April 30th – May 27th – adventures continue…

April 30th – May 4th

Into the depths of HE–, Not really!!

We left Arizona and headed towards Death Valley National Park.  We chose to do this park in May hoping it wouldn’t be the depths of He–! We were right and the temperatures were not too hot.  We made a smart choice (this time)!  We stayed in the parking lot of a Casino in the middle of no where but it had full hook ups (for those of you who aren’t familiar – this is camper speak for having water, electricity and sewer hook ups for the trailer) and was pretty much empty – maybe 5 other campers.  We also had a statue of a cow right next to our site!  It was a good choice because it was 7 miles from the entrance of Death Valley National Park.  We spent a couple of days exploring the park and it was fantastic. If you remember the product 20 Mule Team Borax, this is the place where it was first mined.  We went up 5476 feet above sea level and 288 feet below sea level in one park. It’s hard to believe that a desert can be beautiful as opposed to just hot and sandy!!

Ash Meadow National Wildlife Refuge

Very close to our campground was the Ash Meadow Wildlife Refuge where we spent a day exploring as well. It is a protected wildlife refuge located in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, in southwestern Nevada. It had Crystal Springs which is a natural spring that outputs 2800 gallons a minute of water. You know we had to go here since it had to do with water!!  At least is was something more than a water tank which as you’ve read before, Jeanne has Jane take pictures as we are traveling up and down the road of water tanks! We were introduced to the “Pup” fish which this particular species is only found in this place.  They are so tiny you really can’t see them but the Ranger told us about them! This is a great place to go if you are a “birder”!

 

May 4th – 8th

We drove right to the edge of Glory

During this time we camped on an Indian reservation and the site was awesome!  New campground with full hook ups (remember what that is from the above post) and nice large sites.  We came here in order to explore the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks.  When we arrived on the 4th we were told that the North rim didn’t open until May 15th.  Needless to say we were not happy.  We mentioned this to another camper and he told us about a way to get to the north rim by driving 61 miles (one way) to a part of the north rim that is rarely visited!  The North and South rim have over 6 million visitors a year whereas this part gets 5000 visitors a year. Tuweep or Toroweep is the route we took.  OMG!  It was quite the drive!  Since it was a drive that isn’t frequented much and there’s no cell service, Jane texted her sister before leaving the campground and told her where we were going and the route.  Jane said she’d let her know when we got back to the camp site and if she didn’t hear from us by that time, call the Calvary!   We were told that if you sustain a flat tire on this route that a tow would cost between $1000 – $2000!!  Thankfully our truck is a beast and it raises up to “off-road” and has 4-wheel drive high and low!  We had to use all the bells and whistle to get to our destination.  The first 58 miles were bumping and on a dirt road with ruts but the last 2.7 miles was an adventure in and of itself!  It took us 45 minutes to do the last 2.7 miles.  We drove over rocks, ruts, boulders, cracks and dirt!  Talk about putting button holes in your seat. On the way up there was a ranger station that had restrooms and we both said, “no, we are fine”.  About half way through the 2.7 miles we both were wishing we had stopped to go potty!  Thankfully at the top there was a restroom or as Jane says, “we would have to pop a squat behind a bush”!  We were the first ones up there for the day and were followed by another truck that happened to be three Park Rangers!  They stayed about 30 minutes and we stayed about 1.5 hours.  We figured if we were going to drive that we were going to stay a while.  We were up there by ourselves – had lunch and just enjoyed the beauty.  There were no bars or any barriers to keep you from the edge – except Jeanne!  She kept telling Jane to get back from the edge!!!  There have been deaths here from people getting too close to the edge and a gust of wind takes them over the edge to a 3000 foot fall.  Jane didn’t get that close – believe it!!  Of course it would have to have been hurricane force gust of wind to take her over the edge but didn’t want to risk it!  LOL!

Sandstone cliffs of cream, pink and red

Zion National Park has numerous paths where ancient native people and pioneers walked, huge sandstone cliffs and a narrow slot canyon. Zion’s has a unique array of plants and animals as well.  Unfortunately, many of the national parks don’t allow pets so we drive around the park roads and see what we can.  In most of the parks, there are driving routes throughout the entire park and Zion NP does as well but most of the roads you have a take a shuttle bus.  Needless to say, we did as much as we could with Codey in his seat of honor in the truck.  What we did see was spectacular and awe inspiring! 

That’s alot of pink and sand

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is a state park of Utah, located between Mount Carmel Junction and Kanab. The park features coral-hued sand dunes located beside red sandstone cliffs. Jeanne and Codey took a walk up several sand dunes to experience the soft & cool sand.  Jane can’t walk on sand due to a bum right ankle, she was the photographer!!

Pipe Spring National Monument

Right across from our campground was this awesome part of history.  Pipe Spring National Monument is a United States National Monument located in the U.S. state of Arizona, rich with American Indian, early explorer, and Mormon pioneer history. We took an afternoon and walked through to learn about the history of this unique place that had numerous ruins to explore. 

May 8th – 12th

Another swimming pool for Codey and talk about red clay mud…

We left Kiabab and headed to Lake Mead Recreation Area.  Codey enjoyed this location particularly because after all it is a lake – a big one! While at Lake Mead we of course spent time at the lake and we explored the Valley of Fire State Park which is a public recreation and nature preservation area covering nearly 46,000 acres. The state park derives its name from red sandstone formations, the Aztec Sandstone, which formed from shifting sand dunes 150 million years ago.  These sands dunes were truly a sight to behold.  Virginia may have red clay mud but it ain’t got nothing on the Valley of Fire!

May 12th – 15th

Oooooh – how scary – NOT!

During this time we stayed at the Calico Ghost Town & Campground.  Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in San Bernardino County, California.. Located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California, it was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, and has been converted into a county park.  The town does have several stores that remain open for tourist, so being the good tourist we took a walk around the town and rode the railroad around as well. 

May 14th – 19th

Sequoia & King Canyon National Parks

We stayed in a campground that was up a loooong twisting road.  Our GPS took us up a road named Dry Creek Lane.  Not until we got to the campground did we find out that was not the best way to go.  It was narrow, winding, and scary road, especially when pulling a trailer! The road started out fine with two lanes then eventually when to a narrow, barely there twisting road with blind curves all the way up.  We got 5 miles to the gallon going up as we were pulling our 30 foot trailer.  Needless to say, when we left we went the “correct” way even though it was long and twisting as well but at least two distinct lanes.  The national parks were awesome and beautiful.  The Sequoia NP was at a higher elevation than King Canyon and we explored every bit of it.  It was absolutely spectacular (We’re running out of adjectives to describe the places we’ve been, just suffice it to say, they were all amazing, spectacular, awesome, awe inspiring, fantastic, fabulous, etc…you get it, we’re sure).  During this trip we saw: rushing river water, waterfalls, wildlife, enormous trees, a rainbow, SNOW, (yes, snow) and lots of mountain ranges. 

May 19th – 22nd

We were leaving Sequoia headed to Big Bear Lake; however we called the campground only to find out that in order to get there we needed chains on the tires due to snow!  Not a chance!!  We were stuck in traffic going about 5 miles per hour and looking for another place to go and Jeanne said, look up River Run RV park.  Jane asked where this was and it was off the next exit from where we were.  We pulled off and stayed in Bakersfield, CA for a couple of days before heading to Joshua Tree.  Big Bear Lake is holding our reservation for a year in hopes that we can get there another time!

May 22nd – 27th

We are currently in Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA campground.  Our reason for setting up here was to explore Joshua Tree National Park.  We did this the 2nd day we were here and it was simply beautiful.    We decided that this area must have been the original Bedrock from the Flintstones.  “Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they’re a modern stone age family, from the town of Bedrock they’re a place right out of history; let’s ride with the family down the street, through the courtesy of Fred’s two feet”!!! (Now we know that’s going to be your ear worm for the next few hours – LOL!!)  We didn’t run into Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, Bam-Bam or Pebbles, but we are certain they were there somewhere!! We also took a day and explored Palm Springs. While there we saw Sonny Bono and Lucille Ball just sitting on a bench.  We loved Palm Springs and even went and looked at a house that is for sale…who knows??

Wow, that was alot for a month.  We appreciate ya’ll reading our blog.  We wish ya’ll were with us!!  We leave Joshua Tree and head to the San Diego area, Los Angeles, Yosemite NP, Lassen Volcanic NP, then on to Jeanne’s brother’s house in Ashland, Oregon where we will store the RV and drive across country back to Virginia to spend the month of July and attend Jane’s 40th high school reunion (we know, it’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years).  Hope to see ya’ll when in Virginia.  We never forget how blessed we are to be able to do this.  We are incredible grateful for the time and adventures to see all God has to offer in this great country!!  Codey is on his picnic throne to let you know he has once again claimed this campground as his own.  Until next time….