Obama Care or the Affordable Care Act?????

Apparently many people think these are two different health care acts; apparently most people (70-80%) think the ACA (affordable care act) is and will be good for them, but many others (46% according to latest polls -- not the 58% Republicans claim) are opposed to Obama Care.  HUH?

If you want to check how the ACA, or 'ObamaCare' as it is commonly called, will affect you and your family, go to HealthLawAnswers.org  What we found on this site was nothing but positive for us.

Shut Down and Shut Out

Thanks to the inept folks in congress, we and many others are not able to visit the wonderful national parks here in Utah. It's a huge impact on tourism income, as well as personal income, in this state.

We feel real lucky we hadn't driven over 2 hours on gravel roads and settled in the campground at Canyonlands National Park (as planned), only to get turned back or kicked out -- that happened all over the place! We have a spot at a nice RV park in Blanding and are staying until Sunday, when we move down the road a bit farther.

While the parks' closing is a negative impact to so many, it's certainly a 'nonessential' government service, albeit a very nice amenity that we've come to take for granted.  Too bad we can't say the same about affordable, quality healthcare!

Now in SE Utah Canyonlands area

Wes settled into Blue Mountain RV in Blanding Utah, after an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous drive over from Capitol Reef National Park. We crossed Lake Powell at Hite, which is now simply the Colorado River -- we've never seen such low water here, the marina is no longer usable & boaters have to go on down to Bullfrog. We're staying here a couple nights to let our mail catch up with us and explore Canyonlands National Park & ferret out a place to park the trailer within the park so we're close to great scenery, hiking, and exploring. Then we'll come back here a couple days and use it as a base for exploring other areas to 'boondock'. The owner here knows all the great canyons and Anasazi ruins & is willing to give us insights for our journeys.

We have great sunrises & sunsets here at the RV park, and it's WARM and NOT windy -- a pleasant change after several weeks of unsettled weather!

I'll post some photos tonight or tomorrow.

 

 

REDISCOVERING PAINTING!

I've had a long dry spell from painting, just too darn much going on with the 'liquidation' of our home.  Getting into Canyon Country really gets my juices flowing & I finally dug out the little traveling studio I put together, got set up in the rear window of the trailer, and started a 30" X 10" X 8" trapezoidal piece that will go above our dining table on the section of wall where the roof slopes.

This scene is a canyon wall a few miles from the RV park where we're currently staying -- love the panorama!  I'll be posting PIPs (painting in progress) as I work my way to the finish.  I printed out a full-size reference, sketched in the large shapes, dropped in the sky, and am working on the deep shadows in the cliffs.  I like to use a rich purple for these shadows, as it enhances the warm reds, oranges, and golds of the rock.  It seems that everything 'pops' so beautifully using this approach rather than painting shadows over a painted background. Let me know what you think.

Capitol Reef National Park, canyon wall

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK UTAH

We arrived in Canyon Country, Capitol Reef National Park, Sunday afternoon and I've been grinning ever since. I LOVE this country! This is rainy season here and right now vehicle travel is restricted to paved roads as all unpaved roads are impassable. The weather has cleared up and hopefully back roads will be open soon. Here's some pics from Capitol Reef and the hike we took down Capitol Gorge Road, which is currently only open for hiking -- there's one of a front-loader starting to work on the road just below where it is closed. We've taken 2 more great hikes, and our fannies are draggin' -- I'll post more pictures tomorrow.
 
We're ensconced in a very nice RV park a couple miles west of Capitol Reef; our space is quite private and while their wifi and Jamie's mifi are way slow, the satellite Internet is working just fine. We decided to stay put right here until the 29th, and explore a part of Utah Canyon Country we've only passed through before. 

CANYON COUNTRY -- FINALLY!

We arrived in Torrey Utah, just outside Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah, yesterday afternoon.  We're at a lovely RV park, probably the nicest & cleanest we've visited, with spectacular scenery.  We were happy to leave the Price River valley with it's constant heavy rains and prone to flash-flooding.  Now we're high & dry and plan to stay that way!

Mi-fi and wi-fi are very slow here, but the satellite Internet is working just fine, both phones are also working so we're not out of touch.

Watch for updates with photos soon -- right now I need to catch up on laundry!

12 WEEKS AND COUNTING

Well friends, it's been 12 weeks since we hit the road in the 5th-wheel.  We're both happy to report we ARE indeed happy.  Living in a small space with a tiny refrigerator, doing dishes by hand, 3-burner range (the front burner works fine), oven that accommodates one cake pan, and very few clothes to launder in the non-existent washer/dryer seems to agree with us. 

We're blessed to have great windows and awesome ventilation + a super air conditioner, the furnace worked just fine on the few chilly mornings we had in Canada and Montana, the new mattress loves us both, I'm just fine with the little stove [baked almond/poppyseed/banana muffins this morning], we're both basically OK with doing dishes by hand and using laundromats, I've become an expert at grocery shopping and coming back with enough stuff to totally cram full the pantry and the little freezer/frig, and Jamie's running his CSU RamCT support job just fine remotely -- as always, he works too darn much!

We've seen some beautiful places, been through some places we really don't care to visit, have flagged more places to visit 'next time', and can't wait to just keep going! We've met some lovely folks, many of them full-time RVers, and we've encountered some really strange folks . . . We started a speadsheet of RV parks that are lovely and well-run + those we don't plan to return to.  We know where to find good grocery stores for stocking up, and we've discovered some great restaurants. 

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!