Sorry this is so long… We get busy or don’t have great Internet
access so there are times I don’t get to update as often as I’d like!
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Camp Happy!
We have been removing huge cow
patties, pulling weeds and tossing rocks all in preparation for our "Camp
Happy" camping event just outside Williams, AZ this summer. We have found
many camper friends like ourselves who travel and live in their RV's full-time
and a few times a year we hold these events to gather all our friends who can
make it. We get together for a weekend and share stories of where we've
traveled, where we've stayed and it helps others to decide where they would
like to travel next or decide on places to stay. Some travel fast, others slow
but we all enjoy the nomadic lifestyle we have.
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| Cows along the road in Williams, AZ |
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| Michael pulling weeds getting ready for Camp Happy |
Wednesday, June 21st - Sunday, June 25th
Friends start arriving early
for our event. We jokingly refer to the early birds as starting the pre-party
for the event and we have some who stay later to enjoy the post-party so our 3
day weekend event usually ends up being more like a 5 or 6 day event but we all
have fun and enjoy running into old friends again. The old friends sometimes
bring new friends so it really does turn out to be one big party.
Monday, June 26th, 2017
Since we are spending a few
more days in the Williams area we head out to Meteor Crater, AZ to explore and
learn. Meteor Crater is privately owned with a very nice museum and display building. It's a meteorite impact crater approximately
37 miles (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 miles (29 km) west of Winslow in the
northern Arizona desert. The resulting impact of the meteor blew
earth and rocks out of the hole and spread the debris over an 8 mile radius.
The largest piece of meteor is on display in the museum.
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| An old man and his hot lady at Meteor Crater |
Tuesday, June 27th, 2017
We spent the
day exploring the south rim of the Grand Canyon and Bedrock, AZ. Kathy had
never been to either place and it was fun seeing the expression on her face as
she viewed the beauty of the canyon. We walked the canyon rim and traveled to
the canyon village where we had lunch in the El Tovar hotel before spending the
rest of the afternoon in gift shops and standing on lookouts.
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| A hottie and her old man at the Grand Canyon |
Wednesday, June 28th, 2017
Today was
spent at Bearizona in Williams, AZ. Bearizona is a drive thru different
habitats filled with bears, mountain goats, deer and bison, to name a few. You
stay in your car and as Kathy put it, it was like driving into Jurrasic Park.
The animals are very used to the cars and can get quite close but they say to
not stop and keep your windows rolled up. The wolves looked menacing as did
some of the bears but we made it thru without losing any car parts.
Thursday, June 29th – Friday, June 30th, 2017
Today was a
travel day headed towards Durango, CO with a layover of 2 nights spent at the
Ute Mountain Casino RV Park in Towaoc, CO. We ate in the casino, took Kathy out
to see 4 corners and did some shopping at their local Wal-Mart. I even got to
have lunch at my fave drive thru, Sonic!
Saturday, July 1st,
2017
Today we arrived in Durango, CO at our friends place off Hwy 550.
Totally beautiful with green grass and lots of trees. They even supplied us
with a dump, water and electricity. Totally awesome!
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| Camping in Durango |
Sunday, July 2nd,
2017
Today was a catch-up day. Pay monthly bills, downloading pics to
the computer, get the budget in order. We spent the evening in downtown Durango
eating at a local micro-brewery and walking the streets taking in the sights.
Monday, July 3rd,
2017
Spent the day performing some needed maintenance on the rigs and
the rest of the evening sitting out back of the house in the shade of a big
tree visiting with our friends and watching the horses graze. Very relaxing!
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| My favorite place to sit and relax |
Tuesday, July 4th,
2017
Our friends took us up behind their house into the mountains for a
picnic lunch and to show us the backcountry. We were somewhere around 10-11,000
feet and the weather was phenomenal. We spent the day touring the local lake,
streams and water falls. We even managed to spot a lone deer alongside the
road. That night we were guests at a home BBQ of shish-ca-bobs of different
meats and veggies.
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| Picnic in the mountains |
Wednesday, July 5th,
2017
Today is moving day. We are headed to Rocky Ford, CO for a night to
visit some old friends of mine I haven’t seen in about a dozen years. As we
prepare to leave Kathy starts to bring the last slide-out in. We hear a thump
and then the slide stops moving. I found that the electric motor attached to
the wall in the storage area under the coach was ripped away. It appears there
was a repair made in the past and the repairman only replaced the 2 front bolts
he could easily reach which worked for a while or at story and I’m sticking to it. It couldn’t
have been my lack of noticing it was missing 2 bolts. So Michael comes up with
an ingenious plan to get us back on the road. We head to True Value for parts
and in a few hours we are all repaired and it is still holding as I write this.
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| Reuniting with old friends Sylvia & Tim |
Thursday, July 6th,
2017
We arrive in Rocky Ford at my friend’s house. We pull up out front
and work out the details of parking the rigs. Michael and Sara had asked us to
stop at a fuel station as we approached town but I didn’t realize they needed
fuel NOW….LOL! As we were sitting there on a camber he ran out of fuel. He
still had about 10 gallons but the fuel pump must have been on the uphill side.
We spent the next hour running to get fuel, dump it in the tank and hook up my
air bottle to pressurize the tank to force fuel into the injectors all to get
him started and then hurry down the road to fill up. We learned the
pressurizing of the fuel tank when in Texas last year where I changed my fuel
filter and neglected to get it full enough when screwing it back on. That
evening we had a really great Mexican meal at Carmen’s Restaurant in the next
town over.
Friday, July 7th,
2017
We ride to birds chirping and get ready to move again. We plan on
staying in a Wal-Mart in Sterling, CO tonight on our way to Pine Ridge, SD. The
drive north was very boring, straight and uneventful. WE did our shopping at
Wal-Mart and that evening experienced a huge and very heavy rain storm that
turned into a hail storm. We managed to survive and even got on the roof the
next morning expecting disaster but the solar panels were all intact.
Saturday, July 8th
– Sunday, July 9th, 2017
We arrive at another friend’s house on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation where she has set us up to stay in the hospital parking lot where
she works adjacent to her home. The weather was scorching so we spent most of
our time in her house. She fixed us dinner and then breakfast the next morning
before taking us on a tour of the town and surrounding area. We even saw where Red
Cloud is buried. That evening we went about 30 miles down the road to a little
bar and pizza place for dinner.
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| Red Cloud burial site in Pine Rdge, SD |
Monday, July 10th,
2017
Today was a travel day to a small campground outside Rapid City,
SD. We are spending 7 days here to check out a few sites we missed last year
and in 2013 when we came for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. It’s beautifully
green all over the rolling hills here. We have a few favorite places we’ve seen
and this area around Sturgis and Rapid City has been one we keep coming back
to. Stay tuned for more pictures and places!
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Busy! You guys are really keeping a fast pace. I like it. Keep the posts coming I enjoy them.
ReplyDelete-Joe
Fast pace? We are on a 4 month trip. We usually only travel 200 - 250 miles per day on travel days.
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