Seetheworld2

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Trip Update April 2010 Part 2 Utah

Monument Valley

Pat and John in Monument Valley

Sand Art on a larg scale

Newspaper Rock

Utah
From the Grand Canyon we headed into Utah. We endured a dust storm as we toured Navajo National Monument and entered Monument Valley. At Monument Valley, we had the choice of taking a commercial tour (cost $100) or a self drive tour for $10. We were told the dirt road was passable for RVs, so being a cheap bas***, I chose the $10 option. The road was rougher than I expected, and at some point our bike rack bounced out of its bracket and we dragged the bikes across the rocks. The bikes were in a new bike cover. Now the cover was shredded and there was obvious damage to Pat’s bike. Suddenly my $90 savings didn’t seem too smart. In addition, our ‘Check Engine’ light came on and we had to replace some oxygen sensors.
We finally got to Canyonlands NP, Needles area. We got some hiking done here but were unable to find a campsite, so we headed into Moab. In addition to getting Pat’s bike fixed ($103), we spent a couple of days hiking and exploring Arches NP. Several more days were spent at the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands NP. One day we rented a four wheel drive Jeep and toured many of the canyons that would be inaccessible otherwise.
For the last six weeks we have been traveling in what is called Red Rock Country or Canyon Country; at least that what the tourist bureau calls it. I call it Wind, Thorn and Rock country. If it is not solid rock, it either has thorns or will be blown in your face by the wind. OK, I guess I’m getting a bit tired of 20 shades of red - I miss green. With this focus, we left the Moab area and headed for California. First I had to get some minor toe surgery done.

Trip Update April 2010 Part 3 Nevada

Delicate Arch (on Utah's vehicle tags) Arches NP, UT

Landscape Arch (One of the longest stone arches in the world, 306 feet long), Arches NP

View from Island in the Sky, Canyonlands NP, UT

View of Colorado River from Dead Horse SP, UT

Nevada
We stopped in Vegas for a weekend and caught the show “Defending the Caveman”. This show had been in Washington, DC for about 20 years, but we never got around to seeing it. It was a one man show and he attempted to disprove the theory that “All Men are A**holes”. It was a fun way to get relationship counseling. We went out to see Hoover Dam and toured the visitor center. We passed on the dam tour since we had taken a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam recently. Unfortunately, I decided to make the drive from Vegas to Bakersfield CA on a Sunday afternoon. After sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour, I felt like I was returning from Ocean City on Memorial Day.

Trip Update April 2010 part 4 California

Avalanche Lillies

Our 4 wheel adventure in Canyonlands NP

Wild flower

Mule Deer

California
After the heat of the desert, it was hard to imagine that we could not get into Sequoia NP due to snow. We were camped at 2000’ and waited for a chance to get up to 6500 feet, where the really big trees are, but we had neither chains nor snow tires with 4 wheel drive, and that’s what was required to climb the mountain. Maybe we could have made it, but after our Monument Valley fiasco, we were not feeling real adventurous with the RV.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Trip Update TX-AZ March 2010 Part 1

Texas Bluebell

Don at Inks SP in TX

Cap Rock Canyon State Park

A Cap Rock at Palo Duro SP

We spent most of the month touring some of the state parks in Texas. We started in the Pinelands, north of Houston, moved west to the Hill Country near Austin, and then north- west into canyon country near Amarillo. I expected to like the Pinelands area best with its lakes and tall pine trees. I was not disappointed. Sometimes it felt like we were in South Carolina, not Texas. The Hill Country has the reputation of being the best area of Texas, but the rolling hills seemed a bit empty without the pines we saw east of Austin. Our biggest surprise was the Panhandle area and its canyons. We thought we were in Utah. Did you know the second deepest canyon in the U.S. is Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo?
For the most part we really enjoyed hiking and exploring these parks. We did manage to plan our visit to Caprock Canyon during Texas’ spring break week. There was an extensive hiker-biker trail near the Park, so one day we disconnected our power cord at the site and drove about 8 miles to the start of the trail. We planned to bike on the trail, but discovered the front tire on Pat’s bike would not hold air. So Pat rode my bike down the trail for five minutes, dropped the bike and started walking. I walked up to the bike and rode it until I caught up with Pat. Using this method we covered 9 miles in about 2 hours. When we returned to our campsite we found that someone decided they needed our power cord and door mat more than we did. We spent the next two cold nights at the campground. When we got to Amarillo we were able to replace our $80 RV power cord. More than likely the people that stole our cord thought it was a heavy duty extension cord, but it was probably useless to them once they examined it closely.
While in the Amarillo area near Palo Duro Canyon, we got ready for a blizzard. It turned out to be only 4-5 inches of snow, but the wind was fierce. After the storm passed we did have several excellent days of hiking in the canyons. As we moved further west the wind keep increasing in intensity. New Mexico was one long dust storm. Do you know what happens when it rains during a dust storm? It rains mud! It was very weird. We heard that I-40 was closed a few days later due to the dust storms.
We took a side trip through the Petrified Forest on our way to Sedona. We heard Sedona was not RV friendly, so we rented a car in Flagstaff. It turned out that RV parking was not banned in Sedona - it was just difficult to find a place to park a large vehicle. We had a timeshare in Sedona and were able to park our RV at the resort. Having a car to zip around Sedona and be able to park at trail heads made the rental worthwhile. We were joined during the week by Linda, a friend from my college years. We spent several days hiking some of the numerous trails in this beautiful Red Rock area. Before the week was over Pat and I took a hot air balloon ride. We have had this on our “Bucket List“ for a long time. We were disappointed that instead of floating over the dramatic canyons, we got a bird’s eye view of Sedona’s wastewater treatment plant and spray irrigation system. Had I still been working in this field, maybe I could have considered this a business expense! In ballooning, you go where the wind blows you. Despite that we had an excellent time in Sedona and extended our stay several more days.