Homeward Bound

Our broken down RV ... the saga continues. We ended up spending a lot more time in Utah with Lucy and her family than anticipated. We headed out once to continue our journey but it was a false start ... we got about 90 minutes south of Sandy, heading towards Capitol Reef and our good old RV stopped working ... again, the same issue. This time it seemed serious and we knew that we had to do something about it. To cut a long story short ... we turned around, headed back to Lucy's at the same time finding a mechanic to fix our problem. It was a little stressful, ok ... it was a lot stressful. Particularly for Pete. He is the mechanical man in our family ... he knows 'a lot' about cars, their build, their engines and generally how much a repair will cost. We felt very vulnerable, all that knowledge and ideas of who to ring, etc, don't really count when you are in a foreign country ... who to ring is a big stress. Pete is a very resilient and resourceful man so it did not take long at all and he had found a Ford dealership with a mechanic attached, thank you to our modern digital devices. Mean while Sash was heading out to pick us up ... it was a very slow drive back to drop of our RV on the way ... we limped along, literally. 

This is our RV hoisted up and the petrol tank out. It took a few days and Pete doing a lot of the ground work to find the right sized pump. We thought we had it a couple of times but we were mistaken. Finally we found the right size and it was in and the RV ready to go very quickly. 

'It is always the people' ... I remember that quote from somewhere or someone, not sure who, but I believe it fully. Here are some of the people that we hung out with while stranded in Utah. Lucy and her husband Josh ... Rob & Leilani. I find that it is the people that we meet and hang out with that make our travels so much more memorable and enjoyable. Their stories, their lives, who they are ... I come away from these moments feeling different, like part of who they are has rubbed of on me. Rob & Leilani and their family are coming out to NZ to spend Christmas with us and I am very excited to share our country and hospitality with them.

We went out for breakfast with Lucy, Josh, Marigold and Josh's aunt ... into the mountains a little way out of Sandy, it was so beautiful. There are so many amazing mountains in Utah and a lot of great outdoor adventures to be had. After breakfast we went for a drive up to a lake near a ski resort and walked around it. Here is Lars climbing up a rock face along with a few other young people ... no fear ... up he went. I seem to remember Mike and Mack being like this ... no thought of potential hazards or risks just into it.

The lake ...

This little girl has won my heart ... over and over! This is such a Pena look ... 'what just happened' ... 'what is happening' ... 'what do I do now', look. I love to watch her play ... she just throws herself fully into whatever she is doing with so much energy and enthusiasm. There is something incredibly magical about this little girl. We visited a museum kind of natural history place and there were so many varied and interesting activities for children of all ages and likes ... this is Pena at one of the games when it stopped suddenly.

We went for a day hike ... Jordan, Pena, Pete, Lars, Roxcy, Marigold, Lucy, myself and baby Raylee. It was sooo hot. Lucy and Pete had to go back and buy milk for baby Ray and get extra nappies. Jordan and I headed up the hill with Lars, Roxcy, Marigold and Pena. It was hot and kind of steep for the children. Lars was carrying a back pack for a while and holding up the stick in his hand shouting 'none shall pass' in his best Gandalf voice ... this photo reminds me of Mike. I took him on his first tramp when he was about the same age ... 8, with our niece Carly, (Rob & Viv's daughter). Mike was carrying a pack twice the size of Lars' and all I could see was the top of his head and the bottom of legs and feet. We did the St James walkway which is 66 kms long in around 5 days. Mike was so tough ... he just did it! That was beginning of his love of the outdoors I think? He may remember differently. I think we should take Lars on the same tramp when they come out at Christmas.

Yes ... we saw a moose ... up close. Not scary at all!!

This guy, Jordan, is the best ... he has soooo much energy. He is always up for an adventure ... he is the sort of guy that you want on your cheer team. He was so generous with himself with the children ... ready to take them on adventures or fun outings. Jordan really made our stay in Utah a lot of fun for Lars. 

Working at the Car Wash ... we took everyone to clean the RV ... it was a fun activity. We all came home sprayed ...

Lucy and Pete working out the next part of our journey ...

Our false start day ... these three are the best travel companions. 

Einstein Bagels ... we discovered these in 1996 when we were in Utah for 6 months, Pete had a teaching stint at BYU Provo. Einsteins became a regular stop for us. I loved their bagels. I was so excited to discover that they are still here and they still make really good bagels! We stopped of there for lunch a couple of times while in Utah.

When we finally got on the road again, on our way to Capitol Reef, Pete decided that it might be a good time to buy new tyres for our old RV ... the tread was coming of. Walmart offered the best deal so we stopped here for a couple of hours while the job was being done

Before we left for the States we had made tentative plans to meet up with Tony & Lynette Mallard, from ChCh, at Capitol Reef. We were uncertain whether we would be able to do it ... but we made it. Tony & Lynette owned the only organic farm in ChCh for a number of years and I used to bike out to buy vegies from them, with a child on the back of my bike. When we got to four children I had to use our car, too many vegies to fit in a pack and too many children to manage on bikes. At one point I worked for them on a Friday and was paid in vegies. I loved their food ... I felt so spoilt and grateful over the years, eating their organic vegies, which were delicious. Their cucumbers, peppers and corn were deliciously sweet. They are some of the best people we know. We had a really nice couple of days with them. We did some walks, had some great talks and really enjoyed the park.  

This old Hudson Super Six belongs to Tony & Lynette. They own three Hudsons, two are in NZ and they have just bought a very sexy Tesla. On Tony & Lynette's first trip to the States they shipped their Hudson 8 over and drove it around. Then they bought a Hudson Hornet and had it shipped to NZ. They bought this Hudson Super Six in Canada and have driven it around the States for the last couple of years. This year Tony put a new straight eight engine in it and they drove it out from Ohio en route to California. Lars loved his ride in their old car ... it certainly stands out. Pete and I often talk about our next car ... I would like something that looks a little different, that is so hard to find in modern cars, they all seem to look the same. Where are the DS Citroens, the old Fiat shapes ... some of those old cars are so beautiful, elegant and distinctive, almost like works of art.

We shared the campsite at Capitol Reef with deer and stag ... 

Capitol Reef is stunning ... beautiful ... so much colour. The red of the rocks/mountains, the blue of the sky, and the pale almost blue colour on some of the rock faces. It was so refreshing staying here, peaceful. The landscape of the National Parks in the US are spectacular. We loved it! We went apple picking and there was a store that sold beautiful fruit pies made fresh every day. I recommend their Peach Pie. 

Don't be confused by this photo ... all is not as it appears. Another small problem arose while we were travelling ... our septic tank stopped working. I cannot even begin to describe the smell. We, actually Pete, tried various ways to get it flowing again, the Coke bottle was one, manually emptying the toilet from the top. We discovered when we got back to VT that it was a very simple problem ... that caused days of discomfort. Depending on the slope of the RV or the bumpiness of the road would determine the intensity of the smell. 

KOA campgrounds are great at having lots of fun activities for children ... this is one.

Pete wanted to go through Nauvoo ... again. We camped in the National Park there. It was a beautiful evening and hardly anyone camping. We had a fun evening there playing at the playground with everyone.

I love this little girl ... she is so smart. She loves to play games and is good at it. We played 'would you rather' ... an easy game I thought ... for example, 'would you rather climb a tree or swim across a river?' My answers were always straight forward ... climb a tree ... Roxcy's answer went more like this 'how tall is the tree and wide is the river?' 'how deep is the river?' 'what animals live the in the river and in the tree?' In my mind I am thinking 'What?' I never thought of any of those questions. I thought the game was simply would you rather ... Roxcy however had a totally different interpretation and approach to the game.

I loved waking up to this every morning ... Lars is above the cab, you can barely see his leg.

Life on the Mississippi ...

I saw this statement on the pioneer path going out of Nauvoo toward the Mississippi River and I thought it was worth posting. Women's fight for equality seems to cross all time spans.