Jake's Journey: Home to St. George, UT

Tuesday, December 22 - Today we left home and drove to Pendleton, Oregon. If you have been following my blog, you know that, when we head southeast, Mom and Dad like to spend the first night at the Wildhorse Casino in Pendleton. It's a nice day's drive and we can park free in the Casino parking lot. There aren't any hook-ups, but it's a safe, level place to park, which is all we need.

Dad and I with the Christmas Decorations in front of the Casino.

Wednesday, December 23 - Today we drove from Pendleton, Oregon to Twin Falls, Idaho.


In the mountain passes, there was snow along the side of the road, but the road itself was clear and dry. A perfect day for winter travel.

Me hanging out at Mom's feet. It's warm here in front of the heat vent. It's kinda cold back on my couch.

People sometimes ask me how we keep warm. The motor home has dash heat, just like a car. It does a pretty good job of keeping the front of the motor home warm, where Mom and Dad sit when we are going down the road. At night when we park, we have a propane furnace and electric space heaters. Mom and Dad also have an electric blanket. We can use some or all of them to be just as toasty warm as we want to be.

Thursday, December 24 - Today our plan is to drive from Twin Falls, Idaho to Provo, UT. Mom and Dad got everything ready to hit the road and then we went out for a walk, so I could "take care of business". While we were out, Dad looked up at the side of the motor home and noticed a "small" problem.

For those of you who aren't familiar with motor homes, the arrows point to the "slide toppers". They are canvas type material which keep leaves and dirt from accumulating on top of the slide and coming inside the motor home when the slides are closed. They should automatically wind around a roller (kind of like a window shade) when the slide is retracted, so you shouldn't be able to see the one under the blue arrow and the one under the yellow arrow should be tight, not billowing like that. When we went for our walk, this side of the motor home was facing north and still in the shade. Both slides were hanging in a flap on the outside of the motor home, like the one below the blue arrow. That's a big problem because the wind will catch them, if we drive down the road.

It was 17 degrees last night and Dad thinks that the roller has probably frozen and that is why it won't roll up. Dad is hoping that turning around, the sun will warm it and they will rewind on their own. In this photo, we are turned around and Dad is bringing the slide out to see if the awning will retract when the slide comes back in.

It didn't!😨 Mom stopped taking pictures to help Dad and it was too cold and windy for me to go out, so I'll just have to tell you what happened next. Dad got out the ladder and started fiddling with the front slide topper. After some fiddling and jiggling, it broke loose and wound up like it should. Then, Mom brought in the rear slide and it was already thawed, so it wound up, just like it was supposed to. I think it would have been OK if we'd just sat there a little, but Dad felt better trying to fix it. Anyway, it was only an hour delay. No damage. No expense. That's a good day RVing!

Once we were on the road, it was smooth sailing into Provo.

Mom taking a turn at driving

More good weather. Pretty snow along the road, but the road itself is clear and dry.

Friday, December 25 - After a good night at the Provo Elks Lodge, we were back on I-15, headed south.

Christmas morning at the Provo Elks Lodge.


Our spot for the next few nights at the Elks Lodge in St. George, Utah.


After we got parked, Mom and Dad took a short hike in Pioneer Park, here in St. George.

After their hike, they went to the Red Hills Desert Garden in Pioneer Park. They have a special Christmas Light display. Here are some of their photos.