This post is to announce the 2019 Southern Utah Tour. Again this year we hope to visit all five of Utah’s national parks.
Because of overcrowding at some of the parks, we will only be taking 12 rigs in hopes it will make obtaining reservations easier. Also, we would like to have those who have never been on one of our tours apply.
Please be aware that Utah is desert, mountains and canyons. This tour will be through all of these environments. If you are so afraid of heights that you are terrified and have to close your eyes, this tour is NOT for you. If you are unable to function normally when you go over a rough road it is NOT for you. If you simply cannot stand the thought of dust on (and probably in) your tow vehicle, again it’s NOT for you. We will be
boondocking the entire trip. NO hookups! Learning to conserve is simple and many have done so on our tours…It is unfair to bring someone else who will react negatively to the above mentioned situations – unfair to them, the rest of the group and to us.
Everyone has a GPS and atlas and can easily find their way to all these beautiful parks. What we do is not only visit all the parks but we are with other persons or couples of like mind and with whom they already share some preferences. Also we don’t travel from place to place by the most direct and quickest roads but by the most scenic way. Some of our camping places are well “off the beaten path”. We go to places that most Utah visitors never see nor know about. The casual visitor would not chance taking the time to find these places even if they knew about them. They would most likely “go with the crowd”. After participating in a Southern Utah Tour you will have seen a good part of the southern part of the state. Certainly enough to mark it off your bucket list. We go from one campsite to the next via paved roads. However, we do lead participants on side trips to places that can only be reached by dirt / gravel roads where there are points of interest and beauty you would not see otherwise.
All the places we go can be easily reached by any production pickup or SUV that has not been intentionally lowered. By going to these places you will get some dust on your $40000, 500 horsepower truck but we have located car washes for you. Sometime we will pass over a section of road that may have significant wash boarding but your vehicle will easily handle it. If it can’t you probably shouldn’t drive it to Utah with a trailer behind you. You don’t have to have a truck or SUV to come on the tour. Someone will invite you to come with them for places you can’t go.
We want folks to come on the tour who want to see more than what the beautiful parks offer. This has never been the type of gathering where we park the trailer, roll out the carpet and
awning or set up the auxiliary shelters, the imitation flower pots and pink flamingos and sit down. It was designed for those who want to see and do more. In the evening we will sit around the campfire and chat or listen to someone entertain by whatever means. In the mornings we will either be visiting the local park(s) or taking a side trip we have planned for you.
I have noted that since we posted the announcement for the 2018 tour, there have been over 3000 views on one site and over 5000 views on another of the announcement. So it is apparent that there is still interest in becoming a part of the tour. Because there are so many folks who are interested in coming along we worked out a method of selecting participants based upon the clock. This is how it works.
At exactly midnight on 31 October 2018 Mountain Time the
registration will open. No
registration will be accepted before that time. The clock on your computer screen will create a “postmark” on your
registration email to me. Last year I had received emails with the requested information (see below) to fill our 12 slots plus 5 alternates by 0001 1 November 2017. We have alternates to fill in a vacant slot if, and when, someone already selected has to cancel out.
The registration email from those interested must contain the following information in the following order.
1. Your name(s). Don and Betsy Taylor
2. The town (city) where you live. Salt Lake City, UT
3. An email address that you check frequently.
dtaylor@sisna.com
4. Your home telephone number. 801-***-4979
5. Your travel (cell phone) number (can be the same). 801-***-4979
6. Year, make and color of your tow vehicle. 4x4? ’98 Toyota Tacoma Sunburst Red 4x4
We don’t need any other information from you until later but we want your initial registration request to contain all that information and in that order. The information we ask for does not determine if you get a slot or not. It is the information I need about those who are within the earliest 17 post marks to create a roster.
This is the only fair way to conduct the registration that I can think of since I know that there are more people that want to go than we have slots for. All you have to do is create an email addressed to me with the above information in the text. When the clock on your computer reads exactly midnight and the date reads 11/1/ 2018 click on “send”. It does not matter that you are all the way on the east coast. The instant you hit “send” is the time of the postmark on your email to me. However, the quality and speed of your ISP may make a difference. I selected the midnight hour because there would probably be less internet traffic.
We spend a tremendous amount of time and effort in making this rolling
rally exciting, enjoyable and memorable for the participants. We have done a pre-run of this tour, made numerous telephone calls and spent hours engaged in research and planning alternate campsites etc. When we go on the tour we will incur campsite fees and gasoline expenses as well. Our greatest expense is pet care while gone.
Therefore we are asking for a registration fee of $20 that will be refundable if, for any reason, you don’t go on the tour. This should cover at least some of our expenses. Please make a post here if you are interested in coming along.
Don in UT
P.S. Please go to Facebook or You Tube and do a search for "2018 Southern Utah Tour" to see a video created by a great couple on that tour.