RV – Page 9 – Travel Means Life

Who did the town of Helper help?

2nd camping trip- Day 5-7, Sept 11-13, 2020 Helper, Utah

Kevin found a campground through the app called “Good Sam” and we thought the area would be a nice place to explore. We left on Friday right after Kevin got off work. We drove up Highway 6 through Spanish Fork Canyon. The truck pulled the trailer with not a problem at all. Kevin is an excellent driver and very safe. Hwy 6 is a stretch of road that used to be the worst in the US. Thankfully, UDOT has added a lot of passing lanes and I know that has helped reduce so many accidents. We got to our campground and greeting us was a huge barn that is several stories tall. It looks new-ish and has the registration, store, and laundry for the campground. The people who built the campground said (on their website) that they traveled to Helper over the years for the Art Galleries, Christmas festivals, and other times throughout the year. They wished there was a campground there. So, they built one and it is charming. It is called, “Castle Gate RV Park”. The campsites have tiny, packed gravel with different colors so you know where to park.

Camping Castle Gate RV Helper, UT Sept 11-13, 2020

Once we got set up, we had sandwiches and then just relaxed for the evening. Our evening walk-about was nice with just a few swarms of gnats. When searching the area for things to do, I came across a museum that sounded like something we would enjoy. However, it was closed due to Covid. That evening, I looked up the website again and it said closed, but opening in the Fall. Well, I exclaimed, THIS is Fall! HAHA

The next morning Kevin called the museum and yes, indeed, they had opened back up the day before. Wahoo! After I cooked eggs and hash browns in the kitchen, we ate, and then drove through the tiny town of Helper. So named for the trains that need to “help” the long trains up the incredibly steep grade.

Display at Western Mining & Railroad Museum, Helper, UT Sept 11-13, 2020

Many of the houses are original to the coal mining days. The town has a small grocery store, several bars, a school, and a few other stores. We drove south of town because I thought I saw an old train water tower and building. As we got closer, we saw they weren’t ancient. 🙂 The railroad tracks led into an old repair building.

Train maintenance shed, Helper, UT Sept 11-13, 2020

We followed a dirt road up the canyon and enjoyed beautiful mountains with layers of rocks. We were able to drive several miles before coming to the end of the road and a gate.

Beautiful layers of rock. Helper, UT Sept 11-13, 2020

Then it was off to see the Western Mining and Railroad Museum. Masks were required, which we were thankful for. We were there almost 3 hours! We decided to walk down the old main street. Many of the buildings we read about in the museum, we now saw with our eyes. How cool is that! It was way past lunch time but there wasn’t a lot open. We walked to a gas station, got big drinks, packaged ice cream treats and sat at a nice picnic table they had outside.

Main Street, Helper, UT Sept 11-13, 2020

Back to the campground for lunch. Then we took our chairs and walked behind our campsite where the rush water of Price River was flowing. We sat under the shade and read our books the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner was foil dinner (AKA Hobo Packets) with brats, peppers and onions. You put the pack right in the fire pit on the coals. It is done when I smell it. HAHA

Ate outside and enjoyed it. We sat around the campfire the rest of the evening. One thing I noticed about our trailer is that the smoke doesn’t get inside the trailer. That is nice: I like campfire smell outside, not in. HAHA

The next day it was time to pack up and head home. The campground was great; I think with the rocks it would be terribly hot in the summer, but when we were there, it was perfect.

If you want to learn more about Helper and the “help” the engines were to the railroad, read more here..

Wikipedia on Helper

Castle Gate RV Park

Next time I will share some tips and recipes for camping.

I can’t believe I said that! I am deaf!

I became 100% deaf a year ago, March 2020. So how do Kevin and I communicate when he is driving? How do I help him back up the trailer into a campsite when I can’t hear what he wants me to do? How do I help set up the trailer when I am on the other side of the trailer and can’t hear when someone asked for something? These are just a few of the questions that come up for someone who is deaf. I ask you, if you are a hearing person, please read on so that you can understand what is going on for deaf people. If you are hard of hearing or deaf, I hope you find a helpful hint or two here.

Kevin and I have an amazing relationship: married over 32 years, best friends, and truly part of each other. We get along incredible well and are each other’s favorite person to be with. So with all that, suddenly I am deaf and we can’t communicate while he is driving, or when I am driving, for that matter. I can’t look away from the road to see what he is signing (American Sign Language) and he can’t let go of the wheel to sign while driving. What is a couple to do? It wasn’t until October last year when we finally figured out something that would work. I have an app on my iPad called “AVA” that we have used before. It needed internet connection and that doesn’t work when you are camping and driving around the middle of Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, for example. Around October, AVA company made it to work without internet connectivity. This opened up a whole new way for us. When Kevin is driving, I set the iPad on my lap and as he talks, AVA uses voice-to-text to type out his words. Now, believe me, it isn’t great and makes many mistakes including thinking we are swearing! 🙂 But it is better than no communication at all. While we have to start and stop the app often, it is fine because at least we can work on getting it right and thus having hours and hours of communication.

What about backing up the trailer? I call Kevin on FaceTime. He has the phone on the console in the truck but if he needs to communicate something with me, he can stop, pick it up and sign to me. I talk him through backing up. Instead of using “left/right” (which I think could be terribly confusing.) I say “driver’s side” or “passenger side” depending on which side I want the back of the trailer turned towards. It works out great for us. Well, except for one time! I was talking to him as he was backing up. I keep saying into FaceTime, “driver’s side” pause “driver’s side” pause “driver’s side (a little louder)! Then I start pointing because he isn’t putting the back of the trailer where it needs to go. Stop! I walk up to Kevin and he says he is so confused…did the mirrors get turned upside down because I am pointing in the opposite way I am talking. For goodness sake, I realize I had been saying the wrong side! So then I said, “Well….backseat DRIVER’s side?!” We were laughing so hard we were crying!!! Now don’t worry, this was backing up into a large storage space (we will tell you more about that when we get to October camping).

As for setting up or tearing down our campsite, I have found things that are helpful but don’t need to be talked about. I can set the chocks and stabilizers. Did you read the blog post about our first campground? My job then was just to stay out of the way. HAHA But now we have it down where I can help with a few things.

Now, here is the part where I can’t believe I said that!!!!! We will tell you more about this camping trip when we post about November but I will let you know this part now. 🙂 We were camping in Mesquite, NV and in November, it was a perfect warm place to be. We don’t eat out much because of Covid but in looking for a fabric store (squeal with excitement) we passed a Mexican restaurant with outdoor dining. We looked at each other, our eyes wide with excitement, as we both said we wanted to eat there that evening. Later that day, we went to this restaurant. The nice young man led us to our seats out on the patio. As he handed us the menus, I asked, “What do you recommend?” I kid you not! Sometimes I completely forget I am 100% deaf. This nice young man starts to rattle off what he recommends. I am trying to suppress a huge giggle and Kevin is about losing it, trying not to laugh. I nod politely as I assume he told me his recommendations. I was so glad Kevin was there to be able to answer follow up questions. We STILL laugh about this when we think about it.

Of course, losing one’s hearing isn’t all fun and games. It is life changing. I have jotted down little thoughts as I started down this journey of being deaf. Maybe I will share it sometime.

Sometime down the road, I will write about traveling on an airplane and tell you about being deaf and getting a wheelchair handed to me. 🙂

I would like to read any comments you have. Please comment below. Do you have questions about being deaf or hard of hearing? Are you deaf or hard of hearing and having ideas to share to help others who are traveling? Comment below. Thank you.

Craters of the Moon

We left our trailer at the KOA, and drove to Craters of the Moon National Monument. We had been there before, but I got a new passport book, and a goal is to get as many stamps as possible in the book. A lofty goal would be to get all of the national parks stamped! The drive up there was nice, as there was a lot of farmland to see. The visitors center was closed due to Covid. I understand this, but it was disappointing because you couldn’t get a feel for what makes the park special.

Craters of the Moon is a park like no other. It is a gigantic lava field with different types of lava. By types I mean it was how the liquid lava dried. Some dried in smooth flows, others in a splatter pattern. There are miles and miles of black, hardened lava. In places, dirt blown in from erosion is starting. Some green plants are following the dirt. It is definitely an other-worldy feeling. The park itself has a one-way loop with several spots to pull off and hike. We took a short walk and looked at where the trees and plants are getting their start in this barren landscape.

We still had some time in the day, so we saw a pamphlet for Shashone Ice Caves. They offer tours through a lava tube that has ice in it year round. Sounds interesting! When we pulled up, we instantly knew it was a tourist trap. There were high walls up hiding whatever is behind it. There was a huge 40 – 50 foot dinosaur with a caveman riding on top. When we went in to see about tickets, the small gift shop was PACKED with people! Many were not wearing masks, none were social distancing. That was the last straw…..we went no further. It looks like the actual tour might have been interesting, but we had a hard time getting beyond the tourist trap facade.

We then drove to Sun Valley. It is well known for skiing. Since we live in Utah (greatest snow on earth) it left us a bit disappointed. Since we are not skiers, and it was still early fall…..it would be hard to judge. We were used to Park City where it FEELS like you are in the mountains. This didn’t have that feeling for us. We still had a blast driving.

I listened to an audio book and Charla read while we were driving back to HOWE (Home on Wheels). When we got there, I lit a fire, and we roasted hot dogs. You can’t beat roasted hotdogs over a campfire. We then relaxed, people watched, and walked around the campground. We went into the camp store, and they had a lot of cute things. Charla was impressed that grocery items weren’t overpriced.

The next day we packed up and started heading home. There were warnings for strong winds, and it threw us around a bit going home. You know, we “accidentally” scheduled to be hungry when we were going by Tremonton, Utah. JC’s diner has the best chicken fried steak! I am sure they have other menu items, but the chicken fried steak is so good, it will be a while before I try anything else.

This was a fun first trip. It was great to realize that we were prepared and did not forget anything. We did add a few things to our shopping list for the next trip though. Amazon is my friend.

We almost sold it!

1st – Day 1-4, Sept 4-7, 2020 On the way to Craters of the Moon. Idaho

It was so hard to wait for Kevin to get off work because we were both so excited for our first camping trip in our new trailer. The second he was done, we were out of here. As Kevin was driving, the truck would seem to float and at some times seemed like it was picked up and when the front came down, it might almost be in a different lane. It was really bad when the road was rough. The ride was so bumpy. He had to slow down quite a bit. I thought we would just have to camp very close to home because it was so hard for Kevin to drive and almost made me motion sick. We were both disappointed. Maybe we just need to sell the trailer?!

We stayed at Aspen Grove Campground in Tremonton, UT. We pulled into the campground and was shown to our site. It is fairly new so the trees weren’t grown. No campfires allowed. I guess because it is in the middle of the town and maybe people would not like the smoke? I don’t know. But that was fine with us. Kevin got electricity and water all set up and I did my job…stay out of the way!

Why do I need to stay out of the way? Well, how do you ask someone on the other side of the trailer to do something when she is deaf and can’t hear? HAHA It is easier for him to do the set up then run around, find me, sign (American Sign Language) to me, and then go about what he was doing. 🙂 Once Kevin had the hoses, cords, chocks, and stabilizers all set up I was able to set up inside. This being our first night out in our trailer I had made a pasta salad at home and put in the fridge. We ate outside in our camp chairs. After supper, we decided to go for a walk and look for geocaches. Downtown Tremonton has some neat old buildings. Because of Covid, we weren’t able to go into them but hope to at some point down the road. I was able to take a picture of a very old building. The center park was pretty. We only found one of a chain of geocaches but that was fine with us. We enjoyed the walk. Went back to the trailer and sat outside as it got dark. Our trailer bed is a queen and so so so comfortable! I couldn’t believe it. We both slept great.

The next morning, after bagels and coffee/hot chocolate, Kevin emptied the black tank (holds stuff from the toilet) and gray tank (holds the water from the sinks). He noticed they were very full for how little we used them. Then we were on our way. Immediately we could tell a difference in how the truck felt. It turns out…the gray and black tanks were full! The RV place had filled them to check for leaks but didn’t empty them and didn’t tell us. THAT is why it was such an uncomfortable ride!! HAHAH Whew, we were so relieved we were giddy. We don’t have to sell it!! The rest of the drive was smooth and we could go faster.

Next stop…Idaho.

I wonder what this building used to be used for. Tremonton, UT

We have a truck – Now what?

Thursday, August 27, 2020 I got a call from the dealer in Bozman, MT that one has sold. That afternoon, we went to General RV in Draper. Jefferson Moser asks us how much we want to spend, first thing. That was impressive because he never wavered from it. He drives us in the little golf cart to the upper lot and shows us a 2020 Shadow Cruiser 225RBS and we absolutely “love” it. We saw two others but the kitchens were tiny and the floor plan was choppy with bedroom walls and doors. We bought it immediately! We were told by several salesmen that, like us, many people wanted to travel or get away and aren’t able to because of all the restrictions and so people bought travel trailers and camped locally. The new truck needed a special trailer brake put on and they couldn’t do it until Tuesday. Jefferson said some people had to wait more than 2 weeks this summer. That would have been very sad.

Friday, August 28,2020 We start buying all sorts of things that are needed for the truck and trailer. It was a blast. Like we did before when we had a trailer for a summer, we bought everything new to pack it completely with what is needed.

Tuesday, Sept 1, 2020 Pick up day! Our appointment was at 8:30 AM. It took a little more than 2 hours to be shown everything and to sign the papers. Oh, so exciting.

The beginning of RV fun-Buying a truck!

2020

Charla and I really miss traveling due to Covid restrictions. We have had several cruises cancel (including a big one to Ireland) and no one knows for sure when cruise lines will be allowed to open up for travel. Over this summer, we have taken a few small road trips: in June we went to Burley, ID and visited City of Rocks National Park, Shoshone Falls, and Snake River. For Kevin’s birthday, we went to Daniel’s Summit Lodge and had a fantastic time. But we miss going and traveling more.

Monday, August 24, 2020, Charla and I decide we want to buy a travel trailer. We look at some RV dealers online and find one we want.

Rained sideways

We were staying at the beautiful Zion River Resort in Virgin Utah. If you would like a campground near Zion National Park, this is it! The staff there are very nice. We got a site near the river, and all was well. Charla and I always sleep so well in HOWE, our Home on WhEels.

At 5 in the morning, I woke up to hard rain – but it was not raining on the roof, It was raining on the side wall next to my bed! For some reason Charla didn’t hear it. 😎 It took me a minute to wake up enough to realize what was happening. Then I remembered our hot water heater is on that side of HOWE. I was afraid that somehow it had ruptured and was spewing water. I stumbled out of bed, found some pants, and went outside. Water was running off the side of the trailer. I walked up to it and realized where it was coming from. There was a tree nearby, and irrigation line was ringed around it. I think it was supposed to have a soaker hose or small nozzle there, but it was missing, and a geyser was shooting from it hitting the side of the trailer! I implemented a very sophisticated fix for this situation. I put a tote over the top of the geyser and put a block of wood on top of the tote!

Right about my feet is where the geyser was. I had to relax the next day to recover!

I went back inside, and now Charla was awake. She was asking me what was wrong. But a dark trailer in the dark night is not conducive to communication with a deaf person. I used a text to speech app to tell her the story. She instantly fell back asleep. I however took quite a while for the adrenalin to settle down. Oh the fun of RV living.