We arrived at the St. George RV Park (which is really in Hurricane) about 9:00AM, which was early---especially considering that we lost an hour when we entered Utah. But we only went 53 miles. They put us in a very nice 50-amp end site across the street from the pool.
It's very windy, so we won't be swimming soon---if at all. As usual, when we arrive in or near St. George, we had sushi for lunch at the Samurai 21 Restaurant. As usual, it was wonderful.
After lunch, we made a stop at the Ace Hardware store in Hurricane, looking for a throw rug for the spot in front of the steps up into our bedroom. Success!
On Thursday we both went to see Dr. Robin Berger, our dermatologist, for our annual checkup. Nothing special. I then ordered some new tires for our truck at Costco, and we stopped at the state liquor store to re-stock our wine cellar.
We then stopped at PC Innovations, the store where we bought our main computer (a laptop) a bunch of years ago, and encouraged the clerk to talk us into replacing it with one that is faster, etc. We gave them our old computer so the store could transfer all the data and other stuff.
On Friday we picked up the computers and Becky discovered that the new one was not working properly.
Friday evening we had "happy hour" with some nearby RVers who have just begun their adventure. They are brothers Harold and Gary Mott (and their wives, Pam and Cathy). One couple is from Alabama and the other is from Georgia. They bought matching Pinnacle 5th wheels and matching trucks.
They were fun to talk to. And I am certain our copious and valuable advice will serve them well in the years to come.
Saturday involved returning to the computer store to have the problems solved. While we had a delicious lunch at the nearby China Palace restaurant (I had Almond Chicken instead of Cashew Chicken for a change), the techs at the store supposedly fixed everything. But Becky had to spend the rest of the day loading programs and getting used to the new operating system and graphics. It turned out that everything was not fixed and Becky spent a lot of time early in the next week talking to the computer people to iron out some things.
The principal activity on Monday was seeing Kimball Forbes, our audiologist, for the annual tuneup of our hearing devices. It's always fun to see him.
On Tuesday we stopped at The Animal Tender, a local pet resort, to check it out. We are planning to board Ramsey there this weekend while we zip to southern California to attend a party celebrating the engagement of our nephew Blake Carroll. The pet resort is very nice. Becky is looking forward to having a few days off from her Ramsey duties.
Wednesday morning I took the truck to Newby GMC to have them deal with the "check engine" light that has now been on for several days.
The service advisor called at 3:00PM to tell us the truck was finished. Kaching! When we started it, the "check engine" light was back on. The technician did his magic again and, after replacing another part (Kaching, again!!!) he pronounced the truck well. Except that the light was back on. This time, the service advisor gave us a loaner and sent us on our way---to return on Thursday when the truck would (ostensibly) be truly fixed. We'll see.
Our activities in the early part of the week were stifled a bit by the continuing threat of rain and its occasional reality. Becky managed to take Ramsey on a few long walks, though, including one to the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, a vast historical site with great views of red sandstone---the entrance to which is right across the street.
Friday morning we left for southern California---leaving our rig at the RV park in Hurricane. First, we dropped Ramsey off at The Animal Tender for a three-day stay. The entire trip to Irvine, California, is more than 400 miles, but we broke it up. We spent Friday night at the Country Inn in Barstow. Nice place. We had planned to have takeout for dinner from the Panda Express, but when I got there the line was out the door. Two tour buses and an Army convoy had arrived two minutes earlier. We ended up with salads from the Chili’s across the street from our hotel.
They were fine. The next morning, we left early for the rest of the trip. We arrived at the La Quinta Inn in Irvine before noon, and our room wasn’t ready yet. We killed time by running errands. I have been having trouble finding my favorite drink, diet ginger ale, in Utah for some reason and we’ve been stopping at every market to see if it is in stock. We struck gold at the Albertson’s in Irvine. I bought ten 1.5 liter bottles. Hurray!!!
When we picked up the truck at Newby on Thursday, the check engine light was off, so we were convinced the problem had been solved. Of course, it came back on Saturday morning as we were leaving Barstow. I called Bill Bertram, the service advisor at Newby,
who suggested we stop at a Pep Boys or Auto Zone for a free look at the computer codes once we had arrived in southern California. We went to Pep Boys and the codes were the same as ever this past week. I reported this to Bill and he made an appointment for Monday morning to attack the problem once again.
We took a quick nap after checking into our room, then headed for Brent and Carrie’s for the party. It was fun. The usual suspects were there except for Becky’s father, who wasn’t feeling up to making the long trip from Pasadena to Coto de Caza, and Becky’s brother Pete and his wife, Terry, who had a prior commitment. We learned that Nicole is going for a Master’s Degree in Criminology at North Texas University in Fort Worth, so she and Blake will be moving there shortly. Bon Voyage!
We started our return trip early Sunday morning---and the check engine light was not on. It stayed off for the entire 400+ mile trip back to Hurricane. I left a message for Bill, cancelling the Monday appointment.
We finally had our dinner from the Panda Express on Sunday night (Mother's Day). Delicious, as always.
After dinner, we watched Jack Reacher from the Redbox. Not so good. Since Becky had done all of the driving the entire weekend, she hit the sack early.
The big deal on Monday was getting new tires for the rear of the truck. We had ordered them at Costco last week. Our appointment to have them installed was for 4:00PM. It took a little over an hour to finish the job. We stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond on the way home and got some stuff. We also picked up Ramsey from the pet resort. He got a good report. Otherwise, it was pretty much a ho hum day.
One of the downers of growing old is the need for periodic intrusive medical exams. My burden this week is a looming colonoscopy. The procedure itself is a piece of cake since you’re asleep for it. But the preparation is no fun. I started the prep Monday night. Among other obnoxious things, it includes not eating anything worthwhile for 24 hours. Aaaargh!
Tuesday morning, Becky took her new computer back to PC Innovations for a final attempt to get it working properly. On the way there, the check engine light came back on. I let Bill Bertram know. Tuesday afternoon, I had the colonoscopy and passed with flying colors. I celebrated with a Heath Bar Blizzard from the Dairy Queen. Yum! That turned out to be my Tuesday dinner.
On Wednesday, Becky picked up her new computer, and it worked!!! Because we took so long at the computer store, it was too late to have lunch at Samurai 21, so we instead had lunch at Red Ginger, a new sushi restaurant that took over the site of what used to be called The Fairway Grill (which was a place we frequented) in St. George. Red Ginger was just OK in my opinion.
Late Wednesday, what I thought was an allergic reaction to spring blooms turned into something worse, and I spent the entire night wheezing, coughing, and breathing hard. Thursday morning we stopped at the local urgent care place and the doctor gave me prescriptions for some gonzo medicines. It's mid-afternoon as I write this and I already feel better.
Also, Thursday morning, the new computer was acting up again. Becky is a saint for being so patient.
Saturday was a day to make a field trip to Bryce Canyon National Park.
We decided to do it as a loop---first going through Cedar City, then returning through Zion National Park. Each leg is nearly the same length---130 miles there and 120 miles back. It‘s a delightful drive through the mountains and valleys, and quaint villages, of southern Utah. What a beautiful place. Bryce Canyon and the lodge there were their usual selves. We had lunch at the lodge. It was nice. Our server---Crim---was a real professional.
Our return drive through Zion reminded us just why it is our favorite national park. The contrast between the east side, where you’re driving on the top of the sandstone cliffs, and the canyon itself, where you’re driving along the bottom of the sandstone cliffs, is just breathtaking.
We are looking forward to spending next Wednesday at Zion, visiting old friends there.
Sunday, the 19th, was Becky's birthday, of course, and we spent it in an appropriate way---Becky switched all her clothes from winter to summer and I cleaned a few months-worth of accumulated bugs from the front of the truck. We had 6:00PM dinner reservations at The Painted Pony Restaurant in St. George.
Lovely place. Becky had a crab cake appetizer and a seared ahi entrée. I had a mussels appetizer and a filet mignon entrée. All four dishes were marvelous.
On Monday, I finished a fairly new James Patterson novel, Guilty Wives, which was only pretty good (a little too much like a Sidney Sheldon novel), and on Tuesday, I finished an old Joseph Wambaugh novel, The Big Orange, which was a lot of fun. I tried to play a little pickleball on Tuesday, but my breathing problem wasn’t totally over yet, so I quit after only a few minutes.
We stopped at the Redbox for two movies---Parker with Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez (and an old-looking Nick Nolte) wasn’t half bad, and Gangster Squad with Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Nick Nolte (not looking quite so old this time). Gangster Squad was a caricature of ’50s crime movies, and was total fiction---with big historical errors. And Sean Penn was seriously hamming it up as Mickey Cohen. Nonetheless, it was entertaining.
We left early Wednesday morning for the 45-minute drive to Zion National Park. We had arranged to have a red permit waiting for us at the Visitor Center so we could drive up the canyon instead of being forced to take the shuttle. Being able to drive up the canyon allowed us to take Ramsey with us. We saw a number of old friends at the lodge: Kirstin Johnson, Kent Couch, Daisy Hobbs, Bart Smith, and Tim Andreen, among others.
We went to lunch at Oscar’s in Springdale with Kelly Guymon and David Johnson. (I had a huge, delicious, turkey burger.) It was fun seeing everyone, and seeing how Springdale had changed in the years since we left.
(There are three new hotels there, for instance.) On the way back, we stopped at the Anasazi Plateau to take a last look at our former lot and to see the progress of building nearby homes. We are still very happy that we no longer own the lot there. And we stopped at the Doggy Dude Ranch to introduce Ramsey to Filly, the proprietress. If we go back to Zion, we may board Ramsey there for a short time.
On Wednesday, the check engine light---that had been off for more than a week---came on again. I took the truck back to the dealer first thing Thursday morning. I am now driving a loaner again. The geniuses think they have diagnosed the real problem (with the help of technical advice from Detroit) but it will take them a day or so to make the final determination. They even hinted that they may refund us some of the money we have paid for the previous unsuccessful attempts. I'm not holding my breath for that.
Friday was Becky's day to take a 23-mile bike ride. In this heat (it's in the 90s) that was quite a feat. To celebrate, we went to the nearest state liquor store to re-stock our wine collection. The dealer called to say the truck would not be ready that day because the mechanic had quit the night before (without any notice) and the company's crack diesel man was up to his hips in another problem.
Early Saturday morning, I played a little pickleball for the first time in weeks. It felt good, and I actually made some good shots.
Late Saturday morning, the truck was ready and I picked it up. No "check engine" light. After the Memorial Day weekend (no one with enough authority is around right now) we will talk about how much, if anything, I will be refunded for the entire exercise. Saturday night, we watched Last Stand from the Redbox. It's Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest. There were some good explosions and it was generally a watchable movie. At the end, though, the disk malfunctioned and Becky got Redbox to refund the charge and give us a freebie as compensation.
Sunday was a casual day. Becky's back is hurting a bit (probably from the bike ride followed too quickly by pickleball) so we mostly hung out. We did a little local sightseeing---visiting the new St. George Airport and the Sand Hollow State Park. The airport is beautiful, about 10 miles southeast of town, on the Arizona border, but quite underused. They have stopped the run to Los Angeles and have yet to start a planned run to Denver. So there are only five flights a day.
We first visited Sand Hollow when it was brand new 10 years ago, when they had first started filling the reservoir. The water now covers 1,300 acres and it's quite a water sports area. The park itself covers 20,000 acres.
And the 43 miles from Jacob Lake to the rim is one of the most beautiful drives in the country.
The only surprise when we got there was finding out that our former neighbor in the Zion employee RV lot, Mike Kidd, is now the manager ("Park One" in lodge lingo) of the Grand Canyon Lodge. Congratulations, Mike. We tried to see him, but he was nowhere to be found.
We spent a quiet two hours there, then stopped for l;unch at the Jacob Lake Inn on the way back. It was mobbed and the kitchen was very slow, but the food was excellent. I had a "Jacob Club" sandwich.
Tuesday was hair day---Becky got her hair done in St.George and I got my hair cut by Ella Tatham, one of our neighbors here in the park.
Ella and her husband, Will, are Pickleball players. We first met them at Lake Conroe, Texas, three years ago, and have been running into them almost everywhere we have gone these past few months. This Saturday, they are leaving for Washington State.
Since we now have the tire monitor, we have decided to pay more attention to our tires. On Wednesday we bought a small commercial air compressor at Lowe's.
(The one we have for our bicycles---which is supposed to work on automobile tires---doesn't.) I topped off all of our truck and trailer tires. We are now ready to leave on Friday. Also on Wednesday, Becky took Ramsey for a long walk on "Joe's Trail" on BLM land just north of our RV park.
And the GMC dealer called to say the techies had determined that everything they did to solve our problem was necessary, so they would not be refunding us any money. Since they didn't charge us for the third leg of that journey, I was OK with that decision.
Thursday morning, the RV park served donuts and coffee in the rec room, and I unfortunately ate two huge apple fritters.
I was not only ashamed but uncomfortable for the rest of the day. Nevertheless, we celebrated our last day in the area by having lunch at Samurai 21 again.
This time, I passed on two of the things I normally order because of the fritter caper. I hope that exonerates me. That evening, we just relaxed and prepared to leave. All in all, it was a great month in Utah.
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