Tuesday - Day 20

In Santa Rosa, New Mexico tonight. Long day, nearly 400 miles. All is well here. Spent yesterday at Mesa Verde National Park. Great place! To tired to post more. Will catch up Wed or Thur.
God is good, may He bless you & yours.

Sunday - Day 18

We took that day off today.  Last nights low was in the mid-30's, today's  high didn't reach 60. The sun was so bright that it didn't feel all that cold. I sat outside for almost an hour wearing a long sleeve shirt and light jacket. When a cloud passed in front of the sun it got a little chilly but in the full sun it was very nice.

We stayed around the park until near noon then drove into Cortez. It is a NICE community, at least everywhere we went. We stopped at Pippos for lunch. I had an open face "hot beef" sandwich that came with a nice salad. Kathy had a burrito. Both were excellent. Kathy got "chive fries" with her burrito. They were so good that I ordered a side order of them for my dessert.

The campground is still under construction. Looks like they just finished the "carpet" for the putting green. The owners will have a top notch campground when it is finished.

Badmitton (tennis?) courts in background, also a horseshoe pitching area.

After lunch we stopped at Walgreen's to refill several prescriptions. A nice thing about Walgreens is that they all have access to your files. You can easily refill a prescription at any Walgreens. Then it was on to Big R where we bought some fiberglass pipe wrap insulation and an outdoor thermometer.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Mesa Verde National Park. It is only about 15 miles from here.

We went out and looked at the stars a few minutes ago (10:30). The thermometer, located just outside the door, read 39. It is supposed to drop to 28 tonight. Tomorrow the high/low is forecast to be 63/31.

There are 3 water drains under the trailer that extend through the insulation under the floor. I wrapped them with the fiberglass and covered them with duct tape. Also, I'm a leery of the waste drains on trailers. I still remember laying under our old Jayco, while parked at Tom & Mary Lou's campground in Tennessee, using a hair dryer trying to thaw out the valves on the drain lines so that I could empty the wastewater tanks. I also taped the exposed portions of the drains. I don't think anything would freeze at 28 but thought it best to take precautions, temperatures are supposed to be below freezing for 8 hours.

Tomorrow night should be the last of our cold/cool temps. Tuesday night we should be in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Overnight low there on Tuesday night is forecast to be 54.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Saturday - Day 17

This morning I stepped out the trailer about 8:30. Weatherbug, an app on my phone, said the temperature was 40 degrees. I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt, no jacket. The sun was so bright that I didn't need a jacket as I unhooked utilities from the trailer and hooked it back up to the truck.

We drove a little over 192 miles today, from Tuba City, Arizona to Dolores, Colorado (If you look you may not find Dolores on your map but you will see Cortez. We are actually closer to Cortez than Dolores.) The highest temperature my truck thermometer reported during our drive was 74. We plan on staying here 2 nights, maybe 3.

Within walking distance of the campground in Tuba City was a  Navajo Museum. The Museum was closed but we did manage to get in to see a section on the Navajo Code Talkers. Their story is impressive. The Germans had their Enigma Machine for code. We had the Navajo Code Talkers.

I thought this exhibit was interesting. It shows how political correctness is changing our society. Note this is the battle gear provided a WWII soldier.

 Note the bottom left corner.

 Soldiers were issued a Bible. Isn't it interesting how ignorant we used to be. Now we know so much about what the original framers of the Constitution meant with the 1st Amendment.

 

We stopped to fix lunch at a shopping center in Kayenta, AZ. There were a bunch of other RV'ers who were doing the same thing.

Some scenery along the way. Rock formations like this one just pop out of the ground.

 Hills like this one are common occurrences. Probably a 200' climb in 3/4 mile. Soon there will be a downhill section.

We made a stop at Four Corners, the only place in the US where four states meet at a point. It is a pretty commercialized spot. All four sides/states have rows of booths.

Our feet are in 4 different states. Utah, Arizona, New Mexico & Colorado.

Then it was on to Cortez & Dolores.

 The way the sun was shining on this area it made it look like it lit up an entry to a huge cave. We don't think there was actually a cave.

 Entering Cortez.

At the campground in Dolores. Yes that is snow on the tops of the mountains in the background.

 Parked and set up.

 Sunset.

We drove down the road a few miles and had supper at an "authentic" Mexican Restaurant.

 It was a good day.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Friday - Day 16

We drove to Grand Canyon National Park today, 184 miles round trip, now 2,136 miles since leaving Centertown.

Yesterday’s drive to Tuba City, from Bryce Canyon, was almost all 2 lane highway. Most of the roads were in good shape until maybe the last 50 miles in Arizona. The road surface was looked in good shape but there was one dip after another in the roadway. It was like riding a bucking bronco. The roads to and from the Grand Canyon were also all 2 lane and a little rough. No huge potholes but lots of patches that made bumps.

Our first impression of Grand Canyon National Park was pretty negative. It seems that the National Park Service isn’t aware that we have a Constitution. Prior to entering the general area where the Visitors Center is located we found that our 1^st Amendment right to free speech was no longer in effect.

As we entered the Visitor’s Center we found that our 2^nd Amendment right to bear arms was no longer in effect.

 We have not seen a similar warning in the other national park visitor centers we have entered. It is a sad commentary on how we have allowed the federal government to run amok, trampling our rights/freedoms.

Kathy and I both were tired today and we agreed that our impressions were probably somewhat skewed because we were tired. We also think our judgment was tempered because of the several days we spent in Bryce Canyon & Red Canyon. Even though Bryce Canyon is not nearly as large at the Grand Canyon we thought the scenery was much more impressive. We would suggest that anyone who comes out here sightseeing should see the Grand Canyon first and then go to Bryce Canyon. If you can only do one then go to Bryce. We did not have time to go to Zion National Park, in Utah, but we had people tell us that the scenery there was also grand.

We were amazed at the crowds. We had to wait for the 3rd shuttle bus.

 The canyon was impressive.

 This is a photo of the far (north) side of the canyon, with my camera zoomed out. It is 10 miles across the canyon.

 A glimpse of the Colorado River down below, again with the camera zoomed out. The river is over 3,000 feet below the rim

 Some rapids in the river, again over 3,000 feet below where I am standing.

 A menu from a snack stand. For those who have cruised with me, imagine my disappointment, NO HOT DOGS!

Actually we were favorably impressed at the food prices. Kathy had a coffee from another stand earlier in the AM. It cost $1.30 and she said it was good coffee. We had to wait for 15 minutes to be seated for lunch but the food was good. I had beef stew in a bread bowl. It was very good. Kathy had an Arizona Cob salad which she said was good. $24 total, including tax. We thought that was very reasonable considering the location. (We didn't have drinks. Cokes and ice teas were $2.90.)

This tower was the first area we explored. I was unimpressed when I learned that it was not really a stone tower. It was stone veneer over a steel frame. Some of the other "stone" buildings were also just veneers. It reminded me of Disney World.

When we were in this area we watched a fool enter a prohibited area and climb onto a rock outcropping so his friends could take his photo. In 2014 there were 24 fatalities in the park, normally there are about a dozen a year. It is interesting that the number of people falling to their deaths is declining while the number dying from exposure, dehydration, etc is increasing. One bus driver said we would not believe how unprepared some hikers are when they head out onto the trails.

Tomorrow we head to Cortez, Colorado. While there we want to visit Mesa Verde National Park to see the cliff dwellings.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Wed - Day 14 & Thur Day 15

Paid $2.999 for fuel at the campground Wed. Paid $2.719 at Cameron, AZ today. Have driven 1980 miles since we left.

Wednesday morning I was still TIRED from all our walking on Tuesday. I told Kathy I wasn’t going to do anything but get out of the truck, take a look and get back in the truck. No walking for me.

First thing in the morning we drove 5 miles past the Bryce Canyon entrance to the small town of Tropic, Utah, just to look it over. On the way over we noticed a few cars stopped at a point of interest. On the way back we stopped to check it out.

It was for Mossy Cave and a chance to view a small waterfall if you walked back in along the path. I said lets go.

 We crossed 2 bridges like this one. Both were spliced at mid-span. I still wonder how in the world they go them back in here.

 The rock formations are just awesome.

 The waterfall. The original Mormon settlers diverted some of the Seveir River to provide water to this area they hand dug a many miles long canal. Where possible they used existing canyons. This is a section where they used an existing canyon for the canal. The waterfall is probably 25' tall.

 I went up the path to the waterfall. This is a photo looking back downstream.

 Then I had to walk up the path to Mossy Cave. There is a spring in the cave that feeds down into the canal waterway. I was feeling pretty good about my stamina until I started back down and met a young lady pushing a baby in a baby stroller up the hill. My ego was CRUSHED! 😊

 I took this photo from while walking back to the truck. Mossy Cave is up in the rocks, just on the left side of the large pine tree.

 This is the rock formation shown in an earlier photo, from the backside.

After that we went into the Park and had lunch at one of the hotels. The lunch was a buffet that was overpriced (thought we were in Alaska) but adequate. The shuttle we had ridden on yesterday only took people about 3 miles into the park. Rainbow Point is 15 miles into the park, on a nicely paved road. In addition there are a lot of other viewing places along the road. We drove into park to take a look. Our National Park Senior Passes got us on yesterday’s shuttle for free and saved us the $30 vehicle entry fee Wed. I can’t describe the scenery. Below are a few photos but they don’t come close to giving an idea of how grand it is.

 Rainbow Point is the highest we have been.

 You can see for miles. The ridge for off in the distance, at the top of the photo, is about 15 miles away.

This rock is larger than my truck.

Between the rock formations we took photos of yesterday, and the ones from today, are acres and acres of meadows. We saw about a dozen antelope grazing in one area about 100 yards off the road. They were in a place where is wasn't a good idea to pull off and stop so we didn't get a photo.

 Thursday morning we took our time getting around and headed for The Quality Inn & RV Park inTuba City, Arizona. It had been windy Wed. but today it was really WINDY. Constant winds, mostly headwinds from 10-30 mph, and some 5+ mile long 6% grades gave the GMC a workout. This morning we were 7,750 feet above sea level at the campground. Nowhere were there any significant stretches fo road that were level. It was always “down one hill” then “up the next hill”. At the Glen Canyon Dam bridge we were only about 3,900 feet above sea level. Within just a few miles we climbed 2,200 feet to elevation 6,120.

We stopped at a Bureau of Land Management Visitors Center near Lake Powell. Kathy fixed us lunch and then we walked around the Center. It had some interesting displays of dinosaur fossils that have been found in the area. 

The bridge at Glen Canyon Dam is 700 feet above the water below. It has nice walkway on both sides so that you can look downstream from the dam and upstream at the dam. The wind was blowing so hard while we were standing on the dam that you could actually feel it move slightly sideways in the gusts. It was COOL!

 Below are small motorized pontoons that you can rent.

 The dam generates electricity, in addition to impounding a massive amount of water.

 Looking downstream. To bad the color is all washed out. The rocks walls are varying shades of pink and the water is as blue as blue gets.

 Looking further downstream.

 Another view of the dam. The green at the bottom is not grass, it is scummy water.

 The bridge.

 Temperature last night got down to about 50. The highest we saw today was mid 80’s. Here in Tuba City tonight’s low is supposed to be around 60. Tomorrows high/low at the Grand Canyon is forecast to be 65/26. We are at the campground in Tuba City, instead of at the Grand Canyon because I didn’t want to deal with below freezing temperatures. We will leave the trailer here, do a day trip to the Grand Canyon tomorrow, stay in Tuba City tomorrow night and then head to Cortez, Colorado Saturday morning. Tuba City’s overnight low is forecast to be 38 Friday night.

No WiFi in tonights campground, nor the one we stayed at the last couple of nights. Have to go to the office to connect. Hope this isn't to garbled. I didn't do a lot of proofreading.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.