Guess where we are?

I'm sitting at the Airport in Salt Lake City waiting for the red eye to RI.  My mother got a GI bug that was going through the retirement home where she lives, most got over it in 24 to 48 hours.  She's been sick almost 2 weeks and not wanting to eat or drink so my brother and I decided that it was time for her to go to the ER and see what all was wrong.  This was accomplished about 11am and they have admitted her for at least overnight.  Rich thought that I really needed to go and check on things.  So here I am.  We made the decision quickly this morning, made reservations and packed up the coach and hit the road.  It was about a 5 hour drive from Moab, UT to here.  We parked the coach and looked for a place to get a bit to eat.  We found a little bar not far from the campgroun or the airport and had a sandwich.  Rich dropped me off and here I sit.  I'll have to go throug Philly and should arrivein RI around 9am.  Doubt if I'll get any sleep on the plane so it will be a long day tomorrow.  I will pick up a rental car at the airport.  There just seems to  be something wrong with this pictuce, We have two motor homes and I'm flying.  Rich plans to go to the family center in Salt Lake City.  Shouldl be an interesting day.  My son Rusty may join me for a day with my grand daughter Katelyn.  IT will be good to see them but not under the circumstances. 

Time to run. 

Dead Horse and Canyonlands

We got a little later start than we had planned on getting but the things that were going on outside out window watching the campers next door were ust too good to miss.  Younger couple with two even younger couples with them and 4 ATVs and all the planning for getting ready for them to go trailing.  Today was a beautiful day for touring, either in a car or in an ATV.  It is amazing that as we drive the mesas to know that under neith all that tundra is solid rock that if a spring sprang up would begin the long treck downhill to carve out canyons.  Of course one would have to wait a few million years for that to happen.   Canyonlands is designed for the hiker in mind.  Many, many trails, some as short as a mile and some many miles long.  And you should see all the people that were hiking.  With Rich's knee we are happy to drive to the overlooks and walk the 200 or 300 feet to the overlook and enjoy it just as much as if we had hiked 10 miles, maybe even more so.  The wind has died down but there is still dust everywhere, especially our mouths. I don't think that we'll even get the dust out of the van, good thing it is of the same color so not as noticeable.

I'm writing this on my iPad and can't add pictures so when we get back from dinner in town I'll plan to add some pictures then.


So no one has read this yet so I'll try and upload the pictures now.

Horseshoe Bend in Dead Horse State Park

Canyonlands 

More Canyonlands

Some Pictures from the road.

This is of Rich walking along the path at the Coral Sand Dunes outside Kanab, Utah.

Rich's favorite spot in the coach using his laptop.

And then we have Teddy just chilling out in his chair. 

One of the scenes as we drove to Moab, Utah.

Now that I've figured out how to post pictures there should be more as we continue our trek.  Today was a  very windy one that blew red dust/dirt all over the place and in the air.  The coach is covered with a thin layer of dirt as is the car.  We did drive down to town to check it out and have a beer or two and some snacks.  It is interesting to see that there is even some snow falling in the higher elevations as we look out our front window to the La Sal Mountains.  We went by the entrance to Arches National Park and that looks like an interesting climb up a mountain just to get to it, this after driving down a mountain highway towards town.  I am taking some videos as we drive but the next step is to learn how to edit them. One step at a time.  Looks like we'll be in the rest of the evening, maybe I can start on a new learning curve then. 

Arches RV Resort

Hello from just north of Moab, UT.  We left Glendale about 9:30 this morning and headed north on US 89 and then headed East on I-70.  There were a number of mountains that we had to cross and we were both glad that we decided to go that way instead of the back roads that Rich had first wanted to try.  With the number of 6% down grades and switch backs on the main 4 lane highway I can only imagine what the back roads would have presented.  There was a lot of wind with heavy gusts up to 45 MPH so that was a lot of heavy driving.  But we are parked in our site for a week and the view is beautiful.  Out  the front window we can see the Arches National Park and and little to the right there is a wonderful view of a mountain range that is covered in snow.  Out the side windows we see the views into the Canyonlands.  We are in desert still and with the wind there is sure a lot of dust blowing around.  Of course the kids of all ages are running all around in the desert in ATVs and dirt bikes.  They are having a ball but making more dust.  The weather the next couple of days is for freezing temps with high winds and some snow.  The Aqua Hot will be running for sure and the clothing will be layers.  Rich has been having a lot of trouble with his laptop, we think he has gotten a virus, but when he has the pictures uploaded we'll try and add them for all to see.  The scenery has been just spectacular.  Oh, just heard a train whistle, haven't heard one of those for some time on this trip.  We can see it down the valley as it heads north to ? ? ?

Happy Easter

I had posted this yesterday but I guess due to the iffy Wi-Fi here it never went through and I have somehow lost it.  Of course, it may turn up again and you'll hear about our Easter twice.  As I was getting ready to start our dinner I realized that I had forgotten to buy any potatoes so we did a run down into town to pick up potatoes and make some phone calls.  I am hoping that when we get to Moab that we just might have better cell service.  I ended up cooking our dinner and we ate only about an hour later than I had orginally planned.  New England Boiled dinner, not exactly Easter fare but good none the less.  We had an enjoyable day just lounging around.

Today, Monday, I am busy doing the last minute laundry to have everything clean before we leave Tuesday morning to head to Moab.  We have decided that we  will not be doing the "senic" route in the coach towning the car and of that I am very grateful.  I hate hights and sharp turns and in a large rig it makes for tough driving too.  I think that Rich is a little dissapointed but he is even thinking that we are making the right decision to only do 12 in the car driving back some ways from Moab.

Today is very windy and I am glad that we are not drivng but I believe it is to be windy tomorrow too.  It is something watching the dust devils in the parking lot swirl all around.  Maybe cooking steaks outside today isn't such a great idea after all.

ISS and an Eclipse

We ended last night by going outside at 9:15 to watch the International Space Station cross overhead at 85 degrees.  What a site.  It was a very clear night and the stars were certainly showing all their glory.  The ISS was in view for about 5 minutes and we quickly ran back inside as it was getting cold outside and we needed to get to sleep so that we could get up in the morning for the Eclipse.  Rich set his alarm and so that it wouldn't wake me he kept waking up almost every 30 minutes.  He finnally got up about 4 and dressed quietly and went out and watched as the earth covered the noon.  He came in and woke me up around 10 minutes to 5 so that I could watch the totality of it.  It was only 22 degrees outside and I was glad that it was a 4 minute eclipse as I wanted to get back in bed and warm quickly.  The moon turned a beautiful blood red but without a tripod we couldn't get any photos so have to rely on seeing those on facebook.  But the stars were all so bright.  The Milky Way was clear, I'd not seen it for many years due to the light polution in the cities.  While we were watching the final stage of the eclipse there was a camper that was trying to hook up with a flashlight and then he turned on his car lights, what a dummy.  He probably didn't have a clue and why anyone would chose to pack up and hit the road while it is still dark is beyond me.  We also wonder when people pull in here at 10 pm and don't have a reservation and get turned away.  I think this camp ground only has about 20 sites.

Today we drove down to the Coral Dunes and watched lots of people running up and down them in ATV's.  There is also a lot of dry camping in 5th wheel toy haulers through out the desert and you can see the ATV's off in the distance going up and down trails.  Of course, that is the only form of entertainment around here that we can see.  We even packed a picnic lunch to enjoy while looking at he dunes.  Tomorrow we may drive to Boulder on Highway 12 as this is a route that we can't take in the RV even though it is on the way to Moab.  In the car it may be enough of a challenge and a white nuckel drive.

Happy Easter to all, no egg hunts for us this year.

3

Friday, April 3, 2015

Today was a slow day.  Getting up with the temps in the high 20's and cold, cold, cold.  At least we had taken the water hose off the faucet so we didn't have any freeze problems but most of our neighbors had frozen water lines and were out with hair dryers trying to unfreeze the lines.  The Aqua Hot was working overtime though and it still didn't get warm right away.  We decided to take a slow day to give Rich's knee a bit of a rest.  We did a few things around the house and after 1 drove down to Kanab for lunch.  This was at a little cafe that you wouldn't expect in a small town, everything sort of vegin and typical what I would call "uppie" food.  It was very good and a plesant surprise from the typical hamburgers and fried foods.  After lunch we went to the market and bought some steaks and the makings for New England Boiled Dinner which I will make for Easter.  Certainly not your typical ham but then nothing that we do seems to be typical.  We also have brats in the freezer and will have them sometime over the weekend too.

Tonight the space station is to go over head at 85 degrees at 9:21pm so we are going to be staying up to view that.  Not sure if we'll do that from the campground or drive someplace into the desert.  Then tomorrow morning around 4 am is the lunar eclipse.  For a 4 minute eclipse I just may stay in bed where it should still be warm.

We are planning our next move on Tuesday morning to Moab, Utah.  Rich wants to take route 12 and 24 but we are getting mixed opinions from the locals about doing it in the coach.  We might have to rethink our route so a lot of time this weekend will be spent in doing some reserch.  So far we've not been able to find out anything on the internet but we will keep looking.   We'll be spending a week in Moab doing day trips in and out of the National Parks.