St George,
Utah Littlefield AZ
Valley of Fire, Nevada
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| Valley of Fire, Nevada. Cabins built by CCC late 1930's |
Campground: Chief Sleep Easy Rv park.
Littlefield AZ. $150 for 7 days. $30 nightly. Full hookups. Good over-the-air
Tv, good wifi. Poor cellphone coverage. Sept 25, hot this time of year, 98
degrees. Stayed an extra 5 days, as the post office was almost directly across
from the Rv park. Was able to get my mail sent Express Mail. Needed to get my
voting ballet in and sent back to Florida. Mission accomplished. Very wide sites.
Campground:
Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. $10 entry fee. $20 basic camping fee. $ 10
surcharge for electric. $20 for three days of wi-fi. Stunning scenery. Desert
heat this time of year, electric a must.
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| many of the dry campsites are against the red rock boulders, beautiful settings. |
St George
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| St George at the St George Dinosaur Discovery Site |
After leaving the Pipe Springs
reservation campground, I headed towards St George for a bit of a
tour/adventure. Along the way in Colorado City I spotted a new Dollar General.
Well you may know I own a little bit of stock in the company and consider it a
good investment. Besides, I enjoy shopping for some great deals there. This was
one of the best maintained stores I’ve been in. So well stocked and organized.
Needless to say, they had just about everything I needed on my list and a few I
probably didn’t need. But such fun going to a dollar store and saving a bundle.
Since I’ve made a little money from the stocks, I always feel like I’m getting
stuff for free.
Ok, now that I satisfied my need to shop a bit, and the place
wasn’t crowded, my next stop was in St George at the St George Dinosaur
Discovery Site. It sits on the Johnson Farm site where in 2000, Dr Sheldon
Johnson a retired optometrist was in the process of excavating his property when
he stumbled upon a large naturally cut rock. The rock contained a dinosaur
footprint. He would go onto to work with local and state governments to preserve
the site where the museum is actually built right over some of the exposed slabs
of clay mud which sat next to a now dried up lake. It eventually became a ruddy
red stone with thousands of dinosaur prints. Work is ongoing, and I have to tell
you, though the place was a bit more crowded than I would have liked, I was able
to see and experience this unique site as much as possible. I wasn’t able to
watch the film they have near the entrance, as the seats were packed tight
together. Oh, and when I entered to sign in and pay the admission charge I had
three docents hoover around me. The closest to me, had her mask loosely hanging
below her nose, obviously not protecting anyone from airborne stuff. As I kept
backing up, the gal behind the desk took charge and said she’d take care of me.
Gheez.
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| next to a back door, sat this paper cutout of the original discoverer of the dinosaur prints.... |
Well, overall, it was a neat experience to see the very well preserved
dinosaur tracks in a very comfortable air conditioned environment. Did I mention
daytime temps are hoovering around the mid 90’s.
Now I’m at about 5,000
elevation here and having not been in St George I had planned to stay in town,
basically doing the parking lot camp scene. But with it being pretty hot, I
decided to find a campground with full hookups.
Soooo, just down the road, about
32 miles, I’ve landed in Littlefield AZ. And I do mean down! A 3,000 foot drop
through the Virgin River Canyon. There was no stopping as I descended 3,000 ft
at 6 and 7% grades. No where to pull off and take a few pictures of the thousand
foot and higher mountains on either side of the canyon. Sure wish I could have
taken a few pictures. But it just wasn’t possible. But what a fun and exciting
experience. This stop along the way is meant to give me a break from touring and
sight seeing for a bit. The campground is in a town with literally no services
other than a few Rv parks.
Though it is just 9 miles to the Nevada boarder town
of Mesquite. Where of course there are the usual casinos, restaurants, grocery
stores and even a Walmart. Chief Sleep Easy Rv park sits between Utah and Nevada
on a pie shaped wedge of Arizona. So going between 9 and 29 miles either way
will bring me into a different state.
Chores and repairs:
• During this week of
downtime, I’m able to perform a few chores. One of them being, since arriving
back into hotter temperatures, which I might add I’ve avoided most of the
summer, is outfitting some of the windows with aluminum backed insulation that
can easily be installed or removed as needed. Rather odd considering you’d think
I would have needed it during the summer months, not the fall season. It
certainly has helped keep the camper much cooler so job well done.
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| aluminum backed insulation for windows and ceiling skylights where needed easy to remove |
• Getting
laundry done a couple of times as well has been very convenient and cheap right
here in the park.
• Discovered a propane leak, probably due to the last place I
filled up overfilling the propane tank. Damage was done to one of the two
propane regulators. Was able to turn off the propane tank as the source and stop
by the only Rv retailer in Mesquite Nevada. It’s a Ford dealer that also sells
rv’s. By driving up there right at opening, Monday morning, and using my best
full-time RV-er in distress look, I was able to get them to check out the
camper. 30 minutes later it was repaired and I was on my way. Great job done and
very thankful.
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| regulator started to leak like a sieve. Note to self, don't let propane be filled beyond full indicator dial. |
• Fixed brush attachment to long wood handle that I use to clean
the camper. Over a very short amount of time, the threads on the composite brush
were stripped. A good dose of clear silicone glue filled in nicely. Now, who’s
up for cleaning the camper??
• Dermatologist. Well it was time I go see a
dermatologist as a had a few spots on my face that needed to be attended too.
Was able to get into Mojave Dermatology in Mesquite Nevada literally within one
hour of my giving them a call. Talk about fast service. And I must tell you it
was the best experience I’ve had. The Dr was not only knowledgeable but caring
and informative as well. Can’t tell you that last time I’ve had such good
service. Two biopsies on suspicious spots, numerous freezing of spots and a
recommendation for using CeraVe moisturizing cream with 3 essential ceramides.
Not sure what those are, but is is the best skin cream I’ve ever used. Certainly
is going to help my alligator/leather like skin that has gotten so dry from all
this desert heat and air.
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| what a great product it's really doing a great job healing my alligator/leather skin and completely absorbed by skin, no greasy feeling. |
Valley of Fire.
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| oh how I enjoy driving out west through rugged land. ps not my van.... |
I had to options, the first was to
head directly to Valley of Fire and see if I could get a campsite with electric,
as the temperatures are rather high and it’s essential to have the a/c on most
of the day. My second option would be to head back to the small town of Overton
Nevada as they have two mobile home/Rv parks. Luck was with me, as I was able to
get one of only two electric sites opening up around noon time. A short wait,
while the previous campers finished packing up and I was able to secure the
site. I’ll do my short hikes and touring early morning over the next couple of
days before heading to Laughlin. There is so much to see and a number of good
hikes in the park. Early morning only for me. The soft rosy red sandstone
structures, hieroglyphs, honeycomb rock formations and not to forget there are
even a few natural arches close to the campground. I particularly liked the 7
sisters and the CCC cabins that were built back in the late 1930’s. Each one had
a different style stone fireplace.
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| about a dozen would come out of the mountains early morning and around sunset, right into the campground |
RV TIP:
For those of us who are of a certain
age and bruise easily and bleed like a pig, I’ve found one solution. Cut up an
old fleece jacket, just the sleeves. ( purchased a jacket at a thrift store for
$3). Put them on anytime you are going to be doing work around the camper,
basement storage area or sewer hoses etc. The sleeves will give you that added
protection you need. I know my own arms really appreciate the extra effort and
are actually looking normal again. PS they can easily be thrown in the wash as
well. Come to find out, they even keep the grease and dirt off of me while
taking the bike out of storage and setting it up.
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| cut out just the sleeves of an old fleece jacket. Use anytime you need the extra protection... |
More photos:
Littlefield Azizona just a wedge of land between Utah and Nevada
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