A DAY IN BEAUTIFUL SEDONA, ARIZONA

SUNDAY DEC. 2/07
So happy to be rid of the past couple of cloudy & rainy days. The morning dawned clear without a cloud in the sky. We waited until the sun was up awhile & warmed the air before our morning walk. Finally, we are getting a little now older & a little now smarter:))

Headed off for Sedona around 11. Nice 20 minute scenic drive to what I think is one of the prettiest towns & have ever seen. Sedona is ringed by beautifully colored mountains & huge rock formations. The first thing I noticed as we drove into Sedona was that there are no tall buildings & the second thing I became aware of was the colors of the buildings themselves. It's obvious that a lot of thought & planning went into Sedona to make it a "pleasing to the eye" kind of town. The buildings, sidewalks, curbs, walls etc are all colored the same as the surrounding mountains. Beiges, browns, topes, tans, sand colors & red rocks tints are used in everything. I only saw one white house & it stood out like a sore thumb. The east side of Sedona is very commercialized but it's commercialized in a very nice way. The architecture of the buildings, the many statues, the old west flavor, artsy shoppes, cafe's, high end hotels, restaurants, gift shoppes, plaza's, it's all there & it all fits to-gether to make one of the prettiest towns in one of the most beautiful settings I have ever seen. Yes, the shoppes are pricey, & a cup of coffee can set you back $1.85, & there are some flim flam time share bandits trying to talk you into time share deals but overall, Sedona is a beautiful place & a "must see" for anyone in the area. Reminded me a little of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The commercialism in Sedona however, is done with taste & respect for the traveling public & most of all, in respect to the beautiful mountain terrain that Sedona is such a part of. They have done such a fine job of blending the town into it's environment.

We spent about 6 hours in & around Sedona to-day & were actually in & out of the town 3 different times as we explored up & down surrounding canyon roads, suburbs, & main highways. Didn't get a lot of hiking in but it was just one of those days to do something different.............and we did:)) WEB ALBUM...http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy

BUFFETED BY HIGH WINDS & RAIN

SATURDAY DEC. 1/07
I think it was about an hour after I had fallen asleep that I was suddenly awakened by the rocking of the coach & a tell tale howling sound outside the window. Wind!!!! And lots of it. The driving rain was beating on the roof & the wind was blowing it sideways against the windows. My first thoughts were about the satellite dish outside & surely it must have been blown over. The wind was coming in gusts as I shone my flashlight in the direction of the dish. I fully did not expect to see it, but there it was, standing steadfast against the onslaught of the wind. Our Canadian flag wasn't so lucky because I saw it on the ground to the east of the satellite dish. I watched the tri-pod set-up for a minute & crossed my fingers that it would be alright, & it was. But, my aluminum ladder which I had placed between the dish & the motorhome to support the satellite cables suddenly blew over pulling the cables down with it. The satellite dish didn't move but the other end of the 2 cables which ran up to & through the motorhome living room window & hooked into the modem & router for the computer, did!! The cables pulled the modem & router right off the dinette table & down onto the seat. A quick inspection showed no damage so I just left the router & modem where they were. Spent the next hour or so just sitting, watching, & worrying about everything until the wind finally abated around 2 a.m. The rain never let up & I couldn't help wonder where all that water was going. It had now been raining steady for well over 24 hours. There had been flash flood warnings on the television earlier but they were more centered around the Phoenix area to the south.

Glad to see the first light of day creeping over the valley but the rain didn't let up & the sky was black with ominous clouds. Wasn't until around mid-morning that the rain began to let up & we began to see the first bits of sunshine trying to break through the clouds. The wind picked up again but I reasoned that might be a good thing & hasten the departure of the clouds. And it did. By noon we could see ever widening patches of blue sky. The wind picked up even more so I added some weight to the tri-pod by hanging a heavy water jug under it plus I staked down each of the 3 legs. The gusting wind continued all afternoon & I was really impressed with how the satellite dish remained stable. We made one slight re-alignment on the SatMex 5 satellite & it kept us on-line all day.

The high winds dried up all the water puddles around the motorhome & by the end of the day we were somewhat back to our normal desert like conditions. Big clean up job though from all the mud we, & the dogs had tracked in. Kind of put some meaning to the phrase, "mud puppies."

We still haven't made it to Sedona yet so we'll try again to-morrow if it's sunny. I think we'll roll out of here Tuesday morning & maybe head south to Phoenix. We'll wait & see which way the wind blows us................................ :))
NO PHOTOS ADDED TO THE WEB ALBUM TO-DAY

A RAINY DAY

FRIDAY NOV. 30/07
The rain started in the night & continued for the whole day. No thunderstorms or heavy stuff, just a steady medium rain. Disappointing for the doggy guys when we had to explain to them why we couldn't head out for a walk this morning. You can see the sad look Checkers has on her face in the picture & you can see how the water on our site had to pool right at our door of course!!

Picked up some groceries, did a couple loads of laundry & that was pretty much the excitement for the whole day. I don't care much for lugging a camera bag around so had mentioned to Kelly the other day I wouldn't mind picking up an old fisherman's type vest sometime to carry a few camera accessories around in. My interest in photography has been slowly returning after laying dormant for the past 14 years. Photography vests I looked at years ago were waaaaaaay too expensive. Well, wouldn't you know it, Kelly browsed around in Cottonwood this afternoon, found a used sports equipment store, & bargained a used $25 vest down to $10:)) Yay Kelly:)) And, it's like new, and.........I'm sure it will be showing up in some pictures soon.

Had myself a little anxiety fit this afternoon when I decided to start up the motorhome for a few minutes to re-charge the battery. When I turned the engine on, our coach electricity went out. I was immediately convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that I had done something wrong again. Checked the fuses but everything was ok so figured the converter or inverter or whatever mosmagatus governs the electronics in these motorhomes must have quit, exploded, burnt up, or whatever. Checked the re-set switch on the post outside and that was ok too. To say I was storming around upside down would be putting it mildly. Then, Kelly noticed a fellow RV'er outside of his trailer looking at his electrical box as well. Maybe, just maybe, a glimmer of hope here, & yes, his electric was off too. Ya-hoooo!! Seems the electricity for the whole park was out. Wow, what a relief for Al. Wasn't something I did afterall. When I was outside checking the electric box I did hear some police/ambulance sirens coming from the town of Cottonwood so I figure maybe one of the locals not used to rain & slippery roads may have taken out a hydro pole somewhere. It was just coincidental that the electricity was knocked out at the same time I turned the motorhome engine on. Aw yes, some days just don't seem quite as bad as others........................................:)))) NO PHOTOS IN THE WEB ALBUM TO-DAY

KIND OF A NOTHING DAY:((

THURSDAY NOV. 29/07
Cloudy cold morning with a wind blowing so our walk didn't last too long. We did manage to get a little sunshine later in the day but for the most part it remained cloudy. Have you noticed by now how we Canadians like to carry on about the weather. Not just me, we're all kinda like that up there.

We had kind of a quiet, nothing day. Didn't go anywhere, didn't really do anything, just kind of vegged out. Took the doggy guys for a walk along the Verde river in late afternoon & that was about it.

Big weather front coming in to-morrow with a lot of rain predicted over the next couple days...........well, there I go again about the weather. I better get out of here!!!!

SATELLITES, TUZIGOOTS, & JEROME

WEDNESDAY NOV 28/07

YABBA DABBA DOOOO....WE GOT OUR SATELLITE SYSTEM UP & RUNNING TO-DAY....but, more about that later.

Was surprised to see clear skies this morning because they were predicting a bunch of cloudy days. Always colder when it's clear. We're just going to have to get a little smarter about our morning walks. The trail we headed out on this morning at 7:15 lead around to the west side of a series of high hills. Although the sun was over the horizon we remained in shade for two thirds of our walk. It felt so cold our noses were running & the dogs were sneezing. Even saw some cows with heating pads. We have to remember to walk on the east side of the hills in early morning so we catch those warming sunny rays. We did manage to see some long horn steers & a Javelina. (pronounced Hav-a-leena) Javelina's are wild pigs & it's important to keep your distance.

Kelly had phoned a Radio Shack store in Cottonwood a few days ago to see if they could recommend anyone familiar with satellite systems & they gave her a name of a fellow from Camp Verde not too far away. His name was Bob Link, so Kelly phoned him & he agreed to come over & help us with our system. Bob arrived about 9:30 this morning & promptly set to work checking to see if our system was set up right. And, to my relief, it was. All my wires were hooked up correctly, tri-pod was perfectly level, my azimuth, elevation, & polarization numbers matched my dish set-up, & I hadn't made any mistakes. I was sooooooo relieved that the problem wasn't my own fault. Bob re-checked all the numbers & then began scanning the sky for the satellite. He scanned, & scanned, & scanned, but no satellite signal. He was frustrated too because Bob is retired from Aerospace & in his retirement used to install satellite systems so could "nail the bird" anytime within minutes. He rechecked all the connections again & then finally turned to us & said......"call your tech support, there is something definitely wrong here." Kelly got on the cell phone & within minutes had Todd from Tech Mobile in Lindsay Ontario on the line. What ensued was a lot of checking & re-checking both the software & the hardware. Bob got on the phone with Todd as they went through a process of elimination procedures. Try as we may though we still could not find the satellite. Todd finally turned it over to Armand & Armand tried switching us from the G16 satellite to the SatMex 5 satellite & said, "try that." BINGO!! we were on:)))))) After a month's frustration we were finally on the internet. Armand was puzzled as to why we couldn't get onto the G16 satellite before but I was just happy to be on any satellite that worked for us. What a great feeling & the internet has been working perfectly for us all day. To-morrow we have to make a few physical adjustments to the hardware outside on the dish to hone in our Star Choice television reception. That could be another challenge but for right now we're on the internet & that's all I really care about. A big thanks to Bob from Camp Verde & Tech Mobiles, Todd & Armand for all their help. Your patience is much appreciated.

We had hoped to go to Sedona to-day but by the time we got the satellite problem squared away it was early afternoon so decided to see a couple things around Cottonwood. Drove over to the Tuzigoot (pronounced Tooz-i-goot & is the Apache name for crooked water) Indian Memorial which is not far from where we are & walked around the ruins. It dates back centuries & centuries. The Indian dwelling were excavated & rebuilt back in the 30's.

From Tuzigoot we headed west up the winding mountain road to the little town of Jerome. This is a place that has to be seen to be believed. I have never seen such a quaint little town like this before. It's the one with the narrow streets that I came through with the motorhome a few days ago. Trendy little shoppes on narrow little roadways. This is a real hippie & artsy type of community a little reminiscent of Yorkville in Toronto back in the 60's. A very homey place with some of the buildings & flowers reminding me of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico because of the architecture & the way it's built on a mountain side. We had read about, The Haunted Hamburger place so decided to stop in for a burg. We weren't that hungry so decided to split a burg & fries platter. The burg & fries were good but we didn't feel it was right on their part to charge a dollar to "split the order!!" A bit cheap I'd say.
Jerome is located on the east side of Mingus Mountain so by late afternoon as the sun settles in behind the mountain range, the temperature plummets. We were dressed lightly because of the hot sun earlier in the afternoon so we piled into the car, cranked up the heater, & headed down the winding mountain road back to our snug little motorhome in Dead Horse Ranch State Park. Happy to see our internet satellite system was still purring along & all was well. And for me, it will be nice going to sleep to-night knowing that I didn't screw up the satellite system setup up after all.................... Aw yes, I'm back in the good books again:)) Well, at least till next time.

Oh, & by the way......we made a classic campers embarrassing error to-day. In parks like these there are dumpsters located at various locations & it's common for campers to set a bag of garbage on the hood of their car & drive it to the dumpster. Notice I said, the hood of the car!! Somehow the bag of garbage got placed on the roof of our car & you remember the saying, "out of sight out of mind." Well, you guessed it, we drove right past the dumpster & into the town of Cottonwood.........with a bag of garbage on top of our car. No telling how far we would have gone if it hadn't been for the woman turning a corner & hollering at us as she went by. Something about dumb Canadians & "a bag of garbage on your roof!!"

FROM GRAVEYARD TO SUNSET

TUESDAY NOV. 27/07
Cloud cover moved in during the night so there were no warming rays of sunshine in the morning. Set out for a short walk on one of the trails but it turned into an hour's hike as we climbed higher & higher along a scenic trail on a couple of nearby hillsides. Noticed a sliver of smoke across the valley up on one of the mountains which later turned into a lot of smoke so we're still not certain if it was a controlled burn or a forest fire. Because of the heavy cloud cover we decided not to go to Sedona to-day. I would prefer to see Sedona in the sunlight when the colors of the mountains, rocks, & soil are more vibrant.

Slipped into Cottonwood for a few groceries & then hit the Jerona Cyber Cafe to catch up on our emails & post yesterdays blog & pictures. Back to the rig & tried again to set up our satellite system but no luck again. Just cannot find the satellite:((
Kelly slipped back into town to get a little tune up at the hairdresser while Max, Checkers, Cora & I soaked up a little cloudshine outside. Hoisted our Canadian Flag on the rig & then hopped on my bicycle & headed out for a ride on some of the trails. Came across an abandoned old neat-o log cabin so took some pictures. We had heard about a graveyard in the park where miners from the old town of Jerome had been buried many years ago so I was able to locate that. It's a very old graveyard & most of the graves have been lost to the ravages of time but there are a few still visible with old rusty crosses, weathered wood, & broken piles of stones. Only two clearly defined tombstones. Don't know how many people are buried here & I'm not sure if anyone knows because the whole site is slowly vanishing in the desert winds.

Met a nice couple from the State of Washington who come here during the winter as volunteer trail maintenance people. In the summer they live on a boat & drive whale watching boats in the San Juan Straits.

I was just unloading the days photos when Kelly looked out the door & said, "wow, you should see the sunset!!" Grabbed my camera & ran (well ok, I walked fast) straight up the hill beside us to the top, & "double wow," she was right!! Spent the next 20 minutes taking nearly 50 photographs of the spectacular sunset. You can see some of them at.............
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy

Overall, it was another quiet relaxing day. We'll see what to-morrow brings:)) And, once again, thanks to everyone who has been sending in encouraging & favorable comments to our Guestbook, email account & blog. Much appreciated folks!!

DEAD HORSE STATE PARK - COTTONWOOD, AZ.

MONDAY NOV. 26/07

Finally, a morning with temperatures above freezing. It was a balmy 42F when we headed out the door for our walk. The morning sun crested the hills to the east & began casting it's warming rays over the valley landscape. We hiked up a hill beside our campsite & could clearly see the little town of Jerome clinging to the mountainside off to the west. Jerome was the village with the narrow streets we came through yesterday & is known locally as the city in the sky. It's an artsy community now but was once a wild & raucous mining town.

Around 11 we put the computer in the car & took a drive into the town of Cottonwood which is about a 4 minute drive from our RV site. Found a nice little cyber cafe across from the town's Post Office & was able to check our email, look at some weather sites, & update our blog & web album. Even managed to have a cup of coffee too. It was a low energy day so when we got back to the campsite I flopped myself into a reclining lawn chair outside & basically stayed there for the rest of the afternoon soaking up the warm rays of the big Arizona sun. Kelly took a drive back into Cottonwood & browsed some stores. Worked at our satellite system again, but gave up......again!! Kelly briefly picked up a Wifi signal from another motorhome but the distance was too great & the signal petered out.

As soon as the sun gets low in the west the cold air takes over & we're inside again with the heaters going but the Verde valley here is so picturesque I think we'll stay in the area for awhile. Hope to take the car over to Sedona to-morrow. Things to see & trails to hike so with a bit of luck I hope to come up with a boat load of energy between now & then. The stress & strain of the past few days kind of caught up with me to-day think................

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy

FROM BEDROCK TO DEAD HORSE

SUNDAY NOV. 25/07
Our outside thermometer told us to stay inside this morning because it was only 27F & would you believe there was a tent pitched a few sites down. How those people (kids) keep warm in flimsy tents at those temps I'll never know. Better them than us I guess.

Took the dogs for a walk around the big Freddy Flintstone parking lot & snapped some pictures of the Bedrock RV Park. Somebody sure put a lot time, effort, & money into this place years ago. There's a whole theme park behind a colorful wall but we didn't see that. Quite a place, but I kinda liked it because maybe I got a little bit of Fred in me:))

We were on the move again by 8:30 heading south on highway 64. Hopped I-40 west for a few dozen miles then climbed off on 89 heading down through Chimo Valley. Our destination was Dead Horse State Park southwest of Sedona. We could have (should have!!) gone through Flagstaff but we had already been there so I figured we would try a different route & see new sites. Oh boy, was that a mistake!!!! Somewhere south of Chimo Valley we grabbed highway 89A east for Sedona. We had only gone a few miles when we noticed the first road sign & then a few miles more we noticed the second road sign that said, No Trucks Over 50 Feet. Oh Oh!! We weren't sure what that meant but by the look of the Mingus Mountain range in front of us we figured it might be a wise move to un-hook the car. Wow, was that ever a right decision!! Kelly had one walkie-talkie & I had the other & within minutes as Kelly followed me, we were into the most challenging stretch of road I had ever seen.....ever!! And there was no turning back & no room for turning around. The twists & turns on this road made the switchbacks at Zion Canyon look like child's play. Blind curves, no shoulders, 15MPH hairpin turns, steep grades, sheer cliff drop-offs. This long stretch of road over Mingus Mountain had it all. There was no let up, no sigh of relief, just deadly curve after deadly curve. On some blind curves I was nearly stopped to edge myself around. I was so close to some of the guardrails with the motorhome it nearly scared the paint right off coach. I felt kinda sorry for some of the drivers coming the other way because all of a sudden they had a big 33 foot motorhome in there face coming at them on a road that was hardly passable for 2 Volkswagon beetles in some spots. I had to reach deep into my bag of driving skills numerous times but all & all, it was an exciting drive to say the least. And then, just when I was beginning to enjoy the challenge, I saw a sign ahead that said, "Road Narrows." Oh geeeeezzzz!!!! Within seconds I was into the mountain town of Jerome, Arizona. And this town was like no other town I've ever seen. If I thought the mountain road was narrow, it was nothing compared to the main street of Jerome, weaving & winding it's way around buildings, curbs, people, parked cars, & just about anything else imaginable. Reminded me of movies I've seen of Swiss Alpine Ski Villages. Couldn't resist grabbing the camera & taking some pictures as I twisted through the streets. I could see Kelly behind me & knew she was going to be very upset by the time we ever got to where we were going, but, there was no place to stop so had to just keep on going in the hopes I didn't catch a top corner of the motorhome on somebody's eave trough or protruding balcony. Some of the corners were so tight I was way over into the other lane to get around them. Eventually the buildings dwindled as we made our way down the rest of the mountain through the town of Clarkdale & then into Cottonwood. Found a place to pull over on the main street so we stopped & touched base for a minute. As soon as I got out of the motorhome I could smell hot brakes. Despite gearing down on the hills & using my brakes sparingly, I still managed to overheat the brakes on the rig. Found that a little scary but at least we were down on the valley floor & out of the mountains. A few minutes later we were able to find Dead Horse State Park & were soooooo happy to pull into a nice quiet campsite & shut everything down for another day. The lady camphost who lives there told Kelly, "I can't believe you came over Mingus Mountain in a 33 foot motorhome." Well, I can't believe it either, but we did. We definitely won't be going back that way but you know what.......I wouldn't have missed that little stretch of excitement for anything, but, I wouldn't want to have to do it all over again either. Aw yes, another day in the life of......The Bayfield Bunch:))

P.S. No internet here at Dead Horse State Park so we tried again to set up our satellite system but without success. I just can't seem to find the satellite or something. So discouraging!! (I think I am right on the verge of being traded in:((

Will maybe take the laptop & try to find a Wifi signal in the town of Cottonwood to-morrow to check our email & get caught up on things.

GRAND CANYON......SOUTH RIM

Monday Nov. 26 UPDATE
We are now in Dead Horse State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona. Haven't had internet for a couple days. We are in an internet cafe in downtown Cottonwood this morning beause we just haven't had any luck hooking up our satellite system yesterday or this morning. I will try to upload blog & pictures now. Don't have time to edit Saturday & Sundays pictures so am uploading all of them...good ones & bad ones. Don't know if I'll have time to upload pictures to blog but am uploading the web album right now. All is well in la la land:))
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SATURDAY NOV 24/07
Watched a fellow RV'er trying to untangle his frozen water hose this morning. Looked like he was wrestling (unsuccessfully) with a twisted steel bar pretzel. Thermometer said it was 30F. Took the dogs for a short walk on a rough rock strewn trail & then packed up the motorhome. We felt this KOA was way over priced for what they were offering.

On our trip from the north rim to Flagstaff a couple days ago we had noticed a Fred Flintstone RV park about half way between the Grand Canyon & Williams Az so we decided to head back there with the motorhome & check it out. We didn't hook up the car because it was only 30 miles away but Kelly missed an exciting drive in the motorhome because of the huge wind gusts blowing across the desert floor trying to get the motorhome airborne. Was glad to pull into the RV park in Valle at the intersection of highways 64 & 180. Well, I think I was glad. Upon closer inspection it became obvious this Flintstone era theme park is well beyond it's heyday. Half a dozen older aluminum sided permanent trailers are sprinkled here & there. This was probably a very popular going concern about 30 or 40 years ago when Fred, Barney, Wilma, & Betty were prime time television stars. I'll let my photos in the web album tell the story.....http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy but at least the price was much better at $14 a night. There is also an old airplane museum here as well & across the highway is an updated version of the twentieth century with modern hotels, gas, groceries, & a trendy state of the art trading post. All & all, this is a good jumping off point for the Grand Canyon's south rim if you have an RV & are looking for a cheaper spot to base your rig. No internet here but on your way to the Canyon just stop in front of the trading post beside McDonald's in Tusayan & you can pick up a Wifi signal.

Found us a good level spot but because of the high wind gusts we didn't put the slides all the way out in case the wind ripped off the slide awnings. Kelly whipped up some bacon & eggs & about an hour later we jumped in the car & headed off to the Grand Canyon about 25 miles to the north. As I mentioned before, the Grand Canyon south rim is a very big place with many confusing little roads running willy nilly everywhere. It's kind of a tangled megapolis between man & Mother Nature. I think man is definitely winning the struggle. There were people everywhere & the place was crowded. Parking lots were full. There is a whole village there with restaurants, groceries, hotels, lodges, railway lines, campgrounds, maintenance yards, ranger stations, etc. etc. etc. We had a hard time finding our way around again but finally blundered into a parking lot entitled A. From there we were able to get our bearings & followed a paved path for about a quarter mile to the canyons rim. And "Wow" what a canyon it is too. Biggest darn hole in the ground I've ever seen. The visibility was better in the canyon from what we had seen at the north rim. Not as much haze, pollution or smoke. It was around 2 in the afternoon so the sun was still fairly high & the canyon was well lit although in photography terms it was very flat lighting & not the best for dramatic photographs. The shadows had not begun to creep across the canyon yet.
Walked along the rim trail heading east taking photos as we went & marveling at Mother Nature's handiwork. It's hard to comprehend how something can be so big & it boggles the mind trying to understand the whole vista laid out before you. It's one of those places that you can't explain in words or pictures. You just have to go there & see it for yourself. My photos don't come anywhere close to showing you the beauty & vastness that abounds at the Grand Canyon. We walked on as far as the Yavapai Observation Point & then headed back to the car snapping more pictures along the way. From parking lot A we drove the short distance to the Grand Canyon Village itself, parked the car, watched people boarding a train for their return trip to Williams, Arizona, & then headed up on the rim trail again on the north side of the hotels & lodges. People, people, everywhere in the snack bars, hotels, restaurants & out along the rim gazing into the canyon. We walked down to the Outlook Studio for a quick look around before it closed. Sun was going down fast now & the shadows in the canyon began their long stretch across the canyon floor & up the canyon walls until all the canyon was in full shadow with just the canyon tops being lit by the setting sun. We walked to the old El Tovar Hotel & went into the lobby to see & feel the ambience of a hotel built back in the early 1900's. Theodore Roosevelt was one of it's early guests. Have a look at the photos I took inside on our web album. By the time we came back outside the sun was down & the temps were dropping rapidly. Had a last quick look into the darkening canyon & then made a bee line for our car somewhere about a quarter mile away.....somewhere. Remember, I said this is a very confusing place with all it's twisting roads, parking lots & thousands of people milling about everywhere. Luckily my sense of direction kicked in & we found the car ok & none too soon as my sore knee was really barking. Made the half hour drive back to our Freddy Flintstone park in a long line of night traffic. Good to be home!!
The doggy guys were so glad to see us they nearly wagged their tails off. The feeling was mutual:)) Fortunately the big winds had stopped & we were able to put our slides out. Kelly whooped up some hot dogs & it was the end of another great day. And, it was only 6 P.M:))

KANAB-PAGE-GRAND CANYON-FLAGSTAFF

THURSDAY NOV 22/07
Hitched the car up to the motorhome & rolled out of Kanab's Crazy Horse RV Park about 9 a.m. heading east for Page, Arizona. A slight high overcast cloud cover was enough to take the razzle dazzle out of the colorful mountains, mesas, & desert floor.

Crossed the bridge over the Glen Canyon dam on the western outskirts of Page & spotted a Dennys so it didn't take us long to get ourselves in there for a tasty grand slam breakfast. Hit a Wal-Mart for some groceries & a Shell station across the road for a propane & gas fill up before leaving Page heading south on highway 89 on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Some steep grades & twisty roads led us to a viewpoint where Navajo Indian ladies had tables set up with Indian crafts. Beautiful view over the desert valley below.

Highway 89 runs fairly straight & level all the way to Cameron where we turned west & headed into the Grand Canyon National Park. It was getting late in the day & as the sun began to dip to-wards the horizon visibility became more of a challenge. Rolled up to the parks east gate around 4:30 & with the Forest Ranger's words, "the campgrounds all filled up" our day began to rapidly deteriorate. First, we had a very difficult time on the park's roads because of the blinding sun in our eyes & second, we got totally lost.

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is a much bigger place than I had imagined & with the sun in our eyes we missed turning signs & after about a half hour frustrating drive we blew right out the park's south gate. Found a spot to turn around & re-entered the park, asked for new directions, & promptly got lost all over again. We were looking for the Mather campground where the Ranger guy thought there might be some primitive (no electric) camping sites left. You can only imagine now how tired, frustrated, & ticked off we were by now & by the time we found the camping area we were about ready to come home.

Took a drive through the campsites with electricity on the off chance we might find a vacancy but the place was jammed wall to wall with RV's packed in like sardines. It was obvious to us that the biggest mistake we had made was failing to take into consideration that this was the big American Thanksgiving long week-end & everybody's brother & uncle had flocked to the Grand Canyon to spend their Thanksgiving there in the beautiful weather. We located the other camping area without electricity & had to un-hook the car before entering because we could see it was going to be a tight squeeze on the narrow roads. And to make matters worse, it was dark!!

I drove the motorhome & Kelly followed in the car as we squeaked into a narrow uneven campsite. Activated the automatic leveling system & tried putting the hydraulic jacks down but I didn't think they sounded right. Meanwhile Kelly had spotted a better spot a few campsites away so I backed out of the tight spot & pulled into the other spot. Still uneven, but better. Put on the emergency brake, & flicked the switch for the hydraulic jacks & .........nothing happened!! The system never activated & was totally dead...no power to the jacks. That lead to a second problem because now we were unable to level the coach which meant we could not take the chance of putting our two slides out because at that off angle we knew the slides would never re-track again & that would have left us in one hell of a pickle. Of course by this time Al is a total stressed out wreck after a looooong driving day & Kelly is trying to hold things to-gether. Even the little doggy guys were stressed.

Temperatures rapidly dropped as we got the furnace going on battery power. Lit some candles because I didn't want to use the lights & run the risk of draining the batteries. Didn't sound like the furnace was running right but at least we had heat & we didn't end up freezing for the night. Here we were at one of the world's most beautiful places & we hadn't even seen it because we knew that we had to pull out at first light & head the 75 miles to Flagstaff in hopes of finding a garage open before the week-end that could figure out what had gone wrong with our hydraulic jack problem. Needless to say it was a poor night's sleep as the stress of the recent few hours took it's toll. Probably our very lowest point since leaving home:((((
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FRIDAY NOV 23/07
At first light while all hardy campers around us were fast asleep we were up & rolling out of the campground. Didn't bother hooking up the car in the below freezing temperatures. Found my way out to the main road with Kelly following closely in the car. We knew there was a small commercial community just outside of the park's south gates so that's where we were headed.

Heavy traffic coming into the park so figured they must be the workers coming in for all the retail business's around the rim. Spotted a McDonald's with a big flat parking lot so hooked up the car & McMuffined ourselves. Luckily, we were able to pick up a Wifi signal for the computer so it didn't take Kelly long to find some RV dealers & repair facilities in Flagstaff. A couple of cell phone calls found us an RV repair place that was open, & best of all, the guy said he could have a look at our problem as soon as we got there so without further ado we were southbound on highway 64 for Flagstaff, Arizona.

Another big bright sunny morning, traffic was light, & eventually we hopped on I-40 east & in no time at all we were tangled up in Flagstaff traffic. Blew right by the repair place but noticed it had a super small parking lot so we managed to head down a side street, stop & un-hook the car & then made our way back to the repair garage. Nice people there & they had a young fellow out & working on our hydraulic system within minutes. Took him about half an hour to determine that the problem had originated inside the electronic box & he then had it fixed in minutes. We thought the $45 bill was very fair & within an hour of getting there we were on our way again. (in hindsight we later figured it might have just been a blown fuse)

On our trip from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff this morning we had noticed a KOA campground near the town of Williams so we decided to head back that way & check in there. We were in bad need of rest, re-organization, & re-grouping. The KOA was expensive but we were too tired to go any further & besides, our problems weren't quite over yet.

A fellow on a golf cart escorted us to our site but after pulling in I noticed the site was really uneven, but the next site was level. He said ok, back up....so I did & in the process I caught our CB aerial on a tree branch & promptly ripped it off. From there I proceeded backwards into an electrical box. But, it didn't matter, I was tooooo tired at this point to care. Amazingly enough, I had a spare aerial so was able to get my ladder out & replace the broken one & so far I haven't seen any damage to the coach from that jaywalking electrical box. But, that was it for me.

After a welcome hot shower I just sat in a chair inside the coach in a somewhat dazed & tired state of affairs for the rest of the afternoon watching some horribly boring afternoon television & soaking up some of that big beautiful warm Arizona sun streaming in the window.

Going down to 18F to-night but our furnace is working fine now, Kelly cooked up a super turkey supper, we're comfortable, warm, & it looks like the Bayfield Bunch has survived another day:)) We're on the move again to-morrow because this KOA is too expensive, but hopefully we're not going too far & we are definitely headed back to the Grand Canyon sometime in the next few days.

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.

MOUNT CARMEL JUNCTION TO KANAB

TUESDAY NOV 20/07
While hiking in Zion Canyon yesterday I became aware of some pain in my right knee towards the end of the hike & it only got worse as the day wore on. We had intended to go back to Zion this morning & do some more trails but when I woke up it was obvious from the soreness in my knee that I wouldn't be hiking anywhere to-day. That, coupled with the approaching cold front made us decide to pull up stakes in Mount Carmel & move 40 miles south to the town of Kanab which is a bit closer to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Our fellow snowbirds, M & M also made the move to Kanab as well because they are hoping to do the Grand Canyon's north rim too. We are all in the Crazy Horse RV park for the next couple days. We have internet here so that's a plus.

Sounds like the our perfect weather is going to end with a temperatures plummeting into the 20's overnight. We plan to dress warm & drive the 72 miles to the Grand Canyon's north rim in the morning & see what we can without having to walk too far. Right now I have a heating pad on the knee & am hoping for wondrous results by morning. Ya right!!

No pictures for the web album to-day because I didn't take any except for a few this afternoon while doing some maintenance on the motorhome. Checked oil, transmission fluid, tires, etc. Wired up a broken muffler clamp & resolved a problem with the black water tank. Kelly browsed around Kanab a bit & picked up some groceries. We will probably stay here to-morrow night as well & then roll out Thursday morning heading for the south rim of the Grand Canyon. From there to the Sedona area I think................ In the photo below, that's us on the right & our Canadian snowbird friends from London, Ontario on the left. Crazy Horse RV Park.......... Kanab, Utah.

ZION CANYON...UNBELIEVABLE BEAUTY!!

MONDAY NOV. 19/07

Well Utah, ya did it to us again!! ZION CANYON:))

Cold start to the morning & our water was stiff. We are at the junction of highway 9 & the road that leads into the east entrance of Zion Canyon. We are at the little burg of Mt Carmel Junction on the northeast side. Area's a bit junky but the doggy guys didn't seem to mind as we took them for their daily morning spin.

Headed off to Zion about 9 a.m. & happily spent the next 5 hours in one of Utah's finest parks. The drive to the east gate is scenic but once in the park a whole new world of wonder opens up. Every foot of the way could be filled with a thousand photographs. I had to put the little Santa Fe on automatic pilot as I snapped pictures through the windshield. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy The continuous curving road didn't always make it possible to pull off to the side for pictures so just had to do my best from the driver's seat. The splendor is totally awesome & we felt so lucky to be here to see the canyon in it's Autumn colors. The first tunnel was small but the second tunnel was over a mile long. Upon exiting the second tunnel the road does a series of tight switchbacks down, down, down, to the canyon floor far below. I was now glad we had decided not to bring the motorhome through the day before because it would have been sooooo hard on it with the steep grades. The engine, transmission, & brakes would have been under maximum strain not to mention the strain on the driver if he were to meet another big coming the other way on one of the tight switchbacks. I would strongly recommend all RV drivers of bigger rigs to use the south entrance into Zion & avoid the tunnel & the switchbacks. Much easier on driver & vehicle for sure........10-4!!

The area around Zion Lodge was so beautiful to-day as well with the aspen trees still having most of their beautiful golden leaves fluttering in the breeze. The sun shining through the trees gave the area a magical glow. We ate our peanut butter & jam sandwiches on the patio of the Lodge before embarking on a long trail hike which began just across the river from the lodge. The Kyenta trail climbs a couple of hundred feet above the river before heading south to the emerald pools area. The walk along here was totally splendid & I couldn't stop taking photos of the picturesque Virgin river below, lined with aspens & all framed by the majestic mountains. We saw rock climbers high on the cliff faces with their ropes dangling precariously below them. These people have to be either totally crazy or well beyond the belief of what is actually sane about the human race. But wow, what a sense of accomplishment it must be to actually reach the top of their destination & actually live long enough to do it all over again the next day. Super!!
After clambering higher & higher over the rough rock strewn path, our Kyenta trail finally led us all the way up to the top emerald pool. We actually met a young mule deer along the way & I was able to take some pictures of him before he slowly & unconcernedly ambled away. Spent about 20 minutes at the upper emerald pool before beginning our long & careful descent down the path to the middle emerald pool & finally the lower emerald pool where we were able to walk under & behind the waterfall which was but a trickle compared to the ice & snow run off from the mountains in the spring. By the time we reached the road again we still had another half mile back to the car where we started from & to say it was soooooooo great to reach the soft seats of the car would be putting it very mildly. Water & trail mix were in order as we drove out of the busy parking lot & headed to the visitor center. Browsed around a bit, took a drive through the Watchman RV campground at the south end gates to the park & then headed for home. Beautiful drive back but I was so tired I just left the camera sitting between the seats. It needed a rest too!!

We're always so glad to get back to the rig & see the dogs because we all make a big fuss over each other & I find that soooooo good for the soul.
Our Canadian neighbors arrived back shortly after we did. They had been on a tour of the park as well so we all walked over to the Thunderbird restaurant for supper & a big chin wag about the day's events. We sat there so long we all seized up & nearly had to ask for some cooking oil to lubricate our joints to get moving again. This aging process is sure hard on having fun sometimes.

In a nutshell.........Super great day & we wouldn't have missed it for anything. Our big bag of wonderful memories is overflowing:))))))

CANNONVILLE TO THE ZION AREA

SUNDAY NOV. 18/07

Short doggy walk this morning because it was moving day. As mentioned before, this is a really clean & well organized KOA here in Cannonville. Marsha, the KOA lady knows the area well & is a hiker herself. She is the one who gave us the tip about those beautiful slot canyons. For anyone traveling in the area, this is a good spot, especially in the off season. http://www.koa.com/where/ut/44151/

Finally got ourselves organized enough to hit the road about 11:30. Had been talking to our fellow Canadian neighbors in the 5th wheel beside us & they are heading for Zion as well this morning so we agreed to meet up at the park gates later because we were actually leaving before them. The drive to the Zion area was uneventful but we did enjoy the scenery & I did notice we lost a fair bit of altitude by the time we got further southwest down into Utah. Met up with our new friends Mike & Maureen just outside the gates of Zion & we proceeded to the main gate only to find out that we would have to unhook the car to do the drive through the tunnels & make our way around the many switchbacks. No problem, so we un-hooked the car but Mike & Maureen were turned back because their truck & fifth wheel were to long to negotiate the curves. We hadn't known that they don't allow anything over 50 feet long to enter at the East entrance. Park ranger at the gate said they had a rig go over the edge on one of the switchbacks:(( We held a hasty conference & all decided to go back 11 miles to Mt. Carmel where we found a deserted looking RV campground beside the road. At least we had water, electricity, & sewer hook-ups. TV reception was poor but we were able to pick up an internet signal from a motel across the road. Not the nicest RV park we've been in but it would have to do while we did some day trips into Zion over the next couple of days. We hadn't eaten all day so the 4 of us walked across the road to the Thunderbird restaurant & had some burgs & fries. Mike & Maureen & their dog Molly are parked in a spot ahead of us & over a bit. Nice folks who are full timers. I shall refer to them as M & M in the future. In one of the photos I took this morning at the KOA in Cannonville you can see their rig on the right side of the picture & our rig on the far left. The KOA office is in the right foreground.........

I hope the noise of the traffic outside goes away soon. We have been sooooooooo spoiled by nice quiet campgrounds lately..............

HIKING THE SLOT CANYONS ALONG WILLIS CREEK

SATURDAY NOV. 17/07

We have a resident rooster in the neighborhood & it's been nice hearing him on our morning dog walks. Kind of takes me back to my childhood when a neighbor had a large pen of chickens. Always liked the sounds of the rooster & the chickens but the smell wasn't so swell!!

The KOA lady here recommended a nice hike through some slot canyons near Cannonville so we loaded up the furry guys this morning & headed out of town. The 6 mile drive on Skutumpah road turned out to be a an exciting drive all by itself even before getting to our destination at Willis Creek. We sure don't have roads like that in southwestern Ontario that's for sure. Darn!!

The hike along Willis creek is mainly done right in Willis Creek itself. Luckily the water never got any deeper than a couple of inches. But, did we get wet feet anyway.....yes we did!! Hadn't gone far before we realized this was going to be another great scenic adventure. These slot canyons are totally beautiful & we went through about 5 of them on our 2 hour & 2 mile walk. Had we gone another hour or so we could have seen Petroglyphs on the canyon walls but we find a 2 hour hike with the dogs is a comfortable distance for us so turned around after 1 hour. We don't rush, take lots of photos, & generally try to absorb the meaning of where we are. These slot canyons are narrow passageways cut through solid rock by millions of years of water grinding the rock down under extreme pressure. The canyons are breathtakingly beautiful but deadly if your ever caught in one of them after a heavy rainstorm. No thunderstorms in the area so we were able to just lose ourselves in the splendor of the canyons & enjoy our time there. Once again I took many photos & we came home with many new memories. Thanks again Utah:)))))))

We plan to leave this area to-morrow & head over to Zion Canyon. Cold Alaska air moving in here Tuesday so we want to be further south at a lower altitude before that happens. Don't know where we're staying yet so may be off line for a few days.

However, we'll be back:))))) Photos >>> http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy