Lost Wages Nevada

We left 10,000 feet and are now at 2000. We left 49° and are now enjoying 110°. I am running out of a couple of my prescriptions. I texted our doctor in Beaufort and he had the prescriptions filled at a Walgreens here. That was our first order of business after we got set up. We drove around some after we did Walgreens and our collective opinion of this town is underwater. The heat might have something to do with our opinion but there is something about the over the top vibe here that is off turning. Tomorrow at 11 in the morning we will be sitting in The Sphere to watch their version of "The Wizard of Oz". I've been trying to figure out where we are going to park. Parking at The Sphere costs $50 so that's not going to happen. It sounds like we are going to have to hike. It should be below 100 at 10:30. Jenny took that pic as we left Cedar Breaks.

Cedar Breaks day 2

We started the day with a ranger led hike to identify wildflowers. One of the attractions here has to be the flowers. They are very abundant. That spikey plant has a story. It's called a monument plant. It grows as a ground covering leafy plant storing energy in its roots for 20 to 80 years. It then shoots that stalk up. The stalk is covered with 200 flowers that produce 60,000 seeds. Death soon follows. No one knows what causes it to bloom. Sometimes whole hillsides bloom the same year. Well, after that, we did the rim hike. There was a forest of Bristle Cone Pine trees along the rim. Most of them were healthy, green, normal looking trees. Some looked weird enough that we took a picture. I'm sure you know that those trees are the oldest living things on earth. Tomorrow we are at a KOA in Las Vegas. We have tickets to see The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere day after tomorrow.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

There is no air up here. I was out of breath just getting the camp set up. The air is cool, it has been in the 70s since we got here. We got here early enough that we were able to do some exploring. There are wildflowers in abundance everywhere. The scenery is spectacular but we are becoming somewhat callused to spectacular scenery. There are only a few hiking trails in the park. The canyon walls are too steep to allow any trails down to the bottom so all the trails are on the rim. We have no hookups at the campsite but there are flush toilets and believe it or not, showers. That's unusual but fantastic. Weirdly, the T-Mobile signal is the strongest and we happen to have a T-Mobile hotspot. We are powering it with our Jackery battery so all is well. More tomorrow.

Best Friends day 2

Today we will have a one way discussion on the Origin of the name (Escalante, Grand Staircase National Monument). I am not sure how Escalante got thrown in there but there is a town of Escalante where the monument headquarters is located. The stairs ascend from South to North with the bottom stair located at the Northern rim of the Grand Canyon. The steps are 5 gigantic rock layers extending from the Grand Canyon into Southern Utah. There are 5 steps. The Pink Cliffs, the highest and youngest layer can be viewed around Bryce Canyon. The Gray Cliffs, a sloping slab of sandstone. The White Cliffs: Jenny and I could see the White Mountains off in the distance during our drive today.The Vermilion Cliffs which are south of Page Az and the Chocolate Cliffs, the lowest and oldest step near Kanab, where we are now. The Monument covers 1.9 million acres. Bill Clinton established it in 1966. We move tomorrow to Cedar Breaks MN near Cedar City Utah. I've said this before but I don't believe we will have any cell while we are there. The campground is at 10,000 feet and the morning temps have been in the 40s. We won't be back in civilization until Tuesday.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

We were here for a day earlier in the trip. The campground is immaculate with wide, cement, level pads. We are out of town and off the road so it is very quiet. This is a good place to recharge. We might do a drive tomorrow. The town of Kanab has a big shindig planned for the 4th. The main road through town is lined with lawn chairs so we figure there's going to be a parade. That road is the only way in or out of town so I'm wondering how that is going to work. We will probably do a scenic drive tomorrow that apparently has some local history stops. We have been exposed to so much scenery the last few weeks it becoming difficult to absorb any more. That flower is a Desert Willow.

Final Picture

Our next stop is Kanab. It's not far, which is good, because we need a day or 2 to decompress. We are now headed West and will be for a few weeks.

Day 4

One more day. As we have gotten closer to The marina unoccupied campsites that are acceptable to the mob have been more difficult to find. It took us a while to find this one. We are 18 miles from the end. Transition days are always a hassle. We are getting siked up for the inevitable. We move back into the MP tomorrow and the kids head to a hotel in Phoenix for their flights home on Friday.

Day 3

We moved to mile 42. This will be our turn around point. The wind has returned. Believe me when I say it causes problems. There is a multi million dollar house boat just around the corner from us that got blown up on the rocks on Saturday. It is half submerged. We are hoping we have enough fuel to get back to Wahweap. We have to run the generator for at least 10 hours a day to keep the batteries charged. Nothing like a little stress to add to the vacation. We have two more nights on the lake and I'm pretty sure everyone still likes everyone. Amazing!

Day 2

Today was interesting. We found out last night that the owners of this boat rental establishment let us leave the marina with an empty propane bottle for the grill. We got on the radio and were assured that they would drive a boat out here (25 miles) and replace the empty bottle. The only problem with that is they won't drive out 26 miles. We were stuck at the 25 mile marker. We found a place to hang out that was close to some cliffs for the kids to jump off of. We did that for awhile and roamed around the 25 mile marker for what seemed like a long time. Actually, it was a long time. Eventually the boat showed up with the propane and we motored up lake until we found a nice spot at around mile 31. There was the issue of the forgotten shovels at the last campsite but I prefer not to address that at this time. Everyone seems to be having fun. The grandkids enjoy the water. Scenery is spectacular, as always. The winds have dropped dramatically. All is well, as it should be, except maybe my liver. 

Day 1

We kinda lucked out yesterday because we got our orientation when we boarded instead of the morning of our departure. Because of that we were able to get up and go. That we did. Sleep deprived and hungover we left at 6. We did around 25 miles and I'm not exactly sure where we are. The chart I have is probably 20 years old and this Lake Powell is not the same lake depicted on my chart. We've had a few hiccups today but nothing major. It's a learning curve that we have to repeat every time we do this. The wind has been a problem but it's supposed to drop off tomorrow. We have no Internet and I'm seeing only 1 bar on my phone so I might have to post this at some later date. Let's see what happens.

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.

Bryce day 3

Today we had a small dilemma. We have accumulated a weeks with of laundry but we  wanted to do some more exploring. Our solution was to split up. John and I did a 6 mile hike on the fairyland trail. (Jenny drove us to the trailhead and we hiked to the lodge) Jenny and Jeanne did a shorter hike to Mossy Cave and were able to find a laundromat outside the park. That plan was executed perfectly and we all met back here at 2:00. We are thinking pizza and beer this afternoon. It's Zion for 3 days starting tomorrow. Not sure what we'll do there. We tried and failed to get a slot for the Angels Landing hike and we absolutely won't do The Virgin River Narrows again. Twice is plenty. More tomorrow.

Bryce day 2

This is becoming a habit. It 10:30 and our day has just ended. Jenny, John & I did one of the classic Bryce Canyon hikes this morning. Jeanne is not comfortable with the 9000 foot elevation so she bowed out of the morning hike. We did a few things outside the park in the early afternoon and then drove 18 miles to the upper end of the park to see the small grove of Bristle Cone Pine trees that the park has. There was a nice hike to see those trees. We had just enough time to stop at the favorite place for viewing the sunset. Of course we are approaching the longest day of the year so sunset was close to 9:00. Socializing ensued and here we are 10:30. We are here one more day. More tomorrow.

Bryce Canyon

During the drive here we took a detour on a 30 mile dirt road to visit "Hells Backbone". It's kinda hard to explain so I won't do it but I have included some pictures. We are here for 3 nights and will begin our exploration tomorrow. We are at close to 9000 feet. There is no AC in any of the buildings but the typical high is in the 80s and the average low is in the 50s. More tomorrow.

Torrey day 4

Today's adventure was a long hike on the frying pan trail. The scenery was spectacular but the trail was brutal. We did it one way leaving one car at the take out and driving the other to the trailhead. We were on the trail for nearly 6 hours and saw no one else. Either everyone else knew something we didn't or we didn't know something we should of. Even though the hike was difficult, and we were happy when it ended, the experience will not be forgotten any time soon. It was an A+.