Betty's Maiden Voyage

A few months ago, we made a big decision and bought a teardrop trailer that we promptly named Betty. She is a super, cute, teeny tiny thing, and we were inspired to purchase her after spending our last two summers on the road.

One thing that many people may not know, or may think they know but don’t really understand, is that the desert is really hot in the summer. And I mean really hot; as in sometimes we actually hit temperatures in the 120-degree range and have weeks at a time well over 110 degrees.

Of course, the rest of the year is beyond beautiful and comes with no snow, and very little rain, so for us full-time desert dwellers, it makes it worth enduring the summer heat.

But if possible, it is also a great time to get out of town.

Like we even needed an excuse, right?

At first, we thought it would be a great time to head overseas and do some Europe travels, but then, we started to feel sorry for our two pups, who were left behind in the broiling heat (mind you at their favorite puppy spa), but we still felt guilty.

Then we remembered how summers are really made for road tripping, and we hadn’t been on a road trip in some time, so we thought, why not join the fun – and we hit the road.

Two years ago we headed out on our first “longish” summer road trip and were fortunate enough to stay with friends and family who live in milder climates. But last spring, we started to wonder if maybe we were pushing the boundaries of polite couch surfing, especially since we come with two gigantic, hairy, drooly girls in tow.

And it can be a struggle to find hotels or rentals that accept large dogs, not to mention pretty expensive.

In hopes of finding a better solution, we decided to channel our inner turtle and seek a little home we could take with us on the road – enter Betty, the teeny, tiny, traveler trailer. Isn’t she just so darn cute?

Thanksgiving week was Betty’s maiden voyage.

To get ready for the trip we tromped through just about every thrift store in the area looking for kitchen plates, cups, silverware, pots, and pans. We had been so thorough in downsizing and cleaning out our cupboards when we moved to the desert, that we now have just the basic kitchen supplies and not enough to split up between home and trailer. At first, we thought would just move stuff back and forth in an effort to keep our stuff at a minimum but, we quickly realized we did not have enough time for that in our lives. So we hit the thrift stores, and what cute, fun stuff we found! It made Betty even cuter as she headed out on her first road trip.

We decided to head to Southern Utah to kick off our new camper life

first stopping at Snow Canyon State Park, outside of St. George, and then on to Zion’s Canyon National Park for the last few nights. We both grew up in Utah, and love the red rock deserts, so it felt like a great place to start our first trailer trip.

As in all maiden voyages, there were a few wrinkles to iron out, starting with the drive to Utah. What was supposed to be about a 5-hour drive to our first stop, ended up being 8+ hours because we kept stopping to try and figure out what was making the weird sound on the back of the camper, (ended up being our license plate cover which had come loose). And to make sure that the hitch and brake cords were working properly.

It was pitch black when we pulled into camp, and for these desert dwellers; cold as hell.

Somehow, with numb fingers and shivering bodies we got things set up, climbed inside, heated up some instant ramen noodles from Trader Joes and toasted our first night with a glass of red wine.

Then we attempted to get to sleep with two gigantic dogs sleeping on top of us.

We woke up the next day grumpy and in need of a total attitude adjustment, but popping open the door to Betty, we found this view:

the sun was shining, the fall air was fresh and crisp, and all seemed right in the world again.

We had decided to camp in one of the partial hook up spots so that we could experiment with using the hookups for the first time. What we didn’t understand was that the hookup sites at Snow Canyon are a bit like prison cells in terms of size, and piled right on top of each other.

At night we fell asleep listening to our neighbor’s princess movie that their daughter was watching. During the day, we spent time making up stories about the man next to us, traveling on his own, and who looked like he had a secret bunker someplace where he was preparing for the end of the world.

On our second day, another camper pulled in two sites over with all seven of their precious Pomeranian doggies – seven! And we thought two big Newfs was a lot to bring along. To complicate matters, I recently had just had knee surgery and was still on crutches.

It felt a little bit like an SNL skit with people walking by regularly to ask if we really did sleep in that tiny thing with those two big dogs (a, yah.)

But there was more than just the humor and the challenges. Each day I would sit outside and watch the sun come up over the red rocks and just breathe in the beauty of it all. In the evening, we would play games all bundled up at the picnic table, just enjoying the time together away from home and other demands. There was time for writing and reading and lots of friendly folks to meet.

And luckily, we did finally figure out a comfortable sleeping arrangement with the dogs, so all was good. On the last day, we even managed to get a long walk in, with Jason pushing my wheelchair, and me holding the dog’s leashes like horse reins and yelling, “yah, yah” as people walked past.

After four days we packed everything back up, hooked Betty to the back of the car, and headed north to Zions.

Jason and I had both spent time in Zions when we were younger. We had even taken a couple of trips there when the kids were little to hike Angels Landing and watch in awe as the rock climbers spent days ascending the sheer rock faces of the canyon. This time though, we had come with dogs who are not allowed in the canyon, and a wheelchair, which does not make for good hiking. We also were not prepared for the crowds of tourists swarming all over the place.

Who knew this many people actually traveled for Thanksgiving?

Aren’t they all supposed to be home with their families tucking into turkey and stuffing? But good travel requires flexibility and accepting what is while still making the best of it, so we adjusted our travel plans, and decided to do some exploring by car.

Zion National Park closed its main canyon to cars a number of years back and only opens up the roadway a couple of months in the winter. Otherwise, you have to go by shuttle bus. That sounded like way too much work with the crutches and wheelchair, and not any fun with the massive crowds, so elected instead to drive the one open road on Thanksgiving, going through the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel, a narrow, 1.1-mile long tunnel built between 1927-1930.

And you would not have believed the crowds of people.

They were like ants, all over the place; on the roads, walking across the rocks on the side of the road, in the cars streaming up to the tunnel, thousands and thousands of people. Zions is a pretty amazing place, but if it is solitude you are looking for, you will definitely want to go elsewhere. Or maybe make it a quick trip on your way to somewhere else that is less busy and touristy.

After our driving tour was done, we headed back to camp and managed to cook up a pretty decent turkey dinner using our ancient camp stove and the campfire.

We ate early, bundled up against the cold, and climbed into bed to watch a movie. Yes, Betty has a TV which isn’t really roughing it but that wasn’t the goal - she might end up being our home for months at a time when we are on the road remember. And when your family of four is sharing a space that is 15 feet long, you need a few comforts like a TV and an indoor potty, (and yes, she has one of those too).

The last day in Zion’s was spent with family and friends that happened to be visiting the same week, and who saw us on Instagram and Facebook (yeah for social media actually connecting some people). It was such a fun way to wrap up our maiden voyage before heading home.

Luckily, with all the kinks worked out, the drive home was nice and smooth. We unloaded our piles of dirty laundry, brushed out the dust from the dogs and went to bed.

Our hope is to take Betty out across the country this summer for some time, visiting many of the places we have always wanted to see in the U.S. and we learned a lot about what that might look like on this first trip.

For starters, we prefer hookups to the dry camping we did in Zion’s, at least if you are out for more than one night or two. That Newfies and tiny campers are probably a crazy idea, but we can make it work.

That I really don’t care much for cooking in the woods so there may be a lot of sandwiches and cereal in our future road trips. And that you don’t actually need all that much stuff to make a life, but it is good to have gloves, and a warm hat when the nights get cold. I am sure many other lessons are on the way when we head out again.

All in all, it was a great way to spend the holiday and we will most likely make it a new Thanksgiving tradition. Although I do think that next time I will insist on going someplace that doesn’t actually have snow in their forecast.