VALLE ARIZONA TO GOOSENECK STATE PARK NEAR MEXICAN HAT UTAH & SOME WONDERS IN BETWEEN

THIS IS MY SATURDAY MARCH 21RST POST….WE ARE OUT OF INTERNET RANGE AT GOOSENECK STATE PARK.

INSIDE GRAND CANYON’S DESERT VIEW WATCHTOWER

Disconnected our water hose Friday night just in case however a slight breeze during the night kept nature’s cold frost from descending upon us so we remained frost free this morning.   Stepping out in the pre-dawn hours this morning I could here an engine running & noticed a pick-up truck across from us.  People sleeping in vehicles is not uncommon anymore.  A small Class C had come in overnight & was parked off to our left as well as another car with a tent.  Saw a young fella crawl out of that tent later with shorts on.  I don’t know how they do that but then again maybe a forget I was once that young invincible age myself.

A SCENIC STOP ALONG THE EASTERN RIM

  

Gypsy in a comment asked, “Is the campground only for RV's? I am intrigued by the old wasting-away travel trailers. Are they just going to sit there forever”?……Looks to me like these abandoned trailers have been here a long time & will continue to remain here a long time.  This 30 acre Freddy Flintstone theme RV Park is waaaaaay past it’s prime & is actually for sale.  Asking price is 2 million dollars & unless it is sold some day I imagine those old trailers will just sit here & rot into the ground.  No water, electric, or septic where those trailers are.  RV Park has a single dump station.  Water & electric where we are but most high end RV folks probably would not like it here.  No cement pads.  Retired Rod jokingly kidded us about being in an RV Park but if the Park had been crowded with other RVer’s we would not have come here.  With basically no people around it makes this place ideal for the Bayfield Bunch:))

 

With really no travel plans for the day we rolled out of the Park about 7:45 a.m. & ambled up highway 64 towards Arizona’s Grand Canyon.  Bye-bye Freddy Flintstone & thanks for the memories again.  We sometimes think about where we’re going after it is we have left the place where it was we were just at.  Or something like that.  Nice sunny warm morning & as always here in the southwest….great scenery going by.

WE WAVED GOOD-BYE TO FREDDY FLINTSTONE & HIS RUSTIC RV PARK THIS MORNING

Not much of a line-up for a Saturday morning at the south entrance of the Grand Canyon.  Made our way through the Park & headed out the east entrance road through a forest with an hour’s stop at the Desert View Watchtower.  This Watchtower is a must see & both Kelly & I really liked the interior mosaics.  Rather than trying to explain this tower & the Canyon’s views I’ll just let the photos give you an idea what this tower is all about.  The colored link above tells about the tower.

  

  

 

HIGH ROUND CEILING WITH & WITHOUT A CAMERA FLASH

 

 

   

If we return to the Grand Canyon again it is this east end we will come to.  Not nearly as many people & the views are spectacular plus the Colorado River is visible as it twists & turns it’s way along the Canyon floor.  Lots of RV parking for big rigs at the Desert View Watchtower & I think we spotted some boondocking spots just outside of the Park’s east entrance.  The Grand Canyon is only about a 4 hour drive from our house in Congress.

 

   

  

How much nicer it would have been in this tower had it not been for the noise.  The noise of people that is.  Sound is amplified by the towers round solid walls & children’s hollering & yelling echoes & rebounds in staccato bursts.  And the constant babble of people talking about things that had nothing to do with where they were or what they were seeing.  Can’t people just be quiet for a moment & absorb & appreciate the beauty they are surrounded by. 

 

 

STILL A FEW REMNANTS OF SNOW ON THE SHADOWED SIDE OF THE CANYON

 

 

And of course a few people photos as well.  People just enjoying themselves at the Grand Canyon.

  

STILL A FEW PILES OF PLOWED SNOW AROUND

Feeling the need for some good old country music today I switched our Sirius satellite radio station over to Willy’s Roadhouse for a change & let those memory shaking tunes carry us all the way into Utah.

LEAVING THROUGH THE GRAND CANYON’S EAST GATE

LOTS OF NAVAJO INDIAN FOLKS SELLING THINGS

HEADING ACROSS THE RED LANDS IN THE DIRECTION OF TUBA CITY

A stop in Cameron Az for fuel with another stop at Basha’s in Kayenta Az for a few groceries & a leg stretch.  Our Big EEE ran absolutely perfect & never faltered anywhere despite a full tank of fuel on some short, sharp, & steep grades near Mexican Hat Utah.  I am cautiously optimistic the source of our ‘low power’ problem was in all probability a clogged fuel filter just as many readers suggested.  Time & distance will tell & I won’t uncross my fingers until we pull into our driveway back home in Bayfield Ontario.

JUST GOTTA LOVE THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

The drive through Monument Valley this afternoon was just as beautiful as ever.  One never tires of nature’s ever changing landscape as sun, clouds, & shadows constantly change the Artist’s palette.

 

It was 4 p.m. Arizona time when we rolled into Goosneck State Park just a few miles north of Mexican Hat.  Only 3 other rigs here.  It’s not really a State Park as one might imagine a State Park but more of a large dirt/gravel. rocky parking lot on the steep rim of some very beautiful scenery.  There are picnic tables, garbage cans, metal BBQ’s & a solid walled washroom.  No electric or water & we had no Verizon signal at all, not even a weak one.  We did notice one change here since last year.  Fee for one night is $10 & they have stuck a toll booth right in the middle of the road forcing people to drive around it in the dirt.

WHADDYA THINK OF THIS IDEA MIKE………………..

If one is looking for quiet with light pollution free night skies this is the place.  On the distant southwest horizon we can see some of the towering rock formations in Monument Valley.  This is our second time here & I always think of Pat & Mike McFall because this is a favorite stop for them when traveling between their homes in North Ranch Congress Az & Custer South Dakota.  We stood on the rim of Gooseneck tonight & watched the sun go down.  We are soooooo fortunate to have decided on this Snow Bird lifestyle years ago.  So very fortunate indeed.

THIS IS WHERE GOOSENECK STATE PARK GET’S IT’S NAME

In the morning we plan to move a short distance over to the west entrance to Valley Of The Gods & see if we can find us a nice boondocking spot there.  We will then unhook the Jeep & head west on highway 261 to have us a look something called the Mokee-Dugway.  I will be able to tell you more about this section of road in Sunday night’s post but with no internet in this area I’m not sure when I will get to publish my current blogs.  Maybe Bluff Utah might have have a signal but don’t know. 

PHEEBS CHECKS OUT THE BIG GOOSENECK

Our proposed route over the next week is highway 163 up to Bluff then highway 191 moving up through Monticello with explorations into Canyonlands.  Our last point for hanging out in the southwest will be Moab.  When we leave Moab we’ll basically put the pedal down for Denver on the other side of the mountains then home.  Well sounds good in theory anyway so we’ll see how it goes over this next week.  And remember, if you don’t hear from us it’s just that we have no internet where we are.  This is a pretty remote part of the country.  Ahhhhh:))

This post came to from the Visitor’s Center parking lot in Blanding Utah Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Utah time:))

 

PARKED IN THE SAME SPOT AT GOOSENECK AS WE WERE LAST YEAR IN THE WINNIE WAGON

 

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Here’s an example of Government Spending back around 2001.  A 14 volume US Budget, agreed upon by the House and Senate Committees, and approved by the White House:

$240,000 grant for development of a two-headed Stethoscope.

$615,000 for renovation of a skating rink in Plattsburg, NY.

$26,500 grant for improving the packaging of fly paper.

$112,350 for brass polish for Marine Corps band servicing the White House.

$84,425 printing allocation for posters to commemorate Bernard W. Trencher, the first settler of Muskegon Heights, MI.

$7,200,000 refund of a fine paid by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, in connection with their admission of dumping bunker oil at sea, off the Florida coast.

$1,200,000 special allocation to the Dept. of Agriculture to commence a feasibility study of commercial applications of peach seeds.

$836,000 travel and expense allocation for the Ormond Group to conduct a Leprosy Mission to India.

$520,000 grant to Tufts University to develop a program of retraining, and healing of injuries related to ballet performers.

$312,500 for a sculpture and memorial tablet of Princess Diana, to be erected in Lake Ozark, Missouri.

$4,850,000 grant to Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc. to study the possibility of setting up a central Email system for rural Post Offices.

$770,000 grant to the College of the Pacific to study the effects of the 1994 devaluation of the Mexican peso, and it's effect on the US ball bearing industry.

$2,075,000 to establish The Skateboard Hall of Fame in Palo Alto, CA.

$425,000 special allocation to the Smithsonian to purchase the baseball hit by Babe Ruth as his 60th home run.

$3,000,000 allocation to the District of Columbia to promote a Miss District of Columbia Pageant in year 2000.

$6,700,000 grant awarded to Medi-Care First Corp. to study the feasibility of reusable elastic stockings.

$5,325,000 allocation to the National Institute of Health to study alcohol consumption on college campuses.

$12,600 to replace the waffle irons in the Congressional dining room.