Day 3: Bye-bye, City!

I really need to clean these windows, I thought as I struggled between getting up and greeting the day or laying in bed and trying to go back to sleep.

I'd run out of house battery sometime around four in the morning, and struggling to stay warm kept me awake. Outside, the overnight temperature had dropped to the low 40s, which meant the RV bedroom was in the low 50s. It was always 10-degrees warmer than the outside temp. I know because I keep a thermometer on the wall and monitor these things.

With all I had to do already pressing on my brain, I gave up trying to sleep, got up, and started the RV engine. Running the engine would recharge the house battery, and I could get some heat from the vents while making tea and getting dressed.

By nine, I was at the Cracker Barrel for Round #2 of I-really-miss-being-able-to-go-out-for-breakfast. Everyone who's been to Escalante recently knows and understands this. No place in town offers a sit-down breakfast with a smiling server bringing your order of bacon and eggs. So, knowing that my next run of work days at the motel would be a full four weeks before having days off, I decided to indulge in part deux of Grandma's Pancake Sampler.

On the way to the grocery store, I spotted three hot air balloons and one on the ground.

At the grocery store itself, I saw prices had drastically jumped. Just last month my 12-pack of generic seltzer water cost $2.99. Now it cost $3.99 due to Bidenflation and rising fuel prices (i.e. transport costs). Some say it's the supply chain issue, but my seltzer water is made in America. Where's the issue? The older Hispanic woman working at the register told me she has seen a huge jump in prices across the board. She's not happy with it either.

At the gas pump, even with my 10-cents-off loyalty rewards program, I still paid over $100 for gas. In the time I spent traveling, between getting the RV in 2017 and landing at the motel job in early 2021, the most I ever paid for an RV fill-up was the upper $70 range. Over $100 is way too much.

Off my rant and done with errands, I just wanted to get out of the city. I made me way north and east toward Kanab on back roads.

Passing through Kanab, I stopped at the Wendy's to get 4-for-$4 meal and a 99-cent plain burger patty for Buena. (She also ate half my fries.)

As I headed north and gained elevation, the temperatures dropped. Not by much, but it was enough to make me reconsider where I wanted to spend the night. I still had one more day off, but I didn't want to go back to the motel.

Not yet.

So I drove and thought.

I thought about mountains and exploration.

I thought about how much I like to drive. There's just something about the open road that makes me want to be a long-distance truck driver. If I knew I could take Buena with me, I'd sign up in a heartbeat.

I thought about southern Utah and how it's not a bad place to live. In fact, it was kind of growing on me. Or...maybe I was growing into it.

And...for the last part of the trip, I thought about the RV. At altitude, the RV has no problem going over 55. Below 5000-feet the engine chugs, and I have to watch the temperature gauge at 50 mph. (Temperature reading was perfect when the above picture was taken.)

Back in Escalante, I ran the groceries from the RV fridge to the mainland fridge, spoke briefly with my boss, grabbed some of the firewood I'd been collecting, and hopped back into the RV.

I wasn't done camping. I had one more night and day off work!

^no matter how I adjusted my camera's focus, I kept getting the purple glow.