T@b Found!

Our T@b was found!  About 10 days after the T@b was stolen, we received a call from the Salt Lake City Police Department notifying us that they had found a trailer that looked like ours.  So, we rushed over to the address they gave us and there she was.  The thieves had painted all the trim in a flat spray paint black, as if that would hide the trailer from suspecting eyes.  They broke the front window and the door lock, but other than that, most of the T@b was in reasonable condition.

Our T@b was Stolen!

After 5 years and many great camping and travel memories, we are sad to report that our 2009 T@b was stolen from our driveway on June 11, 2015.  We are so sad to lose the T@b.  She was more like a friend having shared so many great adventures with us.  We are heartbroken and hope our T@b will be found.  If you ever see a white T@b with red trim feel free to call or text me with the sighting at (801) 631-9166.  Our T@b was the Q layout with a front window in the kitchen area (not so common on many I have seen).  The T@b is also missing the table and water tank (now sitting useless in our garage).

Escalante

We explored Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument this weekend and it was fantastic.  We stayed in the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park and drove into the Monument.  Next time I would stay in the Calf Creek Campground if available.  The drive through this part of the Monument is just breathtaking.  We hiked to the upper and lower falls of Calf Creek.  This photo is Mary standing at the top of the upper falls.  

Rockport State Park

We got out for another quick camping trip to Rockport State Park.  It takes less than an hour to get to Rockport from Salt Lake City on I-80.  We really liked the sites at Twin Coves Campground.  Nice sites overlooking the water and access to the beach just behind the sites.

New Battery - Interstate Deep Cycle

We finally had to get a new battery for the Tab.  We were still using the battery that came with the Tab when we bought it back in 2010.  That is pretty good longevity for the battery.  We made sure to always keep the battery on the battery tender and to make sure that the charge was never depleted.  I think helped with the long battery life.  We bought the same battery made by Interstate Battery - the Deep Cell.

New Cushion Covers

We had some new cushion covers made this year for the Tab.  We got the fabric at Ikea.  I had hoped to make the bottom covers out of red, but we couldn't find a sufficient match so we went with the faces on the top and bottom cushions.  Sometimes the faces seem a little creepy, but most of the times they are cheerful and add a fun element to the Tab.  Definitely a unique addition.

Yuba Lake State Park

We bought a new kayak!  So, we set out for Yuba Lake for the maiden voyage.  It was another fun quick getaway.  The park is pretty exposed with very few trees and plenty of wind, but it was still fun to explore the trails and to try out the kayak on the choppy water.  

Willard Bay State Park

We started the 2015 season off with a quick trip to Willard Bay State Park.  We were hoping to go to Antelope Island but that park was full.  It has been a very mild winter and everyone is starting the camping season early.  Willard Bay was a nice little campground with big trees and interactive trails through the cat tails.  The downsides were the noise from the campground's proximity to the freeway and the gnats and mosquitos that came out in force as dusk.  

Gros Ventre, Wyoming

We met Diane & Co. at the Gros Ventre campground near Grand Teton National Park.  It was a gorgeous weekend for a September getaway.  The nights were reasonable - in the low 40's.  And the days were quite pleasant - in the mid 70's.  We had fun exploring some areas outside of the park boundaries (since we had the dogs with us). 

Pink Coral Sand Dunes

 

We explored the Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park for our May camping adventure.  The sand dunes were amazing and very photogenic.  The park is a big draw for ATVs and other off road vehicles.  We managed to get out to the dunes early in the morning and had them to ourselves for a nice hike.

 

 

 

Fremont Indian State Park

Another spring camping trip to Fremont Indian State Park.  The weather was a lot warmer this year than in years past.  We had a great time with the professional campers at the group site.  Certainly a nice way to spend the Easter holiday.

 

 



Castle Valley

We went down to Moab for the holiday weekend to check out the progress on the cabin.  We have walls and roof framing!!  It is pretty exciting to see the progress.  We were able to camp on our own property for the weekend with electrical hook up and all.  It was great to spend time on the property and to wake up to such amazing views.


The Vatican

View of Porcupine Rim from the Bedroom

Canyon Rim to Swett Ranch - Bike Ride

I did the Canyon Rim to Swett Ranch Loop ride in the heat of the day and nearly killed myself.  The ride was a lot longer and harder than I thought or else I was just depleted from a weekend of camping fun.  I started out on the Swett Ranch Loop which was supposed to be a pretty easy 6 miles on gentle flowing dirt roads and doubletrack.  Tack on a little backtracking mishap in the beginning and an extra mile to check out the Swett Ranch (which is a must see) and the 6 mile loop turned into an 8 mile loop that took me a solid 2 hours to finish.  The climb out from Swett Ranch and around the loop was a consistent uphill grind that seemed harder than it should have. 

After the loop, I still had to finish off another 4 1/2 miles of singletrack back to the Red Canyon Visitor's Center where Mary and the dogs were waiting.  The bouncing, bumpy, rocky singletrack took me another hour to finish, landing me back at the car well behind my projected total ride time of 2 hours.  I think I would try this ride again under better circumstances, and it might be quite enjoyable.  Notes for next time - start earlier in the day, start with fresh legs, and drink more water!

Total Distance:  12.5 miles

Total Elevation:  1,840 feet

Total Time:  3:05 hours

Dowd Mountain - Bike Ride

While at Flaming Gorge, I was able to check off a couple mountain bike rides in the book.  There are actually four rides in the book out this way, so I guess I will have to come back and check off the other two sometime soon.  While the rides are in the book, I wouldn't say Flaming Gorge is known for its mountain biking.  Boating is obviously the big attraction.  And the bike trails clearly resemble their second place priority.  The singletrack portion of the Dowd Mountain trail was pretty faint and didn't look like anyone had riden the trail in years.  The cheetgrass and sage bushes were gladly reclaiming their territory. 

There seemed to be some newly developed double track trails in the area as well that were NOT on the map in the book.  I suppose this can happen when you use a book that you've had for 14 years!  Anyway, I survived the singletrack and jumped on the graded road to the top for a great overlook viewpoint of the twisting apendages of the reservoir.  It took me about an hour to get to the overlook.

The ride back down on the otherside of the loop was about the same - faint singletrack and non-existant doubletrack back to the car. Not a soul out on the trail the entire ride.

Total Distance:  10 miles

Total Elevation:  1,140 feet

Total Time:  1:50

Flaming Gorge

We went camping this weekend with the professional campers at an amazing group site in Flaming Gorge located right on the water.  The group site is called Dutch John Draw and it has a great pavillion and plenty of room for lots of big trailers.  The best part is that the campsite has its own private dock and beach area for fishing, swimming, kayaking, hanging out and whatever else you can think of to do on the shores of a beautiful reservoir.  It was a hot weekend so we spent a lot of time down by the water and in the water.  The professional campers are great.  They managed to keep us laughing the entire weekend with all of their shenanegans.  My favorite was the evil baby in the trailer trick, or maybe the "party barge," or the "chopped cocktails" competition, or perhaps the synchornized send off.  Needless to say, we had a fabulous time and arrived home exhausted but smiling.