GRAND CANYON......NORTH RIM

WED. NOV 21/07
Started the morning with a water pump that wouldn't work after a few minutes in the shower. Turned the switch off, & then on, & the pump just purred instead of making it's usual loud staccato rumbling noise before quieting down & pouring water out of the taps. Of course I immediately assumed the worst & figured we had burned it out. I always assume the worst & then work my way backwards!! Luckily for us we have a very patient problem solver on-board by the name of Kelly. Didn't take her long to get on the internet & onto one of her favorite problem solving RV forums. Didn't take me long to continue assuming the worst!!
Within minutes some problem solving answers began coming in to the computer regarding our pump problem. Of course I just wanted to take the whole RV to the repair shop & get a whole new pump put in because afterall, the pump wasn't working so it must be shot.....right?? Wrong!! With a bit of sleuthing on our part we traced our activities back to the night before when we had forgot to unhook the shore water. (our first mistake) In the night the hose froze outside so when the water didn't work in the morning we switched on the pump on. (our second mistake) The pump in turn started pumping the water for my shower out of the fresh water tank. (that's what it's supposed to do) Before the end of my shower the pump seemed to be sputtering & gasping out air but we still didn't suspect anything. In reality what happened is that the pump drained our already low fresh water tank (our third mistake, I should have ensured there was enough water in the tank before having a shower) So, when the tank ran out of water the pump sucked air into the line and..........you guessed it, quit working!! One of the RV forum members suggested filling the fresh water tank two thirds full, open all the taps, turn on the pump & wait. So, that's what we did.....& it worked. Slowly the pump regained it's usual racket & about 30 seconds later we had water flowing freely from the taps again. Yay Kelly & the on-line RV Webdoctor:))

It was 11 a.m. before we wrapped up the pump problem & rolled through McDonald's for a quick McBite & headed south on our 75 mile drive to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Beautiful sunny day but a bit on the cold side with temps in the 50's somewhere. The drive across the Kaibab plateau reminded me of many western movies I had seen as a kid. Wide open spaces with blowing tumbleweed ringed by high mesas. The plateau eventually gave way to a forest of endless pines all the way to the canyons rim. Don't ask about the Forest Ranger who pulled us over for driving a tad too fast in the park....shhhhhhhh, we got off with a warning.

It's off season now so the beautiful north rim Grand Canyon Lodge was closed but I had seen it in 92 & still have a few faded memories of what it looked like inside. The big plus about being here in the off season is that there were hardly any people around. No traffic coming into the park & basically no people at the look-out sights for awhile. I am not only awed by the visual beauty of Utah's canyons but I am always very acutely aware of something else. The silence of the canyons!! There is a stillness in the air broken only by a rustling squirrel, or circling hawk or maybe a small gurgling stream sometimes. The lack of human noise is so refreshing & appreciated. The canyons are a world unto themselves & I can only imagine how wonderful it must be hiking down into the Grand Canyon itself with all it's majestic beauty & peaceful silence.
The forestry department was doing controlled burns in the area so the Canyon seemed to be filled with a haze making it difficult to make out any detail on the far side 11 miles away. Not good from a photographic point of view. We could see the sun glinting off car windows way over on the south rim but the smoke or haze made all other vision unclear. We walked out to the view points & followed the rim trail for a short distance to another viewpoint whereupon we bumped into our Canadian snowbird neighbors again. They are basically traveling to the same areas we are & have some of the same interests in nature & sightseeing that we do.
Some of the walking was uphill & it wasn't long before my right knee started acting up again so we headed back to the car, swamped down some peanut butter & jam sandwiches & headed back to Kanab. I may add that we drove out of the park a lot slower than when we drove in & sure enough as we approached the park gates, there was the Ranger with another car pulled over. Hmmmm, wonder if it had anything to do with speed!!
The drive home was nice because it was late afternoon & the sun began casting long shadows across the road & the mountains & canyon walls began to take on a surreal look & color. The American Southwest is such a beautiful part of the country & I just can't imagine going anywhere else. If you don't mind a little dust & dirt in your teeth & a little wind messing up your hair, you would probably love this place as much as we do.
Aw yes, & another good day draws to a close..............................:)) http://picasaweb.google.com:80/stargeezerguy Not sure where we're headed to-morrow but, it will be somewhere.