Monticello, Utah -- In the Middle of Lots of Stuff

We arrived in Monticello on Thursday afternoon…and since then, we have been NO WHERE!  After 10 days of no electricity, and needing a place to have our replacement MiFi Jetpack Aircard to be delivered, we picked Mountain View RV Park in Monticello because they had a weekly rate (buy 6 nights, 7th night free at $30 per night Good Sam Discount), it was full hookups so it was long SHOWER TIME, and they were said to have good Internet…which they do.  We had a choice of close to the street, Dog Pin, and Laundry Room, or up by the office area where it would be quieter, but further away from “stuff”…we took the street.  In the picture above you can see us next to a pop-up camper.  Yes, road noise during the day, but pretty quiet at night.

    

During the weekday mornings and early afternoon, this is what it looks like…over 1/2 empty.  However, over the weekend it was full, and at night half the empty spaces fill up.  We called and they said, “come on in”…but reservations over the weekend during the summer are highly encouraged.  And “IF” you see a Sheriff’s Vehicle in the park, don’t worry…the male owner is a Deputy Sheriff for San Juan County, and he, his sister/sister-in-law Casey, and a number of children operate the park.  We have found it to be a great little park in a very small town, and the few bad remarks I have read about the park seem unfounded…and they have many good ones too.  It is not fancy…they don’t call it a “Resort” as others would, and they work hard to keep it up despite the MANY people who I witnessed who did not pick up dog poop in the dog enclosure, and I am sure some people take advantage of their honor system for paying for dump service, laundry and showers.  ($1 to wash, $1 to dry, per load, pay in office when you are done…not sure what the ask for to dump tanks or take showers)

So Skruffy and I went out today to get our quarterly IRS payment to the post office.  Little did I know that an hour later I would need to go back to the PO, but that is life sometimes, and more on that later.  I took this opportunity to get a few pictures of Monticello.

Monticello, like many of the Utah communities, was settled by the Mormons, Monticello in 1886.  When they arrived in Monticello, other “white men” had already settled in the area, such as cattleman Patrick O'Donnell, the Kansas and New Mexico Cattle and Land Company, operated by Edmund and Harold Carlisle, was located a few miles north of what is now Monticello, and the L.C. outfit was headquartered in the South Fork of Montezuma Canyon.  Regardless, some Mormon families were sent to Monticello to start a new community.  In 1888, the name Monticello was adopted by the people in honor of Thomas Jefferson’s estate in Virginia.  Farming and Uranium mining have been the foundation of economy, and lately tourism has played a greater and greater part of the economy.  The above picture is one of their Church Buildings next to one of their smaller Temples.

      

 

    

   

Monticello, which has a population of nearly 2,000 people, does have the “necessities” of life.  Upper left picture is a 7-11/Shell Station, and the ONLY place to get Propane for your Motorhome.  Upper right is the Blue Mountain Foods grocery store (closed on Sundays).  The middle picture is a typical tourist place, of which these are all over the route from Flagstaff through Moab..this one is here in Monticello.  Bottom left is the BLM office, for those who want information about free camping or inexpensive BLM campgrounds in the area of Southeast Utah, and the bottom right is the Monticello Public Library.

    

There is a Visitor’s Center (upper left), the County Administration Building since it is the county seat for San Juan County, and plenty of room for RV day parking (lots of BLM land outside of town if you want to boondock).

    

These are the main three restaurants, outside of the pizza and Mexican joints in town.  The upper picture is the Peace Tree Juice Cafe, of which there are two locations, Monticello and Moab and is the newer of the three restaurants, and within walking distance to the RV Park (2 blocks away).   We have not eaten out at all yet, but I do hope to give the Peace Tree a try before we leave.

Not shown are the numerous small motels and Inns, Napa Autoparts, Napa Repair Center (and other vehicle repair places), large True Value Hardware Store, other gas stations and small stores, laundromat, etc.  What they don't have is a Mall, a Walmart, a movie theater...stuff like that.  Small town, small town attitude, small town appeal. 

San Juan County is Utah’s largest county, and Blanding, 25 miles to the south, is the largest city in the county…but Monticello is more centralized to reach more National Parks/Monuments/Points of Interest such as Arches National Park to the North, Canyon Lands National Park to the North-Northwest, Natural Bridges to the Southwest, Goosenecks State Park and Monument Valley to the South, Mesa Verde National Park and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument to the Southeast.  I read a blog yesterday in which a young family came to Monticello, stayed in a Motel for five days, and visited all of these places, and a few more, during their five day stay.

As promised, our Verizon Aircard replacement was delivered today.  I paid $6.99 to have it here in two work days just to be sure we got it before we leave on Thursday.  By Friday night it was in Albuquerque, where it stayed until Monday morning when it was sent to Durango Colorado, and then out for delivery by 10:37.  Not sure where we were going to be on the “stops”, but I told Marcia that it could not be here any earlier than 12:00 noon….and at 12:10 I saw it pull into the park.  SWEET.  Of course, now I am afraid to plug the antenna into it...

Ok, so I unpacked it, following their directions not to rip open the box, the packaging the device came in, etc. because we have to send this back.  It comes without a back, without a battery…you use the ones from the defective device.  I take the SIM card out of the old, put in the new, insert the battery, put on the back, and bingo, we are back in business.  I put the broken antenna piece, about the size of a small bean, in plastic and tape it where the battery normally goes, and put the defective device in the packaging they new one came in, and back into the FedEx box.  I look at the return postage and it says, “UPS”…hmmm, I don’t think there is a UPS place in town.  So I call up Verizon and the nice young man tells me that this is not a problem, just drop it in a USPS (Post Office) box, and that he would make a note of it in the computer.  Well, I don’t feel comfortable doing that…so I go back to the Post Office, walk inside and explain my dilemma to the nice lady behind the counter.  She says, “Well, I can take that and we will give it to the UPS driver when get here.  It was now 1 pm, and I got our taxes mailed, got our Aircard working, and got the old Aircard to the Post Office where we HOPE it gets back to Verizon.  

I had one of those annoying “Memory” thingies pop up on Facebook AFTER I talked with Mom and Dad this morning to wish them a happy 69th anniversary.  I normally just ignore those Facebook Memory things, but this one was special…about their 67th anniversary…so I re-posted, and wished them a Happy 69th Anniversary via Facebook too.  I feel so lucky, so blessed, so happy to have mom and dad with us still…both in good health for their age, both as sharp as ever…