On the Lake (sort of)

Today was, has been, is, very hectic. The mob arrived, we got the houseboat at 5. We picked up the wave runner in Page, launched it and parked it near the house boat, the kids went to Walmart for groceries. We used 4 carts to get them down the hill. I hope you get the idea. Transition days are always a mess. Once we get on the lake and establish a routine hopefully things will settle down. I'm not sure about posting anything for the next few days. We are on the lake until Thursday.

Lake Powell day 2

Everyone made it to Phoenix and they are spending the night in Flagstaff. It was 106° in Phoenix and 76° in Flagstaff. Staying there was probably a good idea. We had some rain yesterday which produced a bright Rainbow. I rode my bike around the park this afternoon and took those pictures. Those houseboats are privately owned. That's a lot of houseboats. I am somewhat concerned about the wind. The wind has been so strong it is difficult to stand. Securing a 60 foot houseboat to the shore in a strong wind might prove difficult. We are on the boat, in the marina, tomorrow so I should be able to post something. While we're on the boat out in the lake probably not.

Lake Powell

We are camped in the Wahweap campground. This is, I think, the 4th or 5th time we have camped here. The kids land in Phoenix tomorrow and will spend the night in Flagstaff. Seth is in Idaho on business and will land in Charlotte late tonight. He will immediately have to turn around and go back to the airport. That's only if his flights are operating and on schedule. Cross your fingers. There has been some significant weather around us all afternoon. There was a flash flood warning on our phones with a list of slot canyons that needed to be evacuated. Kinda exciting. We will all spend the night on the boat in the marina on Saturday and head out on Sunday. More tomorrow.

Kanab (Best Friends Animal Sanctuary)

We have had our first hik-up on this trip. We drove in here to retrieve the MP from temporary storage. I did quite a bit of searching, trying to find a place with a 15 amp electric hookup that we could use. The plug in question was ground fault protected. When we first went out to that storage unit 10 days ago, that plugs breaker was tripped. No one was using that circuit as far as I knew so that was a red flag. I reset the plugs breaker and everything worked fine. Well, when we got here this afternoon the breaker had popped and the MP was without power for who knows how long. Everything in the fridge was warm. We had to throw it all out and there was an unpleasant smell. The coach batteries were dead and we had to jump through some hoops to get everything working again but I believe we are back up and running. God, I love RVing. That pic was taken moments before that Chipmunk crawled up my arm. We are in Page Az tomorrow.

Zion day 3

There is quite a lot to cover today. We got the before 9 AM lottery award for the  Angels Landing hike. So, of course we started at 6. The approach trail to the chain climb is only 2 miles but it is very steep. There is supposed to be a ranger checking for permits at the beginning of the Angels Landing portion but we got up there before the ranger did, so we pressed on. If you are standing there looking up at the climb it seems improbable. Very steep, very exposed. We pressed on one step at a time and eventually made it to the top. There were many Chipmunks at the top. I unwrapped a granola bar as I sat down and was immediately attacked by several wanting a handout. They climbed up my arm and onto my shoulder. I, of course, didn't give them a crumb. The climb down was a little more congested with up climbers competing with down climbers for the chain. That's my second time on that hike and I'm pretty sure that will be my last. Tomorrow John and Jeanne head home and Jenny and I head to Kanab to get the MP out of storage. So far our plan has been aligning with reality. Really weird. More tomorrow from Kanab.

Zion day 2

We did a couple of hikes today. Our most significant hike was the approach trail to the Narrows of the Virgin River. The Virgin River Narrows hike is the most hiked route in the park. At the end of the one mile trail that we hiked the trail ends and in order to continue you have to walk upstream in the river. The river was clogged with people. We were not going to hike in the river anyway but seeing the mob wading upstream convinced us that we didn't want to be part of that group. I threw our names into a lottery for a chance to hike to Angels Landing tomorrow and bizarrely we won. The Angels Landing hike is one of the most iconic hikes in the country. John and I will get an early start tomorrow. I should have a few pics taken from the top in tomorrow's post. Tomorrow is the last full day of this 10 day adventure with John & Jeanne. It's been an action packed trip with good fellowship. More tomorrow.

Zion National Park

The drive was embarrassingly short to get here. We arrived something like 4 hours before check in. I've never stayed in the lodge here. There is a gate with a code that lets us into a part of the park where riff raff urchins aren't allowed. I had last years code. That was a source of some excitement. A shuttle bus driver, with a full passenger load behind us, was not impressed. We eventually got through the gate and had a good lunch in the lodge. To kill some time we booked a narrated 1 hour trolley tour up the canyon road. We eventually both got checked into our cozy cabins and are now waiting for our dinner reservation time to arrive. It was hot in the valley this afternoon but the cabins are air conditioned. Whoppee! More tomorrow.