Cotton Days, Red Rocks and Ironman in St. George, Utah (4/24 - 5/15/22)

Our drive to St. George, Utah was a bit longer than Mike prefers.  345 miles which equaled ~8 hours of driving in Ruth.  The planned drive was made even longer by a passage through the very busy traffic around Las Vegas and a 30 minute one-lane road construction delay on the the other side of Vegas.  AAAAAUUUUGGGHH!

We were more than ready to arrive and get settled in for our 3 week stay at Southern Utah RV Resort. Upon our last turn onto the road where our campground was located, something about the angle of our right turn released the cabinet door above my head and caused our domino game to hit me right on the head.  Mike was still trying to navigate Ruth to the campground.  We quickly assessed for any significant skull damage and proceeded to our site.  It was a rude ending to a very long day, but no permanent damage was done. 

The campground was very new with nice facilities.  We had a back-in spot away from the road noise.  There were some longer stays like us, but many one nighters rolled in and out. 

While we were in Casa Grande we had purchased some fabric so that we could sew some mirror covers for Ruth.  You might ask, "Why would such a thing be needed?".  Strangely enough, two reasons 1) to keep them clean for the duration of your stay once you clean them upon arrival 2)  birds and other smaller creatures of nature can build nests in the crevices of the mirror which are difficult to remove.  Sounds kinda nuts I realize but its a thing in the RV'ing world.  Anyway, we had measured and cut the fabric before we left and I thought that I could just hand sew the 4 or 6 seams needed to complete them.

I have a new respect for the pioneer women and many world inhabitants before me that fashioned clothing and other things by hand sewing.  But my momma didn't raise a dummy, so I got through one seam and I headed to Walmart to pick up a portable sewing machine to finish the rest.  I finished the mirror covers and they are burgandy to match some of Ruth's stripes.  Now I am prepared for any on the road sewing requirement. 

Pioneer life is overrated.

One one of our first couple of days, Mike was able to get my bike operational after its failure at the Grand Canyon.  That was a huge deal as there were so many awesome bike trails in this part of Utah.  They were awesome but hilly.  I was grateful to have my e-bike to give me a boost during our rides.  We rode many trails during our stay in Washington City/St. George. 

Our first weekend was Cotton Days, in Washington City. We enjoyed the local small town experience with an outdoor evening concert in the park, exploring the Washington City Pioneer Museum, a tractor pull, an ice cream social and a car show.  The weekend was the definition of Americana.  It was fun to experience.

 

We had the opporunity to attend the WE Western Rock Climbing Competition in the 3 Peaks Recreation Area in Cedar City, Utah. There were 4 course laid out across many large boulders in this park.  We were there no more than 30 minutes when we witnessed an overturned vehicle that couldn't make it up the rock hill.  The machines were tricked out in every concievable manner with men, women and kids as drivers.   On our way back from Cedar City, we took a drive through Kolob Canyon which was just lovely. 

Does he look more than 12 years old? 

This guy is upside down.

No trip to this area would be complete without a visit to Zion National Park.  We had been there a couple of years ago on another trip, but it's beauty is worth seeing again.  We had a lovely warm, but not hot day to explore the start of The Narrows and the Kayenta Trail to check out the upper and lower Emerald Pools.  A relaxing lunch at the local brewery at the Zion Village entrance wrapped up a terrific day.

The Saturday before Monther's Day brought a fun experience.  The 2022 Ironman World Championships had moved to Utah from it's regular location in Hawaii due to Covid. Our campground happened to be just a bike ride away from the bicycle route.  We got up and watched these incredible physical specimen's roll by on the bicycles.  It was fun to cheer them on their incredible journey.

This stop was chock full of hiking an bike riding in some of the most amazing scenery. Our day at Snow Canyon State Park was a terrific combo day of hiking and biking and a spectacular lunch spot. 

Prettiest pit toilet ever.

Petrified sand dunes

Lunch at the foot of the sand dunes of Snow Canyon

Janice and Mike Bobble at Snow Canyon

Our last day in the area we booked a tour with Foodie Field Trip.  This was a really fun walking tour of historic St. George hosted by a couple who curated some fun food stops while providing the pioneer hisitory of the area.  We learned a lot about this community that got its roots from pioneers sent there by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to grow cotton when the Cival War was eminent.  It was palpable how this religion permeates the culture of this this state, and somewhat thought provoking as it is the only place that I have been where you could feel it so acutely.  

We really enjoyed our stay here in Utah.  So much more to explore, but time for us to move on to our first stop in Colorado, Fruita.  Looking forward to meeting up with friends there and exploring a new spot.   

 

The Grand Canyon (4/23-4/24/22)

Many years ago circa 1995'ish, Mike and I went with our best friends on a seven day white water rafting trip with Canyoneers, Inc  down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  It was an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime trip.  Funny enough though, we only saw the Grand Canyon from inside its cavernous walls.

Ah, youth.

Our planned stops on this route did not originally include the Grand Canyon, but we were reasonably close on our way from Casa Grande to St. George, Utah so we booked two nights at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and RV Park.  The RV park is located right in the town of Williams, AZ and less than a 1/4 mile from the Grand Canyon Railway train tracks.  If you are a light sleeper, this park is not for you. 

The drive to Williams, AZ was less than 170 miles so we were able to arrive early afternoon and quickly get Ruth settled in.  It was about an hour drive into the park and with a designated Passholder Lane, we had no wait.  Prior to our arrival, we had researched a bicycle route along the West Rim of the Grand Canyon and though the temperature was very cool that day, we bundled up and headed out on our bikes. The bike rental attendant put us on the right path to head to Yaki Point. 

The ride had exceptional views as we rode right along the rim of the Grand Canyon from The Village to Yaki Point.  Along the way we saw some grazing elk and Mike caught a very fast glimpse of two javelina nibbling on grasses .  As we stopped to try to get a better look at these curious collared peccary my e-bike would not power up. We were about 2/3's of the way back from our deparature point so Mike was chivalrous and rode my powerless bike back to the car and I powered my way back on his.  We were extremely disappointed as we had planned to bike to Hermit's Rest on our second day in the park. I guess we will be hiking instead. 

We made the most of 1st day in the park by driving further up into the Grand Cayon to check out the views from the El Tovar Lodge where we enjoyed a cocktail and snack. The temperature continued to drop as the sun set and we left the park and headed for dinner in the town of Williams, AZ, on the original Route 66.

We were able to grab a late reservation at Red Raven for a delightful dinner to wind up our very full day. The food and the service were terrific.  When we got back to Ruth, we turned on the heat and got out the blankets for the forecasted 28° night.

We were at the park the next morning by 9am, again surprise to see no entry line. However, we must have just lucked out because the parking lots were very full and we were lucky to find a spot near the Red Route Shuttle.  We took that shuttle to Pima Point and hiked along the rim to Hermit's Rest.  I wish I had the proper amount of adjectives to describe the majesty of the this place.  It defies description really.  I think John Wesley Powell said it best, "The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself."

Hermit's Rest has an interesting history and the little out buildings from the early 1900's are a reminder of the hardships that faced explorers and visitors to this natural wonder. 

We made another stop on our way back to view The Abyss.  The trail was a little more rugged and natural so it was a nice break from the paved trails we had hiked so far. 

Mike overlooking The Abyss

By the time we took the bus back to the start of the Angel's Landing trailhead (we did not attempt this hike) for some lunch, we were greeted with significantly more people and over an hour wait at the nearby couple of restaraunts.  We sought out the lesser known Maswik Lodge and was able to get a bite before we headed to our last hike of the day. 

The very beginning of the Angel's Landing switchbacks.
Looked like they went on forever. 

We took the shuttle up to Maricopa Point and hiked back towards Angel's Landing.  The afternoon was winding down and the sun was changed the rocks before our eyes.  We would stop and take photos and just try to take in the moment and experience of this unique jewel located in the United States.  You can sense it's entire history while viewing at it, quite remarkable. 

Time to head back to Ruth and get her ready for her the drive on to St. George, Utah.  Unfortunately that includes a drive past Las Vegas, which probably won't be any fun at all for Mike.  So glad we added this two day stop, would have been a shame to miss this experience. 

That's Mike way out there in the distance.

30 days in Casa Grande, Arizona

 As I sit down to write this I see it has been almost a month since my last post.  Geez time flies.  We  drove to Palm Creek Resort and Residences, a 55+ communitiy that is also an RV park.  The drive was a bit longer than what  we would usually drive, but as we were going to be staying for a month upon our arrival, Mike powered through it. 

The property was huge and had a very residential feel compared to a normal "campground" environment.  The sites were well spaced and Mike expertly backed in to site 585 on the corner.  Upon our arrival, the ranger who took us to our site told us that we were arriving a little too late, that everyone goes back to their "summer" locations on April 1st.  I guess we could have planned that better. 

The resort had two resort pool areas, a pickleball complex (30+ courts) and all sorts of other ameneties.  It was a mix of park model homes and RV sites.  In season, Palm Creek hosts ~4000 residents.  During the summer months it drops to 500 full-time residents. 

Our first morning, the weather was spectacular and we headed for pickleball.  We met some nice folks right away who gave us the low down on how everything worked. That served us well the rest of our stay. 

You can see only a fraction of the pickleball courts at this complex

It was super handy to have our e-bikes here.  The park was huge and we frequently just took a leisurley after or before dinner  ride around the property.  There were sidewalks everywhere within Casa Grande so we took our bikes on a lot of rides outside the park as well.  One Saturday we rode our bikes to what we thought was a local farmer's market.  Turns out it was more of a wholesale market, but Mike scored a free spaghetti squash as they were just packing up.  Bonus.  The market was packing up early as they were set up on the parking lot of a church which would host a funeral in the next hour.  That is an efficient use of space.

Casa Grande was mostly big box stores and some other independent retail, but I had read about the Neon Sign Park downtown.  We drove down one evening to view.  It was a deserted, but gitchy display of neon.  The downtown of Casa Grande looked as though it had fallen on hard times and was not in any state of revitalization.

The only other remarkable thing about Casa Grande was a little hispanic market we found which sold marinated carne asada and hand made tortillas.  We had a couple of authentic mexican meals from that.

Nearby Chandler, Arizona hosted a free two day Jazz Festival on our first weekend.  We drove over to Chandler on a Friday night to enjoy some live music.  We went a little early and had an dinner at San Tan Brewery.  Mike and I shared a Cuban and a Rueben.  Both were delish.  We also stopped by The Stillery for a pre-concert cocktail.  The music under the stars in the cool clear evening was delightful. 

We are always on the look out for things to do.  One Saturday evening we opted to check out the Arizona Central Raceway at the Pinal Country Fairgrounds.  We arrived to a parking lot full of cars and an oval dust track.  We bought our tickets and found a seat in the grandstands.  It was around 7pm and the track was kind of dark.  Just as we had the realization that the lights were out on the track, the announcer told us they were working on a power outage. 

We hung around and watched the herculean effort to make this race happen, as they enlisted assistance from an electrian who happend to be in the crowd.  About an hour and a half later, the cars rolled out onto the track for the Allstar Shoot Out IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods - Pure Stocks - Bombers. I have no idea what any of that means but it was loud and dusty and exciting to watch.  It was one of those small town local experiences that makes traveling fun.

We explored the Mesa Marketplace Swap Meet one day and stopped by the Gilbert Heritage District for lunch.  It was a very cool strip of restaurants and bars.  We ended up at Joe's Real BBQ.  Mother Nature was beginning to turn up the heat in the afternoons so early activities are more enjoyable. 

Gilbert Heritage District

As our time in Palm Creek continued, more and more RV's spaces were vacated and park model homes buttoned up for the summer.  The pool went from so crowded you couldn't find a seat to an almost private afternoon swim to cool off.  We felt like we had the whole place to ourselves some days.

After a lovely day hike in the Saguaro National Park our first week in Casa Grande we made another trip to the the Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum. It is part zoo, part hiking trail, a botanical garden and aquarium.  While visiting the zoo area, I became a litte obsessed with seeing a javelina live.  They were sleeping strategically under a culvert to be in the shade and not be bothered by the tourists so I did not get to see them.  Disappointed. (More on that later) 

Saguaro National Park

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

Cactus in Arizona are like palm trees in Florida, they are just everywhere.  I learned to appreciate the uniqueness of the Sonoran landscape of Arizona, but think the overall harshness and browness of it all would get to me after a while.  

 

We had a super fun day riding a UTV on Box Canyon Trail.  The weather was perfect and we rode through the dust and rocks on some great trails.  There was a stop along the way called Granny's Pass where folks who enjoyed motorcycle or off-roading were creatively commentorated by their loved ones after their passing.  There were many irreverant and heartfelt tributes. On our way back from the canyon via  Florence, AZ we stopped by Windmill Winery for a some live music under the trees, some wine and food from a Vietnamese food truck.  Terrific day.

We had some windy hot afternoons during the later part of our stay which reduced outside acitivities. We worked on a few projects around the RV and I had the time to practice my guitar a bit more. We hit the pool in the afternoons to pass the time and reduce our temperature.

Before departing, we had the chance for one more outing to the Casa Grande National Monument.  A very interesting archeological site located about 25 minutes from where we stayed.  We watched the movie and toured the ruins.  The story of Casa Grande was one of pure fortitude and true community in one of the harshest landscapes in the United States. It was a short visit, but very educational stop.

Our time at Palm Creek was over already, we were so busy, it went by in a flash.  We never even made it to Tuscon or Phoenix during our stay, maybe another time.

On our last day we learned that the interstate we planned to travel on through Phoenix to Williams, AZ (Grand Canyon stop) was going to be closed in certain sections.  We planned an alternate route, consulted the Truckers Atlas, hope it works for big ol' Ruth.  Who sent balloons for our departure?  Very thoughtful.