Day 78 - 9,892 miles

We are home. Hooray! Thanks for all the prayers. We had a great time visiting a lot of you... friends and family in Florida, Alabama, Texas, Ohio, and New York. Will write more later. LOTS to unpack and plug in, reset, spider webs to break, etc. Looking forward to seeing most of you at church on Sunday. Hope you enjoyed the ride with us.

Ron

Day 77

Off this morning for Schenectady NY to visit/crash on my sister Claudette and Jim. Plan to be home tomorrow, Friday. Thanks for all the prayers. Will do a final blog later this week with summaries and links.

Day 73 - 9,072 miles

Drove across Indiana and most of Ohio. We are now sitting in Christina's livingroom. Nice to just sit, and let go of the wheel. Safe travels the entire way. God is good. Time to visit. Will write more in awhile. Just wanted all of you to know we arrived safely. Will be here until Thursday. Should get home Friday night.
Ron

Day 72 - 8,750 miles

Now in Terre Haute, IN. All is going as planned. Today we crossed both the Missouri River (twice) and the Mississippi River. Hope to be in Cuyahoga Falls, OH tomorrow to visit our daughter Christina and family for a few days. Happy Mother's Day Mom in Florida !

A morning's drive took us across Missouri and into Illinois


Huge fields like this filled the landscape of Illinois. This one is sporting wild mustard weed


Finally! The Indiana state line!


Another cozy cabin for the night

Day 71 - 8,302 miles - We are not in Kansas Anymore!

Routine fly through the Nation. We are now in a KOA cabin in Kansas City, MO. Another very windy day, both on the highway, and this location. Half way to Christina's. Should be there Sunday. Kansas is pretty flat. Speed limits are 70 mph. We were told that the speed limits were unposted, but found that not to be the case. HUGE fields of wheat. HUGE windmill projects. The Lord helped us through Kansas City, in Kansas, as the major 3 lane highway through the city was reduced to one lane, and multiple ramp exits were closed. Thus, there were many people like us unfamiliar with the norm. Had one near miss. Stopped in time, and so did the cars behind us. So we praise Him AGAIN for His safety and provision. Hope to get through Missouri, Illinois, and just into Indiana tomorrow. Terre Haute, IN is the next destination. We are now finally back to Central Time.


In between the big signs is the Missouri sign. Judy did great to get it in the middle of fast moving city traffic.


Wheat fields... acres and acres or miles and miles. Huge grain elevators as well.

Day 70 - 7,863 miles

Progress home. Today begins our official return trip home. Drove from Arches in Utah, through Colorado, into Kansas. The scenery across Colorado was spectacular! We took I 70 up into the western foothills and on through ski country - Steamboat Springs, Vail, Avon... all lovely and classy alpine communities. When we reached Vail Pass at over 10,000 feet, we thought we were at the top of the world, but we continued up further still until, in a blinding snowstorm, we reached the continental divide at 10 feet shy of being 12,000 feet . (twice the height of Mt. Washington) By the time we reached Denver we had come down almost 7000 feet! After that the land flattened out into the high plains, with fields stretching in every direction as far as the eye can see. We have settled into a cozy KOA cabin for the night, with wind howling so loud here, we keep wondering if a tornado is coming. According the The Weather Channel, this is normal wind for this area. Yuck. Back on the road in the morning.

Almost missed this sign!


Following the Colorado River upstream


Snow in the mountain passes


Kansas!

Day 68 & 69 - 7,309 miles

Arches National Park... Canyonland National Park... Dead Horse State Park... Kodachrome Basin State Park... all in Utah. We may have saved the best for last. Arches was a great place. It combined canyons, hoodoos, plateaus and ravines. We had planned to stay at this combined area for three days... HOWEVER, the wind was more than our little 6 man tent could handle. After a vigorous battle with winds sustained of 30 mph, and gusts up to 60 mph, her little heart gave out and collapsed... at about 11 pm. So we sprung it back out, only to hear bigger gusts a coming. We ended up being physical internal supports to the tent for about 2 hours. At that time, we went to plan B... evacuation to the Toyota. While Judy supported the tent poles from within, I packed as quickly as I could, everything into the car. We then took down the tent. Pulled the pegs. Rolled up the tent and tarp it was sitting on, and threw it into the car. Now what? Well, we sat in the car until sunrise, and left a day early... for, bigger winds were predicted for the next day. Besides this little setback, the views were terrific. See a few of them, enclosed. By the way, we have decided to cancel our efforts for Yellowstone, as the forecast is for snow, rain, ice, cold, winds, etc. for the 5 days we had planned. We are now on our return path home. Today we crossed Colorado and are now on that border, in Kansas. Winds are a howling here as well. But tonight, we are in a cabin, with wood frames, and a heater. Luxury !

"Balancing Rock" is actually about the size of 4 large homes



To get a better perspective, Ron is standing under the Balancing Rock


Roadway into Canyonlands... 4 wheel drive only


Notice the yellow jeep on the road... about the middle of the pic.


"Delicate Arch"


Two delicate people under an arch...



For those who don't know, "7" is my favorite number... completeness

Day 66 - Bryce Canyon National Park - 6748 miles

Welcome to Bryce Canyon. The home of the Hoodoos. A hoodoo is a pinnacle or odd shaped rock left standing by the forces of erosion. There are thousands of these rock formations, some several hundred feet high. We will be here for two days. Tuesday we leave for Canyonlands and Arches. Both are in southeast Utah. The next opportunity to email will be on May 7 from Pocatello, Idaho. So this is the last you'll hear from us for about 5 days. Hopefully we will be able to check emails in between, but the blog picture uploads take a lot of time. Today we are in a KOA log cabin, as the winds are howling at 28 mph constant, with gusts up to 47 mph. The temperature is right around 25F, making the wind chill around 0F. Too much fun for an evening in a tent. The weather gets better starting tomorrow. Woohoo! A reminder picture is that we are over 9000 feet in elevation. That is 3000 feet higher than Mt. Washington in NH. So there is lots of snow up here. Sure will be nice to get rid of these snowbanks.



Hoodoos. Thousands of them.





If you look closely, you'll see some tall Ponderosa pines in the middle of the picture. Not sure how tall those pines are, but it'll help you to get a perspective on the height of the hoodoos.


Hoodoo country... 3000 feet higher than Mt. Washington














Can you find the rock bridge in this picture?

Day 65 - Zion National Park - 6632 miles

Zion National Park is absolutely beautiful with its towering cliffs in various shades of red, pink, gray,and black, its swift running rivers, cottonwood trees in the valleys, oddly shaped hoodoos and strange rock formations. Our campsite has a gorgeous view on all sides. The weather has been clear and sunny, but windy and chilly at night. Yesterday we took the bus line up Zion Canyon, stopping in several places to hike the trails, take pictures, and just enjoy. In addition to the scenery, we saw deer browsing in the woods and we watched people rock climbing up shear rock faces some 2000 feet high. Will be leaving here tomorrow for Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah where we plan to spend 2 days. Colder there than here.











To view more pictures, cut and paste address below into your browser bar:

http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/slideshow/AlbumID=3289439002/PictureID=106220396002/a=3289786_3289786/

then select "Play Slideshow" or "Next"

NOTE: If you can't see all of the pics, let us know. We'll send you another link.

Grand Canyon Pictures - 6370 miles

We have been having a great time here at the Grand Canyons. A highlight was hiking down into the canyon a mile and a half. We met the mules coming back up from their trek to the river and the views were unbelievably beautiful. Everything is so enormous it is hard to comprehend. Got some pictures of the mules, the trails, a friendly squirrel, practically tame elk, a mule deer. Today we took pictures of the trail we hiked yesterday. It looks so tiny and far away in the photos... there is just no way these photos do justice to what we have been enjoying for the past few days. Tonight we are taking refuge in one of the lodges just a few yards from the rim. 40 mph winds combined with 30 degree temps is a little much for our tent! Will be staying here tomorrow night too with snow and wind in the forecast.

To see our pictures of the Grand Canyon, please copy and paste the following link into your browser bar:

http://photos2.walmart.com/slideshow/AlbumID=3269093002/PictureID=105446816002/a=3289786_3289786/

then select "Play Slideshow" or "Next"

NOTE: If you can't see all of the pics, let us know. We'll send you another link.

Day 60 - Grand Canyons, South Rim

We have been at the Grand Canyons for 3 days. So far, weather has been good. Cool nights... 33-37, but nice and sunny days in the 70s. The canyon looks great. Walked the rim for almost 5 miles yesterday. Housecleaning today, and short climb into the canyon tomorrow. Bad weather coming on Wednesday. What to do? Leaving here Thursday. Heading for Zion N.P. for three days, then Bryce for 2 days. All with no Wifi.

Had an elk prance through our campsite last night at supper time. We got plenty of pics. Can't post them now as we are at the library in the Grand Canyon park headquarters. Wanted to give you a quick update letting you know all is fine. We'll post pics in about a week or more, as none of the places we are going to have Wifi until May 6 in Idaho. You'll have to wait until then (may be able to get some in sooner).

Day 57 - Petrified Forest

The day started with the temp in the tent at 33 degrees. Very windy day also. But, sunny, which made the colors great. We were able to view both the Petrified Forest and some of the Painted Desert. The name Petrified Forest is a bit misleading. The trees existed long ago, and it is believed that they were washed here in a huge flood, and covered with silt. All you see is desert here now. But upon closer inspection you will see a forest's worth of petrified trees lying scattered everywhere. In some places the trees are partially uncovered as the soil around them is gradually washed away by the rain. The painted desert is made up of many layers of different minerals which are exposed as erosion takes its normal course, leaving behind beautifully striped, oddly shaped hills. Our day ended with a rain shower accompanied by 30 to 40 mph winds. Our tent held out pretty well, all things considered; only got a few puddles and were able to keep the sleeping bags dry. Hope it's done raining for the night! We'll see more of the Painted Desert tomorrow on our way to the Grand Canyons. By the way, we are in MST which is same as Pacific time.

We will be at the Canyons 4 days. Then Zion, Bryce, and Canyonlands. At all of these locations, internet is scarce. Not sure when we'll be able to send next update. When we do, it'll probably be without pictures, as they take a long time to upload if and when the Wifi has a healthy signal. We'll do the best we can. Stay tuned...



Painted Desert


Newspaper Rock


This log was about 130 feet in length


Some were over 5 feet thick


One of many thousands


Prong Horn Antelope in the wild





It was a chilly windy day


About 18 inches in diameter

Day 56 - 6,059 miles

First day in Arizona. First of all, they don't go by DST, so it is the same time zone as California. For those of you jealous snow bound people in Maine, you'll be happy to know that we hit snow today leaving NM and driving into AZ. Of course the altitude was close to 9000 feet, so that does make a difference. The terrain changes quickly from desert, to small forests, back to desert. We went through one area where all the boulders were black. In about three miles, all the boulders were light tan. Three miles from there all the boulders were bright red. Weird. We came around one curve near the NM/AZ border and found 3 wild boars on the roadside. Slowing down to take a picture, they quickly ran off. No pics. Sorry. First time we've ever seen that. We weren't about to go hoofing into the ditch to try and catch a better picture.

The other thing is that the wind is blowing, and it is cold. We bought a digital thermometer with memory to record the highs and lows of the day. We are expecting around 30 degrees tonight. It'll be a test to see if the sleeping bags really are able to keep us alive at the rated temperatures. Time will tell.

We arrived in town early enough to scope out one of the Petrified Forest gift shops. We looked at some slabs of petrified wood costing $24,000. However, this town is filled with rock shops. The further away you get from the N.P., the better the prices. We'll be checking out the N.P. all day tomorrow. We leave for the Grand Canyon on Saturday. It is only 250 miles away.



We actually caught these two in the act. Got the camera out too late. Thus this shot is rated G instead of R.


This spot looked like we were going to launch like an airplane


Snow at 9000 feet at the NM/AZ border


The cliffs are at the edge of the road. They use cement barriers to stop or slow the rock slides from getting into the road. Doesn't always work.

Day 55 - Gila National Park

Visited Gila NP today. The ride in was almost more fun than the visit. The narrow and VERY winding road had Judy on the edge of her seat for about 4 hours. We'll include one picture of a hairpin turn, typical of about 30-40 on route. Then of course, there was one way in, so, a repeat had to be driven on the way back. We did snap a couple of interesting road sign pics. One especially dear to us northerners who have to live around snow and snow removals. We also found the Continental Divide and decided to stand on the line separating the East from the West of this great US. The biggest challenge today was the 30+ mph winds. We were happy to find our tent still up, but now that we are in it, not sure how long it will stay on the ground. Starting to get really cold nights. The wind chill is not helping any. Getting into the 30s nights. We are testing our sleeping bags ratings. Sure hope the label wasn't a big selling exageration. Time will tell. We leave in the morning for the Petrified Forest in Arizona. Two days there, then it'll be the Grand Canyon.

p.s. from Judy: The road to Gila Cliffs was the scariest road I have ever been on in my life! It was very narrow and wound its way for 50 miles up and down very steep grades. The edge of the road dropped off only inches from the tar several hundred feet into canyons. AND THERE WERE NO GUARDRAILS! At several places we were up on top of ridges that were much higher than where we had crossed the continental divide. The worst part was that we had to go back out over the same road. My fingernail prints in the armrests are a lasting testament of how much I enjoyed that ride! But the scenery was beautiful. The Gila Cliff dwellings were anticlimactic after that!





Outside view of dwellings



Looking up the face of the dwellings



Did you ask how we got inside the dwellings from the face of the cliff?



Inside dwelling, looking out



Looking inside cave



At this point, we are about 1000 feet above Mt Washington



Hairpin turn - one of about 30. Road actually takes a sharp left turn if you look closely. Bet you thought it went straight, right?


This guy never made it around the turn (this was a car that Ron was inspecting about 50 feet down the very steep hill from the top)



Snowplow Rules... Commuting must be tough in the Winter