15 July 2019

A hot spring resort all to ourselves. 

The Cosmos is aligned.  Didn’t eat much that morning eager to hit the road,

what a dumb idea that was! 

Well, as noon approached and the Tortuga left 200 miles in its wake, the stomach was lodging a formal complaint and the heat provided a second.  Ok, Ok ask Google!  RV park near me?  Well this should be easy being just north of Ogden Utah, on I15 near Plymonth, BINGO, there it was.. The next oasis. CAMPWORLD Hot Springs.

Not only an RV park, but an RV resort.  According to the sign, it had everything: golf course, scuba lessons, ATV trails, basketball courts, full hookup with drive through spots , it was marketed as “exclusive” and it was only 5 miles off the interstate.   The PERFECT place for the big meal of the day. Besides on a hot day and with 50 amp power, you can get the Coleman Mach3 air conditioner to cool the cabin down into the 60s with 90 degree temperatures on the outside, and today Lacy was ready.  

Well as I turned onto the final approach to the “resort” you could see the facilities. Not the resort that I had painted in my minds eye but I would bet that one day long long ago the RV resort may have done all that resort stuff, but not today. The next observation was no RVs, the thoughts of a cool afternoon nap on a hot day was slipping away and once Lacy figured that out she gave me “the eye” of disappointment. I had to make something happen for my dog and master. The gate was open, at Tortuga at light speed, somewhere around 40 mph,  with out hesitation the Tortuga whipped in between the gate supports headed for office like a rental horse charging its barn. With the squeal  of brakes the Tortuga stopped in front of a lady in her Sunday best came out to greet us, or maybe to stop us from going any further. Near the house a man was putting on his suit jacket and quickly moving toward the Tortuga with a look of disbelief. The profile of the Tortuga has that effect on people.  What the Heck (was Sunday) is that???

Where are the RVs? 

Well, she explained they were were planning to open next week.  Ugh! I could feel the lazer stare of the Lacy Dawg burning a hole in the back of my neck, then without hesitation, and before she could tell us no I blurted out “well can the Tortuga stay the night we have traveled a long way and we are tired?”  They looked at each other in disbelief and out of pure politeness they said sure.  I am guessing that going off to church also promoted their hospitality. With the exchange of $30 the Tortuga went off to the the best spot in the Park, (because it had a tree) and the managers went off to church, never to unlock the gate again for the rest of the day. The Tortuga slipped in right before church. Thank God.

In the park, alone with a spectacular mountain range as the back drop and no other RVs. Tortuga Luck had struck again. After a big lunch and a nap. (lets make sure we understand each other, big lunch and nap now go without saying, got it!) the sun started to set, the range changed all shades of yellows, oranges to reds then grey as the night set in. 

The Tortuga has a habit of stumbling into the perfect.

Next day:

As by Tortuga custom a Early Morning Walk is MANDITORY and this morning we were greeted with a buck crossing our path, how cool is that? If that was not alone a perfect send off, during the walk back the stream at the foot of the hill where the Tortuga rested had a blanket of steam just sitting there undisturbed by the sunrise breeze.  A natural hot spring that has served as an oasis to Indians and returning Mormons from the civil war.

Proven everyday, there are so many gifts early in the morning as people sleep and Lacy (and a tennis ball) and the Tortuga are out on a walk.