June 18, 2017. Southern Utah Majestic Scenery

CAMPGROUND:  Green River State Park.  4 stars out of 5.  Would rate it 5, but I think $30 for a state park is high.  Nice sites with picnic tables, grills, and fire pits.  Clean and updated bathrooms.  Electricity and water hookups.  Nice oasis with nothing else for about 2 hours in either direction.

 

LOCATION:  Green River, Utah

 

WEATHER:  Still hot. High 101.  

 

The nights in Chama really cool down, into the 30s.  George bundled up and I had to force him not to turn on the heat when we first woke up.     

 

By 10:00, it was pretty hot already, so we took off from Chama, in NW New Mexico.  We drove through a corner of Colorado.  There were pretty mountain cabins and cute touristy towns like Pagosa Springs and Durango.  We passed by Chimney Rock National Monument, which really does look like a chimney.    

 

Then, through southern Utah, passing by Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, and Moab, all great places we visited two years ago.  The scenery almost doesn't look real.      

 

Our plan was to drive until about 5:00, where we would stay in Green River State Park in southern Utah.  We have stayed here before and we knew it was a nice park.  It was a 323-mile day.  Thankfully, they had a spot open, one with electricity (for the all-important air conditioner).  Unfortunately, it was still 100 degrees when we arrived at 6:00.  We quickly turned on the A/C and stayed inside most of the evening.  

 

A note about lunches.....In an effort to keep down costs, and to travel long distances each day, we have been picnicking every day.  I try to do something other than lunchmeat sandwiches.  We have had tuna salad sandwiches twice,  one day was a pasta salad, another was chicken salad sandwiches made from leftover rotisserie chicken.  One day was too hot to even stop at a roadside stand (and come to think of it, there weren't any roadside stands in that desolate area of New Mexico), so we just ate cheese and crackers in the air conditioned truck.  In cooler weather, sometimes I heat up soup for lunch.  That is the nice thing about traveling with a trailer - you can actually cook something while traveling, if you would like.  

 

DINNER:  Chicken curry (spicy vindaloo) over rice.  Cooling yogurt  with diced cucumbers on the side.