Some mornings of sleeping outdoors you just have to laugh. From our vantage at the floor of the palace we could see a very wet rainfly above. Our guests, lulled into the belief that a week in the desert camping would be at least marginally comfortable, woke up in a vehicle not designed for their height. Camping with Brian and Theresa, you’ll love it they said.

We made a quick breakfast and headed north to Moab and then on to use our timed entry permit for Arches National Park. We drove through fresh snow on the plateau only slightly above our campsite, and eventually found ourselves enjoying second breakfast at Garage Co. in Moab while Brian and Theresa simultaneously did laundry.

The weather being what it was and what it was forecast to be, it was time to call an audible. Situations like this require a change of plan and Brian and Anne began searching for alternate lodging for the next few nights. Moab is wildly expensive when no one is around and it is Jeep Week. Monticello, the next closest town south was the obvious choice if we wanted to maintain proximity to Needles. Eventually Anne scored a winner and we bailed on our Arches permit and headed back south, first to break down and evacuate site 14 and then to drive to and inhabit our (we’re sure) cleverly named Fort Abajo AirBNB. It had a fire place, soft beds and great company. Win, win, win.