Heading back

The weather is wet so we're heading back.  Good start - some tire issues.  Big drive day all the way to Boulder.  Where I spent 45 minutes missing turns for Claudias house.

Tonight we're at Camp Barkmeier.  

Its Raining Its Pouring

So much for that weather forecast – no promised sun this morning –just a ‘disorganized precipitation band’.  In layman’s terms?  A steady rain with occasional ebbs and bursts.  In the dessert.  Yup – not many people get to see it rain like this in Zion’s high dessert.   Trying to feel lucky here.

And Aunt Kass thinks the water pump is going up.  I’ve decided La Senorita is going through adolescence – her body is changing.  Sigh – toddler appliances and adolescent infrastructure.   This is probably the longest.  The further-est.  And most weather this Casita has dealt with since the Rose’s bought it.

So we drove into St George - an hour away close to Las Vegas and Zion and enjoyed the views.  Checked out a dinosaur museum there - very nicely done.  Rain Rain Go Away - Come Again Another Day ...

Made it to Zion!

Made it - and actually spent last evening and this morning in the canyon.  WOHO!!!!

Just when you think they can't possibly be impressed by any more rocks - zoweee - Zion appears.  We entered through the East gate which is so dramatic - the big 'wow' is a 1.7 mile tunnel so black that it feels as if you are descending through hell.  I kept seeing 'Lord of the Rings' which is too scary so I decided it was better to focus on the Disney Seven Dwarf thing.  Turns out that instinct was a good one - the tunnel was made  1927-30 using mining - not tunneling technology.  WOW for someone who was proud of driving through Aunt Kass' neighborhood just a couple of weeks ago - I can barely believe that I twisted/turned/up and down in the black tunnel.  The Casita probably followed me because it was just too scary to break away!  

More drama getting here and then again unhitching - won't even tell these stories anymore - it all worked out ok and great kind people helped us as always.  But we did get out into canyon anyway!!! The main part of Zion Park is just a thin road between towering mountains - they had to go to a shuttle system - it would have been too crazy to let traffic in here.  Thursday evening shuttling with a Ranger was a welcomed introduction

And Friday morning we went to the end of the road to the River Walk - all flat and easy for everybody!  

Aunt Kass went back and I hiked into the Emerald Pools - hiking along the river and then back through the canyon was so peaceful.  

I've got some great video of this - because I want Ella to tell me if this is where her 'Sleep Sheep' made the water recording we listen to - but I have to figure out how to load it - and its way too cold and damp on this stoop outside the grocery store to figure that out now (yes - I'm whining)

2000+ steps by 2pm deserved some sort of reward - so lunch at Zion Lodge.  I sat out on the deck savoring food and view - and then the wind came up and the rain came down!  Remember that shuttle system?  The Park Service jumped into action and within 2 hours had shuttled everyone who wanted 'out' back to the parking at the start of the canyon - great job!

See the slide show for pictures of the hanging gardens - beautiful flowers that grow from dripping rocks.  The water seeps down through the layers and when it gets backed up - and weeps out onto the rock.  Water millions of years old feeds these ferns and flowers.

And although this posting is getting way too long (no internet in Zion Park so I'm banished outside the park to write this...) and the slideshow has way too many shots- I can't resist including some friendly critters - can you believe they let us get this close?

All's Well That Ends Well

Dinner was a delight this evening with Bob and Donna.  Bryce Lodge was built in 1924 during the era of great adventure hotels.  Its dining room is lovely and the food excellent.  We toasted the healing of the battery - and the wonder of hot showers!  

We walked the rim at sunset - we were a bit late because sharing the brownie/hot fudge/ice cream dessert just took the time it took - but sunset lingered for us and the views and lighting were breath taking:

Even as we were walking back to the car we kept turning back for one more look.  Each return would reveal another view that made us stop and wonder.

At 2am this morning we were tired - so cold - and so unsure of what the day would bring. It brought a day of goodness and wonder and hot showers on warm tile floors and a delicious elegant dinner and a good day on Bryce's rim.

All's well that ends well

New New Battery

Ok - it was a bad battery causing all the problems.  Yes - it is a  new battery but it has 3 bad cells.  We will bring the dead new battery back across the country for the refund!  We're all juiced and ready but are spending the night at Ruby's in Bryce so we are guaranteed a good warm night's sleep!  Yea newly dubbed Knight Cabe at the RV repair center.

Bad battery.  Bad bad battery!

1936 Ford

I'm in a warm hotel lobby across the street from the RV repair mechanic - waiting for the verdict about the battery and electrical systems - so I thought I'd catch up on the blog.

To the right is a slideshow of a 1936 Ford we stumbled upon in the Fruita Park - such curvy lines and simple parts - its quite a thing of beauty.  Ironic to see mechanical beauty in the midst of this breathtaking landscape.  However - it was this 'beauty' of cars that made these canyon wonders accessible to all of us.  Maybe its 'just and right' that these two 'beauties' sit together.

Ironically as we walked a bit more down the path we came upon the camp ranger garage and found a brand new Ford used to maintain the park today - an interesting contrast in car design and mechanics between 1936 and today.

So just for fun - FORD!!!!

He's Right Again!!!!

Uncle Doug said never to trust that gas furnace in the Casita.  In fact he went out and bought a ceramic heater ‘just in case’.  Well – he’s right again.

The furnace broke again last night but we were prepared with coats and blankets.  However - at 1:30am the air alarm went off and we shut off the propane and opened the windows (hey – it was already 37 in the Casita – who cares if it’s a breezy 37?).  But the damn beeping wouldn’t stop. So we went Car Camping! 

We’re up and doing diagnosis already – could be the battery got too low and the alarm set off because of that.  Could be the propane furnace won’t work at altitude.  Someone else is having a similar problem and called the Casita factory who said ‘altitude’.  Could be a number of things.

Two things for sure:

1/  We’re getting the Casita checked out – there’s 2 RV repair shops nearby.  Do we have a low battery issue? We’re at a site near Bryce with no electricity or water for three nights – and its been so cloudy we doubt the solar unit could keep up.  2/  We’re going somewhere to get a good warm sleep tonight.  Once we get to Zion only 250ish miles from here we have site with electricity and water. And traveling there would recharge the battery.  But Aunt Kass is leaning towards a hotel.  Checkin’s not until 4 – by then we could easily be in Zion. Choices. Choices! 

She’s reviewing the situation with the trip leader Don and talking to her friends from Columbia MD Bob and Donna – we’ll see how the day unfolds!

(sing along) a three hour tour

We took a three hour guided bus tour of Bryce this morning.  That was after a night of 32 degrees and no heat.  Oh boy were we nestled under those blankets!  We suspect we lost battery power and the furnace wouldn't come on.  BBBUUUUTTT rather then fool around with all that we just got in the car , came to the park for a hot breakfast , and took the bus so we could see some sites.  Such a good decision!

We started at the top: 

... and worked our way down.

And yes - we could see the storm clouds dumping rain off in the distance - its coming our way this afternoon:

But the weather changes so fast it's amazing!  Here's slightly different views of the same mountain taken 7 or 8 minutes apart.  In the first picture the tops are in a haze and in the second - you can see the snowy peaks.

And yes its CCOOOLLLLDDD - its a snowy day in May!  Lots more pictures in the Bryce Canyon slideshow on the right side of the blog - 

We've had a hot lunch and are driving back to feed the Casita some battery power and see if La Senorita Casita will bless us with some hot air,

La Senorita – by Kathy

Today we left Escalante State Park in a long line of white chicks following our leader’s big red truck up and down the mountains to Bryce Canyon.  Our Casita was a lady all the way – no swinging or swaying her hips while going around sharp curves, no racing ahead of others downhill.  She responds well to gentle instructions.  It is chilly at night and the furnace, thermostatically controlled, cycles on and off as needed keeping Patt and me cozy.  The refrigerator is running on propane since we do not have electricity and snacks are there at arm’s reach.  No running about the campsite with a flashlight in the dark – the flushie is there too!  She can be a trifle obstinate while hitching until we learn to do it in correct sequence – and then she is most cooperative.  This just might be my last Casita trip.  If so, she is making it a memorable one!  Truly a home away from home - 

The Cockpit

The front of the Highlander is now ‘the cockpit’.   The driver obviously drives – but also controls the ‘shifting’ and ‘brake control’ for the Casita – not so important in coming across the country but necessary on these mountain roads and switchbacks.

The navigator is responsible for music, heat/cooling, phone and device recharging, and refrigerator checkins  - we’ve got a remote sensor that keeps us posted on the frig temperature.

Aunt Kass does the morning driving and I do the the afternoon, tunnel drives, and ‘dark’ driving.   We play the Plain Indian CD music every morning and keep ourselves fortified with red and white mints.   

Route 12 and Escalante

It’s 9:02am Monday and the 16 Casitas are caravanning to Red Rock Canyon.   Is the long line of white ‘bubbled’ RVs a 2015 version of a pioneer wagon train_??   We are on walkie talkie station 14 and I giggle that the men who usually have so little to say can’t seem to shut up once they have a gadget in their hands!  I’ve turned down the walkie talkies and we’re listening to CD of reed music by the Plain Indians – its perfect music for the gorgeous scenery.   

the Casita Wagon Train

Weekend report:  We came across Route 12 Thursday – a mighty mountain and switchback climb on what felt like the top spine of the world.   This is a ‘All American Highway’ and the scenery is breathtaking.   And so is the driving – on the ‘Hogback’ portion of the drive the road is a very skinny 2 lanes wide and the shoulders drop off into sheer cliffs.   The driver looks straight ahead and the navigator gasps for both of them! 

Two Skinny Lanes

Us at the top of the Ridge

Escalante State Park is gem of a campground – each site looks onto a beautiful view.   The edge of the park is a reservoir that attracts many kinds of birds.   The showers are FREE and HOT and last for 8 minutes!  The park is famous for its petrified wood.

We ate in town one night at the ‘Cowboy Blues Bar’ and I had the ‘Best Margarita’ in town.   The town is 789 people – so maybe that is true!  The food was good and the singing cowboy seemed authentic.  We took a trip out the Anasazi Muesum/Ruins and ate lunch at a most unique place – Kava Café.     The Kava is a Frank Lloyd Wright like building perched into the side of a hill.   The ‘bones’ of the building are all native wood and the windows look out onto the vast canyon landscapes.   The food was fresh and home made.   There’s also two cottages for overnight stays – if you ever wanted to treat yourself – this would be a wonderful place to stay.  

Campground w/ View

Indian Museum

Casita Backyard

Walking Petrified Forest Trail - looking for Little Joe to come out from behind the rocks

Petulant Child

I feel better today but yesterday I was grumpy.  And I acted like a brat.

After a good night’s sleep I can subscribe my bad mood to being tired.  Or maybe a reaction to altitude.  Or maybe I didn’t drink enough water that day.  Probably all 3.

But I spent the day frustrated, angry, and resentful.  I took it out on the Casita.

Why does everything take so long to hook up and take apart all the time?  Are we here to see Utah or fiddle with this damn RV?  I’m just as close to people parked in these $%*! campsites as I am to the people in my townhouse community.  At least I don’t have to watch my neighbors tramp to the toilet or showers. 

I was in quite the mood.

After a good night’s sleep I’m better.  I calmly worked my way through the disconnect and hookup today.  At least we’re here for 3 days.  Of course 3 days from now I’ll have to learn this all over again.  I did make one terrible mistake this morning– trailing the Casita up the wrong way on a loop-around at the Red Canyon campground.  That made 3 other Casitas terribly angry because I blocked their way for 20 minutes or so and once again I left Aunt Kass to clean up the mess – I can’t backup up the 200 yards on the curve that needed to be done to unclog the road.  Thank you Aunt Kass and newly dubbed Knight of the Casita Matt for fixing my mistake.  Good old Jean – the independent lioness of this Casita group shook her head, raised her fist in frustration and generally glared long and hard.  Oh well, my rookie mistake Jean – deal with it.  After that drama, the hookup went pretty well and I did trouble shoot getting the jammed hitch loosened.  Actually there’s only one thing to do when any of the three bars/hitches get jammed or the trailer needs to be leveled – you can crank the jack up or crank the jack down.  Really – how hard can that be?

So today – I’m off to Bryce.  I’m going to fill my eyes with hoodos and canyons and fantasy castles of rock spires pushing into today’s blue blue skies.  I’ve already apologized to Aunt Kass for yesterday’s grumpy mood, maybe I’ll apologize to the Casita later.  Maybe.

Wait – update on that plan.   After 30 minutes of driving around the campground coordinating a 3:30 hike meetup we are first going to stop and eat before we leave.  At the Casita.  Where we will turn on the propane to heat soup.  And then we’ll have to wash the dishes.  And then we’ll go?  Then we’ll go.      

Communion Pie

Fruita is an oasis in the high dessert – the Fremont River runs through here and early settlers planted groves and groves of fruit trees. At it’s ‘hayday’ there were only 10 families here – the flash floods and violent storms make this a desperate place to ‘scratch’ out a living.

Now it’s a Federal Park but the shadow of old ‘Fruita’ lives on in a legacy of pies!  Everyday we go to the Griffin House (the last settler’s former spot) and we buy a 6” delicious pie.  We chose between cherry or cherry/rhubard or mixed berry or peach or apple.  These are the kind of pies where the crust is buttery crisp.  Where the fruit is packed in – no gummy cornstarch or gelatin fillers – just thick smooth cooked fruit juices.  I honor the history of Fruita everyday in a communion of pies.

Pies!!!!

Responsibly Recycling Pie

All American Pie!!!

Hickman's Bridge

We hiked into our first Natural Arch today - gorgeous

Yes it was raining

Yes it was longer then I thought (9/10s of a mile one way?  Maybe as the bird flies but not as human hike)

Yes it was steeper then I thought (moderate not a beginner hike and some TALL cowboy carved those stairs and set up those big stepping rocks!)

But we took our time and did great!

Aunt Kass' very muddy very wet hiking boats!

Aunt Kass at the top!

The path to go under the arch - fortunately its not as slippery as it looks!

Rain Day

It’s raining in Capital Reef – so far a gentle patter is quieting the red dust and making the asphalt shiny.  The forecast calls for showers off and on today. I’m hoping we can get out and see the rocks slick with rain colors.  But we’ll have to wait a bit – you don’t want to explore the backcountry if it rains hard – the flash floods are legendary.

So the Casita’s table and two chairs might be our field trip today – I should be grateful to be dry and have a place to sit.

This vacation is still more about the Casita then Utah.   Instead of a walk this morning – I went to fill the car with gas.  Instead of a drive - will we stay in the Casita?

Aunt Kass was talking about traveling with Uncle Doug – can they still camp now that he’s recovering from his cardiac issues?  Given a limited amount of energy – what do you spend it on?  She was guessing a good car and trailer would be best.  For them getting too and from airports, plane schedules and all that is just too much.  For them the journey is the reward?

For me? Evidently I’m tuned to get to the destination and spend as much time in it as possible.  Maybe the destination is more a reward for me then the journey?  I want the energy focused on soaking up the locale, visiting the sites, experiencing the adventure.   The getting there and getting back?  Make it quick and efficient.  The ‘being’ there – make it quick and efficient too – a $49 Rodeway Inn works fine for me.   ‘Vacationing with Appliances’ is just too distracting for me right now!

We’ve seen Harley Davidson hoards roaring on the highways – and last night a big table of them were laughing at the restaurant  What do they do in the rain?  How much logistics time do the Harley’s take up?  I’ve been thinking about that in today’s rain. How does a Harley balance journey and destination?

Vacationing with Appliances

Vacationing with your appliances is like traveling with toddlers.   You are grateful for the joy they bring you but the upkeep is demanding.

The refrigerator has a remote sensor so we can ‘babysit’ its temperature from the Casita to the car.  The refrigerator dances between propane AC and DC – sometimes it makes the ‘twirl’ – sometimes it doesn’t – we baby it . And it hogs battery power – greedy kid.

There is a ceramic heater – it’s got an attitude – the fan blows air.  Turn the heater on for it to blow warm air.  Fussy kid.

The mobile air compressor – well it’s a character too.

The battery/electric system?  The plumbing?  Charming thugs.

The Solar System is a little ADHD – it has to move around all day to catch the rays and of course it is useless on a cloudy day.

Toddlers – taking your appliances with you on vacation is like traveling with toddlers.

I Met Somebody Who Knew Somebody Who Met Butch Cassidy

Tracey pulled up a chair and folder his hands across his chest and sprawled his legs straight out with his boots crossed – he was settled in for a visit.

After asking the polite questions for a ‘smell test’ of his audience,  Tracy waited for the appropriate opening and mentioned that his grandmother had lived until she was 104 years old.  She grew up in rural Utah near Torrey.  Her mother ran a boarding house and as Tracy’s grandmother got older and became a young lady she waited on the tables sometimes.  ‘Sometimes’ except when this one group of men came to dinner.  When they came she was always banished to the kitchen.

Of course – even 100 years ago teenagers were teenagers.  She snuck into the dining room by taking a pitcher of water out to the table to serve the group.  There was a handsome, round-faced man at the table. He looked up at her and said ‘Does your mother know you are here?’   He beckoned her over and put six gold coins in her hand and waved her back towards the kitchen.

When she got back to the kitchen – her mother asked had she gone to the dining room?  Tracy’s grandmother opened her hand revealing the gold coins and got the whopping of her life for defying her mother.

The man?  Butch Cassidy.  And the others?  His Wild Bunch.

In this desolate part of Utah where people worked hard to scratch out a living, Butch was a hero.  He took money from the Robber Baron railroads and banks and gave it back to the people.  For many of the settlers – living in this remote site trying to get away from religious persecution – Butch and the Wild Bunch were fellow ‘brothers’ against an unjust system.

Tracy leaned forward, got up from his chair and tipped his baseball hat on his way out.  We’d had our ‘campfire story’ for the night.

Day 7 Fruita and Capital Reef Park

We've slipped into Torrey for a couple of supplies so I've jumped onto the internet for a couple of minutes - beautiful Fruita pictures posted to the right

Orchards and a lovely stream running through the camp ground - so special to have green grass and blooming flowers in the dessert -

Got everything unhitched and set up - in the campground with SIXTEEN other Casitas - feels like a 2015 version of a wagon train -

Really really really exited to finally be starting to actually start the real trip!!!!

Day 6 - Wonderland RV Park Torrey Utah

We had PLENTY of time to stop along the way at Utah's route 24 gorgeous sites - in wonder at the sculptures and mighty force of these painted rocks bluffs and mountains.  Its spring here and the flowers and trees are still in bloom.

It took about 90 minutes for our first time backing leveling/hooking up and all that good stuff.  Logistics logistics! We had some help - and added Tracey to the Knights of the Casita.  Its windy and cold so I'm in the rec room of the RV park writing this.  It was great to get out and see some things today - I feel like we're still getting ready to get ready!

The red and white rock green trees blue skies - 

Can't help taking pictures out of the window!

So many streams and rivers  flowing

STRAIGHT up the rock wall - looks like it was cut with a knife

Miles and miles of barbed wired fences - don't understand why every so often there is one of these topped sections - they aren't gates but must serve some purpose - I just don't know what!

Henry Mountain!!!!

Life will not be denied - this flower grew through asphalt!