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Entries in KOA (2)

Monday

Jul232012

A Night's Rest and Then Northbound

Joe Perry |

Monday, July 23, 2012 at 3:00AM

The Big Trip - End of Day 2

Once the sun had set on our eclipse viewing adventure, we high-tailed it east to Cedar City, Utah for a much-needed night’s rest. There was no need, nor desire at this point, to return to Beaver Dam State Park back in the mountains. It had been a long and adventure-filled day filled with driving and taking photos. Nearly 13 hours after we left North Las Vegas, we tucked in at the Cedar City Walmart around 9:00 PM.

We slept soundly.

End of Day 2 Detail Map - Our run from Modena, Utah to Cedar City, Utah to spend the night.
[5/20/2012] © Copyright 2012, ChasingSteel.com.

The Big Trip - Day 3

Day 3 Overview Map - Our route from Cedar City, Utah to Perry, Utah.
[5/21/2012] © Copyright 2012, ChasingSteel.com.Eager for the next big adventure on our journey, we hit the road early—about 5:30 AM. Today was just about getting to the next camping site for the night which was a small community, just north of Salt Lake City, with a killer name—Perry, Utah.

I intentionally wanted to ignore any opportunities for railfanning or photography along the way because I didn’t want to lose time, so we drove north on Interstate 15 right up the middle of Utah. This route was well out of the reach of the Union Pacific’s Caliente Subdivision. Despite this fact it was a great drive with plenty of beautiful mountains, farms, and vistas to delight our senses. It was a bit surreal — almost as if we were on vacation!

Brigham City / Perry South KOA

All of our experiences with KOA (Kampgrounds of America) campgrounds have been excellent throughout the period we have owned our camper. We like the facilities and more often than not we are able to locate a KOA near our day’s destination. They provide full-hookups, which gives us a chance to empty our waste tanks and fill up with fresh water, a small store, laundry facilities, and showers, all for a modest cost.

We located a KOA in Perry, Utah and once onsite we opted to drive around the nearly vacant campground to see if there was a particular spot that we liked and could ask for upon check-in. We made a partial loop around the facility and then we were immediately waved down by the manager and questioned as to what we were doing. Certainly not the usual greeting.

We explained our motive and were met with an unfriendly and curt attitude that left us questioning whether or not to even spend the night here. Considering our options we opted to go ahead and get a site. The manager got retribution, we assumed, by putting us up in a spot situated in the full sun with no shade at all.

We made the most of it and decided that we would not be return visitors to this KOA, our first bad and unwelcoming experience at one of their locations. It happens. Upon reviewing the campground on the internet we learned that others were treated similiarly and, in one case, it was nearly identical to our experience.

We took this opportunity to take full showers and Deb prepared a great spaghetti dinner. Afterwards, we transferred our photographs from our SD cards and shared them with one another. As the sun began to set we took a walk and enjoyed the views of the Wasatch Range that cradles the Salt Lake City region in this part of Utah.

Tomorrow was big day for me as our destination was the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory, Utah. We turned in early and rested well.

Willard Mountain - Our view from the Brigham City / Perry South KOA.
[5/21/2012] © Copyright 2012, ChasingSteel.com.

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Our Best Trip Ever - Part 12 - Seligman, Stackers, Sunset

Joe Perry |

Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 2:00PM

(Continued from: Our Best Trip Ever - Part 11 - On the Cut-Off)

Day 6 - Part 2

Onward to Seligman

Having had a great time exploring the “back country” of BNSF’s Seligman Subdivision, and truthfully a little dogged out from the rough roads, I was content to head towards Selgiman for the night. We had spent some time there on previous trips but we only used Seligman as a base for operations and we never really spent time photographing the area. I knew there were some nice spots with a lot of potential so we left Crookton and drove the few miles west to Seligman to get a spot for the night.

Seligman/Route 66 KOA
801 E Highway 66, Seligman, AZ 86337

Despite the fact that our Lance camper is fully equipped, it is nice to get the opportunity to use a full-size shower and our experience has been that the KOA Campgrounds, typically, have great facilities such as showers, a laundromat, a convenience store, propane, a dump station, and full hook-ups — and friendly staff.

Our campground of choice in Seligman is the Seligman/Route 66 KOA. It is right next to tracks on Route 66. The campground only has a somewhat marginal view of the trains as they pass by with no real photographic appeal. Nonetheless, you can keep an eye on traffic and race out to photograph a train if you see something worthy go by.

The proximity of the tracks, and the frequency of train traffic, has given cause to the campground to adopt the phrase “The Night of a Thousand Trains.” It is not a terrific spot for those of you who are light sleepers. For us, we love it.

Once we secured a site we headed into “town,” and I use that term loosely, to replenish some groceries and fuel. As we made our way along Route 66 I looked for a spot to set-up to catch the setting sun. I didn’t find a “killer” spot so once our errands were complete I decided to go back east to hill that overlooks Seligman itself. It turns out that this was a great spot. We stayed there for a few hours until the sun had set.

Here are a few of the photos that I took atop the hill:

BNSF 7645 East 1 - BNSF 7645 (GE ES44DC), BNSF 7896 (GE ES44DC), BNSF 7667 (GE ES44DC), and BNSF 7796 (GE ES44DC) are up front of this eastbound intermodal climbing the grade through Railroad Canyon having just left the crew change point of Seligman, Arizona with a new crew.
[4/22/2011 - Seligman Subdivision] © Copyright 2011, Joe Perry, ChasingSteel.com.

The Climb Out 2 - BNSF 7252 (GE ES44DC) is the “leader” on this eastbound intermodal train fighting the grade as it climbs out of Seligman, Arizona, with BNSF 6663 (GE ES44C4), BNSF 7303 (GE ES44DC), and BNSF 7672 (GE ES44DC) assisting in the effort.
[4/22/2011 - Seligman Subdivision] © Copyright 2011, Joe Perry, ChasingSteel.com.

After the sun had set we headed back to the KOA and grabbed some dinner followed by a luxurious hot shower. It had been a fantastic day with BNSF’s Seligman Sub. Tomorrow would find us heading west along Route 66.

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