Starting out - May

STARTING OUT - MAY 2018

Days 1 and 2

A (relatively) early start - up around 7:30am.  Not much sleep the night before since I'm excited about the trip.  We're at  Pueblo El Mirage where we've spent the last 5 months.  It has a great pool, gym and loads of activities but since we've been working for H&R Block we didn't spend much time here!  The main problem is it's at least a half hour drive from where each of us works, so next year we'll be staying at Paradise RV Park which is much closer in.  Bu no work for the next 8 months!

We'd done much of the packing so it was just a matter of taking care of last minute details but it was already 11am when we finally pulled out.  First stop was for gas.  The RV holds 70 gallons so it was worth using our Fry's discount of 20 cents a gallon, but this involved driving the RV to - and through - Sun City West. After maneuvering through loads of decrepit drivers who didn't know to give us a wide berth, and filling up with gas, we chugged around to a nearby parking lot to hitch up the car for towing.

We've done this many times before, so no problem, right?  Wrong!  Part of the job is to disconnect the car battery;  As I said  I've done this many times before with no problem, but after 5 months my super memory failed.  First we looked under the hood and nothing was familiar.  Where is the battery?  We take off a cover where the battery should be and discover a lot of fuses!  With Vicky's help I get the next cover off and there is the battery. I'm frantically trying to disconnect the (hidden) negative battery terminal without a wrench.  We have do have one wrench in the bag with the hitch tools. We used to have 3 sets of wrenches - where did the rest go?  The one wrench doesn't fit the nut on the hard to reach negative battery terminal anyway, which seems weird.  What did the Ford dealer do under the hood when we had the car in for service?   Finally I remember how it's supposed to be done.  An RV dealer installed one lead from the negative battery terminal and connected it to the chassis in an easy place to reach.    The one wrench DOES fit when I apply it to the right nut.  Who's the nut now?

So now we're on the road.  I'm driving with Vicky in the copilot's seat.  How about the cats?  Quill is curled up on the bed, while Cosette seems distressed and wants attention.  She spends most of the trip on Vicky's lap except when she tries to come over to the me for reassurance and gets pulled back.

A long, but easy drive around Loop 303, Phoenix's outer ring road, leads us to I-17.  From here it's about 60 miles to our turnoff.  No problem except that their are some very steep hills, both up and down.  I cruise along around 60-65mph and let people pass me (the speed limit is mostly 75).  At one point I come across a very slow moving (about 40) truck pulling something.  There's nothing in sight behind so I decide to pass.  The driver waits till I'm alongside and then accelerates to go at the same speed as me.  Whatever I do, he matches my speed so I can neither pass nor drop back.  After a while there's a long line of traffic behind me.  He finally does drop back and then sounds his horn at me. 

To make matters worse there are high crosswinds  and my hands are starting to hurt because I'm gripping the wheel so tight.  I'm also watching Cosette out of the corner of my eye in case she makes a dash for the safety of the spot between my feet and the brake pedal.   Finally we come to the 9 mile downhill stretch (6% grade) to the Verde Valley and my turnoff.  I take it easy down there, giving a "Nyeh,nyeh" glance to the runaway truck ramp as we pass it. We make it to the bottom and I look forward to the easy drive along AZ260 towards Cottonwood and the Verde River RV Park, our destination for the next 5 nights.

So much for an easy drive!  The road is under construction, including several new roundabouts (traffic circles).  I stick to the limit (35) but am very conscious that there is a long line of traffic behind me.  Finally, as we're getting certain we missed the road I turn to Vicky.  "You have a GPS.  Why don't you use it?"  She turns it on and the nice lady voice tells us we're 5 minutes from our destination.  Sure enough, soon we find Thousand Trails Road and one mile later we enter the resort.

The RV sites are down close to the river and we're allowed to choose any open site.   We find one with an unobstructed view towards the river and get hooked up.  We unhitch the car and take a drive around.  In the clubhouse we find loaner books and movies.  The pool is closed for 3 days but it's too cold for us anyway, and now it starts to rain so we head back to the RV.  Vicky cooks up some delicious hamburgers and we settle down to watch "Mr. Holland's Opus", a 1995 film starring Richard Dreyfuss as a musician/aspiring composer who takes a job as a high school teacher as a "fall-back position" in his words.  It covers 30 years and deals sensitively with his winning over the kids and dealing with the growth of his own son and acceptance of his son's deafness.

Once it was done we were ready for a good night's sleep.  Wednesday dawned cold and rainy, as promised, so we spent a relaxing day indoors.  I tried to set up a blog but found it frustrating, possibly because internet service is patchy here.  We could have found an RV spot higher up, close to the entrance but chose to be down close to the river.  Maybe internet reception is better u p there.  Better luck tomorrow???  I'm writing this about 6;30pm and the weather has cleared up.  I just got back from a 30 minute walk along a nature trail that goes up and down a hill with views of the river.  No wildlife or flowers but lots of green!  Should be warmer tomorrow so maybe we can get out and about - but it's nice to have no fixed agenda for a change!

Day 3 - Cottonwood

It did indeed dawn bright and sunny - actually I have no way of knowing that but when I woke up around 9:30 it was bright and sunny.  Vicky made a 3 cheese omelet for breakfast - I loved it, especially since, as Vicky herself pointed out, the jalapeño cheddar dominated everything else!

Today was the day to wash the carpets in the RV.  We brought along the carpet cleaner.  It weighs less than a set of golf clubs and fits in the same space.  As usual with such jobs, the preparation took the longest time - vacuuming the carpets and moving anything that sits on the floor.  Then I loaded up the machine with hot water and cat repellant cleaning solution.   It's not really cat repellant but it is supposed to pick up odors from anything the cats leave.

4 rugs, all the carpets and 2.5 tanks of water/cleaner and the job was done.  Then the mystery.  Clean fluid goes in the upper tank and dirty water ends up in the lower tank.  I went to empty the lower tank before using the hose accessory to clean hard to reach places, and discovered the lower tank was empty.  This was both good news and bad news.  The good news was that I didn't have to clean it.  The bad news is that all the dirty water that should have been in there was still in the carpet, or had possibly disappeared into thin air.  The carpets did look better but I think the former is more likely.

I did compete the hard to reach areas with the accessory and guess what?  There was now dirty water in the lower tank.  Time for Vicky and me to put out heads together and figure out what was going on.  I'll give you 2 guesses.  Count to 10 and make your guesses before reading on.

If you said Quill and Cosette go to the top of the class.  For the first time ever we were able to take apart the lower tank, the lower front of the machine and the guard around the brushes.  Everywhere we found cat hair - enough to create a new cat!  In particular I found a filter I'd never seen before that was completely clogged with hair.  We probably have an instruction book somewhere - most likely in our storage locker back in Peoria - but now we know what we need to do.

The carpets probably need another go-round with the newly de-catted machine, but that's a job for another day as we're still waiting for everything to dry out.

We did go into Cottonwood to stock up on food and had lunch at the Big Bear Diner - our second visit to what is becoming one of our favorite chain restaurants.  I had corned beef hash made with real corned beef brisket, accompanied by 2 perfectly poached eggs, "home fried" potatoes (with onions and peppers) and an English muffin (which could have been a biscuit or toast).  Vicky had a bacon cheeseburger salad which, since we never have buns with our burgers, is perfect for us.  I was going to have the same until I saw the hash on the placemat.  The salad came with blue cheese dressing including huge chunks of ....guess what?  Big Bear puts calorie counts on the menu next to each item.  The 2 we had were reasonable - 1050 and 850 respectively - but some of their burgers top 2000 calories which would do you for the whole day.  Makes you wonder about the calorie count in other restaurants, doesn't it.

We stocked up on more healthy stuff at Fry's and came back to the resort.  After sitting outside enjoying the ambiance and reading for a while, we went for a walk down to the Verde river.  Surprise!  It has water in it. If you're not from Arizona you need to realize that the rivers around Phoenix only have water after floods or heavy spring rains.  This one had some Class 1 rapids and a waterfall over what looked like a small man made dam.  Could have been a beaver but I don't think I'd want to meet a beaver that could move stones that size. 

Took the camera and got some good pictures after solving another mystery. The camera kept telling me it could not take pictures because the build in flash couldn't open.  I gave the camera to Vicky who took a picture with no problem.   She handed it back to me and I got the same error.  Vicky suggested I try taking a picture from the same place she took one but - still no luck.  Then Vicky found the answer - the visor on my baseball cap was stopping the flash from opening.  Now I know why all those young guys wear their caps backwards - they must all be photographers!  (lol)

The RV life is certainly a learning adventure - stay tuner for more.

Day 4 (Friday)

A quiet day.  Stayed around the RV park at Verde River.  Weather, as promised, was much better today.  I redid the carpets, this time using only hot water.  After cleaning out the machine yesterday the difference was amazing.  Now it does what it's supposed to do!

Lots of dirty water in the tank, so it was getting out the dirt from yesterday.  The big surprise was that the brushes also brought up more cat hair.  It's amazing Quill and Cosette haven't turned into  Mexican Hairless, considering how much fur they lose.  Vicky also spent the day doing maintenance work, like siliconing, around the RV.

We were supposed to be having breakfast in Cottonwood with our friends Donna and Mike from Sedona, but they are delivering emergency food supplies to people affected by a major fire in Happy Jack.  Had to look up Happy Jack on a map, but as it turns out, we'll end up s[pending Sunday night there.

Day 5 Saturday - Cottonwood

Actually we spent almost all day in Sedona.  We went in the morning - Vicky had a meeting and I found a laundromat.  After finishing with these we went for coffee and then a move "Lean on Pete".  We'd never heard of it but the synopsis sounded good so we gave it a try and were impressed.   It's about a Charley, 15 year old boy who has been uprooted by his father's move to a new city and is lost, as well as in poverty.  He finds a job helping out a horse trainer who has 6 horses stabled at the local track.

He soon bonds with a 5 year old gelding - Lean on Pete - who is not much good as a racer.  When the trainer decides to sell him, Charley, now orphaned after his father was brutally killed, takes off with the horse - and his boss's truck - to find his aunt in Wyoming.  I'm not giving away any more of the plot but will say it's a realistic story sensitively told and you should go see it.

Move over, we headed for one of our favorite Sedona restaurants - the Creekside cafe, where the food quality is surpassed only by the views.  We both opted for a dish of shrimps and pork belly with cheese grits in a light cream sauce.  I had the included hot red sauce on top, while Vicky opted for it on the side - great for me as I got to have more.

Highly recommended!

After a visit to window shop at the exquisite but generally out of our budget Tlaquepaque shops, and a decision not to spend $7,000 on a beautiful pair of bronze cheetahs, we headed for Whole foods to get bread and cheese for tomorrows lunch on the road, and then to Fry's for more prosaic groceries. 

All in all, a great day.

Day 6 - Sunday - The First Disaster

Got up, broke camp and headed for Winslow on I-40 as a stopover en route to Canyon de Chelly.  Drove the 8 miles to I-17 thru the construction zone with no problem - less traffic than when we arrived.  Straight across the intersection with the Interstate, grateful that I won't have to deal with large trucks or crosswinds today.  Then a long, slow and surprisingly tiring drive up to the top of the Mogollon Rim.

We've reached the top and are about 14 miles short of the turn to AZ 87 and the run up to Winslow - a nice straight run now - when we get a signal from our of our tire monitor transmitters.   We bought ourselves a monitoring system as a present for Ayyam-i-Ha, the Baha'i season of gift giving.   The transmitter on the tire lets you know if the pressure of temperature varies greatly from what you pre-set.  In this case it's telling us that inside rear tire on the passenger side is at 111 degrees.  Fortunately there's a wide verge on the road and as I'm slowing down and pulling off the road, Vicky tells we it's not saying there's no signal from that tire.  I get out with the pressure gauge on there's no pressure at all - the tire is totally flat!

This wouldn't be a major problem in an urban area on a weekday - we could drive slowly to a place and have it checked,  But here we are, 40 miles from nowhere on a Sunday at noon.  Fortunately we have phone service so we call Good Sam Roadside Assistance.  After a while on my first call I'm told we have no coverage, which I know is not true.  That's when I ask Vicky to call in again, which she does and gets a totally different service.  That's when I discover I dialed one digit wrong and - amazing coincidence - got another roadside assistance service we're not signed up with!

So we finally get thru to Richard, who has great trouble locating us despite my having the road number and mile market.  He then tells me he'll send someone out with a new tire -  we don't pay for the service call but I will have to pay for the tire and installation.  What else can we do?  There's no way you can remove an RV tire yourself, and even if we could, we don't carry a spare. 

The man with the tire turns up about 6:30 -  hours later than promised.  Turns out he was very close to us when he got the call, but had to go to Phoenix to get the car and then come back.  He gets the tires off with no problem and sure enough, the inner tire has no air in it.  Strangely, it doesn't appear to be damaged.  However, having bought the new tire, we get it put on and decide to keep the old one as a spare.  It's when he's installing the valve stem extender he discovers the problem.  The extender is a flexible tube that connects to the tire and comes though so you can add air to the inner tire easily.  The thing had a big leak and that's why we lost pressure.  So instead of a $60 part we bought a $800 tire, and still have to go buy a new extender when we get to a town.

It's now getting towards nightfall and we don't feel comfortable driving up to Winslow.  I remember a cafe - the Long valley cafe in Happy Jack - where we once had a good meal.  It has a large parking lot so I call, explain the problem and ask if we can park overnight there.  They agree, so we drive the 30 or so miles and pull into the parking lot.  We've already had dinner so we just head to bed.

Day 7  Monday - the Second Disaster

We're awakened at 7am by heavy knocking.   We came in after nightfall and parked in the first spot we saw.  Turns out to be the spot where trucks pare to get full-ups of propane so we can't park there.  We were a little low on propane ourselves so I got him to top us up and then parked the RV, with the car still in tow, on the other side of the road.  We wash, dress and head over to the cafe for breakfast 0 thank you for letting us park.  Turns out to be reasonably priced and a good choice.  I get corned beef hash (again) with poached eggs, and Vicky has a fluffy omelet.

We now we're ready to head north.  About 20 miles up the road Vicky, who is driving, notices a clicking sound and we look out the rear view mirror and see smoke, so we pull to a stop.  This is a 2 lane road - fortunately not very busy - with a fairly steep drop-off at the side so we can't pull the RV off the road.  I get out and find, to my relief, that it appears that one of the from tires on the car has blown - it is in fact in shreds.  This is a problem I can deal with as we have a spare.  We put out cones behind the car and take turns directing traffic.  I've just got the spare out and am looking for the lug wrench when a car pulls up behind us.  The very kind gentleman offers to help and ends up changing the tire in much less time than it would have taken me.  Pressure in the spare is low, but we do have a compressor so we get it pumped up, thank the Good Samaritan and he goes on his way.

This is when Vicky announces that the other from tire, which had been hot after the blowout, is also in bad shape with wires sticking out of the tread.  Time to call Good Sam again.  We get the right number this time but the woman is more concerned with calling 911 and getting us off the road (which as I said is impossible) than with getting help.  We get disconnected and decide to unhitch the car from the RV and move the RV to a safe place.  Meanwhile, after another call, it's determined the car will need to be towed into Winslow - fortunately covered under our plan.

We have a lot more Good Samaritans trying to help, including 2 guys on a motorcycle, a guy in a pickup and a guy from Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) who pus out more cones and gets us to stand off the road.  Meanwhile we've been trying to more the car but the wheels appear to be locked and, looking down the way we came, we see tire skid marks - looks like something major happened, maybe with the transmission, and locked the wheels.  We can't push the car, even in neutral so there's a bigger problem than 2 new tires.

A police car turns up and gets the ADOT truck to pull the car off to the side (safe for the car but not the RV).  The wheels start to roll and then lock up again.  John, the tow truck driver, agrees to take the car to Winslow Ford as we request, but gives us ominous warnings that he doesn't like them.  He drops us off at the RV and I drive it with no problem to Winslow Ford.  Felipe, the service advisor, says he won't be able to look at it until late Tuesday or more likely Wednesday.  I want to stay in Winslow but Vicky points out that there's nothing we can do there and we have a reservation at Canyon de Chelly for the next 3 nights.  She's the sensible one!

Now the day starts to get better.  After lunch at Pizza Hut we head out.  A short stretch on I-40 and then north on AZ87.  The first part of this drive is along a high desert road and there was a strong crosswind, so it was something of a challenge to drive, but not as bad as I-17 had been the first day.  Our GPS took us off on Indian Road 15 (we're now in Navajo land) which was a good straight road for 21 miles to US 77.  After a short job along 77, IR15 turns off again for another 34 mile stretch.  This time the road hasn't been repaired very recently and, as Vicky puts it, the RV gets a good shakedown on our shakedown trip.  We make it with no problem and arrive at the Ganado roundabout (traffic circle to you Norteamericanos) which, strangely, currently has the cheapest gas in Arizona.  We fill up and drive the last 30 miles up US191 with another crosswind to arrive in Chinle, home of the Wildcats.

Here is the turn off for the C de C National Monument.  We drive thru the town (one horse but several cows) and enter the Monument.  But how to find spider Rock campground?  Just as we're debating which way to go I see a sign with an arrow - Spider Rock Campground 9.7 miles.  The road takes us along the rim of the canyon with frequent turnoffs to viewpoints and just as we are thinking we've missed the campground, there it is.  Our host, Howard, a Dine (Navajo) greets us and directs us to a site with a sewer hookup - a nice plus as we were expecting a primitive campground.   We arrange for Howard to take us on a tour of the Canyon tomorrow - you can only go into it with a Navajo guide or a park ranger.  We meet the (only) neighbors, enjoy a spectacular sunset, get set up, have dinner and sleep.

Day 8 - Tuesday - Canyon de Chelly - things get better!

We've arranged a tour of the canyon with Howard for between 12 and 1, so in the morning we investigate the walking trail that leaves from the campground.  It goes along the canyon rim, we're told, but after sleeping in we get a late start so we only walk as far as the beginning of the rim and then return.  We're eating lunch when Howard calls to say he's ready when we are. 

We get into his 4 wheel car and I'm delighted by the sticker on his dashboard saying "no rules".  He drives us back to the park entrance, retracing our Monday evening drive, and then takes us to the Navajo office to register for our tour and pay the $2 per person fee.  Then we're off through what Howard tells us is the only way in and out of the canyon.  We pass a stable for horses, some grazing Churro sheep and several signs warning us not to go into the canyon without a guide, and then we're there.

The first section we travel through is deep sand - glad we are in a 4WD vehicle.  Howard stops by a pictograph of Kokopelli lying on his back and playing his flute.  Our guide explains that Kokopelli created the world and his flue creates natural noises like birdsong and even breaking twigs.  The poor guy works all year and only gets 4 days off - 2 at each of the Summer and Winter solstices - that's why he's on his back,  Howard tells us the pictures were drawn by the Anasazi - his ancestors, who lived at the same time as the ancient Egyptians.  To prove it, on the canyon wall opposite the Kokopelli pictograph is a very tall Egyptian looking man.

We continue up to the junction where 2 canyons - canyon de Chelly (it's pronounced "shay" by the way) and Canyon de los Muertos which was named by the Spanish - the reason for the name - canyon of the dead - will be explained later.  At the junction we see Junction House, the first of many Anasazi cliff dwellings we will encounter.   The dwellings were accessed by ladders and by footholds in the rock, some of which are still visible.  The people must have been very sure-footed.  At least I hope so!  Howard explains that the "houses" consisted of one big room - the native people, then as now, are big on community and not as worried about privacy as we westerners.

We turn to the right and head down the wide Canyon de Chelly.  it's named for a Frenchman who proposed it be turned into a National Monument (with his name) around 1910.  He was turned down, but when it WAS turned into a National Monument in the 1930's, either by Hoover or Roosevelt depending on who you ask, it was named after the seemingly egotistical French gentleman.  We come upon a large cliff dwelling known locally as First Village, which would have held up to 300 people.  As with many other dwellings we will see, it's remarkably well preserved.  The large complex consists of a number of interconnected buildings.  There's also one building which is separate, which Howard informs us is a feature of all the Anasazi settlements.  The purpose of these separate buildings is not known.  Howard doesn't think it was for the chief as that would be contrary to their culture.  Vicky and I come up with some suggestions, including a prison and a storehouse, but I guess we'll never know the real purpose, at least not in this world!

We continue on into the Canyon, passing other cliff dwellings, pictographs and petroglyphs.  (Pictographs are drawn using pigment, petroglyphs are carved.)  I haven't talked about the impressive rock formations on the canyon walls.  The view is ever changing and these is plenty of evidence of uplifting of rocks as well as marks left by the river.  Speaking of the river, we're driving along a river bed.   These days the river only flows during the spring runoff which should be happening right now in May.  This year the area had very little snow, so there's almost no runoff.

Eventually we arrive at White House.  This is one of the largest of the Anasazi settlements and is on 2 levels.  One section is on the floor of the canyon and the other on the cliffside with the usual footholds in the rock.  This is one of 2 places we will see where Navajo people are selling jewelry, blankets and refreshments.  It's also the only place in the canyon that you can visit without a guide.  Howard shows us a trail, which he says is easy, that leads from the cliff top to the floor of the canyon.  Anyone taking that trail can visit the White House and the vendors, but signs clearly indicate places they can NOT go beyond.  We see more visitors at this point that we have all day, but the canyon is certainly not crowded and for long stretches we are alone.  Howard lets us spend as long as we wish at each stop, a luxury that some other visitors don't have.  We hear a car horn beep and a couple next to us says that means they need to get back into the car.  Thank you, Howard, for your patience.

On a longer tour we would continue further into C de C, which is 27 miles long in total, as far as Spider Rock. but on this trip it's time to head back to the junction.  From there we venture into Canyon de Los Muertes, which is much narrower and becomes even more so as we proceed.  At one point Howard stops and points high up on the cliffside to a small cave where we can see greenery.  With the help of Howard's binoculars and my telephoto lens we're able to see that there's a young eagle in the nest.  Conveniently, mother turns up, circles the area and enters the next with some food for her baby (who's hardly a baby and will probably soon be flying.  We stay watching for about 30 minutes.

More stops for cliff dwellings and more of the history from Howard.  The Navajo believe they are direct descendants of the Anasazi (which means the Ancient Ones).  Other histories we've read claim the Anasazi mysteriously disappeared and the Navajo came later, but Howard tells us the DNA testing has shown they are the same people.  In fact, according to Howard, the Dine have occupied this area since the beginning of time.

Later we arrive at Antelope House, so called because of large drawings of antelope and pronghorn on the cliffs next to the house.  This is the second place with local vendors so after taking out photographs and noticing that the animals on the wall are in fact painted in different colors (Howard told us later that the coloring was done in the 1930's), we visit one of the vendors for some cold drinks.  The Navajo woman, who has a house on the floor of the canyon, tells us stories of her grandmother who was a medicine woman.  Most impressive to me was her story of how, as a young girl, she had in growing toenails and was afraid to go into hospital for an operation.  Grandma gathered some herbs and applied them to the nails.  According to our storyteller, all night it felt like the nails were being pulled off and in the morning they were cured.  She never had a recurrence.  Her brother repeatedly ate plants he was warned against and suffered badly from warts.  Grandma had him eat some natural foods and he was also cured.  Our lady said she regretted she had never written down grandma's remedies so they are now lost.  It certainly seems like a lot of traditional healing methods have been lost to antiquity.

Returning to Howard we find him talking to another couple.  The man had earlier been playing a flute.  We tell him we love the music of Carlos Nakai and it turns out this man - Travis Terry - grew up with Carlos and played music with him.  He tells us stories of Nakai's early life.  Again, Howard does not push us to leave.

When we do leave I'm expecting we will turn round but no, Howard has another place to show us and more stories.  We arrive at fortress rock, where 300 Navajo camped out in the 19th Century to avoid the US cavalry under Kit Carson who had been sent to take them away from their native lands.  Despite a long holdout they were eventually captured and sent to Fort Sumter, where they spent 4 years until a chief was able to negotiate their return.  It's interesting to hear these stories from a Dine, as Carson is portrayed as a hero by most western historians.  While he may have only been following orders, this shows a different picture and illustrates how history looks different from a different person's perspective.

Now it was time to turn around.  One the way back we stopped for another half hour or so observing the eagle's nest.  Mom again came in with more food and we were hoping to get photos as she left, but she decided to stay inside, probably telling baby to beware of those strange people pointing cameras at them.  There was one last stop on the way out of the canyon, at newspaper rock, so called because of the huge number of petroglyphs on the rock.  We were able to get some good photos in the evening light.

It was now after 7pm so our 3-4 hour tour had lasted over 6 hours.  We treated Howard to dinner at Denny's in Chinle (his choice) and came home tired but full of a new appreciation for the Dine culture.

Day 9 - Wednesday

Today we did the full 3 mile roundtrip walking trail to, and along, the rim of the canyon.  We got some great pictures and I learned from Vicky about the cairns (piles of stones) and almost invisible arrows on the rocks that kept us on the right track.  Some of the barrel cacti were in bloom, but we saw no wildlfe other than a lizard.

After the walk we returned to the campground and spent a lazy day around the RV.  We were also in touch with the service advisor looking after the car in Winslow, and realized it was going to take longer to repair than we originally thought.  This involved some planning.  I came up with the idea of renting a car after we leave here, and then continuing on our planned route, which will take us to Pagosa Springs, Colorado starting next Monday.

Turns out the nearest car rentals are in Gallup NM, which is 85 miles away and not on our direct route.  Did some strategizing and decided to stay here until Saturday and then head up to Farmington, NM.  From there it's a short and easy drive to Pagosa Springs.  Farmington is not a particularly exciting town but it does have an airport and therefore car rentals (which even seem to be reasonably priced).  We'll have Saturday and Sunday nights there, picking up the car at 1pm Sunday (which is when it opens).  There's a place called Aztec Ruins National Monument close to there, which we may check out.

This does mean we will miss out on a visit to Mesa Verde, which was part of our original plan, but we both agree we're enjoying the extra time in this beautiful place.

Day 10 - Thursday

Generally a quiet day hanging out around the campground.  We moved the RV to a different spot.  While we like the spot we were in, which is near the start of the rim trail, it does have other sites right next to it and Howard tells us the park gets busy on weekends.  The one we moved to, while close to the original one, has nothing next to it.

In the process of moving we filled up the fresh water tank.  This park has sewer dumps at each site but no water or electricity.

Vicky did some cleaning of the RV and I spent time both around the park and on the trail getting to know my camera better.  At Vicky's suggestion I was looking for unusual shots and found a few, as well as a lot of strange shots that I'm not sure why I took.  I did a lot of experimenting in manual mode and now feel much more comfortable in choosing the appropriate ISO, shutter speed and aperture to get the effect I want.  Of course, there's an automatic setting that will produce an acceptable shot if it can, but with the flexibility to choose my own settings I can get more interesting pictures.

Later in the day I was able to get some good shots of the sunset - amazing sunsets every night here.   The wind started to pick up.

Day 11 - Friday

Another quiet day around the part and I did some more photography and more walks along the trail.   We're leaving tomorrow so we packed up a lot of things so we could be ready.

We've been in touch with Felipe, the service advisor at Winslow Ford.  He has told us that the adjuster from the warranty company has been out there and can't say whether or not our transmission replacement will be covered.  He has to go talk to his supervisor and we won't know until Monday.  We've decided to go on to our next destination - Pagosa Springs, CO where we have a reservation starting Monday.

We've also decided to pick up a car.  Managed to get one from Budget in Farmington NM which wasn't on our originally planned route to Pagosa Springs but won't be a long detour.  The main problem is there is no internet service and precious little phone service here on the Navajo Reservation so I can't find phone numbers to car rental places!  The first one I found was National who wanted over $300 fir 3 days.  We're getting the one from Budget for $105 which is much more reasonable, but we have to pick it up at Farmington airport between 1 and 5pm on Sunday.  Our plan is to leave here Saturday, drive to Farmington and stay in a Walmart parking lot there Saturday night.  Sunday we'll pick up the car and either stay at another Walmart or find another plan.

The big concern is the wind, which has been high all day.   We're in a very exposed area here with crosswinds.  Our original plan has been to backtrack to Ganado, visit the Hubbell trading Store National Monument and then head across to New Mexico, joining US491 just north of Gallup and following it to Farmington.  However, we know there will be a lot of crosswinds on this route.  Howard, our host, says if we follow US191 north from Chinle we'll have a tail wind most of the way which could be safer.

We decide to see what the weather looks like on Saturday before deciding.

Day 12 - Saturday - to Farmington NM

The wind is still blowing but much less intense than yesterday.  I'm driving the RV so I get to decide and we follow Howard's advice and take the northern route.  The start is not without its drama, though.  The last action before leaving is to retract the leveling jacks.  We have an automatic leveling system that does this, and the procedure is that I work the system while Vicky goes outside and ensures the jacks do retract.  Sometimes they have a piece of grit in them and have to be lubricated.

Today, after a longer than usual time, the "jacks down" light is still on and Vicky informs me the jacks are stuck half way.  She  suggests I put them down again so she can lubricate them, but they won't go down either.  Getting more and more worried I try pulling them up and putting them down and eventually Vicky tells me the jacks are up.  Unfortunately they  light is still telling me they are down and I'm not sure the RV will let me drive it!

I put it into drive and sure enough, I can drive it.  But I get warning lights and buzzers about the jacks being down.  We drive the 10 miles into Chinle, with intermittent warnings, and then I pull into a parking lot.  We check that the jacks are still up - they are 0 and I try the retract cycle again.  This time the light goes out, so we head on up US191 north.  After a mile or so I get another jack warning which we choose to ignore, and from that point on there is no problem.

The journey north with the tail wind is no problem, although one time the road turns east for a while and it is a bit tricky.  We eventually reach US160 with does go east-west, and there is a crosswind, but it isn't too bad.  We turn onto US64 got Farmington and soon cross the New Mexico border where we pull over and Vicky makes lunch.  I must confess I am relieved to have finally left Arizona, even though I know we'll have o go back to get the car.  We reach Farmington with no further problem and find the Walmart,  They have no problem with us parking in their lot so we stock up on food and pull over in the designated area..  We did have one panhandler, which we were warned is an occupational hazard of stopping at Walmarts, but otherwise it was quite quiet and we got a good night's sleep after going out for dinner.  Didn't use the jacks because (a) you're not supposed to at a Walmart and (w) didn't want to tempt fate after this morning's fun.

Today is our 39th Wedding anniversary and we always go out for a meal.  Today, however, we have only the RV and no car so I look for somewhere within walking distance.  I find something called Bernie' Fine Dining so we spruce ourselves up and walk down the road.

The sign outside says Bernie's cafeteria and we go inside, turn right and find ourselves facing an array of Mexican and comfort foods they will serve us.  Vicky chooses 2 enchiladas while I get adventurous and have one enchilada and a chile relleno.  The meal, with our choice of sides, is accompanied by the wails of 2 small children, part of the only other party in the restaurant.  Surprisingly the food is quite good and at $18 including tip must be the cheapest anniversary dinner we've ever had.

Day 13 - Sunday - Farmington to Aztec, NM

We get up late, make breakfast and walk across the parking lot to a Verizon store since we haven't been getting very good reception.  A helpful guy there explains our Verizon plan and informs us that service is never very good on "this side of town".

I didn't mention that, Farmington not being very exciting, we had investigated alternatives to staying at the second Walmart for Sunday night.  I'd discovered a town 14 miles up the road called Aztec, home of the Aztec Ruins National Monument and, as we would find out, the Tigers of the local high school "Aztec Strong!"  I also found Ruins Road RV park which was reasonably priced and within walking distance of the monument.  We had called them on Saturday and they said they were full for Sunday but would call if they had a cancellation.  We didn't get that call but Vicky called them again today and they do have a space so we're going there. 

It's almost 1pm and time to head to Four Corners regional Airport which is just up the hill fro the Walmart but requires driving around 3 sides of a square to get there.  We find  place to park the RV and walk into the terminal  This airport has 2 gates, 2 car rental counters and a bar, and no list of arriving or departing flights.  Fortunately there is a lady at the Budget desk and she promises to serve us after finishing with her other customers.  Good thing we're not in a hurry since the "other customers" take almost a half hour to get everything sorted.  Ah this point things move more quickly and the nice lady doesn't try to sell us all kinds of "optional' coverages.  We do discover, though, that the counter is only open 9-5 most days and 1-5 on weekends and we can't drop off the car when it's closed!  We drive over to Petco, get some food for the cats and then head up the road to Aztec, Vicky driving the RV and me the car.  Only 14 miles so it doesn't take long.

The park was indeed within walking distance of the ruins and also close to the river.  We walked down to the ruins and spent the last hour before they closed watching their video and touring the museum.  No Aztecs, of course.  19th Century historians had the idea that the Aztecs started in the American Southwest and migrated south.  There's no evidence of this but the ancestral pueblo people did live in this area and had a flourishing civilization.  They built a large complex at Chaco, which is south of Aztec.  You can visit there but you almost need a 4WD to get there, so we didn't.

After dinner we went for a walk along the river after driving through the historic downtown area of Aztec, which looks like a town on a model train board.  The RV park was quiet so we got a good night's sleep.

Day 14 - Monday - Aztec to Pagosa Springs

After breakfast we returned to the National Monument.

Around 1100AD people from Chaco moved north to the Aztec area and built the intricate complex that is now Aztec Ruins.  It includes a large kiva (round structure used for ceremonies) which has been rebuilt to show how it would have been.  We went inside and you can even play native American music, close your eyes and imagine you're witnessing an ancient ceremony.  They still have tribal dances there once a year.

The rest of the complex has several smaller kivas but also a large structure of interconnected rooms surrounding the central plaza.   Think Roman Forum or town square!)  We took a tour, guided by a book we were loaned.  The rooms are in varying states of decay but some are still well formed.  Many of the doorways are only about 4 feet high so you have to stoop to get through them.  We surmise that the ancestral people were smaller than we are today.

The workmanship on the buildings is intricate, with large and small rocks and mortar holding together after 900 years.  The initial part of the complex was built over a period of 30 years, using racks hauled from 30 miles away and ponderosa pine wood from the mountains which are 60 miles away.  Considering the people had no carts or building machinery this is a tribute to the ingenuity of the Pueblan people.  Another tribute is the alignment of the buildings, which ensure that at sunrise on the summer solstice the sun rises exactly along one of the walls.  There is no doubt that this was an advanced civilization.

The buildings were added to over a period of about 200 years and then abandoned.  Anglo historians point to an extended period (several years) of droughts and also social unrest as the reasons for this.  The native people still living in the Four Corners area believe that this was just part of the natural migration process of their ancestors.  Whatever the reason, these people built a complex city and then abandoned it.

After several hours at the ruins we pack up the RV.  The park owner kindly says we don't have to leave immediately so we drive the car and investigate the "Historic Downtown" on foot.  The local museum isn't open on Mondays but many of the shops are.  we investigate a feed store - no cat food - and buy some small "sample size" bars of soap from a shop which makes its own.  They had several hundred varieties of soap with unusual fragrances.  We later find out that while the soap no doubt cleans you, it doesn't lather, which is freaky.

Tour completed, we head up the road (US550 to US160) to Pagosa Springs, our destination for the next several nights.  As we've noticed before, the scenery changes abruptly from high desert to mountain ambiance as you cross the New Mexico/Colorado border.  We rediscover the beauty of the Colorado Rockies, where there is still snow on the high mountains (but thankfully not on the roads) and where Spring has just arrived and the trees are in blossom.

We're staying at Healing Waters Resort, a motel and (small) RV park right in the center of the historic town.  We chose this place because it has its own spa pools and while staying there you can use them any time you like between 8am and 10pm.  The large swimming pool is kept at 90 - 95 degrees, and there's an outdoor hot tub that's at 103.  There are also separate indoor bath houses for men and women, each of which includes a small steam room (sauna) and a large "hot tub".  This one is at 108 to 112 degrees and is too hot for me.  Vicky doesn't even try.  The resort doesn't treat their water and gives you an analysis of the mineral content.  After settling in with the RV (30 amp hookup plus water and sewer) we go enjoy the outdoor hot tub for a while.

It's time for our "real" anniversary dinner and, taking the recommendation of the helpful person at the front desk, we walk down to the Alley House, a wood themed dining room in a former residence build in the early 1900's.  We start with the soup du jour, a mixture of roasted tomatoes and squash that is think enough to stand up your spoon in, and delightfully smooth.  We follow by sharing a Thai Caesar salad, which includes slices of ginger and deep fried wontons along with fresh lettuce.  For her main, Vicky opts for the daily special - 4 huge scallops on a bed of couscous accompanied with dried prosciuto.  She proclaims it delicious.  For me, my love of hot spicy food trumps my usual avoidance of fish and I enjoy a tender filet of snapper accompanied by a habanero and mango salsa which did indeed have noticeable heat and may change my opinion of that particular swimmer.  Since hit was a special occasion we had to have dessert - a tangy Key Lime cheesecake for me and a bread pudding for Vicky.  I finished all of mine but Vicky got to take some home with her.  A special romantic dinner and we want to come back here.

Too full to revisit the spa, we amble back to the resort, enjoying some unusually shaped wooden buildings, apple and cherry blossoms and an art deco middle school building which we later learn once accommodated all grades but is not only for fifth and sixth grades.  (One classroom per student?)

Day 15 - Tuesday

The resort offers free exercise classes in the main pool at 9am on certain days, so I decide to investigate.  I find I'm not only the only guest, but the only man among a group of local women who have been doing this regularly for years.  They make me very welcome and even give me some tips about things to see in the area.  I manage to keep up with most of the exercises and as the instructor points out, the nice thing about being in the water is that nobody can see what you're doing!  A great start to the day.

We're booked at Healing Waters until Friday, but the car isn't promised until at least Monday so we need somewhere to stay after Friday.  Also it will have to be an overnight stay when we do pick up the car since we can only return the rental before 5pm and we don't want to drive through the night.  We drive around with the help of a map and find two possible areas where we could free park for those nights.  One is just where the pavement ends on Piedra Road and the other is 5 miles up Mill Creek Road, which is gravel.  However, Vicky is worried about leaving the RV overnight in a public area - I'm worried about the cats but they can probably take care of themselves, but anybody could break in if we're not there.  We talk about spending Friday and Saturday at one of the two places we've found, and then going to a paid (read safe) area when we're away Sunday night.  We'll also need to check with the forest service office and see whether it's legal to park at the places we've chosen.

We do some shopping and have a quiet day.  Tomorrow we plan to check out the charming town center and to check with the forest service about the places we want to camp. 

Day 16 - Wednesday - Corporate Insanity!

The rental car is due back tomorrow in Farmington but we will need to extend the rental until next Tuesday.  I go on to Budget's 800 number and a surprisingly easy to use automated attendant lets me update the reservation to return on Tuesday with no problem.  No problem, that is, until it tells me that the additional 5 days will cost me $372 plus a $10 extension fee.  To put this into context, the original reservation cost about $35 per day which would make this new reservation cost about $175.  I tell the auto attendant to forget it and ask to speak to a representative.  This connects me to Juan, who says the high rate is probably because somebody wants that specific car. He confirms the high rate and then suggests I just make a new reservation and return the old car.  The new reservation is for the expected price so I book it and we set off for Farmington immediately since we already have plans for tomorrow.  Fortunately it's a nice day for a drive!

Two hours later we find the same lady at the rental counter that we dealt with on Sunday.  She sympathizes but tells me unless I want a larger car (which we don't) she will have to give me the same car back again!  So much for someone wanting this car!  the net result is I have the same car (which is quite adequate) but we have wasted 4 hours and had to pay for the gas for that trip.  True, I saved us 4200 in the process, but surely it is corporate insanity that they would make a customer do this.  We return to Pagosa Springs with no problem, have dinner - back to the alley House for pizza -and a soak in the spring water.  Then I discover that Budget has made the mistake of asking me to complete a survey about my experience.  I do this as politely as I can.  Later I will get what is probably a stock reply apologizing and promising to bring the issue to the attention of management.  I reply to this, suggesting that the least they could do is pay for my gas.  No reply to that one so far.

Another problem today.  Felipe from Winslow Ford calls and tells us that in addition to the tires we will need a wheel rim to replace the one that was destroyed.  They cost $800 and won't be covered by the warranty.  He does tell me that he always gives customers the option of finding one in a junkyard or elsewhere.  So I do some research.  I find a couple of places that claim they have the wheel (Felipe gave me the part number).  One is in Houston and wants $153, the other in the Los Angeles area and wants $200.  The website for the Houston place says they will ship for free, 1-2 days after I place the order online.  They also offer more expensive shipping options but don't give time estimates.  I call and speak to Horatio who confirms he can get me the part and explains the shipping options.  Basically any shipping option that will meet my needs will just about double the price.  He offers to check to see if he has one that can be shipped immediately and promises to call me back.

While I'm waiting I call the California company.  They can't take an order over the phone because I'm shipping to a different address from the billing address, so I have to order online.  They use Fedex but I still won't know the delivery time for sure.  While I'm doing this, Horatio calls back.  He's found the wheel in Phoenix and it can ship immediately for only $12 with delivery by Friday.  God took care of us again!

Day 17 - Thursday

Today we finally have a day to walk around town and to make our plans for the weekend.  Since we'll be leaving tomorrow we also start to pack up the RV.  first stop is the forest service office where they inform us that the site we found on Piedra Road is a trailhead and we can't stay there overnight.  they do recommend several places up that road where we can boondock, but they're all 10 miles or more up a gravel road that has just been freshly oiled and will mess up the car and the RV.

they also recommend we check out East Fork Road, which is 10 miles up US160 (in the direction we finally want to go).  There's a forest service campground, but once you pass it, there are a lot of spaces for RV parking.  We drive down there in the car and find the road is twisty, and has a washboard surface.  As if that weren't enough, there's a big dropoff in several places, and we don't find anywhere we could turn the RV around.

On the way back, we check out the campground, which is $22 per night with no hookups.  When Vicky points out that with our Senior National Parks Pass we can get that for help price, I become interested.  It's a delightful, shaded campground full of ponderosa pines.  We find 3 sites that are open and look suitable for us, and look for the campground host, who is nowhere to be seen.  We go back home and try to book them online but the booking window doesn't open until May 25, which is not much use to us.  Vicky tries calling the recreation.gov people and they tell her that check in is 2pm and suggest we get there earlier and park in the spot.  That's our plan now.

There is a riverside walk right in the center of Pagosa Springs - about 1.7 miles around a loop.  It takes you past some geodesic domes which are a community project for education and research about wetlands plants and animals.  Eventually you get out into the wetlands, where we saw many red breasted blackbirds.  there are also supposed to be yellow headed blackbirds there, but we didn't see any.  The walk also takes you along the river , with views of the rapids and the original springs and spa across the river.  Later on you cross the reviver and find the "mother S[ring", discovered in the mid 1800s by an army captain who prophesied quite rightly that it would become a "place of leisure".

At one point we saw and photographed some small pools of boiling water, and also waterfalls.  A relaxing and educational walk.  Today was also laundry day, so after lunch I visited the local laundromat, but not without going too far on a road that turned to dirt, which I had to back out of.  Meanwhile Vicky cleaned the RV and prepared for our departure tomorrow.  Very close to the laundromat I found the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts, from the outside a barn-like building.  Finding it was important since we had tickets for a show that evening.  I returned with the clean washing to find that Vicky had already prepared dinner, and then insisted we get to the theater by 6:30 since our tickets were general admission and I wanted to get good seats.

I needn't have worried since (a) the auditorium didn't open until 15 minutes before showtime; (b) there weren't a lot of people in the audience and (c) there were only 3 rows.  We did manage to get seats on the front row.  The play was "Proof", a Pulitzer and Tony award winning drama by David Auburn.  It's about Catherine, the daughter of a mathematics professor who is trying to come to terms with the death of her father (who appears in the play) and find some direction in her life.  The presence of her estranged older sister who is trying to take over, and one of her father's former students who is interested in Catherine as well as her father's research.

The plot is well written with lots of unexpected moments and some intensely emotional scenes.  The cast - 3 Equity actors and a local (who also directed) who is apparently a mainstay of the theater group -was superb.  Each of them displayed their emotions and motivations both through language and subtle use of their body, and the set, lighting and costumes added to the reality.  For a small town, this production, one of a year round series, was outstanding.

As we were waiting to go in, we spoke at length with the father of the owners of the theater, who was able to put the story of the play - and the group - into context for us.  A very enjoyable evening of theater.

Day 18 - Friday - Into the Woods

Time to find a new place to put the RV.  We left Healing Waters around noon and drove up to East Fork Campground.  I drove the rental car and got there first.  Found that site 7, a large shaded pull thru site that we thought would be best, was not occupied.  Parked the car in the spot to claim it and started back for the entrance, stopping to chat with Ken, the campground host.  As I was doing this, Vicky turned up with the RV so I moved the car so she could pull in.  Then moved the car behind the RV and went to pay the registration fee for 3 nights (Friday - Sunday).

We've booked a spot at a site 10 miles west of P.S. called Happy Camper for Monday and Tuesday nights.  The car will be ready Tuesday and since it's an overnight trip we'll leave the RV - and the cats - in this safe place while we're away Monday and Tuesday.  They've already said we can turn up early on Monday.  Meanwhile we'll enjoy this National Forest campsite.

Had several chats with Ken during our stay.  He's living there for the summer taking care of the campground.  He lives between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs CO in a place he says is in the middle of an oil field.  He's originally from New Hampshire so he and Vicky can share New England stories.  He's had an interesting life and we enjoyed talking with him.

We can hear the San Juan River from the campsite, and Ken shows us where we can see the river, although, he says, there's not much to see at the moment, mostly wood brought down by the river.  We don't walk down to the river but do tour the campground and get a couple of views of the river as we do this.  The campground is secluded and not very busy, although apparently this will change after Memorial Day.  We were going to cook outside at the fire pit but it's a little windy so we don't.  We do, however, take time to sit outside, read and enjoy the tranquility.  We've decided National Forests and National Parks are our favorite places to camp.

Our site has electricity and a sewer hookup, but no water.  There is water in the park - an old fashioned hand pump.  I take a bucket down to the pump and find a woman, who I will learn is from Vienna, pumping but getting no water.  I offer to try to help and also pump for what seems forever before water finally comes gushing out.  I fill the bucket and then hold the woman's bottle while she pumps.  We then walk back together, talking about the different cultures of Austria and the USA.  She's on her way to Santa Fe after visiting with a friend in San Francisco and, like us, is enjoying the scenery in the Western US.

I persuade Vicky that we should check out the Treasure Falls waterfall, which is just 5 miles down the road from the east Fork campground.  The forest service brochure describes it as an easy hike with great views of the waterfall.  Vicky decides she disagrees with the word "easy'.  The path is rough, with a number of switchbacks, but we make it to the top and are rewarded with great close up views of the waterfall.  We also make it down again with no problems.

Vicky made a campfire and I toasted two hot Italian sausages over it.  We had these, with salad, for dinner at the picnic table outside, enjoying the sounds of the forest.

Day 19 - Saturday

Vicky discovered late Friday night that Felipe at Winslow Ford had left a message asking us to call him - no details.  Since we know he has everything to finish the job I worry that this means another complication has come up and don't get a lot of sleep until I pray for help and leave it in God's hands.

This morning I call Felipe and keep getting the voicemail of the service secretary, who clearly doesn't work on Saturdays.  I call again and choose administration instead of service and get a nice lady who says that Felipe is working and she will transfer me.  She DOES transfer me, right back to Emily's voice mail.  This is getting frustrating!  I try again, this time choosing sales, and yet another person transfers me to the same voicemail.  I try one last time, getting the same salesperson, explain my frustration and she says she'll walk over to Felipe herself.  So I finally reach him.  I can hear him loud and clear but he tells me my voice keeps going in and out.  With Vicky's help we find he's telling us the job is done except for the tires, and he just wants to know whether we want 2 or 4 tires and whether he should install sensors, which will tell us if there's a problem with the tire.  He says we could pick up the car now, but of course that's not possible since we're so far away, so we agree to pick it up Monday.  We're delighted this is one day ahead of schedule.

We originally chose the campground from Mon and Tue because we were planning on boondocking and worried about leaving the RV - and the cats - in the middle of nowhere.  We feel safe in East Fork campground and Ken says we can extend our stay, so we cancel the other place, pay Ken for Monday night and head back into Pagosa Springs for some last minute shopping so we'll be ready to leave for points East once we have the RV and car reunited.

Vicky teaches me the first of 2 methods to build a campfire, and our dinner is smores - the American version.  A marshmallow melted in the campfire and eaten along with a square of chocolate between two graham crackers - delicious!  I have 4 of them!  Lunch had been at Riff Raff in town, where we each had burgers - mine was Yak, and we had also stopped for coffee after finishing the shopping, so dessert was really all we wanted.

After dinner we packed for our overnight trip and went to sleep.

Day 20 - Sunday - retracing our steps

When we lived in Haikou, China we went with our Chinese friend Peter Wu and his Canadian wife Nika to a wildlife park outside of town.  The bus driver kept circling round, driving slowly and looking for more passengers.  Peter commented that the bus must have a virus.  I was reminded of this as we drove the rental car back to Farmington for the second time in 4 days.  This time, however, we continued on down to Gallup.  We couldn't find a decent motel in Winslow so we decided to stay at the Fairfield Inn in Gallup and drive over to Winslow early Monday morning.

It was our second visit to this hotel and they upgraded us to a huge suite, which was nice as we both wanted to use our computers.  Internet access in the National Forest was spotty, to put the best possible face on it, so it was good to be in a place where we could get strong connections.  I got our affairs up to date and then started researching places in Europe for our 40th Anniversary next year, while Vicky concentrated on finding us places to stay on the way to South Dakota.  I had worked out a complete route, giving us reasonable driving distances each day and finding some nice State and National Parks to stay in.  Vicky suddenly realized that we are traveling over Memorial day weekend so it would be better to have reservations since this is a busy travel period.

She spends this evening trying to get reservations for the places I've chosen and finds that they are all completely booked, as are all of the reasonable alternatives.  I'm absorbed in what I'm doing so don't pay much attention to poor Vicky, who is getting more and more frustrated.  She does work out an itinerary for us and I'm happy to trust her with it.  We order in what turns out to be really good pizzas from a local place that the hotel recommended, and get an early night since we'll need a early start tomorrow.

Day 21 - Monday - the car is ready - or is it?

We plan on leaving Gallup at 8am.  It's a little less than a 2 hour drive to Winslow but they're an hour behind us so we'll be there before 9am their time.  Vicky sets her alarm for early.  I hear it go off and know Vicky - always the first one to rise - will be up when it goes off for the second time 5 minutes later, so I turn over so a little more sleep.   Next thing I know it's 7:15 and Vicky's still asleep.  I wake her up, we get into high gear, get packed, have breakfast and are on the road by 8:30.

Fortunately the route is straight along I-40 with a 75 mph limit and there isn't a lot of traffic, so we end up pulling into Winslow Ford about 9:15.  The car would have been ready Saturday, we were told, so we're surprised to see it's still up on a lift with no front wheels on.  Felipe is on the phone (seemingly for ever).  His colleague Dustin offers to help but when he finds out who we are he says "That's Felipe's baby" so we have to wait.

Phone call complete, Felipe informs us that the technician who was working on it had a problem with his daughter this morning and will be in to finish the job (or call with an update) by 10am.  We go out for a coffee.  We get back to find the technician working on the tires, but he will still have to take the car out for a test drive so it's going to be a while before we can take it. 

I wait for a while but then, as we previously agreed, I take off in the rental car.  I need to get it back to Farmington airport by 4pm their time to save a day's rental charge, and it's a 4 hour drive.  Vicky will wait for the car, drive it herself and pick me up for the return drive to Pagosa Springs.

The journey for me goes without incident.  I stop in the Gallup area to eat the lunch I collected from the hotel this morning and call Vicky to let her know I'm about to head into an area with no cell phone coverage.  She has got the car and is grabbing some lunch before setting out but informs me she sears a clicking sound when she lowers or raises the driver's side window.  We agree she'll go back and talk to Felipe but unless it's a simple fix we'll get it done later.  She soon calls back to say it's related to a previous problem we had with the door and nothing major, so now we're both on our way.

I successfully navigate the long straight road between Gallup and Shiprock without going to sleep, and turn onto US160 for the last 30 miles back to the airport.  That's when it starts to rain.  Before that there were just strong winds.  I pull into the airport with about 5 minutes to spare, b which time it's finally stopped raining.  I return the car a day early, only to find that I haven't saved any money because we were charged a weekly rate, cheaper than the daily rate!

Now it's just a matter of waiting 2 hours for Vicky to catch up with me.  During this time I learn that (a) since November last year there has been no scheduled airline service into our out of Farmington; (b) the car rental counters do a lot of business with one way rentals to and from the nearest viable airport near Durango, CO; (c0 the airport does have a nice library with books to read, a TV to watch and a Keurig coffee machine which would have been nice if it had any coffee supplies.  I had picked up a newspaper at the hotel so I read anything that's interesting (and a lot that's not) and complete the puzzles.

At 5:30 the airport closes up.  They tell me there's a restaurant there that I could wait in, but it's a nice evening so I sit outside until Vicky turns up around 6.  We do a couple of errands - Smith's grocery store for our food, Petco for the cats' needs,  Then we head back for the last 2 hour stint.  fortunately they have long twilights in this part of the world so there's still a little light in the sky as we pull into Pagosa Springs.  the plan had been to have hamburgers cooked over the campfire, but since it's so late we stop into Riff Raff and share a bountiful Cobb salad, then head back to feed the cats and get some rest.  I calculate that between us we've driven about 800 miles this day.  But now the RV and the car are together again.

Day 22 -Tuesday - on the road again

We pack up the RV, hitch up the car, double check everything and head out.  For once, Ken is nowhere to be seen so we can't say goodbye.  There was some rain yesterday and a few showers this morning, so we worry a little about the mile of gravel road between the campground and the highway, but it turns out to be no problem.

We turn east on US160 and just after we pass the Treasure Falls parking lot I see a sign - Wolf Creek Summit 8 miles.  The 8 miles would be easy in a car - the road is 2 lanes uphill, steep, and with lots of switchbacks but well paved and clear.  It's also not a big problem in the RV except that I have to keep by right foot down to the floor for the entire 8 miles, just to keep us going at 30mph.  When we do reach the summit (10,857 feet) there is an easy pullout and I stop without even consulting Vicky, just to give my leg and foot a rest.

The stop turns out to be worthwhile.  We're at the Continental Divide and I can stand with one foot to the west and one to the east.  We also learn that the road was originally built for cars in the time of the Model A Ford.  It took 2 days to cross, and if you met someone coming the other way you had to have good negotiation (or boxing) skills to proceed.  The romantic name conjured up pictures of a family of wolves near a small river, but the real reason for the name was more prosaic.  It's named for someone named James Wolf.

This doesn't take anything away from the views, which are amazing, according to Vicky.  I spent most of my time watching the road ahead.  I found out later that a Colorado newspaper rated Wolf Creek the most dangerous pass in the state!  After the obligatory photos at the top we set off down.  The eastern side is just as steep as the west, and I was glad the RV has two controls - Overdrive off and Hill assist - the allow me to select lower gears.  I got down without going over 40mph which I was glad about.  I can't say the same for the many drivers who were stacked up behind me for a while, since there's only one lane when going downhill.

When we did get to the bottom of the hill I was surprised to find us in a long, wide valley.  we passed though a number of small towns with names like South Fork and Alamosa.  We stopped for lunch at the latter.  For most of the journey through the valley there was a railroad line parallel to the road.  It was full of abandoned, mostly rusted out rail cars that have obviously been around for a long time as there were gaps in the cars wherever a road crossed the tracks.  I fund out that the railroad makes money by charging owners of railcars to "park" them on unused lines.  Apparently it's quite a common practice.

After Alamosa there is one more mountain pass to negotiate when traveling east - the North (or New) La Veta Pass at 9413 feet.  It was built to replace an older pass the followed the Denver & Rio Grande railroad route and had 2 dangerous switchbacks near the summit.  The new pass was child's play after conquering Wolf Creek, and I even got to enjoy some of the spectacular views this time.

Once over the pass it was an easy drive to the town of Walsenburg (names for Fred Walsen who had a general store there in the 19th Century) and our destination for the night - Lathrop State Park.  This, we discovered, was Colorado's first State Park, dating back to 1924 and named for Harold Lathrop who was director of the parks service at the time.

More important for us, Lathrop State Park has two lakes and two campgrounds.  We were able to get a pull through site with great views of the Rockies, including 2 local peaks, known to the natives as the Breasts of the World, but also the Spanish Peaks.  The Spanish themselves called them Ferdinand and Isabella.  The park also features a hiking trail called the Hogback Trail Nature Hike.  We set out to walk it before dinner but the sky seemed to be threatening a downpour so we put it off until the following morning.  The downpour never happened!

Day 23 - Wednesday

We did part of the walk in the morning and discovered a fascinating mix of vegetation.  Of course we knew that this is where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains, but hadn't realized all the implications of this.  We found cacti in bloom next to Pinon Pine and Juniper.  There's also a large range of animals and birds in the park, although we didn't see much more than rabbits!

After packing up we stopped at the park Visitor Center and admired a mural, done as a labor of love by a former Disney animator, that tells the story of the history of the area in 12 panels, from early hunter-gatherers to the coming of the railroad and Walsenburg's emergence as a source of abundant coal, which made it a boom town.  Then it was time to attack the endless prairies, albeit in the opposite direction from the original settlers.

At first we were in ranch country, with some rolling hills and lots of cows.  Eventually, however, the terrain gave way to plat lands, with wheat fields and endless views.  We were to get used to these views in the coming days.

Our original plan was to stop at a truckstop in Eads, CO which has nothing going for it except that it's bout half way between Lathrop and my next planned stop in Oakley, KS.  Vicky felt the drive to Oakley would be too much for one day.  However, we'd picked up a guidebook to Colorado's State Parks and discovered that, without too much of a detour, we could enjoy another night at one of the parks.  John Martin Reservoir State Park is right by the reservoir and an easier-to-see lake called Lake Hasty.  Both lake and reservoir are used for fishing and boating but the season doesn't really get going until Memorial day, which is next week, so the park was quiet.

There are 2 campgrounds, one near the Visitor Center which has neither hookups nor shade.  It does, however, have great views of the reservoir.  The other, which we stayed at, is called the Hasty campground and has electric hookups and shade.  We were able to get a pull through site and had another quiet evening, despite our nearest neighbors being a family with 3 boys.  It was extremely windy early evening and when I suggested a walk, Vicky at first agreed and then decided to stay home, being afraid of the strong winds.  If course, I went ahead on my own.  It was a little challenging walking into the wind but I enjoyed a walk up to the base of the dam and around part of the shoe of Lake Hasty, and saw what I think was an endangered Piping Plover - they and the threatened Least Tern both make their nests here.

The Visitor's Center log said a coyote had been spotted in the campground but we were not so lucky.  However, we're glad we stayed and plan to visit more of Colorado's State Parks later in the summer.

Day 24 - Thursday - This sure does look like Kansas!

After another good night's sleep we got away early (for us) at about 11am.  The wind had died down and Vicky was able to drive through the farm country of eastern Colorado on US50 through small towns like Lamar.  In Lamar we found a Pilot gas station with good prices do we filled up ($146 is a good price?).  We first followed the signs for trucks where there was easy access, but only diesel fuel, before going into the gas area.

The area, following the AT&SF railroad tracks, is a mixture of cattle ranching and crop (wheat and alfalfa) production.  Eventually, at the small town of Granada, we head north on US385 through Sheridan Springs (on the V&S Railway line) to Cheyenne Wells (on the Union Pacific main line).

Despite being a railroad buff I'd never heard of the V&S Railway.  According to Google, the company was formed in 2006 and operates 2 short lines in Kansas and one in Colorado.  I couldn't find any info on the Colorado line but the 2 Kansas lines are short lines, one completely in the city of Hutchinson and the other going from Medicine Lodge KS to Attica KS (22 miles).  So now you know as much as I do!

All of the journey from Granada to Cheyenne Wells was along mostly straight roads with huge fields of crops on either side of the road.  Interestingly, most of the time, one of the fields had a growing crop while the one on the other side of the road was fallow.  Vicky thought it might be winter wheat.

In Cheyenne Wells we turned east, following the UP line out of Colorado and into Kansas,  The plan was to head for Oakley, KS where US40 meats I-70, and stay overnight at a truckstop.  We never made it!  The wheat fields continued, but now the verges on the side of the road were covered in green grass, a sign of more rain here. We were driving along under blue skies and sunshine, but with increasingly strong winds (not forecast when I looked yesterday!).

We're in Wallace County, KS.  We pass through the county seat of Sharon Springs (which doesn't have any) and are 43 miles short of our planned destination when we see the small town of Wallace, with a museum and a sign saying "RV Spaces".  We stop at the museum and ask about the RV spaces.  They have 4 of them, with full hookups, in a field just down the road from the museum.  They're $25 per night, which is a great price - more than the free truck stop but also with much more atmosphere.  We pay for the space and then get a conducted tour of the museum from the lady at the desk.

The US Cavalry constructed a fort here in 1865.  It was in operation only until 1882 and was build to protect against raids from the Cheyenne and Sioux.  There are no ruins of the fort - the materials were taken away, but there IS a cemetery and the museum has lots of artifacts excavated from the fort site.  These include a Guinness stout bottle which has been authenticated by the official historian of the Guinness company in Ireland.  It may have belonged to Lt. Col. Myles Keogh, and interesting character who was commandant at the fort for a brief time.

Keogh was born in Ireland and served in the Papal army of Pope Pius IX.  He was one of a number of European officers recruited as a result of Secretary of State Seward's efforts during the US Civil War, served at the Battle of Gettysburg under General John Buford and was eventually killed during Custer's Last Stand.  His horse, Comanche, was the only US survivor of that battle.

The museum also had exhibits on the history of the UP railroad.  This was apparently part of the original transcontinental route.  We learned that Fred Harvey opened his first railroad restaurant here, before leaving and working with the Santa Fe.

We were very lucky that Jayne Pearce, President of the Fort Wallace Memorial Association, was about to show her parents, visiting fro North Carolina,  through the "railroad house", and offered us the chance to join the tour.  The handsome two story limestone brick house was built in 1879 by the Union Pacific Railroad as a showcase. "The finest house on this or any other railroad".   Initially occupied by the superintendent, the house, with two large room downstairs four smaller rooms upstairs served for many years as the section foreman's home.  Later it fell into private hands and 14 children were raised in the house during the 1950's and 60's, until the Memorial Association acquired it.

The house has been restored to its original appearance, and furnished appropriately to the 19th Century, including a period stove.  We were impressed by both the airiness (all rooms have windows on two walls) and coolness (it was a hot day) of the house.  Jayne was kind enough to show me the basement - the impeccable building with limestone blocks is continued even underground - where it was even cooler (both in temperature and ambiance).  The house is not normally open to the public, but the Association is considering a number of ideas, including turning it into a Bed & Breakfast.

After our tour, the western sky was looking ominously dark so I went out and took some interesting pictures across the prairie and down the railroad track.  It's a cliché but you can see for miles around here!  I returned to the RV just as the first drops of rain were falling.  The storm, when it came, was brief but intense - heavy rain and high winds.  I was expecting to see Margaret Hamilton flying with her bicycle through the window!

Once the storm was over, we found it had cooled down the temperature considerably - it had been over 90 degrees earlier.  After dinner I took the camera around the town of Wallace - buildings mostly boarded up and I never saw a soul - and got some pictures of the sky, and shadows as the sun was going down.  I'm enjoying experimenting with the capabilities of my camera and hopefully will be able to produce some saleable photos.

There's nobody else here with an RV and not a sound, so we're looking forward to a quiet evening and a good night's sleep.  I remember commenting to someone that I was having trouble finding anything interesting to do in Kansas of Nebraska.  If this little town is anything to go by, we'll regret we didn't spend more time here and will certainly be coming back.  As Jayne, herself a transplant, put it, Kansans are modest and don't talk about their State, but there's a lot of history here.

The moth infestation is worth a mention.  Back at John Martin reservoir State Park we had the screen door closed but left the slide by the lock open.  We got a huge infestation of gnats and moths.  I turned on our bug zapper that night and the following morning there were lots of dead gnats around it. We haven't seen another one since.  The moths are another story.  We think they must sleep at night - there are usually a few by the zapper in the morning but they keep turning up in the strangest places, like when we open one of the underneath compartments.  At first I tried to be humane and pick up a moth and put it outside, but it's got to the point where I'm something of a mothicidal maniac.  Hopefully we'll get them all before they create a new generation!

Day 25 - Friday - On into Nebraska

We would have been on the road early except for the jacks.  When I tried to retract them the 2 real ones didn't retract all the way.  The usual solutions - try again, try extending them and then retracting - didn't work.  I suggested Vicky get underneath and oil them, which has worked in the past, but she didn't want to because there was mud where I have rinsed things off when disconnecting the hookups.

Eventually the right rear jack did what it was supposed to.  I pulled the RV - of course the system gave me all kinds of warnings - and then tried using the tire thumper on the offending jack - this has worked in the past.  No luck.  We figured the one jack was quite a way off the ground so we should be OK if we drove carefully.  Amid shrieks of protest from the system we drove it up onto the road and I measured the clearance.  WE consulted and figured we would be fine so we set off up the road.  After a few minutes the system gave up on us, so we could drive in peace.  we had no more problems all day.

So now we're on the road again.  The gauge for the LPG (propane) is telling us we're down to one third.  The gauge is not very helpful as it will go down to zero about the time we run out.  We're not using it for heating any more, but we do need it to run the fridge when we're driving, and Vicky is worried (and I suppose I should be too).  I check the towns on our route and find a couple of places that might be able to fill us up, but neither can.  One suggests we make a detour to the town of Colby, and eventually we do that and get filled up.  We're also able to find a grocery store there and stock up on supplies, but we've lost another hour (we already lost one by crossing from Mountain Time to Central Time).

So after lunch we get on the road and make really good time.  The 60 miles of so is exactly what we expected Kansas to be - dead flat with lots of wheat fields and grain elevators.  As we continue north towards the town of Norton, the terrain becomes more rolling and while there is still wheat, we see cattle ranching and even a sheep farm.  We're about to leave Kansas after only one day, and already I'm wishing we had more time here.  No doubt we'll be back.

It's only 11 miles north from Norton to the Nebraska State Line and we don't have a long way to go to our chosen destination.  We travel along country roads, through small towns (all called cities!) past wheat field and ranches and eventually arrive in the small town of Oxford.  Vicky has found reports of a city park here where you can park overnight free for one night, and then for $8 per night up to a total of 14 nights.  We find the park with no problem but not the RV sites, so we pull onto a large grassy area that has an electrical hookup next to it.  We plug in but there's no power, so after a brief panic as Quill is nowhere to be seen, we pull out the slideouts and prepare to settle in.  Quill appears once I disturb her with the slideout.

We go for a walk and discover there are 3 RV sites on the other side of the park, one of which is vacant.  They have (working) 50 amp power, water spigots and shade sp after some discussion of the best way to get in (and out tomorrow!) Vicky pulls the RV in.  We turn on the air conditioning since it's over 90 degrees here and we're both cranky, and   things get better.  This is a cute little town with a nice park, the evening is beautiful (if hot) and there's no sign of a storm like yesterday.

We're one more step closer to South Dakota.  Nebraska road signs have a covered wagon on them!

Day 26 - Saturday

An easy day - 162 miles of driving mostly along dead straight roads.  Didn't know the Romans came to the Great Plains!  We got up around 8 to find that the people next to us, who had put up a huge enclosed area next to their RV the previous evening, had already packed up and gone  there was one other RV there but we had never seen anyone in it.  We think it might belong to someone who works in the park.

Anyway, we hadn't put down the jacks after yesterday's fiasco, so it was easy to get out.  Just disconnect the water, sewer and electric, pull in the slides, check the car (no it's NOT in drive!) and we were on our way.  We drove through the cute little village of Oxford back into the rolling hills and then drove a short distance on NE46 to its junction with US36.  At first it was still rolling hills but lots of wheat fields and every 10 miles or so a little town with a grain elevator.  Gradually the land flattened out so it looked like Kansas again.

The town of Minden wasn't much different from any of the others except it was the place we turned north on NE10.  Once again some rolling country but a straight road.  Through the rear view mirror I saw something that looked as though it was hanging out from the rear of the RV.  I found a place to pull over and got out to investigate.  Nothing there!  I got back into the drivers seat and the thing was still there, so I asked Vicky to look at it.  She pointed out that it was the shadow of the car, probably the rear view mirror.  I guess I worry too much.

We didn't have to go too far north before we crossed I- 80.  Like the other Interstates we've come across, we chose to ignore it.  A few miles further north we hit US30, which follows the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and is - you guessed it - dead straight.  We continued to head due east.  This UP line was much busier than the one we camped at in Wallace KS.  The museum there told us that one was the original transcontinental main line, but this more northerly one is obviously in more use today.

The long trains, first one full of coal cars and then many with what looked like wheat cars, broke up the journey so that we had something to look forward to besides the inevitable grain elevator in each town we passed through.  We drove almost 70 miles along this route.  The most interesting part was driving through the city of Grand Junction.  We didn't stop, but the town, with population about 42,000, looks like a pleasant place.  Vicky has a friend who lived there at one point and says she enjoyed it.

The route the RV Trip Wizard gave us had us leaving US30 and traveling on some named straights using directions like "turn left at the Subway restaurant".  Our destination for today is on US81 just north of Columbus NE and the map showed that US30 met US81 in that town.  So we just continued along 30 until we wound 81 and headed north.  The town of Columbus appears to be a major railroad junction and also boasts a memorial to Andrew Jackson Higgins - no relation to the President but the man who invented the Higgins boat, an amphibious landing craft used daring WWII.  The memorial is apparently a life size replica of a Higgins boat but we didn't stop to investigate.

Once out of Columbus it was easy to find Highway 81 RV Park, where we planned to stay,  The don't take reservations and with it being Memorial Day weekend we decided to get there early.  On arrival before 2pm we found 2 empty spots and the reason they don't take reservations.  You just drive in, claim a spot, fill out  your details and the spot number on an envelope, enclose $20 in the envelope and that's it.

This is a good deal for a private park with full hookups (50 amp eclectic, water and sewer) so we were happy.  There's no shade and the temperature is in the 90's so we're glad for the 50 amp power that lets us use the air conditioner in the RV.  We're also right next to the highway so it could be noisy but at the moment all I can hear is the air conditioner.  The car is still hooked up - we haven't unhooked it since Pagosa Springs but check it every morning to make sure it's still in neutral before we drive off.

If it weren't so hot I would suggest unhitching and taking a trip to check out  Columbus, but in this heat neither of us wants to do that.  So Vicky's reading, the cats are sleeping and I'm writing this blog.  We both regret not having the time to investigate Kansas or Nebraska due to losing 2 weeks due to the breakdown, but, looking on the bright side, we did fill that down time with several days at Canyon de Chelly and a week in wonderful Pagosa Springs.  We'll certainly plan on coming back here in the future as there's much more to experience than I, for one, ever expected.

Checkout time here is 10am (shades of New Zealand hotels!) so we'll be on the road early (for us).  It's only 102 miles from here to cottonwood campground on the Lewis and Clark Lake, right on the border of Nebraska and South Dakota, where we have a paid reservation for 2 nights, and then  only 97 miles to Sioux Falls.  So the journey north is almost over.  since I just spend $146 filling up the RV tank for the second time in 3 days, I won't be sorry to be slowing down.  But it looks like, despite all the mishaps earlier, we'll arrive in SD on schedule (hope I haven't jinxed us with that statement!)

Vicky and I are learning to accept that things are going to happen, and we and the cats have turned into a happy traveling family.