INTERNET PROBLEMS!!!!

PHEEBS CHECKS OUT THE BACK YARD

THIS IS TUESDAY’S POST…..We are having trouble with our Internet signal.  Tuesday it just went dead.  Kelly’s been on the phone with Millenicom & in desperation this morning I went against my better judgment, put a ladder up to our porch & climbed myself up onto the roof.  Put our Wilson Sleek antennae on a high point.  Kelly immediately got an internet signal.  Slow but we got it.   I’m typing this Wednesday morning & we have an electrician here right now troubleshooting why our electricity went off Tuesday night in our living & dining room.  These old Cowboy houses are notorious for their wiring.  And yes I will get that header picture changed shortly.  We have been soooooooo tired:((

It was somewhere well north of Flagstaff that I first noticed a slight tickle in my throat.  Knew right away what it was & this morning I woke up with a sore throat.  Kelly’s cold had made the leap.

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Not sure if it was the Roosters or the Owls that woke me up this morning but by 4:30 I was up & out the door with Pheebs.  Right away looked for the Constellation Orion Jean & there it was straight overhead & slightly to the South.  I slept in the house on my comfy Queen size bed & Kelly decided to sleep in the rig one final night.  Said she wanted to clean her room first.

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Noticed on my house walk around Monday night we again have a big hole under the foundation in the same place we had 3 Skunks when we arrived her last year.  I’ll set up the Critter Cam & see if we have an Elephant living under there.  I suspect Skunks

I’M GOING TO DIG DOWN A COUPLE FEET & PUT WIRE MESH IN ALONG THIS SECTION

Re-met some of the neighbors this morning on our walk.  Nice to walk out into the desert again & it was cool enough not to have to worry about Rattlesnakes.  Our neighbor around the block killed 2 of them near his house 3 weeks ago.  It’s still hot enough here for them to out in the middle of the day.  Our neighbor’s Shirley & Lou did a fine job in looking after our place.  Said despite an excessive amount of rain this past summer our house never sprang a single leak.  Thanks for that new roof on my bedroom Jean:))

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Kelly held up fairly well today but the congestion in her chest was really evident in her coughing.  She did not get a good night’s sleep so hopefully tonight sleeping in the house will go better.  If that congestion does not clear up she may be forced to see a Doctor. 

I’m afraid the long journey & Arizona’s heat combined to knock the stuffings out of me today (Tuesday).  Managed to clear a Pack Rat nest out of our shed, get a couple loads of laundry done & carry in all the food stuffs from the rig but that was it for this guy.  Energy drained away by mid morning & I spent most of the day in my recliner in front of a fan.  Don’t get me started on the word….HOT 

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Having a difficult time with our internet signal again this year.  We do have a signal but it is very weak & then it quit altogether Tuesday afternoon.  Signal has always been weak at our location in Congress but seems slower than ever.  We have our Millenicom device in a Wilson Sleek to boost the signal but it’s barely enough.  My Monday post took nearly an hour to publish.

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ED…..we plugged a small 400 Watt Inverter into our cigarette lighter to charge up our computers.  Would only work if the engine was running though.  I could have started the rig a couple night’s ago to publish my post but Kelly had gone to bed & I did not want to take a chance on waking her up by starting the engine.  And no we were not traveling with full dump tanks.  We had dumped the gray & black tanks in Sturgis a couple days previously (as mentioned) & we were traveling with about a quarter tank of fresh water.  This wasn’t our first time on the road you know.  Hope that clears up the confusion for you.  

OUR 75 WATT & 400 WATT DOUBLE PLUG INVERTER & MY SOUVENIR FROM CORNER GAS:))

We tried to gear ourselves down this morning.  No need to have the rig emptied & cleaned up the first day here.  We are both still tired from our 2 week not so swell trip down here.  Going to take a couple days for the dust to settle.  Did manage to get our satellite dish set up & were lucky enough to hit the bird with our first sweep.  I do the dish set-up & Kelly does all the programing set-up.  And I see I forgot to include a groaner in last night’s Groaner’s corner as well as altitude drop down the Yarnell Hill.  GAELYN thinks it’s about a 2,000 foot drop from the Colorado Plateau to the floor of the Sonoran Desert.

NEIGHBOR’S FLOWERS

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A retired man who volunteers to entertain patients in nursing homes and hospitals went to one local hospital in Brooklyn and took his portable keyboard along. He told some jokes and sang some funny songs at patients' bedsides.  When he finished he said, in farewell, "I hope you get better."  One elderly gentleman replied, "I hope you get better, too."

MONTICELLO UTAH TO CONGRESS ARIZONA…SOOOOOO HAPPY TO BE BACK:)))))))

THIS IS MONDAY’S POST…..INTERNET IS SO POOR HERE AT THE HOUSE I COULDN’T EVEN GET A SIGNAL MONDAY NIGHT

Kelly brought in her bedroom slide due to wind in the night.  By morning those winds had dissipated & never bothered us again for the rest of the day.  Rolled out of Monticello Utah about 6:45 a.m. with dawn breaking under clear skies.  Not a cloud visible anywhere.

NO IT’S NOT BECAUSE WE’RE DRIVING SLOW IT’S BECAUSE WE ARE ALL STOPPED FOR CONSTRUCTION WORK AHEAD

Not much traffic on 191 as we cruised southward into familiar territory.  Bluff Utah marked the spot where we headed East over to the Four Corners of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, & New Mexico this past March on our way back to Bayfield Ontario.  This morning we stopped at the Twin Bluffs Café.  We knew there was an eating place in Bluff RV Sue had spoke of but after Kelly went in she said she didn't think that was the place RV Sue had mentioned.  I snapped a photo of the twin peaks anyway.

Memories of our homeward trek last March came back as we rolled past Valley Of The Gods.   Memories did not come back of the steep grades in that area & we struggled up some of them with a nearly full tank of fuel.  Gotta remember not to do that for the next time we pass that way.  Passed Goosenecks State Park where we overnighted earlier in the year.  It's a favorite in-transit stop for Pat & Mike when they travel between Custer SD & North Ranch near Congress.

Always nice driving through Monument Valley of course & the tall rock sentinels & spires stood ever so stately in the mid morning light.   We talked about taking this route home again next March & maybe hitting Capital Reef & Canyonlands on the way.  Too early for those plans yet but it did cross our minds.

  

A McDonald’s coffee to go in Kayenta as we swung the rig’s nose to the South-West heading for Tuba City.  Traffic was lite, roads were good & we rolled right along.  I was soon able to make out a familiar formation on the distant horizon.  It was the San Francisco Peaks at Flagstaff.  I was pretty sure then we would be back in Congress by mid afternoon.

We somehow missed our I-40 turn-off in Flagstaff & temporarily misplaced ourselves.  Even with Garmin Gertie’s help we still managed to stay misplaced for probably half an hour as we trekked along old Route 66 through the city.  Finally made our I-40 connection west of Flagstaff out near Camping World somewhere.  Oh well, no big deal I guess except for all the unnecessary in town traffic we would not have had to deal with.  Nice to see the Pine forests around Flagstaff again as well.

THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS AT FLAGSTAFF ARIZONA AS SEEN FROM THE NORTH-EAST SIDE

Turned off I-40 at Ash Fork & headed on down the Chino Valley.  I’ve always like this relaxing drive.  Picked up a bit of fuel & were surprised at how downright hot it was.  If it was that hot up there on the Colorado Plateau we could only imagine how hot it was going to be at our place in the Sonoran Desert at the foot of the Weaver Mountains.

ALWAYS HAPPY TO SEE THIS EXIT SIGN OFF I-40

Didn’t get lost winding our way through the northern edge of Prescott this time & we were soon making our way through tricky & challenging hills & grades on Iron Springs Road.  What a nice feeling it was with each mile approaching our house in Congress.  And we got to see this whole area as we had never seen it before.  This is the earliest we have ever arrived in Arizona & everything is still green including the grass.  Trees still in full leaf.  Familiar names as we passed through Skull Valley, Kirkland Junction, Peeples Valley, & one of our favorite quaint little places, Yarnell.  Soon had the Big EEE in it’s lowest gear as we carefully navigated the tight hairpin curves coming down the south side of the Weaver  Mountains.  This challenging stretch of road drops ?? feet as it makes it’s way down from the Colorado Plateau to the Sonoran Desert below.  Once onto the desert floor we are only 5 minutes from our house.

 

KIRKLAND JUNCTION & THE T-BIRD CAFÉ, HOME OF THE MOST BEST OVEN FIRED PIZZA

 

PEEPLES VALLEY

YARNELL

Because the Big EEE is the longest rig we have ever had we decided to unhook the Jeep in a large parking area across from the Congress Fire Department.  Kelly & Pheebs then went ahead down Ghost Town Road to open our two gates.  Didn’t know which gate I would use until I got there a few minutes later.  Could see it was going to be too tight a turn off Ghost Town using our main gate so swung round the block & came in using our secondary gate on the south side of the property.  My eyes were glued to the low overhead power line but I just fit in nicely below it.  Took a little wiggling to get the Big EEE’s nearly 37 feet turned around to have the side door facing our house’s front door but with help from Kelly directing we did it.  Whether I will be able to get the rig into it’s parking spot remains to be seen.  Might give that a try later Tuesday sometime.

UN-HOOKING IN CONGRESS ACROSS FROM THE FIRE HALL

I saw right away our grounds were in much better shape than they were last year when we arrived.  Les had done a good job spraying the weeds & we only had patches of dried yellow grass.  Of course I right away did a quick walk around to see how my Cactus plants were doing & again much better results than last year.  I would say 75% of everything I planted made it through the long hot Arizona summer.  The Aloe Vera type plants are doing especially well as our some Golden Globe Cacti.  I’ll have a closer look at things Tuesday.  Got some water out for the birds & will have to get the feeders out right quick.  Gotta get all my feathered friends back again.  Love watching those guys.

 

LOOKS LIKE I’M GOING TO HAVE TO GET ‘CACTUS MAN’ ON HIS FEET AGAIN & THE RIG FIT UNDER THE POWER LINE JUST FINE

Inside of the house looked exactly as we left it & everything was fine.  Turned the water & main breaker on & we were good to go.  We’ll set up the TV satellite dish Tuesday.  Soon as the hot water tank was hot I was right into my walk-in shower for a long welcome splash.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh:))

HAPPY TO SEE EVERYTHING LOOKING MUCH BETTER THIS YEAR THAN LAST

Just sooooooooooooooooooo nice to be here.  Warm night with a ka-zillion million stars overhead.  The Milky Way’s river of stars stretched almost from horizon to horizon.  First time I saw it since we were here way back in March.  As I type this Pheebs is asleep on my big bed, I can see our big Saguaro Cactus outside my bedroom window, nice ambient tunes on our Sirius Satellite Radio & a chorus of Crickets surround our house.  Just so happy to back at our digs here in the great American South-West:))))))

SPENCER & FROGGI DID A GOOD JOB KEEPING AN EYE ON THE JOINT WHILE WE WERE AWAY

GROANER’S CORNER:((

RAWLINS WYOMING TO MONTICELLO UTAH…RAIN, SNOW, WIND, & LOTS OF BEAUTIFUL SCENERY ALONG THE WAY

UTAH’S SNOW CAPPED MANI-LA SAL MOUNTAINS TOWER OVER MOAB

THIS IS SATURDAY’S POST……MY LAPTOP RAN OUT OF JUICE SATURDAY NIGHT

Big winds brought driving rain in the night.  When Pheebs & I stepped out of the rig this morning around 5 a.m. Wyoming’s mighty west wind blew my hat off with it’s sideways rain.  Cold & not the best start to the day. 

Twisted around through Rawlins darkened downtown & sleeping Sunday morning streets following signs for Interstate 80.  Think it was just Saturday I said about not as much traffic on the Interstates out here in the West.  Imagine my surprise at the solidly heavy westbound truck traffic in the pre-dawn hours.  About as many trucks as I’ve ever seen on any Interstate anywhere.  Outnumbered cars by 10 to1.  The drive west on I-80 was right into the wind driven rain.  Not nice.   Only had maybe 30 miles to go before we turned south off I-80 onto highway 13 heading for Craig Colorado.  It was right at this turn where the rain turned to wet snow.  Really not nice!!

Slushy snow lasted about 10 miles before turning back to rain as our altitude began dropping.  Had been around 5,500 feet at that turn.  My altimeter showed us gradually descending all the way down to Craig.  Glad to see the darkness give way to morning light.  Still cloudy & windy with occasional rain squalls along the way.  Rolling hills became a little rollier as we noticed vegetation increasing & small shrubs increasing.

Spotted a Walmart in Craig & needing a leg stretch in we want.  Don’t be surprised if you see us on a Walmartian You Tube.  After 2 weeks on the road we’re quite the looking pair.

 

YES THAT’S SNOW IN THE LEFT PHOTO

KELLY LOVES HER BLACKBERRY

 

I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE IN THE FAMILY WHO TAKES PICTURES

CLOUDS SITTING ON SNOWY MOUNTAIN TOPS

NOTICED GREEN MEADOWS

 

Thanks to Mike down there in that suburb of Congress called North Ranch for giving us route directions from Custer on down.  Really liked that scenic stretch of winding road from Craig to Rifle Mike.  So nice to see the scenery taking on it’s traditional South-West appearance.  Just love this kind of country.

AHHHHH, NOW WE’RE TALKING SOUTH-WEST:)))))  (WEST OF RIFLE COLORADO)

 

OUR FIRST VIEW OF THE COLORADO RIVER THIS TRIP & TUNNEL AHEAD

Our destination for the day was Moab Utah but we hadn’t figured on so many people being there.  We wondered if it was some kind of holiday or something.   We’ve been to Moab before so knew of some nice boondocking spots along the Colorado river just east of town.  Well, they were all full despite us driving the narrow twisting exceptionally scenic road for half a dozen miles or so.  It was already 3:30 in the afternoon & knew by the traffic we were going to have to get ourselves well south of Moab if we hoped to find a place for the night.  Fueled up & we were on our way.  Moab is a nice looking little town with all it’s artsy shops along main street.  I think NAN & JOHN were in Moab somewhere but Kelly’s still not feeling the best & did not want to infect anyone else with her cold.

JUST COMING INTO THE TOWN OF MOAB FROM THE NORTH

 

ENTRANCE TO ‘THE ARCHES’ IS AT THE BOTTOM OF LEFT PHOTO & CROSSING THE COLORADO RIVER IN MOAB

 

ROLLING ALONG MOAB’S MAIN STREET HEADING SOUTH

NOTICE THE BICYCLE PATH  BUILT ALONGSIDE THE ROAD & COLORADO RIVER

  

WE WERE LOOKING FOR A BOONDOCKING SPOT ALONG THIS ROAD BUT NO LUCK

And that brings me to a couple corrections in my Saturday post.  With the photo of Kelly tilted back in her navigator’s Captain chair I said something about her feeling better.  She was quick to let me know this morning the reason she was laying back in that chair was because she felt so sick.  I stand corrected.  Also I said our electrical problem has caused our coach interior lights not to work.  I was informed again this morning right quick that yes they do work!!  Kelly corrected the post.  Our inverter monitor on the wall doesn’t work though…& I got that right.

  

STOPPING FOR A LEG STRETCH

Having been in Moab back in May of 92 I knew of a really scenic & peaceful spot south of town called Wind Whistle Canyon.  Remembered a campground or something there so that is where we headed.  It’s a couple miles off the highway on an old narrow paved road.  What I hadn’t remembered was how small the campsites were & we had quite a time navigating our length around the tight corners between the Pinyon Juniper trees.  No way could we fit into any of the sites so it was back to the highway we headed & motored south to the small town of Monticello.  Found us a dirt lot behind an abandoned building on main street & that was it for the night.

 

ROAD LEADING INTO WIND WHISTLE CAMPGROUND & WIND WHISTLE CANYON DEAD AHEAD

We may make a run for Congress in the morning or like last year we might hole up at a small RV Park in Ash Fork & make the last relaxing leg of the journey to Congress Tuesday morning.  We’ll see how we feel Monday afternoon.  I think the sooner we reach Congress the sooner Kelly is going to bounce back from this cold & fatigue that has had her down.  We’ll see how the driving goes.   It’s only 400 & some miles & we’ve been averaging about 425 miles a day anyway………………………

LITTLE MISS SMARTY PANTS:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A man in a supermarket was pushing a cart which contained, among other things, a screaming baby. As the man proceeded along the aisles, he kept repeating softly, "Keep calm, George. Don't get excited, George. Don't yell, George."  A lady watched with admiration and then said, "You are certainly to be commended for your patience in trying to quiet little George."  "Lady," he declared, "I'M George!"