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!

The sequel October 25 -

Friday October 25  The Grand Canyon on a Weekend?  Really?

My humans let me walk outside, but my paws got wet.  I wanted to roll but changed my mind.

Our morning walk was down the dirt road, up other dirt roads, around the forest and back.  The campers we saw back there yesterday are gone.  It was only 30 degrees when we woke up! 

After breakfast, we headed up 180 to the road that would take us to the Grand Canyon.  I, personally, think heading there on a Friday is a waste of time.  Last year, we were here about one week later, and the campground was almost empty, and we had no problem getting an RV site.  But as we got near… based on the traffic we saw, we figured this wasn’t going to happen, and we were right.  So when life deals a lemon, make lemonade!  We headed to the East View at the east exit.  There was room to park, beautiful views, ice cream… what else does one need?  At night, we were all alone and it was DARK!  What a night sky!  Absolutely amazing.

MMMM, this lemonade was quite fine!

The Sequel October 24 Biking

 

Thursday, October 24  Nice bike trail

Humans, can I go outside?  MEOWT!

We readied the bikes and headed to the trail we found yesterday.  The canal apparently runs for miles, accompanied by power lines.  On one side of the canal is the paved bike trail.  On the other side is a dirt walking trail.  There are people enjoying both sides, but it isn’t crowded. 

The trail winds around, goes through a tunnel and past the botanical gardens.  We cross into Tempe.  We pedal around a local park with a lake with a few fishermen out enjoying themselves.  It really is very pretty.  We go roughly 5 miles in this direction, then doubled back, past our starting point for about another mile, past homes and neighborhoods.  This was such a pleasant surprise, but time to end it and hit the road.

Back at Artee, we were able to hook up, so we figured we don’t need to come home, yet…

We decide to head up to Flagstaff, up I17.  Then we decided to try going up hwy 180 towards the grand canyon.  This was kind of iffy, as it is high altitude passing ski areas.  Should we be towing?  We looked at some online chats and decided it was worth a try.  This is exactly why we don’t make reservations.  We rarely know what we want to do and where we want to go.

The ride up I17 is pretty.  Picking up 180 in Flagstaff is a bit tricky.  Oh, no way we can turn that corner while we are towing.  We could be towing a VW beetle, and wouldn’t be able to make the turn.  We figured out how to get on the highway and soldiered on.  It is a nice, easy highway through high elevation and lots of pines.  You can tell it rained recently as the dirt roads are quite wet.  We would love to explore some, but not in these conditions.  We did find a nice spot where we could turn out for the night.  We turned our chairs around to face a beautiful snow capped mountain.  Yes…

Our turnout is at the head of a dirt road.  The fragile gate is closed, but you can easily open it as long as you don’t mind wading through water.  We can navigate walking, but NO WAY would I risk taking the rig back there.  We walked down the dirt road in this crisp air.  We stumbled on folks in their rigs back here.  Brave in my book!  Great for walking tho.

The sequel October 23

 

Wednesday, October 23 Look what I found!

My humans keep poking me.  I don’t like that.

Our morning walk took us around the neighborhood.  At the end of the street, we found a really nice bike trail!  There is a canal, and walking trails.  Oh, yeah, we will do this before we leave.

Rudy’s diabetes has been acting up.  We are constantly sticking him, and he is so tolerant.  What a great cat.

I really can’t remember what we did this day.  I might have confused yesterday with today, but the gist is we found a bike trail… 

And, we got one more night of volleyball hell.

The sequel October 22 Is it fixed yet? The sequel to the sequel

 

Tuesday, October 22  Is it fixed yet?  Another sequel…

I like this place.  I don’t smell any predators.  My humans took me for a good walk.  I even got to go in a tree.  Yep, I like it here.

Our morning walk took us around a sports complex.  There is an archery range, looks like a baseball field and more.  It is a nice walk on open land with views of the rocky crags.  This is part of Papago Park.  There is a botanical garden I would like to see in the spring with the desert blooms.  It is a pretty area.

Back at Artee, we got it ready and hopped back on the freeway to the RV repair.  Welding, pounding, tapping…  testing…  Ok, good to go.  We decided we better head back to the Elks, just in case.

We held our breath, but we were able to disconnect.  Did we trust it?  Not really, but it seemed ok for now, so let’s go play.  We headed over to an RV dealer that handles Outdoor RV.  We are thinking of downsizing, but only if we can find a smaller rig that is of good quality.  Turns out, Outdoor RV is made by Arctic Fox, just like Artee.  We are looking at a bumper pull trailer, instead of a 5^th wheel.  As much as we love Artee, she is big.  She is wide.  She is tall.  A bumper pull trailer would not tow as nicely as Artee, but given our propensity to drive through the forests and campgrounds where the overhead is low, it would probably be a little better for us.  We did see a couple of workable models, and filed that in our little brains for now.

We then headed over to Usery Park.  It is a county park with great RV spaces.  But… it is in the desert.  There are lots of hiking trails.  It is not hot, but it is too warm to start the trails for us today.  Definitely a November through March place.  Although since many baseball spring training camps practice there, we were told those months for next year are already booked.

We then got to listen to volleyball antics once again…

The sequel Oct 21 - Is it Fixed?

 

Monday October 21  Is it Fixed???

Human?  Are you awake?  My bowl is not full.  Let me sniff you.  My purrbox is on loud.  Human?

Spouse found someone who could fix Artee.  We took our morning walk, then said our goodbyes to Lynn and family and hopped on the freeway.  We no longer trust our usual GPS so we have our phone.  Phoenix freeways are busy…  way busy, but we found the spot.

After about 2 hours, we were good to go.  Since we weren’t sure if this fix would hold, we decided to go to the Elks in Scottsdale.  The Elks are very accommodating to their members.  If we could not disconnect, not only would they be ok, we could go inside and have a drink!

We pick our spot and then take the plunge… we unhook…  oops!  Oh, that is not holding at all.  How are we going to get it high enough to hook up again?   I told Spouse to go fuel up while he was not connected then we would see what we could do.  When he returned, he got out jacks and started jacking Artee up.  This one there, and that one here.  Spouse is struggling.  Why he didn’t call AAA since we have RV coverage is beyond me.  I guess that would have been too easy!  We finally got Artee positioned to try and hook up.  It took a couple of tries but we got it.

Spouse then called the repair guys and let them know to expect us tomorrow. 

At least we can now open the sliders and enjoy ourselves.  Kind of….  Right outside are volleyball courts…  Until about 10 PM, some type of tournament was happening.  The screams and yelling of the peeps was not annoying, but the music was pretty painful.

The sequel October 19

 

The weekend of October 19   So Long Jake    

My human let me walk outside.  I got to roll.  OOOH that feels good!

Our morning walk is through the desert.  Just a block away are all sorts of trails through the saguaros, past the chollas and over those beautiful rocks.  Oops, a few of those rocks jumped into my waistpack.  Shhhh… The weather is cool so this is a truly nice adventure.

This weekend is all about Jake and Lynn.  Jake passed away in July after what turned out to be a 2 year battle with cancer.  Jake’s son and daughter-in-law have been staying with Lynn, and a bazillion friends came to pay respects, including every neighbor within a mile from their house!  The celebration started at a nearby Mexican restaurant, and ended at Lynn’s. 

We visited, played cards, and I watched some of the Dodgers playoff, but people were more interested in Football.  Go figure…

On Monday, we need to see if we can get Artee fixed.  So, we either soldier on, or, we head home… what will it be…

The sequel 10/18 What was that?

 

Friday October 18  What was that???

There are other felines here.  I want to go outside but I don’t think they will like me in their territory.  I must be careful and stick close to my human.

It is pretty windy this morning.  My morning walk is now ‘our’ morning walk as Spouse joins me.  In these hellacious winds, we head down the street and turn left on the dirt road to walk along the river…  with the dust blowing… and the tumbleweeds flying…  Did I mention the dirt flying?  And we are going to drive in this?  Towing?  Ought to be fun…

We headed back to Artee.  We did not disconnect so we were ready to go.  In the truck we go… then…  SPOILER ALERT!  What happened next pretty much paved the way for our trip…

As we pull away, we hear, and feel a thud.  Spouse looks at me and asks ‘What was that?’.  I know this is hard to believe but I calmly gave the most profound answer…  ‘Why don’t you get out of the truck and check it out?’  Right?  Sheesh…

Then I heard the ‘oh shit’.  Ok. I gotta see this…  Although we did not disconnect from the truck, Spouse put down Artee’s landing legs up front for more stability. Normally, he puts them on these bright yellow chalks, but since we were on grass, he didn’t do that.  And, he forgot to raise them… one was ok, but the other… not so.  This means, we would not be able to disconnect! 

We made a few calls to RV repairs in Quartzsite, but nothing was going to happen today and we had to get to Lynn’s for the services.  Spouse did some magic and got the leg up so we could drive.  Once we get to Lynn’s, we do not have to disconnect as we stay in front of her house.  So this is what we do…

2024 The Sequel

 

The Sequel…   

On October 19, we had a celebration of life for our dear friend Jake, in Phoenix.  So we figured we would do a bit of a road trip while we were there.  I forgot our laptop, so I could not blog.  Sooooo, I tried to remember stuff so I could, at some time, post the adventures at some time.  And yes…  there are stories to tell!

I won’t be too precise on dates and such, but I will get a few things out there starting with our departure on 10/18.

Not a whole lot to say about travelling the I10 freeway.  As it gets closer to the state line, it gets bumpy.  Wow!  What a revelation!

We stayed at an RV park on the Colorado River.  We have stayed here before.

Spoiler alert…  this was our easiest day…