On To Utah and Montana

Leaving Lee’s Ferry was hard because we really enjoyed our time there. One day, while it was 90°, we decided to take a drive to the Grand Canyon, which was only 2 hours away. It was in the mid-70’s, so it was a real treat! I remember taking some pictures, but I’ll be darned if I can find them! If they show up, I’ll add them.

We walked around the south rim, saw a smattering of visitors, and generally enjoyed the cool weather. We also discovered a really nice boondocking area in the National Forest just south of the park in Tusayan, so we have a great place to park on the future.

Finally, we had to journey on. We have definite plans to return to both the Grand Canyon and Lee’s Ferry this Fall on our way back south.

Our original plan was to spend a couple days at the Grand Canyon before going to Utah, but the nighttime temperatures suddenly dipped into the 20’s, so changed plans and drove up US-89 and stopped at the Piute Reservoir just south of Marysvale for four days.

it was very quiet, generally, and only saw two other campers while we were there. By day we heard the range sheep, and by night it was the coyotes. It was lambing season, so lots of new babies. just like Lake Powell, the lack was probably 30’ low. Very dry.

We arrived in Manti for Memorial Day weekend with Steven and Ashley Snell and their wonderful family. We actually had room to park right in front of their house. We had fun catching up on the years since we last saw them, and noted that the boys have gotten so big! We attended a “drive by” graduation parade for the seniors on Main Street. Lots of people turned out to congratulate the graduates.

Then it was on to Ogden to see Stevens parents Mike & Kelley, plus his sister Leigh Anna and her growing family. We were only there 3 days, way too short, so we plan to spend more time on our way back.

As usual, we did an overnight stay in Dillon, MT, and, as usual, we made new friends in the RV park and invited them to join us in our favorite eatery, Sparky’s Garage. The sandwiches and burgers are great, and the fries or onion rings bring us back for more! After dinner we walked around town to work off eating too much. Dillon is a great little town to visit.

The next destination was Flathead Lake. To my surprise, our reservation was for the same campground as May 2020, when I had a near fatal incident with a low hanging branch on the turn at the end of the campground. Bella is 4.5’ longer than the Taj, so I wasn’t too sure about us fitting in a spot OR being able to get out safely, but we did, much to the amazement of the camp hosts.

The check-in person changed us to Space 4, set aside for disabled people. Jan qualifies, but we don’t use her pass very often, but we thought it would be a good choice this time. Thus began another “educational” experience!

We stopped at the beginning of the loop and Jan walked down to scope out the spot. At this point, I still had room to back up and leave. She found the handicap marker and had me backing in, when I thought it odd that I didn’t see any hookups, and there was a walkway right behind the parking spot! Weird! So we got out and took a closer look. Oops! I was backing in to the handicap parking spot, NOT the handicap camping spot!

Well, after some going back and forth to make a turn, and walking down the road to find the REAL spot, I finally pulled up to the right spot. It took some “wiggling” to get in, but we did it, with no bumps or mishaps. After some thought, we decided that to get out after our visit, I would back up about 150’ to a parking area, then turn around and drive out from there. During our time there, a camp host showed us how to avoid the right turn at the end of the camp, and drive up behind all the camp spots and go back out by the camp host area. It was a slick resolution to our concerns and worked perfectly. I would have NEVER have been able to negotiate that turn!

We enjoyed walks along the water, sitting outside, and visiting with other campers. The camp hosts were especially nice. Two host couples taught us how to play pickle ball at a local court. We were hooked immediately! Now we have our own paddles and some balls so we can play in the future.

After ten wonderful and peaceful days, on June 13th we headed for Libby, MT. We always enjoy our time at the campgrounds around Flathead Lake. We will definitely go back again.