Coffee with Angels & Wine at 8000'

I woke up this morning, made some coffee and sat upfront in the RV to watch the sunrise on the hills. I thought about plans for the day. On the bicycle ride yesterday I talked to another biker (really retired old guy) who told me about a hike he had done a couple of times before called Angels Landing. So as I sat that drinking my coffee at 7:30am I thought WWDD? What Would Drew Do? Hit the trail TNAB style! (fast up and fast down!). So by 8:30am I'm on the trail! The posted sign said "strenuous" 5 miles / 4 hours round trip. The first two miles is on a paved trail cut into the side of the canyon with many switch backs. I'm glad I was there early and in the shade. It then tops out at a saddle and there the fun begins. The last half mile is on a true knife edge with thousand foot drops on both sides. There is a trail with cuts into the rocks and sections of chain bolted to the side to hold on to. I'm not shamed to admit I used the chain. It was a rock scramble along ledges and up faces. The puts you out on a rock platform with views up and down the canyon. For most of my time up there I was alone drinking my coffee with the Angels. It was 9:30 am. I enjoyed the view, took pictures and was thankful for the chance to be there. After a scramble off the ridge and a quick decent I was back at the RV by 11 and on the road. (There were at least 50 people going up as I was coming down.) I drove up to the end of the canyon road because I could before they close it to traffic for the summer and back out of the park.

Start of the trail up to the saddle and Angels Landing on the right.

View from the saddle.

The "trail" out to Angels Landing.

The view up to the headwall of the canyon.

The view down river.

Coffee with the Angels.

Happy Morning.

Narrowest and most exposed on both sides.

There is a mile long tunnel with narrow lanes and low ceiling. On the way into the park I had to pay an extra $15 because they stop two-traffic in the tunnel and let vehicles like mine drive down the middle of the road.

Red cliffs along Rt 12.  A bonus.

Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon looking from the other side.

One for the dog lovers :-)  To bad humans can't read.

I went 90 miles and next stop Bryce Canyon National Park. Zion is IN a canyon. Bryce is on TOP of a canyon and looking down. The most spectacular stop is the Bryce Lookout. An unbelievable open area of rock formations. I wandered around for a few hours. The campground at Bryce is at 8000' and there's still lots of snow around. No RV electric hookup tonight so I'll be boondocking (which means living off the batteries: so into bed early to keep the thermostat (the furnace fan draws a fair amount of electricity), a movie on the iPad (Cars) and French Press coffee in the morning). Opened a bottle of wine to toast a great day. Despite the elevation I think I'll sleep well.

Zion NP

As I've been driving through Northern Arizona and into Utah I feel like I'm in the Disney movie "Cars".  This has to be the area they were using as a model. It might also be all the NASCAR race trailers passing me on the road. It was nice to off the interstate and see more of the interesting state.  From Flagstaff part of the normal road was closed because of a washout and the detour went up and over to the north access point for the Grand Canyon.  Miles climbing up from the valley floor and over evergreen forested peaks at 7000 feet plus and into Zion.

US 89 heading towards lower Glen Canyon.

The road loops around to below the hills.  The Colorado River is in-between.

Just to get a little perspective on the size.

Sand stone hills on east entrance into Zion National Park.  I think you could stand in one place and take pictures all day.

The road though parts of Zion.  It's amazing how the made it though the hills.

Impressive sights.

I made it to the camp ground in the park around 3pm.  There is an eight mile dead end road up Zion Canyon that starting on Sunday will be closed to cars/traffic for the season.  Everyone has to take a shuttle bus.  The park is so popular with limited space it's the only way they can keep the roads open.  I only had one night in the camp ground.  When I looked online yesterday it was the only site available.  I asked the ranger when I checked in and they said things are booked already through the summer.  Crazy lucky me.

So I was trying to decide what to do: Drive up tonight?  Wait until morning?  Unhook the trailer?  Then I thought WWMD?  What Would Mike Do?  So I hopped on the bicycle and road the 8 miles up stream into the canyon?  There wasn't that much incline and the bicycle pace was awesome for seeing everything.  Deer along side the road.  Wild turkeys. Breathing cliffs up the canyon walls.  And a nice payoff on the ride back downstream.

Vistas everywhere.

Zion Canyon and Virgin River.

I did find a sport I haven't tried yet.  Drysuit river hiking.  There were people coming down the trail with full drysuits on.  Seems people hike up the trail until it gets to narrow, put on the drysuit and walk/swim up the narrow part of the canyon in the water.

Impressive cliff faces.

On my way by I noticed people looking up.

There were two climbers about half way up the face! (Blue dot)

An overview of Zion.

The Watchman Peak and camp ground for the night.

Actually I think the Winnebago would fit right into "Cars".  Do people start looking like their vehicles?

Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

Making my way west still along I-40.  I stopped and went through Petrified Forest National Park.  From the freeway looking out there seems to only be flat high-country desert but as you drive into the park the canyons open up.  All the different colors come from the deposits that occurred over time and are now exposed from natural erosion.

Aptly named Painted Desert.  This is a photo and not a painting.

Painted Desert.

Petroglyphs on a rock face near an old Pueblo.

It's hard to see in the photo but there are layers of purple and blue in the mesa.

It looks like a rotted log you'd see in the forest in Washington.

There are piles and piles of petrified logs spread around the desert.  The geologists believe at one point this was a forest near the equator and with time and continental drift the trees fell, were covered with silt and given a few millions of years turned to stone.

A new landscaping option: Petrified Wood Chips.

This was sign at one of the pull offs.  A picture of Mt St. Helens.  Future petrified wood.

Driving west towards Flagstaff, AZ with Humphreys Peak in the distance.  Highest point in Arizona at 12,637 feet.

As I was walking around the park I checked the time and kept going.  A short while late I check again and it was the same time.  At first I thought my phone was broken then I realized what was going on.  I had moved into the mountain time zone in New Mexico but Arizona doesn't follow day light saving and my phone hadn't caught up up.  I just happen to look at between changes.  This whole place is about changes through time.

Windy Day

The RV seemed to be doing ok yesterday.  I'm making my way across I-40  I picked up a new noise towards the back but I think it's a strap on the roof in the wind resonating above 45 mph.  It was heavy winds all day.  And a scary moment on the road.  I was driving along and the freeway and a truck was passing me and as it was half way past started to drift off to the the left towards the meridian.  I thought they would correct and get back in the lane but they kept going off the road!  The truck at full speed drove across the grass meridian, across the east bound lanes, off the other side of the road and up a small embankment before it came to a stop.  What a crazy site.  I don't think they hit anything or anyone.  I'm lucky they didn't try to correct and come back across my lane from the dirt.  I'm guessing the driver just let the momentum go forward or would have for sure jack knifed.  There was no place to stop and see if they were okay.  I called 911 and kept going although slower for awhile.  It could have been a gust of wind or just got they distracted.  I stopped down the road to get gas and asked some guys that pulled in behind me.  They didn't see the accident happen but saw the truck off the road and thought it was a strange place to be "parked".

I probably crossed the shortest part of Texas.  Only 178 miles.  Texas is one of those states that can take days.  I've been to Texas a few times before in my past and didn't find a reason to stop this time through.  I often wonder how they decided on the boundaries of states.  I suppose often it's rivers.  Sometimes it's just straight lines with now difference from one side or the other.  But crossing Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico it's also the geography.  Oklahoma had rolling green hills of farms. Texas was flat and dry.  There were more hills on the ocean in Key Largo then the ranches in Texas.  Then as you head west the buttes appear in the distance and you start climbing in elevation.  The landscape turns to short pines and sage brush.  I think it is the landscape that makes the people they way there are and gives the place it's feel.  I've been hoping from KOA to KOA as I make my distance west and last night was in Albuquerque.  It was the first camp ground I've seen surrounded by barbwire.  The checkin host said it used to be out in the country but the city sprawl has surrounded it.  It felt okay for the night but glad I'm not staying.  Time to roll on.

Texas flat.

For such a big state they had a small sign.

Climbing into New Mexico.

Now that's a sign.

View from the camp ground in Albuquerque.  Glad to be parked.

Failure to Ignition

A bit of a rough day. At my first stop for gas this morning I got stuck at the pump. Filled up. Went in for coffee. Came out and couldn't get the RV started. It would turn over but not start.  Seemed like poor ignition.  I had had noticed the last couple of days it would start once I let the key go back to the "on"position.  The know problem with these engines and slow turnover with hot engines had also gotten worse lately but with a new starter heat shield it seemed better.  So I waited awhile. Tried some different things with spare parts I had and after an hour of no change I called AAA. While I was waiting I started reading my chassis manual and it mentioned the ignition switch as a possible problem. I tried again, wiggled the key and got it started!  Stalled!  Started again! Pulled away from the pump and waited for the tow. I talked it over with the driver and decided to get it towed away. Not sure I should trust it back on the freeway.  While he was loading it on the flatbed ( once forward and then backwards to get it to fit) I called the closest Auto Zone and they had a switch. So instead of going to the nearby Camping World he dropped me, the RV and the trailer in the parts store parking lot. Camping World was closed anyway.  I bought the switch, put it in and seems to have fixed the issue. I started and stopped it multiple times without issue so decided to press on. Made it another 50 miles to the next KOA before dark and parked for the night. Relief.  While at the parts store I bought some new spare tuneup parts just in case.

Miles traveled:  183 miles under own power.  5 miles free ride.

Iced tea, Buffalo burger and home-made coconut cream pie at the Cherokee Trading Post to end the day.  Tomorrows another try.

What's wrong with this picture?  Everything!

A week in the life on a farm.

I finished up spending a week working on a family farm in southeast Missouri. The farm is a member of an origination called WWOOF (www.wwoofusa.org) that's connects people willing to work/learn/experience organic farming with farms needing help and willing to teach.





I helped repair an old pig shed. My new ATV came in handy for dragging it though the field to its new home. The the ATV also worked well for moving downed timber into the woods.

40 acres. 7 goats (and 5 new babies). 4 dogs. 3 horses. 2 pigs. One nice place.

10 day old babies enjoying their first romp outside.  Sometimes they would just jump straight up into the air because the could.

It's very early in the growing season but it was the beginning of baby goat time. While I was there I got to see three baby goats born. What a crazy amazing sight. Within 30 minutes of being born the babies are up and wobbly walking around.

This was a very large single baby buck born seen here about 20 minutes after being born.

Two babies up and about in their first hour.

Besides fixing a few things here and there my main contribution was helping finish a fence around some new goat pastures. It was like the satisfaction of putting in the last piece of a puzzle. Completion that enclosed a new picture.

The buck goats and their guard dog enjoying the newly reinforced fenced in pasture.

I wondered why there needed to be "farm stores" and why they couldn't just get stuff from Home Depot but the fencing is one example of how things work differently on a farm. It seems like most things need to be heavy duty to servive. The animals are hard on everything.

(So far) I managed to not experience the electric fence that surrounds the fields. I did touch it once but it must have been inbetween pulse because I didn't get shocked.

A chicken named Maureen who was stalking me.

Highlights:

Woken up by roosters.

Watch a goat being born

Eating goat for dinner.

Homemade goat cheese.

Best bacon Ever!

Fresh eggs.

Quiet nights and peeping frogs.

I have a better understanding how living on a farm makes you closer to the earth.