Trip North Report - 2015

Pulling up alongside our little 1939 bungalow at 11:15 AM Thursday.

Home, Sweet Idahome once again.

Every migration is unique and comes with its own baggage, so to speak.

Our 2015 Trip North was no exception.  What started out as a mellow meander morphed into an all-day marathon before finishing at a pleasant pace on The Home Stretch.

Our first day's travel from Rimrock to The South Rim was a low speed, easy going, delightful 140 mile drive through Oak Creek Canyon, Flagstaff and the forest vistas of Highway 180.  We enjoyed a wonderful, long-overdue visit to Grand Canyon.

Our second day's travel kept on going and going and going until the odometer stopped spinning after 560 miles took us from The South Rim all the way through the Salt Lake City I-15 Gauntlet.  We normally never stay behind the wheel for 11 hours but one thing led to another.

The Wednesday weather gave us ample reminders (and incentive) to keep driving north. Mt. Nebo on horizon.

Finally, our third day was yet another leisure cruise of only 160 miles through the sweet farm fields of Eastern Idaho.  We pulled up to our little bungalow at 11:15 AM Thursday.  It was a perfect day for doing all the chores to begin settling back into our Idaho Season.

We changed our travel schedule Tuesday after realizing the weather would be "iffy" for Plan A.  Sure enough, on Sunday April 26 we awoke to a cold rain trying to turn into snow. It would have been a terrible day to travel home and then try to get everything here up and running again.

As it worked out, our 2015 Trip North was all about Perfect Timing.  In hindsight we couldn't have planned it better than it turned out by "winging it" with serendipity.

The total travel tally turned out to be less than we expected.

Fuel cost $170 and camp expenses were $37. Sharlot averaged 13.4 miles per gallon and easily held her own on I-15 when it really mattered.

Time was really running out on fixing Susun's phone Tuesday.
We beat the clock with 7 minutes to spare before closing
time at The Grand Canyon Library on The South Rim.

The only hiccup on the trip was the screen shattering experience of Sweetie Susun's cell phone.  As many readers remember, we bought her new smartphone on Thanksgiving Day 2014 during Wal-Mart's runup to the Black Friday Frenzy.  The phone was normally priced at $130 and we bought it for $30.  Since it was "such a deal" we bought two, figuring it would be cheaper than buying the extended warranty coverage.  We also reasoned that having a spare would put Susun back in action immediately rather than having to wait for a warranty phone to arrive.  Well, bingo! We sure gave thanks this week for our Thanksgiving Day decision.  Even though it took 3 hours Tuesday to get the spare phone functional, at least we had it on hand.

As of Sunday April 26, we are totally resettled into our Idahome.  The tasks that lie ahead are all the normal chores of homeowners everywhere.

This is our 7th time arriving north after a Snow Bird Season. Getting the house function again was the easiest it's ever been.  Some minor plumbing modifications made last summer made ALL the difference in restoring running water quickly without any "issues."  Both dormant vehicles started right up.  All systems were feng shui within four hours after our Thursday arrival.

The only hiccup has been internet.  It's a Bad News, Good News thing. The Bad  News is that we've been without internet for days.  The Good News is that we've been without internet for days.

Since we thought we'd be arriving April 26th, we scheduled CableOne internet installation for April 27th.  Well, the cable people flatly refused to change that set-in-stone installation date.  We quickly realized Thursday that the lack of internet would be a Good Thing.  We've been able to get all sorts of tasks and chores done and are way, way ahead of the re-entry game as a result.

We pulled into Utah's Willard Bay State Park as the Wednesday evening darkness descended on The Great Salt Lake.