8/19/2022 Grand Junction & Glenwood Springs, CO

The Elk’s Lodge in Grand Junction was our next landing spot. The lodge itself is an old historical type building with a very cool lodge meeting room. They had electrical hookups in the parking lot for a few RV’s, but otherwise it was a dry RV spot.

We found the Grand Mesa National Scenic Byway just outside of town, so the roadtrip was on. We got some scenic views of the valley floor as well as a curious Bambi who stared us down while I took pictures. The loop was about 63 miles in length.

A walk down Main St. (just around the corner from the Elk’s Lodge) showed off some of the local art work scattered along the street. We also noted this area of Grand Junction, besides being near the police station, was home to numerous homeless folks. Not a great selling point for any possibility of landing here when we retire the full-time life.

A couple of days and it was onward and upward, more like eastbound and down, to the town of Glenwood Springs and our stay at Glenwood Canyon Resort. This was a very nice RV resort right on the Colorado River in a tight little canyon with great mountain views and a whitewater rafting business run right out the back of the resort.

Jeanne found the Hanging Lake Trail in her list of things to do. The trail requires a $12 permit per person to hike to the lake and they regulate how many hikers are on the trail at any time, a preservation effort by local government. We hit the trail bright and early one day with very little hiker congestion. The trail, a little over a mile to the lake, gains a lung-busting 1,100 feet in elevation, going straight up the mountain. Once we got to the top, we found the beautiful lake and a side trail further up the mountain to another waterfall with a feature called the Spouting Rock. Spouting Rock was directly below the waterfall and is a large volume of water spurting out of the rock creating a secondary waterfall. We relaxed in the serenity, had some snacks and recharged our batteries (so to speak), then enjoyed the all-down-hill return hike to the Jeep.

On another day we fired up the bicycles and headed out on the bike trail that runs next to the RV park. It follows the river east to the Hanging Lake Trail area and west into Glenwood Springs. Again, we enjoyed some scenic views in both directions, then I had a little “run-in” with a local chain link fence. It bit me pretty good and unbeknownst to me I lost my cell phone in the confrontation. But the good people of Colorado, at least one good samaritan, saved me by turning it in to the front desk of the Spa of the Rockies, a large mineral springs resort for which the aforementioned chain link fence was providing security.

We found another short adventure in downtown Glenwood Springs, the trail to Doc Holliday’s grave. It was a very short walk up the hill to the old Linwood Cemetery and the adjacent Potter’s Field (a cemetery for indigent and unknown folks commonly known as a pauper’s graveyard.) Besides Doc Holliday’s “gravesite”, Kid Curry was also buried, in the Potter’s Field. Kid Curry was associated with Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid & their Wild Bunch. And I say Doc Holliday’s “gravesite” because they are not all that sure where, exactly, he IS buried within the cemetery.

A few days in Glenwood Springs and it was off we went. Our next stop…(?)

 “Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My!” (OK, OK, So I Mean “Elk & Bison & Bears, Oh My!”)

Out of Provo it was northbound for a couple of nights stopover at the Idaho Falls Elk’s Lodge. I had some toilet repairs to complete and they had a Camping World (yuk!) store with my parts in stock. We spent one day showing Max the town’s namesake Idaho Falls which are smack dab in the middle of downtown. Coincidentally, the Snow Eagle Brewing & Grill was right across the street from the falls. We gave Max another shot at a brew pub meal, of which he availed himself another of his newfound favorites, bacon cheeseburger (plain). We tried to talk Max into a walk along the falls path/trail, but he was having none of that. Oh well…

Ryder Park Lake is a small fishing “lake” (more like pond) in town and Max wanted to try his hand once again. We spent about 3 hours at the lake fighting some healthy winds, but alas, it was not to be. It settled our disappointment to later find out from locals that catching fish in that particular lake is about as productive as sighting a Sasquatch. 

From Idaho Falls it was onward to our base camp stay for Yellowstone N.P. We lucked out, sorta. Originally we were to stay at the Livingston KOA north of the north entrance to YNP. But severe storms and snow melt at the beginning of June caused catastrophic damage to Hwy. 89 into Gardiner and the north entrance, as well as cutting off Gardiner from the world. Initial thoughts were that the north entrance into YNP, as well as the entire northern “loop” (Mammoth Springs, Lamarr Valley, Tower Falls et al.) would not be able to be repaired for opening to the public for the rest of the season. However, word being spread is they may be able to save some of the season with timely repairs, it is always best to call them or check the nps.gov website for current conditions and closures. In the meantime, the west, south, and east entrances are open to the public and the entire lower loop is available for use. Due to the severe partial closure, the park has initiated an even/odd system by license plate numbers for even/odd day access to YNP. 

Needless to say, we cancelled Livingston and found space at the W. Yellowstone KOA. Outrageously expensive, but a good base for the park and surrounding sights. This was a great family campground with lots of things for the kiddies to stay occupied and had a very nice indoor swimming pool. It also sports a good sized office/camp store with a fudge shop, a small restaurant with outdoor tables, a coffee & snacks shack, clean laundry, and propane for sale. The knock I have to say is the pull through sites are skinny and between thick pine trees with tight turns to get into them. And with all the kids at the park, the bathrooms absolutely need more regular visitation by janitorial staff.

We made (3) every-other-day trips into YNP, one of which we drove through to Grand Tetons National Park, all in a quest for Max to see the wild critters. We did manage to stop off at some of the scenic features; Old Faithful Geyser, Grand Prismatic Springs, Fountain Paint Pot Trail, Dragon’s Breath Spring, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Lewis Falls, Gibbon Falls, the Grand Tetons viewing, just to name a few. Spectacular viewing they all may be, but Max’s highlight was seeing a couple of bull elk, a mama bear with her (2) cubs, a couple of coyotes, a boatload of bison, a bighorn sheep, and the one non-highlight where Max slept through seeing a golden eagle while on a road trip. Max did get to make good use of the pool on our non-YNP days, and got to meander through the many shops in W. Yellowstone.

We finished our visit to YNP and decided to meander over to…well, you’ll just have to stay tuned, until next post…

Provo “Chillin’”…

Inching closer toward Yellowstone, we did a week’s stop at the Springville/Provo KOA, a prior stop of ours. Even though it is excruciatingly overpriced, it is in a good location for sights of the area and has a nice set up to keep the young’uns entertained. The temperatures for the whole stay were quite moderate compared to where we just left. The RV park itself was not busy at all, so the pool was very available without having to fight the crowds, and we all know how much Max LOVES those swimming pools… We never checked out the clubhouse before, but this time we did and found they have a very nice setup. There is a large full kitchen area, presumably for guests to host family meals; the (2) billiard tables are in good shape; there is (1) shuffleboard table also in good shape; TV’s throughout the large space and at least one had access to Amazon Prime; and a few arcade quality games including (2) mini-bowling lanes. The big bummer was the absolute terrible wifi at our site. (Inside the clubhouse seemed to be OK, I’ll know if I succeed in importing my photos to this blog post in a timely manner.)

Since Max got his first taste for fishing at the last stop without catching a fish, Jeanne found the Spring Lake Trout Farm in Payson just south of Springville. We took Max to the farm and holy moly he caught his first fish! And his second fish! And his third fish! And his fourth fish! We had to pull the plug on that fun in a hurry, they charge $8.50 per pound for the experience and at Max’s rate he was going to put us in the poor house quickly! The fish were all Rainbow’s and just under a pound each. The farm actually cleans/fillets your catch for you, so Max got some nice fillets to freeze and take home to enjoy a fish feed with his dad.

We took Max to check out the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo. That campus is HUGE! We walked a small area, checking out the Wilkinson Student’s Center, the BYU Duck Pond, the Bean Life Science Museum, and finished it off with a run on the BYU Creamery for some ice cream fun. The Bean Museum was an interesting collection of stuffed critters from around the world.

We decided to take Max out for his usual – cheeseburger – and chose the Strap Tank Brewery & Restaurant. It is part of a unique compound  of shops owned/ran by Legends Motorcycle Co. Many of the businesses are inside stacked shipping containers converted to inhabitable businesses. We walked around the compound checking out the unique shops and I was surprised it held Max’s attention, he actually seemed to enjoy it.

Max got a viewing of the Bridal Veil Falls outside of Provo. It was his kind of waterfalls; not a lot of walking involved (you park right at the falls) and he got to wade in the small pool at the base. The Provo River runs right along the mountain and has an asphalt bike/hike trail that takes you to Vivian Park, about a 2 mile trail, one-way. We tried to get Max to finish it, but he ran out of gas about a mile into it. Oh well…

Jeanne found another hike in the area, a mile and a half shorty, that took us to Battle Creek Falls. We loaded up with Max and headed out to the trail on Father’s Day. The hike was moderately easy and Max had ample opportunity to go off trail and play in the creek and tree stands along the way. We got to the falls and were able to enjoy the views from the bottom as well as the top. Max enjoyed himself on this one…

The Alpine Scenic Loop is just north of Provo, in the mountains where you will find the Sundance Mountain Resort, an enterprise established by THE Robert Redford. We wanted to drive the loop so we did. We were certainly treated to some spectacular views, and actually got a dusting of snow on us as we drove (imagine that, near the end of June of all times!). We also happened upon a couple of turnouts where mountain climbing aficionados practice their art over the American Fork River (not a real wide river, but still had some turbulence to the flow). At the first turnout we stopped and found a large tree trunk fallen across the river with a rope stretched between trees to use as a hand-hold to cross the river on the downed tree. We played on the “tree bridge” for a short while, then continued down the road until the second turnout. There we found another similarly setup “tree bridge” with accompanying hand-hold rope. I promptly got up and crossed that tree. However, I had noticed the rope was not stretched as taut as the last one but decided to continue across anyway. Bonehead move. As I neared the other side, I turned to take a photo downriver and found myself starting to keel over the side. Death grip on the rope, it sagged down with me but still allowed me to “go swimming” (unintentionally of course) and tear some skin off my knee and shin in the waste-high water and rocks. That will be on Max’s highlight reel for years to come I’m afraid. He’s still giggling about it…

Timpanogos Cave National Monument is also located along the Alpine Scenic Loop. It boasts a “short” mile and a half hike to the caves where you can enjoy guided tours that you purchase on-line. We again loaded Max up and headed out on another day of mild temperatures. The trail is asphalt/paved all the way up, and I DO MEAN “UP”! It is over 1,000’ elevation gain for the 1 1/2 mile hike! We made it, a huffin’ and a puffin’, then enjoyed a nice, cool tour inside the mountain (temperatures inside can get into the 40’s). The saving grace for us was that the return trip down the mountain was actually DOWN the mountain! Talk about screaming quads & hams! 

That about catches us up for now. Until next post…

Fun in the Middle of (a) Hurricane!

Well, OK, that is Hurricane, Utah. We based ourselves at the Hurricane/St. George KOA for a week. It just so happened the area was experiencing an unusual heat wave, many days well into triple digits, oh boy! But that did not stop us, first order of business was a morning run into Zion National Park. Max led us on a hike to the Lower Emerald Pool and a part way hike to the Middle Emerald Pool, but trooper that he was he ran out of gas near the top. It was only about 2 miles of hiking, mostly a concrete path, but there was some uphill effort and, hey, 10 year olds tend to easily run out of gas. On our shuttle ride  back down to the visitor’s center we did stop off at the Court of the Patriarchs for a scenic view of that mountain formation.

The KOA happens to be a mere “stones throw” from Quail Creek State Park and the small lake there. Jeanne has been wanting to try SUP (stand up paddleboarding) for a while, and they just happen to rent such toys at the park. We conned, er, talked Max into trying it as well and we had a fun day on a busy, somewhat choppy lake.

Max also wanted to try his hand at fishing. After an outfitting run to the local Walmart, Max hit the same lake for a couple of days in search of the big one that didn’t get away. Unfortunately, he got a couple of bites only, and that big one did in fact get away.

We really wanted to do a road trip to Bryce Canyon National Park for Max, but it would have been a 2 hour drive one-way and we decided that was too long to be able to maintain Max’s interest. We opted instead for a shorter road trip back into Zion NP for a run through the Zion/Mt. Carmel tunnel and some more scenery viewing. The tunnel is 1.1 miles cut into the mountain with several “windows” cut into the side for the only light provided (not considering the vehicle headlights). Max’s interest in checking out scenery, being dubious at best, I think his highlight from this outing was our raid on Taco Bell on our way back to the KOA.

Jeanne the 4-wheeling Queen learned of a local waterfall, Toquerville Falls, that is accessed via a relatively short (5.2 miles) ATV trail. Woodrow Wilson having been cooped up in his dog pen most days, we decided to load him & Max up for a little off-road adventure. The sign at the start of Spring Dr. just outside of Toquerville advises 4WD is recommended and by golly, THEY MEAN IT! The “road” was what I would call a medium level Jeep trail and Max definitely got an E-ticket ride for his first Jeep trail experience! Jeanne read somewhere that airing down was advised and, in hindsight, although I do agree with that advice, airing down is such a pain in the neck that I chose not to. There were a couple of pretty dicey spots in the road, one of which Jeanne actually ceded her pilot duties to me! The pay-off was well worth it, Toquerville Falls was a very nice set of waterfalls along La Verkin Creek. (Editor’s note: Unfortunately, this WordPress/Bluehost blog collaborative system continues to show it’s user-unfriendly qualities in that inserting media does not mix well with the Apple iCloud storage system for photos. I am unable to insert some of the more spectacular pix, yet again. This would be the main reason I am retiring from this blog world at the conclusion of this roadtrip with Max. I will continue to post photos on my Instagram account for as long as the censor czars will allow me to have that account – @two4trippin .)

Well, we’re getting ready for jacks-up. Our plans changed yet once more now that Yellowstone National Park is being pummeled by torrential rains/floods/rockslides/road cave-ins. Our original plans were to attack from the northern entrance, but that is the hardest hit area and may not reopen this summer. We have to play things by ear and plan on-the-fly, so stay tuned for more road-trip-fun with Max. Until next post…

Max’s Big Road Trip Begins

Just before we made our exit from Prescott, AZ, Jeanne & I ventured back out for a hike on the Constellation Trails. On our previous hike of the trails we kept to the interior trails. This time we chose to do the outer loop which is a little more than 2 miles and includes the Ranch Road Shortcut, the Rock Wall Trail, the Lost Wall Trail, and the North 40 Trail. The hike was moderate, only about a 200’ elevation change, minimal rock scrambling (you can add all the scrambling you want, in and amongst all the granite rock piles and formations), and very scenic but the only critters we encountered were the lizards.

Once we went jacks-up, it was “westward ho!” We did a couple of one-nighters at the Needles Elk’s Lodge and the Pilot truck stop in Tehachapi, then a two-nighter at the Merced Elk’s Lodge, and hit our destination of the Petaluma Elk’s Lodge as our base for doing our medical chores. Several days later, those chores done, we snagged Max for his summer adventure. We had him for a couple of days in Petaluma, then raced on out of Kalifornia, eastbound & down, to the Boomtown KOA on the NV-CA border. We did a 3-night stay for the weekend, Max & I making good use of the pool & hot tub. That hot tub turned out to be a real perk at the end of one particular day. Jeanne found a waterfall hike for Max to take us on, after a pre-requisite visit to the Cabela’s store for some hiking gear, of course. The Hunter Creek Trail leads to Hunter Creek Falls and is a very popular hiking trail for the locals. It turned out to be a 7 mile, round trip hike (out and back, not circular), with a 1,300’ elevation gain, no rock scrambling for the most part, with just a couple of short sections of very loose shale. To get to the best viewing area you must navigate some downed trees/limbs in the creek, and that could be problematic for those with balance issues or limited tread shoes. But if all else fails, the creek is only about knee deep at the deepest, there are plenty of spots where it looks ankle high. The views along the hike, as well as the waterfall, made it well worth the effort. While at the KOA we just HAD to walk on over to the Boomtown Casino where they have an arcade room for the kids. Max got his fill of arcade fun and we topped it off with his favorite meal (“cheeseburger, plain”) at the Mel’s diner.

Boomtown in our rear-view, it was southbound toward Pahrump, NV. We wanted to show Max the “boondocking life”, so we did a one-nighter along Walker Lake at the Sportsman’s Beach Campground. We have stayed here a couple of times before and it is a popular stop over for many in the full-time RV lifestyle but we have never found it crowded (OK, usually there is nobody anywhere in our line of sight). We spent the day walking down to the water’s edge, chasing lizards. And too bad for Max that he does not wake up for Woody’s 2:30 a.m. toilet run, at that time I got a pretty spectacular night sky view including the Milky Way! After all, we were in an area of Dark Sky Parks (getting awful close to Death Valley).

Moving along it was off to a couple nights stay at the Pair-a-Dice SKP RV park in the happening hamlet of Pahrump, NV. This was basically a rest stop along our route, with time enough to get laundry chores done and enjoy the triple digit heat. That is a wrap for now, consider yourself up-to-date. Until next post…

Summertime 2022 Approaches 

So, the sarcastically “great” state of Kalifornia always seems to sink its claws into any plans we would like to make and violently rip them from our grasp. Jeanne, being named Trustee for her mother’s living trust, was charged with the administration of the trust. This would have been a task that could be handled while still allowing us to be mobile. But, alas, Kalifornia DMV strikes once again. Jeanne’s mother’s car being registered in mom’s name and not the trust, the DMV requires a 40 day wait period from the date of death before one can submit all the forms necessary to change the title for purposes of selling the car, and all being done in person at the DMV. So then, we get the (dis)pleasure of hanging around even LONGER in that miserable state. “%&@*$#!&@^#%$!!!!!” We bounced around between the Redding RV Park, the Redding Elk’s Lodge, and Win-River Casino, trying to keep our long term costs down while burning time.

For what little downtime activities we could squeeze in-between taking care of trust business, we managed to get our bicycles fired up and ride parts of the Sacramento River Trail which runs from downtown Redding to the Shasta Dam (20 +/- miles one way). We also did some walking back at the Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento River. It was certainly a huge improvement over the past 4-5 years being in the area with all the past smoky skies due to wildfires (I don’t know why they continue to call the constantly occurring events “wildfires”; I personally think most if not all of them are being intentionally set, should be called arson fires instead). Never having experienced the great Redding Farmer’s Market, we wandered over to find it to be a pitifully small event at the civic center. More entertaining were the various pieces of artwork scattered about the grounds of the civic center. At some point during this stay Jeanne caught “the bug”. No, not that one. The “pickleball bug”. She decided she wanted to try it out and we found some fairly new courts had been erected at Enterprise Park in Redding. After a short outfitting run, rackets in hand, it was off to the park. After a few scattered days of chasing that wiffleball around the court, Jeanne decided she was hooked. Me, I’m easy, having played my share of racquetball (although the two sports are not even comparable), I was happy we found a mutually satisfying physical sport.

The whole area of Redding has a yearly car show event called “Kool April Nites”, a local take on the Reno “Hot August Nights”, and various areas hold their own mini-events. One such event is the “Show & Shine” held at the Win-River Casino. We grabbed up Jeanne’s brother Dave and took a stroll through the restored, mostly classic cars from days of yore. One regret I have is that I never learned much about auto mechanics, I think it would be fun working on a restoration project now and then. I’m sure it’s a kinda expensive hobby…

Upon freeing ourselves from the grip of the DMV, we FINALLY got the go signal, went jacks-up with warp speed, and resumed a run towards Prescott Valley, AZ which we had originally planned back in December. Heading toward Hwy. 58 and the Tehachapi Pass (our regular route of choice for ingress and egress to/from Kalifornia), we made a very short detour/stopoff in Atascadero, CA, to say “Happy Birthday” to granddaughter Hailey (and belated “Happy Birthday” to granddaughter Ellie). 

Back on the road, it was onward to Prescott Valley. We did a one-nighter at the Needles Elk’s Lodge, then completed the route at the Prescott Valley Elk’s RV Park. Our point to the return stay was to further evaluate it as a possible landing zone for when we retire from the full-time life style and not necessarily to re-experience any major sightseeing as we had already done. That being said, we did take another stroll around Fain Lake since it is directly behind the Elk’s Lodge. In fact, Jeanne got the “good samaritan” idea to pick up garbage along our walk to the lake. It was not like trying that anywhere in Kalifornia, there you would need a truckload of garbage bags. Here we barely filled one bag. They also put on a weekend “farmer’s market” next door to the Elk’s Lodge, which we attended. This was a sad “farmer’s market” since there were absolutely NO produce stands (we were told it was too early for planting in the area, still subject to frost). It turned out to simply be a swap meet style of marketplace.

With our stay in Prescott coming to an end, we are preparing for a somewhat dreaded return to Kalifornia. We have some medical stuff we want to take care of with our PCP back in Santa Rosa. We are also planning a summer vacation trip for our 10 year old grandson Max. We are going to snatch him up after our medical chores and hit the road for a whirlwind summer tour of the midwest United States, the crowned jewel being a few days run through Yellowstone Nat’l Park. Max has not ventured into this part of the country, so we put together about a 5-week plan.  So, now you are caught up. “Say ‘good night’, Irene!” And check out these moon pics. Until next post… 

Chores & Visits Over…(for now)

So we motorvated back to Kalifornia for family visits and medical/dental duties. We checked in and helped out with Jeanne’s mother’s health care, then looped around from Atascadero to Santa Rosa for grandkids’ literal face time. We ended up spending about two months in that God forsaken state, but the day we completed our last appointment (me getting a tooth crowned, had to wait 2 extra weeks for the dang thing to get molded/created/installed) we went jacks up and sped away toward Hwy. 58 and the Tehachapi pass, our preferred path of escape from Kalifornia. (***Spoiler alert – if you want to avoid my politically incorrect rants, skip now to the next paragraph***) Each and every time we go back there the amount of garbage, homeless encampments, graffiti, dirty air, and the quality of the roads seems to get progressively worse. The politicians (who KEEP getting re-elected) have run what once was the most beautiful of the lower 48 states right into the toilet. What’s worse, the people still living there keep putting up with the socialist and totalitarian crap spewed by the likes of Gav & Nan & Maxie & all the rest. The facemask Nazis are everywhere, screaming at unsuspecting customers who may errantly wander into stores without the suffocating face diapers being worn in “the appropriate” manner. Even worse, some businesses actually require proof of vax (“Your papers, please!”) if you want to enter their buildings. This whole farce of a “pandemic” got out of hand long ago. I got news for everyone – it’s the flu, people! Covid, the flu. Delta, the flu. Omicron, the flu. Guess what? All of the future 347 variants over the foreseeable future, the flu. And anyone with a brain can see how effective the big pharma vaccines have been. But hey, if you’re fearing for your lives feel free to keep wearing those ineffective face diapers, getting multiple (failing) experimental chemical injections, maintaining that social distancing, self-imposing your very own quarantines, and continue being blindly obedient sheeple to your ruling class. I’m changing the name of the state from Kalifornia to Psycholovakia. Right now, if you are asking yourself, “What gives this moron the ability to make such broad, sweeping condemnations of the state of Psycholovakia,” I spent 53 years of my life as a resident of said state. And with 9+ years of full-time RV-ing throughout all of the lower 48 for use as a comparison, I think I’m qualified to render the opinion. ‘Nuff said.

With very little time for tourista activities during the last two months, I will leave it at that with a montage of grandkid photos… 

Our new adventure started at Lake Havasu City, AZ. Our home for that stay was the Lake Havasu Elk’s Lodge. (For any of you Elks reading this post, this Elk’s Lodge is an extremely happening place. One of the members we spoke to claimed it to be the second largest lodge in the country…). The RV lot for the lodge is a gravel lot with 25 FHU spaces that are fairly spaced apart. The lodge has an active calendar with all types of events and meals of which we made good use of during our stay.

First outing was a return visit to the area of the London Bridge. As is our custom of unwittingly arriving in areas during special events, we discovered that the annual Lake Havasu City Christmas Boat Parade was scheduled for that evening. After a quick recon of the area during daylight, we left only to return later for the parade which was slated from 1900-2100 hrs. Sometimes, no, oftentimes, “The best laid plans…”! The master plan was to head back a couple hours early, have a nice meal at one of the many restaurants in the area, then scope out our viewing site. We returned at 1700 hrs. to discover the parade is kinda popular in these here parts. Parking anywhere near was nigh on impossible, but we found curbside parking still within long walking distance. The area up and down from the bridge was jam packed with humans! Not only that, ALL of the restaurants were full with SEVERAL hours wait time. Oh boy,  like the famous quote from a memorable Seinfeld episode, “No soup for you!” We soldiered on and found our viewing site for the parade and proceeded to hurry up and wait. The parade was pretty cool, after the boats did their thing some aquatic acrobats did their thing on lit up jet skis, flips & dips etc. We decided to cut out a little early due to impending traffic jams and boy howdy I’m glad we did. It still took a while to get away, thousands of other folks also had the same idea. But we survived…

When we were here a few years ago, we found a cool bar located out in the desert between Parker & Parker Dam, dirt road accessible, aptly called “Nellie E Saloon – The Desert Bar”. At the boat parade we spoke with a couple who mentioned a second desert bar located north of Lake Havasu City (about 6 miles from the Walmart). That one is only open on weekends, so on a bright and cheery Sunday we ventured north and found “The Bunker Bar”. This was a short dirt road drive (a couple of miles off the highway) to arrive at the military bunker themed outdoor bar. It is a big-time pro-military, pro-first responder, pro-America venue. They had a small converted freight container for a stage with a band called “Roadwork” playing at the time. Food bunkers are on site (pub fare) as well as a swag store. Family friendly, there are all manner of things for children to play/climb on and cornhole for all. The band was pretty good (rock-n-roll, baby!), the gee-tar man making his rounds through the audience while he played licks from the likes of Ted Nugent, Eddie Van Halen, etc. Jeanne even got to mug for the camera with him to the tune of “Stranglehold”…

The area of Lake Havasu has a cornucopia of outdoor desert activies for those of you so inclined. The whole area between Quartzsite and Lake Havasu City (70 some miles or so) contains non-stop boondocking opportunities, a lot of it very popular and on BLM land. Their are miles and miles of OHV areas, Jeep trails, hiking/biking trails, not to mention all the lake activity available at Lake Havasu/Colorado River. Jeanne found a popular hike at Sara Park, on the south end of town, called “Sara’s Crack”. We loaded ourselves up, sans Woody, and headed out to explore Sara’s Crack (pun, well, heck yeah, but no, we are not budding proctologists!) This was about a 3+ mile round trip trek containing a large slot canyon. There are several trails that take off from the parking area, mostly criss-crossing through the bed of the gully/draw heading toward the slot canyon, some branching up onto the mountainside, you can pick your poison. We chose the “yellow” trail and once we got through the slot we branched uphill onto what I think was the “blue” trail which headed up for overall views of the area. I would classify the difficulty level for our journey at moderate. There was some rock scrambling and rope assisted climbing.

So that about catches us up to the minute. Until next post…

Back To Idaho, Again

Bozeman, Montana in our rearview mirrors, it was westward ho as we inch our way toward the Republic of Kalifornia. Our next stop was in Idaho Falls, ID, at the local Elk’s Lodge. We spent a few days in the area, coming to the conclusion that Idaho Falls is a bit too much “Back To The Future-ish”, aka: not real modernized yet. We did check out Jalisco’s Mexican Restaurant for a little sustenance, and found it to be right on top of the town’s namesake “Idaho Falls”. They have a walking/biking trail that runs along the Snake River that traverses the area right in front of the restaurant and at the “Idaho Falls”. Due to inclement weather, we were not able to partake of the bicycle trail while we were there. And by the way, if you are ever in the area, Jalisco’s is very good Mexican cuisine. And in our travels around the area we encountered the Eagle Rock Fountain, a touristy photographic opportunity inside the traffic circle at the intersections of S. Utah Ave. and Bridgeport Rd. Of course, we had to snap a few…

Onward and upward, it was off to the area of Twin Falls, ID. We made a couple of days stay home at Anderson’s Camp, right off the freeway in the area of Eden, ID. We used the time to check out Hansen’s Bridge over the Snake River and the reason for the name “Twin Falls”, that being Shoshone Falls. It was a bit underwhelming with the low flow water and all, but still very scenic.

From Twin Falls we were off for a return trip to the Boise area some housekeeping chores and a short rest from our recent frequent moves. It was very nice not being in heavy Kalifornia/Oregon smoke. In our many forays into the Boise area over the years we are finding it is getting progressively more congested each visit, no doubt thanks to the influx of all the Kalifornia escapees. Driving anywhere is a chore in and of itself. And let’s talk about those rising real estate prices…well, maybe later in another post. Wow, this was a shorty. Until next post…

Chasing Down That Cooler Weather

One last stop off before we left Michigan was to check out Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon. We let Woody lead us out onto the jetty for a clear view of the lighthouse, beach, and open “ocean” that is Lake Michigan. It was a nice, clear day, not a lot of beach goers in the morning, and we got to watch the ferry “Lake Express” head out to sea with a load of passengers. It was nice to see the crystal clear quality of the water…

Michigan behind us, it was off to our next stop, West Lake Park near Davenport, IA. West Lake Park is a county park with a couple of campground areas, one with FHU’s and the other with W/E, all surrounded by several small lakes. Unfortunately for us, as usual, the park was in the middle of some type of restoration and the lakes were dry for the most part. So much for the anticipated scenery! We still tried to make the best of it. They have a hiking/biking trail around the park which we attempted on our bikes, only to find they do not mark the trails and trying to follow the map on the park’s information pamphlet was an ugly endeavor. 

We stumbled upon the Freight House Farmer’s Market in downtown Davenport next to the Mississippi River. We walked the area of the market, it being the modestly sized market it was, and it was a typical farmer’s market with the various booths of produce, crafts, wineries, etc. It also had a small stage area with a live band for entertainment.

Stompbox Brewery was our lunch stop of choice while walking the downtown area. They had some pretty good adult sodas (aka: beer) and holy moly what a lunch! I had a polish sausage and Jeanne had a veggie burger and both were humungous! After completing that gluttonous orgy, we had to walk it off in a big way. Nearby we checked out the Skybridge. Skybridge is an elevated walkway over the main drag, River Dr. At night it is supposedly lit up in spectacular fashion. But we chose to see it in daylight and we were treated to some cool views overlooking this part of downtown and the mighty Mississip. 

Continuing our post-lunch-walkoff, we ventured down to the LeClaire Park & Bandshell. This is a large park area for music venues and we just happened upon a practice session gearing up for the current yearly event titled “Riverfront Pops”. It is a music festival featuring the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, each year they perform a musical homage to a particular musician, and this year they are playing Mick Jagger tunes. Orchestra does Stones, quite a concept. We watched part of the practice session, then mosied further down the river area to a small parking lot area where a band called “Squonk” was playing for a small crowd. Their music was something similar to Woodstock fare.

The Dallas County Fairgrounds became our next short stop in Adel, IA. The campgrounds for the fair were nice enough, we got FHU’s with 50A service albeit parked right under a thick tree, so much for satellite service. We only stayed a couple of days, quickly toured (read “drove through”) the megalopolis of Adel, then continued on our merry way.

A couple of quick stops at some KOA’s was on our agenda. We have been running into issues finding places to stay lately, lots of full RV parks and whatnot. We overnighted at the Grand Island KOA, then parked for a couple more days at the Ogallala KOA, both in the barren state of Nebraska. At Ogallala we at least had to check out their “world famous” Boot Hill. This was a disappointing re-creation of what once was. Apparently the graveyard basically burnt down years ago; most of the “residents” had already been relocated to another cemetery; and all the wooden grave markers are re-created versions of the originals.

The Boulder County Fairgrounds campground in Longmont, CO provided us with a good base to do a couple of days of exploring. It was a small campground with W/E and a dump station on site, and for $15 per night, just about the right price. They run a farmer’s market which was very convenient for campers such as we to check out. And nearby we found the Left Hand Brewing Co. as well as Oskar Blues Brewery to go visit. Left Hand was OK, but Oskar did not disappoint since it is one of my favorite breweries.

We took a day drive out to Nederland, CO in search of a brewery our son Chad recommended we hunt down, Knotted Root Brewing Co. The drive was very scenic through the mountains and we happened upon Boulder Falls. This is a small waterfall area tucked back just off the highway, popular tourist stop. After gawking at the waterfall, we continued out to Nederland. It is what I would call a small hippy town (throwback to the 60’s), kinda reminded me of my working days in the river town of Monte Rio, CA., but even smaller. But Dorothy, we are not in Kansas any more. In fact, we are in Colorado now, as evidenced by the massive proliferation of marijuana shops. There must have been at least 3 different shops we passed while driving around town. As a matter of fact in just about EVERY tiny little town we drove through here in this area there were numerous pot shops in each town. Dope smokers rejoice! (Lots of sarcasm here…). We found Knotted Root, sampled some of their fare (underwhelming) with a deli sandwich, then returned home to prepare for another travel day.

Next stop was the KOA in Central City, CO, in the mountains outside Denver. It was a nerve racking drive, what with the altitude and grades, constant worry over frying either my transmission or my brakes. But we survived and arrived. This was a very nice KOA, but along with that it was pricy as well.

First order of business was to go ‘splorin’ the big city of Central City. This was a big mining area back in the days. We parked “downtown” and walked the area, gawking at the old buildings and quaint layout of the town.

Another suggestion from Chad was to hunt down the town of Frisco and a local brewery, Outer Range Brewing Co. It was about an hour’s drive from Central City, further up into the mountains with some pretty steep grades along the way (glad we were Jeepin’ it!). We tested some of Outer Range’s brews with our lunch, their Ledges Imperial IPA was outstanding as was my Ahi Poke lunch. I’m not one for eating fish bait, but this raw tuna was pretty tasty.

Now Central City is a small town alright, but it is a little bigger than what we had covered in our walkabout previously. I suggested we return and cover a little more ground in the Jeep, and Jeanne agreed. Holy moly Billy Batson! We got caught up in some of the one-way streets and ended up a very short distance away through the hills at another megalopolis called Black Hawk. Black Hawk is even smaller than Central City, but it is a virtual mini-Vegas. Wall-to-wall casinos, most of which are of the very large sized variety. There was a small area of town that looked to be newly constructed/renovated buildings with the outward appearance of being residential but me thinks they were soon-to-be little stores & shops. Well, twist our arms, we just HAD to test the waters in the casinos at the Pai Gow tables, it has been a while since our last transgressions. It was a good time had by all (both of us hit straight flushes within about 15 minutes of each other)! And this time we managed to avoid donating it all back to the house…

Our time in Central City expired, it was onward and upward, actually downward as in down the mountain. We managed to get off the mountains without frying either transmission or brakes again, and made our next stop at the Colorado Springs Elk’s Lodge so as to regroup and plot out our next course of action. Until next post…

A Little Midwestern Time

We survived our torture in good ol’ Red Bay, Alabama to the tune of about 18 days. The temps in and around August tend to be in the large number range and this time they did not disappoint. Plus, we got to enjoy some pretty intense humidity just to enhance the pleasure of our stay in Hades. We got the fixes done to Rosie that we needed, and then got the added enjoyment of doing some of our own fixes after the Tiffin gremlins went to work on us. I actually got to tear apart and repair our front toilet for a serious water leak, being the expert that I am in plumbing repair (LOL, very much in the NOT category!) It was a $hitty job, but I persevered…(insert lots of loud moans here).

Next up on the agenda was to head towards Indiana for a visit with my cousin Bev & her family. We happily put Red Bay in our rearview mirrors and made our way to a return stay for a couple of days at the Good Ole RV Resort in Goodlettsville, TN (Nashville area). There we got some big box shopping done (Costco) before we headed north. We barely had time to do much in town, but at least the RV park still puts on live music nightly, so we got to see some old-timers do some pickin’ & grinnin’…

Bill Monroe’s Music Campground in beautiful downtown Bean Blossom, IN, was our choice for home for a couple of days to visit cousin Bev. This is a very large, rustic campground that puts on the Southern Indiana Blues Festival, the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival, and the Hippy Hill Fest 2022. The festivals tend to draw large crowds, we were lucky we were there at a non-festival time. The park office also houses what they call the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame Museum which is free to wander through and gawk at all the memorabilia. I will forewarn all you RVers wanting to check this park out…DO NOT RELY ON YOUR GPS DEVICES TO GET THERE!!! Rosie (the MH) has a trucker’s version GPS and it still led us on a tour of half-lane, overgrown with trees, heavily traveled back-roads along Lake Lemon. #%$&@^%#*!&&!!!! But we survived…

We took a little time to check out downtown Nashville, Indiana. It appeared to be a huge tourist attraction, geared more toward bikers, and it was certainly busy the day we were there. We walked the main drag checking out the shops, then stopped off to quench our thirst at Big Woods Pizza/Quaff On Brewery. Not much to write home about on the suds…On the way home we found a covered bridge, Indiana style. The poor ol’ thing had it’s share of graffiti…

We got to have a very nice visit with Cousin Bev, her daughter’s family Leila, Jay, and their little ones, and Bev’s son Luke. Regrettably, we missed out on Bev’s hubby Greg, he was away on a job. Leila put on a great brunch spread and we thoroughly enjoyed the eats and the family time, a big thank you to all.

Since we were in this part of the world, and with a small break in the action vis-a-vis the China-virus-hysteria, I had my sights set on a visit to one of my favorite breweries…Founder’s Brewery in Grand Rapids, MI. We headed northward and landed at Steamboat Park & Campground in Georgetown Township, MI along the Grand River. We used our time for some errands/chores but the highlight for me was checking out Founder’s Brewery. It’s a large one, as far as crafties go. We had a nice lunch there & sampled some of their wares that I had not sampled before. 

Being caught up on the blog posting is a good feeling. Until next post…