Arizona Trip

Trip to Arizona, Grand Canyon NP,  May 2014

Day 1 5/11/14 Mother’s Day

We left home about 9:30 am heading down Beechwood Ln to Lakeway to Pickering to Hwy 3 to Hwy 101.  Stopped by the Indian truck stop at Kamilche and filled up the motor home.   Then off again down Hwy 101 to I-5.   We took 205 around Portland to I-84 along the Columbia River.  Very beautiful, grass was green and spring flowers were out.  No wind in the gorge and the sun was shining.  We stopped for the night in Boardman at the county park space 48. Temperature 75 degrees.  Spaghetti for dinner.

Day 2 5/12/14

We left Boardman and the sun was shining bright. No wind.  Continued driving on I-84.  We stopped for lunch near Baker City in Oregon. We ate lunch and watched the prairie dogs playing in the field. For the night we stayed at a Wal Mart in Nampa, ID.  Our thermometer registered 81 today.  Very pleasant day.  Pulled pork sandwiches and cold slaw for dinner.

Day 3 5/13/14
We left the parking lot and headed East on I-84.  It was a little windy today but not bad.  Lots of truck traffic.  We spent the night at Lottie-Dell RV park in Snowville, which is just 5 miles inside the Utah border.  Judy made goulash and fresh salad for dinner.  Yumm.  After dinner, a bunch of birds came to visit to feast on the local seeds, mostly dandelions.  We saw spotted doves, lark sparrows, house sparrows, house finches and gold finches.  On to Salt Lake City tomorrow.  

Day 4 5/14/14
We left Snowville and headed East on I-84 to I-15 South.  We took I-215 bypass and went a short distance to exit 27 and headed south a block.  The Pony Express RV park was a “gated” place which was nice but look sterile.  We set up on space B-2 and had lunch.  Headed off to the U. of Utah campus to the Natural History Museum.  Great place showing early geology, dinosaurs, early peoples and local Utah natural history. Their featured exhibit was on chocolate its history and preparation.  A fun day.

Notice Judy's new shoes

  Stopped at Del Taco for dinner.

Day 5 5/15/14

Left Salt Lake City and continued south on I-215 to I-15.  The drive though the Salt Lake City freeway is not fun with its 10 ft wide lanes instead of 12 ft.  Not a lot of wiggle room for me and big trucks.  Soon we were out of the mess and the driving was good.  Took off at exit 188, Hwy 50 to Salina.  We stayed at the Butch Cassidy RV park in space 26.  After setting up, we headed off to town to the post office and then into the hills for a little rockhounding.  There is supposed to be some wonderstone about 3 miles from I-70.  We found the spot but not a lot of material.  It was too hot for me to do much rock smashing.  While we were getting ready to leave, two guys drove up.  They too were out to get some rocks.  Drove home and had salmon for dinner.

Day 6 5/16/14

We left Salina and headed East on I-70. Nice drive.  We had an incident of something that seemed not right.  As we were driving along the interstate, it appeared were going downhill and the river along the freeway was running up hill.  In fact we were going up hill slowly and the mountains on each side of the road were getting lower relative to the road giving the illusion of going down hill.  EErrie.  Some nice views, flowers and lizards at lunch and potty breaks. Turned off I-70 at exit 182 and took highway 191 through Moab.  The area is just as pretty as we remembered.  Lots of traffic and people.  What was especially nice was seeing the contrast of the new green grasses against the bright red.  We spent the night in Monticello, UT at the Mountain View RV park space 3.

Day 7 5/17/2014

We left Monticello and headed South on 491 to Cortez, CO then south to 64. After lunch in Farmington, we decided not to drive the road to Chama in the motorhome.  The road looked pretty windy.  We will see as we plan to drive Goldie there tomorrow.  Spending the night in Bloomfield, NM at Desert Rose At Four Corners, site 75.  It is getting pretty warm (hot for us).

Day 8 5/18/2014

We hopped in Goldie and headed east 100 miles through the valleys and mountains and Apache Indian Reservation on 64 to Chama, NM.   This used to be a railroad center for a spur off the Denver and Rio Grand railroad. They give 100 mile coal fired steam train rides starting Memorial Weekend.  After lunch in a local place we headed south on 84 about 10 miles to Tierra Wool in a little berg called Los Ojos. This is a co-op where they shear churro and other sheep, clean the wool, dye and spin it.  You can buy wool there as well as finished rugs and things.  Being Sunday nothing was happening as in no demonstrations.  We even drove to see the sheep.  Then came home.   This is an active oil area with oil and gas wells most of our journey.

Day 9 5/19/14

We left Bloomfield and headed west to Shiprock and then headed south on 491 to Gallup.  In Gallup we set up camp at the USA RV Park space 35.  It was really windy today with sand blowing across the road.   While we did not drive far, it was a hard drive.  We ate lunch and then headed in Goldie to Window Rock on the Navajo Indian reservation.  This is their seat of government.  Looked around the museum and book store then headed to the Window Rock arch.  This is now a park dedicated to the Navajo “code talkers”.  We   stopped at a jewelry and rug consignment store and looked around.   Some small rugs, say 2x3 feet, can run $1000 dollars. Went home and had nachos and salad for dinner.

 

Day 10 5/20/14

Today we decided to go to the Hubble Trading post on the Navajo Indian reservation.  It was started in the 1870’s and continues to this day.  It was made part of the national park system in the 1960’s.  To get there we drove West on I-40 to exit 16 and headed North on BIA 12 to Ganado where the post is.  While looking in the trading post Judy talked to the lady who does weaving demonstrations in the visitor center.  I talked to a young man who speaks English, Navajo and French about life on the reservation.  We ate lunch and then went to the visitor center and signed up for a tour of Hubble’ home. The ranger told of the history of Hubble, his family, the trading post and the house and showed us a lot of historical items there.  We then toured the rest of the grounds and headed back to the visitor’s center.  We watched the lady named Ruby weave for a while.  Headed home taking 191 South to I-40 East to Gallup.  A very enjoyable day except is was very windy again today.   Weather man said guts to 40-50 mph.

What a beautiful and huge country.

Day 11 5/21/2014

We left Gallup and headed West on I-40 to the highway 191 exit and headed South to St. Johns.  Most of the road was repaved so it was better than last time we were here. Windy but not as gusty as yesterday.  Checked into Moon Meadows RV park and took space 97.  It was in the shade.  After lunch headed out to the property.  Ahhhh!!! Great to be there again.  We walked around picking up a few rocks.  Went down to the shelter and spent time there.

View from our shelter

Walked to the cliff to enjoy the view.   Saw one rabbit hiding in the rocks.  Came home and had steak dinner.

Day 12 5/22/2014

 Today we decided to head to the property and really explore the petrified logs.  On the way we stopped by a local shop where the man “Chuck” makes all kinds of petrified wood things and sandstone items for various parks and shops.  He makes all the petrified wood items for the Petrified Forest National Park.  Really fun talking to him.  We bought one sandstone sculpture.  Learned a few tricks of the trade too.  He has a 1600 pound tumbler and adds about 100 pounds of 80 pound grit and lets it run for about a month.  He has 36 inch rock saws and several orbiting polishers.  We head off and went to one log where I know there were crystals on the petrified wood. We dug about 5 by 2 feet from the log and got about 100 pounds of crystal petrified wood.  Came home and showered and ate lunch.   Then off to town and stopped by the thrift store and then Wilber’s IGA for a few items.   We decided to pack some of the crystal wood in paper to help protect them.   Burritos for dinner.

Day 13 5/23/2014

Judy made a nice breakfast of scram eggs, sausage, and toast.  Then we headed to the property.  I dug around a few of the big petrified logs to see what was there.  The two logs I worked on were about 20 inches in diameter and went way back into the ground.  I decided not to try to find where they ended.  Judy found a fossil bone which looks like a joint.  We spent some time looking around and picking up a few specimens.  We went back home and goofed off for a while and got stuff ready for evening dinner.  We went back to the property and the shelter, built a fire, and watched the setting sun.  We roasted meat over the fire, ate salad and broccoli, and drank wine.   Since there was supposed to be a meteor shower, we stayed there until 10:30.  Not one sighting of a shooting star.  It was getting cold, 48 deg., and the wind was picking up so we drove home.

Day 14 5/24/2014

After breakfast we went into town to the St. Johns Public library for a River Springs Ranch owner’s association meeting.  There were lively discussions about road maintenance, possible “bad” rancher taking over local grazing rights, and a highly unlikely veteran’s halfway house.  Most of the people who live on these 36 acre parcels are not too interested in any kind of “outside” people coming onto the property.  Ate lunch at Subway, then headed to Show Low and Lakeside-Pinetop to the Hon Dah Apache casino convention center where the White Mountain rock club was having their annual show.  I talked to the show manager about how he set up things.  I found it interesting that they were charged $300 for the two days while the casino in Shelton wanted several thousand for less than half the space. Judy picked up some things for our rock club’s kid’s program.   Cool today with temperature max of 60 degrees.

Day 15 5/25/2014

Horny "toad" lizard about 2.5 inches long

After breakfast, we did a few loads of laundry then headed off to the local Catholic church for Mass at 11 am. Came home for lunch and then headed off to the property. Drove down a few roads looking for people we met at the property owners meeting.   Found their place but they were not there. I did some fence mending to help keep the cows out.  Judy likes to pick up stray nails and other junk the previous owner left behind.  I got out the metal detector and started scanning the dirt around the shelter.  We found a lot more buried nails, screws, bullet casings and spent bullets. It was getting late and on the way home stopped to visit our new friends who had come home.  By the time we left it was past 7 when we got home.  Had leftovers for dinner.

Day 16 5/26/2014

Typical blue sky

After breakfast, we made potato salad and fried chicken to take to the property for dinner.  So after lunch we headed to the property.  We goofed around all afternoon.  The sun was shining bright and there was very little wind.   We ate our nice dinner and watched the sun set.  Fun relaxing day.

Day 17 5/26/2014

We drove to Snowflake after a fried egg sandwich.  We were looking for a factory that makes sandstone coasters.  This company gives cast off pieces to the White Mountain rock club.   Unfortunately they were closed so we drove down highway 227 to Clay Springs road where we know there are sandstone quarries.  After several false starts we drove into Clay Springs? And asked a man on a bike.  He told us about where to turn off.  We found it two miles off the road. 

Sandstone from quarry

Plenty of small pieces to pick up.Headed back to Snowflake for lunch in one of the original town buildings.  After picking up some groceries across the street, we headed home.  Hamburgers for dinner.

Day 18 5/27/2014

Hot day today.  Got up close to 90 deg.  Whew.  We went to the property for a last look around.  I took GPS coordinates for all of my cacti.  Too hot too search around to see if there are more.  Came home and had lunch.  We headed South to Springerville and went to Bashas grocery store to get some things for when the kids arrive on Saturday at the North rim of the Grand Canyon.

Day 19 5/31/2014

We left St. Johns Moon Meadows RV park and headed to Holbrook and I-40. Windy Windy Windy.  Drove to the Meteor Crater exit 233 and pulled into the RV park. The Shelton Rock and Mineral Soc. Is having a talk this evening on meteors.  Since we were gone we decided to go to the meteor crater and see a real crater.  We set up and had lunch.  Then off to the crater. Very nice visitor center with good movie and museum. I took a tour a short distance along the rim. The crater is about a mile wide and about 550 feet deep.   Judy and I then looked around and headed back home.

Day 20 5/30/2014

We left Meteor Crater and headed West on I-40 to Flagstaff then North on 89.  We stopped at Cameron Trading Post and looked around.  Judy was interested in the local Navajo yarn.  Ate lunch there then looked at the art gallery where they had very very expensive things.  We then headed North on 89 again then took 89A to Jacobs Lake.  Very narrow road so it was scary when a semi truck came by as there were no shoulders at all. Climbing up to the Kaibab plateau was steep and winding . Set up motor home at the Kaibab Camper Village space 79.

Day 21 5/31/2014

We had a leisurely morning.   After lunch, we made dinner in anticipation of the kids arriving from Cincinnati.   They came around 4 pm and we helped them set up their camp.   Sure great to see them.  The kids have grown up so much.     Daniel and family went to bed early after their long trip.

Day 22 6/1/2014

After breakfast we made a picnic lunch and headed down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It was sure great to see it again.  We all had lunch on the veranda of the North Rim Lodge.   Spectacular view from here.  We hiked to the Bright Angel overlook and 

checked out the book store.  No condors today.  Did see other birds especially a cute little pigmy nuthatch coming in and out of its nest.  Judy met a Navajo man Patrick Yellowhorse who saw her ring and said his aunt had made it.  Judy had a very fun conversation with the man and his wife.  If you ever have driven from New Mexico into Arizona on I-40 you probably saw the signs for “Chief Yellowhorse” along the freeway. That was his uncle.  After a fun day, head home to a hamburger dinner.  After a nice evening, everyone went to bed.  No condor sightings.

Day 23 6/2/2014

Today is rock hounding day. We went only a few miles from the RV park to a place called Lamb’s Lake. It was very pretty with two small ponds.  Also there was an old copper mine.  Some of the rocks were used to build the Jacobs Lake inn. We ate lunch there and then went exploring.  Pickup up lots of copper ore specimens.  Daniel found some salamanders in the ponds.  TT and TN had a great time picking up rocks and running around.  After dinner, Thanh Tu and Thanh Nha played the electric piano for us.  They are doing so very well.

Day 24 6/3/2014

Daniel’s family and I went for a hike in the Grand Canyon park to a place called Cape Final.   On the drive there we saw two coyotes and a few deer. The hike was 2 miles one way.  There were some nice views of the canyon and the Colorado River way down below on the way.  We ate lunch at Cape Final and enjoyed the view before hiking back. The kids had fun with the lizards and finding the path diamond markers on the trees.  Daniel caught one lizard for the kids to see up close. Thanh Nha was brave enough to hold it. Judy stayed home and read and enjoyed the time alone.  After dinner we went to a talk at the Jacobs Lake inn by the owner.  He talked about the history of the Navajo people and their weaving.  It was a very spectacular and moving presentation.   He brought samples of rugs woven by local Navajo women he knows. The talk was two and one half hours.

 Day 25  6/4/2014

After breakfast we went back to the copper mine at Lambs Lake and went to check out the copper veins that were still visible. Great fun again.  We then continued on NF 461 to NF 462 to NF 22.  We then followed the signs to Indian Hollow where we had lunch.  Disappointed that there was not a view of the canyon.  We then went to Crazy Jug overlook of the canyon and the views were spectacular.  After finding our way back to FS 22, we followed it to US 67 North and back to Jacobs Lake.  For dinner Daniel and Minh Thanh built a fire and we all roasted hot dogs and ate potato salad for dinner.   Sommores for dinner.  Today was Daniel and Minh Thanh’s anniversary.

Day 26 6/5/2014

We decided to go to Pipe Springs National Monument and then go to Cinder Mountain in Utah to look for petrified wood.  To get there we took US 89A North to Fredonia and then 389 West to Pipe Springs.  It was a Morman house (fort) built over the springs in the 1870’s.  The house was in use until 1923.  We took the tour and the ranger gave a very good talk about the history of the original builders and the house.  It was getting very hot and we found a shade tree to eat lunch under but it was still hot.  We headed off into Utah about 8 miles and then tried to find the road no longer marked “Cinder hill road”.  It was really hot now, about 90 degrees.  The first place we stopped Judy found some obsidian.  No petrified wood.  So we drove to another place.  Daniel and I got out and searched around and found some petrified wood.  One really nice piece.  Really hot now, 93 degrees, so we went back home.  Daniel and family took Judy and I to the Jacobs Lake Inn for dinner.

Thanh Tu and Thanh Nha with glow glasses

They started getting things ready to leave in the morning.

Day 27 6/6/2014

Daniel and family left this morning to go back to Cincinnati.  Judy and I decided to relax today so we had a leisurely breakfast, straightened up the motor home getting ready to leave in the morning.  Went to the Jacobs lake inn for lunch.  We then packed up stuff some more.  We had a steak for dinner.

Day 28 6/7/2014

We left Kaibab Camper Park and headed north on 89A.  We are leaving the cool weather of the Kaibab plateau and heat.   At St. George on I-15 the temperature was not in the 80’s.  By 4 o’clock it was 90 in Fillmore, UT where we stopped for the night at Wagon Wheel RV Park s[pace 49.  Whew, while driving, the motorhome air conditioner will not keep up in such heat.

We are having a wonderful time.. all is well, and we remain healthy...and are headed home after we tuck in some rock hounding... Judy

Day 29 6/8/2014

We left Fillmore and headed North on I-15 to Nephi only about 60 miles away.  Today we went to get some Vernon wonderstone.  It is supposed to be pretty and hard.  Well we followed the directions in the book but did not at first find it.  One false drive up the mountain on a skinny rough road led to a site which had a mass of white crystalline material with very shinny faces.  Do not know what it is at present but could be calcite. Well we finally found the wonderstone site and loaded up.

wonderstone from Vernon, UT

  On the way back home we went to a place called Silver City in the Tintic mining district.  There were lots of old mines in the area.  We found some pyrite in the tailings of several mines. It was in the mid-70’s to with a breeze so it was very comfortable today.  Stopped at a grocery store to get some meat and a few items.

Day 30 6/9/2014

We left Nephi and headed North on I-15 straight through Salt Lake City and took I-84 West into Idaho.  Spent the night at Intermountain RV in Wendell, Id in space 13.  Hot today and windy.  Got into the mid-90’s.  Whew.

Day 31 6/10/2014

Left Wendell and headed West on I-84.  Very strong head winds all day, bad for fuel consumption.  Not too hot either which is good for us. Drove to La Grand and spent the night Rendezvous RV Resort in space 42.  The door to the propane tank was popping open so fixed it, I hope.   Noticed the water heater was making a strange sound.  Opened the panel and saw some dirt in the gas orifice.  Cleaned it out and it worked ok.

Day 32 6/11/2014

Well today was a good driving day.  We left Wendell and headed West onI-84.  Coming through the gorge was beautiful, sunny, warm low 70’s and NO WIND.  Mt Hood was bright and shining with lots of snow.  Spent the night in Troutdale, Sandy River Front RV park space 150. After parking and setting up we went to the Pendleton Woolen mills outlet in Washougal.  Slow traffic on the freeway.  Judy got some summer clothes and a 13 pound bag of mill ends to make a rug.  Went out to dinner for our last night on the road.

Day 33 6/12/2014

We got up really early and got onto the freeway to avoid the Portland traffic.  Stopped at the first rest stop in Washington to eat breakfast.  Then headed home.  A few rain drops on the way.  We arrived home and started unpacking.  Great trip.  Fun time with Daniel and family.  Good rockhounding. Now nice to be home.+

Me too…..  wonderful trip.  We are well, and happy to be home… IT IS REFRESHING TO BE IN THE COOL CLIMATE.   Home is always good.   Judy  …… Richards lady