Home!

I left Boise on Thursday morning, and drove about 200 miles a day, stopping overnight in various camping areas along the way, and arrived home on Monday just before 11:00. (I gained an hour coming back into Arizona.) It feels great to be home, but it is hot as the blazes here. I just about melted emptying my belongings from Minnie and carting them into the house.

The first night out of Boise, I drove 13 miles east of I-84 into the Sawtooth Forest to Sublett Campground near Sublett Reservoir. This was a free forest service campground, and only had a vault toilet and rough spaces, and NO cell signal. It was totally empty when I arrived. I picked a spot and set up camp. I heard one other group of campers drive in and around the loops, but they exited and set up a dispersed camp about 1/4 mile up the road. Hanna and I walked by their spot as we did our evening miles.

The second night I pulled into Maple Bench southeast of Payson, UT and found my favorite space available. I've camped here two other times, and like the location, plus there is cell signal. A couple hours later, a group of Boy Scouts pulled in and occupied two spaces nearby, but they were well behaved and quieted for the night well before 9:00.

I went back to Dave's Hollow near Bryce Canyon National Park for the next night, and set up in the exact same dispersed spot I had stayed in on my way north in June. Hanna and I again saw a couple of beautiful pronghorn grazing in the meadow as we walked that evening.

Hello Beautiful. I've missed you!

The last night I had planned to go back to A-1 Mountain Road outside Flagstaff where I disperse camped last year with Dale. But when I got there, I discovered a new sign stating that road was now closed to camping. I drove around some of the nearby forest roads, but every decent space that I could have gotten my rig into was taken.

I had to stop and unhitch my car twice, because I got into areas where I couldn't turn around. I was sorely tempted at that point to just get back on I-17 and head for home. But then Richard suggested I drive to Blue Ridge Ranger station and park in the compound right next to them. It was closer than Mesa, and I could also dump the next morning before going home. It sounded like a good idea.

It would have been a beautiful drive along Lake Mary Road, except about 20 miles in -- and after I lost cell reception -- I came to a construction zone, where the road was so torn up I had to slow to 6mph in some spots, and rarely got over 12mph for about 8 miles. Apparently, Richard had texted me to warn me about the construction, but it was after I went out of range. It was sure a miserable drive. To top it off, it started raining on the way!

Hard to see the ridges, but the road was terrible!

I finally made it to the compound -- after the gate had been locked. I was able to use my Verizon hotspot to get one quick text through to R, and he drove up and opened the gate for me. I pulled in, set up, and joined him and Dianna for dinner in their trailer. That hit the spot after a long tiring day.

That night, I did not sleep well, and was awake at 2:30 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. I finally got up at 5:30 and got some coffee. I piddled around getting things put away, took Hanna for a walk, and dumped my tanks. I was on the road home by 8:45 a.m.

I pulled up in front of my house just before 11:00. It was 109°. I unloaded as much as I could stand to before jumping into a cool shower and collapsing on the couch for the rest of the day. I didn't even take Hanna for a walk. But she found her basket of toys, and made sure they all got a good workout all evening.

So that's another summer trip in the books. I have some stats that I am putting together and will post a final recap in the next few days. It was a great trip, but it's good to be home.