San Diego! November 28-Dec.5

I cannot believe I haven't caught up in so long but it appears to be true. Mea Culpa. 

 I posted on  Facebook and Instagram but those are only blurbs so I will try to reconstruct what happened after leaving Utah. Even my written journal has taken a plunge. Road weary? perhaps. or distraction. 
 Coming into Needles, NV I began to get a picture of how exuberant the RV world was. There was no propane to be had in three tries so... I carried on. Lots of trailers were returning from their holiday week and there was more traffic than I had had in some time. Thank goodness once again for Google Maps.
 The road was flat and gray desert. I couldn't help but wonder how much nicer it would have been to see the desert in the spring. Perhaps someday.
 I had intended to stop in the campground at Joshua Tree National Park. Surprise, surprise, there was no room. Fine! I will get a nice hotel and sit in the desert sun. Three hotels later I found either they did not accept dogs or were full. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? I located a Motel 6 and they let dogs stay free. Pretty basic but Gina thought the smells around the area were grand. Perhaps rodents? I don't know, don't
care.  It was clean enough.
The following day saw a bit of a respite as I meandered a back way through some lovely valleys, seeing small farms, glider schools, a pie company(!) of course I stopped and picked up a pie, and other bucolic scenes.

 I came into my San Diego cousins' development. There was a bedroom for Gina and I, a place to park, neighborhood dogs to sniff and a very hospitable cousin to spend good time with. Actually two cousins, Sophie and Sherry Braheny from my mother's sister and quality cousins at that! I was spoiled and taken hither and thither. They scouted out a dog beach which Gina enjoyed. I got my toes painted for the holidays, went to a holiday parade at charming Ocean Beach. 

They had a picnic for me one day overlooking the ocean. You know, it's a nice way to spend winter....

Because Sophie is a grandmother I also got to spend some very enjoyable time with those grandkids and had a nice chat -or several with Sophie's daughter, Elise. We walked the pier, went to a farmer's market. Gina behaved admirably with the crowd there, mostly because others had brought their interesting dogs!

 It was a good visit. I got to see San Diego and was impressed with the waterside parks, the sense of culture, the quality of life. We went from the waterfront to the skyview in a lovely bar overlooking the city and topped that day with a good dinner.

We had brunch with friends one day and took a walk

by the stately and grandly decorated Claremont hotel. The following day they again took me to see the sights. We ended up at Balboa Park which has a number of museums and artisanal shops as well as being adjacent to the zoo and having lovely grounds. It was a great tour of a city I knew little about and I will come back for more. As it was, with all the non reservations I had I came early to Sophie's and stayed a few days later.

And she didn't mind- invited me back even! Now that's family.
Thanks Sophie, Sherry, Elise and the contributing cast of characters who made the week so special.  Here's a bit of a gallery-

Journey On!

 We wrapped up Utah with a couple of nice, or more spectacular than nice, views and visits. We were in

Zion National Park which of course was crowded and no dogs on trails so we drove the main thoroughfare a couple of times. I am glad I got my National Park Pass and we don't pay for as many times as we want to go in the parks. There was a nice dog friendly park in Springdale, the next town over for hiking so we did that a couple days and she seemed to enjoy. A little rushing river, a few doggie hellos.

Regrettably we had to stay at an RV Park (Nov. 22,23 check out on 24) but were plugged in so had plenty of heat and electricity for microwaves and such. Still not roughing it! I am thankful for my plug in heater which backs up the propane van one. (Which is also a pain to run out of- which we did and because of the crowds of RV folks there was none to be had in 3 stops) I am able to have coffee in the morning, heating up water in the microwave. 

Leaving Zion we really didn't have plans on where to go which is not good out West on a holiday. Happy Thanksgiving. We swung over to a ghost town I had heard about down a dusty gravel road. It was where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed and was very western. Interesting how and where settlers came out here and what they did. Mostly planted fruit trees. When you think about that it is sort of amazing to cart little saplings on your

Gina looks for ghosts, or even mice.

wagon train. Lots of Mormon stories- some horrendous. 

I thought to head for the Valley of Fire in Nevada, thinking there wouldn't be anyone there- Wrong. Carry on- Another 10 miles to an RV park on Lake Meade which was nice and quiet. Saw a shadowy coyote in the campground. Gina got to see some dogs. She smelled the coyote but didn't know how exciting that was. Good.

The next day we continued into Nevada. I was struck by the change of the mountains character. It made me think of the character of each of the mountainy places. Arches was like a well trained choir of holy voices. Bryce was the singing of Angels, high and ethereal, Zion was a concert of sopranos, big and round and spectacular but the Nevada stretch I drove through was growly and ominous. Big dark round forbidding rocks. Sorta gave me the heeby-jeebies.

We were heading for the tiny town of Rachel on the Extraterrestial highway. On the way we passed a

lovely lake with golden cottonwood trees and willows. I saw a sign for camping so we stopped to check it out and got a superlative site right on the lake. There was no plug in but the batteries were enough. I also had a ready made salad so dinner was no problem. In the morning we walked halfway around the lake and saw the most wonderful birds- Tundra swans, ring necked ducks, Several kinds of grebes, great blue herons, coots, cinnamon teals, a harrier hawk that was searching for a duck breakfast, ..well, you get the idea... Lots of cool birds.

Rachel- Down a REALLY boring desert road near Area 51. Nothing there but the Ale'i Inn. So I had to see what that was about. Had a chili dog in this dive-y bar filled with tacky alien souvenirs. Good chili dog. Walked around a little bit but then decided to skip Area 51 and get outta town.

Woof! I am glad I did not plan to spend the night there! Back tracked out of there, heading towards California. Lots of driving!

Found a campsite at a place called Cottonwood Resort. Perhaps it used to be a resort but with Lake Meade being so dry most activities were caput. Houseboats all at moorings. No one on 'em that I could tell. But pretty enough. I was glad to have a 12V blanket as there was no electrical hookup but the bathrooms were still open. (These things are important)

Here are some other pictures that I couldn't get to cooperate in placement. There are some also on my FB page.

Southern Utah

 I have been out of wifi for a while but you'll see why. Southern Utah deserves a post of it's own. I have been hopping from park to park, seeing the most spectacular vistas and sculptures of nature. I have also seen quite a few dusty little towns, scattered ranches, and choices that people have made to live in these places. I think many do make a choice to live here. There are established places that have a hundred year plus history. Of course there are also places that came in 100 plus years ago and then disappeared. Railroad was a driver. Water was a driver. (That will only continue to be a challenge- or a deciding factor) But I am just going to talk about what I have seen.

Wow. What I have seen.

I came into Blanding, UT out of Flagstaff. It is a Mormon town, so not a lot going on, no wine served at the Steakhouse, but the portion of Navaho Taco was big (Too big.) Stopped at a very nice small museum [Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum] to the Pueblo culture. Informative and attractive. The town touts its central location to the Big Outdoor Events (State and National Parks).

It was not a long drive to Moab and Arches National Park so we took a bit of a turn there. I had to get her in the photo album for Arches. Dogs are allowed on paved areas but hey, it worked. This is Gina at Balanicing Rock. I have a senior Parks Pass so I come and go and have paid with the purchase of the card. Very convenient. I also checked out a day care for Gina-
Moab National Bark, just outside of town. It turned out to be.a good thing to find and truth be told it was nice not having dogs and irresponsible owners on the trails. Note: Most popular national parks do not allow dogs on the trails so

you cannot hike with them. Make plans accordingly. I did Arches for two days. Took a challenging but awesome hike on my day without Gina  to the Delicate Arch as well as driving through other parts of the park and chilled.

I began staying at Dead Horse Campground near Moab. It was really cold. The wind blew over the mesa and found every crack in the van. We had winterized also so it was a challenge to use restroom facilities at the end of the day and the beginning! Getting old? yep. I hate being cold. There is also an issue with the propane heater due to a Flagstaff RV "repair". I bought a little heater and will have the system checked.

We ended up at a La Quinta Hotel that was so convenient and comfortable I asked to stay another night. I slowed down a bit. Got my laundry done, Gina liked the walking paths around the hotel. There was a barbeque place right next door which was pretty fair. It all worked. We walked around town a while, finding the dog park and trails that went through the town, next to streams and through neighborhoods. Nice!

Taking a day trip from Moab (Nov 17) to Canyonlands National Park worked out well. Again, we couldn't walk the trails so we explored and got in and out  of the van where we could. It is very different from Arches, Each of these parks seem different from the other. What a heritage we have to have all these parks! There are many visitors in all the parks from everywhere here, many Asians, lots of young people hiking, biking, 4 wheeling, Europeans who seem to have brought their camper vehicles with them, retirees.

If you are going to go to one place Moab is probably where you want to go but honestly, I am glad I have gone to each place, as they are different. I was taking pictures- and pictures and pictures. I asked myself how many pictures of rocks can you take? But they are all different, although I won't post as many as I took here. There will be different ones on my FB page if you are interested in a wider scope

We headed out to Capital Reef NP on November 18. They have pictographs, hoodoos and incredible landscapes The speed limit said 80. I don't want to go 80. I didn't folks passed me. What do I care. At any rate the time allotted by Google Maps almost always needs to be doubled. Between me in the lumbering van and stops for Gina. It takes twice as long to do anything. I drove some remote roads to Cap Reef but you  know, there were still folks living way out there on the range. We ended up at Frulia campgound for the night because it was so pretty and fairly protected. Although they did have a sign for mountain lion sightings.... I kept Gina close! Lots of big deer. She went after a big buck but was on a leash or I may have never seen her again!They sold pies at a little store at the campground as the early settlers planted fruit trees (which are still there) Good pies, deer, a rapid river. Plugged in for the night

Wanted to spend a couple of days at Kodachrome State Park (Nov 19-21) which is an hour from Bryce. It wasn't very crowded and had a super dark sky. Good dry firewood and, it is famous for it's showers so I had to take a shower. Felt good to get the red dust off. The showers were quite nice. River tiles on the

floors, bronze and stone theme. I know, I should have taken pictures but I did not bring my camera into the shower room. Imagine. We took a number of walks. Gina was allowed on the trails here. She had lots of new smells and I saw tracks of rabbits, little antelope feet, free range cows and micey things. I saw a kangaroo rat run across the road (she missed that) and have been getting a kick out of the ravens that are brave and big.  I hear Native American stories in my ears as I walk these trails. 

We were plugged in and pretty cozy. THe wind wasn't blowing!

Bryce was out destination on the 21st and I had hoped to spend a couple days there but it is a bit crazy. LOTS of visitors, busloads of Asians, carloads of Norwegians, lots of Americans of all flavors. Suddenly I remember it is Thanksgiving week. I had been asked about it but thought it was out there somewhere. No, it is here and I think it will be a challenge to camp anywhere this week. We'll see how it all shakes out. In the meantime, Bryce is another
astounding place. I had to skip seeing Sunset Point as there were no parking spots... But I feel like I got a good feeling for it. See if you agree. Again, no dogs on the trails, at the Lodge, etc. But we got our documentation!

The Southwest

 Ah, what an experience

Such beautiful country. Spectacular in its space. Around one mountain the terrain changes altogether. Hearing history from Autio adds to the character of the space, history,  through the milleniums. the beginning of the shallow seas to the development of the Original Americans to the development of the White Man's America. Such history.

The  Southwest

Not much wifi around so I am behind. I will write this a little differently

I Spent a couple days in Oklahoma City with an old high school friend. Kevin was a most gracious host. He and his fiance took me all over for a couple days on Nov. 5 nd 6. It is an attractive city but very spread out. We went to A lovely bronze statue of the Sooners race. They apparently got to choose land if they made a run for it and claimed it. We also stopped by the Capital where, although closed the guard let us walk around and see the exhibits and the interior of the cupola. Dinner the first night was at a kitchy ROute 66 diner which was pretty awful but you have to experience things, right? The second night followed a walk in a Nature Park and a lovely Oklahoma bombing memorial. It was lit beautifully at night. They encouraged me to stay two days and it was nice to sleep in a home with space and a real bathroom and bed. Thanks Kevin. After all these years he is still a stand up guy. I had a good meal at Toby Keith's restaurant- real Americana and lots of memorabilia.

Nov 7, 8

Kevin recommended I check out Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas and so I squeaked in there with a cancellation that had called in. It felt quite wild and western with the canyon walls around me. In the process of getting there I passed the Chisholm Trail, the Great Cattle Trail and heard lots of history about how we broke promises to the Indians over and over and over. Honestly, white Americans have never collectively had a good track record on land they inhabit.

The Canyon has hiking and cross country biking, horseback riding and such. Gina and I took a hike for a couple miles the morning we left. It was windy windy everywhere.

We went back to Amarillo to see the old Cadillac Ranch art installation. Apparently the thing to do now is to bring spray paint and add your two cents. I miss the old Cadillacs. Now they are sort of mutants. Look up the original installation by a group of hippie folks called The Ant Farm. The wind made me sort of crazy.

We ended up in Tucumcari (like the Little Feat song - Willing) and although they had some nice ROute 66 stuff it was sort of a sad little town. There are a lot of poor people in our country. I did have the most amazing tacos I have ever had there at a restaurant called La Cita. Smoky, moist grilled beef, served with real beans and rice- not the runny mushy stuff you get back east. 

       

Nov. 9

Got caught up with laundering sheets and such before I headed to Roswell AZ. Had to check out the aliens. Boy have they capitalized on their legendary crash in the 40's. There are murals and aliens everywhere!

It is amusing but nothing is done particularly well. They have a UFO Museum and research center. Although Gina could come in she was not interested in the aliens or reading the displays. We went into a few souvenir shops but nothing grabbed me. 

I stopped by the tourist office and they recommended camping in Bottomless Lake State Park. So I did. Many of the lakes are almost dried up. It's a free campsite so you just pick a spot, which we did. Another wild place. Poor Gina has been having a hard time with all the thistles and thorns. She is not a desert dog. She did not want to walk much and I can't blame her when she would get a thorn every dozen yards. Poor baby.

Nov 10

A late departure from Roswell.

Stopped at a real cute town which had a lot of history from Billy the Kid and Pat Garret (interesting fellow) to CCC and WW2 internment camps.

Tired of driving, I looked up to see if there were any Harvest Hosts in the area and there were! I stayed at a New Mexican winery- Black's Smugglers and had conversation with some good ol' boys.  I bought a bottle of their San Giovese, even though I could hear Will tsking me. It was a cold night!

I found out it was indeed a cold night and what's more the cold was coming in a strong way.

Nov 11

I had planned to go for a couple days to  a unique and wilderness spot called El Malpais Park. Hundred of thousands of acres of high desert and lava fields. Upon arrival I also found out that the temperature was supposed to drop to 15 degrees that night. I did not winterize the van. It never occurred to me that I would be in an area that would be that cold. My pipes would freeze. So instead of relaxing after a less than 2 hour drive I decided to head south rather than north as planned and get to Phoenix- 5 hours away. Ugh. I passed through some stunning country and rock formations, lots of tribal artwork that I did not stop for. I know how that extends a day!

By the time I reached Holbrook I had dropped down 2000 feet from the High desert and thought that would be good enough. Nevertheless I drained my water tank( recently topped off) and my waste tanks and planned to put RV antifreeze in the lines. Didn't get that part done as it was so late but I figured the water was out. A long day full of stuff. I treated myself to a Route 66 motel of Wigwams, names, strangely enough, The Wigwam Hotel. They were concrete and smelled funky but they were quiet, scenic, and I was done! Rustled up a salad from the van and called it a day after walking Gina around. Concrete wigwams are very sound proof. Which was good as it was right by the railroad tracks!

Nov 12

Well, into each adventure a little stress must fall. There is some snafu with the winterization. I don't think it filled each pipe all the way. I went to an RV dealer in Flagstaff but they didn't really understand Roadtreks and couldn't figure out why I am leaking pink RV fluid - non toxic.

I have been buying more and more antifreeze as everyone wants to see where it's going/coming from besides down the drain...

The result of this is that I will no longer have my bathroom, sinks and tap water. I will be camping in a van. Poor me!!!😁. I checked my heat and it wasn't too bad this morning although I will be tempted to have hook ups in campsites- just in case I run out of propane I won't freeze my tookus. I need an attitude adjustment but other than that this is a first world problem!

We took an amusing stop in Winslow, Arizona where we stood on a corner and had an amusing 1/2 hour.

There were a lot of Eagles (the band, not the football) fans. For those of you who may not know the song the line goes- "Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see. There's a girl, my Lord, in a flat bed Ford slowing down to take a look at me." The song has apparently done wonders for the town. There was a positive vibe and shops and bar and grills. Perhaps every town should hire an artist to put them on the map!

We landed in Flagstaff now that I am semi winterized. I wasn't going to come here as it is chilly but now, hey, I am much more flexible. Making lemonade.... Flagstaff is a hip place. There is a lot to do here. Although I would like to go to the Lowell Observatory they don't take dogs in. Perhaps I will do a short trip but I found a park we can take a proper hike. We may stay another day. What the heck!