Ahhhh….Those “Jell-o” Plans!

We did it again – after spending about 6 weeks in Amarillo, we decided at the last minute to go West instead of up to South Dakota as we’d talked about earlier.  I’ve been nagging Jim for awhile that our travels have mostly settled into revisiting places we’ve already been.  Oh, we love those places and the people we’ve met there, but there are still a lot of nooks and crannies of this country that we haven’t seen.  We decided that Southern Utah would be a great place to see while we have a few free weeks before the wedding.

So, last Thursday, we rolled up the carpet, hooked up the car and headed west on I-40.  That night we stopped at a small RV park just outside Albuquerque, the next night we stopped at the KOA in Flagstaff (won’t do that one again, sites and roads are much too tight for a rig our size), and Saturday we stopped at Wahweap Campground at Lake Powell.  That’s where the new header picture was taken.

This was our site:

This was our view from near the camp site:

From the road above the campground:

Looking back at the lake from the dam:

The lake is about 60% full right now.  With all of the snowfall in the Rockies this year, the level of the lake is currently rising nearly a foot a day.  We took a tour of the dam and got to go down to the power plant area, brought back some memories for both of us!

We will definitely need to make a return trip to this area, we’d love to rent a pontoon boat for a day (or more) and go exploring some of the canyons!

Sunday morning we went to breakfast in Page, then went to the local Walmart and stocked up on supplies for the next part of the journey – on to Zion and Bryce in Utah!

We got settled in at a little RV park in Glendale, Utah early Sunday afternoon.  Bright and early Monday morning we loaded up our picnic lunch, the dogs and our cameras and headed out towards Zion National Park:

I have to say right now that we were both left speechless and breathless more than once on our short drive through the part of the park still open to private car travel.  Yes, we took pictures, but there’s no way they can even begin to show the spectacular quality of this place.  We both agreed that this is one of the most impressive places we’ve visited yet.  The road, Utah Highway 9, winds it’s way across the very southeastern corner of the park.  It’s a through road, but everyone has to pay the park entrance fee.  It is a very twisty-turny road that goes up and down and features a small tunnel and one very narrow, very long tunnel.  The park’s website warns that large vehicles must make arrangements to be escorted (at an additional fee) through the tunnel.  They have a system to allow only one lane of traffic through at a time, so there is a wait going both directions.  But, both times through, we only had a couple of minutes to wait.

This is Checkerboard Mesa:

Some of the views:

 

This is the one trail in the park where dogs are allowed:

We will be going back to the park later this week and another time next week to take the shuttle to the areas where private vehicles can’t go this time of year.

This morning we got a few things done around the Castle, like debugging the front end and windshield – many, many bugs gave their lives in support of our trip West!  I washed the windows too, but then the day got warm and we decided what the heck, let’s go for a drive!

This time we decided to see what Utah Highway 14 is like – it runs from US 89 over the Cedar Breaks Monument area (which is still closed due to snow!) and in to Cedar City on I-15, about a 55 mile trip from here.  Another beautiful, but twisty-turny road!

This is Navajo Lake, formed from lava flow, and yes, that is snow on the far bank!

More of those red rocks and snow:

Vista from near the summit, looking South towards Zion:

And more rock formations highlighted by late afternoon sun:

And that’s just the first two days here, whew!  We don’t have a specific plan as to how long we’ll stay in this area, there are a lot of places to see!  I’d better go plug in my camera battery…

Alive and Well in Amarillo

The windy city…whoever said Chicago should be called the windy city has obviously never been to the Texas Panhandle in Spring.  The wind blows in the morning.  The wind blows in the afternoon.  Then, just as if you’re not tired of rockin’ and rollin’, the wind blows through the night.  Gotta love Amarillo!  We blew into town nearly a week ago and set up shop in the “back 40” of our friends Don and Vickie.  They installed hook-ups for their RVing guests, and we are enjoying not being in an RV park, thanks to them.

We want to thank all of you who have called, e-mailed, and posted to Facebook wondering what in the heck is going on with us!  Here’s a quick recap of the recent journies of Justravelin:

Over the past month or so, we’ve traveled from Mesa, AZ to Apache Junction, where we spent some time hanging out with Deb and Rod at the KOA.  We so enjoyed our time with them, doing some sightseeing, and learning new recipes - of course trying them out!  When it came time for us to go separate directions,  we moved on to Benson and hung out with JoAnn and Doug at the Escapees’ Saguaro Park for a couple of weeks.  While we were there, we took some day trips, one to Chiricahua Monument, another to Willcox for some wine tasting, and a couple of trips to Sierra Vista. 

We also hiked Ramsey Canyon one day:

After that strenuous hike, Doug convinced us that lunch at the Bisbee Breakfast Club was required to revive us:

And of course, a visit to Tombstone was required while in the neighborhood.  We toured the famous, supposedly haunted, Birdcage Theatre, but didn’t encounter any ghosts:

Our next stop was a short visit to Las Cruces, NM.  We spent a couple of days there, taking in the old town of Mesilla and a couple of wineries there.  Then we landed in Carlsbad, NM.  We spent a few days camped at Brantley Lake State Park, oh yes, it was windy there, too!  Jim finally agreed to visit the Carlsbad Caverns and I think he actually enjoyed seeing that amazing hole in the ground.

We had some shopping to do once we got to Amarillo:

 

This is our new toad – a 2011 Chevy Equinox.  We have the parts on order to get it ready to tow, hopefully that will happen soon.  We’re having fun with the “bells & whistles” like Onstar, XM radio, and the simple things like automatic transmission, remote start, power seat, windows and locks, etc.

Meanwhile, we are keeping busy with friends and relatives here in town.  We also decided to move our primary  medical care to Amarillo, so we both have appointments with new docs next week.  We’ll be here for a few weeks until Jim’s family reunion, then, let the wind blow us wherever!

The Return of the 50-Amp Pavement Princess

After almost 7 weeks of uninterrupted boondocking (except for the quick trips to town to dump our tanks), we finally tore ourselves away from our desert paradise and returned to civilization.

But not before we experienced more fun and adventure!

We did manage to hike up to Palm Canyon, although the day we picked was windy and quite chilly. We saw the palms in the sunshine this year!

Along with us on the hike were Deb & Rod, JoAnn & Doug, and former owners of the Broken Arrow Horse Camp and RV Park in Custer, South Dakota, Geri & Larry. JoAnn & Doug came back for 2 weeks to enjoy the peace and quiet of the desert with us. We were all ready for a late lunch after the windy 1-mile round trip from the parking lot to the palms, so a stop at Taco Mio in Quartzsite for tacos was the order of the day.

We first met Geri & Larry when we stayed at Broken Arrow in 2008. We were incredibly impressed with the warm, friendly way they treated all their guests, and actually extended our stay there a couple of times before we got away that year. We returned in 2009 and got to know these great folks better. We were surprised to learn from Pat and Mike Mcfall that they sold the campground recently, but delighted they are now enjoying the freedom of retirement and fulltiming. They came to spend a few days with us out in the desert and try this boondocking thing.

While they were with us, they invited us out with them for a day of 4-wheeling:

Larry let Jim & I ride his 4-wheeler and he rode his dirt bike. Geri had her own 4-wheeler. We rode all over the place, coming across this mine shaft at one point. Larry, Geri and Jim are examining the entrance to the shaft, wondering just how deep that thing is!

We also revisited a place I found a geocache last year, this time Geri found it. Me, Larry and Geri look for the geocache:

And of course, we enjoyed happy hours and meals together several times.

JoAnn, Geri, Deb and I on the “Girl’s side”:

Rod, Larry and Doug on the Boy’s side:

Rod, me, Deb, Geri and Larry enjoying the campfire:

But, with the temperatures warming into the 80’s during the day, we knew it wasn’t going to be long before we needed air conditioning. Besides which, the snakes and other critters are already starting to make an appearance, so it was time to go.

We are once again in the Phoenix metro area, this time at what we call a “mega-plex” RV resort in Mesa with close to 1,800 sites! Even so, I think we have a smidge more room than we did last year. We’ve found the staff and neighbors to be very friendly here. Within a day, neighbors on 3 sides had introduced themselves. Everyone has a smile and greeting. We’re close to all the necessary shopping and services, so now, we’re enjoying the 50-amp pavement life.

Here we are:

We have an appointment to have some repair and maintenance work done on the Castle next week. I’ve been washing and grooming the dogs and will get them to the vet for regular shots while here. Of course, there’s a lot of cleaning to be done too, inside and out.

Since we’re working so much getting things cleaned up and all, we need to go relax by the pool in the afternoon! We are sure enjoying the luxury of having full hook-ups, too.

While we were out in the desert, we decided to try an experiment with the dogs – I was tired of having to maneuver around their crates all the time, whether we had them in the main living area or in the bedroom. So, we figured out some alternatives. We took the bedding out of the crates and now put that on the floor at the foot of the bed when we go to bed. It took a couple of nights for them to understand that once they are put to bed, they need to stay there all night, but they are fine with that now. If we’re going out for awhile during the day, we put their water in the back and close the sliding door so they stay in the bedroom/bath area. That way, they aren’t barking at everyone who walks by the rig. We now have to put their food containers in the shower though – Jasmine figured out one day that she can open the container and help herself!

After we finish with our stuff here in town, we may spend a couple of weeks at either Usery Mountain or McDowell Mountain campgrounds before we leave this area, heading to who knows where!

Desert Living…continued

Well, guess what – in addition to getting that “geezer card” just after my recent birthday, I am really official now – I just received my first Social Security check!  Wow…

Now, of course, with that advancing age comes a certain, uhmmmm….shall we say, “mild forgetfulness”…ok, let’s be honest, I have senior moments now and then.  When I posted last night, I forgot some important stuff! 

In addition to the people I mentioned when I summarized all the folks who’ve been out here, I neglected to mention that Brenda & John were here when we first got here.  Of course, they now have become big landowners over towards the “big city”, and we wish them well with that venture.  Then there was Pat and Mike McFall.  They arrived in their new-to-them, beautiful Foretravel motorhome and spent several days here.  Pat and I even got some line dancing practice in while they were here!  Sylvia and Glenn Avery also found their way out for a few days.  Some of these folks were here around the time of my birthday and got to enjoy that celebration with me.  And, one day, we got a surprise visit from JD and Becky.  This is the couple who recognized us last year when we were in Quartzsite and came out to our camp site for a visit.  They are both now retired and fulltiming – congratulations, JD & Becky! (Now, about that blog…sure would love to see one from you two).

I also intended to post this picture of snow on the mountains north of us.  When we got up Sunday morning, there it was!  Thankfully, the snow missed us, we just got some chilly rain and wind in the weekend storm that blew through.

Today, JoAnn and I were able to get back to back appointments for hair cuts in Parker.  After we got done with those, we went to a restaurant recommended by the woman who cut our hair and had a good lunch at the Crossroads Café. 

A stop at Walmart was next on our agenda.  I’ve been having some challenges getting my prescription refills accomplished, and today was no exception.  Somehow, my doctor’s office managed to approve my refill at a Walmart somewhere else!  So, the local store has to call the wrong store to have them back out the order and transfer it.  Aaarrrgggghhhh…..and they fuss at me if I don’t take the meds??

It was good to be back in our desert paradise where Jim had a nice piece of fish ready to grill for me!  Thanks, Honey.