This post is from nearly a week ago. I had numerous problems with my website and, after spending another morning with technical support, I hope they are solved! Since writing the following, I have arrived in Washington State and settled into a cute and cozy RV park north of Spokane. I have had a series of perfect fall days with chilly nights! More about that next!

But first…

Tango and I pulled out of Deming with the RV last Wednesday, heading towards Washington State for the third and last time this year!  I had completed the usual set of doctor and dentist visits. I also took the RV to a wonderful local RV repair shop and had them test the LP gas system, repack the wheel bearings, and do some honey do stuff, like remount the dangling stove burners. After this and the recent work on the van and car – tires, oil changes, and at least one battery – my budget is shot to pieces!  A van, car, and RV is a lot for a one-person budget!

So, we rolled out of NM poor but healthy and in good mechanical shape. I had 10 days and decided to plan only a general route on new-to-me roads and go slow after my manic drive to drop off Alice and then the return bus trip last week.

If you look at a map and imagine a diagonal line from Deming towards Salt Lake City, you will see that the first 500 miles of the trip are over two-lane roads. You can see the options more clearly if you use Google Maps and search for a route between Deming, NM and Salt Lake City, UT, but even then, lots of other routes exist. Each time I drive from NM to WA I take a different set of roads up to I-15, through Bears’ Ears or Page/Lake Powell or Monument Valley, to name a few. Sometimes I go past Moab and other times, through Grand Staircase. This is prime red rock country, and the roads traverse some of our nation’s most beautiful National Parks and Monuments, including Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Capital Reef, and Bryce. I am never bored on these drives!

This time, I decided to take a less-traveled route out of Page, AZ, the one that goes over the Kaibab Plateau and sidetracks to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The road climbed quickly out of the hot, barren desert into a cool Ponderosa pine forest. After a month in roasting hot Deming, I had been looking forward to the moment when I could roll down the van windows and enjoy some cool air. That moment arrived right then and Tango stopped his relentless panting within minutes.

The road cut through the Kaibab National Forest and I saw  Forest Service (FS) roads spreading out in several directions, a welcome sight because it means free, dispersed camping on our beautiful public lands. I turned onto FS 205 and drove in about 4 miles, finding the perfect site against a backdrop of cliffs. My only company was early season bow hunters camping in some of the other spots. I always find them friendly, and bowhunters are a different breed than the late season party crowd.

I also collected a respectable pile of firewood and enjoyed a campfire that night. The highlight of the stop, however, was seeing the rare Kaibab squirrel, which lives only on the North Rim. He ran right in front of me while I was driving in.

The other advantage of FS roads: lots of places for Tango and me to walk. The afternoon was cool and sunny so we took off down one road after setting up, then down others that night and the next morning.

I moved on the next morning, with a loose plan to drive into Idaho and then camp near Salmon, ID. In the past, I traveled north and south on different routes through ID but never up the Salmon River drainage.  It has been on my list but the last few times the weather has been too cold or the air too smokey to leave I-15 and travel up the valley and into those mountains.

This time I turned in north of Idaho Falls on a cloudy and dark day (HWY 28). Eventually, rain poured out of the low clouds and it felt like snow was looming ahead at the higher elevations. When I checked my weather app, I learned of a cold front over the area. I saw that the temps had fallen into the low 50s where I was and dipping into the 30s that night around Salmon!

Hmmmm, with big mountains ahead and snow a possibility,  I needed to find a place to pull over for the night or go back to Idaho Falls. Yikes! Finding places to turn around on two-lane roads can be tricky so I drove on slowly, pondering my options. I no longer panic because things work out if I go slow and think carefully. Also, I am pulling a fully self-contained little house with a gas heater, stove, and refrig, so I can stop anywhere and be warmed, fed, and entertained. I can sleep in my own, luxurious bed.

While I thrive in just this kind of scenario, I know that people worry about me being alone on back roads leading into rugged mountains with a storm brewing and nowhere to officially camp. In terms of the elements, I am perfectly safe in my rolling house. In terms of the bad guys, well I have not seem any of those. When I am pulled over at a roadside stop, like a Historic Site and inside the RV, no one knows who is inside. I can guarantee you that no one expects an older, single lady and her dog, not that anyone would knock. It would be stupid since many RVers in these parts are also hunters and carry guns. I also feel safe because RVers have an unspoken code and a tendency to stick together in adverse conditions. One person pulls off the road and soon after another will park nearby, close but not too close. When three rigs gather round, it’s a major security force. I stepped out to walk Tango in such a setting and one guy peeked out and asked if I was staying the night. I learned from the TV show NCIS to never completely answer a question in uncertain situations. Get a read first. So I said, using my best Jethro vibe,  “Maybe”. The old guy smiled and said, “Well don’t snore too loud, ok!” We had a good laugh and an understanding. I felt perfectly safe.

This time, however, my campground mojo kicked in.  Just when I needed it, a sign appeared for Birch Creek Recreation Area (BLM). The first sign said “South Entrance,” which implies other entrances, so I drove on. I saw a sign for the “Middle Entrance” and I finally turned in at the “Birch Creek Main Campground Area”. It was nothing fancy – primitive sites with vault toilets – but it was just what I needed – a place to park my little home and hunker down while the storm passed. The dirt road followed the small but swift creek for miles, back to the south entrance, which again meant excellent walking for Tango and me.

Temperatures dropped quickly so I dug out my Alaska layers, which were tucked away in the van. I had thought about turning on the gas furnace but decided instead to do some cooking, which would also warm things up inside.  I turned on the oven and baked both white and sweet potatoes. While they cooked, I mixed up a meatloaf and then baked it after the potatoes came out. That cooking heat kept the place cozy until bedtime when I crawled under my mountain of bedding.

The morning was perfect! I slept in late but awoke to a clear sky and clean, fragrant air. We walked and Tango continued to explore on his own while I cleaned up all the cooking dishes and settled in to write. Later, as I drove on, I saw a dusting of snow on the tallest peaks. Only 4 days out of Deming and I am finding early fall in the Idaho Mountains. Which do I prefer? The cool fall, for sure. Good thing, because the next morning, at a 7,000-foot campground, the furnace, which I leave on the lowest setting, kicked in by morning. More layers before our morning walk.