We have been changing to an RV full time lifestyle for some time, while raising our grandson. Our journeys have taken us to quite a few places, with a few unique experiences along the way. This blog will hopefully prove entertaining as well as informational... Welcome!
Sat. 30 April
Today we started off by packing up again (not that much to do) and went over to Les Schwabb in Sparks to get some tire rotation on the Motorhome.
Rotating tires at Les Schwabb
While they were working on it we went to Denny's for breakfast and then we had to wait a little while longer as there were some big trucks in front of us but we we done in a couple of hours. They took the 2 right rear dual tires, mounted them on the front rims, balanced them and sent us on our way ($165)..... Reno was a pricey spot in regards to vehicle repairs.
Anyway, following the repairs, we headed west at 1140 AM on the I-80, with the idea of making it back to Canada fairly quickly, as TJ is getting low on some of his pills. Our path today will take us straight West until we hit the I-5 and then straight north.
356 miles
The landscape changed as we drove west and then north. We began to see larger and larger trees, lots of grass, and familiar vegetation. Mount Shasta came into view as we continued our journey north.
We ended up pulling into Yreka Walmart for the night at 7:00 PM as I was getting tired and the sun was starting to get low. (356 Miles today).
There must have been some drag races going on as we could hear their engines roaring until 10 PM.
Friday, and I was up early in order to get the RV over to Reno Freightliner to get the "Check Engine" light looked at as well as the shimmy in the front end and also to have the generator oil filter changed as I was not able to loosen it when I changed the oil at 200 hours. It now sits at 247 hours on the diesel generator.
After dropping the RV off we went and grabbed breakfast at Denny's, took the dogs for a nice walk and play at a nearby park and then decided to go to Carson City and Virginia City after finding out that they would probably be most of the day on the RV.
Carson City, about 30 miles South of Reno, was not that large or interesting, except for the fact that it is the Capitol of Nevada and was named after mountain man Kit Carson. Virginia City, on the other hand, was pretty cool. It was once the "Richest city in the West" and is now an interesting tourist attraction with the old houses, mining history, boardwalks and saloons.
We found a parking spot fairly easily and took the dog carriage out for the dogs and walked up and down Main Street, stopping to check out some of the more interesting attractions.
There was a museum, that had a lot of neat old stuff, and an interesting video on the history which we went in to see. There was also a place selling salt water toffey at a buck a pound that we had to stock up on as well
Darlene checked out some dresses and also the McKay Mansion while TJ tried out some cotton candy ice cream and I took some photos.
Following Virginia City we took a steep (15% Grade) and windy road to Carson city (Capital of Nevada) followed by a drive to Lake Tahoe. We didn't stay long in Tahoe as it was getting on towards supper and we wanted to get the RV back.
Darlene drove most of the way back and the RV still wasn't ready so we went to the Black Bear for supper and sure enough got a call that our Coach could be picked up.
It started to rain heavily and was dark by the time we pulled out of the Freightliner yard, 578 bucks poorer. They had done the front end alignment, although they said it wasn't that far out, recommended either new front tires or rotate them with some of the back ones. They had also done an upgrade on the EGR monitor for free and replaced the oil filter on the Diesel Generator that had been too tight for normal people to remove, lol.
It wasn't until we got back to the RV Park and turned on the lights that we found that whoever had taken the RV out for a test drive had been pretty rough on it as the Apple Computer had been knocked down and stuff in the fridge had been knocked down as well. Will have to mention something to them tomorrow before we leave.
Parking the RV in a tight spot in the dark was not easy so I think we will start having Darlene park while I direct in the future to see if that works more efficiently.
Travel day. (360 miles)
Overcast, but no wind when I got up but the forecast was for intermittent showers and snow at the higher elevations. I decided to attach the second 28" jury-rigged windshield wiper as we are going to need both of them working today and until we get to an RV place.
We were up, packed and left Cathedral Grove at 0855. Within minutes of leaving the campsite it started to rain. Not heavy, just a light intermittent rain that persisted all day long, changing to snow when we got above 5600 ft.
Our route today would keep us on back roads which were not that populated.
Section is called "Loneliest Road" and
it was pretty quiet, and high in elevation
but, basically pretty smooth 2 lane hwy.
It was also generally high in elevation. One section of the road is called "The Loneliest Road" on the Rand McNally map which we didn't notice until we were already committed to the route lol.
TJ stayed in the back reading for most of the day as there was not much to see on this path and not much traffic. There is a slight "shimmy" on the front end which comes and goes between 50 and 70 mph. We will have to get that checked out ASAP.
Travel Route so far, not counting side trips to Monument Valley,
Arches National Park and Grand Canyon (South Rim)
We had figured we could get a spot in Reno but when we arrived we found "No Vacancy" signs out which meant we had to scramble to find another RV spot that had a place..... Luckily "Shamrock RV" in Sparks (suburb of Reno) had available sites on their phone recording so we put that into the GPS and headed there. It was only about 10 minutes out of downtown and there was a site right at the front we could get in to, so we booked ourselves in (past 5:00 PM when the office closed) and settled in for the night. This park was convenient, but the pool was closed (still cold in the mornings) and the wifi was not very reliable.
Thursday, 28 April
Today is a "cleaning day", so after making an appointment with the local Freightliner tomorrow to have 3 items looked at TJ & I hunted down an RV dealer in the hopes of finding a windshield wiper that would fit our RV. Darlene was busy cleaning up the RV as we have a lot of dust and sand inside from the time at Page, Arizona.
We found a place that had 32 inch wiper blades BUT they are 48 bucks each..... With the exchange that is close to 65 dollars each! Decided that the 28 inch worked pretty well, so I replaced the driver side and kept the 28 inch as a spare.
Next was a hand wash of the lower 1/2 of the outside of the motorhome, which took up the rest of my afternoon as driving thru the snow and rain causes the lower half to get dirty while the top receives little road dirt, it seems.
Around 5:30 we decided to take a look at downtown and see if there were any good spots to eat.... Well, after Vegas, Reno seemed pretty small and quiet, heh heh. After driving around and sightseeing, we went back for supper at the motorhome and shut it down for the night as we have to pack up and take the motorhome in for repairs tomorrow am.
Page > Zion National Park > Cathedral Gorge (270 miles today, 605 miles total from Lake Havasu)
Tuesday, it is overcast when I put the coffee on and then take the dogs out for their pee in the Walmart Parking Lot. There are a LOT of RVs in this parking lot. I count 14 plus a couple of big trucks have joined our midst as well.
We are heading for Reno, Nevada, but have no idea whether we will make it today or not, as we plan to go thru Zion National Park, which will definitely mean a stop or two along the way.
Darlene is up early as well and together we get everything ready and before you know it, we are on the road at 7:10 AM.
Total trip to date, not counting side trips
2 Hours later we enter Zion National Park. The cost for a vehicle is $30.00. Now comes the interesting part where we have 2 problems. 1)We are high.... 12' 9" so we need to pony up another $15.00 for an "escort" thru the 2nd tunnel. What they do is they stop traffic from coming thru the other side because the tunnel is only 13' 1" high at the middle (and lower at the sides), which means we have to drive down the centre of the second tunnel. There are other high vehicles so all traffic is only 1 way thru there, but only the really high guys have to pay extra. 2)We are long..... 43' plus we have a Tow Vehicle. The problem here is that there are a lot of sharp corners thru the park which means we have to cross over the centre line to make it unless we do not tow the car..... No problem to disconnect the car and Darlene can drive it thru. (I thought for a minute they were going to make me pay separate for the car now, lol, but they didn't).
Zion is very pretty right now, (I think it is quite pretty always, lol), but a tad chilly as the elevation is around 6000 ft. above sea level. We have to stop a couple of times for traffic and tourists, as well as the second tunnel has rangers that make you stop and ensure you know how to drive thru the tunnel..... DOWN THE MIDDLE.....
heh heh.
The roads are paved red,
to match the hills
At the other end of Zion there is camping, so we pull over in the small town on the side of the road where parking is allowed. Our plan is to drive back thru the park so that Darlene can enjoy it and then switch drivers and Darlene can drive back while I enjoy the sights.
This is because when we first drove thru we were too busy driving to enjoy anything else!
As we enter the park again the Ranger tells us of a pet friendly trail just up the road by the campsite, which is fully booked up.
Later in the year there are big
waterfalls throughout the park
The dogs were anxious to get out for a walk so we stopped there and took them for a walk. On the way back, along the river, Nikko started to favour his left front paw, so Darlene picked him up and carried him back to the car. Later that day she finally found a 1/2 inch piece of wood or seed had penetrated between his toes making it sore for him to walk.
We drove just to the second tunnel and then turned around, as the tunnel is only one way, and is very very long.
Yes, there are cactus in Zion!
When we got back to where the Motorhome was, we found some A__Hole from Nevada had parked his car within inches of the front of the motorhome, making it difficult to get out, as someone was also parked close to our back, although we did have some room there.
TJ directed me back so that I could get out of the tight squeeze. Before we left however, I did leave a note on his window thanking him for leaving me no room to leave and letting him know what I thought of him.
After we left Zion, we continued west until we hit I-15 and headed north on that until we came to I-56 where we elected to head west on our route to Reno..... Hwy 56 is quiet, a good road, but not that scenic. We thought we might have a long way between fuel stops so we topped up the tank just outside of Cedar City. (82 gal. = $200.00) and continued on our way.
Darlene had been checking the maps and there was a place called "Cathedral Gorge" that claimed to have a state park and some slot canyons, so we decided to try that spot out for the night.
It is a nice campground, and was pretty well full. There were some sights dedicated (pull thru) for big rigs but smaller trailers were parked in them as I guess they couldn't be bothered to back into a smaller sight, even though there were signs posted everywhere to leave them for larger rigs. We thought we might have to continue on but there was a handicapped site that the sign said we could use if all others were full, so we took it..... Turns out it was the nicest sight in the place lol, as it was paved underneath and was the only spot that had 50 amp service! Close by were the washrooms and showers (free) as well as a tetherball for TJ. 3 minutes down the road were the slot canyons, which we went over to explore as soon as the rain cloud moved on.
The "slot canyons" are pretty neat as they are narrow passages etched in the hardened mud like hills here.
They do not compare with Antelope Canyon, but they are cheap and you can go wherever you like..... At one point we were quite deep in one (very quiet in these as the walls are high and blanket sound), when suddenly a large raven overhead (which we were not aware of being watched) suddenly gave a loud warning cry.... We all jumped and TJ gave a big screech and bolted for the way we had come in. It was pretty funny as the raven had a nest close by and didn't want us getting any closer.
We have a big day tomorrow so were in bed fairly early after watching a movie on Netflix. (Ahhh, now this is "roughing" it, lol).
Upper Antelope Canyon Tour
Yup, we didn't move very far, as it was windy, and cloudy, with the odd shower thrown in, so we decided that since we had no rush to travel, there were a few items left to be done while we were in town so we left the campsite and drove about 10 miles to the Walmart in Page, where we managed to snag a fairly protected spot after waiting for the trucker to leave it, heh heh. Antelope Canyon is very close to Page and is the most photographed Slot Canyon in the world and a place I have wanted to see for a long time, so I took a drive (10 minute) out to see about a tour.
When I arrived 4 busses had just pulled up and it looked like it was going to be pretty busy for a while, so I took note of the prices (8.00 to gain entrance to the area where they have their booth, then 40.00 for a 1.5 hour tour..... No tripods, monopods, backpacks are allowed either. If you want to go on a "photographer's tour" it is $128.00 that apparently gets you more time and less people are crowded into the canyon than normal.
There are 4 or 5 different native tour groups taking people so it can get really crowded in the summer.
I left as it was getting really windy and people coming back from the tour had sand all over their coats and in their hair. The man at the booth had told me there are no refunds once you leave in the jeep and if I didn't like sand falling on me it probably wasn't a good idea to go today. With those thoughts in mind, I took my leave, thinking to try later in the day when it might not be so busy.....
I had noticed the other day that both windshield wipers had fallen apart during our 4 month stay in Lake Havasu, with the blades in the sun for much of the time..... they needed to be replaced, especially in light of the fact that it was raining and more was forecast in the upcoming days.
Well, these are 32" wiper blades and not available anywhere but at an RV dealer, so I picked up a couple of 28" blades at Walmart and then found that the "snap" clip that keeps them on the arm of the wiper would not "snap" close as the wiper arm was too big and thick. I jury-rigged one by tying a zap strap around the clip so that it stayed closed..... It worked!.... Hopefully until we can find an RV dealer, as there is none in Page, Arizona.
Once the wiper blades were attached there was not much left for me to do as Darlene was busy with TJ and his school for the remainder of the morning and a good part of the afternoon by the looks of things, so I opted to head back out to Antelope Canyon to see if it was still busy.
There are 2 canyons worth noting here, Upper Antelope Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon. When I was there in the morning at the Upper Antelope Canyon I asked about the pricing for Lower Antelope and was told they were closed. Well, they weren't, it was simply other tour companies that ran it and the guy in the booth just wanted to make sure my sheckels went towards his company I guess.
Anyway, I got out there about 1:15 and was told the next tour was 2 PM. There was only a couple of cars in the parking lot so I paid my money and went back to the car, as the wind was pretty bad, and there was lots of sand being kicked up by it.
At 2 pm we got on the jeep type safari vehicle (no windows) and headed out, as it is a 10 minute drive to the slot canyon. There were 13 of us in the group, with 4 girls from New Yahk, a family of 4 from Paris, France, a couple from St. Louis, and another couple from Colorado. The guide was a young native woman named Felicity who gave us an amazing tour.
Entrance to Upper Antelope Canyon
The first thing she did was congratulate us all on taking the tour as it was windy and raining and did not look very promising. She also said the wind would blow sand on us in the canyon and also on the way back in the jeep. Once we got to the canyon, I was happy to see only a couple of other jeeps there, and the wind had died down almost completely!
4 Girls from New York on tour
It turns out those 2 other groups had already been thru and were on their way out so they passed by us going the opposite direction as we made our way thru the canyon. Basically, you enter the canyon, walk thru it, exit at the other end, and then walk back the same way to the beginning.... Basically, that is it, but our guide made our tour very enjoyable by pointing out camera angles, mentioning camera (well, camera phone) setting suggestions, and also good spots for shots. It really was pretty special, and she mentioned that she had heard of there being hardly anyone there only once before in the 5 years she had been giving tours there, so we were really really lucky!
I took photos with both my DSLR and also my iphone, which does an amazing job in that department.
Below are some of my favourite photos from the tour.
Today we had a plan, and we were gonna stick to the plan..... man....
We were heading to see the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, as today is the last day of the free admission to the National Parks Week!
Darlene had packed food and water for us as well as made sure that she and TJ had good walking shoes in case hiking became necessary. The dogs, well, they came along 'cause we couldn't bear to see their sad faces as we were getting ready to go.
It was mostly sunny and there was very little wind when we left, and it stayed that way for most of the day. As we passed thru the gate to the Grand Canyon we began to climb almost immediately and continued climbing for a long time. As we climbed, the temperature dropped steadily until finally we levelled out and we found the temperature had dropped 15 degrees F.!
The first place we stopped had a viewing tower made out of stone that had been made to look old, but was in reality, quite new. TJ and I climbed the 137 steps to the top to take in the view and snap a few photos while Darlene watched the dogs and relaxed in the sun.
We continued thru the park, making a number of stops to take in the various views..... To be honest, after seeing the Skywalk, Eagles Point and Guano point of the Grand Canyon as well as Arches National Park, the South Rim tended to be a bit ... underwhelming, shall I say.
There were impressive views, but nothing that really grabbed us enough to sit back and say "Wow". There weren't a lot of photos taken, but I have included a couple, because that is what I do.... take photographs.
We got back to camp fairly early tonight and started packing as tomorrow, once we leave the camp, we would have to pay to get back in as the free week stops at midnight tonight.
We decided to move the big ladder from underneath to back on the back of the motorhome to free up more room underneath, which was a good move. Once again I struggle with tying down the bikes on the back of the car as they always get loose as we travel down the highways. It is dark when all is done, with mainly the slides and dumping to be taken care of tomorrow morning.
The weather forecast was for sunny, hot, and of course, VERY windy..... We decided we would take a trip up to Monument Valley as it was only 2 1/2 hours away and it was soooooo windy in Glen Canyon there was not much else to do.
It was after 9 before we left in the car, with the dogs along with us for good measure as it is a long day to be stuck in the motorhome for anyone.
Monument Valley is on Native land and there is a charge for you to get on the land. It was 20 bucks but well worth it as you could drive your vehicle around on the roads to your hearts content. The roads basically allowed you to go to the end, and then turn around and come back, with numerous places you could pull over for those important photo stops. You could also elect to pay and go on one of their guided tours in either an open jeep or a closed in vehicle.
En route we got hungry and stopped for brunch at a small town called Kayenta. The wind had gotten worse as we drove along and there were spots were it was blowing across the road like fine snow, only much worse. At times the sand obliterated your view completely.
This is the view as we left, en route to Arches National Park on I-163 before Mexican Hat
Monument Valley is aptly named as the large monoliths are like monuments created by nature. They have names for them which make sense, depending on their structure. It was easy to imagine how the wind can erode these rocks over the years as it was like being sandblasted at times!
Right Mitten closer
"Camel Rock"
Yucca Plants in bloom
Add caption
Add caption
Add caption
Add caption
Add caption
The "Right Mitten" is on the left as it looks like a mitten (no fingers)
Some of the structure didn't make sense until you were at a specific spot on the road and then suddenly you could see why they named it thay way.
We had a lot of fun looking at these structures even tho it was quite windy, and, to tell the truth, it made it seem a bit more like we were "back in the day", with the wind and sand blowing in our faces every time we turned around!
It was 3:30 by the time we left, so I foolishly suggested we maybe drive up to Arches National Park and do sort of a loop around after that to get back to our campsite at Wahweap. (It turns out that what I had suggested would take toooooo long to do properly and we "should" have headed back to camp at 3:30, but, no pain no gain I guess, and this was a lesson that I had to learn the hard way..... (I was quite tired by the time we finallly got back to camp).
Anyway, away we went, up I-163 and then on I-191 straight north to Moab, which is a real toursist town with lots of RV and camping spots. We drove thru, as it was close to sunset and Arches is just north of Moab.
As we drove up to the gate, there was a steady stream of people leaving the park.... Once again, we did not have to pay to get in (30 bucks) due to the National Park Week.
ARCHES NATIONAL PARK is incredible! It has more natural arches and bridges than any place on earth and is stunning to say the least! As you enter the park you immediately climb quite high before the road flattens out
and you are presented with lots of places to hike or stop to be able to view these amazing structures.
There is a path down this small valley at the very first stop in the road, and although it was tempting to take it, dogs were not allowed and the sun was getting low, so we continued on in the car.
This is called "Balancing Rock" and there seemed to be quite a few of these that we saw as we travelled thru the park.
There are also holes in large walls, and this particular one we were fortunate to see the sun's rays poking thru as it set.
Speaking of setting sun, it is definitely a time to plan to be there, or at sunrise, as the rocks certainly stand out in the low light!
It was like 8:00 pm by the time I was dragged out of there, although there were still people going in and it was dark already..... The drive home took 4 1/2 hours, which was worth it, as we saw Monument Valley and also had a little taste of Arches National Park to know that we have to plan to go back there for at least 3 days in the near future!
