Valley of Fire & Road of Snow

We reluctantly left Blue Diamond mid-afternoon Sunday after getting a last minute tour of a house Adam and LeAnna are considering purchasing.  LeAnna has already posted some pictures on her blog, so I will move on with what has transpired with our trip since then.  We drove through the Valley of Fire NE of Las Vegas near Lake Meade.  Adam had taken me there on a previous trip, but Karen had never been and it was certainly worth revisiting.

Red Rider doing well, although we would like a little better gas mileage.

Because of the late start we were only able to do a couple of short hikes and unable to spend much time in the visitor center which has some very nice explanatory displays.

Everywhere you look there are pictures begging to be taken.



One of the hikes featured a number of petroglyphs scratched through the varnish on the rock face.

Despite the dry winter there a number of desert plants doing their annual display.

Time to gather our poop and hit the road.  Because of our late start we spent the night in St. George, Utah with the plan for getting up early the next morning and heading into Rock Springs, Wyoming by early evening with maybe a couple of short stops along the way.



We started early Monday and jumped off of I-15 to drive a scenic loop (recommended by Adam) through parts of Zion NP, that would eventually connect us back near Cedar City to continue our trek north.



Truly breath-taking vistas all along the way.

About 2/3 of the way (and at approximately 10,000 feet of elevation) to Cedar City we began to drive through patches of snow across the unpaved road along with some pretty wet and muddy sections.  We handled them all pretty well I thought, until this one, which it turns out is the last one we would encounter.  This one turned out to be much deeper than the previous ones and the truck simply did not have enough clearance or speed to make it through!

Karen did yeoman work hauling and packing rocks for traction, but it took 3 new best friends (Travis, Nick, w/his dog Duncan & Doug), their truck with tow straps, a drive through the pasture and 4 hours later we were in Cedar City .

Red has a new trim color!

We did make it to Rock Springs late in the evening and after a couple of visiting days with Malia, Ryan, Megan & James we'll be heading home, without any more snow!

A Day at Mt. Charleston

Wednesday, after a gentle start to the day, we mobilized for a trip to Mt. Charleston.
It is a climbing, hiking, camping area about 45 minutes from Blue Diamond.  It was
a beautiful day, unseasonably warm, as the temperatures here are running 10 to 15 degrees above average.  Not a great situation for here but totally awesome for those
of us who have endured the unending winter of the northeast!

Adam and LeAnna did a little climbing.  We all did a little hiking and the dogs thought they had died and gone to heaven!  We may have to leave them here.  (Maggie is in love with LeAnna.)  The funniest part of the whole day was when we got to the bottom of the trail and Arlo was missing - mind you, it was only funny when we realized that he had gone all the way back up to the climbing area and we saw him heading all the way back down.

All in all, a beautiful day.  Hope you enjoy the pictures!  Love to you all.

 

Beautiful!

 

I love how the mountains peek through the evergreens.

 

It was difficult to get Maggie to stay in one place for a pic.

Pat finally had to pick her up.

 

LeAnna's turn to climb.

 

Tree of the Day 

 

The dogs LOVED it!!

 

Adam takes a turn.

 

Lightening Strike



More on the Road

Thought I would share some additional on the road photos and commentaries.  While it may appear that I (Pat) was not involved, someone had to record these events.  We are having a great time. 

 

 

For the past several weeks our dining room has become one of several staging areas in the house for the trip.  At first it was just the floor and then it just spread to any flat surface available.





 

We made sure the priority items had a prominent place so as not to be left behind.

 

Now that we have everything, how do we fit it in?

 

Final fueling begins.

No trip can begin without final clearance and inspection!



 

No way are you leaving without us this time.

 

 

 

Driving Red Rider down the road somewhere between here and there.

 



 

A little after dinner activity........

 

 

A little after dark activity.

 

Our second campsite outside at 9000' outside of Santa Fe.  We spent 2 nights here and had couple of nice chats with Marcos, the park ranger.

 

 

Camping wasn't all work.

 

 

Our first campsite in Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City.

 

 

 

Can't camp without a camp fire!

Our first restaurant meal of the week in Santa Fe. 

 



 

The continental divide on Route 66.  Couldn't help ourselves, even went to the gift shop across the road.

 

We have had good weather all the way with just a little rain outside of St. Louis.  One construction related delay just north of Columbus that cost us an hour, but overall traffic has been fairly light as we are early in the season.



Week in Review

 

On the Road Again :-)

 

 

Before we headed west I called Boyerts and asked if I needed

to clean out my gardens or could I wait till the end of the month.

Can you guess the answer?  Unfortunately, I only got the front

gardens done.

 

 

Packing was a puzzle.  Hot and Cold?  Camping and Hotel?

Clean up clothes and set up camp clothes?  Don't

pack too much - but what if it snows...or is 80?

 

Stopped for one last good-bye and hit the road.

Only an hour late, but then there was the hour delay in Columbus.

 

Zoomed through St. Louis and spent the first night in a hotel.

 

Next day we headed into Oklahoma.  This was an unusually nice Welcome Center.

 

Our first night of camping was in the Red Rocks State Park.

Considering we haven't camped in years and years, things went pretty well.

We had a little trouble with the tent, but not too bad.   We put the electric

to good use even without an RV.  

 

We were like pros when we got to Santa Fe where we spent 2 nights

in the Hyde Memorial State Park. 

 

We spent a beautiful day checking out the Santa Fe arts scene -

pretty impressive!!  Gallery after gallery after gallery...

It was like going to 3 museums in one day.

 

Hit the road again - It was free of debris, pleasantly curvy, and

the landscape was awesome.

 

We stopped along the way at the  Laguna Pueblo where

we met Alfred, who gave us a tour of this

stunning 17th century mission.

 

 

We drove through the Painted Canyon National Park and

the Petrified forest.

 

What a day!  Late that night, we pulled into our hotel

in Flagstaff and pretty much fell asleep.

 

The next day, we drove through Sedona to the little town of Jerome.

It was once a thriving Copper mining town.  When the mining dried up, most

everyone moved away and then the hippies moved in.  Today it is a

"destination" arts community.  There were a lot of art lovers visiting on Saturday!!

This picture is taken from above the town.

 

That evening, we went out to dinner in a real restaurant without the dogs.

No, Pat is not praying, just wishing I would stop with the pictures already.

 

Dogs have been great, the truck is running well (no comment on gas mileage)

Camping was fun...and so is staying in hotels.

Great scenery, lots of curvy roads and no debris on the road!

(unless you count one dead coyote) 

All in all, a great week one.

 

Pulled  into Adam and LeAnna's about lunchtime today (Sunday) 

Stay tuned for more.

 

Love you all.