10-4-16 - Heat Escape - Day 54

                                                               Bye Bye

The wind finally quit howling during the night.  We woke up to a cool, sunny, 39 degrees.

 We were sad to leave the beautiful Lees Ferry area, but it was time for our next adventure.  It was a beautiful day to relocate.

A couple hours after we left, we were looking for a place to pull over and have our picnic lunch.  The first convenient place was in Kayenta, Arizona.  It was in a parking lot near Church's Fried Chicken.  No need for a sandwich, when you got hot fried chicken.  Dang it was good.

We traveled 226 miles to Homestead RV Park in Kirtland, New Mexico.   The campground is owned by the Mayor of Kirtland.  Jenny is the campground host, we really enjoyed talking to her.  She is a hoot and a half.  The campsites are crowded but they have everything we need, and then some, including direct TV.  The laundry room is the best we have ever seen in a campground.

                                                                Kinda tight

                                                                   Fantastic laundry

Fernykat is so happy she can drink running water.  (She thinks her drinking bowl of water is to play in).  I have to psyche her out when dry docking by pouring water in her bowl at the sink for her to drink. She has explored outside and given her ??? approval.

The cool air sent  us inside. We are watching Animal Planet with the heater on.  (Obviously, we don't really need the Direct TV).  This will be our home for the next week.


Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/7KmDJRk1UAfYp1jL9

10-3-16 - Heat Escape - Day 53

                                                                 Good Morning

We had a rough time getting sleep last night in the howling wind.  The camper rocked and rolled in the gusty wind.  Several times, I thought the back of the camper was going to pass the front end of the camper.  I bet it was really rough for those that were in tents.

We decided to get up early this morning, take the 45 mile ride to Page, and check out the lower Antelope Canyon Tour.  We are not use to waking up and moving fast.  We boiled some water for coffee, (because it was too early to run the generator to make a pot of coffee,) ate an egg sandwich, and grabbed a hat.

We had our hopes that the canyon tour would not be busy.  It wasn’t.  We were able to book the second tour at 8:40 am. We were in a group of 10 with our tour guide, Cody.  He was very knowledgeable about the canyon.  He said the best time to take the tour was in the morning on a cloudy day.  We had both.  He told us that very few Americans take the tour.  There was us and one more in our group.  Cody took his time and took several pictures of us together, although we had to take us some usies. 

                                                         waiting our turn

The slot canyon was amazing.  We walked across in the vast, dull, desert to the entrance of the canyon.  Pretty darn boring until we got to the ladder at the entrance.  Words nor pictures can demonstrate the beauty of the canyon.  It's something you have to experience for yourself.  This is not a place for a claustrophobic person.  The canyon was so narrow at times that you could hardly squeeze through.  At times sand will blow down from the top of the canyon, I was glad I had my Tilley hat on to block the sand.

The hour tour in the canyon felt like just a few minutes.  We were sad when we got to the end and climbed out.   The views of the canyon mellowed me out.  It brought me to such a peaceful place that words cannot describe.

                                                             We made it out

We did a few chores in town then hiked the River Trail across the road from the campground in the howling wind.  Lauren was rushing through the trail to hurry up and get out of the wind until we got to the end of the trail and saw 4 Big Horn Sheep ewes   All 4 got up on a boulder and were posing, when I saw the 5^th sheep, a Ram.  This is the first adult ram we have seen that was not in captivity.  

The 5 beauties posed as long as we wanted to take their pictures.  Oh and by the way, the water and cliffs surrounding them was also beautiful.

We came back cooked ranch crappie as the wind continued to howl.  We had a gorgeous sunset with a sliver of a moon and Venus shining brightly.

We have the electric heater on tonight under our generator power.  Time to crawl under the blankets.  Tomorrow will be moving day, if the wind slows.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/uN6M8gMHjV8dXXRX7

10-2-16 - Heat Escape - Day 52

                                                                         On the road

We planned to hike Horseshoe Bend and The Lower Antelope Canyon today.  Our plans changed when we saw the people at both.

We didn't even slow down when we saw the people at Horseshoe Bend.  We had hiked there 5 years ago with hardly anyone there.  Been there, done that, so we continued on to Antelope Canyon.

When we got to the canyon, there was a long line of cars waiting to get in, we decided to ride around Lake Powell for a few hours and come back.

We went to Lone Rock and checked out the campers on the sandy beach.  We saw one car that was bogged down in the sand.  We aren't planning on taking our camper there.  Although, the car that was bogged down was off the beaten path.

                                                                          Campground

                                                              camp on the beach

                                                               the car that got stuck

We went to Wahweap  for our picnic lunch.  We were the only ones at the picnic area, although it was like a freeway of  campers arriving across the road to the campground.  We enjoyed our nice, quiet, gorgeous view of the lake while we ate our lunch.

We went back to the Antelope Canyon and was told there was a 2 hour wait.  We decided to go to Antelope Point on Lake Powell.  It was another beautiful place.  It is one of the prettiest marinas we have ever seen.

                                                           walkway/road to the marina

We had a windy ride back to camp, but at least the temperatures was in the 70's.  The last mile before our turn to Lees Ferry Road, the wind was a strong, side ways, steady gust.  Glad the wind wasn't that bad for the whole 45 mile ride back.

We decided tonight was the night.  We would go to Navajo  Bridge  and look for California Condors.  Lauren wanted to check out a boon docking site, so we passed by the bridge and went exploring in the truck.  After a few miles, he looked on Google Maps and we were on the wrong road.  It was a very unique secluded road, just the wrong one,

We got to the condor viewing area, walked about half way of the bridge, and saw a pair of condors under the bridge.  We stayed there for about an hour watching them jump, fly, and perch in the cliff.

                                                           California Condors

We got lucky again.  We have seen 4 condors in this area.  We have been there and done that.

We will try for Antelope Canyon again tomorrow.  Wonder if it will happen or not!

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/ubuSfMsvQMCN8umQ6

10-1-16 Heat Escape - Day 51

                                              rafters on their way this morning

I had a meltdown last night, literally, it was too hot in the bedroom to sleep, the door to the flush toilet bathroom next to us was open and the light was blinding me in my bedroom window, and there was a noisy generator running at what I thought was 10:30 pm.  Quiet time is 10 PM to 6 AM. 

I got up, put on Lauren’s tee shirt, my glasses, my shorts and flip flops and went to the flush toilets to move the wedge from the door  that was allowing the blinding light to come inside my bedroom window. Got back in bed, and again, I was furious, there was a loud generator running.  I contemplated of going over, knocking on the door and asking them if they might shut it down being it was quiet time zone in the campground.

Luckily, I didn’t go knock on the door.  I didn’t realize we were on Mountain Standard Time.  It was only 9:30 pm, so glad I didn’t make a scene.

Today is our 35^th anniversary of our first date.  In modern times of face book, it would have been called “in a relationship,” bet ours has probably lasted longer than most of those posts.

This morning, we decided to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  For some reason, I thought it was 60 miles, it was more like a 100 miles one way.  It was 73 degrees, we left in short sleeve shirts, no jackets required, (at least for a little while).

The one thing Lauren wanted to see in this area was the California Condors.  We rode Amber down House Rock Road about 2 miles where they release the condors. It was a dusty, washboard road. We got there and a guy with his dog named Emma was there, and a bunch of cows.  The guy had a really impressive spotting scope, kept talking to someone on a 2 way radio. (By the way, I still have dust paw marks on my clothes from Emma.  She was a sweet loving dog,) Lauren was looking through the spotting scope set up for us tourist while gazing at the cliff and saw someone walking on the cliff.  The guy told us they were working together, (this was the guy he was talking to on the radio), and had released some condors last week and were checking on a particular one. We found out according to their GPS, there was one in the cliff and one flying above the cliff.  The guy left for another area to try to find the troubled condor in the cliff. We had planed our picnic lunch at the Grand Canyon, but decided to eat lunch and watch a little while longer.  About half way through lunch, Lauren spotted one. While he was taking pictures, I was watching through the scope.  I was amazed watching the condor flying, especially when he flapped his mighty wings.  Again, AMAZING!  Then I thought I was seeing double, but I wasn’t. there were 2 condors, and then a Raven started bullying them.  Unbelievable.

                                                             2 condors and a raven

It got cloudy and cool, so the jackets were required to continue our climb in elevation to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We went up about 5000 feet in elevation from camp.  The aspens are changing colors and are beautiful this time of year.  Lauren called one section of the road "Avenue of Aspens." One thing is for sure, the Grand Canyon is a lot bigger at North Rim than across the road from camp.  We hiked around the visitors center and took in the breathtaking views of the canyon.  We were cool and  in the 50's on the ride up, so we put on extra layers and gloves for our ride back.

We stopped by the Navajo Bridge where the condors were supposed to be at 5:30 pm. Again we were on the wrong time, and there were no birds.

Back at camp, we saw a double rainbow.  It must be a double kind of day, 2 condors and a double rainbow.  Can’t beat this.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/1CgEw1ZSEE66rxPz9

9-30-16 - Heat Escape - Day 50

                                                             Good Morning

As bad as we hated to, it was time to go back to Walmart, restock and change the oil in the truck.  We drove 45 miles one way to get her done.

                                                             Beautiful drive to Page

They really did a good job, they had the oil changed in about an hour and the interior of the truck was cleaner than when we got there.  Great service at the Walmart in Page, Arizona.

We ate lunch at the Great Wall of China Buffet.  A very good buffet. Then we went to the visitor center in Page for information regarding the Antelope Canyon tours, where to spot California Condors, and hiking.  The woman at the visitor center was very informative. 

We got back to camp and explored on a 4 mile hike, we had no idea that the Grand Canyon was so close to camp.  Another great hike, just not as many steep cliffs.  Whew!!

                                                               Paria River (MUDDY)

We watched the rafters at the boat ramp getting ready to leave for a 23 day trip on a guided tour.  They are camping here for the night.  The 23 days explained why there was so much PBR on the boats. 

                           

We unloaded Amber.  Looking forward to a ride to the North Rim of The Grand Canyon tomorrow.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/ULTi6eY6q6VvaTeT8