On the Road: Beaver, Utah, to Las Vegas, Nevada

Monday, September 24, 2012

We awoke while it was still dark out this morning; we wanted to get an early start. Since we did not unhook yesterday, it didn't take us long to pull out of the RV park in Beaver. We drove over to the nearby McDonald's and had a light breakfast.

Our route today is 227 miles

After breakfast, we drove through Beaver. Like most other Utah towns we have seen, this one was neat and orderly and very attractive. The residents of the state have done a wonderful job of making the desert bloom.

After hopping on Interstate 15, we headed south. The first part of the trip was through a rich agricultural valley dominated mostly by hay fields. The valley was probably 3 - 5 miles wide in most places, though I've discovered I have trouble estimating distances accurately in this big country. The drive through this section was easy and over fairly level terrain.

As we approached Cedar City, UT, we climbed out of the valley into more rugged country, but nothing like what we experienced the previous day. From Cedar City on to the Arizona state line, we remained in an urban setting, dominated by St. George, UT, the major city in this part of Utah with a population of over 70,000 citizens. Because of its mild winter climate, Brigham Young selected the area for his winter home.

We crossed the Arizona state line as we left St. George, and soon entered the most scenic stretch of our trip today -- the Virgin River Gorge. The Virgin River has sliced through the mountains of Arizona that separate Utah from Nevada, and the road follows the river as it winds its way through this rough country. Below are some pictures Donna snapped as we wound through this scenic setting.

Approaching the Virgin River Gorge; at this point, it really does not look that impressive, but appearances can be deceiving.

As we get farther into the gorge, the hills become steeper and closer to the road.

We are really feeling closed in about now.

Those are some steep canyon walls

The light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

And suddenly, we emerge from the gorge to see a hazy horizon of mountains lying in the distant west

The Nevada state line is just a few miles west of the gorge, and the growing town of Mesquite is right on the border. You know you are in Nevada because the casinos begin at the first exit. We detoured through Mesquite for a closer look at this community, which is attracting growing numbers of retirees with its casinos and golf resorts. It is a tidy place with a good variety of businesses.

Back on I-15, we set our sites on Las Vegas. We are plainly in the desert now. It is sunny and hot. For the first time since we left Big Spring, Texas, in mid-August, we have temperatures in the high 90s. The land is baked, and very little grows here.

We enter Vegas on the northeast side. After exiting the interstate, we pass Nellis AFB and turn south on Nellis Boulevard. Our destination is Sam's Town RV Park on the Boulder Highway. We will spend 1 week here.

Connected Again

After about 10 days with no Internet service, I'm connected again. It will take me a while to get caught up on everything I need to do, but I'll be posting new entries soon, picking up with where we left off in Beaver, Utah.

We are now in Laughlin, Nevada, after spending a week in Las Vegas. We spent our first three nights here at the Aquarius Hotel and Casino, where we had free rooms. Yesterday, we moved over to Riverside RV Park.

Please bear with me as I catch up on email and other business. As soon as I have time, I'll post new entries.

Beaver KOA

After a day of hard travel, it was good to pull into the Beaver KOA in Beaver, Utah. If I had known this park was so good, we might have scheduled to stay here a few more days to tour the area. But we're bound for Vegas now, and we don't have time to stay here long.

Office

The park provides all the amenities, such as full hookups, propane, laundry room, showers, cable TV, and secure WiFi. Everything was in top shape and very clean. I can't say enough good about the facilities, nor about the service. I needed propane, and the manager came to my site to get my tank, filled it, then returned it.

Sites are all pull-through, at least all the ones I saw. There are a handful of cabins, and space for tenters. There is a playground for children and a pool; however, the pool was already closed up for the winter.

The location is on the north edge of town, so it is very quiet and peaceful.

All roads and sites are gravel, which is my only complaint. I prefer internal roads to be paved, though gravel sites are fine. And since this park is low traffic, the gravel roads were not a problem at all. Several sites did have patches of grass, and many have nice shade trees.

Nice shady sites with the Tushar Mountains in the background

On the Road: Moab, Utah, to Beaver, Utah

Sunday, September 23, 2012.

Our destination today is Las Vegas, but it is too far to go in a single day, at least for me. So, we are going halfway today.

Our 236 mile route

We left the Moab RV park where we have stayed for the past week around 7:30 this morning. We headed north on US 191 from Moab, passing the entrance to Arches National Park and the cutoff to Canyonlands National Park. After 30 miles, we intersected with Interstate 70 and headed west along a fairly level plateau. Although we had not gone far, we stopped in Green River for gas. After Green River, there are no other services for over 100 miles, so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of gas.

Green River gets its name from the river that runs through it. This is the same river that runs through Canyonlands National Park, carving those deep and colorful canyons in that park. The town is not attractive, but it has plenty of lodging options and eateries for long distance travelers passing through. After all, there aren't many places to stop on this lonely stretch of road.

Just west of Green River, the scenery changes at a place called San Rafael Reef, a 30-mile long sandstone wall. At this point, the interstate begins winding through narrow canyons, up and down hills.

The interstate cuts through a narrow cut in the San Rafael Reef

The San Rafael Reef, looking south

Black Dragon Canyon, just west of the San Rafael Reef

As we neared Salina, the land became very mountainous with long up and down grades. At its summit, the road reached a height of nearly 7900 feet. The trees in upper elevations and along the creeks were showing good color.

I snapped this picture while driving, but was able to pick up some of the color in the high country. The picture does not do justice to the color we saw along the roads.

At Salina, we entered a productive farm valley running north to south. We followed this through Richfield, where we stopped for more gasoline. Richfield is a very attractive town with neat city streets and a variety of businesses and lodging and eating for travelers.

Just south of Richfield, the road turned west through another mountain range before merging with Interstate 15 and our final stretch of 20 miles leading to Beaver.

Although we really didn't travel far today, it was a long drive. On many of the long up grades, I was able to go only 40 mph or so, and there were several sections of construction along the route. It was good to finally reach our destination for the night.

Going Off-line

We leave Moab tomorrow morning (Sept. 23). The places we have selected to stay for the next 10 days to 2 weeks do not have internet connectivity, so I will probably not post anything for about 2 weeks or more.

When we leave tomorrow, we spend one night in Beaver, Utah. It is just an overnight stop to break up a longer trip.

We had originally planned to visit the St. George, Utah, area for a few days. Using it as a base, we planned to visit Zion National Park and perhaps even the Grand Canyon. To be honest, we've seen all the national parks we want to for right now, so we are going to bypass St. George and go straight to Las Vegas and spend a week. After that, we'll go down to Laughlin.

And that is as far as we have planned.

See you down the road.

Canyonlands RV Park

We spent a week at Canyonlands Campground in Moab. It's certainly not the best RV park we've stayed in, but it is one of the most interesting.

First, the good points. The park has all the amenities, such as full hookups, cable TV, and WiFi. The cable included about 60 stations, with local news coming from Salt Lake City. Although we did not swim, the park does have a heated swimming pool, and other residents used it constantly.

Pool is located right next to the highway, but the scenery is impressive.

There is a laundry and two different sets of restrooms/showers. There are facilities for tent campers, and cabins are also available. There are lots of trees in the park, so it is nice and shady.

Interior road. Notice all the trees, but also notice how vehicles are parked because of the tight spaces.

There is a Texaco station next door with the usual convenience store items, including limited RV supplies.

Because of its location, it is fairly easy to walk to restaurants and other shops. A City Market - a branch of Kroger's -- is located only about 2 blocks from the park, so grocery shopping is convenient. There is a McDonald's and a Burger King located just across the street. There are probably at least half a dozen other good eateries within 2 or 3 blocks.

Even though the park is located on US 191, there is little highway noise. Sure, we heard a loud motorcycle or truck as well as other traffic, but it is really far enough away that it is not a problem, and our site was near the front of the park. The park actually backs up to the local high school football field. Each morning at precisely 7:00 AM, we were awakened by the marching band as it rehearsed for the upcoming weekly football game. Of course, this would only be a problem during football season. 

Now, the negative points. The camp sites are the smallest we've ever seen. Everyone with a trailer or motorhome experienced problems fitting their RV and vehicle in the camp site.

Sites are small. We had to wedge our truck in behind the trailer. Donna couldn't even get in the truck until I pulled away.

Interior roads are gravel. Although it wasn't bad, there was some dust caused by traffic. The park is so busy that there is almost constant traffic, especially near the front.

The entrance is difficult to find and also difficult to navigate. There is limited space to pull off while checking in at the office, and vehicle backups at the office were common.

Entrance is on busy US 191 next to a Texaco station.

Entrance is very narrow, especially for bigger rigs

Restrooms and showers are heavily used because of all the tenters and others who use the facilities. The park attracts a large number of outdoor enthusiasts who tent, and they really use the facilities. The laundry facilities were so heavily used that we opted to take our laundry to a local laundromat.

Although WiFi was readily available, there were a few times when we lost connectivity or it was slow. For the most part, though, it operated just fine.

The park is actually a microcosm of Moab and the area. Within the park, we witnessed a great variety of travelers. Probably close to half were in rental class C motorhomes, and most of these were foreign visitors. Younger people tended to be in tents, and a good number were renting the cabins that are available in the park.

At least half of the travelers had bicycles. Some used these only to go shopping in town, but many would take off on their bikes early in the morning for a day of riding the trails.

There was a large collection of off-road vehicle rigs in the park. These would also take off in the morning for a day of riding the dirt roads in the canyons and along the ridges. They would return dusty at the end of each day.

Although we saw many Asians in the national parks we visited, we saw very, very few in the RV park. My guess is that most of the Asians are with tour groups and stay in local hotels.

The owner stopped by one evening to visit with us while we were sitting outside watching the daily parade of humanity in and out of the park. He told us that they close the park for 4 months each year -- November, December, January, and February -- because of cold weather. Guess we made it just in time. He also said that the foreign visitors outnumber the domestic travelers during the summer months.

The main reason we selected this park was to be within walking distance of restaurants and other shopping. However, because of the steep prices, we avoided eating out while in Moab. So, in retrospect, were we to stop in Moab again, we would probably look at some of the other local RV parks. All of them have lower rates, so we could save a bit there.

Moab, Utah

With a population of approximately 5,000 people, Moab, Utah,  is the gateway to two national parks, Canyonlands and Arches. It is the center of a wide area that teems with various outdoor adventures, from mountain bike riding to hiking to river adventures. It is the base for numerous outfitters, and it provides a center for lodging and supplies. It is an active town where you encounter people from around the globe attracted to the many outdoor opportunities available in the region.

Tree-lined streets of downtown Moab, with their many shops and restaurants

Moab lies just south of the Colorado River, the same Colorado River which travels downstream to carve the Grand Canyon of northern Arizona. Moab lies in a canyon, with steep walls on the west and the La Sal Mountains to the east. The La Sals have a dozen peaks rising to above 12,000 feet, making it a destination for winter sports.

Canyon walls lining Moab on the west

Up and down the city streets of Moab, you see pedestrians going to and fro, and bicyclists pedaling about. Various RVs share the road with motorcyclists and tour buses. The tourist industry dominates the town.

A paved hike and bike path begins in the north part of town and extends along US 191 past the entrance to Arches National Park and all the way to the cutoff to the north section of Canyonlands National Park. The path is heavily used. Many mountain bikers enjoy riding the famed Slickrock Trail just east of town. Others enjoy riding the paved roads of the national parks. Other dirt trails abound in every direction.

But Moab is isolated, and it is a tourist town. As a result, prices are steep. Gasoline during our stay was at $3.92 for a gallon of regular, with some stations pushing $4.00. Burgers in moderate local restaurants approached $10, though you could go to chains (McDonald's, Wendy's, etc.) and find better prices. We paid the highest price for camping we paid for the entire trip, but the accommodations were not the best by any means, but I'll discuss this further in my review of our RV park.

During our stay, the weather was almost ideal. Nightly lows dipped to around 50 or 55 each night, while daily highs reached the mid to upper 80s. Skies were clear every day, and there was little breeze in the park where we stayed. The area averages about 10 inches of rain each year.

If you enjoy outdoor activities, bring your bike and hiking boots, and you can be entertained for a week or longer. Be ready to spend some money, though, because life in Moab isn't cheap.