We packed up and left Moab around 9:00 this morning. After consulting the book with highway grades, we saw that we had three tough spots on I-70 today. None as bad as Eisenhower Pass in Colorado, but when you’re in a motorhome towing a Jeep, any steep grade is challenging.
The whole ride was scenic, with more colorful rock formations all along the way. In one spot, it looked like a part of the earth was pushed skyward on a diagonal, and shards of earth are still sticking out.
Once again, Jeff and the RV did a great job tackling the higher elevations on the way up and down. On the last mountain, with a summit of 7700 feet, they were doing construction on the way up and had the highway down to one lane. We had a slow truck in front of us that killed our momentum, but we made it.
We finally got off of I-70 and got on Route 89 south. That took us through Marysdale, the home of the Big Rock Candy Mountain. The mountain got its name from hobos trying to lure others to hop on trains and head west – they said the west was full of great things – even a mountain made of candy. Burl Ives recorded the Depression era song and made it more famous. I read online that Butch Cassidy’s home is about 20 miles away from Marysdale, but we didn’t take the time to find it.
As we got on Route 89, there were dark clouds to the right of us and directly in front of us. While we’ve had storms all along our trip this summer, we’ve never had to drive through one. Fortunately, Route 89 took us in between the storms, but not through them. We had to deal with the winds of both, but it wasn’t too bad.
We drove through Panguitch, the last town before we got to our campground. It looked pretty cute, with restaurants, motels and campgrounds, and of course, gift shops.
We are camping at Ruby’s Campground, which is a half mile outside of Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s a big place – there’s a motel, restaurant, Old West-style village of shops, old west singing cowboy show and even a rodeo. Back in 1916, a guy named Reuben, aka Ruby, Syrett brought his family here to establish a ranch. After seeing Bryce Canyon, he told others about it and they came to visit him. He eventually built a lodging camp and served food, and the rest is history. The Syrett Family still run’s the Ruby’s enterprise today.
After the marathon of sightseeing in Moab, we decided to take it easy today. Two passing rain showers helped us come to that decision. There was a bit of thunder and lightning, but both storms passed quickly.
During the first storm, we grabbed lunch at the restaurant here. Then we set up the RV and Jeff masterfully got the RV in just the right spot so we’d have satellite reception. The All Star game is tonight and Henry wants to watch it.
Since Ruth has been a little grumpy at her lack of pool time due to the thunderstorms in Moab, after we set up camp, we all went to the pool. The pool is allegedly heated, but Jeff would challenge that assertion. Watching him go in, I decided I would head to the hot tub instead. Wise choice. It's the perfect temperature - not too hot, but not just warm.
Still stuffed from our late lunch, Ruth and I went to check out the Ruby’s General Store. They have everything from artwork to snacks to jewelry to books. And that's just the main General Store - we haven't even checked out the shops in the rest of the Ruby's compound.
Ruth bought a charm for her charm bracelet and some postcards, and we picked up some firewood and camp supplies.
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