I know it’s crazy because I travel solo and it isn’t easy moving two RVs but one is my home and the other my glamping toy. Thus the tale of mishaps moving to Bryce Canyon National Park for the summer.
At first I tried to find someone local to move the 5th-wheel but eventually called the person who lives in Utah and had moved it before. He and his wife have professional and personal experience with RVs so I trust them. The original plan was they would pick up and tow the 5th-wheel on Wednesday from Yarnell to their property in Kanab, Utah. They only made it as far as Flagstaff and after fueling at Sam’s Club, on the way out of the parking lot heard a bang and saw a rear tire smoking so pulled back in the lot. A rear spring had broken, or exploded into several pieces. The local mobile service couldn’t get the part until the next day so they spent a chilly night. Repair happened Thursday and just after noon they were on their way. I am terribly sorry this happened to them, or at all, but am glad it was them and not me. I’d have been totally stressed out. Plus so grateful that it didn’t happen on the highway. Why did it happen is difficult to say. I’ve been bouncing that RV on roads for seven years. Maybe it was an unavoidable pothole on I40. Yes even though it’s under construction and being repaved it has almost more holes than before. Was truly a relief to me these competent people had the problem under control.
I rolled out of Yarnell as planned on Thursday morning with a stop in Peeples Valley to fill propane tanks on the truck camper. These are the new horizontal 5-gallon tanks I had to buy a few months ago because the originals from 1998 could no longer be re-certified. However, this new design is a nightmare. They are impossible to fill while in the camper even with my 90° adapter, the guy tried. Finally called where I bought them and was told they have to come out and be filled vertically. That is truly a pain in the you know what and I’ll never be able to lift them out and in because of my bad shoulders and lack of upper body strength. Bless this guy’s heart he stuck with it. But they won’t even fill all the way full. Took him over an hour to sell me four gallons of propane. That’s total in two tanks. Not going to work. I am not happy with this arrangement and now far away from the B&B Auto where I bought those in Congress.
After a brief shop stop in Prescott I hit the road north about the same time my 5th-wheel left Flagstaff.
My thought was to camp at Sunset Crater’s Bonito campground but it was still closed for the season. So I went boondocking not far away along with a few others who had the same idea and camped just out of sight of each other.
Awoke in time to catch a soft sunrise in camp then buzzed to a trailhead in the national monument to see the sun rise over Sunset Crater.
After breakfast in the parking lot, I drove the loop road to Wupatki National Monument. Stopped at Wukoki ruin then onward to Page where I dropped off some outgrown uniform pants for a friend.
Next stop, Kanab and an early dinner with Bill at my favorite restaurant in town, Escobars. Mexican food that can’t be beat.
Later, while admiring the pruned fruit trees in Bill’s back yard I notice three flowering lilac bushes, lavender, white, and deep purple. I love these and grew up playing under large hedges of them in Illinois. So I buried my nose and breathed deep. Might have been a mistake as I woke in the middle of the night unable to breath through my runny stuffed up nose. Even allergy pills didn’t help the next day.
Saturday I blew through at least one box of kleenex and took a two hour nap. Before the nap I called my tow people and was told the 5th-wheel would need three new tires as this break had screwed them up badly. That couldn’t be done until Monday morning and afterwards the 5th-wheel would be towed up to Bryce.
Red Canyon Dixie National Forest
I left Kanab still sniffling on Sunday about 10am. Made one stop along the way at the Forscher German bakery in Orderville. I was starting to feel a little better but looked forward to a nap once parked in Bryce.
My new home RV site was plenty big enough for the truckcamper but looked small and a tight fit for the 36-foot 5th-wheel with three slide-outs. Thank goodness someone else was backing it in. The forest view includes a corral with horses, mules, and at least one donkey. The signal was just OK and intermittent. I took a nap and didn’t go out until work in the morning.
Two motorhomes parked to my right, one where my truck was
Around 10 Monday morning I received a text that the 5th-wheel was pulling into the park so I left work to lead it in. Took almost two hours to get the beast into site #4, an up-size from from my originally assigned #2 which is impossibly small. Once in, it fit fine. There are six sites, only four filled so far and the rest will be also. Most national park site campgrounds, public and staff, were built long enough ago when RVs weren’t the beastly size of today. Sadly, there is no money to update. On the upside the site is level and has 50amp service.
After work I moved Sierra inside the 5th-wheel closing her in the toilet room so she couldn’t get out with open doors needed to transfer stuff from the camper. I hooked up the fresh water dreaming of a shower in my own house. But before I even turned the water heater on I saw water dripping from the bottom front and sides. I opened the basement doors looking for pipe leaks and didn’t see anything obvious so turned the water off and went inside to find wet floor by the door and base of the stairs. A very unhappy Sierra let me know she wanted out of the closet-sized space and when I opened the door I saw water flowing onto the floor instead of into the toilet.
That night I watched a couple of YouTube videos about repairing and replacing RV toilets and decided it was time to change this one out so ordered a new one from Amazon. That means no running water until the new toilet is installed. Also ordered a cat tree for Sierra.
Awoke to a light dusting of snow on Tuesday and complete ground cover Wednesday. Welcome Spring at 8000 feet.
Too tired after work to unpack the house, I lived with the mess for several days. On the weekend I made the space livable and discovered I own way too much furniture.
It is a lot of work moving two RVs but will be so worth it when I explore the area on my weekends. Which, BTW, after another week of training is over will be Monday & Tuesday one week, and add Wednesday the next week. Sure hope these are enough RV mishaps for a long while.
I’ve never seen the employee RV area at Bryce but am told it is near the corral which isn’t too far a walk to the rim. Not sure what kind of signal I’ll have and am hoping the big booster will get me out in the cyberworld.
Any of you RVers have portable catteries? I saw a crate hung outside a window for under $50. Though not sure how it’s mounted. The ideal one was overpriced at $1500 and would have gotten her on the ground but would have been too bulky to move around. Also am looking at cat trees/poles for inside perching and clawing. Sierra doesn’t claw the furniture and I want to keep it that way.
This first solo adventure started my gypsy life and prompted me to save money, buy a van, and