Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

A cold wind off the desert shook the trailer as dawn broke. Wendover, NV was rather wonderful. Quiet, simple, and the perfect layover. Our guy, Terry, with RV Wizards told us he could see us earlier than 3:30 so we jumped in the truck, took off across the Bonneville Flats and Great Salt Lake at our newly committed top speed of under 70. Destination: Draper, UT, just south of Salt Lake City and on the way to Provo and where we had planned to be our actual camp spot for the next two nights: Utah Lake State Park. However, Terry insisted we stay at Shadow Mountain RV Park to be nearby parts supply places. I was less than excited at the prospect of staying here. The reviews were horrible: right on top of the interstate with loud, incessant traffic noise and trailers parked cheek by jowl. Not my idea of camping, especially knowing where we had expected to spend the night.

But, calling this interim RV campground in Draper to confirm they could take us changed my attitude. Mark and Braxton, both sporting past-the-shoulder wavy hair and beards, were so kind, offering to let us wait to pay them if we needed to spend the night and otherwise allowing us to park along their driveway for the whole afternoon while our trailer was getting fixed. We parked along this grassy field, arriving at 12:30 only to find our repair guy, Andrew, had another job and would arrive at 3 pm. It was the beginning of a day of patience and trust. Would he come? Could he fix our leaky gray tank? Would we have to stay in this RV park on the freeway rather than the peaceful lakeside spot we’d booked for two days?

Bottom line? Andrew (with the Draper, UT requisite long wavy hair and beard) was awesome. He arrived at 2:30 and was done by 5:30. Everything was fixed and is almost like new. Lily made friends with a border collie and a Rottweiler and had lots of chuck it time. Cali lounged around on the grass. And best of all: we made it to our originally planned destination; Utah Lake State Park, about 30 miles from where we had spent the afternoon, just in time to set up camp, eat dinner and enjoy the sunset. Wow.

Grateful and excited to have a full day to explore this beautiful lake ringed by snow capped mountains. The best part is now we can return to a vacation mindset. I know there were many lessons learned and blessings given throughout this experience, not the least of which were that we were safe, the damage was fixable and Peter and I made solid decisions together as a team.

But released from all that business, and with the more familiar Nevada scenery behind us, I finally feel like the vacation has begun. Happy.