Another long day and visit with Harry

July 10 – It rained pretty much all night again, but we were both so tired once we hit the pillows we were pretty much out for the count.  We managed to be on the road at 8:30 and the drive was totally different.  There was little to no traffic on I-70 but within 2 miles we saw an unusual accident.  It was on the other side of the road but there was a pick up truck on its side with a trailer of some kind apart from it on its side also.  There was another truck and pop-up camper stopped with it and probably 8 or so people.  One person, perhaps the driver had the driver’s door open, so facing up and he was sitting on the roof door edge waiting for help.  Bizarre!  Not sure it the trailer broke loose and he lost control but they all looked fine.

New landscape

Today the landscape totally changed from mountains to multi layered and colored rock formations.  There were mesas as far as the eye could see.  The colors on some were fantastic and then when there was a cloud overhead the colors would change with the shadows.  It’s another kind of beauty from the snow capped mountains.

We ran into and out of rain several times and only encountered one steep long decline.  Since we’d gone up for ages we knew the down could not be far behind.

We held our stops to a minimum, basically one stop for the bathroom and a small snack as we were meeting Harry for lunch in Salt Lake City between 1:30 and 2.  When I opened the fridge door I let a beer bottle make a jump for freedom only to put the cap off and go all over the floor!

Heading into rain

We drove I-70 to Salinas where we took 50 about 30 miles to I-15.  50 was a great road with no traffic and flat the whole way.  Things got ugly once we got on 15 and headed north to Salt Lake.  At times the road had 7 lanes and it rained and it was a miserable drive.  Just before our exit to meet Harry a car in the exit lane decided not to exit and cut in front of me and I had to brake and went over into the space between the lane and the exit in fear of hitting the stupid car.  A nice trucker was behind me and saw it and held up for me to get back over in the lane.

The plan was to meet Harry at the Wal-mart and he’d drive to lunch.  Well, this was the first time we’d seen a Wal-mart with no surface parking, they had a garage!  We were driving around the block and Harry called and said across the street was a Lowes, and we went in there and the cars were so dotted around there wasn’t a space big enough for us to maneuver in and out of so I ended up turning around behind the building and there was plenty of room.  Harry saw us and was there when we got out.  As we were getting in his car a Lowe’s employee asked about how long we would be as he needed the space for a trailer and Bill said 30 minutes.  Well, lunch took about 90 and the RV was still there when we got back.

Harry wanted to eat at The Tin Angel and it was really good.  It’s all organic and more on the gourmet side.  It was super yummy!  Harry had 2 appetizers of calamari and polenta, Bill had a chicken sandwich on a ciabatta roll and I had a Beet and Arugula salad with goat cheese and a balsamic reduction with grilled chicken.  For dessert the guys each had a raspberry bread pudding and I went with Panna Cotta with fresh berries.  Everything was excellent! 

Harry took us back to the RV and we said our good-byes.  I just about cried as I thought about when would be the next time I see him.  He’s a terrific young man and I hope he enjoys living here and going to school.  He changed jobs as the first one was not as he expected or explained to.  He was also interviewing today for a second job.  Since he loves to cook I gave him a huge stalk of basil as my plant grew like wildfire in Arkansas.

Wasatch Mountains

It was time to get out of Lowes and on to Ogden, UT for the night at the Wasatch View RV.  It’s actually a RV community but they allow over nighters in any empty spaces they have.  We managed to get a pull thru do to a cluster of empty spots together.  It’s warmed up a lot today so once we got hooked up I went to turn the AC on and darn if that thermostat was acting up again.  I unplugged it and got it going.  I attempted to call the company to see about a replacement but of course, we’re in Mountain Time and they are in Central Time so they were closed by the time I called.

We had enough left over meat for dinner and baked beans and a small bit of raw cabbage for an Asian slaw.  Filled us up and cleaned out the fridge for sure.  We walked around the park to see what direction to go leaving tomorrow.  We have a wonderful view from the front of the RV of the Wasatch Mountains.

Time to rest and relax a while before bed!