According to plan we left Ponchatoula on Wednesday the 17th, yes, only 3 days after we'd arrived!
We had to make it to Idaho in a week, and we had a long trip ahead of us, so we better got a move on.
We'd decided to plan our route in such a way, that we would be able to visit two of the places we had to skip on our previous travels.
One would be Carlsbad Caverns in NM, and the second to see the Arches in Utah!
 
We had an uneventful drive, the truck did fine, the weather was good, we were rested and in good spirits .. until we'd just moved into Texas and were approaching Beaumont ... 
What-do-y'-think? Flat tire! There we went again .. it just never stops, does it?
Fortunately it was the right rear tire of the RV this time, which means James is the furthest away from traffic while changing it, and it had not done any further damage to the RV or truck.
He had it changed in record time and in the meantime I'd searched online for a tire shop close-by in Beaumont.

After some consideration we decided to not drive any further that day, but get a new tire (or 2) and also have the 2 we had with us for the truck mounted at the same time, so we arranged for an RV site at Robbins RV Park in Beaumont and drove the 10 miles to get there.

The RV Park was not much to speak of, but it was close by, right of the I-10, had 50A and cost only $25. Good enough!
It was also only a few miles from the nearest tire shop, where we were able to get new tires and all of them mounted.

The next morning we found out that we were even closer to Beaumont Freightliner, literary just around the corner, where we were able to have both vehicles inspected, something we had to do as soon as we entered Texas.
All in all, it could have been worse, and we got everything taken care of and than some.
On the road again!
But we hadn't gone for half an hour or so until ..

 

Yep! Traffic jam! Can-you-believe-it?
Apparently there had been an accident, and we were at a stand-still several miles from the nearest exit .. damn!
It was about coffee time and, as always, we had our thermoses filled and cookies at the ready, so we had an early coffee break.
After about an hour and a half we were moving again and the accident site was cleared, so luckily we didn't need to exit and find an alternative way.

We were on the move again, and we'd better, because we were running behind schedule already!
With that in mind, you can imagine we weren't exactly happy campers, when a little later we drove into another traffic jam!
This time we were a little closer to an exit, and when we could we took it and drove an alternate route, guided by our GPS!
But when we came back to the highway, supposedly having bypassed the problem, traffic was still crawling, so we decided that enough was enough and we pulled off at the nearest Flying J, where we parked ourselves in the back of the parking lot to spend the night.



There was a Denny's at this truck stop so we treated ourselves to dinner. We could do with some comfort food! Fortunately it was pretty good ..
All in all we had driven fifty, yes 50, miles today! If we kept this up we would never make it in time.

The next morning we left early, the sun had just risen, for 2 reasons: first, we have to make up time, second, it's when it's the coolest, which was important because .. we had to turn off the AC again!
Remember that I mentioned that we hoped they had gotten rid of the metal shavings in the system? Well, we think they didn't, and so it was malfunctioning again! ^%&$#!
We tried at the Loves in Beaumont to have them look at it, but the mechanic there had no experience with this problem and couldn't help us.

So now we were driving through Texas, which was hot, hot, hot, especially without AC!
Since we were pressed on time, we were not gonna try again until the Loves in Boise, ID, where we were also going to stock up on groceries. For than we just had to man up and .. sweat!

Nice spring flowers along the highway

We had to really make some miles that day to make up for all the time we lost, and we kept re-adjusting our target for the night .. a little further .. maybe a bit little more .. can we do more?

Eventually we made it all the way to Fort Stockton (despite a 3 hours delay due to wrecks on the I-10)!! 
Just  after sunset we arrived at Fort Stockton Resort and RV park, where we had to set up at dusk, and it was dark when we were done.

 
This was an interesting campground, all on a concrete slab and most of the (permanent) sites were 'covered'.

We already had dinner on the way, some corn-dogs at a gas station, so we were all set and it didn't take us long to crash.
It'd been a long day, about 500 miles! Wow, that must be a record!

The next morning we got up even earlier than the previous day, it was still dark, but that day we wanted to make it to the Carlsbad Caverns. We also wanted to arrive early, to be able to get a parking spot that we would fit in!
For once, everything went completely without a hitch (!), we took a little short-cut that worked out just fine, and we drove up the narrow, windy and rather steep road to the caves (a National Park) around 9 am.
We even got the best spot available for the RV!

Been there, done that!

We opted for the self-guided tour and entered the caverns via the 'natural' entrance, walking down a trail that leads into a cave, a bat-cave to be precise!

In the summer, people come from all over the world to watch the Brazilian free-tailed bats leaving the cave each evening.

The size of the colony fluctuates from night to night and season to season, between 200,000 and 500,000 bats call the cave home over the summer, swelling to over one million during migration!
Unfortunately we were here in the wrong season, and besides that we didn't have time to come back in the evening ..

The rest of the 800 feet down to the main part of the caverns is mostly downhill, and some areas are steep and slippery, but with a bit of caution it is an easy trail with metal railings throughout.

                                                                             
The stalagmites and stalactites in the cavern are creating massive structures that began (researchers say) 250 million years ago! 

These were appropriately called 'Lion tails'

Of course they are living things, constantly changing and growing, albeit in a very slow pace. Totally Amazing !  

 

 


These '-tites' and '-mites' are almost touching:

It was a bit of a surprise to find a rest and snack-bar area at the bottom of the cavern, but we could do with some lunch so we sat down for a short break.

  

After a bite to eat, we walked the 1.5 mile loop around what's called the 'Big Room'.

I've seen my share of caves, but the sheer size of these caverns is what blew me away the most. The 'rooms' are just enormous!

 

At times it felt a little like being in a decor for Midlle Earth in 'Lord of the Rings' ..

After walking for about a total of 3 miles throughout the trails, I
was really glad they had an elevator to take us back up to ground level.
Sometimes it's a 2 hour wait for the elevators, but we walked straight in and up. The advantage to not be in 'tourist-season'!

      

 The elevator height is equivalent to the height of the Washington Monument, yikes, that's high .. uh, deep!

Of all the National Parks this one went to the top of our list of favorites. Very much worth the somewhat 'out of the way' location.

I'm glad we finally made it!

Back in the truck we went, continuing our way North, to hopefully end up somewhere close to Albuquerque for the night.
It was a hot day, and the temperatures in the cab reached in the 90's with the fans on and the windows open!
It was a looooong afternoon, but we made it all the way to Moriarty (no relation to the villain in Elementary), about 35 miles east of Albequerque, NM.

The park, Happy Trails RV Park, was a little steeply priced ($35) for 'what you got', but it was an easy access and had a very friendly owner.
As was our routine by now, we left early the next morning, breezed through an almost deserted Albequerque (Sunday, always a good day to hit a big city!), and set course to Gallup, where we took the 491 to Cortez (CO), followed by the 191 to Moab, Utah.

Chimney Rock

For once, traffic was almost non-existing, truck and trailer were behaving (apart from having no AC) and the roads were excellent!

The US 491 was previously called the US 666, according to some 'the number of the beast', hence nicknamed the "Devil's Highway".

This, combined with a high fatality rate along the New Mexico portion, convinced some people the highway was cursed.
In 1974 it got renamed and widened and has been fine ever since. 

 

The beautiful, stark landscape that belongs to the tribal nations of the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, is bisected by the Highway which passes by two mountains considered sacred by Native Americans: Ute Mountain and an extinct volcanic core named Shiprock.

Shiprock Butte

Entering Colorado and passing Cortez, you could see the the snow-capped mountains of the San Juan Mountain range.

 

                                      

The road started to 'up-and-down' a little more, but thank goodness nothing too bad!

And, much nicer, the temperatures had dropped to a lot more tolerable 70's-80's!  

Finally, after moving into Utah, we started to see the first of the red rock formations that this area is famous for.
We bypassed the 'hole n" the rock', apparently a quirky tourist shop/trap, built into the rock .. nah, not for us ..

And around 4 pm, we finally made the descent into Moab!

It had been a little bit of a challenge to find an RV site for a couple of days because we arrived at Easter, but I finally got us a spot in the Spanish Trail RV Park, just before town.

It was a very nice park and we were escorted to a nice, albeit a little tight, site.

                          

We set up quickly, although the dish was a little tricky with the high

trees and the surrounding mountains, but we got it to work 

(on the picnic table) !

    

But of course we were there for Arches National Park, and we were very excited to finally be able to see them!
We'd 'missed' them in 2013, when we were on our way down from Montana and the government got shut down! 

Again, we were up bright and early the next morning, drove the 5 miles and were at the park at 7am. We wanted to beat the crowds and the heat, and early morning makes for prettier pictures!
The visitor center wasn't open yet but we found a custodian who had a map, and we had a year pass for the Park, so we were in business.

There's a rather steep hill, right behind the visitor center, but after you've scaled that it's mostly a gently rolling, 36 mile (round-trip) nicely paved road through the rest of the park.

Arches contains the world's largest concentration of natural sandstone arches. Although over 2,000 arches are located within the park's 76,518 acres, the park also contains an astounding variety of other geological formations.

Right from the start you see some awesome and huge formations at Park Avenue and the Courthouse Towers.
The sheer walls of this canyon reminded early visitors of buildings lining a big city street. 

You can just see 'the Three Gossips' there in the middle of the picture. 
It is a statuesque formation named for its striking resemblance of three people chatting (er, gossiping.)



From there it's on to Balanced Rock, one of the most iconic features in the park, it stands a staggering 128 feet (39m) tall. 
It’s actually not balanced at all. The boulder of sandstone sits attached to its eroding pedestal of mudstone but eventually it will come down anyway.

 


Next up, 'The Windows' section:

Driving up to the parking lot you can see the snow-capped La Sal Mountains on your left ..

 
.. and some of Salt Valley on the right ..

It payed to arrive early, because we were the first people there, so we had no problem parking and no people in our pictures!

In just over two square miles, you'll find a whole bunch of arches and formations.
The first arch you see is the beautiful North Window: 



This 90 foot wide and 48 feet high arch is well formed and looks like an eye socket from a distance. 
You can walk right up and stand under the arch – which is a mixed blessing. In busier times, you’ll never get a shot without someone else in it.
We were very lucky to just catch the rising sun peeking through!

Next, immediately on your right, there's Turret Arch:

  

(If you look very closely you can see I caught the moon in that one)

A short walk, just around the corner, brings you to the South window:

I'm standing there at the very bottom ..

It is a bit bigger than its neighbor at 115 feet wide and 56 feet tall and looks like a mirror image of the North Window.

And if you keep on walking you can circle around to view both from the back, where you can see why their original name was Spectacles, since together they appear as a pair of eyes or eyeglasses:

          

                             

               For scale, James is showing how huge these arches are ..

While leaving the parking lot a little later, we got a fairly good look of Double Arch, a bit more along the loop road from the Windows.




Double Arch is a unique pair of arches that share a single base on one side and are about a 90° angle from each other.

Next up: Famous Delicate Arch!
Perhaps the most iconic image associated with Arches National Park, Delicate Arch is a 65- foot tall formation deemed so picturesque that the state of Utah put it on all their license plates. 

 
Looking at our list of things-to-see, the temperature, the crowds and the time factor, we chose to see this Arch from the Lower Level viewpoint, as the hike will take you at least 2 precious hours,
and there are always a lot of people doing the hike up to the High Level viewpoint.
We were glad we did. I can't compare, but in my opinion it is equally spectacular from further away, and zoom in on it with a camera or binoculars, than to stand under it, and you can spend your precious time in the park to see other arches!

 

When we got to the viewing point we actually sat down for a while and had a cup of coffee and some pastries that we had brought with us. What a view!



The hike to to the lower viewpoint is short and moderately difficult, but it was nice to stretch our legs for a bit.

And the view of the surrounding Cache Valley is quite nice ..

At this stretch of the park I found most of these wildflowers:

Indian Paintbrush

A little further down the main road you arrive at the Fiery Furnace.
This is described as 'a natural labyrinth of narrow passages between towering sandstone walls'.
The overlook provides views into an area thick with fins, spires and arches.

There are no maintained trails through the Fiery Furnace, but there are guided hikes with a ranger that make their way through the passages.

The Salt Valley Overlook is right next to it, with it's beautiful view all the way to the La Sall Mountains:

Finally, at the end of the (paved) road you'll find the parking lot for Devil's Garden Trailhead:

This parking lot is enormous, with specified sites for buses, trucks and campers, but it can be quite a challenge to 'score' a spot.
We were still early enough to have a choice of large parking spots, but when we came back people were circling the loop, sometimes repeatedly, to get one (and ours).

The first part of the Devils Garden trail is an easy segment (1.9 mi round-trip) and is relatively flat with hard packed surfaces to walk on. Past that it becomes much more strenuous.

Only half a mile in or so you'll come by Tunnel Arch:
This thick fin of sandstone has a big, tunnel-like hole in the middle, that's actually made up of two smaller arches right behind each other.
It looks a bit like a porthole or a subway tunnel.

On the same little side spur but on the opposite side, stands Pine Tree Arch: This is a tall, thick arch, so-named because a pine tree (juniper)is growing under the arch  .. duh ..

Back on the main trail and about 1.5 miles further you'll reach Landscape Arch, measuring 306 feet from base to base, it is the longest arch in the park and the fifth longest arch in the world.

In 1991 a 60-foot-long (18 m) slab of rock fell from the bottom of the arch. You can see remnants of this rock fall beneath the arch today.
Since that time, the park has closed the trail that once led directly beneath the impressive span.

We found a large slab of rock in the shade with a prime view of the arch, and ate our sandwiches ..
You can't get a much nicer picnic spot than that!





The (improved) Devils Garden Trail ends at Landscape Arch; a Primitive Loop Trail extends from there and just a couple of hundred yards around the corner you'll get a glimpse of Double O Arch:

 

The majority of visitors to Devil’s Garden turn around here, and so did we, it was getting warmer by the hour and by now we'd seen enough arches to 'get the picture' and than some!

Nothing is stopping this Juniper!

We drove all the way back to the visitor center, where we got some information about neighboring Canyonlands National Park that we wanted to visit that evening around sunset, and we took a short walk through the exhibits where we learned that:
Most of the formations at Arches are made of soft red sandstone deposited 150 million years ago. Much later, groundwater began to dissolve the underlying salt deposits, which is the main cause of the formation of the arches, spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins, and eroded monoliths in the area.

By than we were due for a nice, long and air-conditioned (!) break (nap), so we drove back to the RV and took one ..

After some shut-eye and an early dinner we backtracked towards Arches, and than up the road for an additional 10 miles to the road leading to the entrance of the aforementioned Canyonlands National Park, which is another 22 miles up the Island in the Sky Mesa.

Green River

This park is known for it's beautiful vistas of Canyons and Mesas which are especially amazing and dramatic around sunset! 

From the visitor center (that was already closed for the day) we first drove straight to the very end of the The Island in the Sky scenic drive, Grand View Point.

We could see some bad weather approaching and wanted to make sure we saw this view at it's best.

The Island in the Sky mesa rests on sheer sandstone cliffs over 1,000 feet (304 m) above the surrounding terrain.
From here, you can see the White Rim, features in The Maze and The Needles, and distant mountains. A short, paved sidewalk leads to a spectacular viewpoint:

We spent some time just taking in the beautiful scenery and ate the sandwiches and salads we'd brought for dinner.

Retracing the scenic drive from here, there's a small overlook called the Orange Cliffs Overlook.
They're probably more orange at sunrise but it's still a spectacular view of the canyon floor that goes on forever ..

Next up we came to the, very appropriately called, Candle Stick Tower Overlook:

We had to wait for half an hour or so, to let the sun get from behind the clouds and get some light on those canyon walls, but the result was worth it!

By now we could see some very, very dark sky coming our way, and we hurried to the Green River Overlook, about halfway up the drive.

 
We made it just in time, and if anything, those dark clouds gave the already spectacular scenery a very dramatic effect! 

Just stunning!

Back on the road, we made a mad dash to Upheaval Dome, but by the time we got there our luck was running out, and the rain finally started to come down.
The Dome is in fact a deep crater and it takes a 1.6 mile hike to get to it's rim. Because of the time of the day and the weather, we decided to skip this trail, and make our way back to the visitor center and the end of the drive.

I snapped some random pics during the storm and these two are actually quite interesting:

                

An eerie sort of dark landscape and, of course, a rainbow!

On the way back, the rain let up and the setting sun gave us another beautiful view at the Shafer Canyon Overlook, with the white capped La Salle mountains in the background ..

How beautiful is this?! What a gorgeous, gorgeous scenery! I'm so glad we took this detour and the time to visit both these National Parks. They are truly spectacular!

In the end, we didn't get to see a 'full' sunset but it was still nice, and very unusual with that rain-cloud still 'letting loose' in the foreground ...

And that was that for Moab!

The next morning we left bright and early once again, heading first for Salt Lake City and after that hopefully close to Boise, ID or (dare we hope) even Ontario, OR!

 

After 20 miles we took the I-70 West for 25 miles, before turning onto the U.S. Route 6 (191) north towards Provo.
About 110 miles on this road we unexpectedly started to climb towards a pass! Yikes!

Soldier Summit is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 7,477ft (2.279m) above the sea level, located in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, USA.
The road is good , and asphalted, but pretty steep! I was not such a happy camper, but everything went fine ..

There was still snow on top!

Coming down on the other end we pulled into a Flying J to gas up, and when James checked for any oil or water problems ..  he found coolant in the oil!
%$^#@&! Unbelievable!
Needless to say, we needed to address this, so once again we had to find a place to stay and a repair shop!!!

We were lucky again, (which we somehow always are despite having a problem) as it turned out that there was a KOA campground right behind the gas station!

See the RVs there on the left?

They had plenty of space and we quickly checked in for a couple of nights, not knowing how long it would be this time.
Of course, with this, we had no illusions anymore to make it on time in Idaho ..

The Wasatch Range forms the magnificent mountain backdrop for this KOA just south of Provo.

We got a recommendation for a truck-shop in Provo, S & L Maintenance, not too far from us, from the people at Flying J.
James made a call and could come over for an assessment right away. 

So, when coolant enters the engine and mixes with oil, the problem is usually a blown head gasket, which is a very expensive repair, but in our case we were very lucky that it turned out to be 'only' a cracked oil cooler!
Which was a surprise because we'd just installed a new one in Florida! What are the odds? Just (our) dumb luck!
Any-who, a new one was brought in pronto and at the end of the day the truck was running again! Phew!
It mend that we could cancel our second night here and the next day we were back on the road ..

We passed Salt Lake City without encountering much traffic:

From the I-15 we could see the spires of the Mormon church at Temple square, which we had visited a couple of years ago

It wasn't too long before we drove into Idaho, and after a while it became clear that we made such good time that we might actually make it to Ontario, OR, that day after all!
Guess what? We did!
It was getting dark when we pulled in the campground at the County Fairgrounds, but we made it! Wow!

   

There was plenty of space in a grassy meadow and you could basically set up anyway you like it as long as you can reach the utilities. Cool!
They have an honor box for your payment (if you have Passport America, you need to write your number on the envelope to get the $15 rate).

The next morning James made one more attempt, before we were heading into the mountains, to get our AC looked at or fixed at the local Loves just around the corner.
They'd promised us in that the repairs were under warranty, and we could go to any Loves and they would honor it. Well, guess what? They don't! 
AC repairs are exempt, among a couple of other things! 

Oh well. At least temperatures are way down here in the north and will be even better in the hills so we just have to live with it for a while longer ..
We drove to Walmart to stock up on groceries (we were full to the rim), packed everything up and got on the road to drive to our journey's final destination, Lucile in Idaho!

The two-way road was excellent and although hilly and curvy nothing too challenging to give us any problems.
Somewhere before the town of New Meadows you pass the 45th Parallel ..

This is the gorgeous meadow that gives the town it's name ..

We stopped for gas and had lunch at the Intersection in New Meadows, before driving the final 25 miles to Lucile, following the Little Salmon River and finally the Salmon River




And after everything that had happened to us on this crazy drive from Florida to here, we still made it on the day we were supposed to be here! 

      We still can't believe how we managed to do that, but we did.

So .. finally, there it is .. the end (for now)!