Page, AZ to Moab Utah

Greetings gentle readers. Alas alack, I have no pictures from the Hummer tour. For some reason, the guy working the desk indicated a 9:00 am start. Unfortunately, the tour we signed up for started at 8. At least we got our deposit back. We're going to try it again in the fall on the way back to Tucson.
So, we had to find other entertainment for the day. Here we are on the bridge by the Glen Canyon dam. This is looking above the dam at Lake Powell.


Looking below the dam.

This is the bridge that runs across Glen Canyon below the dam.



So, after looking at the dam we decided we would go hike. The park ranger at the GC Dam Visitor Center told us this would be a nice hike out to an arch. Nice, HAH! We walked about an hour up a wash in really deep sand. It was more trudging than hiking. We never did see the arch, an hour was enough trudging.


This is a big Juniper. The trunk is just shredded, but it's still green.


Later, we were at Wally World and we saw this vehicle.


It has a snorkel! Anyway, I stalked the people into Walmart and asked the lady where they were from and what were they doing. They're from Germany, they shipped the Land Cruiser over via boat. They started on the east coast of Canada, drove to Oregon and now they are working their way back east. They plan to spend about a year on the continent. I would like to point out that there is no air conditioning unit and no sewer outfall. These people are much tougher than I am!


So now it is Wednesday (4/29), we drove from Page, AZ, to Moab Utah. What you are seeing here are sand dunes with some vegetation. 200 million years ago this was part of the largest system of sand dunes the North American continent has ever seen. These "sand seas" are known as ergs. The erg was eventually hardened by water and minerals into sandstone. The sandstone was over 2,000 feet thick in places and stretched from Arizona to Wyoming. At this time the sandstone is becoming sand again.


This is somewhere on the way to Moab.


It's a beautiful drive. The road was not that good, but the scenery was spectacular.


THIS is why I never have any cling wrap! This is my beloved husband plastic wrapping the hitch in the truck bed prior to putting the hitch cover on it. He doesn't want to get the inside of the cover greasy. I do love that man, he's so much fun to watch.


So, we're in Moab for 8 nights. We have internet! We have cable! We're happy!

Boating on Lake Powell

Ok! Still posting from the lobby of the Wahweap Lodge at Lake Powell. Yesterday, 4/26, we rented a 19 foot power boat and toured Lake Powell. It was spectacular. It's just amazingly beautiful here. The wind was down a little from previous days, and although it was chilly, it was a very good day. Jim has retained his ability to dock a boat in the wind, which was very gratifying.

Tomorrow we are going on a Hummer tour of the Secret Canyon. It's horrifically expensive, but we're here and I want to ride in a Hummer. Apparently there will be rock crawling and stuff, so there you go.

Black Canyon to Page Drive

We left Black Canyon and drove to Page AZ on April 24. It was a very windy drive. The reader board signs were announcing wind advisories. Arrival was complicated by the blowing sand. But, we persevered. Plans to grill that night were abandoned, and we made flank steak stew, which actually was not too bad.
We're in Page now, we're leaving Wednesday morning. Internet is abysmal here, so this may be the only post.
Hope you are all well and enjoying your weather anomalies.

Black Canyon AZ KOA

Greetings from the Black Canyon AZ KOA. It's pretty here, it's about 2,000 feet, very lush and green desert. We had a successful launch this morning. Kim took this picture of me directing Jim to steer the hitch at the pin box. He has not squashed me yet.



This is an owl in the palm tree in RCW. The maintenance guy said there are 3 babies, but I could not see them.


We stopped for lunch south of Phoenix, it was warm and windy. Phoenix is just enormous, it took about an hour to drive through one end of the megalopolis to the other. There is now a continuous stream of development from Casa Grande to Happy Valley.


North of Phoenix.


This is outside the RV park. That is a Gambel's quail on the branch. There are many here running around calling to each other.

A fine example of a Buckhorn Cholla in bloom.


A picture of the park. The cable is out here. Apparently the FBI seized the local cable company to investigate charges leveled by the local dish dealer that the cable company was pirating their programming. So, the 7,000 or so residents who had cable tv no longer have access until the FBI completes their investigation. Thus far no date has been given for this event. The wi-fi here is astounding. Hulu works really well.

Friday and Saturday are supposed to be extremely windy in Page (gee, something new), so we have moved the boat reservation until Sunday, in hopes that the water will be less lumpy. I extended our RV reservation one day, so we do not fall off the edge of the planet until Tuesday. Soon, we must develop a plan and execute!

Movie fix and Tweet site

I had reports of the movie in the previous post not working, I've made it public, so hopefully that fixes it. If, not, then I'm stymied.
An article in the NewYorkTimes mentioned this site today, it's pretty funny. If you have time, go here. Apparently they publish the top 10 tweets at any given time.

So long farewell, auf weidersehen, adieu

Tomorrow we're loading the wagons and departing Tucson. But first, some parting shots of the city. Friday we took the truck in for round 3 of bedrail cap installation. The plastic ones warped and pulled off the sides of the truck, so now we have diamond plate. We're looking studly. I'll get a picture of those soon. While we were waiting, we walked around an old part of the city and looked at signage and stuff.
Old hotel signs.


The tailor was in business in the 80's. She's always had some sort of quip on the sign.


This is sad, the Pack 'em Inn has closed. This was very popular with college students who had no money. They had a pit in the middle of the restaurant with burning wood, and the waitresses would cook the steaks. They made a really good whiskey sour.

This is a low rider. Look at the front wheels. We're pretty sure this car will hop.



Yesterday was Tuesday, and it was HOT! Tucson now has the furnace feel. It's like standing in front of a kiln.



Kim and Jim's air conditioner was not operating when it was hot. Which is a bummer. So, they summoned that wonder of the RV park, the mobile repair guy, Kenneth Cameron, to replace it. The ac unit weighs 135 pounds. Kenneth and Rachel are lowering the old one and pulling the new one up the ladder. Strong people.
This is my first movie. Picassa strings the pictures into a slide show, one uploads it to YouTube, and then imbeds it into the blog. Way more stuff than I ever thought of doing. Kim tells me it needs music, she's probably right. Anyway, click the play button.



This is a saguaro in the RV park, it's blooming. They bloom when they're 40 years old, and start making arms when they're 70. So, he's an old cactus.

A lovely shot of the sunset, taken by Kim Tuesday night.


So, tomorrow morning (Thursday, 4/23), assuming no disasters or last minute problems we will depart at a leisurely pace to Black Canyon, AZ. Friday, we will arrive at the Wahweap campground in Page, AZ for 3 days. Today's song that I have stuck in my head is Tom Petty doing "Into the great wide open", since we do not know where we will be going after the 3 day reservation in Wahweap is up.
So, posting may be less frequent than it has been, depending on the strength of the aircard.

Sabino Canyon

We're still in Tucson where it's HOT! It was in the low 90's today. We went out for a ride, after which I was just poleaxed.
Thursday Kim and Jim went square dancing. Square dancing is like AA, you can can be in any town any where and find square dancers. It's kind of cool, it's a great way to meet people when you're someplace new. They are wearing their Texas outfits.


Saturday we went to Sabino Canyon. Back in the 80's a person could ride their bike up to the top. But then, the trams went in to ferry the out of shape up the 3.85 miles into the canyon. Bikes were banned after 9 am in the morning. A really good ride was lost to tourism. So, ever the tourists, we rode the tram up.


The canyon is really lush because of water being available almost year round. Right now it's snow melt, later it will be from the monsoons.










This is how erosion occurs. Plants force their roots into crevices in the rocks, and big rocks become smaller rocks. Eventually they will be sand.





There are no speed bumps in the canyon now, they were removed after the trams came. It's really easy to let your speed get too high, and miss the bridges.


A mallard in the canyon.


We're hoping to be out of here on Thursday. We're off to Lake Powell for a few days. Then, we don't know.

Easter, Hiking and Cleaning

More better pictures of my Easter eggs. It seems a shame to break them up and eat them. They are so cute.


Sunday morning (4/12) we went out on the bikes. I have seen the back of this building on many of our 3rd Avenue rides, but never the front. So we went around to the front this time. This a Benedictine Sanctuary of Perpetual Adoration. The sisters have 3 active houses and this is one of them. They've been in Tucson since 1935.



It's a beautiful building.


Later, we had dinner with the Waddles. Jim W. is grilling lamb chops.


This is Kim.
These are some really good deviled eggs that Kim made. They are beautifully plated on a ceramic deviled egg plate. I love that Kim is willing to travel with real plates and wine glasses. I have not yet progressed from Corelle and polycarbonate glassware. Perhaps we'll branch out in the near future.


Yesterday, 4/14, Kim and I hiked up Starr Pass from the Genser trail head. Jim took the truck in for an oil change, new filters and a mini-detail. I love the mini-detail, they washed it, clayed it, and waxed it. They even cleaned the bed liner and armor-alled it. Talk about an excellent thing to outsource!
The prickly pears and the buckhorn chollas are blooming.


Click on this photo and you can see the bee in the blossom. I thought about swatting him away, but then remembered that there are Africanized honeybees here, and decided to leave him alone.


While Kim and I were out enjoying nature, my beloved was at home, washing and drying 36 feet of RV. He was a tired puppy last night.


This morning, which is Tuesday, he's still a little sore in the shoulders. The reason I keep using dates, and the name of the day, is because Blogger posts using the date on which the post was started, not the date on which is was posted, and I get confused. I started this last night, but due to new episodes of House and Saving Grace, did not finish.
So, today we will ready the RV to go back to Beaudry for the third time in the morning. Hopefully this will be the charm. We just checked the weather in Page AZ which is where we're going next week and it is snowing. I'm going to go check their cancellation policy!