Even with the extra time in Moab we still left with several things on our list to do for another trip. It was now time to move to our next modified extended destination at Lake Powell in Page, Arizona thanks to the continued Brian Head fire keeping us from visiting Bryce & Zion National Parks.
Since the route from Moab to Page was not part of our original plans, Adam had to do the research last night (not easy with really bad wifi) to figure out the best roads and gas stations that wouldn’t be a problem for us. We departed knowing the nav system would try to take us through Monument Valley, making the drive much windier and longer than it needed to be (this route was a shorter distance but because of the smaller road, curves and elevation changes it would take a lot more time). Adam had found a considerably shorter and straighter alternate route (even though it was more miles than the nav’s route). Since he knew where he should turn he opted not to take the time to fight with the nav system figuring it would adjust after he made the turn. But, the best laid plans can fall apart and to Adam’s dismay this was the case here. We were chatting away and all of a sudden Adam realized he missed this crucial turn. With towing a 32 foot trailer on a two lane road with nowhere to turn around the only option was to keep going.
Within thirty minutes of missing our turn we were all startled by the sound of a very large crack and the feeling of a bang against our truck. A tractor trailer had driven past us on the opposite side of the road and caused what must have been a large rock to hit our windshield. The windshield on the Ram 2500 is enormous and there were many areas this could have occurred without having too much of an impact. But again, this was not the case. This rock landed right in Adam’s line of sight. So now directly in front of his eye was an indentation in the glass about the size of a quarter that had about half inch splinter lines all around it, making it look like an asterisk.
On the bright side (at least I thought so) this was a spectacular drive. Getting to see the beauty of Monument Valley as we drove was worth the extra two hours (in my opinion) it ended up taking us.
When we pulled up to Lake Powell we realized just how lucky we were to get the last minute extension to our stay as we saw the "Campground Full" sign. We were welcomed by the stunning, huge rock formations housed inside the enormous sparkling lake and we all felt very fortunate to have extra time at a location like this.
Adam and Ella went inside to register and I waited for Lily to change her clothes (she made the drive in her pj's to be at her comfiest but didn’t want to go inside like that). When she stepped out of the truck and immediately felt the heat of the triple digit sun hit her face she looked at me with complete exasperation and said, “Oh, come on, are you kidding me? We are in the desert again?” Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and she minds the extreme heat as much as I do. We looked around the store while they were checking us in. As soon as we could we headed over to our site and setup camp.
At this point it was about 3pm. I knew it was wishful thinking at the end of the business day on the eve of July fourth, but I figured I would try anyway and immediately got on the phone with AAA to see if we could get our windshield repaired. They apparently don’t do this as we had thought and transferred me to Safelite. The woman insisted on taking awhile to ask me tons of questions only to tell me the earliest they could come was on July 12th, long past our time here. I fought with her to get a supervisor on the phone. Even though the first woman said it couldn’t be done the supervisor was able to connect me with the “local” Safelite owner. He explained to me that he was located several hours away in Flagstaff and comes to this area but only on Wednesdays. July 5th he would be in Page but was already booked to capacity with 10 appointments. I explained our circumstance to him and asked if he knew of any other companies to contact. He recommended Page Glass. Adam and I looked up local companies and found the number for this one. Even though it was before closing time the phone just rang and rang with no option to leave a message. We tried the other company we found too and oddly they also just rang and rang with no option to leave a message. Knowing we gave it our best shot we put it behind us for now.
This campsite was part of a huge resort that seemed to not want their guests to go offsite. They had tons of amenities including several restaurants and a gas station making that a very real possibility. We drove over to the resort hotel to see about getting dinner and decided to eat at the bar/café with tables overlooking the lake through their large plate glass windows.
There were two pools available for hotel guests but there was not a pool for the campsite. Adam had asked when booking if it was possible for the campsite guests to use the pools and was told no. After having so much fun swimming in Moab and seeing the one pool at dinner the girls were not thrilled about this. Ella and I went to browse in the one store while Adam took Lily to stand in line at the hotel front desk. When it was their turn Adam sat Lily on the counter and as a last ditch effort inquired about getting a day pass to the pool. The gentleman reiterated what was told to Adam months before and extended his apologies but said there was no way to pay to use the pools. He then paused and looked at Lily who was giving him her best hopeful, wishful, puppy dog eyes that she told me later she was not removing from his. To Adam’s surprise he then sighed and said with a smile, but how can you say no to that face. He told Adam and Lily to wait and then came back with a key that would give us access to the pool. We couldn’t believe it! Since Adam mentioned a day pass we weren’t sure if this key would work tomorrow so we quickly went back to our RV to put on our suits and came back for a swim. Their pool was enormous and overlooked Lake Powell. The girls couldn’t have been more excited to be in the pool again and I was equally excited to relax in the lounge chair with such a gorgeous view.
While we were there we witnessed an absolutely breathtaking sunset. The sun looked like a bright orange ball of flames as it fell out of sight slowly and painted the sky to the left of us various shades of orange, pink and purple with the gorgeous rock formations to the right.
Shortly after this we started to notice several people going over to a firepit to make s’mores. Since almost everybody who was at the pool was headed over we assumed this was being done as an amenity for the hotel guests. I decided to stay and relax by the pool while Adam took the girls over. Well, you know what they say about assume. The girls started getting their supplies to make a s’more when someone came over to ask Adam if he was part of the tour group. Oops! They saw the kids and said it was not a problem for them to have as everyone in the group already had theirs and there was plenty left for them to enjoy. Adam didn’t let them have chocolate but they did have the graham cracker and marshmallow they already had in their hands . When Adam came back and told me the story we were in hysterics. Adam said we were totally the Bundy’s of the resort, getting into the pool and now partaking in the tour group’s s’mores. We stayed at the pool a little while longer and then headed back to the RV to shower and get to bed.
