Yet another Wal-Mart

Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em...

We made it into Tennessee today, staying at yet another Wally World tonight.  This time there are quite a few RV's and tractor trailers in this area of the lot with us.  Sure hope that guy next to us doesn't run his motor all night.

One more night on the road should put us home in the early afternoon on Tuesday.  It's been a great trip.  We've seen so much of our beautiful country.  As we tooled down the interstate today, at a brisk 65 mph, I grinned when I realized that I had actually passed a truck!  No longer the slowest, most tentative rig on the road!  With over 5000 miles combined experience in driving this moose, we are much more comfortable with it.  Plus, a good alignment, the correct tire pressure, and correct pressure in the little airbags in the springs has helped the handling a lot.  Now, if gas would just drop about 50%....

Smoke is resigned to these long days of driving.  She just lays in the passenger's lap and sleeps.  She will be SO happy to be home in her nice stable house.  I do admit that apparently the activity in the WM parking lots is of great interest.  She spends a lot of the night time under the curtains, watching out.  Maybe that's why she sleeps so much.  mmm...

Home soon, we hope, RV willing, and we can't wait to see family and friends!!!

Another state, another Wal-Mart

Made it in the rain to Arkansas.  This Wal-Mart is much less noisy and busy.  In company with several other RV'ers.
When we stopped for gas before we drove across the street to WM, the RV wouldn't start.  sigh.  We were blocking about 4 pumps for a couple of hours.  I should have gotten a picture but I was afraid the other customers would run me down. The roadside service we have did get someone out, they found a loose starter wire, and we seem to be healed.  Again, sigh. Hopefully Tennessee tomorrow and home on Monday!

En Route!

We are on our way home.  Made it as far as OK today ---- staying in high style at a local Wal-Mart parking lot!

You have no idea how noisy and busy a 24-hour WM is at 9:30 at night....

Albquerque

We had a great day today, visiting with Luke's Uncle Gust.  Gust had some papers from Luke's father's past and some family pictures that they reviewed, plus just going over "old times" and old relatives!

We all enjoyed the visit.
Now we're looking forward to heading east.

Capital Reef and Canyon de Chelly

Capital Reef is a giant buckle in the earth’s crust that stretches over 100 miles across south-central Utah.  The formation is actually called a Waterpocket Fold.  Imagine 100 miles of this…

 

Amazing rocks lay at the base of the tall cliffs.

 Not all formations look alike.

 

Many are only one one side of the road.  The other side looks like the desert it is, flat with juniper bushes, this beautiful yellow flower I have yet to identify (help?), and tourists with cameras.

 Slot canyons are in the park – this one is a 1 mile walk down the riverbed into the slot canyon. 

 

The slot canyon was the only way through the Capital Reef in the late 1800’s when the area was settled.  It was dangerous  - a sudden thunderstorm, even 50 miles away, could cause a flash flood that would fill the slot canyon in minutes.  Today, warnings are posted everywhere, advising checking the weather carefully before you hike there.  The old explorers and settlers did use the river canyon, though, and were proud to place their names in the “pioneer register” on the slot wall.

 

Of course, there were many before…

 

Like wasn’t easy.  This cabin sheltered mom, dad, and 10 kids.  The parents and two youngest slept in the cabin.  The girls made beds in the wagons outside.  The boys carved sleeping holes in the rocks. Mmm…

 

A few of the Mormon settlers did manage to make a good life for a while.  Nestled in the bottom of the canyon, against the above-mentioned flood prone river, they were able to divert water and raise fruit trees, dairy cows, chickens, and produce.  The little community was named Fruita.  Living with the constant threat – and reality – of flooding, no more than 10 families every lived there at one time, but some did last until the late 1960’s.

On Monday we drove down into Arizona, to Canyon de Chelly.  The trip was beautiful.  We passed through endless miles of scenic road that we loved (we have learned that "scenic highway" does not mean "good highway"...)

 

Put the rv into places that you usually see in the promo ads.

 

One particularly beautiful spot was overlooking the Glen Canyon, which holds part of Lake Powell.  WOW is all we can say.

 

Rocks seem to just spring up out of nowhere.

 Next, Canyon de Chelly --

The Canyon de Chelly National Park is a bit unusual as it is a shared responsibility with the Navajo Nation.  The park  is indeed a national one, but as the land is Navajo reservation, it is also home to many local Navajos.  It’s a bit unusual to see both a national park and scattered homes in the same space.  To respect the privacy of the locals, visitors are allowed to view at the overlooks, but to hike, you must employ a Navajo guide (there is one hike that is the exception). 

 Also, the Navajos are allowed to peddle their art wares at the overlooks.  There are some beautiful paintings, pottery, and jewelry, but they are expensive for me.  Our campsite is a private enterprise by a local.  Advertised as an “all natural camping experience amidst the junipers and pinon pines”, it does live up to that definition.

 We hurried in around 5, as thunder and clouds forecast rain – made it just in time.  The winds picked up the red dust, blowing it everywhere.  Then the rain started – our RV must be a nice red tint by now.  We are settled in, no reasons to leave the RV, and comfy for the night.  Smoke felt she had a long day and neeeeded some Daddy attention.

 

But!  Before we got to our campground, situated at the far end of the rim trail in the park, we did stop at several overlooks.  Here is a view of the canyon that the Navajos have lived in for over 300 years.  It’s a wide canyon – that small square is a house.

 

Here is White House.  Early Native Americans, the Ansazi,  lived here, up to 100 people in this structure.  You can see the bottom and top (the part built into the rocks).

 

Still raining….hope it stops by the morning.  I have (I think) officially finished my hat pin collection of the parks and places we’ve visited.  Good thing, as I’m running out of space on my purse!

 

 

Tuesday -  we left for Albuquerque to visit Luke’s uncle for a couple of days.   After that, we will be making a straight shot for home-sweet-home and the beautiful fall colors.

By the way - we have finally seen that elusive bird of the SW - the Road Runner!  We've wanted to see one.  After almost 2 full months in the SW desert, here is the rascal.  In the gas lot of the truck stop in Albuquerque....

I think truck stop living has made him into one tough little bird!

Bryce Canyon and Sunday night in Utah...

Bryce Canyon!  Wow!  I've heard that it's the most spectacular National Park - I believe it!  Thousands upon thousands of hoodoos....

Hoodoos are pillars of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion.  (hoodoo also means "to cast a spell).  These hoodoos do that to everyone who sees them!  They just bowl you over.   A  closer look..

Not all formations in Bryce are the wonderful red - some are wonderful white.

There are inaccessible arches.

There are spires.

And there are happy tourists.

This happy tourist finally feels that she may live...that sinus infection really threw me.  High temperature and feeling yucky.  Muuuuuch better today!

Now, as a born and raised Southern Baptist, I am simply making a statement...as a youth, teenager, and young adult, I found the radio stations on Sunday in Piedmont NC were filled with Bible thumping Southern Baptist ministers....well,  the radio stations on Sunday in SE Utah are filled with Book of Mormon thumping Mormon ministers.  Some things never change.

Off to AZ tomorrow, RV willing.  Hope we'll have wifi there!

no wifi

At Bryce Canyon - the most spectactular park so far!  No internet except at the visitor center which is not condusive to long periods of computer use.  Will post within a day or so.  Feeling better, finally!

quick post...I hab a sinus infection.

Ugh.  and only on the left side of my face.  The nice doctor at the Hurricane UT clinic didn't understand either, but she gave me an Rx.  Got a fever and feel like crap.  Today was definitely an off day.

I'm going to run very quickly through the past two days.  On Sunday we drove to the Zion park entrance, but it was so crowded that we got tired of waiting in line to get in.  So, we took a side road to the top of a mesa that is mostly within the park.  Here's the view from the edge of the mesa, at over 8000 feet - the trees are already turning! It was a full 25 degrees cooler there than here at the state park.  The background is the Zion Canyon,

Back to Zion on Monday to walk a couple of 1 mile trails (paved things, I might add!)  Here is the beautiful Zion Canyon from a much lower persective.  By the way, all of the lower pictures are horizontal or vertical panaramas that Luke made on the computer.  I am SO impressed! Actually the scenery is so grand, that even with this technique, it's impossible to capture.

The Virgin River running through the canyon.

The falls on the walk up to the Emerald Pool. Look carefull for the hikers in the center of the picture for a size indication.

I made it up the mountain to the second level - Luke gamely hiked the last section of steep, sand coated rock steps to the Emerald Pool itself, with the immense towering cliffs above it.  Wish I had made it!

 

Last, a nice amble in the shade to "The Narrows", a part of the canyon walls that close in, with only a narrow section the river to divide them.  Many of the hikers knew the routine and took wading shoes with them to cross the river.  We will next time

 

 

 Off to bed.  In addition to feeling crapy during the night, we heard a coyote howling for a long time in the high desert next to the campground.  We werent afraid, but we sure stayed awake and listened to him!

 

Zion

Off to Zion National Park!  Not a bad drive from Las Vegas, about 140 miles.  We are staying at the Sand Hollow State Park, about 30 miles from Zion (Zion's campgrounds are full, full, full).  Nothing but scrub brush here, along with a nice lake.  Unfortunately, the lake also seems to breed mosquitoes.

Not deterred, though, Nikki and I did take Smoke for her evening walk.  She always leads...

Then, Zion!  The park is so popular that only a small portion of it is accessible by private vehicle.  Their bus system works well, though, and we enjoyed using it.  At a usual loss for words, Zion is just amazing. This is a view of  "The Court of the Patriarchs" - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 

Full of wildlife - this mule deer is well camouflaged, but still only a few feet from one of the popular trails.

 

 

The Virgin River cuts through the park, creating the great 2000 foot deep sheer canyons found here.  It looks tame and gentle right now, but can be a raging monster during sudden violent rainstorms.

 

 

With an average rainfall of only about 10 inches per year, the canyon gets water any way it can.  One other way is through weeping rocks.   Centures of pressure has squeezed mud into shale layers and sand into thick sandstone layers.  Water passes easily through the sandstone but not through the shale.  Rain and snow pass through the sandstone but when they hit the shale layer, the water moves sideways to emerge from the cliff as a rock spring.  This one "rains" continuously over a large area, creating a wonderful hanging garden of wet flowers and trees - but you get wet exploring it!

 

 

Beautiful red rock formations.

 

 

 

Not all mountains are red --- early explorers felt these white rocks would be perfect landing places for angels.

 

 

It was a most wonderful visit and trip with Nikki, but it was time for her to return home.  She has two kittie babies that missed her terribly.  We took her back to Las Vegas to catch a flight home, but I sure miss her!

 

We have a few more days at Zion, so there will be endless more pictures!

 

More Las Vegas

We had so much fun in Las Vegas!  Won a little money, lost a little less!  Nikki did really well  - she beat the penny and nickel slots ---- gotta get her into the $1 slots next time!  Luke and she both did well in roulette.  We watched guys put $1000 down on single bets....ouch!

Here are a few pictures.  Las Vegas is really divided up into two gambling districts - the old, original district, now called "The Fremont Experience" and the newer, bigger one called "The Strip".

The Fremont experience - old Las Vegas.  This original section is still gambling casinos, but the main street is covered by a sun roof.

 

Good thing, too, as it POURED rain while we were there!

The newer, glitzier strip has the huge casinos that take up full city blocks.

 

 

It was really a lot of fun, and we had a great time.  Today we left and drove the 150 miles to  Zion National Park.  We plan lots of sight-seeing tomorrow (by bus -- they are really restricting personal vehicle traffic into the National Parks).  We think this is going to be a great park!