NOVEMBER 20, 2010

Time has been rapidly slipping by and I can't seem to get to updating the blog. Hopefully something can be accomplished tonight.

We left Calgary Sunday, October 31 and fought wind to Milk River, AB where we spent the night in a truck stop. Monday morning we were at the border at 7:05, left there 7:19. The guard didn't have much time to spend on us. We fought wind all the way, clear roads, cloudy with sunny period skies and temperatures between 50 & 55 degrees F through Montana. Spent the night at the Flying J truck stop in McCammon.

Up Tuesday morning to frost on the windshield. Entered Utah at 8:25 am sunny skies + 36 F and were at Shirley's at 10:10. We went for lunch with them, then around 2:15 we headed west to Wendover, arriving there at 4:50 pm. We watered up, fueled up and parked in the casino truck parking lot surrounded by trucks, and refers (that is refrigerated vans that run all night). Thank goodness I was tired, didn't hear the trucks. The first picture is of one of the trucks parked near us.

Wednesday morning was a leisure one, had free shower in the truckers lounge, breakfast in fifth wheel and pulled out of Wendover, Nevada at 10:00 am, heading south on HWY 93. Climbed all the way - Whitehorse Pass 6025'; McGill 6193'; Ely 6435'. Stopped in Ely for fuel and groceries and ate lunch in rig. Left there at 2:15 pm +66F.

THE SECOND picture is of the arrow straight highway we were travelling. The highway would be arrow straight for as far as you could see, and you could see it climbing towards another pass. Murray Summit 7316'; Then it would be winding as we descended, then a repeat of arrow straight road, climbing . . . Currant Summit 6999' - descent 13 miles of S curves. Blackrock Summit 6257' and we are only 134 km from Ely and it is 4:30 pm +68F. Warm Springs Summitt 6293'; Saulsbury Summit 6522'; McKinley Tank Summit 6391' +75F; Tonapah Summit 6256' +73F. THE THIRD picture is just of some of the landscape as we travelled south.

From Ely to Tonapah is 373.1 km of endless nothing. We kept driving thru little towns, and even though they had an RV park, we didn't feel comfortable stopping. We finally stopped at the Hot Springs just north of Beatty just at dusk. We dry camped as we were not staying longer than overnight. Next morning fueled up in Beatty - at a candy store like no other candy store I'd even seen. Seemed like a mile of counters deep with everything you can imagine. Needless to say, I didn't stay in there long.

After all the ups and downs in the road we finally arrived at Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California -190' Elevation at 12:30 pm it was +84 F.

I now know what heat is like. Two days it was +97.8F. Just too hot to do much. We did have a very enjoyable time at Death Valley. Pulled in between Owen & Lynda and Terry and Kathy. Next to Terry & Kathy was Wayne and Gwen. We had a great time together. The mornings would find Gord and I walking up the highway, beginning at -190' and ending up at sea level. It was nearly a two mile climb, but then it was all down hill going home. We moved the truck twice, once to go to Scotty's Castle and once to go to the Furnace Creek Inn for a tour. Other than that, we walked everywhere.

On Sunday, we took Wayne & Gwen to Scotty's Castle. It was a great tour. If you wish to find out more about this beautiful setting in the desert go to www.desertusa.com/mag99/apr/stories/castle/html

4, 5 & 6 PICTURES are at Scotty's Castle built in the 1920's.

PICTURE 7 is looking down over Furnace Creek Campground

PICTURE 8 is of the Furnace Creek Inn from the highway

PICTURE 9 & 10 20 Mule Team Wagon used to haul Borax from the area.

PICTURE 11-15 is of the Furnace Creek Inn, the grounds & swimming pool.

PICTURE 16 is of the gathering of the wagons at the Furnace Creek Inn parking lot in preparation to entering Furnace Creek, as they re-enact the 20 mule teams which used to haul borax from this area.

Each day at the Visitor's Centre there is presentations. We took in "Wagons, Trains & Automobiles" and a presentation on Ravens. We had a pot luck spagetti supper on Wednesday evening. Music jams every night which Gordon just loved.

Saw a sign which I just loved:

"I CLEAN MY KITCHEN WITH A SWEEPING GLANCE!"

Thursday, November 11 Wayne & Gwen pulled out this morning.

Friday, November 12 Terry & Kathy left. Lynda & Owen invited us for Watermelon in the afternoon which turned into a full halibut supper which was very good.

Saturday, November 13 We left Death Valley and drove to Quartzsite, arriving just at dusk.

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Sunday morning I went into the Locust Lane Chapel to experience Conference. When I arrived only the two missionaries for the Moab area were there. Just before meeting started a young couple with three small children came in. That was all of us there. Visited a bit after with the family. They are from around Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They had spent five days rafting on the San Juan River. I would guess the children were from 14 months to 4 years. It was cold on land and I can't imagine what the river was like. She said it was cold, so when they got off the river they rented a motel for a night so they could have showers and warm up. Other than that they are tenting. I was the only one in the entire building all during the afternoon session.

Sunday Gordon accompanied Doug in his jeep, and Steve in his, and they did part of the "Steel Bender" trail. That is the first ride Gordon has been on at Moab.

Monday we spent the day cooking an Easter dinner for Doug & Phyllis and Steve. His wife is in Montana. It was a good dinner, and it was too cold to do anything other than go for a 1/2 mile walk to the falls. Saw these flowers on our way back. It was cold and windy. We are sooooo tired of the wind. We are unloading the quads tomorrow and are going for a ride unless it is pouring rain.

Tuesday morning we unloaded the quads, Steve in his jeep and Doug and Phyllis in theirs and we headed to the other end of "Steel Bender". We didn't get very far before I knew that I was in big trouble. My wrist was killing me. Didn't get much further when Gord rolled his machine on top of himself. He has some very sore ribs and a very sore right arm and a very broken machine. So much for Moab. It is too tough for us. We limped back to camp, the others followed us. I invited everyone to share the remainder of Monday's dessert which they jumped at. We visited until around 1:30 pm then everyone left. Around 3:00 we drove into town for straps, the straps broke on the box on the back of Gord's quad. Thank goodness for that box. . . that is twice it has saved his bacon. We loaded the machines and packed up all we could, then Doug and Phyllis suggested they take us to town for supper, but I think Gord was too sore for another trip over rough roads, and we had leftovers so they joined us.

We left campsite this morning around 9:00. Had breakfast with D & P at the Moab Diner, stayed long enough to get two parking tickets, $50.00, then we headed north and they went to get a spot in the campground where Steve is. We headed up 191 to I70 then to I15. What a beautiful drive. Had a bit of tail wind which was nice and tonight finds us sitting in the parking lot of Walmart in Payson, Utah. As neither one of us had much sleep last night is will be an early to bed night for us.

Friday & Saturday, April 2 & 3rd, 2010

It was a cold morning so we were slow in getting going. Left close to 11:30 to go to Arches National Park. Took a lunch and were planning on making a day of it.

Tunnel Arch
We had to do a bit of hiking to see some of these arches, but it was all worth the effort.

Pine Tree Arch - see the tree thru the arch

There is some very pretty trees throughout this country and I love to snap them against the sky.

Landscape Arch - 330' from end to end

The La Sal Mountains in distance

I liked this rock formation and the different colors.

North Window Arch

See the closeup of the top of North window corner

See the two small rocks in the grove on the right.

That is there the closeup is. I don't know what is holding the arch up there, but I didn't feel real comfortable standing under it.

Double Windows

Double Arch

These are just picts of neat rock formations and balanced rocks.

See the climbers - one mid way up and the other, a girl, at the bottom. In the next picture they are both at the top and he is standing on the very tip. We watched them climb up and down.

This is the Courthouse towers

Note the decorative thingies just up from the bottom

Courthouse Towers

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Rained during the night and there was snow this morning. The snow didn't stay, and I think if it had we wouldn't have! This morning the Easter Jeep Safari Trade Show opened. It was a very large show, and there must be a couple of thousand jeeps in town. We went down to the show for a few minutes. Old Spanish Trail Arena was the site, and it is very large and it was packed with vendors both inside and out. It was quite a sight to see. I didn't realize that jeeping was such a large industry.

It must be cold. . . Gord put on sweats today. Only once during the winter did he have on long pants, and that was to go out for supper.

It was +40 F at 8:30 pm. Will be a very chilly night.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Here it is, the last day of March and the year is 1/4 gone!

We left Kayenta after breakfasting at MacDonald's. The wind was still very strong, it blew hard all night. Thankfully three semis pulled in beside us and sheltered us considerably. We had both slides in and finally Gordon folded up the steps because they were rattling so bad. We actually thought we would have damage this morning, NO DAMAGE.

We travelled up Hwy 163 thru Monument Valley. There was a great deal of dust in the air, but we were travelling with the help of a tailwind. I snapped so many pictures that I had to download into the computer by late morning.

Monument Valley was very impressive. I would have liked to have had the time to stop and take some photos, rather than grabbing them on the run.

This photo is truly the colors of the rocks. It was really unbelievable how snowy white and pink they looked. We were a long way from them, but I used telephoto to get this much.

An Indian escort must be with you if you drive
thru Monument Valley other than on Hwy 163.

They really don't seem to be too interested in sharing this beauty.

Around noon just north of "Hole in the Rock" we pulled into a rest area for lunch. Utah has the right idea. They have rest areas and they are open to the public. Arizona has beautiful and spacious rest areas and most have them are closed to the public. Go figure! Trying to save money. While we were stopped for lunch, Doug & Phyllis told us that this week was the Jeep Jamborie in Moab, so it may be hard to find a camping spot.

We headed towards Ken's Lake, a camp for fee area on BLM land about 10 miles south of Moab.

At 1:15 we all pulled over, Doug unloaded the jeep and he and Gord went looking. Found the last spot at Ken's Lake so Gord stayed to reserve the spot. Doug returned, Phyllis drove jeep, Doug their bus and I the truck and 5th wheel. It is a bit tight on site with a bus, 5th wheel, jeep trailer, quad trailer, pick up and jeep, but it is $12 per night for all of us together, so the price is right. There is a pit toilet and garbage dump just up the road three sites, so what more could a body ask?

The wind is whistling around RV almost as bad as last night, and it is a lot colder temperature wise. +60 here compared to +70 at Kayenta. We do feel much safer here that in Kayenta, and no one will be coming begging for handouts here.

Hope you enjoy the few pictures of Monument Valley I have included.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Woke up in the K-Mart parking lot in Show Low, AZ. Doug had left for parts by 6:30 am. We didn't know if we would be spending a day in Show Low waiting for parts to be shipped from points east or west. However, he was home and had the bus fixed by 8:30 am.

Drove with a tailwind from Show Low up Hwy 77 to Holbrook. Hopped onto I40 to Flagstaff. Bucked a headwind all the way. It was a very slow, stressful trip. From Flagstaff we took Hwy 89 North to junction of 160. These pictures are of the scenery as we passed it by.

The wind was so strong that in some places we could hardly see in the distance.

There were some prosperous looking farms and then there was desolation around the next bend.

The soil is very reddish rust or a very light beige.

Here is from one extreme to the other - a poor tumbled down, falling apart home and then on the hill was this large, well kept place.

I cannot have ever imagined the amount of land that was seemingly unproductive. Arizona does have a number of copper and silver mines, but it is just impossible to imagine the hundreds of thousands of unused acres in just one state.

Then . . .

out in the middle of nowhere there is a set of corrals! Must be cattle somewhere, but what would they eat?

And then, in the middle of tabletop flat acres there arises a majestic mesa. Can't you just image the Apaches up on top of the mesa watching the cavalry march by, and getting a good laugh out of it? Have I been reading too many westerns?

I can see why the Indians wouldn't stay on their assigned reservation. They would have starved. There are a few jack rabbits but we have seen very little of anything else in the five months we have been in Arizona. Oh, we have seen a couple

of coyotes.

Holbrook had these cute Dinos to welcome us as we drove into town.

Now the land is fairly rocky.

Oh goodie! SNOW in the mountains, and we are headed for the mountains.

There were signs "Headlights on Day and Night" the dust storms were so bad. How else could these giant carvings happen?

The wind was very strong, but from Flagstaff to Kayenta it was more of a tailwind.

Kayenta is on the Navajo Nations Reservation. The dirt was blowing when we stopped at 3:00 pm to fuel both vehicles and people. Actually, we stopped at this restaurant for a pie fix for Doug, and ended up eating our meal for the day. Gordon ordered a Navajo Taco and did he get a plate full. Dinner plate covered with Frybread

topped with all you would find in a taco. I had

ordered soup so I got to share his taco. The servings were very nice and very tasty.

We were all too tired to go further, and the wind was picking up, so we pulled into a shopping centre and requested permission to spend the night. As we walked to the shops the sand was hitting us with such force that it was very painful.

I really thought we were going to lose the roof, or at least the solar panels off the roof, the wind was so extremely strong.

We had a terrible banging until Gordon finally

folded in the stairs. A semi pulled in and was a partial wind break for us which helped.

Two visitors came, the first, a woman, around 5:30 pm. She really hated to ask, but she had her son with her and she needed to get to Flagstaff and didn't have money for gas. Could we help her with $15, and $1 for her son to have a Dollar Meal at MacDonald's. MacDonald's was just a stones throw from us. We considered that as our fee for camping. However, around 8:30 a knock on the door brought a man.

"You are on my land" No, Gordon explained, we had permission from the Mall to stay here.

"You are on my land - where you from?"

Alberta Well, could you spare some gas money

So, we had to pay an additional $5 for our campground fee. He did wish us God Speed.

After that we turned out the lights, went to bed and put dark towels on the windows so we could

read without getting more visitors. We were unsure if we would be vandalized if we didn't help "with the gas" to wherever.

We asked if the wind always blows like that and some said yes and some said no, but when you look at the rock formations you think that the wind must always blow in this country.