The Route of our 2014 RV Journey

Note:  This blog is published last entry showing first.  If you are someone who prefers to start reading at the beginning of this trip, just go to the side bar, click on "2014" then "May" or whichever month may interest you.  Titles will drop down. Enjoy.

If you notice the tabs under the top title photo, you can click on any of those and read about our other wonderful trips! 

Now back to the final words about our trip out West.  

 This was definitely a trip a lot of people dream of.  Traveling in the comfort of our "home on wheels", enjoying "home" cooked meals, and the comfort of our own bed each and every night!   Each destination was more beautiful then the next. We visited both national and state parks and a few "forests" in between. Most days we drove for miles, awestruck by the views, luxuriating in the total lack of civilization.  We got spoiled, for sure.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:

  The Badlands
  The Black Hills
  Custer's National Park
  Mt. Rushmore
  Devil's Tower
  Bighorn National Forest
  Calgary Stampede, Alberta, Canada
  Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
  Bannf National Park< Alberta, Canada
  YoHo National Park, British Colombia, Canada
  Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada
  Glacier National Parks - Canada and US sides
  Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump
  Yellowstone National Park
  Grand Tetons National Park
  Salt Lake City, UT
  Palisade state park, UT
  Capitol Reef National Park
  Kodachrome State Park
  Bryce Canyon National Park
  Zion National Park
  Las Vegas, NV
  Grand Canyon National Park
  Sedona, AZ
  San Antonio, TX
  New Orleans, AL

and all the places and people in between.........

HOW DID WE GET THERE?  Neither GoogleMaps, or Mapquest would allow me to enter many locations, so I had to show the route map in sections.

May 31st - June 18th

June 18th - July 9th

July 9th - August 9th

By airplane - Salt Lake City to Boston, then home to Florida.  Back to Salt Lake City.   August 9th - August 25th

August 26th - September 15th

September 15th - September 24th

The End of a Fabulous 117 Day Journey!

After leaving  Oaklawn RV Park in Biloxi, Mississippi, we drove a little over 300 miles and finally arrived at Tallahassee RV Park.  We will arriving home tomorrow, and there will be so much to do, my head was swimming with the details!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014  Day 117

Today is the final leg of our trip!  Who would have believed it!  117 days!   From Tallahassee, Florida to our home in The Villages was about a four hour drive.

If you remember, Norm and I had planned to sell the Motorhome as soon as we returned.  We have ideas for different types of vacations over the next few years.  First on our list would be to take an RV caravan tour in Europe. Then do Alaska perhaps 3 ways. ( Rent an RV, rent a house, and then cruise back).

So knowing this, I was calling and speaking to motorhome dealers  since we hit Las Vegas.  We figured that if someone offered us enough money, we would put what fit in the tow vehicle and just drive it home.  Previously owned RV’s in Florida are a dime a dozen, and there were thousands on consignment,  so if we got a fair price we would be willing to let it go- especially since we would soon be dealing with putting our home on the market, and the job of moving, as well.

 Thankfully, our Motorhome was definitely in great shape considering it had 50,000 miles and was 5 years old! Most folks thought it was new!

With a lot of research and many calls, by the time we hit Tallahassee I found a buyer for the RV! It just happened to be at Alliance Coach, where we bought it 3 years ago! I told them we were not willing to negotiate our price, and they seemed very agreeable.

We had been so confident  this trip would  be the” BIG ONE”, that we had given our coveted covered parking spot  to our good friends and neighbors before we left.  Why pay for it all summer to just give it up when we returned? Last week  I called ahead and made arrangements to just store it out in the open for a couple of days when we got back to get it ready for sale.  Thank goodness he had space for us!

After being quite comfortable in our 32 foot Motorhome, it finally convinced us that this house is just too big!

As we approached the house, we felt like we hadn’t been there in years!

 Norm and I jumped out of the RV, took a quick a walk through the house, checked the pool area ( I quickly determined that I would be  firing the landscaper the next day ) then proceeded to completely empty the RV.  We must have made more than 50 trips from the street to the house!  We were pretty tired at that point, so we called it a day and drove it to the storage facility.

The very next day we got up and out early before the Florida heat to immaculately clean the RV.  I steam cleaned everything inside and vacuumed.  Norm meticulously cleaned the storage bins below. A fellow had come to wash the exterior, and when we were done it looked better than new!

We had an appointment the following morning to meet the buyer at Alliance Coach.  As we pulled out of the storage spot, water, once again came into the coach above the windshield!  Oh no!  At least we knew exactly what was causing it, and we thought it would be no big deal for this authorized RV service center to fix it.

We pulled in, put the jacks down, and opened the slides.  We were prepared for them to thoroughly inspect this 5 year old gem.  Wrong!  This baby looked so spectacular that when he came in he looked left, right, glanced into the bathroom and said “Wow! This looks better than when we sold it to you!”  Let me just check with the boss.........

Ten minutes later the deal was done.( We were, by the way, honest enough to tell them about the leak, and where it was coming from. They were not concerned at all) We left, check in hand, with very mixed emotions.  We had such great times in this baby.  It served us amazingly well, and the fact that we got most of our money back made our memories all the sweeter!

Side note:  The tow car was sold on Craig’s list in 3 days, and after we spent a couple of weeks preparing the house for sale, sold before it ever hit the market.  A good friend stated we had a “lucky horseshoe firmly placed where the sun doesn’t shine”!  We do work hard, and take very good care of our possessions, but yes, he is correct.  We really like how it feels, and pray it stays firmly in place!

Bourbon Street and all that Jazz! New Orleans, LA

Friday,September 20th to Monday, September 22nd  Days 112-115

Neither Norm nor I had ever been to New Orleans, so we just had to spend a couple of days here to experience this city renowned for its music, party atmosphere, and of course, the food.

We needed to get our windshield leak repaired, and since there was not a single place that would work on it in the state of Texas, we located one in New Orleans. Because they couldn't work on it until Monday  we decided to stay long enough to get it serviced, no matter how long it took!

Is it a Marina?  Or is it an RV Park?  Pontchartrain Landing is both!  Awesome!

The man at the glass company recommended for us to stay Pontchartrain Landing, a lovely place right on the water that was reported to be very safe, which he stated was paramount here in New Orleans. 

When we arrived we decided to splurge on a campsite directly on the water, and boy it was worth it! Probably the nicest spot of the trip! Perhaps the best of all our travels! We could watch the fish jump, enjoy the gentle breezes, and were fortunate to have the sites on either side of us empty, which gave us plenty of room.  There was a marina right there so we could hear the lovely “dinging” of the sailboat masts and watch the boats come and go.  So incredibly peaceful!

We quickly set up and jumped on the shuttle bus to Bourbon Street! (So much for the “peace”)! Neither Norm nor I have ever been here, so we were anxious to check it out.  I would have liked to have showered and changed, but hey! We “seized the moment”!  After all, it’s New Orleans!

This place is such a Hoot!  The streets were jammed packed with people walking around carrying enormous drinks in very weird glasses, singing, hollering, and of course loud music emanating from every bar! The revelers were in every stage of dress (and sometimes undress ).  Men dressed as brides, woman dressed as men, and sometimes Norm and I were not sure what gender we were watching!

Bars with funky names on every corner and half-way
in between!

We met up with our friends John and Peggy from The Villages in a fabulous courtyard bar that featured a group actually playing Jazz.  I understand that jazz in no longer played in many places anymore, so we were thrilled to get the New Orleans experience we envisioned.

I watched as Peggy danced with a younger man celebrating his birthday.  I am so envious of both her dancing ability and self-confidence to get up there and enjoy herself!  I need to definitely work on that!

Alison " Tickling the ivories" with "Fats" Domino

Norm and I left and wandered the streets gaping at the sights and found a very nice Italian restaurant with seats on the balcony overlooking the mayhem below.  It was terrific!

After dinner we wandered some more, stopping to listen to the fabulous bands, a violinist, and to witness a wedding party parade right down Bourbon Street!  Unfortunately our shuttle bus was to pick us up at 8PM, so we could not spend as much time as I would have liked.  But Boy, I just loved it!

Norm wanted to see the famous War Museum there in New Orleans, so we spent the next day going to that.  It was quite interesting, but I have seen three War Museums lately, so I got bored rather quickly, and went outside to wait while Norm enjoyed this huge museum.

Monday, September 22nd

We brought our RV first thing in the morning to the Auto Glass Company so they could try to find and fix where the leak in the windshield might be.  It was going to take all day, so Norm and I decided to take the tow car drive along the river and check out the old mansions.

It was very disappointing  to discover that from the road we were on, you could not see the water because of a huge berm! 

 I pictured a meandering river with large oaks and draping moss with mansions standing proudly at the end of long, tree lined  driveways.   Reality revealed a road more like a highway with industrial buildings and giant parking lots, lined by  fields gone to seed, and abandoned buildings.

Evergreen Plantation in Edgard, LA. Reportedly the most intact plantation complex in the South.
It was mostly constructed in 1790 and renovated to its Greek Rival Style in 1832.
It was extensively restored in the 1940's 

We were able to explore several of the orignal 22 slave quarters. 

After a couple of hours of driving, we found a historic mansion that was giving tours.  We ran for lunch then came back to take the tour.  I personally thought it a rip off.  The tour guide was an extremely unmotivated young woman, who could not answer the most basic questions.  The home had been renovated to such an extent it wasn’t even an accurate depiction of the life so long ago we wanted to learn about! 

We finally received a call from the repair facility, which reported that it was not the windshield at all that was leaking but the running lights above. He fixed the light that was actually leaking, but warned us that the rest of them should be addressed at a later time.  We authorized the repair, then headed back.

It was nearly 5PM when we left the glass company, and headed toward home during the evening commuter traffic.  Norman handled it like a pro, while I looked online for a place to spend the night a couple of hour’s drive away.  At this point, we just wanted to get home!

We found a convenient place to stay at Oaklawn RV Park in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Five Hours closer to Home!

Beaumont, Texas September 18^th, 2015 Day 111

Over the past week we have been in contact with our friends the Cormiers – hoping to meet up with them for a few days before we all got home.  We started the trip together back in May, and we were almost continuously 10 days apart throughout the trip.

 There are so many variables when you travel in a motorhome – stopping for scheduled service,  un-planned break-downs, not to mention different interests could take you in separate directions.  Our going to Boston then back home to Florida certainly complicated things.

We were so pleased to discover that here we are, 111 days into the trip and we are celebrating the unlikely!  We are both to be in Beaumont, Texas on the same night!  They were coming south from Austin, we were coming east from San Antonio!

An uneventful trip - 285 miles- from San Antonio to Beaumont, Texas

When we arrived, the skies opened up flooding the campground. I was so worried that the windshield would continue to leak possibly causing  irreparable damage to the dashboard days before we were about to sell the RV!  We “waded” our way to check-in at Gulf Coast RV Resort, then waited for the rain to let up a little before we opened the slides and hook up the power.

After the rain slowed to merely a “down-pour” we went to our friend’s large RV and enjoyed visiting with them that evening, learning the details of their trip.

We woke in the morning to much nicer weather; however the campground was still under 6-8 inches of water.  While Norm was outside unhooking the electrical ( which I cannot imagine is a safe thing to do in standing water ) he learned that the painfully biting Fire ant that is so feared in the South, can swim!  Dozens of these  little pests with the jaws of a Barracuda and the venom ( for some ) of a rattlesnake, managed to swim to the safety of Norm’s ankles and calves then feast on his tender flesh!

Image of dreaded fire ant

Norm is such a tough guy - just mentioning his bites in passing.  I didn’t think much of it until later when I happened to look down at his swollen feet and red angry welts! 

We finished breaking camp and headed off to New Orleans where we would meet up again with the Cormiers. 

As the day wore on, the swelling on Norm’s feet increased to a point where he was feeling quite uncomfortable.  The welts had turned to blisters and began to weep.  Since this could affect his ability to drive the RV,  I did what was necessary to keep him driving. We needed to get home!  I purchased some Benadryl antihistamine.  Fearing it might alter his driving ability, Norm bared the pain and only took the Benadryl after we stopped for the day.  It did bring him some relief ( during the night, anyway ).  It did, however, take many days for the swelling and redness of the foot and ankle to subside.  I watched it carefully to make sure it didn’t go further up his leg, which thankfully, it didn’t.

Alamo and the Riverwalk - San Antonio, Texas

September 16th & 17th, 2015 -  Days 109 & 110

Granted, the majority of RV’ers that we have spoken with drive the better part of each day, then pick any random campsite that will hold their behemoth size that offers reasonable amenities, and call it an enjoyable vacation. Norman loves the driving, but I don’t particularly like sitting in a car for more than 30 minutes. I found that with the luxury and the promise of adventure sitting high above normal cars, while gazing out a sea of glass, makes me able to sit (although never idly), for a maximum of 4 or maybe 5 hours, provided I have internet service for my laptop to keep me productive.  I hate not being productive!  I used this time to work on a website to sell the RV and the tow car.

 I mentioned in a previous post that we purchased a much smaller home when we stopped back in The Villages in order to check on the house back in August. So as soon as we return we need to get that ready to put on the market!

 I still was researching our next stop, and things to do when we get there, but even so, this break-neck schedule is tough.   I don’t think I would ever care to travel this way in a car, and can’t imagine how folks do it. 

Luckily, now that we are out of the hurricane’s path we can slow it down. Our minds are definitely on getting home, but we will spend a few days in San Antonio, then New Orleans.  We couldn’t possibly just drive by these places, now can we?

It was only a 2-3 hour drive into San Antonio which is a welcome relief, plus the added benefit of additional time to see some of the many sights it has to offer.

We stayed at the San Antonio KOA just outside the city.  There was a bus stop very close to the campground, so we took advantage of the half hour trip into the city to check out the State’s most iconic landmark – The Alamo.

The historic Alamo in San Antonio Texas

For some reason, I was expecting the Alamo to be huge, like other forts we have seen, but in reality it was smaller than our house. (which really isn’t all THAT small ).  We walked around reading the different plaques describing the history, and asked many questions of the very informative historians there.  It proved to be really very interesting, but didn't take us long to visit.

Our next stop was to check out the network of walkways lining the banks of the San Antonio River called Riverwalk or,“ Paseo del Rio.” In the heart of downtown San Antonio, this very important tourism destination is tree lined with restaurants, boutiques, and pubs. Beautiful flowers were everywhere- spilling out of pots, or covering trees and shrubs.

San Antonio's "downtown" section of the Riverwalk

We strolled along the river, browsed in a few shops ( could not leave without our Christmas Tree ornament that we collect at each major stop ) and sought out the nicest restaurant we could find that had seating outside in order to watch the many gondola’s packed with people floating down the river. 

We walked some more after lunch, but unfortunately we were so tired from the heat and our excessive driving the last few days, we didn’t see half of what San Antonio had to offer, I am sure.  At this point in the trip – we wanted to get home.  We headed back to the campground to take a nap and get out of the heat.

We contacted our friends, and learned that their repairs were finally completed in Austin, and they were headed home via New Orleans themselves!  We decided to meet up in Belmont, Texas then travel together toward  “The Big Easy”.  It will be so great to compare adventures!

One of our shortest travel days -  Senora Texas to San Antonio - a mere 170 miles

Hurricanes- an RVer's Nightmare!

September 15th, 2014 - Day 107

Well, the big news (when we finally had a little television service), was of a hurricane named Odile that was heading straight for Tucson, creating serious flood threats for the hundreds of miles we were needing to travel through! This was the first we heard of this storm!  It’s great to be away from television, but sometimes it is really important to “tune-in”!

The problem was that we had planned a particular route that allowed us to check on a piece of property Norm has owned for many years in a retirement community near the Mexican border called  Rio Rico - located about 50 miles south of Tucson.  Right smack in the path of the hurricane!

What to do? (This decision was an easy one ).  RUN!  By examining where and when it was going to hit, it appeared that if we could drive 8-10 hours each of the next two to three days, we should get ahead of this mega-storm! Ugh, this was not going to be fun!

 For the sake of speed, we decided to drive the dreaded I-10. What a culture shock!  Billboards, semi-tractor trailers, and oh, so many speeding cars! We were suddenly thrust back to reality, and neither of us was ready to go there!  Many of our RV friends choose to travel these multi-lane roadways exclusively, but up to now we had enjoyed the solitude of the back country roads where often a day would pass with seeing only a couple of cars.  Now this!  Ugh!

We drove through Phoenix and Tuscon without incident, thanks to Norm’s expert handling of this large motorhome and towed car. 

Thank goodness for my computer and the internet.  I busied myself by creating a blog site for the sale of the RV, working on this blog, answering emails, etc.

The drive was mostly flat with not much to see, then all of a sudden this appeared to rise out of the ground!

The next few days will be all about driving.  During these three years of RV vacationing, we had managed to limit ourselves to no more than 5, perhaps 6 hours of driving during one day.   We had two days ( if you could believe the weatherman ) to get to central Texas and avoid the predicted flood zone.

To complicate things, our friend, who had just driven this route the week before, warned us that campgrounds with vacancies were nearly impossible to find.  Due to the sudden increase in oil production, workers with campers where securing every site in the western part of the state.  Hey, did I just hear a challenge? 

It took a few calls, and one place with room was absolutely horrible, but I did manage to get a reservation at Low-Hi RV Ranch in Deming, NM.  Now we just had to get there.

A warning sign posted at rest area.  I bet dogs are kept on
a leash here!

After nearly 10 hours of driving, Norm and I felt proud of ourselves for having driven a whopping 469 miles!

We would never make good "truckers".

September 16^th, 2015 - Day 108

It had rained the night before, and as we started to pull forward, water poured into the RV from above the windshield! I’m not talking about a little water- it was as if someone had taken a five gallon bucket and dumped it on the dashboard!  Oh, crap!  It was the first rain we had experienced since before Salt Lake City, so obviously our new windshield was leaking! Realizing the amount of rain we could run into, we felt our incredibly good luck may have run out.

I immediately got on the phone and called the insurance company to find a place to get this fixed!  After several frustrating hours, and many phone transfers later, we discovered that there is no one in the state of Texas who was willing to check this out and fix it. This news gave us all the more reason to avoid the hurricane- and hope for no rain at all!

We dragged out the huge beach towels and lined the dash to keep damage to the RV to a minimum. We needed this repaired, and the sooner the better!  The fact that we intend to sell this RV as soon as we get back, made it all the more imperative. We don’t need any damage now, that’s for sure. We managed to keep this RV in PERFECT condition up to now (well, yesterday). 

A - Sedona, Arizona     B - Deming, NM  C - Senora, Texas  

 We drove and drove, only stopping for gas and a quick bite to eat ( I can use the restroom while Norm drives, and I am convinced Norm is part camel.)

I spent, while comfy in my passenger seat, way too much time trying to figure how far poor Norman could drive, and which campground along our route may have a spare campsite.  A good night’s sleep would be really important to Norm since he was doing so much driving.  I could have, and probably should have helped behind the wheel, but hey! I hadn’t so far, so why risk an accident at this point?  Right?  Beside, Norm loves to drive.  And I love not to! For the last 25,000 miles of RV’ing, our finely tuned system has worked real well for us.

We finally found a place off the beaten path called Caverns of Senora, in Senora, Texas. Sounds great, doesn’t it?  In fact, when we called, we were assured we would have the place practically to ourselves!  There was a cave system there that I knew Norm would love to check out, so it seemed like the perfect place!

 We arrived a little past dinner time, marveling at this beautiful, out-of-the-way campground and were greeted by the campground host.  He told us the only a few sites had "somewhat reliable" electricity and that they were in a particular area and that we could pick anyone we would like! Fabulous!   Well, we drove around the corner, and low and behold, there were 3 other huge rigs, haphazardly parked, taking up nearly all the powered sites!

Campsites don't get much closer than this!

Picture this; a huge campground, with acres of sites, and 4 huge rigs parked a couple of feet away from each other! We were really tired, but after we disconnected the car and with some fancy maneuvering, Norm expertly squeezed between a couple of RV’s where we spent the night. Turns out all the other sites had no power at all, thus no interest.  The host was very vague as to whether there would be a cave tour the next morning, so we decided it would be best to leave early and get further down the road and away from the predicted flood zone. 

I found another blog post on this same campground with similar, if not more a more amusing story.http://authormichaelhicks.com/an-unexpected-turn-of-events-at-the-caverns-of-sonora-texas/

Internet photo of Senora Caverns!  Said to be internationally know as
on the the best show caverns on the planet.  Then where is everyone,
and why are they not giving tours?  I sure wish we could have seen it.

I was on the phone today with our friends, the Cormiers, hoping to catch up with them.  They were having some trouble with their RV, and were delayed in Austin, so perhaps it would work out.  How terrific to end the vacation with folks we started it with more than 3 months before! 

Sedona, Arizona

Sunday, September 14,2014

Sedona, I read, is not only a beautiful and serene place, but has long been known as a spiritual power center. This is because the power, that emanates from the vortexes (there are 4 here) produces some of the most remarkable energy on the planet. It is also the reason why such a large New Age community has sprung up in the Sedona area, bringing with it a variety of spiritual and alternative medicine practices. Past experience has made me  a huge believer in energy healing. 

I had heard that Sedona was fabulous from so many people, that I was dying to see it. Our neighbor goes there nearly every year.  In fact, they got married there!

 Our only problem was that we had become a little tired of hot rocks – red or not.  We both feel strongly that when you come to the point in a trip where the extraordinary no longer takes your breath away, it’s time to go home. 

I would have preferred to skip Sedona completely, and keep its mystery for another trip – a destination in itself, but Norm wanted to go – if only for a day or two especially since it was on the way.

It was truly beautiful, but very hot this time of year.  The 97 degree temperatures proved too hot to hike, and if we couldn’t do that, we couldn’t see staying.  Another time, if I were to return ( I hope I do ) I would take advantage of the many “Energy” happenings . Perhaps a spa treatment or two, get my “aura” read ( weird, but might be interesting ) and spend some time absorbing  some of that energy Sedona is famous for.

The view of Sedona from the highest point we could get to by air-conditioned car

So we drove around, scouted out the highest point reachable by the air conditioned car, and stumbled upon a fabulous health food store. I was slightly taken aback by how friendly these total strangers were!  One lady kept following me around the store, discussing one product or another!  She seemed harmless, but having spent most of my time in the Northeast, my suspicious nature wondered if she was a “stalker”.

The Chapel of the Holly Cross

Another place of interest that we decided to check out was the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  More than half a century after construction, the Chapel of the Holy Cross continues to be a place of wonder for all who come to see it. This landmark juts out of 2 red mounds on a spur of rock  over 200 feet above the ground.  In 1932, Marguerite Brunswig Staude, a sculptist, philanthropist, and devout Catholic,  was gazing at the newly constructed Empire State building, and saw a cross superimposed on it.  This gave her the inspiration to build a church for all denominations.  I hate to admit it, and I definitely regret it, but because the sun and heat was so intense, neither Norm nor I hiked up the hill to go inside to take in the magnificent view.  I certainly will if/when I return to this wonderful place. 

We had a lovely dinner at the Heartline Cafe 

Before we went to dinner at the highly recommended Heartline Café, we noticed that the sky promised a beautiful sunset. It was raining where we were, but to the west the clouds were broken up, which generally makes the most spectacular colors.

We jockeyed for a place to watch the sun set where we hoped would
be a nice, intimate place- high above the town. Unfortunately, I think
half the town was there with us! How funny!

We all enjoyed a lovely sunset 

 We raced up to the highest spot we had found earlier in the day to enjoy a nice, romantic, private sunset.  We soon realized “private” was out of the question!  Hordes of people parking in “no parking” zones, stopping in the middle of the road, and packing the huge parking lot were all jockeying for a position to photograph the setting sun. Is this Yellowstone? Obviously this place was not a secret, after all!!  And we thought we were so very clever!

I must mention that at the campground, the cicadas (grasshopper type insect) were absolutely deafening!  In fact, their “love song” is the loudest in the insect world!  It can reach 100 decibels, making the possibility of sitting outside impossible.  It was so strange the way the roar would come and go every couple of minutes.

Here in Sedona was one of the first places we could actual watch TV!  While flipping channels, it did not take long to realize we did not miss much.  There was just as much garbage on TV as we left behind.

 Have we really lowered ourselves to except Reality TV as a productive pastime?  How could we, as a society, have gone from spending a quiet evening reading one of the great classics, to being hypnotized by the idiotic foolishness of these TV shows? We sit transfixed  watching one commercial after another occasionally  broken up with the “ reality “ of Duck Dynasty, or some really homely kid named Honey Boo-Boo, and strangely enough, we had no desire to keep up with the Kardashians!

OH NO!  We were going to Tucson, then Nogales!  Good thing we finally got the local TV news!
After seeing the roads washed out a week prior, we were taking this very seriously!

One thing we did discover during our channel surfing, thank goodness, was that there was a hurricane headed directly for our next destination of Nogales, Arizona then up through Tucson!  There was a great concern for massive flooding all over central and southern Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas! After we saw what happened to the roads behind us a few days ago, we were more concerned than we might otherwise have been. We had gained a new respect for the ravages of a heavy rain!

The next day we left Sedona in a hurry to dodge the hurricane, but would definitely like to come back, stay at a lovely rental house or resort and stay awhile to soak up ( and hike ) all that this area has to offer.

The Grandest of Canyons!

September 11-14, 2014 -  Days 105 to 107

Grand Canyon National Park

When one thinks of the magnificent national wonders of the world, one thinks of Grand Canyon National Park. In the northwestern reaches of Arizona, the Colorado River carved the grandest of canyons.  Measuring 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and 1 mile deep, this canyon is a sight everyone must see.

 Norm had seen a glimpse of it 13 years ago on a trip with his daughters, and I just had to look over the edge for myself.

Norm and I perched out on a rock on the South Rim of  Grand Canyon National Park

After a rather long, 6 hour drive from Las Vegas, we arrived at the South Rim, at Grand Canyon Camper Village, just outside the park.

 The sites were bare bones, to be sure. Dirt mixed with gravel, open, and rather ugly compared to what we have been enjoying of late.  We got a “double wide” site which gave us a little elbow room, and made it bearable.  The choices, if you want full hook-up, are few – even for those of us that made reservations months in advance.

We set up, and then took off for the visitor’s center.  We were pretty tired, and it was dinner time, but we took the brief walk to the edge of the canyon and peered over.

At 6:45PM the sun was setting, casting a warm glow over the canyon

 Oh, my!  The sun was setting, casting a rich glow on the sheer cliffs below.  For the past month we have been looking up at the cliffs - now we are looking down over them.  What a change!

We took a few dozen photos then headed back to make dinner and to get ready to hike very early in the morning.

I have always had a thing for Smoky the Bear!

 The South Kaibab Trail could only be accessed by shuttle bus, classified as a “difficult and hot” 3 mile round trip hike.  That does not sound like much, but we had to hike nearly 1300 feet down at a very steep angle.  Once you get down, you HAVE to come up!  In the blistering heat! There were signs everywhere cautioning the seriousness of dehydration and exhaustion.

We were one of the earlier hikers, and enjoyed the magnificent views around each of the switchbacks as we descended into the canyon. We went as far down as Cedar Point taking into account the trip back up was still to come.

After hiking about a mile straight down, the sign says it all

The size of the people in this photo gives you perspective.  What a large, wondrous world we live it

Such a beautiful day to paint!  

 We met a dozen or so hikers from a tour group that used to be called “Elder Hostel” that is now referred to as the more politically correct “Road Scholar “program.

 These “well-seasoned” folks were hiking 7 miles to the bottom of the canyon, ( where the temp is over 100 degrees ) staying overnight, and then hiking a grueling 10 miles up and out the following morning!  Good for them!






 Something I can aspire to. ( I could hike down, for sure, but would never make it out without several day’s rest first!) I learned that one couple was going to hike down to a lodge at the bottom, and the next day take a helicopter out!  I would have DEFINITELY wanted to do that, had I known about that option.

Going down wasn't so bad, but the trip up was a little tough!

I must say, I really underestimated the difficulty of this hike, and am ashamed to say I didn't carry enough water.  I was foolishly trying to save my knees by not carrying too much weight.   I made it , and was not all that tired, but it would have been easier if I was more hydrated.  Shame on me! Norm’s knee was a little sore, and he was a bit tired, but he did very well, once again, for an old guy!

With a drop to the bottom of the canyon about a mile down, don't you think
Norm might have warned me that the rock I was standing on was splitting?

We were dying for a shower, so we headed back to clean up and nap.  Upon waking, I had a yearning for an ice cream.  Norm would never object to that, so we headed out to find one.  Not that easy, I am shocked to say.  We finally found a soft serve and decided to try the “prickly pear sundae”, which was rather sweet, but hit the spot.

 We shopped around for the mandatory Christmas ornament, and by then it was time to get back and make dinner, and get a good night’s rest.


One thing about the Grand Canyon which was similar to the Grand Tetons, is that there really is only one magnificent “view”, but with a hundred vantage points in which to see it.   And just like in the Tetons, Norm and I set out to see every one of them!  Looking back over the hundreds of photos, they unfortunately all look pretty much the same. All 476 of them!

Today we took the shuttle bus to the west end of the South Rim.  It was so darn hot we didn't hike much, but jumped on and off the bus with many others doing the same thing.  Taking photo after photo, then going back at the end of the day- overwhelmed when Picassa shows “ downloading 1 of 250 photos”! How do you decide which to keep, and which to post on the blog?  I must say, the picture portion of blogging is by far the most time consuming for me.

Desert View Watchtower, East Entrance of the South Rim

After having our fill of the western end of the Canyon, we jumped in the car and headed to the East Entrance of the park, about 30 miles away.  All the brochures had a picture of the Desert View Watchtower, and we had a need to check it out, and climb up it.   What’s a few more stairs?

This 4 story, 70 foot tall structure was built in 1923, designed to resemble a watchtower of Ancient Pueblo People. There was a pretty large crowd there, so it was difficult to see out the windows and marvel at the view. I elbowed my way to a window to take a picture, but quickly got pushed out.

A scenic look-out accessible by car is always crowded.

At this point,although it was hard to imagine, we were getting pretty bored with the same old, yet magnificent, view. We wanted to get back, clean up and watch the IMAX movie on the Grand Canyon across the street from the RV park, which proved to be quite enjoyable.

After our few days here, we felt we saw and did all we were physically capable of doing here in the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, so it was time to move on…..




After deleting hundreds of photos, I am left with a mere 288!  Looking back at them, they all look pretty much the same.  Beautiful.  But like they say, if you have seen one, you have seen them all.......