During our stay at Billingsley Creek, our hot water heater had suddenly stopped doing its job, you know, heating water, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to fix it ourselves before heading to our next stop in northern Utah. We left not knowing if we were dealing with something simple, something expensive, or something that was going to cause issues with the next part of the trip. Moab was coming up, and we really didn’t want to get there with a mysteriously broken hot water heater.
During our drive to Utah, a lot was happening at once. Outside the truck, it was beautiful. Snowy mountains, big open fields, and the kind of scenery that made us glad the dashcam was running. Inside the truck, however, I was running a passenger-seat command center. On one phone, I was making RV repair shop calls, and on another, I was trying to get in touch with our extended warranty agents. On top of both of those things, I was still doing my actual job on my laptop in front of me. Between the phones and my computer, there were probably more tabs open than anyone should have to manage while traveling down the highway. It was funny in the way stressful travel days sometimes become comical later. In the moment though, it definitely felt a bit chaotic. Thankfully, I was able to talk to and schedule a repair with RVeRV, a mobile RV repair shop, and even better than that, he knew the park where we were staying and he had been there so many times that he had his own entrance code for the gate.
We finally made it to Riverside RV Resort in South Weber, Utah, and thankfully, it ended up being the perfect spot to get things figured things out. The park employees were really understanding. They were able to put us in a site where we would be able stay an extra night if the repair took longer than expected. For campground details, site notes, and our rating, we have a separate Tow Stop review for Riverside RV Resort.
The mobile RV tech from RVeRV arrived shortly after we did, and after some tinkering with a few of the mechanics and cords and wires on the hot water tank, he found the source of the problem. The circuit board had gone bad. Lucky for us, he had a replacement board in his rig. He replaced the bad one, and we were back in business – and, more importantly, we could take hot showers again (for the time being anyway, but that’s a post for another day!)
For the time being, it felt like our plan had survived. But of course, when you’re traveling as much as we do, we have learned to never feel too comfortable. Harry’s foot reminded us pretty quickly that the trailer was not the only thing having issues.
Throughout the drive, his pain had been getting worse, and by the time we reached our destination, it was obvious this was not just a normal sore-foot travel day. It was changing how he walked and how much he could do to help get everything set up. We had already been trying to make the schedule work around the repair, and now we had to make it work around him, too. At least we didn’t have to leave the next morning so he could rest up a little before hitting the road again. However, staying that extra night in Ogden came with a non-monetary price in addition to having to pay the nightly fee of the resort. We had to take time away from Moab, which meant less time to hike, bike, and explore the area.
It was kind of sad, but it was the right call.
The good news is, if you have to stay an extra night somewhere because your body is being dramatic, a place with a hot tub is a nice consolation. In addition to the hot tub, Riverside also had a pool (that was set to open a couple weeks after our stay), a cold plunge, and a new pickleball court. Sadly, playing was not in the cards for us given Harry’s injuries. This was not a huge nature-esque campground kind of stay, but it was clean, comfortable, and easy when we really needed easy.
Speaking of easy, we love dinner plans that don’t take a lot of effort. I decided to try a recipe I’d found on social media – homemade poke bowls. Northern Utah isn’t known for it’s easily obtainable sushi-grade fish. I opted for a cooked version, and actually, baked salmon worked even better than I had hoped. I’m sure I’ll eventually post this recipe in our Trailer-Made Recipes section because Harry hasn’t stopped talking about it since!
By the time we left Ogden, the hot water heater was fixed, Harry’s foot had gotten a little more rest, and we were ready to get going again. This trip was starting to teach us a lesson we would need even more down the road – sometimes protecting the plan is not as important as protecting the ability to keep going.
While we had to give up a day in Moab, we gained a working hot water and some much needed rest and recovery. Honestly, there are worse trades we could have had to make.
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