Racking Up Miles of Fun!

You are probably going to think we're crazy...or maybe you already do! 

We drove from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon area (about 112 miles give or take). We found a great place to camp and would probably be left alone for at least 2 weeks, if not more. We were able to get blazing 4g on our wifi hotspot, something we hadn't had over the last month and the spot we found is very private...only the deer and pronghorn around. We figured we would jump online and check emails, as well as research to see if there might be other spots to camp around this same area. When I logged into my email, I had received an email from a girlfriend of mine, who travels part-time with her man. The email was short of begging us to come to Salt Lake City. We hadn't seen each other in about 5 months and we were all ready for a visit; girl time-guy time, hang time, party time, relaxation time, everything and anything. My girl told me in the email they already had some places for us to stay and said they would give us "backstage passes" to everything around. Since we had never been to Salt Lake before, and that's pretty much their backyard, we talked about it for a couple of hours and decided, "Why not!?" Crazy kids!
The next morning we ate brekkie, packed up, took showers and headed down the road, about 260 miles to Salt Lake City!! 

The drive took us all day and considering the day before driving the most beautiful road in America...this drive was bor-ring. Everyone says there's over population....? Not around I-15!! It's pretty much barren road with a farm here and a temple there. As you get closer to the Salt Lake City area, you start to see the different mountain ranges, including the Uintas, which are really beautiful...but you have to drive for several hours before anything really changes. 

We arrive where we will camp for the next week or so, waiting for our friends to finish some business deals and other work related things. We camped at 5 mile Recreation Area, which is a 5 mile area of trails and 'fun zones' where you can ride dirt bikes, ATV's, Razors, whatever toy you may have, as well as dry camp. It is a free BLM area and it seemed like everyone that lived within 2 hours of the place knew about it and was there using it! We had never seen BLM that hopping before, there were people everywhere.
The first night we parked pretty much in "downtown" 5 mile. There were ATV's going past us every minute or two, one guy decided to circle us about 30 times (no exaggeration). It's not the cleanest of places due to all of the dust being kicked up by all of the toys, so the next day we decided we would move. Before we moved that morning, our friend Jake came by to spend a few hours with us before he had to go pick-up his girl at work, so we drove the mountains in his Samurai. 

It was a great few hours getting up in elevation in the Oquirrh Mountains to beat the heat (at this point it was reaching 98* at 5 mile). The girls had a blast sticking their noses in the wind and we were able to see what was around us, sitting at about 10,000 ft. It was gorgeous up there! We looked for other places to camp but decided we would just stick with where we were, but move up the hill a little bit where people couldn't drive around us all day long. Jamie found a great spot and we moved right away. We tucked up on this hill overlooking the main road (73) and the Oquirrh's.

We stayed here for 5 days...5 of the hottest days in our van-lives. The temperatures reached between 100-107 every day. Needless to say, we didn't get much done in these 5 days but laying around in our bathing suits, squirting ourselves and the dogs with a spray bottle, making sure we had tons of water in the fridge for all of us. Thank goodness we had our awning up and have 2 fans, otherwise I really don't think it would have been do-able. If it hadn't been for waiting on our friends, we would have left or gone to higher elevation but we stayed. Most definitely the 5 worst nights sleeps we've ever gotten!
Once we got the word they were done with their business, we headed to meet up with them. We had to do some shopping to restock our food supply, so we stopped off at Wally World (Wal-mart). Jamie went in to do the shopping as I waited in the van with the dogs...no way in hell I was going to leave them alone in this heat, even with their sweet set-up! 

At least, with me with them, I could turn the A/C on if needed and keep the doors and windows open. Jamie did a great job and was in and out in way less time than I was expecting, thank goodness!

The drive into their town was much prettier than the drive into 5 mile, the mountains sit right at the edge of the town. It's a great place. 

We met up with them and some of their friends, where we were invited to stay, and everyone was apologizing for the heat (as if they had anything to do with it). I guess SLC was having a heat wave and temps were about 20 degrees hotter than usual...figures! haha
While we were visiting we met some of their friends, spent Father's Day with Jake's family, was able to go see a show that Jake does sound for (His band, No Limits, is an exciting-get-you-outta-your- seat-and-dance- kinda show. It was so fun, if you are able to go see a show, DO IT!!)

One of their other friends invited us to come stay on his property for a little while, so we moved over there and spent the remainder of our time there. 

It was the perfect place for us to have privacy but also get out of the heat with a great swimming pool on-site! Ahhhhhh, with those 100+ temps, it sure was nice to go lounge on some noodles and slip down the slide, even the dogs got in!

 We had a really good time over there, he was a great host and we even had some "farm friends" to hang out with when we got bored! The best lil buddy was Willie Goat, he hung out with us like one of the dogs and actually got along with the girls. He would sit in the chair with you and let you hold him, he wanted to be a part of the gang and would come lay down on the mat, under the awning with the girls. He became part of our little family while we were there and after almost 2 weeks, it was hard to say good-bye...he's a good lil goat!

One night, we went up to Big Cottonwood Canyon for a nice evening stroll, on the boardwalk around the lake. The temperatures were pretty much perfect up there...we even saw a Moose! My first Moose sighting ever! I had my camera on the wrong setting so all of the pics from that night are blurry, but I did get a picture of the Moose!

We are planning on going up to the Uintas in the next couple of days to beat the heat, I guess it's going to stay at these scorching temps a little bit longer and we are over it!

Until then....

PEACE