The drive today was incredible. The scenery just keeps getting better as we drive through desert landscape surrounded by towering red cliffs.

We were going to stop at horseshoe bend, but when we saw all the tourists and the $10 charge, we decided to skip it. Instead, we headed on to marble canyon which was incredible. And it was free because we have a national parks pass.

We found an amazing campground overlooking the Colorado river, surrounded by the marbled cliffs. And it was only $10 to camp!

It’s really hot today, a welcome change from the sub zero temperatures we’d been having.

What a difference a day makes!

We finally left sick camp. Neither of us could bear the thought of staying there another day, we headed off this morning. Twenty minutes up the road were some well-preserved petroglyphs, offering a glimpse into the lives and stories of the tribes that once inhabited this area. A bit further up the road were dinosaur foot prints.

Next stop, Zion National Park. This was an incredible drive through towering sandstone cliffs with vibrant shades of red, orange, and pink. There was a scary historic tunnel to go through dating back to 1931! It was 1.7km long, dark and narrow. But we made it.

After Zion, we headed to the coral pink sand dunes national park, but they were fully booked. But the drive was neat to see the colourful dunes, which I thought were more orange than pink.

There were plenty of places to free camp today, but I decided I wanted power for our heater. I don’t want our covid to go backwards. It was a lovely warm day today, and we are at lower elevation and feeling much better for it.

Tonight we are staying in Kanab, a town surrounded by red mountains. A burger joint across the road summoned us. I chose the healthier grilled chicken option, while mike had a burger.

And Mike had a shower for the first time in a week!

We are both very excited about things to see around this area.

Today brought a touch of excitement as snowflakes added a sprinkle of charm to the day. I ventured out of the van briefly to experience the wintry scene, but the biting cold sent me scurrying back inside, thankful for electricity and our fan heater.

Today, I got stuck into editing our videos, determined to get at least a couple done before our departure.

All going well, we plan to move on from our sick camp tomorrow, and explore the Utah national parks!

This COVID thing is weird. We were both feeling fine today, so ventured out to the shops. Walmart to be precise. We needed food, and also invested in a gas heater, so we can be warm when off grid.

But taking the shopping back to the van and packing it away in the cupboards proved to be a harder task than it should be. I felt slightly out of breath just doing this simple task.

It might have something to do with being at altitude, but it’s only 6000 feet, it’s not that high.

It’s forecast to snow tomorrow, so we’re staying put until Tuesday.

Last night we didn’t hear any rustling, nor was there a dead mouse on our doorstep. So success! It must have been a lone mouse looking for somewhere nice and warm to establish himself in before seeking a partner to share it with.

I’m feeling much better today. I still have a nagging headache and cough but feel fine otherwise. Mike is still a bit crappy but I think he’s a few days behind me.

I felt well enough today to get a video edited, so that’s what I did, but not much else.

The weather is going to take a turn for the worse with snow scheduled for Monday. So we have to make a decision on whether we stay put or chance getting stuck in the snow somewhere without power.

We’ll see how Mike feels tomorrow.

We had an intruder in our van, so we were ready for action last night. We set a trap on the dash, and one behind the toilet, as these were the two places we had heard it.

As I was reading my book in bed, I hear rustle rustle. Isn’t it bad enough we have covid? Do we really need a mouse running over us in our sleep?

I got my torch out and saw the furry thing scuttle past. ‘Just hop in the trap and kill yourself,’ I screamed at it. It didn’t, but the rustling stopped soon after so I must have given it a fright and I was able to get some sleep.

Then, in the middle of the night, rustle rustle, snap, crash, scream (me) as the mousetrap tumbled off the dashboard. I daren’t get up to check in case there was blood. So I carried on sleeping.

In the morning, I was feeling okay apart from a headache. Mike was feeling pretty crappy though. I made him get up and check the mouse, and sure enough, there was a dead mouse on the step of Rodger. Phew, hope his family isn’t here.

Yesterday at Walmart I bought some toys so decided to use them. A thermometer and an oximeter. Mike had quite a high temperature so I gave him some paracetamol, and lay him down with a cold flannel on his head. My temperature was only slightly high.

Then I thought to check our oxygen levels with the oximeter. Mikes was at 90%. Usually anything below 90, they admit you to hospital and put you on oxygen. I checked my own, to make sure it wasn’t a faulty meter, and mine was 98.

So I took him to Urgent care, for just in case. Everyone here is very blaze about covid. When we arrived, I announced we had covid, expecting the people in the waiting room to scarper. But no-one even so much as reached for their masks. Nobody cared. The lady on reception just asked us to keep our masks on. She also said we were at altitude meaning that oxygen levels would be lower if we weren’t used to it.

When the nurse checked Mike, his oxygen was up to 94%. Maybe getting up and moving around had made the difference. The doctor said to focus more on difficulty breathing rather than a number on the oximeter. As Mike hadn’t been having trouble breathing it was no problem.

The doctor recommended antivirals if it was less than 5 days, but we thought it was borderline. I asked if we could get a prescription in case we got Covid again, and he was happy to do that. Then he mentioned the price of them and we politely declined. Actually it was more of a gasp, followed by a “yikes, that’s expensive!” And the doctor was confident he’d be better in a few days.

Another thing that happened while we were at the doctors is a woman came in with her boy who was suffering abdominal pain. She said something about a lockdown at his school as if it was a normal occurrence. I quickly googled it and there had been reports of a shooter at the university, and they shut down all schools in the area as a precaution. The USA seems so normal until you hear about these things.

Oh, I didn’t mention the cost of antivirals. Put your guesses of the cost in the morning chat. (Susan, no guesses as you know)

Hope there’s no rustling tonight!

Today I woke up feeling much better. Mike, not so much. We left our lovely campsite in the cathedral gorge and went to Cedar City, which is a nice town surrounded by snow capped mountains.

We dropped our starlink satellite at the UPS store to be returned. Apparently it will take 14 days before the refund us as it wasn’t cheap.

Rodger went to the spa. He needed a good hoovering. Not everything in America is expensive. It cost only $2 for unlimited vacuum time. So hopefully that will keep some of the dust out.

Sister Susan had recommended we get Covid tests, so we would know how much to rest. so we picked up a couple of these and stopped at an RV park in town much to Mike’s disgust. He wanted to find somewhere nicer, but we needed to do laundry and he needed rest.

We got our laundry on, then I got Mike to do a Covid test as he’s been achy as well. Pretty much straight away the pink and blue lines showed up. So I did one too. Took a bit longer but COVID positive too. Bummer. So we might see about staying here for few days to recover.

And as if having COVID isn’t enough, we have an intruder in our van!

We set traps in the hope of catching him.

Today we did nothing. Mike woke up congested and achy and I’m still snotty and headachy. So we rested. I had the heater set up to switch on in the morning and this helped with the minus temperatures.

It was stunning day, not a cloud in the sky. The temperature got to about 20 degrees but there was still a cool wind.

Mike has been trying to set up our starlink satellite internet for when we are out of range up north, but starlink won’t take our money. We’d ordered the satellite kit from best buys, and it should have been just a matter of paying for a monthly plan. But having done some research, it seems like many people are having the same problem. It might be because we don’t have a USA card, but it shouldn’t matter for a global company. And they don’t have any way of contacting them for support. So we’re going to send the satellite kit back tomorrow for a refund.

We both felt well enough tonight to watch the sun set and the colours change on the rocks, reminding on Uluṟu in Aussie.

We played some monopoly deal and went to bed at 8.30pm, a whole hour later than last night! Hopefully we’ll feel better tomorrow

We awoke to a cold and windy day. Our perfect campsite overlooking the lake was no longer perfect. So we packed up and moved on.

I am still suffering this crappy cold and am very congested. Today my ears completely blocked up as well as my nose.

It was solar eclipse day today and even though we are a little bit over from it I thought there might be a dimming effect. But there was nothing.

We drove about an hour to the cathedral state park where they have electric hookups so we can run our heater. The temperature will be dropping to Minus 2 degrees overnight, and this isn’t helping our colds. And they have showers.

Cathedral gorge is amazing with intricate designs in the rocks like gothic cathedrals . Except it’s all naturally formed. We explored a couple of slot canyons and these were really neat, some going for miles! I was a bit worried about snakes and scorpions in the narrow bits.

There is so much to explore here but my cold is getting worse, not better. So we opted for an early night. Mike is now a bit snotty.

It got really cold overnight and we need to get more blankets. We woke up in our free desert campsite and it was such a beautiful spot.

We had a lazy morning, not really wanting to leave. I am all snotty with a full blown cold but I hope that’s all it is.

We visited the valley of fire state park today., It’s an incredible landscape of vibrant red sandstone formations sculpted by wind and water over millions of years.

It was the perfect weather for hiking as it’s not too hot, but I’m feeling pretty crappy with my cold. But there was plenty to see on the drive. A highlight were some well preserved petroglyphs. There were pictures of big horned sheep, snakes, wheels and other stuff I couldn’t make out.

We then continued heading north, stopping at a free campsite beside a lake. It’s amazing, with a table and chairs and fire pit, very private as the camp sites are really spaced out.

We might stay a couple of days to get over these colds. We had banana and peanut butter wrap for dinner and had an early night.