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2007.11.21 - 2007.11.23 Our Pics / Dan’s Pics
Big Bend Campground | Moab, UT | 84532
Lat 38.64 / Long 109.4 | Elevation 4000′

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Leah and I were both up late Tuesday night getting ready for the trip. The plan was to leave early Wednesday morning to meet up with the Radom family and head West to Moab, UT. A few things had come up over the last couple days which kept us from getting all packed up ahead of time like we wanted, and my order Bus Depot order ended up taking the full two weeks to get delivered, leaving Tuesday as the only day to install some of the new items on Buster before we left. I managed to get the new Optima red-top battery in, install the new front door seals, and caulk all around the windshield and rear window. Hoped in bed around 2:30, wake up at 5:30 and finish packing up. We still ended up leaving late (as usual.) Get to Dan’s place and we head straight to the road.
Weather heading into the rockies wasn’t too bad. The forecast made that morning look bleak, but other than squirting some water on the windshield now and again, it wasn’t all that bad. We had the heater cranking full blast for a couple periods of time since it was pretty chilly. Did get to experience an SUV roll over twice through the median and land into oncoming traffic (our side.) Although everyone was ok, not very fun to watch. I think it landed about 30 or 40 yards from Dan’s bus. Vail pass saw second hear a couple times for us and the rest was downhill into UT. Along the way, a passing semi caused some pretty hefty turbulence. The result wsa the peice of plywood used as a bed above the front seats, being blown off the rack after the rubber bungee cord snapped. Luckily it didn’t hit anyone. Note to self, don’t use rubber bungees in cold weather….they loose their elasticity. Since I was already on the side of the road cleaning up the bungees on the rack, I decided to knock off the huge amount of ice that had built up around the wheel wells and other areas. While knocking the ice off, I broke my combustion intake pipe going to the BN4. Luckily it gave about an inch below the floor so everything was still good to be used. Heading west on I70, we turned off onto 128. This was a very scenic drive that started off by passing an neat looking ghost town by the name of Cisco. Turning left just a ways passed that, and the scenic drive begins. It was dark by the time we got on the road, but the full moon hinted at some of the amazing landscape that we would be waking up to in the morning. It roughly a 30 to 45 minute ride on 128 from I70 to where we camped at, Big Bend Recreation Area. We unloaded the rides and after some dinner that Dan put together (why does he always end up cooking for everyone the first night?) we hit the sack.
Chilly was in the forecast for the previous night and sure enough, it got down in the mid to low 20’s. Both buses had their auxiliary heaters running during the night. Leah and the kids slept ok but I since we didn’t have a thermostat installed for the BN4 yet, I was only able to grab quick 30 to 45 minute naps as I got up to turn the heater on for a few minutes when it started getting cold inside. No complaining here though, loved having the heater. No way we could have camped with no hookups without it. The view we stepped out to this morning was amazing. Our family had never been to this area but had heard stories. The towering red cliffs with the Colorado River running along them was simply an amazing site. After cooking up some breakfast we packed up the rides and followed Dan as he gave us the tour of the area. A short ride west to 191 north put us at the entrance to Arches National Park. There are a couple of popular stops that we got out to look at. I can’t remember the names of them. Here is a panoramic shot from one of those areas though.

The land formations that have been created here over time are simply amazing to experience. The energy and time it took to do it is hard to imagine. We did a bit more scenic driving around the park before heading back to camp for the evening.
Scheduled for tonight was the big feast. We made sure to leave Arches National Park early enough that we would have a descent amount of daylight to cook up our Thanksgiving dinner. Some of the items on the menu were turkey drumsticks, racks of lamb, stuffing, sweet potatoes and potatoes wedges, pumpkin pie, and fudge. It was a great meal. We still ended up eating via lantern but that didn’t hold anyone back from having a good plate of food. Afterwards, we gathered by the campfire to eat more deserts and chat. Cameron decided he wanted to crash before anyone else so I packed him in the blanket and blasted the heater for a couple minutes before shutting the door. I think he was asleep in less than two minutes. I went back down to the fire for a few minutes where I apparently snoozed a bit in the chair. Not long afterwards I went a crashed with Cameron in the back before everyone else pilled in. The reason I say that is that since we didn’t have our plywood for Katie and Cameron to sleep on above the front seats, I was sleeping in various little corners of the bus throughout the night while Cameron took my spot in the big bed and Katie slept on the floor. Long night short, it was a somewhat uncomfortable night again for myself. But, the heater still pumped out the BTU’s and we all stayed warm. Although the temps were in the low 30’s that night, the humidity had climbed a bit and it felt colder than the night before.
About that humidity…..well, we woke up to a light frosting of snow this morning. I also woke up to our BN4 not exactly pumping out the heat that we are used to. Right now, it’s directly connected to the battery and running it for a long time last night took its tool on the battery. I had to use the jumperpack to turn the engine over. After that, the BN4 fan speed kicked back up to usual and we moved on. Looking over the situation, we all agreed that a short drive to the local Denny’s would be nice, as opposed to freezing our tails off outside. With the bus now running, we all hop in and follow Dan to the grub. But, wait…although the heater is pumping outgood air volume, the heat is about half of what it normally is. I blame it on the fact that it was running with minimal electricity and that that somehow was affecting its performance. I find out later that I am wrong. After chowing down at Denny’s, we talk about the plans. Originally we were to camp one more night at Big Bend or somewhere nearby. But sitting out in the snow at a campfire wasn’t sounding all that fun and it looked like the snowy weather was going to stick around for the rest of the day. We all voted to pack up and head home this afternoon. We took buster back to camp while Dan and family went downtown to look at the shops. By the time Dan got back to camp, we had most everything packed up and ready to go. The heater was working better after we got out of the restaurant and everything was lining up well for our departure.
Back onto 128 north, we head up to I70 in route to home sweet home. There is a interesting historic bridge you should check out if you have the chance. It’s called the Dewey Bridge and it connects the kokopelli trail via pedestrian traffic. More on Utah State Route 128. Passing by Cisco again, we hopped back on I70 for the haul east. Pleasingly, it was rather uneventful. The skies were clear and we were not having to run the heater much at all. A couple hours down the road and we met up with Dan’s party at a gas station as he was pulling out. After filling up, a swift closing of my driver door allowed the glass to smoothly eject itself from the side mirror plate. Not missing a beat, I pick it up and toss it in the trash. It didn’t crack. Why didn’t I duct tape it back on so I could have a mirror? Who knows. Not having it didn’t make for much fun as we made our way into the mountains. The temps were dropping quick and by the time we got to Vail, we were at about 23 degrees. The roads were icing up as well and snow flurries hung around for most of the time. Earlier on, Dan gave me a water bottle that he had altered to I could squirt the water out of the cap and onto the window. This worked pretty well besides the fact the water was freezing to quick. I picked up some of the blue washer stuff at the gas station when we filled up and all was well. For a few moments we thought about just tossing into a local hotel but the rates in a ski resort town, combined with us being only an hour and half or so from home, persuaded us to keep on going. Traffic in the area was minimal and the snow/ice buildup on the road was being handled well by the bus. As we started to descend into the plains, the heater started to act up again. The heat output was just nothing compared to usual. Fan speed was good though and the fuel pump was primed. What gives? With traffic continuing to lighten up, I hustle to try and get home before we all get frostbite. The next morning when I started the heater to see what was up, I heard a bunch of popping. I looked under the bus at the exhaust and it was kicking out chunks of soot from the exhaust pipe. The clogged exhaust pipe is what was causing my heating problems. I know my air/fuel mixture has been off but I had not had time to fix it before the trip
All in all, it was a good time. It was nice to finally camp out somewhere where there were no hookups and really get away from the city areas. The heater did good considering the air/fuel mixture issue and the bus ran very well. We averaged just under 18mpg round trip which I am ok with, considering the load of the bus, the drag we had on the rack and the heater running quite a bit. Dan was right, Moab is beautiful. I return trip is a must and I if you happen upon a chance to stop through….do it. There are lots of great camping site along the Colorado River around that area and more still in Arches National Park itself.