Sunday, March 20, 2011

WELL, IT WASN’T ONE OF OUR BETTER DAYS

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HEADING FOR THE ARIZONA STATE LINE THIS MORNING (KELLY TOOK SOME OF TODAY’S PICS)

The winds howled all night so neither Kelly or I had a good night’s sleep.  Saturday morning dawned with a heavy cloud cover & it was cold.  Despite a wind advisory for the area we decided to hook up & get out of town.  We did not want to be stuck inside all day being continuously punched & kicked by the relentless wind gusts.  At 7:15 I had the Jeep hooked up & we hit the road.

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LAKE MEADE APPROACHING THE HOOVER DAM

Up until a few days ago I figured we had to go back through Las Vegas to get ourselves back down to I-40.  I was not looking forward to that!!  You can imagine how happy I was when I found out the very road we were camped beside actually went all the way down to the Hoover dam & Arizona without going anywhere Las Vegas.  Can’t remember the highway number but it’s a beautiful scenic drive all the way with very little traffic & an excellent paved surface.

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The wind gusts harassed us big time all the way on the winding roads so it was a bit of a nail biter at times.  Kept the speed down to 40 for the whole 60 mile drive to the new bridge span over the Colorado River.  Bad road signage in the Dam area had us guessing how to get across the river but we managed to guess right & miraculously ended up crossing the new bridge span on highway 93 heading for Kingman Arizona.  The winds never let up & we fought it all the way to Kingman.

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At a gas stop in Kingman we noticed the electric plug between the rig & the Jeep had become pulled out of the Motor Home & had dragged on the road totally destroying it.  Luckily I had put a spare cord in the Jeep before leaving home last November.  We climbed aboard I-40 & headed east.  For the rest of the day we fought heavy crosswinds all the way to near Winslow Arizona.

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ALMOST GOT OURSELVES WEDGED IN A RAILWAY UNDERPASS NEAR FLAGSTAFF

Our plan had been to find a boon docking spot somewhere around Williams for the night & then head up highway 89 Sunday into Monument Valley for a few days.  But, it was not to be:((  The County Park we had planned to stay at was still closed for the winter & to make matters worse it was located on a dead end road.  Yep, had to unhitch the car to get the Motor Home turned around.  Not a happy camper!!  And we nearly got ourselves wedged in tunnel coming & going too.  Second option was another Park area in Flagstaff but after becoming turned around somewhere between highway 89 south & 17 to wherever we found ourselves back up I-40 heading further east.

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THIS SET UP PARKED BEHIND US FRIDAY NIGHT

It was 89 North that we had planned to take up to Tuba City on our Monument Valley drive but now we found ourselves well east of that, very tired & very discouraged.  It was late afternoon & combined with our lack of sleep & rough day of fighting tough cross winds we resorted to our last & least favored option of the day.  An RV Park!! Meteor Crater RV Park is a few miles west of Winslow Arizona & for all intents & purposes looks like a clean & neat little place.  It’s a good place for us to re-access our travel plans for the next few days. 

The weather is not cooperating & the heavy cloud cover was still with us as well as the wind when we checked into the RV Park.  Weatherman said no sun until Wednesday at the earliest but when Kelly went outside with the Motormouse around 8 tonight she said the Moon was up.  I went outside & sure enough we were under clear skies.  Didn’t have the energy to haul out my camera equipment for a Moon shot so just took in the beautiful moonrise for awhile & came back inside. 

Anyway, in an effort to keep this blog short let me just say we are mulling over a revamped version of our Monument Valley & Canyon De Chelly plans tonight & if we wake up to a sunny morning we will likely head on up that way tomorrow to see what we can see.  But, if the predicted storm arrives, we just might……well, we just might.

Ok, that’s enough out of me after a very long & stressful day………zzzzzzzzzzzzz

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OUR SCENERY SURE HAS CHANGED AS WE APPROACH WINSLOW AZ.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( And, some more Elephant logic………    

Why is an elephant big, grey and wrinkly?
Because if it was small, white and smooth it would be an aspirin!

Why doesn't the elephant use the computer?
Because it is afraid of the mouse!

18 comments:

  1. sorry to hear you had a not so great 'travel day'!..good thing you didn't get yourselves 'wedged' in the tunnel??..was there no signage to say how the clearance was??..geesh..pretty scary stuff..hope tomorrow is a better day for all!!

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  2. Maybe there is a season in the southwest that isn't windy, but I have never been there to experience it! I can take just about any kind of weather, but the constant winds really get me depressed.

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  3. Hope you and Kelly get some good rest tonight. Sounds like you could use it. Perhaps tomorrow will be a brighter day.

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  4. Well, that's a tad bit of a downer all right. But it's a good thing you aren't on the Central Coast tonight. We have howling winds (gusts to 60) and a continual downpour. It's also c-c-c-old.

    I hope you find warmer skies and greener hillsides.
    Emjay

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  5. so what is your ratio of bad days to good days... there now you should feel better...

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  6. "Some days you get the bear...some days the bear gets you"..OUCH!

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  7. ... and then we went to work. Oh wait, that's other people! Hope all is good now.

    Roxanne

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  8. There's still so much to see, and your time is getting shorter. But then, you already knew that. Sorry to have brought it up!

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  9. Holy smokes....what a day you all had! Sure hope tomorrow is better..take care you guys!

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  10. If it had been me, I would have stayed put. I don't like driving in high winds. A gust blew me off the road a couple of years ago, so now I wait for calmer weather for traveling. :)

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  11. We do not drive in the wind. I'd rather be hunkered down, slides in than on the road. Things aren't bad down here in Apache Junction weather wise but we're supposed to get rain the next couple of days. New Mexico is getting some howling winds also.

    But I sure am glad you made it safely. Hopefully you were able to get some sleep last night which will help make this a brighter day regardless of which way you end up going.

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  12. Hey Al... Judy and I stayed at that RV Park last winter for one night on our way back home... I know it will be a little too manicured for you guys, but we enjoyed our night there! We are going to be getting rain here at Lake Havasu tomorrow... overcast today! Enjoy your ride up to the Monument Valley!

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  13. Sounds stressful, I think I would have found a hole between 2 rocks and stayed put. But you probably just wanted to get through it to get further along your route.

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  14. Goodness, a day plagued with calamity! Do hope u go to Canyon de Chelly, it is really wonderful to see. Am stuck here in Tehachapi with high winds. Take Care...

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  15. Sorry to hear about your very windy day... sometimes the worst starts turn out to be the best adventures... I hope it does for you all!
    Have fun & travel safe
    Donna

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  16. Be sure to see and spend the night boondocking at gooseneck State Park ,,,just north of Monument Valley near Mexican Hat....nice quiet beautiful place. We have boondocked there 2-3 times and look forward to doing it again..

    Hey its like Fishing, even the bad days are better than workin!!:-)

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  17. Driving your rig in strong winds is a "nail biter" and no fun. Glad yo're through it and hope you get a good night's sleep..sounds like you could use it.
    Take care and safe travels.

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  18. Here's hoping tomorrow is Sunny!!

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