Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2011  We are a little concerned about getting a campsite at Bryce, they are all first come, first serve.  Zion was packed.  All of our trip so far has been “winging it” for campgrounds and campsites, with the exception of Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone.  We had called ahead and  ended up disappointed.  One out of how many?  Again, we get lucky.  We have a beautiful wooded site with a gorgeous field then forest. Hey! Where are the Hoo Doos we’ve heard all the hype about??

Oct 1, 2011  Wowza! Wowza! Wowza!  The Hoo Doos are a short hike from our site.  This land is amazing.  You turn one way and see green trees, fields and mountains for miles and miles.  Then you turn the other way and there are Hoo Doos (rock formations) with pastels of red and corals that treat your eyes to such splendor that they twinkle in delight.   Someone we had talked to “along the way”  had recommended taking the Free Rainbow Bus Tour first.  The tour takes you from one end of the park to the most remote (18 miles) edge of the park.  Our guide, Spike, was GREAT.  He entertained us with humor and knowledge. He gave us great hiking tips. Have I said we hiked until our legs fell off before?  We do it again.  The Navajo Loop was the best … No, Wall St … No, the China Wall … No Tower Bridge … No, Fairy Loop … No… you get my drift.  Every hoo doo, bristlecone pine, switchback, you are in a different country, fantasyland, geological wonder!  This is David”s favorite place  … so far.  It was ANOTHER one of my favorites. To late, I found out about it’s astrological location being one of the best for viewing.  I’m coming back for sure!

Oct 2, 2011  We don’t want to leave Bryce. The hiking was not only great, but I have to mention our campsite.   In the field behind it we had a heard of mule deer entertaining us whenever we were there.  When we couldn’t hike anymore and needed to rest, we could just sit and watch.   One more hike in the morning and then on the road again. Destination North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Sep 28 – 30,  2011  We’re back tracking a little, headed more north than east.  Headed to Zion we have to go back near Las Vegas.  To avoid Vegas traffic we detour through Lake Mead and take Hwy 169 again, no complaints here.  It’s on my list of favorites. Views! View! Views!   Lots of hills getting here and Old Bessie is running like a champ.  Going this way takes us over the New Hoover Dam Bridge. I was all excited and ready with my camera.  Poop! No views!  They “jersey barriered” the dickens out of it. All I could see was concrete.

ZION … Can their be anywhere as cool as The Badlands?? YES! ZION! We get lucky with a first come, first serve campsite at the South Campground in the park. We are right there.  Views, shuttles to all the trails and into the town of Springdale. The Pa’rus bike trail and Virgin River are feet from our site.  Heaven! I’m in Heaven! We hike the West Rim trail up, up, up, up literally to heaven!  We are headed to Angels Landing. We chicken out about 3/4 of the way to the top. There’s something about cliff hiking that’s scary.  Even though we chicken out, David says this is his favorite hike yet.  Now he’s kicking himself in the butt and wants to go again and go all the way.  Next Time!  My favorite hike was the Grotto. It was all “pools” beside the rock formations along the edge of the river. It was a hot day and at one of the falls David and I stuck our heads under the cold, cold water to cool off.  It was sooooo refreshing!

Sept 30, 2011 The only reason we were excited to leave Zion was in anticipation of driving up the canyon, zig zagging along the switchbacks (no guardrails here) and through the Mount Carmel Tunnel.  What a thrill!! I am getting to be such a pro, I didn’t even need my “bail out bag” . David and Old Bessie handled the challenge like champs. What an experience. Then for the “Grand Finally” The views at the top,  looking back  at the canyon were “stupendous”! Wow! Wow! Wow! Can this get any better?

Heading to Bryce Canyon we travel Route 12 and get the “road show” of Red Rock Canyon, pretty neat. We drive through a couple of cool rock arches. If Bryce is a let down we might check out Red Rock Park on the return trip.  We are seeing the most unbelievable and  beautiful places.  What a magnificent Country we live in.

Set 27, 2011  Our campground host tells us we don”t want to miss going to Oatman.  It’s an old western town. It’s where Carey Grant and Carol Lombard sent there honeymoon.  He says bring carrots and feed them to the burrows that hang around the town.  We drive 13 miles out Old Route 66 into the desert.  Oatman is a must go to. We laughed so hard.  I got head butted by “Jackie” a very friendly burrow. She chased us into a store. She chased me down the street … all in pursuit of our carrots.  I sent postcards with special burrow cancellations from the “Ole” post office.  We watched a “shoot out” in the street put on by The Shriner’s.  They do it several times a day and pass a hat for donations for the Children’s Hospital. During the “shoot out” a parade of about 20 “Jackie’s” came walking down the middle of the street.  The sound of the guns must be like a calling for them.  They know there will be lots of tourists and lots of carrots. David had hid our bag of carrots and after the shoot out he retrieved them and was swarmed by burrows.  I laughed so hard.  I wasn’t touching those carrots again. … those burrows are carrot crazy!!!  The town takes you back in time to the Old West in such a fun way.  I could have spent the whole day there.  Next stop  Bryce and Zion Canyons.  We stop in Mesquite, Nevada at the Oasis RV Park ($22). It is right at the Arizona border and the base of a huge mountain.  David figures we’ll give Old Bessie a rest and then tackle the mountain in the morning when it’s cool.

Sept 22 – 26,  2011  Headed for Bakersfield, CA to visit my brother, Bill.  We’re almost there and the transmission in Old Bessie starts to act weird. We’re thinking if it had to happen at least we made it to Bill’s and not somewhere in the middle of the desert.  We take Old Bessie to a “Transmission Doctor”.  She needs minor surgery, but  they can’t do it til Monday.  It’s only Friday and Bill doesn’t drive, so we rent a car.  One of the things we wanted to do was “cruise” the Pacific Coast Hwy.  Don and his wife (from the Mojave Campground) had recommended “scenic”  Rt 58.  David’s worst driving nightmare yet. Thank God we’re in a car not Old Bessie. We got lucky again.  Route 58 is scenic, but it would have been a challenge even for Mario Andretti in an RV.  Again, David did extremely well.

Along the coast was wonderful. One of the locals that we met, he was collecting buckets of sand and putting them in his car to take home for his kids sandbox, recommended Moonstone Beach.  It has a long boardwalk that goes for a couple of miles along the ocean. Seals lounge along the beach and rocks. More beautiful ocean views.

A little farther up the road I spot ZEBRAS! David thinks I’m seeing things.  It’s the Hearst Castle grounds. We drive up to the Castle, thinking maybe go for a tour.  It was closing time, but the tours were $25. We enjoyed the grounds and seeing the castle from afar.  We also missed eating at a restaurant that was recommended, Sebastions, across from the Castle. It’s only open until 4:00 p.m. Next time!   We found another restaurant and sat ocean side enjoying the sights, smells and sounds.   We took an alternate route home to Bills, through wine country.  Another nice day.

Sept 24, 2011  Bill has to work so David and I head off to spend the day at Famoso Drag Strip, about 20 miles north of Bakersfield.  It’s a very, very old track with lots of drag racing history.    We have a cook out with Bill and spend a nice evening catching up.

Sept 25, 2011  Hang out in Bakersfield shopping and running errands with Bill.  He works the afternoon and then we go out for authentic Mexican, delicious.

Sept 26, 2011  We are up at 6:00 a.m. and take Old Bessie to the transmission shop.  Thinking positive, we head back to Bill’s and say our goodby’s.  It’s sad leaving Bill, but we are ready to continue our adventure.  Old Bessie needed an electronic shift selector module $335. “Phew!”  She’s running good as new.  We head down I 40 and spend an uneventful night in Needles, California at The Desert View RV Resort, right on the Arizona border.  We’re headed north east now.

Sept 20 – 21, 2011 Headed to California. I thought it was going to be a boring driving day. I 15 in Arizona turned out to be a treat. Gorgeous scenery. Then we decided to camp for the night at Lake Mead in Nevada. It took us off I 15 to Hwy 169. Whoa Nellie!!! Absolutely amazing views!!! Zig Zaggy, but a treat around every curve. Good Choice!

The Lake Mead Campground had lakeside sites.  Today was one visual treat after another. Oh! a bonus, we got to swim in Lake Mead.

Sept 21, 2011  We are stopping in Las Vegas. David has been watching Barrett Jackson Car Auctions for years.  This weekend they are having a big one at the Mandalay Bay.  We travel I 15 all the way.  David does an amazing job of driving Old Bessie from the North end of the strip all the way to the south end in horrible traffic. Then he parks her in the Mandalay Bay CAR parking.  I had to get out of the RV and move some barrels, but he made it!  Disappointment … the show doesn’t  start  until Thursday.  We can”t stay.  We have plans with my brother, Bill in Bakersfield, California.

Next stop the Sierra Trails RV park in Mojave, California.  It’s a pretty neat campground in the Mojave Desert with views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  The campground is just outside Edwards Air Force Base and close by China Lake Naval Air Weapons Center.  Lots of “Top Secret” restricted areas. The owners of the campground are retired military and real “talkers”.  I can only imagine how lonely it must be living out in the desert.  My “BIG” experience was lifting a garbage can to move it for a photo opportunity of the Sierra Nevada’s and having a scorpion coming running out from under it.  Fortunately, it ran toward a bush not my foot.  Don, the campground owner, said “there’s rattlers, scorpions and bob cats out here.  There’s a bob cat passes by every couple of nights but usually just keeps on going”.  Very interesting.  Time to go now!  On to Bakersfield.

Sept 17 – 20, 2011   Park City, Utah is a “Resort” ski area and town.  Park City was originally a silver mining town. I was able to find Megan (her birthday is Sept 22) a silver Indian necklace with a silver feather and aqua beads.  It matched the shirt I bought her in Jackson Hole perfect, Cowboy and Indian.  The town was neat, but very upscale.

Our next stop was camping in front of Gail and Nancy’s (Ski friends of David’s) house in Salt Lake City.  they have two awesome dogs, Callie and Sophie. I went to the dog park everyday with Nancy, Had my first fly fishing lesson with Gail.

They lent us one of their cars and David and I spent the day at one of David’s favorite places in the whole world, Snowbird. We took the (ski) chair lift  up and down the mountain. Then the tram to the top, 11,000 ft elevation.  Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!  It was very nostalgic for David.  We walked down the mountain, following many of the trails he had skied for years.  It took us over 2 1/2 hours. Rough on the knees and legs, but we loved every minute. We had a scrumptious  dinner at the infamous Steak Pit.  For avid meat eaters,  it’s the creme da la creme to order a “baseball” at the Steak Pit.

We had a  glinch with the heater in the RV and made an appointment to have it fixed while we were at Gail and Nancy’s.  We were lucky the  repairman came to their house.   It was a minor repair.  Even luckier the repairman told us there had been a recall on our 20 year old fridge, a fire hazard. The repairman fixed it on the spot with no cost to us.  That was very, very lucky.

We all went to the neatest restaurant , The Black Bear Diner. They had fresh from the oven biscuits as big as Zach”s foot and bear claws for dessert!   It was a wonderful fun filled three days.  Next Stop California.

Sept 11 – 14,  2011   First Bison,  spotted just inside Buffalo Bill State Park HWY 14/16/20 Cody Wyoming.

Entering Yellowstone on HWY 14, east entrance. We missed a couple of “steam pots” because we didn’t know what they were. Got VERY excited when we saw our “first” herd of buffalo.  We got “caught” in our first “tourist trap” campground ($32) Fishing Bridge Campground in the park. . Sandwiched in, worse than parking at Walmart.  The picture showed it like it was on Yellowstone Lake. No picnic table, no fire pit, no grass, just a piece of pavement. Fortunately we’re only here one night. We do have water and sewer. No electricity “it;s under construction”.  Maybe I’ll see a bear and it’ll make it better.  David said “Don’t forget to write, we saw an Eagle today.”

Sept 12/13, 2011 I don’t know where to begin, I am in awe.  Did we see Bison? One bison, a herd in a pasture grazing, one walking down our bike path!  We have seen more geological wonders than I ever knew existed. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, The Falls, Geysers, Hot Springs … simply amazing.  We have hiked until we can’t feel our legs anymore.  Our bike ride was cut short by a  territorial bison, but everything is so exciting and fun. I don’t have any favorites. I love EVERYTHING I’m seeing. There are no words or pictures that can do justice in describing this place.  David and I question so many things. Is there any place better than this? What did the indians or early settlers make of all this? A lot of what we saw was formed after the earthquake in 1959.  It’s a little scary how the earth is ever changing.”

Sept 14, 2011   We finish off our last possible “booklet” The West Thumb.  The park guide is in 7 sections or booklets.  We are not able to do 2 because of elevation, time and a little poor planning. On a whole we thought we did excellent for first timers.  We did get to see an elk crossing the road. I was so excited that my only proof is a photo of the rear section of the elk going into the woods.

This is a big check mark off the bucket list.  Would we come back? In a heartbeat.  There is sooo much more to see.

Sept

Sept 10 – 11,  2011   Middle Fork Campground in the Big Horn National Forest on HWY 16, Wyoming Elevation 7,377 only 9 campsites. We are camped beside a beautiful stream. I’m hoping to see a bear or a moose. We go for a walk, not a hike in the campground. If you”re a real hiker you’d never leave this part of the country.   $7.50 Senior

Sept 11, 2011 No Bears!  Drats!  We head out early (7:00 a.m.) on HWY 16 . Are we in for treats. First, lots of deer, then elevation, phew! 9,692 tops! Then the views.  This portion of the Highway is called the Cloud Peak Skyway. David said “This beats Snowbird!” What is a word better than breathtaking? Every person in the world should have the opportunity to see something this beautiful at least once.    This is way beyond my dreams and expectations.

Sept 9 – 10, 2011  Mount Rushmore Elevation 5,241

Sad to leave The Badlands, but we left with fabulous views along HWY 240. Mount Rushmore was more overwhelming in it’s historical,   spiritual and controversial meaning than just the visual.  The artistic value held true to the foundation of the meaning “we the people”.  Although the creator was an artist, the actual builders were everyday people.  There is just so much more depth to the sculpture than just a formation on a mountain. I LOVED it!   We stayed at a great campground Rafter J Bar Ranch, adjacent to the 109 mile George S. Mickelson bike trail.  Very nice hot tub.

Sept 10, 2011  We biked 9 miles of the 109 mile bike trail, leaving the other 100 for the next time, or younger adventurers.

We’re leaving the Black Hills of South Dakota and headed for Wyoming and Yellowstone. The way the scenery changes from mountains to grasslands to plains is amazing. We are thoroughly enjoying the scenery. The hours on the road really are flying by.

Sept 7 – 8, 2011

Once we got into South Dakota on I 90 my greatest concern was do we have enough gas. Talk about God”s Country. We saw a Windmill making factory. I like to think they’ll be an important energy of the future.

THE BADLANDS

Wow! Wow! Wow! I had no concept. We’ve been to the Grand Canyon and we both agree this experience was so much more enjoyable, because we were able to camp in the middle of it all and camp the trails right from our site. Driving through the canyons was phenomenal. I aquired a fear for heights and had to get over it quickly or miss out on the amazing views.

The Notch Trail should be called the Ledge Trail. You climb a 56 log rung ladder and walk a 1/2 – 3/4 mile ledge skirting a cliff. David and I made it up the ladder and about 1/4 mile of ledge.  When the ledge was only about 3 feet wide in front of us we decided to back track.  This was too early in the trip to fall off a cliff. We hiked one trail more beautiful than the next until our legs were ready to fall off.  I lost count of how many overlooks we viewed, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! The Badlands are right up there with the Grand Canyon, Sequoia National Park and Yosemite for me. Ten stars in my book. The campground was escellent. Electric only, first come first serve, no showers, flush toilets, poop dum and fresh water. $14 senior