"One who takes a journey has stories to tell ... "

There is the saying in German: "Wenn einer eine Reise tut, dann kann er was erzählen" - or freely translated: "one who takes a journey has stories to tell". And we had quiet a few adventures worth telling a story about in the past days. After visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks we started our journey further south without making a reservation first. The main season seems to be winding down and most campgrounds have good spots available.

Our goal of the day was to drive past Salt Lake City towards Cedar City or Hurrican in Utah - all more or less on Interstate 15. We made it to North Salt Lake, where all of a sudden the right back tire of our home on wheels blew out. Looking into the side mirror I first started seeing a little white smoke, then more and then the tire was gone. We were glad that we caught it right then and there. It was only a short distance to the next exit and to the back parking lot of a gas station. We never have changed a wheel on a fifth wheel before so we felt more comfortable to call road side assistance for that and within about 45 minutes they arrived, changed the wheel, gave us information on where to find a Les Schwab tire shop and left again. By then it was a quarter to 6 pm and the shop closes at 6 pm.

The guys at Les Schwab where just great. We arrived at 5 minutes to 6 pm and JP said that he would do the job anyways: changing the good tire from the freshly mounted spare wheel to the still good rim of the blown out tire, putting a new tire on one of the other rims and mounting the used but still good tire he had taken from that rim onto the spar-tire-rim. All in all 45 minutes of work but now we have two good new tires on the back wheels and a used but functional tire in spare. By now it was getting close to 7 pm and we needed Diesel and a place to stay for the night. Again - we were in the right place: gas station just down the road and a nice campground 5 minutes away.

All in all an exciting day on the road. From there we booked a spot that looked promising in Panguitch Lake. Talk about being in the middle of nowhere! The campground is located on a nice mountain lake at close to 9150 feet / 3000 m above sea level with no phone, tv or reliable internet reception, the site on a gravel surface and we had booked for one week! After the first night, André could feel the thinner air atn this altitude affect him and we decided not to push it too far. We cancelled the rest of our stay here and moved on to a new spot lower in the valley.

We arrived here after about 200 km of driving but not before driving up and down a mountain road and finding snow (yes, snow in August) on top. Cars and RV's where parked on the side waiting for a little melting but we just took our time and kept going. The new place is just beautiful with a nice panorama view of reed rock cliffs (see picture), a small creek with trout in it flowing through it, there are walking ways, a dog run and great hosts.

Now we are planning to visit a few more National Parks in the next few days, beginning with Bryce Canyon National Park, Red Canyon State Park and Zion National Park before continuing our trip. And who knows what else we're going to explore.

You can see, the days on the road can be very exciting!

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.