Homeward Bound…Carried by the Wind!

April 14th, 15th,16th

Newton, Kansas was where we met our old friends (Harlin and Joan) from a tour we took to Europe back in 1999. I had mentioned this in the last blog, but I wanted to also talk about Newton itself. A small community, at the crossroads of two great railroad lines. I can’t, at this moment, remember either one of them, but they make a cross in the middle of town. North, South and East and West are their track directions with an average of 42 trains coming into town every day! A huge rail yard keeps them organized and heading for their destinations.

One of the side benefits of coming down to Newton was to bypass a long section of toll road on I-70, from Topeka to Kansas City. We took US 54 to I-35 and onto Kansas City. The tail wind that we had going south was gone and now we had a slight side wind.

The weather was clear, but still the temperature was unseasonably cold with a high of only 36 degrees. When the weather is like this we drive! There isn’t to much to visit in the vast prairielands of Kansas and Missouri. Our favorite dry camping locations were now on the map again. Yup, “Cracker Barrel Restaurants”. This was in Columbia, Missouri. It was a cold night outside for sure, but the furnace kept us cozy in the camper.

On Tuesday, we were off again, but this day I had an agenda. St Louis, MO. I always wanted to visit the “Gateway Arch” on the Mississippi River edge. We arrived in mid morning and again the truck camper surprised us with RV parking nearly in front of the Gateway Arch, on the river’s edge. I couldn’t believe it! $4.00 and we were the first to arrive and the attendant was nice enough to have us turn around for a quick getaway when we were ready to depart.

The second surprise of the day was that I didn’t realize that the Gateway Arch is operated by the National Park Service. (Senior Pass) Thank You! We did pay half price for the trip up the tram to the top of the Arch and a documentary film on the construction. I was impressed with the workers and the lack of OSHA. (No safety harnesses, hard hats, riding the hook up to the top and so forth)! At the top, 630 feet above the ground, we certainly could see in all directions with many windows on both sides. The ride up to the top is inside the arch. If you could imagine a Ferries Wheel gondola inside the arch with us sitting in what I would call an Easter Egg (five seats) A real neat experience.

Now, what makes the Gateway Arch so special is that it is at the gateway to the west. Everybody that wanted to explore, move or whatever, came to St Louis to start their adventure. Remember Lewis and Clark Expedition? They started here and headed up the Missouri River and headed all the way to the Pacific Ocean. On our trip to Alaska in 2012, we followed the Lewis and Clark Trail in the northern States. We actually went to their furthest point “North” in their exploration and found a Geocache! I can’t remember if it was in Montana or Idaho.

What a great experience this Gateway Arch along with the museum has brought us. We even got two different cancelation stamps for our National Park Passport book! Oh, yes, I couldn’t resist buying another hiking stick pin also. I’m really running out of hiking stick now!

After the visit, we again it the road to put miles in back of us. Another Cracker Barrel just outside of Indianapolis, IN. There was a full eclipse of the moon, that night, but I over slept and just got a sliver of a glimpse…not enough time to setup the tripod and camera.

Tonight, we are at a (guess where) for the night! A long day driving, about eight hours, but we are in Meadville, PA close to Erie, PA. We probably have one more night on the road before being home in Berlin, NH

 

That is what we saw and did!

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Back to Weather Reality…On the Run

 

April 11th, 12th, 13th, 2014

In my last blog, everything was Rosie and it still is, but we’ve been working on it. After leaving the Moab area, we headed for Colorado, on our way east. The ride was nonchalant, still stopping here and there, visiting everything that caught our fancy. We even took a side trip to Colorado National Monument, for a spectacular canyon rim drive. This 30 mile detour was awesome!

Back on I-70 East, we headed into the highlands of the Rocky Mountains. At this point, we were thinking that another side trip to Rocky Mountain National Park could be possible. Even with the main road closed until the end of May (winter conditions), we would be able to drive to Este Park and get a feel for the rest of the NP. As we were driving and climbing, the radio stations kept telling of an approaching storm, that would bring snow even down to Denver on the easterly side of the Rockies. Well, as we were still climbing in elevation, we could see that the winter was definitely not done here in this part of the country. The snow banks along the side of the highway were still 10 to 15 feet high.

In Vail, Colorado, all of the ski resorts were going strong! We finally crested “Loveland Pass” at 11,990 feet! What a ride going up! From here, they say, “it’s all down hill” well that’s true, but before that you have to enter into Eisenhower Tunnel for an incredibly long ride through a big mountain.

By now, we were positive that Rocky Mountain NP was out of the question. Denver was our target to get most of the snow behind us. We plugged in a Wall Mart for a parking spot for the night. Denver is spread out over 75 miles of urban area. The Wall Mart was on the easterly side of the city, an advantage for leaving the next day. The night was full of city noises, but I talked to a roving security patrol and the lady said, “It’s usually pretty safe”. She would be patrolling until 2am. Ok, everything was secure, but the trains, buses, fire department, police department helicopter and people going and coming from work were the usual noises that were absent from Fisher Towers.

Next morning, it was still fairly mild and my odometer said it was time for an oil change. I had inquired at the Wall Mart Auto department and they couldn’t fit my truck inside their service area. Hence, it was my queue to change oil myself, in the parking lot. I had the tools, I just bought the oil, filter and a $7.00 drip pan. I had been thinking of the whole operation and had everything ready. I dumped the oil, replaced the filter, filled with new synthetic oil, checked for leaks and I was done. Not a drop on the ground either. Of course, you have to remember my truck sits high off the ground and access to the bottom of the engine is easy. I loaded the used oil containers and filter back into the carriage and wheeled everything over to the auto service department. I just had to sign that I was dropping off used oil and that was it. Oh, I left the new drip pan off. So, besides the cost of oil, it cost me $7.00 for this 18 minute DIY service.

With possible snow coming later in the day, it was time to move east on I-70. I was hoping to go down in elevation. Denver, remember is somewhere in the 5,000 foot area. We drove hard all day and finally arrived in Hays, Kansas. We had put on some 350 or so miles. The temperature in Hays was close to 90 degrees. We picked Hays because it had a Catholic Church and we were there for the 5pm Palm Sunday vigil mass. Well, not exactly on time. When we had stopped at the first Kansas Visitor Center, they didn’t tell us that in just a few miles inside their state, that the time would go back to Central Time. The mass was started, but at least we tried.

We found a small campground on the outskirts of town. It had all the hookups including cable TV. It was a very quiet night!

This morning was a shocker! The temperature was down to 47 degrees. We were watching the TV weather and they were talking of severe weather with high winds, hail, thunderstorms and possible tornados.

Our plans from here were to take another side trip (60 miles) down to Newton, KS and visit some old friends we met on a “Heart of Europe” tour several years ago. We had to travel on I-70 for about a hundred miles before taking the turn south on I-135 to Newton. The first 50 miles were moderately windy, but than it got worse. When we reached Salina, it was time to park it for the night. We were sheltered from the bulk of the strong winds. The Wall Mart makes a good blind. We weren’t the only ones who parked mid afternoon for the night.

That is what we saw and did!

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Fisher Towers…Last on this Bucket List!

 

Apr 10th 2014

Last evening, we went deep into BLM land. We wanted to camp, once again, in a secluded area, but a safe area. I pulled over to the side of the road and was looking at the road map, just to get feel of the land. This dirt road, one on each side of the paved highway, was of interest. A couple of off road Jeeps came barreling down the hill. I pulled into the other dirt road, just to get a little bit off the highway. I noticed a sign that said “No Camping for Two Miles”. Well, this maybe just what I was looking for. The road was rough, but no worst than any logging road back home. The name of the game is go slow. The camper rocked and gently rolled back and fort. Helen was getting a little nervous about the road. We started to spot many more campers here and there. I stopped and talked to one guy and his wife. He said the BLM now is more strict on camping. You can only camp in designated areas. You need to see a blue marking stick. Some spots had two to six sites. Others were filled with small family groups. Now, I don’t mean bunched together. There is plenty of land to play in. We found a nice level spot, overlooking the La Sal Mountains in front of us and a large meadow to our left. Further out, kids were riding their four wheelers and Moto Cross bikes in the sand dunes. Our BLM adventure for the night!

This morning we broke camp and headed for the last item on this trips bucket list. That was to climb Fisher Towers…Ops, let me rephrase that. I wanted to climb to the base of Fisher Towers and watch the mountain climbers do their thing several hundred feet vertically up sheer cliffs.

Fisher Towers is located along the Colorado River in the Onion Creek area. It is 3-1/2 miles from the main highway. There is a six site camping area at the trail head. The trail to the base of the Towers is 2-1/2 miles of moderate climbing around ravines, with many switch backs. Our, two person, expedition arrived around 10:30am and we left on the climb at 10:45am. It is a very scenic climb, between looking up a the Towers and looking back at the Onion Creek Valley and the Colorado river. I could see that we would be stopping to take many pictures. Who cares, this is my last item on my bucket list for this trip! Everything here is in bloom. From trees to flowers and the colors are just music to my camera’s ears. The trail started to get a little hairy, with major drops, followed by major gains in elevation. In one section, a ladder was used to traverse a small canyon. I wasn’t going to push Helen, but she was a trooper and did very well. I was constantly worried that she might slip or something, but as I said, she did a good job of assuring me she was ok. We reached the submit (AKA known as the base) in about an hour and a half. It was gorgeous and to top it off, I got some good pictures and a couple of rock climbers going up and later coming down the shear cliff of the Fisher Towers. We were at 5,460 feet of elevation and it was fairly calm as far as wind goes. It was only windy when we would round one of the Towers pointed base. The afternoon became very hot, in the eighties, and as we headed for the beginning of the trailhead, we stopped and drank several times. It was a strenuous hike, even thou it was downhill. We were glad to be back at the camper.

Next on the agenda was to find a place for the night. When we drove in this morning, we noticed that all six sites had reserved tags on the site marker post. I said to Helen, “We should check to make sure they weren’t old reserved tickets”. Sure enough one of the best sites was vacant. I walked over to the next site to see if I could verify. The guy said, “sure it’s vacant, the couple left early this morning”. What a break! The site was one of the only level sites here. I drove down the hill and parked the camper.

Helen said to me, “We should walk up the ‘Photo Trail’, maybe there’s a good photo hiding up there”.  The sun started to set and tremendous colors began to appear on the Towers!

You think that would be all of the blessings I could get? Wrong, I had two more golden opportunities! I had, in my mind, a setup for another “Truck Camper Magazine Calendar” contest entry. I needed a few elements. A campfire, truck camper, night fall, a background silhouette and of course us having a cup of coffee sitting at a picnic table. I had all the elements! We will see what the readers of TCM say when they do the voting!

The last golden opportunity was being able to get up at four am and set the camera on tripod, with the Fisher Towers, in the background and capture the mighty “Milky Way” and all of the stars around.

That is what we saw and did!

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Arches National Park…The Ultimate Jewel of National Parks in Utah

 

April 8th and 9th 2014

Leaving Green Valley on I-70 East, it was just a short hop to Exit 182, heading south towards the town of Moab, UT. It was still open plains for most of the trip down towards Moab.

Nearly in an instant, the landscape changes from grassy plains to the reddest red rock that I have ever seen…nearly, blood red in color! Next we begin to see many, many ORVs in this giant BLM parking lot. Obviously, there must be hundreds of off road trails to satisfy the ORV enthusiast. The road now wines downhill at a fast rate. Rounding the corner, the Moab Fault Valley blows your mind away. Another thing that caught my eye, was the government project call UMTRA. I believe they are mining Uranium for Nuclear Power Plants. A long train setting on a railroad siding was being loaded with dirt just off the highway. Who knows!

Moab is the “Town” very much like Jackson Hole WY. It is a mecca for every outdoor enthusiast in the US! Very tourist oriented, many outfitters, many Jeep tours, many river rafter tours, mountain bikes, hiking…everything you can imagine is here. We seem to fit in there some place. Our sprits were and are back up.

A friend back home, had told us to check out this place called Buck’s Grill House. We found it in short order…by coincidence, the Slickrock Campground was located to the rear of the restaurant. I took a picture of me, sitting in the campground Jacuzzi, with the restaurant sign in the background. Needless to say, we had a very good evening.

Our plan for Wednesday, the 9th, was to get up to the Arches NP fairly early to beat the crowds and also the heat of the day. We would be hiking up to Delicate Arches, not much of a long hike, but a 480 foot rise in elevation. Got to use my Senior Pass again, saving us hundreds of dollars on this trip at all NPs.

Our ascent, up the mountain side, was recorded on my hand held point and shoot. We stopped at all view points and cranked out many photos. I realize that the photos won’t be award winning because the pros spent several days getting the sunrise and sunsets just right under the right lighting conditions, on the Arches or what ever they are capturing. My photos will tell a story and be cherished for future recollections.

The parking lot at Delicate Arches was already full. We got the last RV spot. Now for the hike! Helen packed fruits, water and snacks for our jaunt. To our surprise, we didn’t figure on how many kids were hiking with their parents. We met many parents carrying their babies in backpacks. A lot of big families with six and seven kids. It must be a Mormon thing to have big families!

The hike up was very easy for the first mile. The rest was safe, but one does not have a fear of heights when tackling this trail. Many parents and little ones have gone to the top to view Delicate Arches. I have not reviewed my pictures, as of this writing, but I’m nearly positive that I got some doozies! That wireless camera remote paid for it self on this trip. I set the camera way off across from the arch and we walked around and stood underneath and just kept clicking away. I was getting a Rocky Mountain High…well we’re just very close to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.

I just can’t write enough about what we have been seeing and experiencing on this Southwest journey! I expected some, but got a lot more. From being able to support Jerry on his marathon in New Mexico, to friends along the way, to the purple mountain majesty it’s been a “Trip!”

That is what we saw and did!

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Capital Reef National Park…So Much to Take In…In a 300 Mile Circle!

 

Apr 7th, 2014

Leaving Boulder Town area and the Deer Creek BLM campsite, our journey headed north on Route 12. Little did we know, in the beginning, that this road would climb to 9,600 feet of elevation. Once at the crest of the mountain pass, we could see 140 miles away. We took our time and stopped at scenic vistas to view valleys and distance snow covered mountains. The forest here was covered with large Ponderosa Pine trees. Snow was seen along all shady sides of the roadway.

What goes up must come down, and so we did descend fairly rapidly to the town of Torrey, UT. The Main Street was lined with closely planted Cottonwood trees. An open irrigation trench, about three feet deep, was next to the Main Street, with the side walk on the other side, completing the Main Street vista. A general store and other shops, all styled in a western motif completed this little town charm.

Onward to Capitol Reef NP. It is nearly sad to say, that Capitol Reef NP was very similar to our experience back on the Burr Trail Road, except that here we weren’t alone, but with many other tourist. We took a side road into another Slot Canyon. Tremendous outcrops of shear cliffs were on both sides of us. We didn’t do any hiking here, as the day was half spent getting here. We moved on further into the NP and stopped at nearly all of the view points.

I must say that the highlight of Capital Reef was going through and stopping at the town of Fruita. This was and is an oasis in the desert. The pioneers planted and harvested many types of fruits for their trade, with wagon trains heading south and west. It still produces many crops today. There are a couple of Cottonwood trees that are 8 to 10 feet across, at the base. They have grown to enormous size and developed a very large canopy in the picnic area. We would have stayed in this little town had the campground not been full.

Moving east, until we reached the town of Hanksville. Here a decision had to be made. Go right and south to circumnavigate Glen Canyon National Park and enter the lower half of Canyonlands NP, from the southern end or go north and change terrain views and head for Arches NP. It would be half the distance then going south. I said, “lets go north for the change”. Soon we were not in mountains with boulders, but into open plains with grass lands on both sides and wide open straight-a-way highway. In one hour, we were on I-70 heading east. It’s hard to believe, but we were exhausted from seeing beautiful scenery. There is so much to see in Utah, it is mind boggling and in a non-stop trip like ours, we needed a change of pace.

Along comes Green River State Park and the change we needed. The SP located in the Green River community, with it’s own golf course and fellow campers to talk to, we go our rest and re-charged our selves' overnight.

 

That is what we saw and did!

 

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Petrified Trees…Cowboy Cattle Drive…Milky Way!

 

April 6th 2014

The evening before, at the Escalante Petrified State Park Campground, was a relaxing way to end another excellent travel day. This morning, the plateau next to us was shielding the sun from the campground, but our plan was to climb the plateau, via the trail and venture into the Petrified Forest above. It was sort of good that it was cool, because we certainly would’ve worked up a sweat climbing the 250 feet of elevation to the top. As we climbed, the sun was slowly reaching the reservoir and campground below.

The plateau was forested with a well marked trail. I did bring along  my GPS.You never know, if I would decide to go on a side trail adventure. The first thing we spotted, on the top, was a big sign that said “No Collecting”. Ok, I can read! It wasn’t long after that we started finding many petrified tree specimens. You know, back in Bryce Canyon, at the Resort Hotel, there were Petrified Trees slabs for sale for small table tops that were going for $20,000.00!

We hiked the trail around a giant loop. We were on the lookout for deer. The night before, a deer was on the ridge looking down at the campground for a long time. The mule deer here are plentiful and we’ve seen many. Our journey to the multicolored  petrified trees came to an end around 10am.

We left that area and headed for the Boulder town area. That lady way back in Page, AZ had recommended going on this road called “Burr Trail Road”. She said, we wouldn't be sorry. She had also steered us correctly back in the Paria area. Boulder, was just a short drive up the road. We took our time and still were  there by 11:30am. The State Park attendant back in Escalante also told us about this road and a good restaurant just at the beginning. We drove in and they were just opening up for business. Everything homemade, including the whiskey chocolate pie! The grilled chicken was made to perfection with their special seasoning.

Burr Trail Road is paved for 30 miles and continues for another 75 miles of gravel road with many hairpin turns around mountain sides. Not a place to bring a truck camper! We would drive to an overlook and return the same way. This side road trip turned out to be our most enjoyable of our travels so far. The scenery was out of this world! We were also told to stop at a certain spot and hike into a slot canyon. Wow, what a beauty! You could whisper and hear the other person two hundred feet away. I should explain that there weren’t many people around. Three cars were all we saw go by.

After the slot canyon, we continued up the valley, now also a slot canyon for just our vehicle. The rock cliffs on each side were a hundred or so feet up on both sides. We stopped, took a bunch of pictures, both of ourselves and of the truck camper, mostly to show scale. Then, we spotted a cow on the edge of the road. Around the next corner, a whole herd was being driven down in the middle of the road by a bunch of young cowboys and one older (gentleman) cowboy. Ironically, I had my small point and shoot camera on movie mode. I got the whole thing! Great little footage, that I will share on “You Tube”, when we get back home.

We finally made it to the overlook to see a multi colored panorama of desert and distant snow covered mountains.

We needed a place to stay for the night. We were on BLM land and could stay anyplace with no problem. I wanted a place that we could build a campfire, to take pictures, after dark, of us sitting around the campfire… the truck in the background, with night stars above. It was on my bucket list! We headed back to a BLM campground, on the same road called Deer Creek. It only had seven campsites. We and another couple were the only ones there for the night. I got the campfire going, set up the chairs, waited for after dark and took my shots with my wireless remote on the camera. Not bad for a start! The only problem was the moon. It was a half moon and we couldn’t see the “Milky Way”. Oh well… I was satisfied with what I got. The story doesn’t end here. Later that evening, or I should say at 4am, I got up to go to the bathroom. Instead of going back to bed, I opened the camper door and looked up. The “Milky Way”! I got dressed and spent about a half hour shooting time exposers of the stars!

 

That what we saw and did!

 

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