Come Wednesday we were sad to leave Snow Canyon State Park - we so enjoyed our two day respite there. Thankfully their check out time is 2:00 pm so we were able to enjoy our morning.
From the Ranger we learned the where abouts of a grocery store, such as TJ's or Fresh & Easy, which turned out to be Natural Grocers, and Home Depot in St. George. Good thing too, since they were on the north side of the city accessed by the Park Way - the loop road. LOVE loop roads - right?!
On our way into St. George we went through a pretty ritzy looking neighbourhood - square, natural coloured stucco houses and beautiful landscaping lining the streets. Derek and I are always up to looking at the trees, bushes, grasses and flowers that grow in this region.
A great looking sculpture in the circle.
A view of St. George as we sailed by.
We were thrilled to reach Home Depot right in the middle of a commercial district. To celebrate an In N Out Burger was in order. Yum! Then we settled back for the afternoon.
Imagine my surprise returning from a look at the Natural Grocers to find a 'No Overnight Parking' sign.
NO WAY!
At a Home Depot!
We have NEVER seen that before!
Ahhhhh - Home Depot - what happened? You've always been true blue!
Of course since they have wifi I could do a quick check about the Walmart although the writing was clearly on the wall. Nope - not Walmart either. And not at the Walmart in Hurricane - either!
So we did what we had to do and headed out. Noticing that one of our headlights was out we first headed over to Walmart for a new one. When we returned, wanting to get on the road - find a place and have dinner we jumped in and drove off.
We headed to Hurricane anyway figuring that we would find SOMETHING along the way.
BLUE - RED - BLUE - RED - BLUE - RED - BLUE - RED!!!
and a siren to match!
Right behind us!
'That can't be for us." Says Derek. And true enough - we certainly were not speeding - we'd more likely get pulled over for going to slow then to fast.
'Hello, Officer!'
Yup - it was the headlight. Well, at least we could tell him we had one - right?! He took Derek's info and headed back to his truck.
No joke - he let us sit there in the dark on the side of the highway for about 10 MINUTES.
Well, we are getting a ticket fore sure. Unless he is actually trying to send a letter to Canada or something.
A nice fellow though and upon his return apologized for the delay, said we had it well in hand and oh - by the way - here is your warning. Please fix the light at your earliest convenience.
'Oh - we'll just stop at the Walmart up ahead and change it'. Thanks.
Ahhhhhh - the joys of living on the road. Thankfully this is the FIRST time in our four trips south that we have been pulled over.
Ahhhhhh - the joys of living on the road. Thankfully this is the FIRST time in our four trips south that we have been pulled over.
So into the Walmart parking lot we pull.
And again, if you could imagine my surprise there was a HUGE Class A parked in the back corner. Hmmmm - did he not get the memo that this was a no go Walmart.
So as Derek got right to the headlight I headed over to the RV. Now - I usually don't do such a thing. I mean who wants any kind of knock on the door when it is dark - let alone when watching TV - as I saw through the window. But it was about 7:00pm and we NEEDED a place to park.
Well, wasn't he shocked to find out that you weren't actually allowed to park at this Walmart. He was very nice and he wasn't leaving. Great - safety in numbers. So - we had a place to park for the night. All went well.
Next, morning on to Kanab via the 59 and 389. Utah - into Arizona and back into Utah again.
The steep hill out of Hurricane.
AND SPEAKING OF MORMONS - AGAIN.....
While passing through Colorado City we decided to - well - take a tour.
Wondering what is so special about Colorado City? Have you heard of Warren Jeffs?
Not hard to miss that something is a miss in this town - all the women style their hair the same way and wear long dark coloured dresses. And - most of the houses are large and unfinished.
Well, that was interesting - now back on the road. We stopped at the Pipe Springs National Monument for lunch and had a friendly conversation with a couple from Missouri.
Entering Kanab from the south.
We were last in Kanab back in 2006. We actually spent a night at the Comfort Inn and awoke to the beautiful red rock out our window. A neat town. I was hoping to visit the Best Friends animal society just north of town. Unfortunately the van wasn't going that way......
We stopped in at the Visitor's Center....
And then stopped in at the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument/BLM office. We were looking for some dispersed camping between Kanab and Page.
The friendly counter man told us about a good spot up on the road to the Old Townsite. Great! Off we went......
He neglected to tell us however, that the road was a total mess
WASHBOARD!
And not just a little rattle here and there. A complete hard packed, rattle your vehicle apart kind of washboard. It was so bad the van slide at times. Of course it also wasn't the widest road and so now to turn around. We were hoping to find a place but by 500 ft in Derek wasn't going to look any further. Turn around he did.
By the time we got back to the road the inside of the camper was a complete mess - what ever could fall down - did.
We stopped for a breather! Not too impressed with that counter guy at the moment.
Now what do we do?! Where do we sleep? Well, we may as well continue on.
Beautiful with the sun setting.
And then we drove right by a sign that said....
Toadstool Trailhead - WITH - a parking lot.
Hmmmm - we said as we sailed right by...... what was that! I checked my handy map and realized that it was a hiking trail. Why oh why can't they put the signs further away from the turn off?
Hmmmm - think we can sleep there?
We turned around, headed back, pulled in, got level, and spent the night.
Best not miss the next post - the Toadstool trail was AWESOME!
Teresa
TODAY'S INTERESTING LINK: Here's an RV site that I just found. I'm not even sure how but you know how it goes - one site leads to another. Lots of good info over there on RV Camping - especially if you are just starting out.
Even when there's a sign that says "no overnight parking" or something to that effect, we've learned that if you go in and talk to the manager he will very often let you. They often put the signs up to discourage the hoards.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a manager tell me no, especially after I've spent money there and I'm holding their bags in both hands!! If they know you spent some cash with them, they tend to say OK.........
ReplyDeleteSafe Travels..........
You are both right. The problem is that we are both shy and I always figure that the manager has better things to do then to talk to us. I guess if we are desperate we would ask. Thankfully so far we've always had an alternative that has worked out.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys for sharing on your awesome idea. I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThings to do in Kanab