The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining us!

The joy in traveling should not be measured by how many miles you’ve traveled but by the number of friends you’ve made along the way!

May 24, 2019

We left on this summer’s journey on May 1, 2019. Technical difficulties put us behind in starting our blog. This first posting is a summary of our time in Utah and Nevada. Our goals in Utah during this time were to experience Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef National Parks and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. And to have dinner at Devil’s Backbone Grill. We accomplished all of them. We also drove across the Bonneville Salt Flats heading into Nevada. We also spent a day driving around Lake Tahoe.

The drive into Zion was breath taking both in the awesome views and the 360^o hairpin turns and really long dark tunnels. In Zion we did a short hike along the Virgin River and spotted a couple of deer which were pretty close (40 ft). While on the park’s shuttle bus a big fat Tom turkey boldly strutted into the middle of the road and challenged the shuttle bus while his hens crossed the road.

The next day Peter completed the challenging Angels Landing hike.   The first half of the hike was all switchbacks. The second half was a knife edge with a chain planted right up the middle and a 1,000 foot drop-off on each side. The knife edge in some places is 3 feet wide and in others 5 to 6 feet wide – everyone going up and down (major traffic jams) has a vise like grip on the chain (nobody let’s go) so the chain is very polished. At one point Peter foolishly let go of the chain to pass by a woman who was waiting for her friend to come down. Rethinking his move in letting go of the chain and his safety, his arm shot out to grab the chain and went right through the her legs at the woman’s crotch. – It was an embarrassing moment , at least for Peter.

He apologized and she said don’t worry about it, up here the rules are different! Her attitude was pretty laid back. Also on this hike younger hikers stopped Peter several times expressing concern regarding his safety and ability to complete the hike. Actually it was an invigorating experience for him. His extreme hiking days are far from over. In fact he purchased a t-shirt at the gift shop indicating he completed the Angels Landing hike.

While Peter completed Angels Landing JY did a far shorter and more serene hike, Lower Emerald Pools.

Every RV park we have stayed at so far has been enjoyable. The park in Glendale, Utah was also a working farm/ranch and we had freh eggs for breakfast. We got to know our neighbors, a retired couple from Albuquerque. We met up with them for dinner in the next town, Torrey and had dinner together. Hopefully we will meet up with them again as they have friends in Phoenix and we have friends in Albuquerque.

From the same RV park we headed out to check out Bryce Canyon National Park. Before we got to Bryce we hiked Red Canyon which was beautiful as you can see in the picture. We had perfect hiking weather that morning. However by afternoon it started snowing lightly, then hail, then rain, then wind – several weather conditions in one day.

Peter had planned to hike down into the canyon the next day but it rained all day so he scrapped that idea. Instead we went that night to a country and western dinner theater just outside the park. It was a 3 hour concert including dinner. It was a fun time and we met all the performers after the dinner.

The next day Peter did hike 2 miles down to the bottom of Bryce Canyon and did the Peekaboo Trail which is a 6 mile round trip. While Peter hiked JY had a nice lunch at the lodge and read a book in frontof the fireplace in the lobby.

The scenery was indescribable in Bryce Canyon. Photos can not do it justice. Peter met professional photographer on the trail who said he could spend a whole year down at the bottom of the canyon during all four seasons and still not get it all.

The next day we broke camp and moved on to visit Capital Reef National Park and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

One day we explored Capital Reef . We drove deep into Capital Reef and Peter hiked down a canyon for about a mile to see some pictographs on the canyon walls. Immediately on the other side of the canyon about half way up a 500 foot flat vertical wall were the names of 5 settlers carved into the rock about half way up with the date September 20, 1911.

After a day of rest we went to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument where we had hired a private guide to drive us around the monument and take us on some short hikes. Our guide was very knowledgeable. We learned about the areas geology, culture, plants and animals. During our 7-hour tout he also showed us petroglyphs and pictographs along some ancient native American pottery. The trip also included

several natural arches and tunnel caves. The surprise of the trip came when we were walking along a narrow trail and he stopped and said very calmly “Oh look at that!” We looked down and there was a 3 foot rattlesnake coiled up like a cinnamon roll about a foot and a half from us. – JY jumped out of the way as fast as can be. It was cold out and the snake was sleeping and lethargic, then it suddenly woke up and took off in the opposite direction (thank god) – it moved about 2 feet away and turned and watched us – after a couple of pictures we quickly moved on. We were a little goosey from that point on and

got nervous every time when our guide nonchalantly said, “Oh look at that.” When our guided tour was over we drove back down hwy 12 which is classified as one of America’s most scenic (and dangerous) highways. If the driver isn’t paying attention it would be easy to drive off the road and down a 1,500 foot cliff. If that did happen Peter says they would just throw a bucket of flowers into the gorge and say “Rest in peace – Amen.” We did purchase a t-shirt saying “I survived Highway 12”.

About halfway down the mountain we stopped at a restaurant that was recommended by some Flagstaff friends and “foodies”. This award winning “destination” restaurant called Devil’s Backbone Grill is named after a local geological formation. It’s a gorgeous restaurant, all organic of course. Peter had an elk steak an JY had a tea cup of really good posole and a tamale. Both were good but pricy.

The next day we headed up towards Lake Tahoe. Still in Utah we “boondocked” at a truck stop before crossing the Nevada border. Then we crossed the Bonneville Salt Flats. It has the measured mile of land-speed records with a top speed 622 mph s in 1970. That has probably been been broken since then.  Peter of course collected a couple of chunks of salt and is attempting to preserve them in the freezer.

It’s quite a dramatic landscape. There is a Morton Salt Factory. Imagine huge piles of salt (and blood pressure rising.)

We spent a rainy night in Elko but managed to get an early start the next day. Arrived at our RV park in Dayton, Nevada and they had no record of our reservation.  We had a lively discussion with the owner and he finally admitted that he had talked with us before as we did know his name.  We finally got the pull through site that we had requested when I originally talked to him. Life lesson – don’t make plans to stay in an RV Park when the owner won’t take a deposit or give you a confirmation number.

We are here in Dayton for 8 days before we travel to San Francisco to catch the cruise.  We will leave the truck and travel trailer with somebody Peter found through other contacts who will keep it in a locked compound for 21 days while we go on our Alaska Cruise.  The guy has a business that repairs those huge wind turbines – we signed a legal contract saying he would take care of our truck and travel trailer for 21 days for $300, a pretty good deal.

On Wednesday May 24th we took a drive around Lake Tahoe. In the morning it was freezing. JY got out out of the car and immediately got back in. Too damn cold! We found a coffee house appropriately named “IV Coffee Lab.” We then continued our 7-hour, 130 miles drive around gorgeous Lake Tahoe. We stopped for sight seeing and had lunch in Tahoe City along the water front.  By afternoon the sun had mostly come out but there were intermittent snow flurries. Peter gets little souvenirs everywhere we go. In Lake Tahoe he filled a small bottle with snow that now of course is Lake Tahoe water.  

In the meantime we are at our RV Park in Dayton, a very small city, a few miles from Carson City. Lots of history around here. And yesterday we woke up sick. Went to Urgent Care where as you know docs are reluctant (for good reason) to prescribe anti-biotics. After we did get prescriptions we went next door to the casino to have breakfast.

We woke up to a perfect day and feeling a little better. We leave Sunday headed for California where we will store our travel trailer and truck in San Leandro. Then we will uber into San Francisco to spend the night. Next day we will board for a cruise a 21-day cruise to Alaska for another part of our adventure. Got a call late yesterday from the Cruise Company telling us that Holland America had upgraded us from an interior cabin to one with a balcony for a total of $118 for the entire cruise.