The sequel - November 1 Ghost town then home

 

Friday November 1  Heading home     

I got to go outside again, and then some stupid dog started looking at me.  I stared him down…

Once again, it was MY morning walk.  I get to enjoy the views while listening to my true crime podcast, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Will we be able to hook up?  Spouse works his magic.  Yes, we can hook up.  But when we get home, we will have to get this fixed proper.  Considering that we almost came home right away, we ended up having a decent trip!

We headed south on Hwy 95, then turned left through the desert to the town of Nelson.  About a mile or two past the tiny speck of a town is the old mining town.  It has a defunct gold mine and a few buildings like most ghost towns.  A couple of people do live there now maintaining the history.  For $1, you can walk around and look at the… stuff.  This is an incredible eclectic collection of… stuff.  Old RVs, a crashed airplane (I didn’t look inside!), old metal works, bottles, a phone booth and all sorts of … stuff.  It is definitely worth the visit as it is just so odd.

We met a couple that do pet sitting as a hobby.  The deal is, they do it for free, but they live in your house while you are gone.  They will use your car.  They travel all over the world doing this.  They pay their own way.  The sweet thing for them is they have a home and a car so they can explore whatever area they are in.  They showed us pictures of the home in Las Vegas…  Nice.  They are from Quebec and are obviously good with animals – cats, dogs, horses, chickens and whatever else fits the bill!

The road here goes all the way to Lake Mohave.  If we weren’t towing, I would definitely check that out.  When we use to camp at the lake, we always wondered how an occasional car we would see got to where they were.  Now we know!  Next time…

For now, home is next.

The sequel October 31

 

Thursday October 31  Biking and Tookie

My human let me out without a leash.  He sat right there so I couldn’t go far but it was fun.

Today it was MY morning walk.  We have stayed here before and I enjoy walking the bike trail overlooking the lake.  One could go for miles and miles.  But since we are going for a bike ride, no need to go to long.

From the campground, the bike trail follows the lake for a couple of miles.  The lake is very low.  They had to move the marina several years ago so that it could stay at the water edge.  The launch ramp looks like it is a million miles long!

At the visitor center, we veer left onto a dirt path.  It takes us through old railroad tunnels, ultimately taking us to the parking lot for Hoover Dam.  We lock the bikes, then venture to the dam.  Spouse wanted to do the tour, but we both had pocket knives…  alas, we were persona non grata!  I am not sure why airport type security is needed, but that’s the way it is these days. 

It is a beautiful day, temperature in the low 70’s I’d say, and sunny.  On the way back, Spouse stopped at an outhouse.  Talk about timing… no sooner does he close the door, the septic guy shows up to pump it out…  he had to wait a bit!  Spouse came out to an audience!

Once we got back, we cleaned up and headed to Tookie’s house.  Tookie (her real name is Deloris) and I worked together starting in the late 1970’s.  We hated each other at first, but somehow we morphed into forever friends.  She is almost 90 now but still has her marbles!  She has been living in Henderson for about 20 years now, so we try to visit when we come this way.

The Sequel October 30 The Skywalk and the DODGERS!

 

Wednesday October 30, The Skywalk

My maternal human puts something in her paws and splashes water on her muzzle.  The water goes in a hole.  I like to jump up when she does this.  I chase the water down the hole.

Today, we are doing the Skywalk.  We thought of doing it via helicopter.  But they told us we only get 2 hours if we go by helicopter and that might not be enough time.  We could do a small plane, but that didn’t seem as fun.  So we drove the 100 miles.  Starting down hwy 95, then we turn into the desert for about 50 files.  We go past a little town, turn on another road.  Here we pass through an enormous Joshua Tree forest.  Joshua trees are so unique.  They all have a story to tell with their twisted little arms.  We would have never seen this from the air.

We arrived around 10 am.  Shuttle buses take folks to the skywalk, and to Guano Point for exploring.  As we approach the Skywalk, it doesn’t look real impressive.  I am not sure what I expected but it seemed small… from this angle.  We enter the building.  A line weaves around but it isn’t too long.  It maybe took 30 minutes.  All your belongings go into a locker – no cameras – except for the paparazzi on the skywalk that will take your picture, for a fee.  For us, we didn’t want pictures, we had to navigate around all the paparazzi antics with people posing on the glass, jumping, making faces…  etc. You must wear little booties on your feet to protect the glass.  Along the edges, the glass is frosted, but in the middle, the view is clear… 4000 feet down.  Birds are flying 1000 feet below you.  I found myself grabbing the railing a couple of times.  It was definitely a show!  We walked it one way, then doubled back to enjoy it again.

Then onto the bus to Guano Point.  Here, there once was a guano mine.  A cable car carried stuff across the river and back, until a small airplane crashed into the cable and ruined it for everyone!  Lots of trails around and rocks to climb with unobstructed views of the West Grand Canyon.  No railings…  watch your step…  you’ve been warned…

We ended up spending almost 4 hours here.  A helicopter would not have worked.  And we would have been stressing about time with the airplane so it worked out that we drove.

Then we headed to the Elks for the ballgame…  Oh what a game… Dodgers win the World Series!  Oh yes!

The Sequel October 29, Lake Mead Bound

 

Tuesday, October 29 Let’s go to Lake Mead

Human…  Human… are you awake?  Helllo????  Are you awake?  Puurrrrr… 

It is a cold morning, threatening rain.  Our walk took us past the golf course and through a neighborhood.  The Elks is on a hill overlooking the golf course.  If you don’t want electricity, you can perch yourself on the hill with a great view.

Since Spouse felt we could disconnect, we considered doing a bike ride in Zion, but it was cold, and looking in that direction, definitely threatening rain.  Ok, maybe we can head towards Lake Mead.

We start on I15, but then cut over to take the back road around the lake.  We go past the Valley of Fire and head to the Elks in Boulder City… but the Inn was full so we headed to the campground at Lake Mead.  We fought with their reservation system but got a site for 3 nights… so we thought…  We really only had it for two nights but they let us stay.  Seems we aren’t the only ones that fell into this trap.  To book 3 days, you actually have to enter 4 days… can’t anything be easy?

We set up, held our breath and disconnected.  Seems to be holding… I gotta watch the ballgame… we headed to a restaurant and they had a TV, but it kept cutting out as they didn’t pay the bill.  So we headed to the Elks.

The Sequel October 28 Can we Connect?

 

Monday October 28, Can we connect?

My humans let me walk all over today.  I even went potty outside.  That is special.

We started our morning walk.  We didn’t get far when we started to feel raindrops.  Hmm…. Will we be able to connect?  We really had to lower the landing legs to stay in this spot comfortably.  Was it a mistake?????  We rushed back to Artee and worked to connect. 

I hate hearing when the leveling gear beeps.  That is NEVER good.  Beep… oh shit… beep… oh shit…  We were finally able to get into position and connect, and we sure felt lucky!  If we couldn’t get it done, it would have been one expensive endeavor to get a tow service to help since we were technically off the road. 

We rewarded our success with a breakfast at the local lodge.  I think the lodge and the gas station are the only businesses in Jacob Lake.  And the lodge had fresh cookies… Gotta love that!

We then braved the wind, and headed to the Elks in St. George, Utah.  We were able to stay connected.  Spouse did some things to improve our success at disconnecting then reconnecting.  Hmmm… we shall see…  I was hoping to be able to watch the ballgame, but our TV antenna got eaten by some tree.  We had to go inside the Elks and eat, and drink and watch.  We suffered terribly…

The Sequel October 27 The North Rim

 

Sunday, October 27  The North Rim

Meowt!  Meowt!  Smells good!

Our morning walk was along the dirt road with our bright orange bicycle vests on.  I know we are in the ‘no shooting zone’ but no sense in taking chances.  I love walking through forests like this.

After breakfast, we headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We pass a huge burn scar, then come upon a huge meadow surrounded by pine trees.  Not just the lodgepole pines and such from the south rim, but Christmas trees!  Douglas firs and Noble firs mixed with bright yellow aspens follow the road all the way.  One would normally expect to see wildlife… but not with hunting season in progress!  It has snowed recently as there is a thick layer along the tree line.  Otherwise, it is dry.

Once we pass into the Grand Canyon, the road is not so nice.  We found the campground.  I have looked at the website and thought of booking a site supposedly suitable for our size.  NO WAY!  The sites may be big enough, but there is no room to maneuver.  And just because a site is long enough, it does not mean you would be open your sliders.  Good thing we made this a day trip!

Technically, the park is closed, so no visitor center, no hotels, restaurants, etc.  But the views are totally open!  Fall colors enhance the views.  Oh my… it is beautiful.  We hike here… we hike there…  We went to the North Kaibab trail.  This connects to the South Kaibab trail for those hiking rim to rim…  7 miles down to the river, 7 miles up from the river, then you come back.  It is about 1 pm, and we talked to many that were completing the entire trip. 

Since my surgically repaired knee is still healing, I figured I could do about ½ mile without doing harm.  The trail on this side of the canyon is far more forested.  It is a soft dirt trail, and of course, steep.  Easy loping down, lots of work coming back up.  Stunning views with gorgeous fall colors are intoxicating.

Once back, we explored a couple of the areas by car.  We ended up at Imperial Point.  At 8803 feet, it is the highest point for viewing.  Alas, time to leave this spectacular scenery behind and head back.

At Artee, I had enough service where I could keep tabs on the Dodgers on MLB.Com…  And watch the replay of Freddie Freeman’s game winning grand slam home run!  Yes..

The Sequel October 26 Jacob Lake

 

Saturday, October 26 Let’s go to Jacob Lake

My human took me to a big dirt area with plants.  I got to roll and I got to sniff plants. Shh… I ate a little of one of the plants.  But I didn’t throw up!

We did our walk exploring the East View area.  Lots of views of the Grand Canyon.  There are faucets with spring water for you to refill your water containers.  It is a nice area, and it is not nearly as busy as other parts of the park.

We leave out the east to the town of Cameron.  I believe this is hwy 89.  We turn north.  We then take the road that goes to Jacob Lake.  Maybe that is 89, I don’t have a map in front of me.  I guess you just have to believe me!  This is a lonely two lane highway that takes us across reservation land.  We are basically in the middle of nowhere!

We come upon a bridge across the river.  We pull over and actually find a spot we could park in this small lot.  We hike across the bridge which offers some stellar views of the river. 

Back on the road, it becomes a bit windy through piney woods.  We ultimately arrive at the Jacob Lake RV park only to find it closed for the season.  Hmm… we see another sign for RV camping, so we follow the signs down a dirt road…  closed for the season.  Gee thanks…  If you were not going to post signs that it was closed, you could at least have a spot where we could turn around!  Well, we have no choice but to continue down the dirt road.  Soon, we see a couple of other rigs parked in the forest.  We see a clearing with a fire ring.  Maybe we can stay there?  It isn’t easy, but we are able to make the turn (unbeknownst to us… the trees ate our TV antenna).  We tried to position ourselves, but it was just not level enough for our taste.  We saw a spot early on when we turned on the road, so we headed back.  We pass a sign that says ‘no shooting for the next mile’.  I guess that’s a good thing for us!  When we got to the spot, there was a truck, but they were only there for lunch so the spot was ours.  We positioned ourselves, then…  can we disconnect…  we did disconnect, but I am not sure we should have.  But alas…  It is the first weekend of deer season.  At least we are in the ‘no shooting’ zone!

Pine trees tower above us and we have a nice fire ring.  This is perfect!