Once again…..and Dixie

Sunday June 26, 2011
Bryce Canyon Pines Campground
Site B-5

Check out for North Rim Campground
is 10am, earliest we’ve encountered.
But I was out on the Bridal Trail running
by 7:15 so getting out was no problem.
Especially with no hook ups to deal with.

We had what for me is a long day,
166 miles to Bryce Canyon.

We also needed to stock up on
gas and groceries.
Another big spending day……SIGH

So guess where we ended up?

For the 3rd time now!
We know the town really well by this time.
So anything you want to know about it
just feel free to ask.

On the way there we went through
the big town of Fredonia.
It’s the Arizona/Utah border town on
the Arizona side.

 

We knew what we were looking for here as well having
passed through it 3 times now too.

But getting pictures out an RV window is not
as easy as you might think given the window’s size.

But here is the sign out in front of one of the
last establishments before the Utah line.

This one just cracked us both up.
Wonder if this is what the town is famous for?

And here is the Utah state line.  On both sides of
the highway leaving Arizona are “beverage” establishments.
That Blue sign in the distance is the state line.

I had not mentioned before the Kanab
police car parked on the side of the
road coming into town.

The first time we came in, we made sure we
were not speeding.  Unlikely in a 34’ RV but
seeing a police car sitting there with potential
radar and visions of speeding tickets does make one check.

The Kanab RV Corral at which we’ve stayed twice,
(but not this time),
was just up the road from this car.
So when we were out running the next day
we ran by it and thought we’d wave to the
policeman who was back on duty very early
we thought.

SURPRISE….
there is a dummy sitting behind the wheel.
The car sits there 24/7.
Pretty funny Kanab!!

We stopped off for groceries at
Honey’s but had forgotten what day it was
and when we turned the corner and saw
the empty parking lot, we both said
must be Sunday.

So we drove on down to her gas station,
which, even though closed, still pumps gas
and filled up at $3.789 a gallon
OUCH!!

Then we went to Glaziers for our food fill up.
Kanab only has two grocery stores and
Glaziers gets all the Sunday crowd.

We picked up another $5 foot long at
Subway to split for lunch and we
were soon on our way for our second 80 miles.
Kanab handily splits the 166 mile trip from
North Rim to Bryce right in half.

Leaving Kanab

Here’s our first look at something very different
in terms of landscape.
Sorry it’s out the driver’s side window.

a little better shot except for the glare

There are some unusual people living in this
neck of the woods.
Check out this homestead.

The landscape continues to look better and better.
Look at that water!
That’s the Sevier River.
Look at the colors in that backdrop!

 

We turned off of US Highway 89 onto
Utah Route 12 the road to

Beautiful Road

Beautiful scenery

 

Familiar faces

And then

Good Grief
there is danger of driving off the road
looking at this amazing scenery

We were entering

What?
Dixie?
As in I wish I was in the land of cotton????

Well yes sort of.
Seems Southwest Utah was called
Utah’s Dixie by early settlers
from the southern states sent to
the desert to grow cotton and silk.
The forest was named after the area.

We found this out thanks to
Juanita and Bob.
But more about them in a minute.

First you have to see what we saw.

as we entered

Sure doesn’t look like any Dixie I’m familiar with.

Highway 12, the road we are on, is billed
as some of the wildest country in the United States.
It spans some 4,400 feet in elevation from 9600 feet
on Boulder Mountain to 5200 feet at the Escalante River.

It runs through
Dixie National Forest
Bryce Canyon National Park
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
and Anasazi State Park.

AND Route 12 has a bike way that runs
more or less near it.  Good for runners
too but you’d better be running down hill
or it’s pretty much all UP.
It runs completely through the National
Forest and somewhat farther than that.
We noticed it runs “almost” to the National Park
but not quite.   So that’s nearly 10 miles that we know of
for sure and it may start before we noticed it.
Cute little yellow dotted line isn’t it?
But it’s not an auto road
only bikes, walkers and runners.

Just a little way up the road was
the Dixie National Forest Visitor’s Center.

where we met Juanita and Bob

who were just as friendly as they look
and as helpful.   They gave us TONS of information
and suggestions just suited to us
and what we wanted to do.

Bob told us that he will be 80 years old
next birthday and has
been full timing 25 years.
They volunteer here for 6 months a year and
have for the past 6 years. 
But Bob said he’s gettin’ hitch itch
and next year they may only be at the Visitors Center
for 3 months and then on to something new.
So try to get there before they leave.
These are a great pair of people.
And aren’t all full timers???

Filled up with brochures and information
that will give us more to do in this area
than we could manage in a month of Sundays
we drove on up Highway 12.

Saw this sign….knew we’d fit

Two very cool tunnels

And then we were at the end of our 166 mile drive.
We pulled into Bryce Canyon Pines
to have full hook ups for a night and get
everything recharged for some days
boondocking in Bryce.

We are about 6 miles from the park
so tomorrow will be a VERY easy drive
:-)

But here’s what we had for dessert tonight
after our “refueling” stop in Kanab.
We restocked the chocolate short cake
the strawberries and
the whipping cream.
More than sufficient reason to have been in Kanab
for a 3rd time!!