It was really, really hard to pry ourselves loose from the luxury of LVM, but it was time to do what we'd bought this tin can to do -- hit the road. Next stop: Lake Powell, a place we last visited five years ago.

The drive there was familiar territory: colorful striated scenery, endless highway, and road construction traffic jam.

But when we came down the familiar hill where the lake becomes visible, we were shocked. We knew the lake would be low, but we couldn't see any water at all until we were almost at the turnoff for the camp! I remember being thrilled five years ago when I saw that great expanse of blue water from far away; now I couldn't find it with binoculars. I took a picture later at the back of the dam to compare with a similar photo from 2010.

We settled into the pleasant Wahweap RV camp. Only part of the campground was open -- we were two days before full opening, apparently -- so we couldn't get a spot in the upper level where the view was better. But we got a nice site at the end of the row, so we only had a neighbor on one side. That first evening, we were treated to the most incredible sunset I've ever seen.

On our last visit, we were only on the lake once for a kayak-paddle. We were looking for things to do this time, so I had scheduled one of the boat cruises on the lake for the next day. I would have liked to do the trip to Rainbow Bridge, but the low lake level was necessitating a detour that lengthened that trip to almost 8 hours! No thanks.

The cruise was a bit of a snooze. Good for kids, I guess, but there really wasn't much for us to see. One scary fact: at one point the boat traveled slowly through a narrow channel. I asked about the depth in that particular place and was told it was down to 12 feet. Eep!

We're still getting the hang of traveling with four cats. One ongoing lesson is, never turn your back on an open cabinet unless you want it explored, occupied, and full of fur.