Nice Canyons but Snow Anyone?

Apr 30th – Almost two weeks in the RV. Time really is flying by. Today we toured the Canyonlands National Park. The Arches was all about things that pointed up from the ground. Canyonlands is all about things that dug out, below the ground. What a bipolar view of Utah. The canyons were pretty but once again we encountered some weather. The breeze blew pretty good and the temp dropped and it started to precipitate. Let’s see, what form of precipitation do you get when it’s really cold? Snow. One of the photos shows Maggie and Val with snow beginning to fall. So, we didn’t spend too much time outdoors today. According to the weatherman it’s supposed to get down to 30 tonight; burr. The other picture is of one of the canyons.

After returning to the RV we had supper and Maggie and I were looking at the mountain across from the campground. We thought we saw a small trickle of water down a rock face so we set out to investigate. We climbed up some pretty steep rocks and almost made it to the top when we realized it wasn’t the most appropriate way to get there. What helped was we encountered bad weather again. The wind blew hard and we were hit with rain and snow. It got pretty cold so we ducked into a cave for shelter. Made sure there weren’t any mountain lions in it first. After the weather cleared a bit we had to come down some and take a different approach. We made it though. We found out it wasn’t a waterfall. It looked like it because there was algae streaking down the face of the rock below a low spot that looked like a spillway. I think water does run there from time to time. Probably when it rains. At any rate, Maggie and I had to find our way down now. It took a while but the entire walk took about 2 hours. It was fun. We had a walkie talkie with us and I had to call Val a couple of times and have her tell us if we were walking towards a cliff drop off or if we might be able to climb down. Val was in the RV and she was watching us with binoculars.

Tomorrow we leave headed for the southwest part of the state. More to come.

Weather Wonderland

April 29 – All I can say about last night is WOW. That’s an acronym for Wildly Outrageous Winds. We had to move the slides of the motorhome in due to the winds. It was really bad. Even with the rooms in we rocked and rolled like a toy. We talked to some people in town and they said they saw news that Salt Lake had 80 mph winds and 18 wheelers blew over. We got the same storm I guess. I expected to see no paint on the back end of the coach when I got up this morning. It’s still there.

I took pictures of the storm coming, hail on the windshield and the third is the campground by the river. Nice view eh?

As forecasted, it was cold this morning; 39 when we woke up. We decided to go for a drive up the Colorado River on Hwy 128, a scenic byway. We got about 12 miles from the campground and the storm came in. It started hailing; not big but lots of it. It quickly covered the ground, including the road with about 1 inch of hail stones. We couldn’t see 100 yards so we decided to turn around while we could and go back to the motorhome. When it was hailing the temp was 35; burr. When we got back home, Val made some home made potato soup. It warmed the coach and made the whole place smell great. Yum. According to the radio we’re in for similar weather through the weekend.

Wind Wind Go Away

April 28, 2010 – Well, the weather here has changed some. Today the winds were 50+ mph. Every bit of dirt in Utah is airborne. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be raining and temps in the 30-50 range. So, we thought we’d better do Arches National Park today. Big mistake. We each gained 5 pounds on our hike; all dirt. Our legs and faces were hurting from being hit by all the sand. When we washed our hair the sink was full of red sand. Val said she liked the red tint in her hair, it complimented the grey. You can see the sand flying in the air in the taller photo. That's Val walking through a narrow space between two large rocks.

The scenery is beautiful but man the wind is horrible. The temp is OK, somewhere in the 70’s I think. We took a lot of photos. The rock formations have energized Maggie’s imagination. She keeps seeing animals and people’s faces in the different shapes and colors of the park. Won’t be long and she’ll be seeing things without the rocks. We’ll keep you posted.

Here's the photo

Made it to Utah

April 27 – After a peaceful night at the Wal-mart in Cortez, Colorado we awoke to a clear sunny day. The temp was high 60’s in the morning; absolutely gorgeous. We took advantage of being so close to our favorite campground, I mean store, and did a little shopping. We expect to be isolated for the next week or so. We left about noon and made the drive to Moab, Utah. We stopped along the way and had lunch. The rock/cliff formations in this area are really something. Like being on another planet. The photo you see is called the church. Notice the snow capped mountains in the background.

Once we arrived at Moab we parked the coach, dismounted the SUV from the tow dolly and headed out to find an inexpensive place to park. We’ve been reading an E-book on places you can park for free so we went out to see what they were like. The ones we found were pretty remote and we decided not to stay so far away from the action. We came back, closer to town and found a BLM park right on the Colorado River. The river, the rocks and cliffs are beautiful.

We hope to be here several days to take in both National Parks and other sites.

Still more Wind

April 23 – Leaving El Paso about 11 or so (the girls were shopping) we were not able to connect with our friends who live outside of town because they apparently changed their cell phone number and didn’t tell us the new one (hum, wonder if something is up?) So, we pressed on to Albuquerque. Once again the winds were howling. All day long we had high winds and hills. I don’t know how we could spend so might time driving uphill. I hope the roads will be downhill when we go home. Even with the winds and hills we’re still getting 7 mpg with the motorhome. I swear we’ve spent half of the time driving in third gear because of the driving conditions.

Our friends in Albuquerque are on the road visiting their new grandchild so we didn’t stop there either. We drove through to a small town in the mountains called Cuba. As we pulled into town we noticed fresh snow on the lower hills. It was a little cold. With permission of the local sheriff we camped at the city park. Yes, another free night. Had the whole place to ourselves. Nice and quiet. According to the thermometer on the coach, it got down to 38 that night.

April 24 – We arrived in Farmington, NM at our friend Sam’s house late Friday morning. He has a big yard and we were able to park the coach in his front yard. Yes, more free nights! We stayed at Sam’s a couple of days and relaxed. Sam is a good cook and made some New Mexico chili and beans. It was great. Saturday night his brother Dave came over with a guitar and we built a bon fire and stayed up till 2:30 singing and having a good time. Well, let me clarify, I stayed up and Val and Maggie went to bed.

Sunday we just took it easy and hung around the place. We watched Sam’s daughter play a flag football game. Kind of weird to watch a 7 girl team play flag football. The winds weren’t too bad and the temperature was in the mid 70’s. Kind of nice.

April 26 – We left headed for Mesa Verde in Colorado. We walked through Indian cliff dwellings that were built in 600’s. They were occupied until the late 1200’s. Amazing to learn how they lived off the land and used what was available to them to not only survive but prosper. After hiking up and down cliffs all day we drove to nearby Cortez, Colorado. We were wondering where we would stop for the night and our question was answered almost immediately; Wal-mart. Yes, yet another free night. America is a great place to live!

OMG! What a day

We met some bikers yesterday and we talked about the best way to get out of the park so I could go the direction I needed. They told me the road to Persidio was excellent and it is marked as a scenic route. So, off we went. MY BAD. A great road to a biker is one with lots of twists and turns. OMG! It was horrible. The road was so narrow I could hardly keep the coach on one lane then there were the rocks hanging out. Oh, and did I mention the sign 12 miles in that said there were steep grades and washed out areas? There was more than one 15% grade to go up. We made it but at a blazing speed of 5 mph. I almost asked Val and Maggie to get out and push.

Once we got on a real road the winds kicked up to 40-50 mph. We're now in a parking lot at a Wal-mart in El Paso and the wind is rockin. Hopefully the drive will be better tomorrow.

On a good note, we saw about a dozen big horned sheep. Yes, they ran right in front of the coach as we were flying down a hill. What an exciting day!

– Tuesday we went to the Chisos mountains. We hiked two trails, one was called the window and the other was the basin loop. We saw some great scenery and got real close (10 feet) to a couple of deer. We probably hiked 2 miles total and were a little tired and decided that was enough. One of the trails was pretty steep, lots of up and downs.
We ate lunch at some picnic tables at the visitors center and met a guy, Boston, who has been traveling for over 4 years now. He hitch hikes and hobos his way around the country with his dog Tunanga. He was a character.
We took some time to recharge the battery in the computer and accessed the WIFI at the gift shop. We checked our email and updated our blog.
On the way back to the motorhome we stopped at a place called Dugout wells. It was an oasis in the middle of the desert. There were green trees and a windmill that pumped a trickle. They had several trails to walk where we learned a lot about the local cactus and plants.
For dinner we ate some of Lynn’s chili. It was great as usual. Thanks Lynn.
We stayed up late about 11; Val was reading and Maggie and I went to an amphitheater and saw a program on how to be friendly to the planet. It was pretty neat sitting under the stars and having the warm breezes blow.

Wednesday we went to several places on the Rio Grande river. We hiked up rock cliffs and into a canyon that had a spectacular view of some very high canyon walls. It was pretty hot and Val got a little dehydrated and started to feel not so hot. So, we sat under some trees in the shade and ate a little lunch. Val mostly drank. Water! After about 45 minutes she felt a little better so we left and started driving home; back to the RV. We drove over some interesting roads. First 14 miles of gravel road including two river crossings and once we were on the paved road again we crossed two more water/mud /river crossings. Maggie got the SUV all dirty and I had to wash it. If you’re going to drag a Lexus behind a motorhome, it should look good.
We met some interesting people in the campground. Frank and Sara live in Lubbock and were across the street from us. He build street rods for a hobby. We met another couple that live in Washington state in the area around the gorge. He invited us to stay at his place. Said he had room for the RV and would like to show us around the area. He gave us his card and we plan on visiting him probably in June.
We had a great dinner of grilled tilapia, soy peas and quinoa. The neighbors we smelling it and wanted to join us but I said no. We drank glass after glass of ice tea. Apparently we were all a little dehydrated. Now the breezes are blowing and the temperature is about 82. We’re sitting outside and enjoying it all.
By the way, Val has read three books already and I still haven’t cut my hair. She made me say that.
That’s all for today We’re headed towards El Paso today and on to Albuquerque, NM then Durango Co.

Here is a photo of us standing in front of "The Window" on that trail. We hiked two trails on Tuesday. Saw deer and lots of birds. The campground is full of Bird Nerds; people walking around with binoculars looking at birds. Not my cup of tea but . . .

Just left Big Bend and headed towards El Paso then on to NW New Mexicon and Durango Colorado. Weather is great.

Big Bend National Park

Been here a couple days now. Weather is great. We sat in a natural hot springs last night. Water was 105 degrees. It was right on the bank of the Rio Grande. Kind of weird sitting in that hot water and looking across the river at the Mexico. Lots of cactus blooming. We'll leave for NM on Thursday.

Buzzard Bashing

Well, we had a great start to our journey. Wanted to leave by 8 but didn't until 9. Ah, the good life.... Any way, about 85 miles from the house a bunch of buzzards were dining on some kind of road kill and as we drove by, Bam, one flew in front of the motorhome and hit us with a very loud crunching sound. We stopped to check for damage but other than the buzzard laying in the middle of the road there was none. Whew, dogged that bullet.

We're in Del Rio now; stopped for gas and lunch. The wild flowers have been gorgeous.

Will give you more later.

Gary

We're in our last two weeks of preparation. Val and Maggie have already retired and I have two more weeks. Yahoo!

Here's a photo of what we're leaving; all the wild flowers are blooming in our front yard. Ahhh