Day 22 Sunday August 31, 2025
It’s going to be another HOT one today. It is not near as humid here as in NC but HOT is HOT. It seems to us that the sun is so much hotter here at the same outside temperature than in NC. Maybe just our imagination. You sure don’t want to go hiking without adequate water supply or you risk dehydration. At 10 am this morning the back glass on the Jeep would almost burn your hand.
I got out about 7:30 to continue working on the problem we have with the lights on the Jeep when we connect to the motorhome. I finally found the last problem I think. There was a small section of bare wire on the wire for the left turn signal/brake lights. That was apparently causing a short and blowing a fuse in the motorhome, then none of the Jeep lights worked when connected to the motorhome. I fixed the bare wire, replaced the fuse and all lights are working again. I am a Happy Camper again. 😂
This is a nice campground. It appears to be new or recently totally renovated. It has paved streets, concrete parking pads for RV/toad and proper utility hookups. It is located in Glenn Canyon National Park and overlooks Wahweap Bay and Lake Powell. There is a huge parking lot between our campground and the water where the boaters park the trucks/trailers after launching their boats. There is also a large marina with boat slips. There are lots of boats out on the water daily.
You have to have a National Park Pass to get in the park or pay a fee. We can go and come for free with our pass.
This is our last day here before we move on to Bryce Creek National Park tomorrow. We were supposed to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon from here but it is closed for the season due to a major fire a few weeks ago that destroyed thousands of acres and 80-90 buildings including a historic lodge.
This morning we visited the Carl Hayden Visitors Center which sits right on the edge of a rocky cliff overlooking the Glen Canyon Dam. You can look out the windows in the Visitor Center right down on the 710 foot tall Dam. Quite an amazing piece of engineering. The dam is a Hydroelectric Dam and provides power to 5.8 million customers. There lots of informative displays in the visitors center that explained about the construction and operation of the dam. We also watched one of several films that runs back to back all day in the theater.
We drove across the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge in 2022 when we were passing through this area making our way to Alaska. We stopped in town at the Walmart and walked across the street to McDonald’s for a break and something to eat never even thinking we would come to this area again.
We were craving fried chicken so after we left the visitor center we drove on into Page and stopped at KFC to get a six piece chicken bucket and sides to take back to the motorhome. This will give enough for today’s lunch and tomorrow’s when we get to Bryce Canyon.
The Wagonmasters/Tailgunners had a campground cookout for the crew this afternoon. They had BBQ pork, baked beans, slaw and dessert. After everyone stuffed themselves we had our drivers meeting for tomorrow’s trip to Bryce Canyon in Utah. Yes we cross back into Utah again.
The forecast for tomorrow at Bryce Canyon is cooler and we are ready for it.
Day 23 September 1, 2025
We pulled out of the campground just after 9am headed for Bryce Canyon National Park. Just before we got to Kanab several of the group stopped at Once Upon a Time in America Museum. This was an optional stop not part of what Fantasy included but they did recommend it as an interesting museum.
They have a large parking lot so it was an easy in/out. It cost $10 a person which was a reasonable price considering what they had on display. There was also a gift shop and a Smoke Wagon Saloon which was not open in the mornings.
We were not really expecting much but were totally surprised at the collection of items. Several collectors cars, movie memorabilia, information on famous gunslingers from the Old West, etc. As we were about to leave the owner Jason Grossman came in. We got to ask him some questions about the museum. He and his wife are both avid collectors. They moved their collection from California to Kanab Utah last year. We stayed a few days in Kanab in 2022 so we wondered why we didn’t see it then. We did see the build it is in but it was just a collection of old looking store fronts at that time. I asked him why Kanab and he said when they lived in California they had a summer home in the Zion area and knew the museum would not work in the area they lived in California.
When we got past Kanab we began to see a different landscape, higher elevation, more fertile looking land, hay fields, cattle, horses, green grass and actual trees again, not just scrub bushes. And the best part the temperature began to drop.
At one point a pickup truck passed us in a double yellow line no passing zone. After he got by us I looked back in my rear view mirror and I saw red and blue lights flashing on a vehicle. It was but just a minute and a Deputy Sheriff came flying by us and pulled the truck over. When we got to the campground I asked a couple in our group that was behind us if they saw the truck and the deputy when they came by. They said yes, that the truck had passed 3 RVs and another vehicle in that no passing zone. He probably got a very expensive ticket.
Then a few miles down the road there was a traffic accident on the opposite lane from ours. It was tractor/trailer and it looked like a pickup truck and the tractor/trailer didn’t play nice together. The tractor/trailer was totaled it looked like and the cargo was scattered all over the shoulder of the road and down into the ditch.
A few miles down the road we saw a pile of snow on the edge of a roadside pull off. They must of had some snow and that is where the road crew pushed the snow into a pile and it hadn’t all melted yet. The elevation in that area was over 7,000 feet.
We got to Ruby’s Inn RV Park and Campground about 2:30 and setup in site 203. We actually have an area of green grass beside the parking area of our site and a pine shade tree. The streets are paved but the sites are gravel and are level.
Rudy’s Inn RV Park and Campground is located in Bryce Canyon City. As far as cities go it is not much of a city. Rudy’s Inn and everything associated with Rudy’s Inn is the city from what we can see. They have very nice large RV Park/Campground, a lodge, a general store, restaurant, liquor store, post office, photo shop, western art gallery, conference center and several different types of guided trips through Bryce Canyon.
It was started in 1916 by Rudy and Minnie Syrett who had bought some ranch land here not even knowing Bryce Canyon was just a short distance away until a neighbor told them about it. From that they started showing friends and guests around and gradually began building guest accommodations. Now his grandchildren and great grandchildren own and operate the businesses.
After we finished the fried chicken we bought yesterday for lunch we went the Ruby’s Inn General Store to inquire about some guided tours of the area. There is also a free hop on hop off shuttle we can ride through part of the park that runs about every 15 minutes free.
Over half of the group gathered up at one campsite to chat, eat some snacks, drink a little wine and some stronger stuff and socialize. One of the guys in the group, Sean, got his guitar and sang and played the guitar and harmonica for the group. He was very good. He plays with a group near his home.
Nick the Tailgunner, had a small speaker system that he could play music from his play list on his phone so we closed out the night with everyone singing along with Lee Greenwood’s God Bless America. It has been a good day. And the weather forecast was right it is much cooler here and it sure is nice. The ACs are not struggling trying keep up.
Day 24 September 2, 2025
Per the Weatherbug app it was 44 degrees at 7am this morning here when we got up. That is quite a change from what we have been having since we left N.C. Our thermometer inside the motorhome was showing 60 degrees.
On a sad note we found out that the driver of the 18 wheeler that we saw wrecked yesterday did not survive. The belief is he might have had a medical issue. There was no one in the pickup truck that was setting up against the trailer. It was just setting off the side of the road unoccupied when the 18 wheeler wrecked.
After breakfast we drove a short distance to the Hop-on Hop-off shuttle bus parking lot to board the shuttle bus to ride through part of the park. It makes 12 stops inside the park and we can get off/on at any stop. We got off at 5 of the stops including the Visitors Center where we watched a 25 minute film about the different seasons inside the park. The stops that the bus makes is to the best viewing points and hiking trails to see the thousands of Hoodoos in the park. Google Hoodoos for an explanation of what they are. The sights we saw today are just awe inspiring sights of nature. There are hiking trails from the rim down to the base of the Hoodoos but both of us have too many miles on us and too many years to attempt it. There were lots of people that were doing the hikes down and I am sure it was a special experience.
There was a tour bus load of Amish couples at the overlooks taking in the views. It was interesting to see a few of the men with cameras taking photos. From our reading about the Amish that is not something we expected. I just wonder what are they going to view the photos on when they get home. Also several other Amish men had binoculars.
After we got back to the Jeep we wanted some lunch and decided to checkout the restaurant in Rudy’s Inn right across the street. As we were going in so were Bill and Suzanne from our group so we got a table together.
They had a good selection of sandwiches and also an all you can eat lunch buffet with dessert so Lena and I decided on the buffet. It was $17, the same price as most of the sandwiches and you didn’t get a dessert with the sandwiches. Sounded like a “no brainer” to us. The meal was very good and so was the swirl ice cream with chocolate syrup poured over it. We were really surprised the buffet was only $17 since this is a tourist area.
We returned to the motorhome for a couple hours of rest and then drove back into the park and rode all the way to the end of the 18 mile park road. This was a nice drive with lots of overlooks on one side of the road and a pine forest on the other. All of these overlooks were of views of more Hoodoos and a long range view that you could see for many miles over some strange looking formations.
After we returned to the motorhome we had about two hours before a group get together called “Desserts and Disasters “.
The desserts part is self explanatory but the disasters part was telling about things that have happened to us as RVs. Anyone that has RVed for any period of time has had some kind of disaster, some worst than others. There was not one RVer in the group tonight that didn’t have a story to tell, some self inflicted some not of their control. I told about the bear that jumped in front of us in Alaska.
Day 25 September 3, 2025
It was 53 degrees when we got up this morning. Nice. After breakfast we drove about 20 miles to Kodachrome Basin State Park. Kodachrome Basin got its name after a team of explorers from the National Geographic Society came to the area and was amazed at its beauty and with permission from Kodak Film Company named it Kodachrome Basin.
It has some amazing topography with massive red sandstone hills and chimneys and nearly 70 monolithic spires ranging from 6 to 170 feet tall. We checked in at the Visitors Center, paid our $10 entry fee, that Fantasy will reimburse us for and started exploring. We drove down a rocky dirt road for a mile or so to Chimney Rock then came back out and parked at the trailhead of several trails.
We hiked the Panoramic Trail to Ballerina Spire and then turned around and hiked back to the Jeep which was about 1.5 miles. There was some amazing scenery along the way and the trail was not too strenuous but we did burn a few calories. Very few people were on the trail so that made taking photos much nicer. We drove to the end of the public road and turned around. We were surprised to see several small campgrounds in the park. Some even had sites we could fit into and had utilities. There was also a bathhouse and laundry available to campers. It is probably very beautiful here at night with the sun setting over the hills.
On the way back we stopped in the little town of Tropic (don’t know how a town in this dry region could get the name Tropic but it did) at Bryce Creek Coffee Shop for a Latte, Cinnamon Bun and some of the best Banana Nut Bread we have ever tasted. The lady behind the counter said the owner of the shop took his grandmother’s recipe and improved on it.
On the way back to the campground we stopped at the parking lot for Mossy Cave to take a few photos and ended up hiking almost a mile round trip up the trail to a water fall and a small cave. The views along the trail were amazing. We have hiked over 2.5 miles both today and yesterday so our old legs are getting a workout.
Then we returned to the campground to rest, do laundry and get cleaned up for our Live Country Music Dinner Show tonight at Ebenezer’s Barn & Grill featuring The Bryce Canyon Wranglers.
The food and show tonight was very good. There was probably 250 people or so there and it was surprising how fast and efficient everyone was served. Each person was given a card with their entree on it and that was shown to the server as everyone went through the serving line. Each person got their entree and then the sides and dessert as they moved down the line. The staff was very well organized. And the food was delicious and plentiful and the entertainment was excellent. Great night.
Day 26 Thursday September 4, 2025
Well Happy Birthday to Lena today. Yes, I married a younger woman……………by 7 days.🫣🫣
We had no definite plans today other than to do whatever notion struck us and the first thing that struck us was to lay in bed to after 8am which is rare. The bed was nice and warm and it was 52 degrees outside.
Lena gets the day off from cooking so we decided to check out the little coffee shop that is part of the Ruby’s Inn complex. It was okay.
Lena was getting us forks to eat our cinnamon bun with and the plastic utensil dispenser had a selection for forks and two types of spoons. No matter which selection she tried she got a spoon. She told the girl behind the counter that there were no forks in the dispenser and the girl said select the one on the end with the fork symbol on it. Lena said I tried all of them, no forks. The girl said again try the one in the end that has the fork symbol so Lena went over and selected the fork option and got a spoon and told her see all it has is spoons. The girls kind of shrugged like “oh well”. We didn’t get a fork so we used a spoon for our cinnamon bun.
While we were outside drinking our coffee and eating our cinnamon bun a couple stopped and ask me to take their photo behind one of those painted displays where each person puts their head in a hole in the display. Then they asked me if we were from Alaska since I was wearing a shirt with Alaska embroidered on it. They said they were taking a cruise to Alaska next year. So we talked for awhile about Alaska and we gave them a few tips on things to do.
Lena wanted to go to the town of Panguitch about 20 miles away. It was not much to talk about, lots of little hotels, couple of gas stations, post office, small residential area where most houses needed some TLC and yard maintenance. I did find a pair of reading glasses in the dollar store to replace the ones I broke a couple days ago.
We stopped on the way back in Red Canyon to take a few photos before going back to the campground to do some prep work for our trip tomorrow.
About 1pm we went back to the restaurant in the Ruby’s Inn complex to eat at the buffet again. We wanted to try a restaurant in Tropic about 20 miles away that a couple in our group told us about but they don’t open until 5 pm and we have 6pm travel meeting. The buffet is the best bargain for a meal we have had in this trip.
We had a travel meeting at 5pm, earlier than normal because some of the group wanted to watch a football game this afternoon. Lena was recognized for her birthday and the group sang Happy Birthday to her.
Day 27 September 5, 2025
What a day of amazing scenery. We keep thinking we have seen the most amazing scenery possible and then we round another curve and it just gets more overwhelming.
We left Ruby’s Inn RV Park at 9 am and headed for Thousands Lakes Campground in Torrey Utah about 115 miles away. We had a choice of two different routes today which is not normal on a caravan trip like we are on. One was the standard route and one was the scenic route. We chose the scenic route knowing it had a little more white knuckle driving involved. A few more of the group chose this route also. We knew it would have several sections of 8-10% downgrades for up to 10 miles. This would have worried me a few years ago when we first began traveling in a motorhome but not anymore since we had driven several roads with this type of downgrades. There was one section where there was drops off on both sides of the road but we made the trip with no problems.
The scenery was spectacular with something different around each bend in the road. And there were lots and lots of bends in the road. Some of the curves were so sharp we couldn’t see around them. The elevation climbed to 9600 feet. The higher the elevation the bigger the trees.
There was very little traffic along the entire route. Several miles of the route was called “Open Range”. In this area the ranchers can let their cattle wander all over, even on the highway. There are grates across the highway that a cow will not cross but between the grates the cattle can walk in the road and cross from one side to the other. There were several cows grazing along the roadside. We had two that we saw that were going to cross in front of us so we came to a stop for them to cross.
We got to our campground at noon and setup in site 27. The Wagonmasters had just got there because they got delayed by a cattle drive that was walking down the highway. They took the standard route and left an hour before us.
After a quick lunch we drove about 10 miles to Capital Reef National Park. We wanted to get to the Gifford Homestead before they closed at 4:30. It is located just inside the park. We were a little disappointed because there was only the house and a barn remaining of the homestead. This area was settled in late 1800’s by Mormons. There is still a large orchard that they started. It now has about 2,000 trees in the orchard. Inside the house they were selling jams, pies, cinnamon buns, recipe books, quits, bread, ice cream, etc. We got a cinnamon bun, ice cream and two recipe books.
We went to the barn and corral and petted the horses before driving the 10 miles to where the road dead ends in the park. We didn’t take any photos on the drive. We plan to come back early tomorrow morning before the sun gets bright to take our photos.
On the way back through Torrey we stopped at a local market/bakery but didn’t buy any thing. One avocado was $3.69.
We returned to the motorhome. The weather was so nice we got our chairs out and set outside. We were supposed to get a meal here in the campground tomorrow evening included in our trip but due to a mixup by either the Wagonmaster or the campground it was actually tonight. The Wagonmaster sent out a text just after 5pm to that effect so the group headed to the cafe. Some had already had the evening meal and got theirs as a takeout for another day. We got ours to eat this evening but the portions were so large we had to get a takeout box because we had to save room for the peach pie and vanilla ice cream that was included with the meal. You have to set priorities and peach pie qualifies as a priority. The food was really good.
Day 28 September 6, 2025
We had planned to go back to Capital Reef National Park at 8am this morning to take some photos and watch the video in the Visitors Center but when we checked the weather forecast rain was on the way starting right at 8am and lasting until just after 9am so we waited. This area like every where we have been for days is very dry so I imagine they are thankful for the rain.
The rain moved on so we headed to Capitol Reef National Park about 9:30. Three other couples in the group wanted to follow us to the park and one of the couples road with us. Their new GMC Denali truck is having engine trouble. They were almost late meeting the group at Zion River for the same reason. It was supposed to be fixed by the dealership where they live but I guess not. They will have to stay behind when we leave here tomorrow. They are hoping to get it to a dealership for repair at a location two hours away from here. Torrey is just a small town and there is no one here that does that kind of repair, plus it is still in warranty and must be fixed by a GMC dealership.
We stopped at the Visitor Center and watched a 18 minute movie about the park. Then we drove the park road to the end. We stopped at several pull offs to take photos and marvel at what we were seeing. After leaving the park we turned West and drove a couple of miles, passed the historic Mormon one room school house that was operational until 1941 and stopped to see the Petroglyphs on the rock walls that were drawn by the ancient people that lived here many hundreds of years ago.
We returned to the campground for lunch and some rest. About 3 pm Lena and I went to the local farmers market for some local peaches, pasture raised eggs and some home baked items. It rained on us a little while at the market. There was a ditch along the main street in town that was running almost full of red mud colored water, runoff from the rain we had this morning. Then we returned to the campground and shared one of the delicious baked items and a Latte.
We will have our travel meeting at 7pm for tomorrow’s trip to Moab Utah.
