We left Kim’s with lots of tears and hugs and down the road we went. We drove right past Las Vegas without even a glance and headed for Cedar City Rest Area where we stayed for the night. This was our first time car camping in a rest area but I did not want to head to the hills and all that dust. The rest area has facilities and the car would stay cleaner without all the dust blowing around. We made some dinner and put up our window covers. The night was uneventful (thankfully)! By the way – there were several other car campers – some more obvious than us!
The next day we headed out of Cedar City toward the Grand Staircase-Escanlan National Monument. We passed through Dixie National Forest and Red Rock Canyon. When we came through from Bryce National Park we traveled this same road – the Scenic Byway 12 (Rte 12 through Utah). Traveling East past Bryce was the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Once through the Grand Staircase, we headed east at Torrey toward Fruita and Hanksville. We stopped in Hanksville for gas at a place, Hollow Mountain, that was built into the side of the mountain! It was really neat.
After getting gas and some ice water we headed on down the road. We were pretty tired from the drive and decided to stay the night in the parking lot of Stan’s Burger and convenient store in Hanksville. It was a recommended spot on my iOverlander app. We checked in with “Stan” to be sure this was fine and it was.
This location was very convenient since we had privacy (the area of the lot we parked in was very far from the actual Burger joint). But we also had bathrooms and in the morning we had a place to get our coffee and hot water – it was perfect.
The night was pitch dark and the sky was lit up with stars. A chorus of mowing cows lulled us to sleep.
