Well, our plans for day/night three were foiled, and our back up plans too. The waterfall campground we were excited to stay at, listed as "open year round for first-come, first-serve camping" on their website, was gated and closed for the season. Option 2, a half hour drive up the beautiful Wasatch Mountains, was closed as well (at least the drive was stunning). And that is how we found ourselves at a krappy K.O.A. ("Kampgrounds of America", if you're not familiar).
We have a love/hate relationship with KOA's. While they are usually pavement playgrounds for RV'ers, they are very reliable with their amenities and have saved our hides before (ia torrential downpour in west Glacier NP forced us to find shelter in one of their rustic cottages). Always water, always a hot shower, laundry facilities, and usually a couple of tent sites. At this point we were out of water, and not at all interested in hitting a Wal-Mart in this area for a fill up, nor were we interested in giving in to temptation and checking into a hotel..
The thing is, we were feeling pretty creeped out on the day's drive leading up to this point. As we drove through rural Idaho into Utah, we didn't see many, if any, masked faces. Once we crossed into Utah, an Emergency Alert blew up my phone reminding everyone that counts are going up in most counties, wear a mask, etc, And still, pulling in to a crowded WalMart parking lot to refill our empty water container, a sea of maskless faces encouraged us to turn right around and head to a K.O.A. I was able to make a reservation on my phone so the only interaction needed was getting a campsite #. W'hile it wasn't a very pretty place, we finally had wifi so we spent some time researching hikes around our next camp.
Today's drive in Utah is nothing but gorgeous scenery so far. Next stop: Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.
What we're excited about: Staying in one place for two nights, exploring two national parks, a full moon tomorrow night. We'll be completely off the grid for the next 48 hours - no cell or wifi.
Scenes from the road
