Good Friday was spent on top of the "rolling wheels" across Texas and Oklahoma. On Saturday, we made our way to Branson, Missouri. We have been here before. This is "Christian Nashville" There are at least 40 theaters that have good clean entertainment, much of it with Christian themes and many have country and western music. On Easter Sunday, we invited our neighbors in the RV park who were from Brockville, Ontario, and also on their way home from Arizona, to come to church with us. We went to Faith Life Church right in downtown Branson and had a wonderful (but long at 2 1/2 hours) service and had lunch afterward with our new friends getting to know them better. That's the beauty of RV travel - new friends are just waiting around the bend to be met.
We hope (God willing) to be in Michigan by Tuesday April 14 to visit with Mary's sister on her horse farm and spend some time with Derek who is helping out there. We expect to drive home finally to Brantford on Saturday April 18 - and see if our condo still meets with our approval after 5 1/2 months on the road. I'm sure we will feel that it is a HUGE space after so many months living in 300 sq ft!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Utah to New Mexico to Texas
Moab, Utah has an interesting phenomena. Every year in the week before Easter, off road enthusiasts congregate to drive the hills and canyons of the red rock country around town. They are everywhere! Mostly the jeeps are caked in mud - and so are the drivers. Our RV park was full of them too. They leave every morning in groups of 20 - 50 and follow a guide through various routes - the more challenging, the more fun they are. The RV right next to us even ran a "welding" business to fix things that broke during the day of fun.
On Monday, April 6, we left Moab and headed south with the TerHaars for the Four Corners area. This is the only place in the US where four states meet - Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. It's fun to see if you can get one limb in each of the states.
From here, we headed south east, going through Shiprock and Farmington, New Mexico to the Jemez Trail. Elevations are high here - 6600' - making the nights cold but the days warmed up nicely to 18 - 20C. This is an area of pinyon pines and canyons and winding roads. Many pueblos still have people living there after 500 years and follow traditional methods of cooking and speaking their native languages. We were fortunate enough to meet and elderly gentleman who grew up in the Jemez Pueblo and told us he only spoke Towa until he was a teen. The roadside park where we met him as we had lunch, has platforms for the traditional pow wows and dances that they hold in the summer.
A geological phenomena that we saw along the "trail" was Soda Dam. The area has several hot springs and one bubbled to the surface bringing heavily laden mineral waters. The water evaporated, leaving calcite and it created a dam that blocked the Jemez River. Eventually, the river bore a hole through the calcite and broke through but you can see the spring still bubbling in a small cave and the river flowing along the side. See the picture.
We spent the next day in Santa Fe - a very old city. Navajos still sell handmade turquoise jewelry and pottery on the porch of the Government House after 300 years.
From Santa Fe, we drove the "Turquoise Trail" passing through samll towns that used to boom in the gold and coal mining eras. Now they are little more that ghost towns. Eventually, we connected with I-40 heading east. In Amarillo, Texas our RV park was right next door to the Big Texan Roadhouse. They feature the 72 oz steak dinner. If you can eat the steak plus salad, potatoes, and rolls, you get it free! If you cannot do it - you pay $72. Few make it!
On Monday, April 6, we left Moab and headed south with the TerHaars for the Four Corners area. This is the only place in the US where four states meet - Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. It's fun to see if you can get one limb in each of the states.
From here, we headed south east, going through Shiprock and Farmington, New Mexico to the Jemez Trail. Elevations are high here - 6600' - making the nights cold but the days warmed up nicely to 18 - 20C. This is an area of pinyon pines and canyons and winding roads. Many pueblos still have people living there after 500 years and follow traditional methods of cooking and speaking their native languages. We were fortunate enough to meet and elderly gentleman who grew up in the Jemez Pueblo and told us he only spoke Towa until he was a teen. The roadside park where we met him as we had lunch, has platforms for the traditional pow wows and dances that they hold in the summer.
A geological phenomena that we saw along the "trail" was Soda Dam. The area has several hot springs and one bubbled to the surface bringing heavily laden mineral waters. The water evaporated, leaving calcite and it created a dam that blocked the Jemez River. Eventually, the river bore a hole through the calcite and broke through but you can see the spring still bubbling in a small cave and the river flowing along the side. See the picture.
We spent the next day in Santa Fe - a very old city. Navajos still sell handmade turquoise jewelry and pottery on the porch of the Government House after 300 years.
From Santa Fe, we drove the "Turquoise Trail" passing through samll towns that used to boom in the gold and coal mining eras. Now they are little more that ghost towns. Eventually, we connected with I-40 heading east. In Amarillo, Texas our RV park was right next door to the Big Texan Roadhouse. They feature the 72 oz steak dinner. If you can eat the steak plus salad, potatoes, and rolls, you get it free! If you cannot do it - you pay $72. Few make it!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Hiking the Fiery Furnace
The snow has pretty well gone and the sky is clear blue and we are going for a hike. The Fiery Furnace is a area deep in the Arches NP that is a maze of fins and canyons. You can only go there with a ranger as a guide, and sign up days beforehand. We met Ranger Carrie at the trailhead to begin a 3 hour hike through this confusing but spectacular area. Our hike involved some real manuevers - narrow ledges, squirming through skinny defiles in the rock, scooting between two rock walls with butt on one side and feet on the other and making your way with feet on each wall - and at the end was "Surprise Arch"! Spectacular! There were so many wonderful things to see and Carrie explained a lot of geology, biology and nature lore that we learned as well as had a good time. What a great day!!!
Tomorrow, we drive south to the Four Corners area - the only place where four states meet - Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Then we turn east and plan to explore the northwest corner of New Mexico - Santa Fe - the Jemez Trail and the Turquoise Trails. We'll take a couple of days to do this and then take I-40 east as we begin our journey home. I don't know when we will have wifi again but will continue this blog when I can
Tomorrow, we drive south to the Four Corners area - the only place where four states meet - Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Then we turn east and plan to explore the northwest corner of New Mexico - Santa Fe - the Jemez Trail and the Turquoise Trails. We'll take a couple of days to do this and then take I-40 east as we begin our journey home. I don't know when we will have wifi again but will continue this blog when I can
Saturday, April 4, 2009
A love affair grown cold ... and white!
This morning we woke up to ... SNOW! A cold front came in and 6 inches of snow softly fell overnight. Red rock does not look nearly as good with a covering of snow and dull grey skies. I made a snowman on the picnic table and later in the day we went for a drive. We returned home when another front came in and it began to snow again and the roads were not very clear. We hunkered down in the RV - warm and toasty and read books and drank tea and began to plan the next leg of our trip to New Mexico. Maybe next year, we'll give Arches a bye.
Arches National Park
Since we retired, we have come to southern Utah near the end of our winter travels. For the fourth time, we are in Moab, Utah to visit Arches National Park. We love it here - the red rock, the fascinating scenery wherever you look and the wonderful hiking and photography. The morning following our arrival, we toured the park with Gerry and Dia. It was a cloudy day but the sun peeked out occasionally. We hiked a couple of trails and signed up for a long hike with a ranger in the firey Furnace on Sunday. There are lots of people in town despite the cool temps because it is the start of Easter Jeep Week. You would not believe the number of fancy and beatup jeeps around town as they set off for trails in the canyons an slickrock around here. Most return at the ned of the day covered with red mud and dirt.
Another Merrie Yacht
On Thursday, April 2, we drove from Escalante to Moab, Utah. After driving through Capital Reef National Park, we stopped for lunch in Hanksville at a roadside turnout. After eating, we went for a short walk to get the kinks out and saw on the far corner a storage lot with lots of houseboats (Lake Powell is nearby). And what did we see .... a houseboat named the Meri Yacht! Slightly different spelling but someone else has the same idea that we have.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah
After we left Zion National Park, we drove north to Cedar City and then traveled east, bypassing Bryce NP. We have been there before so we decided to continue on through this gorgeous red rock country on Utah #12 to Kodachrome Basin State Park. A National Geographic survey team arrived here in 1949 and the members were so impressed with the red rock spires and pinnacles that they gave it this name - and I am sure that many, many Kodachrome pictures were taken over the years. We are grateful for digital images - I can take as many as I want and edit them later. The pinnacles are solidified geysers - hardened rock that over the years was covered with softer red rock - a lot like clay. This wears away with rain and wind and exposes the spires all over the park. Absolutely fascinating to see. The campground is right in the midst of all these spires. When we arrived, the wind was blowing at about 60mph - red sand stinging as it blew against us. By 5pm the snow started - it lasted about 2 hours so there was not too much accumulation but it got very cold that night - we are thankful that we have a good furnace and a generator. Vastly different weather from the Phoenix area!!
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