Moving Day, Cedar City, Suite Wheels go Round and Round, Mesquite

   On Tuesday, Oct. 31^st I was up before the birds again and Bill and Clemmy followed soon after. Today we are packing up and moving on to the west for an overnight stop. It is a halfway point to our destination in Nevada. It is 45F/7C and it looks like we will have half sun, half clouds for our travels leaving the rains expected in Moab behind. It doesn’t look like rain yet but it is a mixed bag in the sky so who knows?

For overnight camping spots, these were large and offered privacy

dumpster and Johnny on the spot if needed

Even a few metal decorations placed around the lot

My body this morning is saying, “thank you” to not hiking today although I’m sure it would be good for me to keep moving. I can’t wait to get into our park tomorrow and settle for a week. We have laundry first on the list so it doesn’t pile up and a good vacuuming. We had some bumpy roads along the way, before Colorado, and things really bounced around in the fridge. A bottle broke and contents spilled so I want to wipe it down. That is the first time that happened!

this morning's sky to the east waiting for Mrs. Sunshine

to the north

We were fed, washed, dressed and on the road at exactly 9 o’clock, just when we said we wanted to be. We’re pretty good at that, seldom does either one of us hold the plans up. We’re more often early. The sky is half blue and half white with fluffy clouds. We have a great day to drive.

This is the sky we left behind

Looking forward

Interesting thing, this US-191 is also called Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway. That is kinda cool! I know ‘small things…….’ I get it, but small things interest me. The drive was smooth with flat areas and then as we climbed in elevation the huge beautiful mountain ridges reappeared. Thank you, this helps me not to miss the Moab area so much.

The elevation at Gemini Bridges Road was 4816’ above sea level. We have climbed up to7886’ before the highway started its 5% downward grade. I lost cell service up there, not even texts were getting out. We stopped at a View Area near Green River, not for viewing but instead for a pit stop. We weren’t long before we got back on the Interstate.

Clemson sleeps trusting in us again today

We are listening to our Sirius radio, 60’s on 6 and Flash is talking about a lot of Hallowe’en stuff. Sometimes we tire of his gabbing but this is interesting. People are calling with spooky life stories about haunted houses and sightings etc. I like that, I believe in a lot of that although just as glad not to be living in one! 

A water tower with Attitude
they can't all offer that back drop!

We’ve dropped down to a more normal 5250’ elevation and I got service back. Donna said they had wet snow at home for a bit this morning so not a very nice day. We sure left at the right time for coming the way we did.

Checking the gps as we are sailing along here in this very little traffic, very sunny, low wind day we realized that we are only 1 hour and a half from the original destination for today. Hmm, do we really want to be sitting in a parking lot at Walmart as early as 2 o’clock? No, so let’s get out out the laptop and see how far we can go.

The sunny Jello shifted again and we found a new stopover. Wait and see! So before I get ahead of myself here, at 1 pm we pulled into Eagle’s Landing Truck Plaza with a Flying “J”. We came in for fuel and ended up with much much more than that. Things happen for a reason, you know? While Bill was fueling up a tire mechanic walked by and noticed that one of our Suite tires was starting to come apart.

Yikes!!! Bill checks the tires before we pull out but now has learned another way to check and knows what to look for. So, the 3 mechanics said to pull up on the cement pad and they would take care of it. We then checked the other 3 and they weren’t anywhere near as bad but still showed spots of wear. That was an easy decision. The tires are 4 years old so we said “do them all!”

This picture shows how the grooves of the tire are depressed

Two of the mechanics - these guys were awesome!

Two new tires done

It is just money, right? Our lives and Suite and contents are worth far more. After removing 2 tires, one fellow said that the shocks were leaking and should soon be replaced too. “Do you have them in stock?” “yes, we do” “Replace them!” These 3 guys were absolutely terrific. No wait, no hassle and very friendly and polite. I said to the young man who spotted the tire “What a fine mess you got us into, Ollie” and he liked that. You can check out Bill's blog for more pictures and info on the tires. Instead, I'll post scenery pictures!

Can you see the birds beak?
or is that our Snelgrove nose? (my maiden name)

This was one of those things that instead of being ticked off about, because we spent a whole pile of unexpected money, we drove away with smiles on our faces and nothing but gratitude for the timing, the plaza we chose plus the outside lane we pulled into. These mechanics had the work done from beginning to end in 45 minutes flat. I felt so lucky that I bought them a pack of Cinnabons as a thankyou. Someone was watching out for us today.

The variety of colours amazes me

'Tis a beautiful world

We were on the road again to our ‘new’ destination at 2:20 after eating one of the egg salad sandwiches I’d made this morning. We skimmed along on this, another, great highway. South of Cedar City we stopped at a Rest Area and Bill actually put shorts on and I put on a sleeveless top. By 4 pm, our elevation had dropped to 3,000’ and the temperature rose accordingly to 78F. Oh my!

Another example of contrasting colours

A splash of orange for Hallowe'en

The traffic picked up though which told us we were approaching rush hour for all the blue-collar workers. Bill isn’t feeling the usual tiredness he would normally at this time of day driving into the sun. We think it is because of that hour break at Flying J so another positive thing about that stop. This is still a great day!

We were surprised the wind sock showed this much wind
It didn't feel it

We drove through some more absolutely gorgeous mountain ridges before leaving Utah. I can’t remember the names but we read them all as we passed through. I thought today might be a slow picture day but once I saw the ups and downs on this I-15S highway, that thought was blown out of the water by a mile. It was enjoyable for Bill too, for the most part even though the traffic was heavy enough. When we crossed into Arizona for about 28 miles the land straightened out and our elevation had dropped to 1,582 feet above sea level.

And then we are in this type of landscape for a while and warnings of deer crossings

And then farmland

That explains the temperature taking a major jump to 82F. Perfect! So, we drive into Mesquite, Nevada but just on the outskirts until we find Casa Blanca Casino where we planned to park for the night, free. We drove 379 miles today, arriving here at 5:05 pm. We covered a lot of ground touching 3 states in the process. We probably lost an hour to our repair and rest areas but seemingly gained an hour in a time zone change because it was really only 4:05 pm.

From pink dotted with green to white

We drove around 3 times trying to get into a spot. There are rules for parking, No trucks and No rv’s there and then RV’s here and No trucks here. So, of course you always get those who cannot follow the rules. We saw a little conversion van parked in the middle of a 2-rv space so we couldn’t get in, then 2 pickup trucks with utility trailers and 4-wheelers on the back. They quickly off loaded and disappeared. We were still driving around trying to decide what to do.

More Hallowe'en recognition?

One of the Casino staff came around so at least they were monitoring the lot. Thank you. He took the plate # from the van and told us we could park on the opposite side, where we didn’t think we’d be allowed. All is good, we got in with no trees hindering our roof or slides. Now we can relax until time to go for supper in the Casino. A truck with a Lance camper on the back backed in behind us and said they wanted to go see the Hallowe’en costumes in there too. Sounds like fun!

Hold onto your hats, we're going down!

Add caption

We cleaned up a bit and around 5:45 we walked over to the Casino to Katherine’s Café for supper. There was a lineup when we got there, of about 5 or 6 couples but it went quickly and we were soon seated. Bill and I ordered our drinks and then he ordered one of their specialty burgers and fries and I ordered Southern Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and a salad We shared the salad and I still couldn’t eat all of the chicken. Doggie bag. It was good food and very filling.

States of the palm trees

and the beautiful overpasses

On our way out of the dining area we decided neither one of us really wanted to try our luck so headed for the door. We noticed an open area of seating off in an alcove and heard music playing. The sign said Elvis impersonator, John Brooks, at 6 pm FREE so we thought, why not? We found a seat near the back and watched for a while before finding a table open up and met another couple trying to snag the same one. Four chairs so we shared and got to know Sandy and David during the breaks. It was fun chatting with you both and good luck with your new home!

We shared my salad
Ignore the time stamps, our camera wasn't updated
with the changes

Bill's awesome burger

My southern fried chicken and mashed with sausage gravy and corn

At 9 or so “Elvis” took another break so we said goodbye and went our separate ways. 

Not a great picture  but many costume revellers

It was still 66F when we walked across the parking lot to our Suite, this is the warmest it has been at 10:30 pm since we left home. Lovin’ it, lovin’ it a lot. This has been a great day all around. Yes, it has cost us money but not our lives or our possessions. We are still in one piece and feel so much safer on the roads now.

This guy was quite good and entertaining

"Elvis and Dolly"

Good night Roy

This was inside the casino theatre area

I hope you can say the same for your day today. Happy Hallowe’en everyone! 

Our spot for the night

Thank you for stopping in today. I love to read your comments if you have time to leave one.