Trip Update #3

Hello Again Friends and Family,
Looking back on the past six weeks, seems like we have seen a lot (8 states), learned a lot, and rekindled some old friendships, which was really fun and rewarding.

After making the tour of the riverside casinos in Laughlin (its just not Vegas), indulging in one last buffet, and fitting in a scenic paddle on Lake Mojave, we departed for Williams, Arizona. We decided to follow the famous U.S. Route 66 rather than traveling the interstate and it proved to be interesting from the get-go. We made a brief stop in Oatman, AZ, which is located about ½ hour east of Laughlin. Feral burros roam the streets in Oatman, which is actually only one street- old Route 66. Oatman is a small old west mining town that has morphed into a tourist stop with the usual souvenir shops. A charity group there performs a mock gunfight/comedy routine that is pretty entertaining. The burros were gorging themselves on tourist-provided carrots in exchange for a photograph. After leaving Oatman we had a long, s-l-o-w climb up a very twisty Route 66 over Sitgreaves Pass and down to Kingman on the other side. What a great drive, and a confidence builder for the truck, trailer, and driver. We continued on historic Route 66 for another 75 miles or so, passing numerous nostalgic reminders of the road we had taken. As we climbed the Mogollon Rim into Williams, it was a relief to see evergreen forests again after having spent the past 6 weeks in the desert.

We enjoyed spending 4 or 5 days in Williams, AZ, located about an hour south of the Grand Canyon. We were waiting for our mail to be forwarded and a package from Amazon to be delivered. One sidetrip included a short drive to Flagstaff to check out the downtown scene and to get Debbie a haircut. We also toured the Sinagua Indian ruins at Walnut Canyon nearby and bowled a couple of games in Flagstaff (Gary, Marty is enjoying his new bowling ball, but could use a few of your lessons). We also took an interesting side-trip to Prescott via Jerome (an old mining town carved into a moutainside) and bought Debbie a badly needed new bike- it is a Gary Fischer Capitola “comfort bike”. She loves the suspension, upright riding position, and the cushy seat…and Marty loves that Debbie is enjoying biking more. We donated her old one to the William’s Senior Citizen Center…they were very appreciative and had it sold before we walked out the door.

From Williams we headed north to an awesome campsite where we boondocked in the national forest right outside of the Grand Canyon. We had deer coming into our campsite and elk right down the road. Unfortunately there are those that have no respect for the area and we went around the surrounding area and ended up picking up a large trash bag full of bottles and garbage that was left by others. We figured we did our good deed for the day and the forest! What can we say about the Grand Canyon? It is truly spectacular, where no pictures can do it justice! We went on a hike a couple miles down the Bright Angel Trail and broke-in Debbie’s new ride on the Coconino Rim, which is part of the Arizona Trail that runs the full length of the State.

Sedona was our next stop, where we boondocked on national forest about halfway between Sedona and Cottonwood. The forest roads made for some great mountain biking, especially a sunset ride to Palatki Ruins. The red-rock country in Sedona is a beautiful place that unfortunately was never designated a national park to preserve the overall area. We made our first income as RVers there, however…$100 by getting roped into an 1-½ hour talk for a time share resort in the area…easy money! It was surprisingly low-pressure and halfway through the talk the guy giving us the spiel said, “You’re not going to buy one of these today, are you?” We said probably not, but who knows in the future. It seemed to us that the ones that benefit the most from these time shares have super flexible schedules so they can get the most of their points by traveling in the off-season. We paid a visit to Tuzigoot Nat'l Monument in Cottonwood, AZ, which is another Sinagua pueblo Indian ruins, and it's main pueblo complex seems to be especially well-preserved when compared to some of the other sites. We did not make it to nearby Montezuma Castle as it was approaching closing time, however, we hear it is similar in features to Tuzigoot (what a name!). We didn’t get the chance to explore any of the local “vortexes” (places of heightenend energy and spirituality), so this will wait till our next trip to Sedona. On our last morning in Sedona, we awoke to a beautiful and peaceful sight - half a dozen hot air balloons overhead.

We spent the next couple of days visiting Debbie’s friend Rob (son of Betty, who was the maid of honor at our wedding) in Tucson, and getting the truck squared away. Our truck was having some health problems, namely air conditioning, which has the tendency to make traveling in the desert a bit uncomfortable. Prior to our warranty running out, we had noted a problem with the AC, however, the dealership in Sacramento was unable to find the leaks (too small), recharged the system and sent us on our way. Now, we were having the same exact problem. So this time, two leaks were found and they agreed (with some persuasion) to pick up the tab. It was great to see Rob, who works for the Border Patrol in Nogales. He wowed us with a fabulous home-cooked meal and great company. Thanks Rob and please be safe protecting our borders. We spent a day at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, which is a combination of a zoo, botanical garden and museum. It was outstanding and we would recommend it as a sight to see if you are passing through the Tuscon area.

From Tucson, we headed to Las Cruces, New Mexico so that we could be a short drive from El Paso the next morning. Why you ask when we are supposed to be heading north? We are actually Texas residents now. Why you ask again? No, it’s not because we’re huge Bush fans. Being full time rv’ers without a permanent residence, we still need to establish residency somewhere for taxes, insurance purposes, etc. Texas is a RV friendly state in that it has relatively low vehicle insurance and registration fees, no state income tax, and a mail forwarding service through a club called Escapees that meets Texas’ requirements for residency. We had already registered our vehicles through the mail but still had to get our Texas driver’s licenses (we only had to pass a vision test) and a vehicle safety inspection. So, after a morning in Texas, we drove back to New Mexico, hitched up and headed north up the Rio Grande Valley.

The number of miles we travel per day on average has gone up considerably in the last couple days as we are feeling some pressure to make it to the Northland for the summer. We are really looking forward to Canada and Alaska, however, it is frustrating to know we are passing through beautiful country with a lot to see and do…life is a series of trade-offs, eh? (practicing our “Canadian slang”). We hope to spend some more time in New Mexico late next fall on our way east.

We stayed the next night in Albuquerque. It was Cinco de Mayo. We were feeling adventurous, so (at the recommendation of the RV park host) we headed down to the Old Town Plaza looking for celebration and fiestas…instead, we found a dead scene. We ended up at the restaurant where all the white people go to celebrate Cinco de Mayo…the service and food was pretty bad, we thought that half the waitresses had called in sick because of the holiday. One bloke at an adjacent table got so upset at the waitress he made her cry…so went the drama in Albuquerque.


The next morning we drove through Santa Fe en route to the mountain town of Los Alamos to visit friends Sheryl , Mike, and Connor. Sheryl used to live a couple doors down from us in Sacramento and moved to New Mexico a few years back. Mike and Sheryl pointed out where the wildfires had raged a few years ago and where residents had rebuilt their homes. For those that don’t know, Los Alamos is home of a National Laboratory and is where the atomic bomb was developed – the Manhattan project. We camped at Bandelier National Monument and had a great cookout/campfire reunion. Sheryl and Mike brought their dog “Mumbles”, whom they refer to as a “not-weiler”…he is often mistaken for a Rottweiler probably because of his big ‘ol head and coloring. Aside from nearly strangling himself around the camper, Mumbles enjoyed his first campfire cookout in the forest and a good time was had by all. Bandelier is a gorgeous canyon that was home to the Anasazi pueblo Indians centuries ago. There were several cliff dwellings that required an ascent via long ladders, which was fun. It was abandoned for reasons that are not completely known as the Anasazi left no written record.

We left Bandelier again following the Rio Grande en route to Taos. We made a brief detour to Taos Pueblo, which is the longest continually inhabited community in the United States. For $10 you got a 20-minute tour and free reign to explore the ground-level shops…taking photos was another $5 (they called it a camera fee), which we did not pay on the basis of principle. Many of the shop owners were the artisans themselves…Debbie bought a coral and sterling silver necklace that she now wears around the camper (just kidding). A couple hours later we found ourselves at one of Marty’s all-time favorite places in the world…Great Sand Dunes Nat’l Park in southern Colorado. This was Deb’s first time there…we drove a dirt-road to a trailhead and a short hike took us to Zapata Falls, which in mid May still had ice surrounding the base of the falls. The trail had stunning views looking back toward North America’s highest dunes and the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo mountains. The next day we aired down the tires on the truck and drove along the margin of the dunes on the Medano Pass 4WD road to a picnic area, where we stopped to climb around the dunes and cool-off in Medano Creek. Marty thinks he feels a heightened energy here…perhaps we spent too much time in Sedona.

After a few nights at Great Sand Dunes, we headed north up the San Luis Valley on Hwy 285, over several 10,000-foot passes (rounding to the nearest 1,000 of course) and descended into the Denver area to stay with Mark, Monique, and 2-year old Alex in Highlands Ranch. Mark and Marty were lieutenants in the same army reserve unit in Fort Collins, CO a few years back (well, maybe 9). We took a break from trailer life and stayed in their beautiful house…to sleep in a king bed, again. It was great to finally meet Alex, a.k.a. “tornado”, who was a real joy to be around…we’ll miss the “chase” sessions. Thanks for the tasty home-cooking and showing us a good time in downtown Denver. We also spent one day in Golden, which is Marty’s hometown. Marty showed off his old stompin’ grounds including the house he grew up in (he swears that front lawn has shrunk in half) and a view of Golden from Lookout Mountain.

From Denver we headed up the interstate and spent a night outside Loveland, CO at Boyd Lake State Park. We did some shopping, including fishing gear so we can start catching our dinner. After a brief detour to Fort Collins to get Marty a new CSU t-shirt, we continued north to Cheyenne, where we had dinner with Jim and Susan, friends whom Marty met while at grad school at CSU and had not seen for 9+ years…it was great to see them again and have them meet Debbie. Susan makes a mean lasagna! We could only spend one night, so the next morning we hitched up and enjoyed a drive through Wyoming grasslands and small town after small town…we were debating whether or not to go into South Dakota, but we were so close and Marty had never been there so we decided to go for it.

We spent three nights at Custer State Park in the Black Hills. We had bison right outside the campground in the early morning and again at dusk. This is another area we would like to return to someday. Mount Rushmore, Badlands and Wind Cave Nat’l Park were all very impressive. Even with the National Parks pass, admission at Rushmore was $8 to park at the concessionaire-operated parking garage. We saw a lot of bison everyplace we went…it is a treat to see these beasts out on the prairie, especially in big herds. Also, if you like caves, Black Hills is one of the premier spots to see them…both Wind Cave and Jewel Cave are among the most extensive (longest) caves in the United States…I think Mammoth Caves in Kentucky is the only one that beats them in that regard.

Our next stop was Devil’s Tower National Monument, in the northeast corner of Wyoming (part of Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed here). Devils Tower was the nation’s first national monument (thanks Teddy R.) and is celebrating their centennial mark this summer. We were lucky enough to snag a site at the Belle Fourche campground as one of the two loops was closed because the threatened black-tailed prairie dog in the adjacent meadow had expanded their colony into the campground. The park service is planning to use it as overflow parking for the large crowds they expect this summer. We really enjoyed this campground as it was situated in a grove of very old cottonwood trees on the banks of the Belle Fourche river with the backdrop of the volcanic monolith and surrounding red-rock formations. Don, an interpretive park ranger explained to us that many of the cottonwoods are dying here due to diminished flows of the river, at least in part due to Keyhole Dam upstream. Don also explained the history behind the series of concrete tetrahedrons that were put in place along a bend of the river to stabilize the bank and protect the adjacent bridge piers (thanks Don). Devils Tower is also one of the premier crack-climbing sites in the country. From the hiking loops around the tower, it is entertaining to watch the climbers ascending and descending, though the west face was closed for prairie falcon nesting. We ended up spending three days at Devils Tower, which afforded us some time to fix our TV antenna which had been inoperable since we drove away from a California campsite with it still in the up position almost three months ago. We probably would have fixed it sooner but now that we have DISH, we haven’t had to use it…we will probably be using it in Canada and Alaska as DISH won’t work much further north (satellite position too far south). We did not see any UFOs at Devil’s Tower, though Marty had a close encounter with a mama porcupine leading her baby across the campground road just after dusk one night.

We headed west in uneventful fashion with brief stops in Sheridan, WY, Little Bighorn National Monument, Hardin, Billings, Bozeman, and Helena, Montana. We are currently camped outside of Wolf Creek, MT at Holter Lake Rec Area on Memorial Day Weekend at one of the nicer BLM campgrounds we have seen. This is Lewis and Clark Country. We met a man here in the campground that was bicycling from St. Louis, Missouri to Astoria, Oregon in honor of the Corps of Discovery’s bicentennial expedition…that was impressive. Yesterday we kayaked about 5 miles of Holter Lake (the former Missouri River) that the Corps of Discovery (Lewis in particular, as Clark had ventured overland in a friendly attempt to meet up with Shoshone Indians) had paddled/poled in their boats on their westbound journey…we had a big advantage in that the river has been dammed and we were kayaking on a lake versus Lewis & Clark, who were paddling upstream. We were only a few miles from a scenic gorge called Gates of the Mountains, which we would like to see during an overnight paddling trip- there are several campgrounds on the lake that are accessible by boat only. We saw our first bald eagle of our trip here. We hear they are like pigeons up in Alaska. It has been a VERY wet Memorial Day Weekend here, and we are both hoping for drier weather up at Glacier Park, our next stop. Oh well, you take the good with the bad...at least it gave us some time to catch up with our blog.

We’re knockin’ on Canada’s door now, only a few hours drive from the border…next time you hear from us we’ll be north of the 49th parallel.
Hope all is well in your world. We would love to hear from you.