Monday August 14th 2017

Today was a short travel day from Green River UT to Richfield UT. It was only one hundred and thirty miles, but it had more than three thousand feet to gain followed by two thousand to loose.

Check out time was 11AM and I managed to time my departure well. I left at 10:45am. If I left any later I would have gotten caught in some kind of parade or motorcycle demonstration. At the main road I had to work my way through crouds of people that seem to all have motorcycles. The police were stopping traffic on the road, but they saw me coming and cleared a path to get me out. I think I was the last vehicle on the road until after the “event”.

San Rafael Swell in the distance. The road climbs into and up the side of the swell. It is an abrupt rise in the ground associated with a geological event in the past.

My route was the reverse of the path I took to get to Green River. Today I went west on Interstate 70 over the San Rafael Swell and the southern part of the Wasatch plateau. Green River is the low point at a little over 4,000 feet. The first peek at the top of the San Rafael Swell was around 7,200 feet. The second peek was the Salina Summit at 7,900 feet. The road only went down around a thousand feet between the two high points. I probably sound obsessed by these altitudes, but I’m still learning how to handle the RV on the climbs. I’ve got a better handle on the descents; gear down and apply the breaks hard a few times.

The one thing I’ve noticed is that it’s not always possible to tell if you are going up, down or on the level. A couple of times on my trip out to Green River and again today I was trying to figure out why I had to apply additional gas to go down hill. The answer, confirmed by the altitude readout on the GPS, is that I was actually going up hill. The brain needs to use the horizon for clues, but the horizon in these mountains is often sloped in the opposite direction to the roads slop. In a car, adding a little gas, or having the transmission down shift isn’t a big deal. In the RV, sitting almost on top of the engine, you are very aware of the changes.

Site F2 at the Richfield Utah KOA.

I arrived at the Richfield KOA around 1:15pm. I have a nice pull thru site in the trees. Except for the few days I spent in Salt Lake City, I haven’t been in a campground with trees since June in Idaho. I really don’t count the Salt Lake City location, because I was away for five of the 9 days I was on the site. The bottom line is I’m glad to be in the shade for a change.