Sunday afternoon the weather started chilling and blowing. Snow was in the mix. I drove out to Quail Lake spot. Hunkered down. Furnace runs producing the fixed air temp and the heat loss from the van lessens the furnace out put. Monday AM drove into town for resupply.
Today was propane fill day, took on 5 gals, max is 5.6, I stay on top of it. Returned to Quail thinking I might get a ride in. Cold, blowing, and threatening precip. Stayed inside out of weather. Tues forecast called for even higher wind velocity. I drove into town feeling the wind. I thought if I drove up to the corral area the location would be above the wind. Not so. Sunny, 38 degrees and stiff wind. Nah, stay inside again.
Last night was cold. As the temp dropped I became aware of how chilly I was and if I was to stop the heat loss I would have to leave the warmth of my bed for the chill to pull down my down sleeping bag and unzip it and clamp it to inside edge of bedding. The clamps prevent the bag from sliding off. This morning it was 17 out and balmy 47 inside. I forced myself out of the warmth to greet the day.
Today I will drive down to Sedona. I planned on leaving at 8 AM. I boiled water for coffee, escaping steam condensed and froze on the inside of the windshield. Full sun on van at departure. will the van start I ask myself every morning, of particular concern are these cold mornings. Battery appears strong. I steered towards Sedona. The outside temp was in low teens in the sunshine. Chilly inside. 89 A climbs up to Jacob Lake at 79xx’ thru Ponderosa pine forest and SNOW.
Descent to desert dropped like 2,000′. Down at the bottom I looked at the engine temperature which read a cold engine. temp outside was so cold and the descent with wind chill and the engine not working caused the radiator temp to drop. Many miles were powered over to bring the temp back to normal. Long drive, windy, cear roads. Flag sits at 7,000′ under several inches of snow. I drove l-17 down to S of VOC. As I dropped off the rim snow lessened till finally no existent. No water in Dry Beaver creek. Drove up Beaverhead Flats road looking for an open spot. I scored my favorite spot. No litter, all clean. I wonder if there isn’t a community organization that cleans these spots. I have never seen anyone picking up trash. Perhaps, and may it be so, that the people staying here clean up after themselves. I suspect it’s conscience.
37 degrees at 8:26 PM around 38xx’.