Moab, Utah

After leaving Valley of the Gods Road near Mexican Hat, Utah, we passed this scenery on our way to Moab, Utah:

 

When we arrived in the town of Moab, we had to stop and empty our tanks and take on fresh water in preparation for our boondocking stay in the area.  The Maverik station had a free dump station. 

Then we drove through the town of Moab where there was road construction and past the Arches National Park entrance to the Willow Springs Dispersed Camping area.  This area was recommended by our friends, Joie and Mike.  It was a popular area so we were not alone but we managed to find a good spot to park for six nights for free.

The unpaved roads were a bit bumpy!

We had a view of snow capped mountains off in the distance

The area closer to the rocks behind us was popular.

As the days went on during the week, people came and left.  The weekends were more crowded but everyone made it work.  People were friendly and enjoying the area.

From this angle is looks more crowded.

Here are some of the moguls we drove through to get to our site.  We took it slow and had no problems.

We were surprised no one else parked next to us in our cordoned off area.  There was room for another rig but it wasn't so level.  That was great for us!

One day we were driving to Moab to explore the town a bit.  As we were headed out we noticed our neighbor with the wheel off his truck.  We stopped by to see if he needed help.  He needed a part from town so we offered to go get it for him.

The guy ordered the part over the phone and we drove about 20 minutes to get it and returned.  Of course it wasn't all that he needed so we ended up going back in to town again for more parts.  This time we walked around as originally intending and later returned with the part.  

When we returned with the additional parts, Al helped the guy fix the issue while I played with his dog and talked with his wife. 

The truck was fixed and off they went to their next destination.  Hopefully we secured some good karma points.  

One day another rig exactly like ours arrived.  The owners were a young couple from Florida with a little girl.  Since they were working from home due to the pandemic they decided to buy a trailer and hit the road to see the country while working remotely.  Al was able to teach the guy how to use his generator and discuss other specifics of our trailers.  They were very green RV owners. 

We are the trailer in the middle, forefront is our FL friends.

We had a great place to stay for the six night we were in Moab.  Next entries will include the three parks we visited while in Moab:  Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and Arches National Park.  Be prepared for lots of photos!

Prescott Valley and Flagstaff, Arizona and Valley of the Gods Road in Mexican Hat, Utah

We left Yuma and drove up to our friend, Bill's house in Prescott Valley, Arizona.  The plan was to do some work on the trailer while it was parked in his driveway. 

 

We also did some hiking with Bill's neighborhood hiking club.  One day we went to Thumb Butte.

Another day's hike took us to this lookout tower.

Yet another hike to a small waterfall.

Bill put his 1969 Camaro in a local car show in a mall parking lot so we went to check it out.  Oh my gosh there were a lot of cars there!  I think around 600 vehicles!

We also had the opportunity to meet a new friend from our church small group, Sonia.

Al got his yard work fix by trimming some trees in Bill's backyard.

We had the opportunity to teach Bill how to play Mexican Train.

Al attempted to replace the equalizers but we received the wrong part.  Of course he didn't figure this out until he got the old MorRyde part off and tried to install the new EquaFlex.

The old MorRyde 3000 part

The new EquaFlex part from Lippert which doesn't fit

Unfortunately the solar install did not happen.....yet but it was time for us to move on for our visit to southern Utah.  Our first stop was our favorite Flagstaff, Arizona boondocking spot.  

 

Not far from "our" spot is a site with a better view.  It became available the next day so we moved over to it. 

That's us!

We had a view of some snow on the peak

After a few nights in Flagstaff, we moved northeast and drove through one of my favorite places, Monument Valley.  We didn't make any stops this time since the Navajo Reservation was closed due to Covid.  We continued on to Valley of the Gods road in Mexican Hat, Utah.  At the entry to the "road" we had to drive through some water. 

The puddle wasn't bad at all and so we continued up the unpaved road looking for a spot to park for the night. 

 

We found a nice spot with gorgeous views of the surrounding rock formations.

Looking back towards Monument Valley

What a view!

The next day is was back down the unpaved road and through the puddle to Highway 163 to continue our trip. 

Here was our route for this entry:

Next we make our way to Moab, Utah to explore the National and State Parks in the area.  It felt good to be back on the road again.  We were not alone with this idea!