I really got a chance to put the Toller Roller to the highway test today. 80mph speed limits, stiff winds, tight curves, & big hills. Turns out driving can actually be work if you're not driving a reasonably newer passenger car or truck. I didn't do a whole lot of one-handed driving, driving over the speed limit, or even driving the passenger vehicle speed limit. I spent a lot of time in the truck lane on this drive. I'm also learning I can't do the mileage in an RV that I'm accustomed to doing in other vehicles. I wouldn't have batted an eye at scheduling myself for 8-10 hours of driving in the truck, but find I need to limit myself to about 6-7 hours of driving a day if I'm pushing a deadline, 4-5 if I want to get out and see a thing or two along the way. I also will be planning my drives to arrive at my overnight stop before 6pm. I've been getting in after 6, and by the time I take care of Litha and myself & get ready to settle down for the night, it's already around 9pm & I feel pressure to get enough rest to get out early the next morning for another day of driving.
Willard Bay State Park in UT is right off the freeway between Brigham City and Ogden. Willard Bay is a fresh water reservoir on the edge of Great Salt Lake. It is a really nice park with small and spacious campsite loops, so even though the sites are very open with no privacy, you are spaced out comfortably. Staff and volunteers were extremely friendly, helpful, and were clearly vigilant in keeping inappropriate use of the park to a minimum. There was only one other camper on my loop, so getting into the bathroom and shower in the morning was quick and easy. The park also has a large and clearly popular day use area, marina, and various activities.
I was only there overnight, but I quickly discovered the less than desirable qualities of the park: mosquitoes and foxtails. Mosquitoes are a relatively minor concern in the Puget Sound area and I have rarely felt like I needed repellent. I don't know that I've ever found myself in a patch of hazardous (Not all grasses referred to as "foxtails" are hazardous.) foxtail grass near home. It didn't even occur to me to plan for running into them.
I didn't have repellent with me, but the marina had a camp store - no luck. I tried the store after 7pm on a Sunday night. I didn't really want to take the van back out of the park for one thing, so I swatted and fanned my ears, neck, forehead, and let's face it, everything else while Litha watched fishermen and tried to chase birds. I swear the mosquitoes were the size of dragonflies! Not exactly my favorite moments... When I finally decided I was done tolerating them, we headed back to our campsite to settle in for the night. The mosquitoes were smaller at our campsite than at the day use area, but they were no less overwhelming. I have never been so thankful for window screens!
We got up earlier than the mosquitoes did, for the most part, so we had a bit of a walk before I headed to the showers. As I was walking to the shower, something got caught between my toes and was digging in. I then realized the grass we'd been walking in was foxtail grass. If you have a pet and don't know about this stuff, fire up the old Googler. This stuff can be scary. The seeds are barbed in a way that causes them to be propelled forward into whatever they become attached to. They can penetrate skin and with each movement can be propelled ever deeper into the body. Horror stories about this stuff are everywhere, so it's important to pay attention to it. I failed to realize what we'd gotten into, so we had ourselves a nail clip, paw hair trim, and a thorough body rub on the backseat before we hit the road. Fortunately, the grass hadn't dried out yet, so we were at lower risk of problems and lucked out. Not something I will fail to be aware of again. We hightailed it out of there as soon as I was dressed and we headed down the freeway for a Starbucks and a nice patch of foxtail-free grass.
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