I left off our last post on the Idaho/Utah border in a snowstorm. The snow continued all the way to Salt Lake City, where we found a train station parking lot on www.freecampsites.net at about 2:00 a.m. We were tired and it was fine, sufficiently quiet, dark, and level. At some point during the night our heater turned off. We all woke up to low 40’s in the van but we were under a down comforter and the dogs have fur. I’m not sure why the heater crapped out and I was worried it presaged something serious. We checked the gas tank and it should have had enough gas. The next morning after we got started I gave it a test and it worked fine so we continued on.
I have always loved the drive from Salt Lake City to Green River, Utah, and this was no exception. South of Price, Utah on Highway 191 you start getting into the edge of canyon country. As you drive through wide open sage brush range with some spotted juniper forests, the bluffs start rising around you and you can see cool rock formations and the edges of canyons just out of sight.
We stopped in New Castle, CO, to have dinner with Sara’s cousin, Caitlin, and had a nice visit at the Black Dog Saloon where Caitlin works before heading on. We planned to stay at a trailhead on the top of Vail Pass. When we hit Vail signs on the interstate said traction laws were in effect and commercial vehicles were require to chain up. Our tires qualify as snow tires so we passed the line of truckers chaining up and headed up the pass. It was totally fine. They must have started using salt out here because the road was only wet with a little slush. We got to the top of the pass and used the rest area (we still have not tested the full functionality of our compost toilet) and found the overnight lot.
I turned on the heater and blub blub blub. Damn. It was going to be a cold night at 10,662′ and we needed a heater. Our backup plan was to keep the remote starter with us in bed and just fire up the van every hour or so. At this point, Sara reminded me we had not gotten gas and the tank was low. (She was driving!) The heater can’t draw gas when the tank is low so we were just running it dry. Sigh. Back down the pass to a gas station in Vail and back up to the parking lot.
It was a cold night, but we were toasty on the elevated bed. We ran the vent fan on low to prevent moisture from building up in here. The floor was not so warm. The dog water near the door froze and our water froze. I think the spot it froze is in the galley cabinet, but obviously we will have to figure out a way to insulate it better. Tonight we are going to try using our vent fan as a recirculating ceiling fan and see if that works better to even the heat between the ceiling and floor.
Today we met up with a friend from NH and snowboarded at Copper. It’s been 20 years since we have been there and it’s developed quite a lot. The mountain was still fun and the conditions were okay. It was rather cold and quite windy. Nothing special but at least they’ve finally gotten some decent snow over the last couple weeks. We just took at easy on our first day back at Rocky Mountain altitudes.
The high altitude sun that came out gave our solar panels and batteries some serious love. It was really cranking there for a while. We visited the hunds a couple times and made sure they got some time to run and enjoy the sun.
Tonight we are camped in a parking lot in Frisco where overnight camping is permitted. Sara and the hunds were very excited to find this lot is the start of an eleven mile trail that runs all the way to Breckinridge. They went for a nice walk and plan to do the same tomorrow. We are finally going to enjoy an early night now curled up with Netflix and a White Russian (Sara) and a Dark and Stormy (me).
#vanlife