Arizona

We left Boulder City on Saturday, 9/28 and headed for Arizona to visit with Bob’s brother Jim and his wife, Alice.  Bob’s cousin Dennis and his wife Elaine (who live near Vegas) drove down as well.  

We passed Lake Mead on the way:

Jim and Alice have been living in the western US since the 70’s and we have seen very little of them over the years.  They live “off the grid” about 30 miles east of Kingman, Arizona.  You get off of Interstate 40 and meet them in a field off the highway so that you can follow them in via 7 miles of rough, twisting, steep dirt roads.  

Jim and Alice live on a ranch where they have all kinds of animals, many rescued -- burros, peacocks, parrots, chickens, dogs, cats, and a desert tortoise to name a few.  They use solar panels and a generator for electricity and are pretty independent.  When it rains hard or snows, they may be confined on their ranch for a week or more but they are prepared for that and are fine.

We had decided to tow our camper up to the ranch, despite some trepidation about the rough ride and steep hills.  Jim led us through the “easy” route, which was longer but didn’t have hills that were quite so steep. There were cows, horses, etc, just roaming loose to add to the excitement.  It still was nerve-wracking getting up there but, by going very slowly (except for the uphills which we had to charge up) we managed to get the camper there with no major damage.  

Dennis and Elaine went the “hard” way and got stuck on one of the hills on their way – and they have 4 wheel drive!

In any case, we all made it to the house and the partying began.  We had a great time – enjoyed seeing the animals:

After lunch, we did some target shooting.  This was my first time shooting a gun – I hit the target on my first shot (beginners’ luck)!  Dennis cracked us up, with paper towels stuck in his ears, pretending to shoot over his shoulder and asking the guys to hit the target shooting between his legs:

The girls quickly tired of guns and went on to some serious wine drinking.  

Poppy enjoyed being here – she was interested in all the animals and liked being able to walk around without being on a leash.  Watch this video of her with one of the 9 cats living in the house:

That is patience!

Dinner preparation was a joint effort...

and we sat on the deck and ate, told stories and laughed.  We stayed out there until after dark. It got pretty cold (in the 30’s) and we snuggled up in blankets and Jim built a fire in their firepit to help us stay warm.

The dog on my lap is named Mighty Mouse.  He is a charmer.

We stayed two nights at Jim and Alice's and spent a lot of time looking at old pictures and reminiscing, but on Monday morning we had to leave.   Had a fantastic time there!

 We were pretty nervous about hauling the camper out over those roads.  We decided to go the “hard” but shorter way.  Jim led us in his 4 wheel drive truck.  In spite of trying to go slow, the roads really shook up the camper and twice our truck was unable to make it up a steep hill and Jim had to hitch his truck to ours and tow us up the rest of the way.

 We finally made it out to the parking area.  When I opened the door to the camper, there was stuff all over the floors.  Keep in mind that I lived on a sailboat for many years and knew how to stow to go to sea in rough weather – this was worse than that!  Luckily, nothing was broken and no harm was done.  I quickly picked up the stuff and got it put away, we said good-bye to Jim and Alice and headed east.

We were heading for the Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “Shay”) – a canyon in northeastern Arizona that someone had told Bob about but he can’t remember who (it’s hell getting old).  In any case we couldn't quite make it there in one day, so we stopped for the night in Tuba City, Arizona at an RV park owned by a Quality Inn.  The park was behind the hotel. We liked this town and campground so much that we ended up staying two nights so we could see the sights.  Tuba City is on Navajo land and almost all the people we met in stores, gas stations, museums and the campground were Navajo.  They were friendly and helpful and we really enjoyed our time here.  Our next door neighbor at the campground had reservations at the Grand Canyon for the next day but the government shut-down started that day and he was out of luck.  We were luckier – Canyon de Chelly is a national monument but it is owned by the Navajo’s and they do the tours and they were still operating.

Right next to the hotel was a Navajo museum 

and we visited that as well as the Code  Talkers museum.  The Code Talkers were Navajos that were recruited into the Marines during World War II to pass information on the radio in their native language.  The Japanese could never crack "the code".  There have been movies and documentaries made about them.  Both museums were really interesting.

I have to mention that we were totally time confused at this point.  When we went from Nevada to Arizona, we went from Pacific to Mountain time.  But Arizona doesn’t use Daylight Savings Time so the actual time stayed the same.  The Navajos, however, do use Daylight Savings time so when we went into Tuba City, we lost an hour.  We kept changing our watches trying to stay with the local time but Poppy had the worst of it.  She believes she has to eat every 12 hours on the dot and got pretty indignant when we didn’t want to get up at 5 AM to feed her.

On Wednesday, we left Tuba City and headed for Chinle, AZ which is the town where the Canyon de Chelly begins.   The Visitors Center for the Canyon was closed because of the government shutdown so we couldn’t get any flyers or maps about the Canyon but the overlooks were all open.  We had read about it online so pretty much knew what we were doing.  You can drive along both sides of the canyon and visit the overlooks – some are right beside the road and others involve a short hike.  To go down into the canyon, you must hire a Navajo guide.  There are many to choose from – we had read about many online and booked a tour for Thursday morning.

We had made reservations at Spider Rock campground on the south rim road and we went there first and set up.  We were kind of disappointed in the place – one of our few poor choices of the trip.  It was run down and poorly maintained.  We had no hookups (which we knew ahead of time) but the water fill, showers and wifi that had been advertised on their website didn't really pan out.  It didn't matter too much because we were there to see the canyon.

That afternoon, we set out to visit all the overlooks on the South Rim.  The canyon was just spectacularly beautiful.  With our binoculars and zoom on our camera, we could see some of the Anasazi ruins that we would be seeing up close tomorrow on our tour.  There were local Navajo artists at all the overlooks, selling their artwork and we bought a few souvenirs.  Here are some pictures from the overlooks:

Our last stop was Spider Rock Overlook – the two tall towers of rock in this picture are Spider Rock. 

We met a young man named Ben at Spider Rock who was there visiting the local high schools, recruiting for a college.  He stood on the wall to take a panoramic picture with a 900 foot drop in front of him. Scared me to death but I had to take his picture.

Ben sent me one of the panoramic picture he took of Spider Rock with his iPhone.

The next morning it was 37 degrees when we got up.  We dressed in layers and went to meet our Navajo guide in Chinle – knowing it would warm up as the day went on.    Our guide was Ben Teller, a wonderful man in his 70’s who had been born and raised in the Canyon and still lives there.  Many Navajos still live in the canyon and make their living either being guides for tourists or raising sheep or cattle.  We squeezed into the jeep with another couple and headed out for the canyon floor.   The canyon floor was rough but we went slowly – there weren't really roads -- everyone just drove where they wanted to go.  Ben was a great guide – he told us lots of stories about the history of the canyon and his childhood there.  He started giving tours in the 40’s with a horse and wagon.  He also told us the terrible stories about the atrocities perpetrated on the Navajos by the US Army, led by Kit Carson, during the 1860’s.

We saw many different Anasazi ruins.  The two pictures below are just one example -- from a distance and up close.  You can get an idea from the distant shot how high they are in the cliffs.

The name Anasazi, according to Ben, means “ancient ones”.  No one really knows who built these ruins but they know a lot about their culture from all the relics and bones that were left there.   It’s believed that the Anasazis lived in the canyon roughly from 900 to 1400 AD.  They were followed by the Pueblos and Hopis who then moved on to different areas and the Navajos moved in and stayed.  The Canyon was made a National Park in 1931 to prevent people from stealing the artifacts from the ruins.  Near the ruins there are often pictographs drawn on the walls.  Archaeologists don’t know exactly what they mean but they are obviously a form of communication.

These are some examples of pictographs we saw:

Toward the end of the tour, Ben took us to his home near the Antelope Ruins – the only ruins that are at ground level.  The last pictograph above is from these ruins and you can see why they are called the "Antelope Ruins".

Ben has a little concession going on there that is used by all the tour guides.  His children and grandchildren sell snacks and drinks as well as Navajo pottery and jewelry.  

Bob took this picture from Ben's place out into the canyon.  He was impressed by the American flag flying in spite of the difficult history of the Navajos with the US Government and Ben's personal knowledge of that history.  

We slowly headed back to Chinle, stopping to see a few more interesting sites on our way back through the canyon.  Ben never made us feel rushed.  We could take our time shooting as many pictures as we wanted everywhere we stopped.  Bob and I took 125 pictures on the tour – it was really hard picking a few to post in the blog!  We were so glad we had decided to do the tour of the Canyon.

During the last part of the tour it was getting really windy and when we got back to our campground, the wind was really howling.  It was too hot to close our windows and the red dust blew through the screens and coated everything in the camper, including us.  No showers at the campground and not enough water to take showers in the camper.  Luckily we were moving on the next morning.

Heading East!

So… now we are heading east.  We left El Capitan State Park, north of Santa Barbara on September 23^rd and started our eastward (homeward) trek.  On that day, we were heading for Lake Isabella which is near the Sequoia National Park.  After staying at state campgrounds, I needed one with all the “amenities”, hookups, wifi and especially a laundry.  Lake Isabella KOA fit the bill.  We usually avoid KOA’s because they tend to be more expensive than other campgrounds in the same area but this was the only campground in the area that was not “primitive” so we headed for it.  We passed through miles of orange groves with the oranges ripening on the trees.  The Sierra Madre mountains were in the distance and soon we were crossing them.

As we approached Lake Isabella, we noticed that like Lake San Antonio, this lake was very low.  We talked to locals about it and they said they had never seen the lake so low.  It was too shallow to canoe in.  The campground, however, was lovely and we set up the R-dome and got busy doing a lot of maintenance like laundry, defrosting the refrigerator, cleaning, etc. 

  One of the nice things about this campground was that they had a pool and a pub.  We didn't use the pool but we enjoyed having an evening beer/wine at the pub.  One thing we noticed here was that there were several “rental” campers here.  It seems that many Europeans come to the West Coast and rent a camper to tour the western US.  The bartender told us the Europeans are amazed at the long distances without any towns – very different from Europe.  We talked to a couple from Holland who were touring in a rented RV with their two small children. They talked about how Europeans have much more vacation time than Americans.

The next day we decided to see the Sequoia National Forest which was about 1 ½ hours away.  We hadn't planned on touring that since we were kind of focused on getting the RV straightened up but Bob talked to the bartender at the pub while he was watching Monday night football and she insisted that we needed to see it.  So on Tuesday morning, we quickly finished our maintenance tasks and then set out, with Poppy, to see the sequoias.  As we drove, it was interesting how the terrain suddenly changed from sparse and desert-like...

To green with lots of trees...

We were headed for the “Trail of 100 Giants” and the road to reach it was twisted, steep and very beautiful.  By then we were used to those kind of roads. 

  We stopped at a little store on the way up and got some sandwiches and when we reached the Sequoia National Park (this was before the government shut-down), we parked and headed for a picnic table with our sandwiches and a beer.  The weather was perfect, sunny but breezy, so it didn’t feel too hot.  After lunch, we started walking the Sequoia trail.  The trees were magnificent – pictures can’t really do them justice.  I was really glad we had decided to come up here. 

These are the roots of an upended sequoia:

When we got back to our truck, we saw a car with a Google StreetView logo on it.  There was a young man there, donning a large camera pack and planning to head into the Trail to photograph it for Street View.  We talked to him for a bit and got some pictures.  

On the way home, we stopped at a place on the Kearn River and let Poppy swim a little.  I was a little afraid she would get swept downriver by the current but she did fine and had a great time.

On Wednesday, we left Lake Isabella and headed west for Death Valley.  Bob had wanted to spend a night in Death Valley but when we did some internet research on the campgrounds in the area, we decided not to stay there but to head on through into Nevada.  Driving through Death Valley was really interesting.  We were being really careful about gas and topped off our tank whenever we passed a gas station because they were few and far between.  As we approached Death Valley, we started seeing lots of Joshua trees.

We ascended to over 7,000 feet, then we started descending. 

  When we reached sea level, we saw the Stovepipe Creek campground where we had thought of staying – it was nothing more than a big cement parking lot with no hookups (i.e. no air conditioning or shade).  Since it was very hot, we were very glad we weren't planning to stay there.  We did stop at a rest area nearby.  You can see that it is truly desert!  Poppy was having a hard time peeing on gravel.  She is used to grass but there wasn't any to be found.

We then continued descending to -275 feet at the lowest point and the outside thermometer in our truck read 95 degrees.  

The terrain was very beautiful, in a stark, desert-like way.  One of the things that has really fascinated us on this trip is how many different types of terrains there are in this country that are amazingly beautiful. 

Soon we were crossing into Nevada.  Bob’s cousin had told us about a campground in Pahrump, NV that was located at a winery and was very inexpensive.  We headed there and were very pleasantly surprised to find that it was only $20 per night, had full hook-ups, laundry, a POOL and a HOT TUB.  It also had an RV wash station which we sorely needed.  To add to the fun, the winery was right there and offered free tours and wine tastings.  What a treat!

We arrived there about 1:00 PM, got set up and went for a swim in the pool and a soak in the hot tub. J  Then we went for a tour of the winery which was fascinating.  We started in the vineyards, talking about the different types of grapes

 and then moved on to the room where the grapes were fermented, pressed and stored in oak casks.  

Our tour guide described the wine-making process in detail.  Then we tasted seven wines and, of course, bought some (that’s why the campground is so cheap).  In the evening, we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and had a great meal.

The next day we headed to Boulder City, just outside of Las Vegas.  We were planning to visit with Bob’s cousins (and our good friends), Dennis and Elaine Gruenberg as well as my friend Liz, who grew up next door to me in Long Island, was my childhood playmate, clubbing buddy in my early college years and the maid of honor at my wedding. 

We stayed at a campground in Boulder City and, after getting set up, went to Henderson, NV to visit with Dennis and Elaine.  We had a great time catching up with them and visiting with their grandkids.  Then we all went back to Boulder City, visited some more at our camper and went downtown for a great dinner. Boulder City is a neat little town with great restaurants and shops.

The next day, my friend Liz (actually she is OUR friend since Bob dated her before he dated me!) came by to visit.  She has been in the western US since she traveled to Colorado Springs with me in 1968 after Bob and I were married.  Bob was stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, preparing to go to Viet Nam.  Liz (she was Betty back then) was ready to get out of Long Island and accompanied me in my VW bug with “Pikes Peak or Bust” written on the back of it.  The bumper sticker says, "McCarthy for President" (I wonder how that worked out??)

We had no car radio – just a battery operated record player but the only album that we had that we both liked was the Mommas and the Poppas, so we listened to them all the way across the US.  I went home to New York after Bob shipped out for Viet Nam, but Liz stayed out there and has been in Vegas for many years.  Anyway, we had a great time reminiscing with her and then we all went to downtown Boulder City again and had another great dinner at a sidewalk café. We walked around the town for a while and then Liz drove us down to see Lake Mead which is just outside of Boulder City.  It was really great to see her.

The next day, Saturday, September 28^th, we headed for Arizona to see Bob’s brother Jim and his wife Alice.  More about that in the next post.