Fruita, Colorado ( 5/15 - 5/28/22)

We fueled up near the RV park on our way out of St. George, UT   Another long day of highway driving awaited Mike and Ruth on US-15 and I-70.  378 miles later we had seen some of the most beautiful scenery of our trip.  Breathtaking really, my picture can't really do it justice.  

While we hadn't encounted a great many bugs on our trip to date, Ruth's very large windsheild decimated a cloud of bees as we entered the western slope of  the Rocky Mountains.  It wasn't pretty. 

We were lucky or committed enough to get two weeks at the James Robb State Park in Fruita, Colorado.  This is one of four Colorado State Parks we booked on this trip.  We rolled in late in the afternoon and were greeted by Wendy who checked us in and directed us to our spot. 

The campsite we booked had full hook ups and faced a small lake contained within the park.  There was tons of natural space between the other campsites and it felt very private.  The park grounds butted right up to the Colorado River and about 10 minutes drive from the Colorado National Monument park.  There is also nicely paved bicycle trail all along the river accessible right from the campground. 

Yeah, this will probably work. 

View over the lake in the evenings.

 

We explored downtown Fruita on our bikes the first day and checked out the local businesses for postings of local upcoming events.  We have found that the local pub or storefront in town ususally support the local happenings with posters in their windows so we lurk about an take pictures for future planning. You can imagine my disappointment when it was discoverd that the "Mike the Headless Chicken Festival" would take place after our departure.  Very poor planning on my part. 

Of course we were able to find the local pickleball courts in nearby Grand Junction, CO and were welcomed to play.  The weather was cool in the mornings, but heated up with a bit of wind in the afternoons.

We stopped by a Sam's Club while in Grand Junction. We stocked up on a few essenials and then had to find storage for all that loot in Ruth, including a half a dozen wine bottles.  Good thing I use my dishwasher as a wine cabinet, problem solved. 

Fruita was one of the places where we would meet up with friends on this trip. William and Jenny were on their own cross country camping adventure and this is where our paths crossed for a few days.  This makes it our 2nd Annual Camping Conclave as we met up last year in Bend, OR as well.  

While W & J got settled in to their campsite, Mike and I went for a short hike at The Lunch Loop trail which was both for hiking and mountain biking.  We shared the trail with several bikers as we wound our way through the moon-like landscape. 

The state park was located within 5 miles of the entrance to the Colorado National Monument, in fact it was the entire backdrop to the campground.  We headed out with a picnic lunch to drive the Rim Rock Drive through the National Monument.  We deployed our own "picnic" chairs at the Monument Canyon Trailhead for a lovely lunch spot.  We hiked the Serpents Trail (16 switchbacks) and ended our day with a refreshing beverage at Rockslide Brewery. 

We had a couple of relaxing days just hanging around the campsite and catching up with at least one evening alcohol infused guitar sing-a-long that was fun and hysterically funny.  Windy days and an aggressive spinkler schedule did make for a couple of urgent lawn chair and bike relocations during our confabs.

On a lovely 5 mile hike through the Colorado National Monument on another day, my sock was causing a blister on my heel.  Jenny was at the ready with a piece of moleskin from her first aid kit.  This little adhesive cover did the trick and allowed me to finish the hike without further damage and pain.  I learned a valuable hiking lesson from Jenny's resoursefulness and experience, so sharing  this safety tip with you too. 

Palisades, which is small town very near Grand Junction boasts a very lovely wine region.  We were lucky enough to enjoy an evening concert at a winery close to our campground as well as making a day of wine tasting and late lunch at Peach Street Distillery in the town of Palisades.

After our steak dinner one evening, we decided to walk over to the Dairy Queen for dessert.  It was a little after 8pm.  When we arrived the lobby was dark and a posted sign said, "Drive thru only".  We would not be denied dessert, so we just got in line at the drive thru to place our order.  As we got up to the order area, we were informed that they could not serve people "on foot" at the drive up window.  A couple of guys were in a pick up truck behind us.  We asked if we could hop in their wheels to place an order.  They were super great sports and let us.  We all got our Dairy Queen and got a great laugh with the guys in the truck and the DQ employees.  Small towns, gotta love 'em.

Our last full day we drove up to the Grand Mesa National Forest.  We drove through the cute little town of Cedaredge, Colorado on our way up to the 11,000 ft elevation of the Grand Mesa. We enjoyed hiking around a couple of lakes that were periodically covered in drifted snow.  We stopped for lunch at the Mesa Lakes Lodge and marveled at the scenery as we made our way back down to Fruita. It was a great last day in the area. 

We really enjoyed this area, made even better by the visit with our friends. Our next stop is Granby, Colorado located near the entrance of Rock Mountain National Park.  We will settle in for a month stay there.    

 

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.