Southerly stint before heading west on Highway 50 towards the
Nevada border. In fact that is exactly
where we have ended up, at a place called Border, right on the line between
Utah and Nevada. Surrounded by
mountains and vast plains we really are in the middle of nowhere. This Western part of Utah really was mile
upon mile of straight road with hardly another vehicles about.
 |
| The clouds descending over the mountains - the view from our campsite in Border |
Remarkably, we still have one television channel
tonight, ABC. They are banging on about
strong winds and lots of snow in the Reno area, about 200 miles West of
us. Fingers crossed we get our chosen
route done and start heading south towards Las Vegas tomorrow before it becomes
an issue for us… although the RV is starting to move about in the wind
again. We don’t have a Walmart to hide
behind out here… but there is a casino!
 |
| Our campsite beside the only building for miles.... a hotel and casino (well, this is Nevada/Utah) |
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