Plan one was to disperse camp along Potash Road west of Moab about 50 minutes. That plan didn’t work out. The pavement turned to gravel and then to dirt. Then the dirt road climbed steeply enough that I began to spin my wheels in two-wheel drive. Okay, four-wheel drive would work. The next big problem is that the few dispersed sites had steep drop-offs on the side of the road. Although the Nissan is four-wheel drive and relatively high-clearance, the Brew Hut is not. I wasn’t going to make it safely over that gap without scraping the bottom and my waste tank outlets.
The next problem was turning around because there were no turnarounds. I walked ahead a mile and saw a couple of chances. I took one of them, but as I backed the trailer, it tipped precariously at the edge of the drop-off. I got it back on the road and did about a 50 point turnaround to get back headed the other way.
The very first spot had a minimal drop-off, and a big flat wide area to camp, but there was a huge motor home already there who had staked out the area for himself, including some huge foreign (Scandinavian?) flag on a big pole, establishing sovereignty. I moved to the other side of the flat area and began setting up. As I was leveling up, Mr. Motorhome came out and asked why I had to camp so close. I explained that I had been unable to cross the road gaps to the other sites. He was having none of it. “There are all kinds of sites up there,” said Mr. Motorhome who took the easy site and hadn’t been up the road, except in his tow-behind jeep. I gave up easily and left the scene of Mr Motorhome’s claimed territories.
I drove back to the pavement and pulled in to a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground across from the Corona Arch Trailhead. It was a nice 7-site campground with a host who kept the place clean and quiet. The rate was $15 that day, but going up to a new rate of $20 the next day. The host advised me to pay ahead if I wanted the old rate. I paid for one night and kept the Brew Hut hitched up.
Speaking of the Brew Hut, my trip into the gravel and dirt roads, along with the precarious turn-around, trashed everything. Screws and hinges came undone. Granola cereal spilled from the pantry all over the floor. The small amount of water in my kitchen washtub landed on my sleeping bag when the washtub decided to jump out of the sink. Sorry, there are no pictures. It was not a scene rated for family viewing.
After cleaning things up and screwing things back in, Elvis and I sat outside the Brew Hut, sipped beverages, and took it easy. I actually wanted to hike the trailhead across the road, but the temperatures were above 90, and it didn’t seem like a good idea. The plan was to hike it early in the morning. Then we woke to rain on the next day, so it was time to go.
We drove back to Moab and then south to Monticello, Utah, where we checked in during the rain at about 8:30 a.m. I don’t know if I’ve been slumming it at other rv parks, but the Mountain View RV park in Monticello had the best bathrooms I’ve ever been in. Private, clean, large, heated, and with unlimited hot water for the shower, I think I was in there for at least an hour, washing away the hot, red dust from four days in Moab. I did chores, cooked a medium-rare New York strip on the cast iron skillet, along with onions, mushrooms and sourdough bread., and had a couple of glasses of red Zinfandel.
My site was far enough from the road to be relatively quiet and backed up to horses grazing. Speedy wi-fi, good water, and a place to dump tanks. The town of Monticello didn’t have a lot to offer in terms of looking around, but Elvis and I walked from the north end of town to the south end of town in between rain showers.
Rain and cold are forecast for the rest of the week. We are going to continue south to the Arizona border and perhaps beyond before circling our way back into southern Utah.
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