Wednesday March 8th 2017

The day started out sunny in the low 60s, peaked in the afternoon as a sunny day in the mid 80s and is finishing up moving down through the 70s toward the 60s again. My focus for the day was planning and relaxing.

I need to figure out the details of my travels after I leave here at the end of March. I’ve been working under the general plan that this year will be focused on the area between the Rockies to the east and the coastal ranges to the west. That is a lot of territory. I don’t expect to see everything there is to see, just to make productive use of my time. Ideally, I would like to travel to an area then remain in one place for a couple of weeks before moving on. That way I can tour from a fixed base in the car up to a hundred miles or so in each direction.

I need to have reservations for the holiday weekends, the peak season in the tourist areas and near any of the major cities. I also need to stay aligned with the weather. I don’t want to be in the middle of the desert in the summer or too far north before the warm weather gets there. Based on visits to Las Vegas in May and June, I know the desert area becomes uncomfortable in June. My only experience in Salt Lake City was in mid May. The city was warm but the mountains still had snow on the ground. Given those parameters, I think I need to be in the north or at elevation by mid June if not sooner.

Right now I’m thinking I’ll spend the month of April in northern Arizona and southern Utah. Then I’ll slip over to Las Vegas for a week or so in the beginning of May. The end of May would be in the Reno NV, or the Lake Tahoe area. The question then becomes where do I go for June and the fourth of July? The real problem is I want to go Las Vegas before it gets too hot. The smart thing would be to stay in Utah for most of May and June. Then continue moving north as the summer approaches. Logic vs. emotion, a common dilemma. Consequently, I haven’t booked anything yet.

The wall that encloses this RV park with the mountains in the background.

I also took at drive around the valley I’m staying in. There are four types of territory in the valley. The natural state is open desert that is primarily dirt and scattered low vegetation. Groups of buildings and shops have been constructed here and there to support civilization and commerce. Walled enclosures a thousand or more feet on a side have been created to isolate housing developments and trailer/RV parks from the desert. Most surprising of all is the amount of land dedicated to farming. Irrigation canals have been constructed to distribute water from the mountains. It’s hard to identify the crops other than to say they’re green.