TODAY (MONDAY) WE DESCENDED INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH

DON’T FORGET ME MOM & DAD

I stood outside for awhile late Sunday night taking in the beautiful moonlight on the towering Sierra Nevada mountains.  Snowy peaks took on a luminous glow as passing clouds parted letting moonbeams playfully dance across the ivory slopes.  I could hear a lone Coyote somewhere in the distance.  It was just one of those moments that will remain with me forever.

HEADING SOUTHWEST ON HIGHWAY 137….JUST BEFORE THE FIGHTER JET BUZZED US!!

Lone Pine California with it’s Alabama Hills will go down in our travel books as one of the best places we have been fortunate enough to have spent time in.  We definitely hope to return there one day & spend an even longer time exploring the many mountains, canyons, hiking trails & Jeeping roads.  Two thumbs up for Lone Pine:))

MY SLEEPY LITTLE NAVIGATOR

It was with my usual mixture of sadness & excitement that I began stowing things away & getting organized for today’s travels.  Happens to me every time we move from one location to another.  Leaving behind old memories on our way to creating new memories.  It is the beauty & emotional side of an RV lifestyle.

 

A LITTLE ACTIVITY ALONG THE ROAD ON AN OTHERWISE QUIET DRIVE…NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON HERE BUT A HELICOPTER HOOVERING NEARBY WAS IN ON THE ACTION TOO

At 8:20 Monday morning with Kelly leading the way in the Jeep I rolled the big rig out of site number 76 & headed out of the the Tuttle Creek campground.  But, not before speed bump number 2 re-arranged most everything in the cupboards & of course….scrambled my shorts!!

 

First stop was the Boulder Creek RV Park just a few miles south of Lone Pine on the east side of highway 395.  Dumped our tanks & took on water here for a cost of $10.  Nice looking Park with lots of trees, pool, spa & a mini store.  Lots of space & I’d say the Park was only a third full.  From there it was back on 395 heading north towards Lone Pine & a right turn at the Visitor’s Center on highway 136 heading east into the Valley of Death, or more commonly known as…..Death Valley.  The time was 9:15.

We had checked our Mountain Directory & there was an advisory pertaining to steep grades at this end of the drive.  Other RV’er bloggers have traveled this route & said it’s a bit of a Wowzer so that is why we did not have the Jeep hooked up.  Figured it would be easier on the Motor Home’s engine & brakes if we weren’t towing the Jeep.  Easier on Al not having Kelly gasping & ramming her feet through the floorboards in the mountain passes as well.  Hardly any traffic on this road & it was a greatly peaceful morning drive…..except that shortly after turning onto this highway we were buzzed by a fighter jet so low that Kelly saw it flash through her rear view mirror.    The roar sure scared the be-jeebers out of the Bayfield Bunch.  We figure it was a Navy jet based at China Lake a few miles south & it had maybe electronically targeted us in a mock bombing run.  I never did see the plane but it was so low I think it may have scared some paint off the Motor Home’s roof.

There are several mountain ranges to get up & over before getting to & going through Death Valley with the Inyo mountains being the first hurdle.  Not quite as bad as I feared but then again we were the one’s who accidentally took the Motor Home over Mingus Mountain & down through Jerome Arizona a few years back so anything after that is not so scary.  Lots of tight curves & grades today but the secret is to stay off the brakes as much as possible & let the engine & transmission take you down the grades.  We have an Allison tranny coupled with a Chevy 8 cylinder 8.1 Vortec engine on a Workhorse Chassis.  Not as strong as a diesel rig of course but it’s the next best thing in gas.

Sweeping scenery as we climbed over the Panamint Range & descended into the Panamint Valley.   Across the Valley floor & it wasn’t long until we were laboriously climbing up & over the next mountains called the Amargosa Range.  Slow going on the heavy grades but we finally made the summit.  Called Kelly on the Walkie Talkie & suggested we pull over into a brake check area before we began our descent into Death Valley.  Kelly was about as white as a sheet of paper when she got out of the Jeep.  This was her first mountain driving experience plus she was having difficulty with the tricky 6 speed Jeep transmission.  There’s a lot of gear shifting to be done in mountains like this & Kelly just wasn’t as familiar with the pattern as I was & she doesn’t have a lot of driving miles logged in the Jeep either.  Suggested we hook the Jeep up but Kelly said ‘nope’ she was a gonna do it.  So, with that thought in mind we pushed ourselves off the mountain & in single file tumbled all the way down the other side to a little place called Stovepipe Wells on the Valley floor far below.

With the worst of the driving behind us we hooked up the Jeep in Stovepipe Wells & headed northeast for the town of Beatty in Nevada.  Crossed the State line at 12:10 p.m. steadily climbing again over the Grapevine & Funeral Mountains.  Not as bad as the two previous ranges & we finally reached the little town of Beatty Nevada somewhere around 1:30 p.m.

Found us a spot in a gravely vacant lot just south of the Stagecoach Casino, pulled in & called it a day.  Later walked up the road to the Casino thinking there might be a cheap buffet.  Ya right!!  Didn’t take us long to get our cans out of there & stopped at a Subway on the way back to the rig.  We have a very poor Verizon signal here so don’t know if this blog will publish.  If not then I will try again tomorrow morning as we bear down on the City of Lights where the Verizon signal should become stronger.  There is no Verizon coverage in Death Valley so that is why we wanted to get across it today in one fell swoop.  Kelly & I have been to the Valley of Death before but it was many years ago.

 

Tuesday morning we will suit up & prepare to do battle with the Las Vegas traffic!!!!

OUR DIGS FOR THE NIGHT….WE’LL BE HAPPY TO GET ROLLING IN THE MORNING FOR SURE

NO GROANER TONIGHT……CONNECTION IS TOO SLOW:((

SATELLITES, TUZIGOOTS, & JEROME

WEDNESDAY NOV 28/07

YABBA DABBA DOOOO....WE GOT OUR SATELLITE SYSTEM UP & RUNNING TO-DAY....but, more about that later.

Was surprised to see clear skies this morning because they were predicting a bunch of cloudy days. Always colder when it's clear. We're just going to have to get a little smarter about our morning walks. The trail we headed out on this morning at 7:15 lead around to the west side of a series of high hills. Although the sun was over the horizon we remained in shade for two thirds of our walk. It felt so cold our noses were running & the dogs were sneezing. Even saw some cows with heating pads. We have to remember to walk on the east side of the hills in early morning so we catch those warming sunny rays. We did manage to see some long horn steers & a Javelina. (pronounced Hav-a-leena) Javelina's are wild pigs & it's important to keep your distance.

Kelly had phoned a Radio Shack store in Cottonwood a few days ago to see if they could recommend anyone familiar with satellite systems & they gave her a name of a fellow from Camp Verde not too far away. His name was Bob Link, so Kelly phoned him & he agreed to come over & help us with our system. Bob arrived about 9:30 this morning & promptly set to work checking to see if our system was set up right. And, to my relief, it was. All my wires were hooked up correctly, tri-pod was perfectly level, my azimuth, elevation, & polarization numbers matched my dish set-up, & I hadn't made any mistakes. I was sooooooo relieved that the problem wasn't my own fault. Bob re-checked all the numbers & then began scanning the sky for the satellite. He scanned, & scanned, & scanned, but no satellite signal. He was frustrated too because Bob is retired from Aerospace & in his retirement used to install satellite systems so could "nail the bird" anytime within minutes. He rechecked all the connections again & then finally turned to us & said......"call your tech support, there is something definitely wrong here." Kelly got on the cell phone & within minutes had Todd from Tech Mobile in Lindsay Ontario on the line. What ensued was a lot of checking & re-checking both the software & the hardware. Bob got on the phone with Todd as they went through a process of elimination procedures. Try as we may though we still could not find the satellite. Todd finally turned it over to Armand & Armand tried switching us from the G16 satellite to the SatMex 5 satellite & said, "try that." BINGO!! we were on:)))))) After a month's frustration we were finally on the internet. Armand was puzzled as to why we couldn't get onto the G16 satellite before but I was just happy to be on any satellite that worked for us. What a great feeling & the internet has been working perfectly for us all day. To-morrow we have to make a few physical adjustments to the hardware outside on the dish to hone in our Star Choice television reception. That could be another challenge but for right now we're on the internet & that's all I really care about. A big thanks to Bob from Camp Verde & Tech Mobiles, Todd & Armand for all their help. Your patience is much appreciated.

We had hoped to go to Sedona to-day but by the time we got the satellite problem squared away it was early afternoon so decided to see a couple things around Cottonwood. Drove over to the Tuzigoot (pronounced Tooz-i-goot & is the Apache name for crooked water) Indian Memorial which is not far from where we are & walked around the ruins. It dates back centuries & centuries. The Indian dwelling were excavated & rebuilt back in the 30's.

From Tuzigoot we headed west up the winding mountain road to the little town of Jerome. This is a place that has to be seen to be believed. I have never seen such a quaint little town like this before. It's the one with the narrow streets that I came through with the motorhome a few days ago. Trendy little shoppes on narrow little roadways. This is a real hippie & artsy type of community a little reminiscent of Yorkville in Toronto back in the 60's. A very homey place with some of the buildings & flowers reminding me of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico because of the architecture & the way it's built on a mountain side. We had read about, The Haunted Hamburger place so decided to stop in for a burg. We weren't that hungry so decided to split a burg & fries platter. The burg & fries were good but we didn't feel it was right on their part to charge a dollar to "split the order!!" A bit cheap I'd say.
Jerome is located on the east side of Mingus Mountain so by late afternoon as the sun settles in behind the mountain range, the temperature plummets. We were dressed lightly because of the hot sun earlier in the afternoon so we piled into the car, cranked up the heater, & headed down the winding mountain road back to our snug little motorhome in Dead Horse Ranch State Park. Happy to see our internet satellite system was still purring along & all was well. And for me, it will be nice going to sleep to-night knowing that I didn't screw up the satellite system setup up after all.................... Aw yes, I'm back in the good books again:)) Well, at least till next time.

Oh, & by the way......we made a classic campers embarrassing error to-day. In parks like these there are dumpsters located at various locations & it's common for campers to set a bag of garbage on the hood of their car & drive it to the dumpster. Notice I said, the hood of the car!! Somehow the bag of garbage got placed on the roof of our car & you remember the saying, "out of sight out of mind." Well, you guessed it, we drove right past the dumpster & into the town of Cottonwood.........with a bag of garbage on top of our car. No telling how far we would have gone if it hadn't been for the woman turning a corner & hollering at us as she went by. Something about dumb Canadians & "a bag of garbage on your roof!!"

A SCENIC DRIVE TO JULIAN

WEDNESDAY DEC. 26/07
First, let me thank a couple of folks who were reading the blog for pointing out an error in my sheep identification. Guess I had cows on the brain that morning (Palm Canyon Hike) instead of sheep because I called those nimble footed rock scramblers, "long horn sheep" instead of "big horn sheep." Yes Toto, there is a difference & thanks, Kris & Al. Of course I am feeling a bit sheepish about that mistake now:))

I had fully expected my wrenched knee to be totally seized up this morning & couldn't believe my luck when I realized all the pain was totally gone & it was fine, but I can tell I'm going to have to be careful with it. Celebrated my good fortune with a 2 mile doggy walk. Now, that wasn't too smart, was it!!

Figured it was a good day to take a drive to the little town of Julian about 28 miles up in the mountains to the southwest. It was a loooooong 28 miles because the road is a never ending series of twists & turns. A lot of the time I had to gear down to third gear in the corners & some of them I was down into second. It's a real fun & challenging road for anyone confident in their driving skills. The higher up into the mountains one goes, the greener it gets. Trees begin to appear & a lot of them were still holding on to their fall colors. Slipped through a little place called Banner Springs which reminded me of some spots I had seen in the Smokey mountains over in Tennessee years ago. A really pretty area.
Julian suddenly appeared out of the curves & we rolled into a very busy & colorful high altitude town. And because of that altitude......it was cold!!!! And the wind made it even colder. Streets were lined with cars & people so it took us a bit of back street cruising before we found us a parking spot. I was ok but Kelly was wearing shorts & flip flops because it had been really warm when we left Borrego Springs. We quickly ducked into the Julian Bakery & Cafe for a bite to eat & a coffee. We were hoping to get warmed up but it was cold in there too. I think a lot of people had the same idea because the cozy little place was overflowing with people......and some of them with shorts & flip flops too. We didn't spend too much time in Julian because of the cold winds so we jumped into the car & headed out of town in the direction of Santa Ysabel. More scenic twists & curves as we made our way through the mountains heading in the direction of Borrego Springs. A couple quick checks of the road map confirmed we were on course & before long we were in the clutches of Montezuma's mountain road & began the long winding 8% drop to the valley floor at Borrego Springs. This stretch of mountain road is a real brake line burner & would be a real challenge bringing a motorhome down. I would put it right up there with that real nasty stretch of road going over Mingus Mountain back in Arizona. I think Mingus had some tighter corners though & the road was definitely much narrower. Regardless, they are both a real challenge!!

Back to the campsite, out came the lawnchairs, & away went the Julian chills. Thanks California for another nice day. To-morrow it's Yankee potroast at the local community center & Friday Kelly has signed us up for a free jeep tour at the Anza Borrego Nature Center. Lots to do here:)))))

P.S. We are under attack by HUGE wind gusts at the moment so our next transmission may be from somewhere a couple hundred miles east of here somewhere by morning!!!!!!!!!!

ASH FORK TO CONGRESS ARIZONA…YAHOOIE LOUIE WE’RE HOME:))))))

HOME:))

We were up before 5 a.m. so had us some time to kill before sunrise.  Luckily we have our computer pacifiers to keep us entertained.  I sure have not missed television morning news programs with all their giggling theatrics, continuous doom & gloom repetitive tunnel versioned & narrow focused broadcasts.  We have little idea what is going on in the world at the moment & what a refreshing break that has been this past week.  Getting up in the morning & habitually snapping on television news has been such a bad habit for way too long!!

SLIPPING SOUTH THROUGH THE CHINO VALLEY EARLY THIS MORNING

Ok, on with the day now that I got that little burr out from under my saddle.  We were on the road about 6:15 just after first light.  As expected it was a quiet peaceful drive south down highway 89.  Watched old Sol climb above the mountain range to our east.  I knew Mingus mountain & Jerome were over there & that brought back memories of a harrowing navigational error we made in our early years.  FROM BEDROCK TO DEAD HORSE ARIZONA.

A short stop at McDonald’s in Chino for coffee to go & a doggy walk.  Spotted the Shadow Cowboy while there.  Well he’s not really a Cowboy but I think he is a shadow of his former self sometimes:((

 

SLIPPIN ALONG ON IRON SPRINGS ROAD, NEW PAVEMENT & ALL

Temporarily misplaced ourselves for a few blocks coming around the bypass in Prescott but we got er figured out & back on track.  Iron Springs Road is a great drive.  Lots of great scenery, rock formations, long sweeping vistas across miles wide valleys, mountain peaks, & just enough sharp curves & steep hills to white knuckle any inexperienced driver.  Last couple of times on this stretch of road we encountered a lot of road construction but not this morning.  All done & lots of new pavement.

THERE’S THE LITTLE SKULL VALLEY RESTAURANT WE ATE AT JEAN:))

Pulled over in Kirkland to take my jacket & flannel shirt off.  Temperature was already 70F & it was only about 8:45 a.m.  What a beautiful morning’s drive.  I think we later got up well into the 80’s today. 

ROLLING THROUGH PEEPLES VALLEY

 

As we approached Yarnell I thought about the 19 Firefighters who tragically lost their lives there this past summer.  As we came into the north end of town we could see where the fire had come right down into the town & right up behind some of the downtown business’s.  It’s a miracle that whole little town didn’t catch fire.

COMING INTO YARNELL’S NORTH END

 

KELLY CHECKS FOR TRAFFIC BEFORE HEADING ACROSS TO THE BAKERY

ONE CAN SEE HOW CLOSE THAT YARNELL FIRE CAME TO DESTROYING THESE DOWNTOWN MAIN STREET BUILDINGS

For Kelly there is no driving past the Cornerstone Bakery on Yarnell’s main street.  Aha so that was her motive for not wanting to leave Ash Fork too early.  Wanted to make sure the bakery was open when we got there.  And it was.  A Maple Donut breakfast for me.  Kelly buried herself in some kind of Cinnamon delicacy.  

HERE SHE COMES WITH THE GOODIES

Didn’t have to go far up the road to begin our decent down the Yarnell Hill into our great Sonoran Desert Valley below.  We were only minutes from home now.  We could see Congress spread out far below.  Winnie handled the sharp curves with ease & geared herself down when needed.  She gained a lot of experience this trip & cut her teeth like a true RV.  I love driving the Yarnell hill.  It’s like a Midway ride, but no room for mistakes.

THAT’S CONGRESS SPREAD OUT ON THE DESERT FLOOR BELOW

THINK I CAN SEE MIKE McFALL WAVING AWAY WAY OUT THERE AT NORTH RANCH

Rolled into Congress & turned right over a set of railroad tracks.  Turned right again onto Ghost Town Road.  What a great feeling that was to be coming down the last mile of our long journey.  Everything looked much greener than I had remembered it.  We passed nice houses & we passed junk yard houses.  And then there we were, left blinker on & into the driveway.  It was 9:11 Arizona time.  Kelly jumped out quick to open the gate because our Jeep was still on the road.  And in we came & shut her down.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh:))

DOWN ON THE VALLEY FLOOR WITH CONGRESS AZ STRAIGHT AHEAD

 

TURNING RIGHT ON GHOST TOWN ROAD FOR THE LAST MILE TO OUR HOUSE…AND THERE IT IS AT LAST:))

Jumped out of the rig & the first thing I looked for was all the Cacti I had planted.  They were all gone.  I was so disappointed.  I figured I might loose half of them but to lose all of them………  Gone without a trace as if they had never been there in the first place.  Even my Cactus Man was toppled.  We walked around the property looking at things & I could see right away I had my work cut out for me again.  But thankfully not nearly as bad as last year.  And it’s the kind of yard work I don’t mind doing.  Lots of weeds.   Aside from my Cactus disappointment it was sure great to be back to our Arizona home.  And how great for Pheebs to have lots of room to run around the entirely fenced in property.

TURNING INTO OUR DRIVEWAY & KELLY OPENS THE GATE

Next we went into the house.  Everything was exactly as we had left it.  But there was a bad smell & it took awhile to track down the source.  Four dead & decaying mice.  When a house has been locked up for 6 months one can expect those kinds of things.  Although we had not expected that.  It was also obvious we Canadian Critters would not be moving in till the Arizona Critters moved out so out came the vacuum cleaner & all kinds of cleaning solvents.  And that set the pace for the day.  Lots of Spider webs to deal with & a ka-zillion million things to do all at once.  We never let up all day until we crumbled into our recliners around 6.  And knowing us, we will be right back at it first thing in the morning.  It’s all part of the overall enjoyment.  Gotta remember water & birdseed out for the birds, etc. etc. etc.

LOTS OF CLEANING AHEAD OF US

PHEEBS WATCHES AS WE BEGIN UNLOADING THE RIG

Took us a bit of doing but we set up our satellite dish, found the bird & we now have TV.  Sirius satellite radio hooked up to the Boom Box & my Ipod is tethered to our Bose sound system again.   Oh & then there was my loooooong hot shower this afternoon.  Ya know, I think I am beginning to show a bit of age.  Enjoyed the week of travel but it’s good to be at our southwest base now all comfy & stretched out in my big room here.  Overhead fan going, Jim Reeves & Hank Williams on the Bose. Sitting in my comfy Ikea Poang chair, & Pheebs asleep beside me on my bed.  Lots of room for my cameras & atlas’s.  Even got a cold Cranberry/Raspberry drink on the go.  Nice cozy ambient lamps on & all feel’s well & good.  And a big soft cushy bed to sleep in tonight.  Best part about that will be our morning tussles again when Pheebs comes bounding up on my bed to get me up.  We missed our morning tussles all week when Pheebs was unable to get up into my over the cab tree house bunk.  She’s a pretty tired but happy little doggy tonight.  But then again, we all are:))

  

And thanks to Eileen in Phoenix for correcting my spelling of the Chino Valley.  It’s Chino not Chimo.  And I’m surprised nobody caught my mis-spelling of Albuquerque a couple days ago.  I had been putting an extra e in the word Albuquerque making it look like Albuequerque.

OUR BACK YARD IS LOOKING MIGHTY GREEN

Funny thing happened to us sitting on our loveseat with our laptops a couple night’s ago.  I began to notice some odd things happening on my screen.  It was as if my curser had a mind of it’s own & my screen was scrolling on it’s own.  Oh no, had I picked up a computer virus somewhere.  Had something taken over my lap top.  Well yes, something had indeed taken over my computer.  It was Kelly’s mouse.  Sitting right next to me working on her laptop, her mouse was somehow controlling my screen.  We’re not exactly sure how that happened & it hasn’t happened since but it sure confused & had me worried for a few minutes.

<<< GOT MY LITTLE COMPUTER STATION SET UP IN MY BEDROOM

Second funny & not so funny thing happened a couple days ago as well.  We had us fly infestation of sorts on our way down from Canada.  Stopped & bought some fly stickers at the Trinidad NM Walmart.  Hung 2 of them from cabinet knobs.  We had just stopped at the KOA office in Raton.  Kelly slipped inside to make the reservation & Pheebs jumped up on her seat but oh oh, something wasn’t right.  There she was standing on the seat with a fly sticker wrapped around her neck just like a necklace.  Was able to get the fly sticker pulled off her fur but oh what a sticky mess it left.  Soap, water, brushing, more soap, more water.  More washing.  Repeat the aforementioned half a dozen times interspersed with a few snips of the scissors to eliminate some impossible to clean matted fur & we were about as good as we were gonna get.  Oh Peebs:)) 

YEP, GOT A BIT OF YARD WORK AHEAD OF ME ALRIGHT

Ever been rolling down the road & have an axle brake on your trailer?  Well it happened to the HAPPY CAMPERS a few days ago in Arkansas on a 4 lane highway with narrow shoulders.  Couldn’t get a new axle but came up with a different solution.

KELLY’S BUSY GETTING THINGS SPIFFED UP IN THE KITCHEN

NICE TO BACK IN OUR COZY LITTLE SOUTHWEST ADOBE HOUSE

That’s it for tonight folks.  We are soooooooo tired but were already discussing our first road trip from our home base today.  Probably going to be Slab City over there in that California place………………………..

AND I HAVE A TIRED LITTLE TRAVELER ON MY BED TONIGHT

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Did you know a crocodile cannot stick out its tongue. Ya, I thought you did.

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.