David & Donna's Great Adventure: All Most Shutdown Sunday

Sunday, October 1, 2023

All Most Shutdown Sunday

String Lake Loop Trail, GTNP

September went by just as fast as August. Lucky for us the feds decided to stay open. Being a retired federal bureaucrat, I can't believe I was so naive to plan the first week of October staying at a military base's famcamp plus make entry reservations for a national park. I guess I've been out of it for too long! I shouldn't get mad at congress, though. It's not like they had 365 days since October 1, 2022 to get this done. Oh, wait...they did!

Our summer at the fish hatchery has ended, both as volunteers and weather-wise. The mountains received some dusting of snow at higher elevations last weekend. Probably receive more this weekend. Rainy Sunday through Tuesday planned for this area of the country. We leave tomorrow (Monday) if all goes well. We'll start with a short trip down to Thayne, WY and spend Monday night. Then a week is planned at Hill AFB (Salt Lake City & Ogden, UT). From there it's off to Thompson Springs, UT for about three weeks to visit Arches & Canyonlands National Parks (and any local state parks or monuments plus Moab, UT). We'll be out in the middle of nowhere there. We're thinking we'll take trip or two to Grand Junction, CO while at Thompson Springs. Grand Junction came highly recommended by some hatchery visitors this year.

As always, moving the trailer after setting for so long brings trepidation. While we do exercise the hydraulics, slides and leveling systems each month, it's just that RVs break while moving. It's not like they don't break while setting, but it's just more frequent while traveling. While many folks can take it in stride, I'm finding that after 13 years of full-time RVing I'm still trying to accept the fact that these things are nothing more than rolling, fiberglass dumpsters that many times don't even roll. Consequently, as we start this season of travel I've decided to try a new mantra:

We'll see how many minutes this new "me" last! Maybe to Thayne? I know, carry a family-size bag of double-stuffed oreo cookies and try not to eat them all at once.

As we've told many people, we stayed about three weeks longer this year than usual. Typically, we've just completed the fall maintenance rodeo in Indiana and are traveling to Virginia for doc and friends visits. We tried to take advantage of of the longer stay, and we were rewarded with autumn colors plus a little new snow at the higher elevations. Pics are below and Donna & I hope you enjoy them.

Thanks for dropping by and checking in on us. More later, David