4/27 Back On the Road After Visiting Family

I've spent most of the last week in Ohio visiting family and going to a granddaughter's birthday party.  I had not seen them since October, so was very happy to spend some time with them.  Unfortunately, my back has been extremely painful due to that open-truck tour I took of Monument Valley on April 17th. So today I am taking it easy, staying an extra day in a state park near Provo, UT, with a nice view of a lake and snow-capped mountains in the distance. 

This is my kind of campground:  electric and water, almost no other campers, good view, and excellent Verizon signal for Internet.

Did you know you could park a motorhome or a truck and trailer at most airports for the same rate as a car? I have done this in Tampa, Las Vegas, and now Salt Lake City.  Yes, I take up more than one space, but the area for oversized vehicles is always in the far reaches of an economy parking lot, so there is lots of extra space. This time I chose Salt Lake City over Phoenix because I knew the temperature would be cooler, since I do not like to "bake" my RV.  The refrigerator runs on propane and a little bit of battery power while I am gone so food stays frozen for a few days--five in this case. 

My biggest fear in parking in a regular car lot is getting pinned in. This happened to me about a month ago in a shopping center. I parked as far out as I could in an empty area with no cars around, and I parked so that I was between the lines but straight through, so I was only taking up two spots. Not only is my motorhome too long to make a turn to get out, but the rear end tends to swing out, aka "tail swing."  If I had not had a friend with me to help, I would have had to wait until someone moved next to me.

When I arrived at the airport, there were two other motorhomes parked in front of me in this space.  They were aimed so that they could just drive out past that red sign.  So I also parked parallel, but made sure I was close to the end of the spaces. I also made sure I had enough space behind and in front of me, but I was still very happy to find that no one was near me when I returned.  Whew!   

Assuming I can get a prescription called in to a local pharmacy in time to pick it up tomorrow morning, I will head off for someplace a little closer to Zion National Park, where I have a reservation on Saturday for several days.  It is one of my favorite places because of the incredible scenery. There is also good bike riding on the roads there so I am hoping my back will be in good enough condition by then to enjoy riding.

In the meantime, today's agenda includes watching TV, reading, baking some cookies, and doing some work online.  I was able to get everything unpacked last night and got a good night's sleep, which was nice after a long and uncomfortable plane ride.  Nice to be home!