Recently in Trish Category

For the past few years, we've tried to remedy our cabin fever by either heading to Logandale, Nevada or some other warm destination. This year, the wife (Trish) and I decided that we'd head to Moab for a relaxing weekend.

What we discovered was that Moab really doesn't open for business until the 20th of February. Virtually none of the stores were open for business and the restaurant prices were double their normal cost (Bucks Steakhouse was asking $32 for a 13oz steak - based on their "Winter Menu" ).

Via Groupon, we secured a reservation a the Sunflower Hill Inn (Bed & Breakfast)). The room and location were perfect. Our room (The Sunset Suite) had an awesome balcony facing East.

We got settled in, explored the area (by truck) for a bit then went on the search for dinner. We settled on Buck's Steakhouse (because there are only two food groups as far as I'm concerned: Steak and Meat).

The next morning (Saturday) the temperature was only 32F, so we decided we'd find a location to hide the "Bogley Stash". I determined that the area around Fins -n- Things, Poison Spider, etc. would be a great location. Off we went in the dually to 4wheel our way through the park. I found an easy enough location to stash the ammo-can and back to town we went.

Once temperatures started to warm, we decided to go in search of hiking opportunities. Our first stop was Corona Arch (now made famous by a viral video found here). The hike in was an easy 2 mile rock and ladder crawl. Fortunately, we arrived before what must have been a school-bus unloaded a ton of kids.

We hiked back to the truck and went into town for a quick lunch (thanks, Eddie McStiff's!). Once lunch had settled, we agreed to head to the Moab Rim trailhead. This trail is mostly used by huge rock crawlers and less so by hikers (due to the vast amount of rocks that need to be traversed). The hike up was about 2-3 miles of straight vertical gain; Trish really struggled with this hike and asked me repeatedly if I was trying to kill her.

About half-way to the top of this hike, I placed my 123rd geocache hide in a small outcropping of rocks.

The hike back down was grueling. Gravity wanted to tear our toes off, but we obviously managed to make it back down.

Back to the B&B we went to change, clean-up and inspect the nearby hot-tub.  With a bottle of red wine in hand, we enjoyed the hot-tub, clear star-lit sky until at least 11pm.

What a great escape. We'll definitely be doing this trip again later in the year (but this time, with our two boys).

Unfortunately, the drive home was pretty hairy. The route from Price to I-15 (about 80 miles) was snow packed, slick and hadn't seen a snow plow. I had my helmet cam nearby, so I put it on and started filming. The drive home:

On Friday, October 21st (2011), we departed Salt Lake City for Fillmore. Our goal was to get in one more camping and ATV'ing adventure before the weather turned cold and snowy.

On the first Fillmore exit, we stopped to hit Carls Jr. for a quick lunch. Just as we parked, we noticed a guy on a golf cart inspecting every trailer that pulled into the lot. At first, we didn't think much of it.

A few minutes later, this guy was looking at my 5th wheel tires with much interest. He came over and told me that my tire tread was separating and that if I pulled my rig to the service station a few hundred feet away, his guys would gladly mount my spare. I pulled to the service station and was immediately told that all six of my 5th wheel tires were coming apart.

Initially, it looked very likely that I was in a very dangerous situation with my trailer. I was quoted $2100 for 6x Cooper "Provider" tires in 235/80 R16. I declined and we made the 2-3 mile tow to the Fillmore KOA.

Google was fired up and I researched Cooper tires. To my dismay, I learned that Cooper doesn't carry a brand called "Provider", nor did they carry my tire size. Clearly, these guys were pedaling Chinese knock-off tires at twice the price I could source replacements from Discount Tire/Sears/Walmart.

To compound matters, upon arriving at the KOA, we determined that the front electric motor for the levlling legs was not working. We had to manually crank to lower (and then raise) the legs. Additionally, the rear garage door was not sealing completely, allowing both sunlight and bugs to come through.

We settled in that Friday night and for dinner, drove the ~50 miles to Hoovers for another awesome meal.

The following morning (Saturday), we decided to sleep in a bit. Overnight temps were near freezing, so nobody was really inclined to get out into the cold morning air.

My 11am, we had the ATV's loaded and were ready to roll. Destination: Marysvale (just shy of 60 miles one-way across two mountain ranges (Pahvant & Tushar).

Our route would start at the far North/East corner of Fillmore via the Paiute 03 trail through Chalk Creek.

Somewhere near the middle of the Max Reid trail (Paiute 01), the Honda Rancher lost all brakes at one of the steepest sections of trail. My tactic: Get my ATV and my sons in front of the wife and have her just coast down using the two front ATV's at brakes. Success!

Hunters were everywhere in the woods. How they managed to spot a deer is amazing considering how close they all were to each other. Deer to hunter ratio had to be 100:1 (100 hunters for every deer).

We returned to camp after sun-down with temps in the 40-50F range.

That evening, we discussed the situation with the 5th wheel tires. I went out and inspected and determined the tires would be able to handle the 140 mile return trip home.

We departed early Sunday morning and didn't exceed 55mph the entire trip home. We arrived without incident. Seems to me that tire center in Fillmore has a pretty interesting (and unethical) racket: Scope out every trailer, spread FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt), then when they hook somebody, they increase their tire prices by $600-800 over normal retail.

The quest for replacement tires is underway and the 5th wheel goes back to Motorsportsland for service on Friday. What an eventful weekend. It would be nice to have one outing with the 5th wheel not end with maintenance/repair issues!