3/21/2015
First day arriving in Phoenix. I flew in from Houston after finishing a 2 day trip that I thought I would have no chance of getting, but I deviated from a dead head to fly direct to Phoenix. The family took a day off from school, and took an early flight to Phoenix that connected through Omaha. Reb and the kids got there hours before me, and to the kids pleasure, there was an In n Out Burger within a couple of blocks of the Country Inn and Suites which is where we had a lucky reservation. It turns out that 16 MLB teams are in town for spring training, and there were no vacancies. The staff at this hotel was so awesome, allowing all 5 of us to pile into one room with a rollaway, and shuttling us around to the Tempe Marketplace for dinner and provisioning.
Friday night, we ate at Chipotle, as chosen by Dylan, and hit the local Target to get supplies for the RV, including toiletries and first aid supplies. My initial stress of the 5 family members non revving across the country has been neutralized as we have made a reunion in Phoenix.
3/22/2015
Up in the morning, as Dylan is out the door geo caching, and finding a couple of local targets. The hotel provided breakfast in the lobby area, and was well attended by the Pletcher family. We had no rush as we were up on Eastern time, well before the rest of the Pacific Coast time folks, and we had to wait for several hours to pick up the RV from Cruise America. In the meantime, we headed out back of the hotel to a local park adjacent to Lake Tempe which had a couple of small climbing hills that we practiced some bouldering training on in anticipation to our trip through Utah. I managed to bust out a little run around Lake Tempe.
At 1, we had our multitudes of gear packed and loaded in the hotel van, as one of the employees, Nick drove us to Cruise America in Mesa. Out of their van mileage circle, but graciously assisted by this guy.
We eagerly arrived at Cruise America to pick up our standard RV. Again that Cruise America guy was so cool, giving us complimentary camp chairs and other supplies. First stop Walmart to get all of our groceries for the week.
We got on the road as soon as possible since we had about a good 4 hour drive to Mather Campground in Grand Canyon Village. Once we had interpolated a route combining our AAA Trip Tik with the iPhone GPS, we headed out of town, and started the climb out of Phoenix starting at 1000' in full Sonora desert mode, complete with ridge lines with plentiful saguaro cacti, all the way up through Flagstaff and to the Gran Canyon area in the 7000 ft elevation. The changing of the landscape and flora was amazing, as we climbed through the high desert, then the scrub, and small pines, onto the large pine forests of Flagstaff.
We stopped in Flagstaff for fuel and dinner, getting a "Diners, Delis, and Dives" recommendation to stop at Salsa Brava, a great Mexican place on the old Route 66. We loved it, and especially the salsa bar with multiple varieties of salsa.
We finally made it into Grand Canyon village, and searched out the Mather Campground. Our site was gladly a pull through, as we arrived well after dark, and were equipped only to hit the rack for the night. 37 degrees outside the RV was great for sleeping.
3/22/15
Woke up for the first breakfast in our new week of RV lifestyle. Had some cold Pop tart and musffin items as well as breakfast burritos. We did not spend any significant time in the campground, as we were eager to get up to the Visitors Center at Mathers Point. We were spectacularry thrilled with the wonderful views of the South Rim, especially as the morning sun cast its hue on the opposite walls of the Canyon
We got our first hike in along the Rim to the South Keabob trail descending down into the Canyon rim for 3 miles round trip.
I managed a couple more miles bringing it up to 8
Back into the RV for lunch of cold cuts, then onto the highway through the Navajo reservation, onto Lake Powell, over Glen canyon Dam, into Utah, and to Zion.
Precarious situation as we arrived after the time of single lane escort through small tunnel. All RVs considered large vehicles, and traffica is stopped to allow passage. I was quite anxious as we approcahed, and saw the ranger, she allowed passage. It would've been very sketchy.
Backed into our site at the Watchman Campground, cooked burgers on the grill as we sat around a campfire arguing about the kids using electronics and being less than helpful. It will feel good to sleep tonight, but most of our big miles are over until returning RV on friday from Moab to Denver.
3/23/2015
I have to say in advance, that Zion National Park is absolutely amazing. We were up and out pretty early, since we had a big hike planned up Angel's Landing. It proved to be a good decision, since as the day progresses, the crowd gets less manageable. That is a key point on a single lane hike!
We parked at the Visitor's Center after checking out of the Watchman, and experiencing our first RV "services" station. It always brings to mind the Robin Williams movie, RV, and the quote before the defecation spray, "That's just basic hydraulics" Luckily we fared better, and got ourselves onto a shuttle for The Grotto stop.
Rachel was less than enthusiastic at the prospect of the 5.4 mile hike, which traverses over 1000' vertical. She started slow, and didn't catch up until the first of 2 sets of pretty impressive switchbacks. We got into climbing gear and she caught on just fine. The switchbacks and trail are mostly paeved util the top where the path (if thats what it is called) is single track with a chain to guide you up. Some of the sections have a 3' span with shear 1000' drop offs on each side. Harrowing, but SO worth the effort at the top. What a spectacular hike.
We headed out of Zion in the mid afternoon, and headed towards Bryce Canyon. There was no reservations at the campground, the policy this early season being "first come first serve" We literally got the last site after going through the campground a couple of times, and had to do a crazy levelling job with a log and a rock. It was almost level, which allowed the LP refrigerator to operate. I was level enough to cook and prepare tacos for dinner. We saw the sunset at Inspiration Point as the sun shadow settled over the ampitheater of hoodoos.
3/24/15
Woke up to 23 degrees, and cold campers! I got the RV going before sunset as the kids slept so we would again jpurney to Inspriation point, this time with the sunrise to observe. We just made it, and it was wonderful. After sunrise, we headed to the Visitor's Center to watch the 22 minute video of Bryce Canyon. These park service videos are very informative. Rachel also got her Junior Ranger book which she accomplished in the park today. We headed to the Northernmost view points, taking in all of the sights and patches of snow. Bryce is at a pretty high elevation, above 8000', accounting for the remaining snow, and the temps 10 degrees colder than Zion.
Heading back Southk, we once again arrived at the Bryce Point area where Inspiration Point was, and started a 3 mile loop at Sunset Point that was the Queens Garden/ Navajo Trail Combo loop. Life below the rim baby! It was specacular, an adjective that Dylan has stated I have been overusing. Our bryce activities completed, we headed out on I 12, one of America's byways heading towards Capitol Reef NP. It was again, a beautiful drive, along ridges with awesome geological formations, and forests of aspen. We peaked out close to 10,000' and at one of the ridges there were a few miles of no shoulders, guard rails, and shear drops to the canyons below. Sketch.
We got to Torrey, UT, which is our camp at Sand Creek RV park, and readied for a dinner of spagetti, but first getting meatballs from Subway. 2 meatball subs, meatballs on the side, toasted buns. Yummy. Even left overs for tomorrow. This was our first hot shower facility in a few days, so we took full advantage of that as well as the laundry facilities from some days of hiking in the same clothes. Torrey is a quaint little town, but this place is in BFE, the middle of nowhere.
3/26/15
Notes
Capitol Reef. Geo talk. Relef map of park. Very detailed. Petroglyphs. Henderson bridge. Hiked to it. Down valley on way to canyon lands. Trifecta of natl parks. Lots of driving. Just for picture. Looks like mini Grand Canyon. Started to get a bit road weary got to arches and then to massive sand slide on hillside. Hike to arches. Check in at Moab RV. A
Ways wanted to bring family herr. Los jillbertos mexican. Hot showers awesome. In pool.
3/27
MTB moab chile pepper bike shop brands area of moab. Lunch in RV. So impressed with family on MTB. Drove to Denver. Got in at 1140 to wal mart. Rach was my co pilot for sketchy mountain drive.
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