Hey, it's finally time for the Brother Bob Family and us to go on our annual RV Trip! Woohoo! Ready to go! Unfortunately, Tanya shall miss this one for she had to return for work. We chat daily and share where we are and what we are seeing so she can enjoy along with us our travels.
After spending 3 weeks at Brother Bob house in Oregon. Bob receives a call that his RV is nearly ready to be picked up. He had severe engine troubles last March and left his RV in Southern California at a shop. Finally, it is done, and we travel from Oregon to Southern California to pick it up and then begin our annual Family RV Travels from there. So, this first leg of the journey is making miles to pick up Bob's RV. He drove his tow vehicle and I drove our RV.
Planning out where to go we took in the travel from Oregon to Southern California to find a road I had never been on. I am so glad we did for it was a beautiful drive on mostly 2 lane highways in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. One section in particular I remember reading was a favorite motorcycle touring road. Obviously for there were allot of motorcycles on the road. This is highway 139 near Susanville, CA with nice views, sweeping turns in rolling hillsides. SO nice! If my Honey was here, I would have unloaded the scooter and Tanya follow me in the RV! As they say, always another time!
Staying over in Reno, NV at a casino parking lot, the weather was cool and dry making for nice sleeping weather. After breakfast we thought to walk the Reno Riverwalk before heading on. We learned that the Riverwalk was a list of shops near the river? Not at all what we expected, but we did find a city park with a paved sidewalk following the river. Nice walk along the river, I pointed out that only one house along the river had built steps down the bluff to the river and set up a pavilion. All the other homes had no steps down to the river.
Pushing along south now was easier and faster for there were less mountains to contend with, making it to China Lake, CA. I camped on the Navy Base campground and had an excellent looong shower! This placed us in position to push into Hemet, CA avoiding all of the Los Angeles traffic.
2022 Route map
Bunnies input:
I’m way behind on my “100 days of things that make me happy” but I’m putting that on hold now to give you a travel log. I’m already behind on that, too. Before anybody gets any ideas: Carlyn and Fredy are at the house with their vicious dog, and Matt, our caretaker /ranch hand is in his trailer at the bottom of the driveway, with his vicious dog and instructions to shoot first and ask questions later if he sees anybody he doesn’t recognize. There’s also 12 llamas who can spit a long distance, and peacocks who can be mean.so, stay away, bad guys.
A week ago, Sat, Jan and Tom (Bob’s brother) left the Tripod, stopped in Albany to visit with Mamille, and then drove to Chumwalt for the night, in Tom’s new RV.
Sunday morning, Bob and I left at 5:58 in the Jeep and caught up with them just past Klamath Falls, and we caravanned to Reno. Bob and I stayed in a hotel room, with Jan and Tom in the van in the parking lot. Sun morning, we took a stroll along the River Walk. I never knew, nor would have imagined there was such a beautiful thing in Reno. A walk along the river Truckee River with beautiful sculptures, murals and buildings. Pictures below.
We caravanned down to Bishop, CA where we stopped for lunch at a place called The Mercado. It’s a small Mexican grocery, with a counter where one could order Mexican fast food which could then be when eat on the adjacent patio. Jan picked up a cactus fruit because “it looked interesting”, but we haven’t tried it yet.
We travelled down the road a piece, and stopped for the night in China Lake, Ca. Bob and I again found a Best Western, and Jan and Tom camped at the Navy Base campground. You might wonder why Jan didn’t stay with us with us. Tom wanted company (his wife Tanya is back in DC applying for her dream job) And the Jeep was fully packed with Diesel and all our stuff.
Next day, @ noonish, we arrived in Hemmet, where Bob and Tom’s sister lives, and where our motor home was getting a new engine installed. Wednesday, we visited with Mary Ellen, then Bob and I picked up the RV and drove it to Beaumont. We emptied the Jeep, picked up Jan and Tom at the Lodge, and went to dinner at a place called Fuego Cravings they specialized in barria, which I couldn’t eat, but Tom really enjoyed it. There’s a you tube video about how it’s made, if you’re interested. The restaurant itself was fascinating, with pictures of accomplished Latina women on the walls. I took pictures on my phone, which is now almost dead, so I’ll share them in a separate post. After dinner, we transferred Jan’s belongings into the RV, and we were finally together again, for the night of our anniversary.
Tom's input:
At a small memorial on the side of the road there was clothing strung on fence line alongside the memorial. Bob was nearby and stopped to check it out. This was a memorial for a firefighting airplane that had crashed nearby killing the crew. The "T" shirts hung on fences were from nearby forest fire fighter's groups to support the memorial. Wow, great to see support for a little-known incident of brave men.
The RV was not quite ready, so we spent 2 days visiting sister Mary. Taking a few down days and seeing family at the same time was very enjoyable. HOT, did I say HOT? yes, it is still hot in Southern California! Meals and chats, catching up with each other is always great. Too bad we did not go straight down the interstate from Oregon, so we missed seeing sister Jean. As I said before, always another time!
OK, another push to Pheonix, AZ hot all the way, stay over, each in our own RV at Luke Air Force Base then up into the mountains to Sedona, AZ. This is where the vacation actually begins.
Lots of artist shops with a large collection in 2 separate areas. We chose one location and Bob, and I sat back at the ice cream parlor while the lady's shopped.
The lady's did not buy much and the little I looked at began to give me ideas for gifts for my Honey. But no sale today, just not the right thing yet.
Short dive down the road to Page, AZ for Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. Staying over 2 days to relax and see the sights is nice. Finally, we are slowing down!! Walmart boondocking both nights and the weather was perfect. Do you believe 82 degrees and we had hail! Cool..
Horeshoe Bend - I am not shy and observed a woman creating a video of her mother, I want one too! I love the technique of rotating your phone rather than raising your arms, good results!
The flute makes such a pleasant comfortable sound.
Gone West Family Restaurant, good food and amazing decor!
Caught with her hand in the till????
Even the bathrooms had interesting decor. Zoom in to read the pictures.
Antelope Canyon, water carved canyon out of the natural sandstone. My friends Jim and Madeline Moore of Rialta RV fame recommended it to me as one of the most amazing sights he has seen. This wonderful couple Jim and Madelin have traveled extensively all-over North America and I mean all of North America! Their recommendations are highly prized by me and my Honey! Thank you Jim, Thank you Madeline for this excellent suggestion.
To tour Antelope Canyon, you must have a Navajo Guide through a tour group. Several tour groups in the area to choose from. This is required for it is on Navajo Reservation so privately owned. It is also very much worth the cost, these guides (Native residents) are not only knowledgeable of the history, geology, formation of the canyon, but also take time to adjust your camera for the best effect in low light situations, point out specific places to takes the best pictures and are overall allot of fun. Very highly recommended tour of a natural scenic and unique place!
Wow, Antelope Valley sure did exceed my expectations!
Next stop at Zion National Park, the travel between them was relatively short so being set up in camp in the early afternoon allowed us time to go to the visitor center to review what we would like to do the next day and learn more about the park. Later there was plenty of time to have dinner, putter around before turning in. This made it much more relaxing than to try to see everything in one day.
Bob and I opted for the classic "Narrows Trail" where you walk mostly in the stream up the narrowing canyon. Jan and Bunnie opted for a shorter trail following the river.
Zion does have spectacular cliffs, colors to see! Tomorrow we go to Bryce Canyon National Park. Nice to take it slow - another short travel day too!
Bunnies input:
I’m exhausted, but I don’t want to get too far behind on this travel log because I’m already starting to forget things. Hemet to Phoenix was pretty much uneventful, other than some black smoke coming out our exhaust. They’d over filled the new transmission with too much fluid. We spent the night at Luke Air Force Base, where we picked up some groceries from the commissary, a new experience for me. Tom and Bob took care of the transmission, while I took a long hot shower. I was amazed at all the activities and facilities they had for families and retirees. Bob explained to me the Air Force really take care of their members and families, more than the other branch’s of the military.
From there we drove to Sedona and looked at the beautiful mountains and did some shopping and viewing the art galleries. We drove through the residential area to a trailhead to get a better view of the mountains. At the trailhead we’re two young women from Atlanta who were practicing rollerblading. The one was covered in beautiful tattoos, and allowed me to take pictures of her, but unfortunately, I can’t find them now.
In the shopping district, there was a wine tasting room, which I skipped, but when I came back past it , I tripped on the steps and landed right in front of the door. I’m fine, other than a skinned knee and being a bit shook up. I just thought it was funny that I tripped, even though I didn’t have any wine. Guess you had to be there.
From there we went Flagstaff, where we thought, we were going to boondock at one of the two Walmart's, only to learn there was a city ordinance against overnight parking. We finally found a Pilot Station just outside of town.
Next morning, we headed down the road to Paige, Arizona, driving through the Navajo Reservation. The mountains and scenery there is phenomenal. We took a short hike to Horseshoe Lake, where a man was playing an Indian flute which made the whole experience so surreal and beautiful.
The next day we walked through the sandstone caves with a Navajo guide, who really enhanced what was already another surreal and spiritual experience. I’ve been to the Galapagos, and always thought that was the most fantastic, amazing natural experience. This definitely was equal to that.
The first day in Paige we went to a restaurant which was really decorated with fun stuff. Even the bathrooms had great signs and decorations. I’m trying to post those pictures.
We then drove on through more amazing scenery to Zion National Park. Unfortunately, I had some stomach issues, and was dizzy the whole time (dehydration? Altitude?, I don’t know), so I wasn’t comfortable going on even the very short, easy walks, but I still enjoyed it. Yesterday, we started to walk from the Visitors Center to the Nature house, supposedly a 15-minute walk, but even that seemed too much for me. I stopped part way a found a nice rock to sit on by the river. I was shaming all over myself for not being able to walk that far, but was trying to talk myself out of it by “meditating” on the scenery, singing an old camp song “peace I ask of thee, oh River” I was focusing on the beautiful high mountains, and when I finally looked down at the river, there was an amazing bird (I think it was a blue Heron) standing perfectly still in the water. At first, I thought it was a sculpture, but then I remembered we were in a national park, so it must be real. It told me there was no shame in stopping and standing still and just “being”. We sat and enjoyed the river for about 20 minutes. He didn’t seem bothered by me at all, even when I got up and walked closer. After a while, Bob called and said he couldn’t find me, even though I was exactly where I said I would be. The ringing phone and talking still didn’t seem to bother him. Not until I started to leave and turned my back on him did, he leave. I wish I could have seen him fly away, but I turned my back, and when I turned back around, he was gone. If I hadn’t taken so many pictures and videos, I thought I might have wimagined the whole thing.
Tom's Inputs:Just like at Zion we set up camp and went to the visitor center, early return to camp and a relaxing night.
This makes the 3rd time I have been here, and I was being a little more selective with my pictures such as I wanted to see the HooDoo's from the bottom rather than the top. Bob's family identified a hike in the park not on the main loop road. It followed a streambed up from the base, so we did see HooDoo's from the bottom!
Bob and I waited 30 minutes for enough sunlight to enter the canyon and allow the waterfall to show up in the picture.
We drove up to catch the shuttle and started out at the farthest drop off Bryce Point. Hiking 1.5 miles on the Rim Trail we saw different views every time we looked, in addition to the change of location, the sun continued to rise so they were absolutely different views!
Not too many pictures this time for my other trips here I posted allot of pic's, if you're interested you can find them on previous blog posts.
Bunnies inputs:
Well, we’re home. As wonderful as our trip was, it sure feels good to be in my own bed after a “real” shower.
I wrote a long post about our drive from Zion NP to Bryce Canyon NP and our 2 days in Bryce Canyon. I wanted to proofread and edit before I posted, but when I went back to do so, it had disappeared into cyber space. I was so mad, I didn’t want to redo it. So, I’ll give you the very abbreviated version.
Bryce Canyon was every bit as beautiful and amazing as Zion and Antelope canyon. Amazing that rock and sand can take so many different forms and shapes and colors. The visitor center is amazing, too. They had a 24-minute film of contemporary indigenous peoples of the various tribes that had lived around the area. They all talked about how their grandparents and elders had told them about Bryce before it became a National park. It was considered a very sacred place, and a place where many tribes met and gathered for spiritual gatherings. It gave me a whole new sense of reverence for the land.
We walked about 3 miles that day, first a half mile up and back on the Mossy Cave Trail, just outside of the park, then 2 miles along the rim of the canyon. On the first, we saw the Hoodoos (the giant rock formations) from below. On the rim trail, we looked down on them, or walked among the tops. I’m sure glad we no longer have to pay for film and developing of pictures. I took so many, every few steps it seemed. Don’t worry, I won’t post them all. I need to through them and edit. Especially on the Mossy Cave trail, I was struck how different things looked going up and coming back,
when the sun had moved just enough to change the light and shadows.
While we were walking the Rim trail, I realized that I don’t really like hiking. Yes, I love getting out in nature and fresh air, and seeing things I couldn’t otherwise see. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I’m finished and think about how good the exercise is for my body and spirit. But the actual activity, putting one foot in front of the other, and getting out of breath…not so much. I’m hoping if I keep it up, get in better shape and lose some weight, I’ll learn to love it again.
We parted ways with brother Tom in Bryce and started on our way home. We went to what was supposedly Butch Cassidy’s boyhood home. Just as we’re leaving, a old guy who seemed to be from the area told me Butch himself never actually lived there. His family moved there after he’d left home, and he would come “check up on them”, and maybe stay a day or two.
Later that day, we went to Indian Springs State Park, and saw petrographs and petroglyphs on the rock walls. I’ve always been fascinated with those, and these did not disappoint. The visitor's center/museum there was very well done, too.
This feels like an abrupt ending, but the rest of the trip was pretty much just driving, and I’m tired so I can’t really think of anything to say to sum things up. I’ll post pictures in the next few days. Good night.
Tom input:
So, this ends the Family RV trip for this year. Bob and family are continuing north toward Oregon with several stops along the way. I shall be working my way east to winter over in Key West, FL. See you next Blog!
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