I'm Trailer Trash

My living arrangements have undergone a "slight" upgrade:

A shiny new 2018 Rockwood Mini Lite!

I drove from Grand Junction, CO to Troy, Ohio to buy it because the dealer there gave me a $2000 trade in on my old camper which I feared I was going to have to somehow dispose of!  The Mini is 22 feet long with a slide out on the other side that makes it seem like a McMansion compared to sitting inside the camper.  I'm embarrassed to say I beat the Hell out of that poor old camper during the three and a half years I lived in it mostly through being ignorant and taking it down trails I never should have attempted and I was REALLY fortunate to get a trade in on it.  I'll do a more complete review of the Mini on a future post.  For now, I'm camping my way down to DFW where my daughter graduates From UT-Arlington in two weeks so I can attend and be a proud Dad!

Thanks for reading!

Return to Rabbit Valley

After I had Larry Pike measure the Tank for the replacement roof hatch I  had ten days to kill waiting for the hatch vendor to ship it to Larry's business.  Remembering back to 2014 and how much I enjoyed it when I stayed on the BLM land at Rabbit Valley I drove 25 miles west of Grand Junction to I-70 exit 2 and headed to the Jouflas Campground to boondock.

I reviewed Rabbit Valley here: Rabbit Valley Review .  Easter weekend was approaching and I hoped to get my favorite campsite before the holiday rush occurred. 

I like this one because it's flanked by pine trees, none of the others are.

The weather on the Western Slope in April is just gorgeous!  Days in the mid-70s and nights in the low fifties.  In my ten days at Rabbit Valley it was sunny every day.

Mcinnis Canyon in the background.

Larry finally called me and asked me to meet him the next day at the KOA Holiday in Grand Junction where he'd put the hatch on the Tank for me.  As much as I wanted the Tank repaired I was kind of reluctant to leave my campsite, but I made myself head back to Grand Junction.

Larry doing his stuff!

As usual Larry did a great job installing the replacement hatch and the total cost came in under budget.  If you're around Grand Junction and in need of repair work on your rig call Larry's Mobile RV Repair, you'll be glad you did!

Thanks for reading!

Campground Review: BLM Land Near Mexican Hat, UT

I left Arizona and traveled up Highway 191 into eastern Utah on my way to Grand Junction, CO to have RV repairman extraordinaire Larry Pike repair the Tank's roof hatch which had gotten torn off by an intense "micro burst" of wind.  The previous summer Larry had fixed the Tank's balky refrigerator in under an hour and once you get to trust a mechanic I tend to stick with them.  To cut the rather long drive in half I overnight-ed on some BLM land northeast of the town of Mexican Hat, UT that contains one of the coolest looking rock formations I've encountered:

The "Mexican Hat", it looks like an over turned sombrero.

With the exception of some day users I was the only camper in the area but since I was leaving in the morning I picked the first site on the way into the area, parked the Tank and proceeded on foot.

The Tank's site along the access road that leads down into a river valley.

Here's the data sheet on the area:

Hookups:                                                         None                                                              

Fire ring:                                                          Yes                                                                 

Water Access:                                                 Yes (river)                                                      

Fresh Water:                                                    No                                                      

Trash Service:                                                  No                                          

Toilets:                                                            No                                                      

Showers:                                                         No                                                      

Dump station:                                                  No                                          

WiFi:                                                               No                                          

Level sites:                                                      Yes                                         

Laundry:                                                          No                              

Store:                                                              No                                                                  

Pool:                                                               No                              

Shade:                                                            No                              

Verizon reception:                                            4G, 2 bars                               

Internet reception:                                            2 bars                          

Cost:                                                              Free for up to 14 days

Since the place doesn't really have an official name and is generally referred to "Mexican Hat" here's the GPS coordinates in case you want to visit:  37.172547, -109.847076.  The more scenic camping area is reached by following the access road you see going by the Tank above down into the San Juan River valley that cuts through the area.  There is one steep part to the road but cars were easily traveling it when I was there.

The San Juan River flowing past the Mexican Hat.

 The rock formations are the area's main attraction and my photography hardly does them justice:

I regretted only having 24 hours to spend at the Mexican Hat, the views of the rock formations were truly outstanding!  I'm certainly loading it onto my "Must Revisit" list and would highly recommend it to anyone traveling through eastern Utah.

Thanks for reading!