Where Oh Where Have I Been?!!

January 24, 2008

You’d think I’d learn…the longer I wait to do an update, the harder it is to conjure up memories. Well, no one said I was the brightest bulb in the refrigerator. Anyway, I’ll give it a try. Firstly, I must tell you of another couple that joined us at Zane Grey Campground. That would be Paul and Donna Chambers who have been lifelong friends of the Carters. We met them last year in Mesa, and had arranged to meet up with us.

I left off with the anticipation of Sedona, AZ. Some of you may know the reputation of Sedona. I was expecting to find the, "beautiful and absolutely wonderful Sedona." Personally, I wasn’t that blown away. That’s not to say it wasn’t beautiful, because it was, including a great hike we took while there.

I believe most people love all the shopping that exists in downtown Sedona. I guess I’ve outgrown my shopping days, so it was no big deal. It was fun to check out several different shops, and I did especially like the doggie store. In there, I found some wonderful drops to add to Blizzard’s food to help control her "doggie breath." It actually works. Our friend Jalene bought a cute tee shirt from the same shop stating that she loved dirty dogs. You have to understand that Jalene and Glenn’s dog, Angus, a white Westie, does not stay clean more than 2 days after a bath. Anyway, the shirt was quite appropriate. I found a great sweatshirt, and we liked getting our exercise walking around, but that was about the extent of it.

Personally, Mike and I both enjoyed Jerome, AZ much more.
Jerome is an old copper mining town that had once been the 4th largest city in Arizona back in the 1920’s. Like so many other places during the Depression, Jerome’s peak population of 15,000 began to decline. After the demand for copper diminished after WWII, it continued to decline and had only about 100 people living there who promoted the town as a Historical Ghost Town. Around 1967, it was declared a Nation Historical District, and has thrived as a tourist mecca ever since.

Jerome has done a great job of preserving its original buildings along with its charm. Granted, most buildings house different shops, but we found them more fun and fascinating than Sedona’s. We spent an hour or so walking around and stopping in various shops to check out the local artisan’s creations. We decided to have lunch at this great place. Jerome Palace – Haunted Hamber sits high atop a hill, well actually, everything in Jerome is high atop one steep hill or another. They don’t call it the mile high city for no reason…duh! Anyway, we had a great view, great food and atmosphere, and were well worth the wait to be seated, plus the hike up the steep hill.

After lunch, we checked out the Douglas Memorial Mining Museum, Jerome State Park. Once again, we were pleased with the value of our $6 entry fee. This beautiful mansion sits atop a hill that is situated below the town itself, and provides a great perspective of how the town of Jerome almost teeters on the side of a hill. It becomes quite obvious why so many buildings, including the original jail, slid off their foundations. It also provides a view of some of what remains of the abandoned copper mines, along with a magnificent view of several canyons and mountains.
The mansion itself belonged to the Douglas family who founded and operated the mines. The mansion and its grounds, including a magnificent stone wall, have been restored and preserved by the State Park Service. It is immediately apparent how magnificent and grand the home had once been. A 25-minute film of the history of Jerome proved to be quite entertaining. One of the most fascinating factors, to me, was how wonderful and modern the bathroom had been. I hope to go back to Jerome and try to absorb a bit more of the history and its beauty.

Our next big adventure was taking a ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. We paid the extra for "first class" seats on the vintage train that took us on a four-hour ride through the Verde Canyon. It was a slow 2 hour ride each direction, with us returning to the station right at sunset. UNBELIEVABLE!

Our biggest hope on the train excursion was that we would get to see some interesting wildlife. We were told that the day before (naturally) that a mountain lion was sighted just a few yards from the train. Also, there was reported to be javelinas in the areas along the tracks, and bald eagles. Well, as we all know how my luck runs, we saw no mountain lion, no javelinas, BUT old eagle eyed Mike spotted a bald eagle off in the distance and we did get to witness that magnificent bird in flight. Unfortunately, the pictures that Mike took did not capture the wonder, as it was too far in the distance. Regardless, we all absolutely loved the ride.
Well, I realize this is the Reader’s Digest version, but I’m approaching the end of this update. After the train ride, we all packed up and headed to Mesa, arriving here on October 26th. As anticipated, we immediately got involved in the tennis league again. We’ve had many a gathering with friends, but have not planned any trips as of yet. Mike’s sister and her husbancd will be coming here in March so hopefully we’ll get some fun things squeezed in between the tennis tournaments.

We hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as we did with our kids and grandkids in Iowa. Only the love for all of them would get us to the bitter cold and snow of Iowa in December. I most likely will not do anymore updates until I have something really interesting to report. Keep the faith, and I’ll be back with more before too long.

UTAH SPEED TRAPS

UTAH’S SPEED TRAPS

Can you believe it, I’m actually doing another update on the same day. First, I need to explain my heading for this update. We discovered that Utah, being a large state with a LOT of unpopulated area, has a very unique (well, at least to me) way of controlling speeders. More than once we encountered a squad car sitting in a conspicuous area. Granted, since we could spot it quite easily, Mike doublechecked to make certain he was not speeding. As we approached the car we noticed that the officer sitting behind the wheel was not moving. No wonder, he was a dummy. We laughed so hard, we couldn't resist capturing one of them on film. Hey! That was clever, wasn’t it…”capturing.” Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

From the beginning of this journey it has been my hope that we would encounter all sorts of wildlife. Granted, spotting the bighorn sheep ranks at the top of my excitement chart, but I must admit that for the most part I have been disappointed. The most abundant wildlife we've seen has been the darned raven. They are EVERYWHERE. No wonder old Edgar Allan was afraid of them. They must have scared off all the other wildlife. We did manage to see a few mule deer (whooppee!), chipmunks (another whooppee!), and jackrabbits (oh yeah, BIG whooppee!). Oh yes, I almost forgot, we saw cows too. Need I say more?

Ok, a highlight. Mike, Glenn, Jalene, and I set out on a “strenuous” hike in Zion National Park one day. I figured as long as we went at a steady pace I should be able to manage it. Well, strenuous is not quite the right adjective to describe our precipitous ascent up the mountain (850 feet). The trail kept getting narrrower, rockier, and steeper, but we trekked on. I could handle the rock steps, the extremely narrow area that could handle only one person at a time, and even the area that was one step away from the edge and you had to hug the rock and hang onto a chain, but when the needlelike path continued on around a bend without a chain, I turned to Mike and said, "I've seen enough." We turned and headed back down, but the Carters showed us up and continued on. Well, Mike and I enjoyed our lunch on a nice overlook on the way back down, thank you very much.

While in Zion, I had read about Grafton, a ghost town where they had filmed the bicycling scene for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The book in which I had read about Grafton painted a wonderful picture of traveling for 9 miles on a byway (dirt road) and viewing a rock formation that was not seen from other roadways (as in paved). Well, we set out, never found the rock formation, and almost went right by the ghost town (road signs were not a big factor in this adventure), and the town was somewhat of a disappointment. Sadly, funds for restoring must have run out long ago. However, getting to walk into a home that was over 100 years old was sort of cool.

Our next stop along the way was a small town by the name of Kanab, UT. We only stayed a couple of days but managed a couple of road trips. One was along some back roads where we happened upon an adorable donkey who must spend his days standing by the fence waiting for people to notice how cute he is, stop, feed, and pet him. I'll post a picture of him. Our other road trip was to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. WOW!!

Mike nor I had ever seen THE CANYON, except from an airplane. What an experience. There are not enough superlatives to describe the vastness and beauty of it all. If you’ve been there, you know exactly what I’m talking about. We spent the day just driving and stopping along the way to enjoy the view. We were lucky enough to be able to tour the lodge also, as they had closed for the season the day before, but were there cleaning. It is quite magnificent with all the beautiful old log construction. It all made for a perfect day topped off with a small snow storm as we left the park.

From Kanab, we headed to Page, AZ for three days. I hate repeating myself, but once again everything we had heard about Page and Lake Powell lived up to its reputation. The lake is the most amazing blue I’ve ever seen, and with the surrounding rocks, and mountains, it’s indescribable.

We toured Glen Canyon Dam, which is the second largest in America, with Hoover being the largest. We’ve never been to Hoover Dam, but we were certainly impressed with Glen Canyon. Once again, the enormity of such an undertaking back in 1956 is mind boggling. Of course, OSHA wasn’t founded until 1970, so maybe the safety restrictions being more lax makes it even more of an amazing accomplishment. We lucked out with our guide, Rachel. She made the tour a lot more interesting than it may have been otherwise. She was quite knowledgeable and articulate. We were so mpressed with her, we decided to submit a critique of her skills to management in hopes of getting her a raise, or at least a bonus.

I’ll wrap this blog up with a brief description of our raft tour of Glen Canyon. Again, we ended up with a fantastic guide. Because Papa John truly loved his job, he made our 4 hour ride on the Colorado River enjoyable and memorable. This was not a “white water” trip, but more like a float down the river and around mesmerizing bends. One of the more interesting highlights was rafting around Horseshoe Bend, which we had happened to hike from the top the day before. If our backs and rears hadn’t gotten so numb, we could have stayed on the raft indefinitely. Magnificent!

Next stop, Sedona, AZ…

Happy Halloween!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Yep, it’s October 31st, and I’m finally getting around to titillating you with more exciting adventures. If you recall, the last update left you anticipating an offroad trip. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

We did all pile into Glenn’s Jeep another day with the express purpose of offroading along Schafer Trail in Dead Horse Canyon. Before starting out on Schafer Trail, we stopped at the visitor center and enjoyed the spectacular views of the canyon. Never having seen the Grand Canyon, Mike and I were pretty amazed at the enormity of Dead Horse Canyon. While gazing out, we noticed a dirt road winding down the canyon. Yep, that was to be our trail. Actually, it didn’t look all that precipitous, especially when we spotted a Chrysler Grand Caravan trekking along it without difficulty. It would be a piece of cake in Glenn’s Jeep. Hah! Note: The previous journey had started from the bottom, the new journey would be starting at the top!

As anticipated, it didn’t start out too badly. The road itself was a bit bumpy, and filled with potholes, and the view out over the edge was pretty dramatic, but the road itself seemed pretty wide. Remember that old saying about “luring one into a false sense of security?” Well, that was what we did. The farther along we got, the narrower the cowpath became (that’s right, it’s no longer a road). Then we started the “switchbacks”. Holy cow! Why in the world would someone make a road with curves that come back almost 180 degrees on themselves? It makes no sense to me. And to top it all off, it’s on a narrow bit of real estate thousands of feet above a big hole in the ground. Then, just when you don’t think it can get any worse, some jerk comes tooling up the path from the other direction, and you have to look way ahead to find a point that you can pull over so the inconsiderate tourist can pass you. Actually, the stop was a nice respite from the jarring of your brains and body as the jeep bumps, jumps, rattles, and jostles along the way.

As you have undoubtedly figured out, we made it safely down the entire Schafer Trail. It took several hours, but it was quite a ride. We even passed the huge boulder we had seen on the previous attempt. We did all wonder how in the world the Grand Caravan we had seen was capable of traversing the entire trail. You definitely needed a high riding vehicle and four-wheel drive. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to get any photos while on the trail, but the memories are indelible.

We spent a full week in Moab, hiking, touring, biking, and enjoying all that it has to offer. The town of Moab itself is unique, and walking around and enjoying all the shops was a lot of fun. They even have a farmers market every Saturday morning, so we made certain that we partook in the homegrown fare.

Our next stop was Zion National Park. We were fortunate enough to get a campsite within walking and shuttle distance of the park, so we didn’t have to use our vehicles. The park itself decided to stop personal vehicle travel to almost the entire park a few years ago, and started using propane powered shuttles. Talk about a great plan. This not only alleviated traffic back-ups for miles and hours, but also cut way back on pollution. The frequency of the shuttles keeps everything moving smoothly.

Once again, we were mesmerized by all the different topography. The many different layers of sandstone, limestone, etc. and the different formations never failed to inspire awe. We took advantage of the shuttle and road the complete route the first day, stopping at the museum, watching a brief history, and walking different trails as we felt like it. But wait until you hear about our second day there.

The four of us piled into our truck and headed out through Zion for a drive to Bryce Canyon. We originally thought we’d stay a few days there, but the weather was going to be a bit cooler there, so we decided on a day trip instead. To reach Bryce, we passed through a tunnel that had been blasted through the mountain decades before, without all the modern technology of today. Quite a fete. As we exited the tunnel, we noticed some people out of their vehicles and pointing to the side of the road. As we looked, we caught sight of some bighorn sheep. Naturally, we found the first safe place to stop ourselves.

As we were walking along the road, we signaled to another person as he was going past us. He stopped and took up a spot and started taking pics with some very sophisticated camera equipment. We held lenses, etc. for him, and helped him as much as we could. He was so appreciative of our having signaled him and helping him, that he sent us his website (http://tbmoniz.zenfolio.com/). When you go through the pics that are marked "recently added," start on page 12, and you'll see the bighorn sheep. This guy is pretty talented, and I think you'll enjoy a lot of his pics. I asked him if he was a professional, and he said, “a serious amateur.” Seeing those magnificent animals was truly a highlight of our trip.

Bryce Canyon itself was all that everyone had said it would be, and more. Certainly, just more red mountains with varied striations in both color and structure, but still unique and different at the same time. I wish I was poetic or intelligent enough to explain the complexities of beauty found around every bend, but I can’t. These are nature’s masterpieces that need to be seen, appreciated, and interpreted by each individual lucky enough to experience it in person.

Well, I’m behind again (November 5th), so I’ll just post this much and add some more later. Love to all!!

…to be continued

OMG !!!

OMG!!!

October 17, 2007

OMG!!! That was what we both thought yesterday, when we saw the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. More on that later. First, I need to bring you up-to-date.

We left Crossville, TN on September 10th as planned. Our first stop was in Bloomington, IN to visit my folks for a couple of days, then on to Iowa City to play with the grandkids and their parents. The next stop along the way was Lincoln, NE to see our older son Kevin, and Mike’s mother. After enjoying visits with all, we headed West.

Early evening, on September 24th, we rolled into Moab, Utah. We had not planned on arriving there until the next day, but after driving through the mountains outside of Denver, there wasn’t really much to see along the way, so we kept on trucking. Lots of vast emptiness until we got close to Moab, and then we started seeing dramatic changes in the terrain. Where there had been nothing but flat nothingness, there were suddenly large red rock formations.

Since we had traveled so hard the day before, our first full day in Moab was spent just getting the camper set up, doing laundry, and driving around. We had been blessed with a Harvest Moon on our drive into Moab, so the next evening we headed out away from the lights of the city to enjoy the sheer beauty of it. We were not disappointed. It was a genuine Kodak – National Geographic moment. Any pictures one may have seen of a full moon set against rock formations could not hold a candle to witnessing it firsthand. All that was missing was the coyote baying at it off in the distance. We took a couple of pictures, but due to the simplicity of our camera, that magnificent moon looks like a distant dot. I’ll post a couple of the pictures, but you’ll definitely not be impressed.

Glenn and Jalene Carter joined us at our campground on the 26th. They too had traveled two long hard days to get to Moab. Glenn and Jalene are more experienced at full-time rving, and are superb at planning activities, so we just followed their leads and suggestions. Our first adventure was going to be exploring the Arches National Park. NOTE: If you are 62 or older, and do any sort of traveling, be sure and get your permanent senior pass to our nation’s national parks. It gets you into all of them for free, and gets discounts on campgrounds. Well worth your $10

On Friday, we all went out to the Moab Airport for their fourth annual skydiving show. The skies were clear, the temperature was warm, and the wind was mild when we arrived. Talk about a counter-culture. It reminded me of the kyakers we had encountered in North Carolina a few years before. They definitely walk to a different beat, but fascinating! We got to talk to a few of them, and we even watched them packing parachutes. Some skydivers packed their own chutes, but there were a couple of guys from Iowa who were there specifically to get paid to pack chutes. We watched a few group jumps, and even a few tandem jumps. For one brief moment, I almost talked myself into trying a tandem jump. I had erased it from my “list of things to do before I die,” a few years back, and the excitement of the moment almost made me put it back on the list, but good sense prevailed. I almost thought we could convince Glenn to try it, but he too opted out. The mother of one of the owners tried to convince us that it was a safe sport, and that, “rafters have had deaths, but we have not had a single accident.” Oops, wrong thing to say, because the last day of the show, one diver’s chute failed to open and he perished. I think that is permanently off my list. There’s a message there.

We did several different hikes in the Arches, but especially loved our guided hike to the Firey Furnace. You may think, “big deal, a bunch of big red rocks with holes in them,” but it was much more. The hike took us about a mile and a half into the rocks, with some true scrambling, and some rock hugging through narrow slots along the way. Our guide was terrific. He asked if our group would mind spending a little more time than scheduled, and go on a little side trip. Of course, we all agreed to go along. Boy were we glad we did. This young man trekked us through another narrow formation into a magnificent canyon amphitheater that rose high above. He asked that we all just find a place to sit and be silent for a few minutes. Just sitting there, you could take in the grandeur and serenity of it all. It was truly a spiritual moment.

Another day, we all piled into Glenn’s four-wheel drive Jeep and headed into Dead Horse Canyon. Our intention was to go offroad for some fun. Before we actually got offroad, we got to see some crazy high wall climbers, and some great petroglyphs. When we did get off the main road, we bounced along a bumpy dirt road. As we progressed, we noticed some clouds forming and thought it best to not go too far and get caught on a dirt road that could suddenly become a red, soggy, and possibly flooded road. Just before we decided to turn around, we happened upon a huge precariously balanced boulder that seemed to defy gravity. We did manage to get a great picture of Mike trying to hold it up. The offroad trip was postponed for a while.

…to be continued

One more pic...

Here's a pic I've been trying to get included, and keep having problems. It's our son Kevin with his mom. Enjoy!

MORE PICS!

The pics on the previous post are from Savannah, Hilton Head,our new lot (sorry duplicate)our grandkids, Kate & Atticus, our lovely tennis courts at our campground in Crossville. Enjoy!!!

TIME FOR A SEPARATION?!

August 29, 2007

TIME FOR A SEPARATION?!

We were getting sick of each other, so I checked into the hospital for four days to get a break. Just kidding about being sick of each other, but not about being sick. I’ll elaborate.

As mentioned previously, we were staying here in Crossville, TN until August 15th, and then heading back to Gainesville, GA to follow-up with my gastroenterologist regarding the ulcers he found. Well, we headed back on the 14th, leaving at 5:00 a.m. in order for me to see our Internist, as I had been feeling really lousy, and was not getting any better. In a nutshell, I had been fighting a recurring infection that just wasn’t responding to antibiotics. Saw the PA that morning, got yet another Rx for antibiotics, and was scheduled to see a urologist the following Tuesday. When I went to the gastroenterologist two days later, I was even worse, and he asked if I wanted to be admitted to the hospital and find out what was going on. I said, “yes.”

Long and short of it, I was put on fluids and intravenous antibiotics, had myriad blood tests, and a c-scan. Nothing other than the infection was detected, I finally started feeling human again, and I was released. That first night back home, our wonderful friends, Donnie and Garnett Smith, had us over for dinner with their family. The company was wonderful, with my getting to play with Smith, their 4 month-old grandson, and the food was delicious, especially after the lengthy, lousy, liquid diet in the hospital.

Sitting around the table talking with Garnie and her family was truly cathartic and rehabilitative. I promised her daughter Natalie that I would remark in my blog about Garnett having a recipe for this amazing salad printed on the back of a funeral home fan. It may not seem that funny to others, but we certainly got a good laugh. Mike and I can’t thank them enough for their generous hospitality. By the time we got back home, I was exhausted.

We more or less spent the week just relaxing and hanging out at the camper. We did get over to the clubhouse for lunch a couple of days and saw more of our golf buddies, but other than that, I really wasn’t up for much else. I did get treated to a round of golf with another wonderful friend, Terri Chandler, on Sunday, our last day in Gainesville. I didn’t play very well, but it was good to be out doing what I love. It was wonderful to spend the day with such a dear friend. Mikey could have played too, but he opted to stay at home. Needless to say, I slept the sleep of the dead that night, and arose Monday morning feeling well rested and healthier.

We took off on Monday and drove straight back to Crossville. As of today, we are now officially landowners in Fairfield Glade, TN. We signed all the papers today, then quickly went over to the tennis center to sign-up for lessons tomorrow morning. We will be here until September 10th, and hope to take advantage of all the facilities available to us as members of the community.

For all our tennis buddies in Arizona, by taking lessons, we’re hoping to be in much better form for the winter season than when we left in March. I’m still nursing a pulled hamstring, but I’m hoping the lessons will help regardless. Mike and I are trying to walk down to the tennis courts here in the campground each morning and hit the ball back and forth for about 45 minutes. It’s rather difficult to truly practice good tennis as the cracks have not disappeared from the courts, nor have the weeds. It’s probably futile, but it does give us a little workout. I’m sure Mike will be happy to have someone other than me to whom he can hit the ball.

As of September 10th, we will start making our way to Utah. We plan to meet up with our friends, the Carters, and explore different parks in Utah with them during the month of October. We will then make our way back to Mesa, AZ the first of November. We will stop in Indiana, Iowa, and Nebraska to see family along the way in September. It’s truly amazing how fast the year is passing.

Hopefully the next update will be more exciting. I WILL get some pictures downloaded too. Take care, and love to all!!

….to be continued