News flash, boys and girls! Hard to get phone and/or email service in the mountain ranges....so this email comes to each of you a bit later than planned....but no worries, there will be more to follow!!!
Day 7.
How can you have a day from hell, and a day in heaven at the same time?
Come ride with us!!!
Wanting to get an early start, we woke the birds up, broke camp, and attempted to put in the sliding room, only to find the awning over the sliding room was bust, so we had to find a dealer who could diagnose and fix the problem.
We found the most helpful person at Desert RV, in Mesa, who, together with his helper spent an hour fixing it, and only charged us $ 50.00
So we left 3 hours behind schedule, traveled through Flagstaff, Arizona, and then through the mountains to Kayenta, the start of Monument Valley.
Driving this beast is great, going uphill no problem, but controlling 45,000 pounds of coach and towed car going down hill and round bendy curves is a challenge, and bloody scary sometimes!
I have grown to respect the way those big truck drivers handle their rigs!
Then, problem number 2. Halfway across the Painted Desert, an enormous noise from outside, and we discovered the passenger side awning had come adrift, and was merrily flapping in the breeze.
So, 10 feet of duct tape later, and Marlipops up the ladder, we moved on.
We get to Kayenta, see lots of RVs boondocking, so we joined them on the McDonalds parking lot. We decided to move to a different location, on the same parking lot, only to find some inconsiderate person had parked in our way. The big problem with towing a car is that you cannot reverse, so we had to disengage the tow bar, with the aid of a hammer and two friendly French Tourists, and consequently broke one of the tow pins. More expense tomorrow.
Alas, no internet access up here in the boonies so this E mail is late. How ever, the scenery on the way here was breathtaking, from the deserts through the mountain pine forests to the Painted Desert. Worth all the hassle, although Marlipops may just get on a plane tomorrow!!!
Day 8
Sorry, no internet service as yet, in the wilds of Utah.
I make no apologies for the pix today, it is all about some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
(The legs are for Steph.)
We left Kayenta around 9 am in a howling windstorm, which had been rocking the coach all night, so we did not get a good night’s sleep.
But, if yesterday was a trial of RV mishaps, then today more than made up for it.
Highway 163 goes through Monument Valley, which really is more awe inspiring than the Grand Canyon, and I’m not ashamed to admit that it brought tears to my eyes, coz it is one of the places I have always wanted to visit, since I was a kid, watching John Wayne tame the West.
After that the road goes into Utah, and we drove until 7.00pm through Southern Utah, and the views and scenery are just out of this world. Pix do not do justice to the awesome majesty of this area. Makes you feel very humble to know you are standing on 2 million year old rocks. That’s even older than me Dad!
Spent the night at rest area 80, on interstate 70, in the middle of nowhere, after 385 miles, where it started to snow, before dark, so we’ve gone from 107 degrees to nearly freezing in 36 hours.
Once again going up the mountain passes is easy, coming down is kinda scary!!
Wildlife watch today was one prairie dog scuttling across the road, and two squished skunks!
