We left the campsite a little after 7am, I guess we were both ready to get going eh?
Tried to dump tanks at the USFS Lucerne Campground but you can only use tokens and those weren't available till 9am!
Went into Manila and got gas and washed the underside of the VRRV and trailer using a pressure washer at the car wash.
Then we took Utah Highway 44 down towards Vernal, UT. This section of highway is replete with steep hills, twisty roads and heavily forested on both sides. Uma, the VRRV struggled to maintain 30 mph at some of the steeper bit, and that's with the accelerator all the way to the floor. I don't think we'll be visiting this area again anytime soon.
Stopped at the Harbor Freight in Vernal, UT but they didn't have the swing-away 1000lb trailer jack I wanted. The old one was bent and twisted you see, from being used as a tow point when the trailer was being pulled from the recent mudfest.
We changed the planned route as our destination turned out to be a pay site now run by the BLM in Rabbit Valley, CO. We stuck to US40 and headed towards the Harbor Freight in Craig, CO. There was a State Park Campground beyond Craig and we'd figured on staying there.
About 30 minutes east of Craig, Martha located a good boondocking spot through the iOverlander app so we decided to check it out.
Pretty good site, not very large so no temptation by other campers to "share" the site with you. We had decent LTE signal so we decided to stop for the day and set up camp.
It's a lovely, secluded due to location spot. I like it. Next to a county road but very little traffic.
This spot is on the way to the Juniper Hot Springs on the Yampa River about four miles from the campsite.
I rode to the Hot Springs to check them out at Martha's behest while she relaxed in the VRRV.
The Hot Springs were easy to find, though not well marked with signage. I didn't go into the water, the venue had a "sketchy" feel to it. Not to mention, the guy who I assumed was the "host" didn't dispel any of the sketchy atmosphere if you know what I mean.
I left and briefly explored portions of CR 74 and CR77 nearby, along with CR53 which leads one back to US Highway 40 to the north. I checked out the nearby trails close to camp but there were just OHV trails with no nice views due to foliage.
So, though we went through several "issues" early on in this drive: (malfunctioning gas pumps, no jack in stock, dump stations closed (two different ones); we ended up today's driving with a WIN thanks to Martha's navigation and careful checking of the iOverland map!
We'll be home tomorrow.
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