Laundry at a campground…ugh!

8th trip – Days 34-50, Dec 18-2020-Jan 3, 2021. St George, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada

Thursday, Christmas Eve, Kevin’s work let everyone off at noon. That was nice. We relaxed and waited for some family members to come to St George. They got to their hotel around 5:30. I took chili, crackers and cheese to their hotel. We ate and played games. Qwixx is a favorite.

Friday, Christmas, Kevin and I had rented the activity / community room here at Southern Utah RV Resort from 11:00-3:00. The room was decorated in camping-winter themes and very cute. After ham, funeral potatoes, veggies, rolls, and cookies, we opened presents, then played games. At 3:00 we drove through Zion National Park. The parking lot was full and the shuttles were full (we knew that going in) so we didn’t stop at the visitor’s center. The drive was as beautiful as before. Went back to hotel for leftovers and games.

Kevin and I noticed how the same landscape and scenery can change it’s look just by seeing it at a different time of day or a different time of year.

Saturday, Kevin woke up not feeling well. I texted the family and we decided to forgo a drive and exploring. I went to their hotel to play games. Kevin stayed at Home on Wheels (HOWE, our trailer) and slept. The family left at 11:00 am, as they thought it would be fun to take some side roads home. I came back and just hung out. Kevin felt better but took it easy all day and evening.

Sunday, Kevin felt great. He watched his 3 church services online until noon. Then we drove west. We went to Gunlock Reservoir. I have never been there but hear about it on the news every year as it seems to flood a lot. The drive there took us through an Indian Reservation. We saw a unique and old dam made out of rocks. It is open flow now and very pretty. On the lower side of the dam was the overflow. it is called Shem Dam and was built in 1934.

We went through the town of Gunlock, maybe 15 houses with some quite new and large. They don’t have a single store there. Drove on up to Veyo and then down south through Snow Canyon. We didn’t hike, as it was 52 degrees and we were there in Oct. But we sat in the parking lot and talked about how neat and varied the landscape is. Of course we had to stop and watch the rock climbers for a bit. We looked at the map and realized we have done most things down here and have driven all the highways.

We decided to go ahead and go to BLM’s (bureau of land management) Little Black Mountain Petroglyphs. The BLM website had the hwy number wrong but we have been on the road enough to know what it was suppose to be. Hwy 7. Then a dirt road. Crossed over the Arizona line, saw motorcycles and several vehicles. The site is incredible. There are over 500 petroglyphs dating back 8000 years. They were on boulders all around and easy to see.

It is a great place when we come away wanting to know more and to research more. We want to know: what are the symbols and what do they mean? Do Native Americans these days know because of having the stories passed down?

Monday, the laundry! Sigh!! I have never used a laundromat. This campground has some washers and dryers so I thought, cool, I can use them in the middle of our trip. This morning Kevin got some quarters from the office and we went to do a load. There are 2 washers that work and they are both used by the same person. She has her bags on top. I see the time left, set my watch, and go back. The lady says she will be 30 more minutes and there is a line and points to the biggest bags I have ever seen of laundry under the table. Now I am ready for a washer and dryer in our Home on Wheels (HOWE)! 🙂

I asked what the laundry etiquette is on the RV community facebook. I got over 120 answers 🙂 Most people said they always leave at least one washer open for someone else. Some said, first come, first served. Well, after checking the laundry room every half hour all morning until 10:00, I decided to wait until the afternoon. I was finally able to get a washer and dryer. 🙂 I only used one at a time. Nice to have done. Add washer/dryer to the “must have” for our full-time RV!