Exploring Moab

On our way to Moab we stopped by to see the place that John Ford filmed almost all of his westerns and that John Wayne made famous in Stagecoach; Monument Valley and Gloudings Lodge. We tried local Navajo cuisine by having a Navajo Taco which is made with Navajo Fry Bread, loved the bread!

There is so much to see and do in Moab and the surrounding areas, we only scratched the surface exploring in the 4 days we were there.

Our first night in Moab we stayed right in the town at the Canyonlands Campground. We were able to wonder around town from there, do a little shopping (not that we bought anything) and we checked out the local scene at the Moab Brewery, beer was pretty good and of course we bought a glass for our collection at home.

Early the next morning we headed to Dead Horse State Park to try to get a camp site but they were already full. It is amazing how many campgrounds don't take reservations and are first come, first serve. The ranger recommended a campground right down the road with gorgegous views of the moutains, Horsethief Campground - our first "Dry" camp experience. This means we did not have electric, water or sewer hookup, so we were "roughing it" in the RV!

We set up camp, doesn't take long when you are "dry" camping, and headed the few miles to Canyonlands National Park to do a bit of four-wheelin', so much fun - gorgegous, Lisa's favorite spot so far. Right off the start we encounter Pucker Pass - wow! If we would not have been told by the lady at the Visitor Center that we would fit we might not have believe it! (Course we would have tried it unlike the 2 vehicles that were following us who turned around, chickens!)

Along the almost 50 miles we did four-wheelin' this was Lisa's favorite spot, went on as far as the eye could see, so many different colors and types of scenery, the picture does not do it justice, truly amazing, Lisa could have sat here for hours soaking up the sun and the views.

Next we came across Musselmans Arch, after a 4 mile, not so easy drive, we were greeted with the only Arch in the park that you can walk across. Look closely at the picture, there is only the thin layer of the Arch underneath us and a very long way down to the valley floor.
The picture below is of a "Rock Cairn". They are along each trail to show us the way, very helpful, so we thought we would share them with you as they keep us from getting lost and keep us on the trails that the parks mandate you keep to.
We moved campgrounds again and landed at Portal RV Park, in the middle of being remodeled but once it is done, wow, some of these RV parks are amazing (and expensive). We then spent the day at Arches National Park. We rented the audio tour of the park from the visitors center and we drove the scenic loop through the park stopping at all the arches and rock formations along the way. There are over 200 Arches in the park, we saw just a few along the route and numerous rock formations - penguins, queens, wall street, all the larger formations are given a name and resemble one thing or another. Two of our favorite Arches are below:

Broken ArchDelicate Arch, the most famous of all the arches.

Next we are off to Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks - we will write more soon!

Can't Get Enough of Arizona

We had a few days to "kill" before we were heading to Moab/Arches in Utah so we decided to stay a few more days in Arizona and pointed the RV towards Page, AZ: Glen Canyon National Park home of Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon and Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

Our campsite was located inside of Glen Canyon National Park and we had a great view of Lake Powell. After we got settled in (which takes all of about 15 minutes) we took a tour around the campground, had the Jeep on the Beach, checked out the fishing pier and cleaning stations (looks like the fish were biting, next trip Troy) and had a few beers at the lodge inside the park where we met a few locals who provided us with some trails to take the following day.

The following morning we headed to Antelope Lower Canyon and it was breathtaking! After we trudged through a sandstorm we were astonished to see the way the light danced through the sandstone canyon. Troy took some amazing photos, here are just a few:





We then headed towards the Vermilion Cliffs to take a hike into the mountains but the wind was too much so instead we took a scenic drive around the area. The Jeep was getting blown all over the road, not the leisurely scenic drive we were hoping for but the cliffs and mountains in the area were all around us, beautiful drive anyhow. We made it so close to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (which is so far away from the South Rim so it was really cool to be there) but the North Rim does not open until mid-May due to snow, we were a month too early! :(

Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam are amazing, next visit Lisa wants to rent a house boat and tool around the lake. The lake is surrounded by the Canyon's and it is so interesting to see all the different colors and shapes at every turn.

Thanks for the recommendation for hitting the Page Area Aunt Sherri, it was a great stop on the tour!

Exploring Grand Canyon and Sedona

The RV headed in for service and we headed to the Grand Canyon. We drove around the South Rim and explored the park by car with a few short hikes to see the true beauty of this natural wonder of the world.
Troy figured out how to use the timer on the camera, now we can actually take photos with both of us :) Next trip to the Grand Canyon we want to hike down into the Canyon and stay at the Phantom Ranch for the night. Can you believe there is a ranch at the bottom of the Canyon?

The next morning we headed to Prescott to see Aunt Sherri and Uncle Bob. With the RV parked in their driveway (Yup, we pulled the RV into their driveway and stole electricty from Uncle Bob's "Man Mansion") and let Aunt Sherri drive us around Prescott to show us their favorite sites. First we headed to Granite Dells, very cool rock formations that Troy decided he needed to conquer.

We walked around Prescott's historic downtown which was full of interesting old bars (Whiskey Row) and great little shops (which Lisa resisted, you are welcome Uncle Bob!). Afterwards we went to Lynx Lake, a favorite spot of Uncle Bob's and Aunt Sherri's to enjoy the sun, we were finally in a place with good weather!
The following morning we explored Sedona, AZ. Red Rock formations were everywhere as were the "Dirt Devils" that chased us while we were viewing Cathedral Rock.
Thanks for a great visit and for the use of your washer and dryer - still haven't had to use the Laundromat!

Wind, Wind and More Wind

Will the wind ever die down? Wow - is all we can really say! Every day seems to be more windy than the day before and driving the RV is more and more challenging. (40-50 mph wind gusts are not uncommon and now we are in tumbleweed country, dodging tumbleweed in the RV is not as easy as one might think!)

Monday, April 7th we made our way to Brantley Lake State Park, NM which became our homebase while we explored the Carlsbad Caverns. (We did drive through Roswell on our way to the park only to be disappointed by the town, not what we expected from the Alien Capital of the world, not sure what we were expecting (Aliens to appear?) but whatever it was the town did not offer it and it was not worth the drive to Roswell).

Weird feeling to be at Brantley since we are used to the greenery of Michigan when camping, we were definitely in the desert. Here is a picture of a camp site at the park:

We headed to Carlsbad Caverns at dusk to see the million bats that live there every spring/summer and their nightly exit from the Caverns. We sat with impatiencance (Bats are not Lisa's favorite) for the mass exit but it never came, guess it was a bit early in the session for the nightly ritual however we were greeted by a skunk, lucky for us he didn't care for our company and wondered back into the forest almost as quickly as he had appeared! The bats normally emerge from this large cave below where we sat for about an 1 and 1/2 waiting for them:
On Tuesday we returned to the Caverns to explore the Caves, wow! The Natural Entrance is a 1 mile trail that takes about 1 hour to walk to get you to the "The Big Room" which is over 8 Acres. We took a ton of pictures of the amazing formations within the cave but most of them didn't turn out but here are a few:

Temple of the Sun

Whales Mouth

On Wednesday we found ourselves in "Billy the Kid Country" and decided to take a drive through a few of his old haunts. As we were exploring Lincoln we kept referencing the movie "Young Guns" as our guide to history, funny how that happens? The town of Lincoln is stuck in time, we felt like it was 1881 and Pat Garrett had just returned from gunning down"Billy the kid".

Our drive took us through Capitan, NM which is home of Smokey Bear so we took a quick tour of the Smokey Bear Museum, who knew there was a museum in honor of Smokey? Did you know that Smokey Bear was named after he was already created and featured in ads? He adopted the name of a bear cub who was rescued from a forest fire in Capitan, NM. And of course Lisa had to get her picture with him, he is an icon after all!
We also drove through Ruidoso, NM. Such a cute town, reminded us of up north, would love to stay for a long weekend: shops, skiing, hiking, great dining - very cool place!

April 10th should have been such an easy day, we woke up early and were ready to hit the road by 7:30 am and were only going to drive a few hundred miles. We conducted our routine checks before we left the campground (there are a lot of them) and we found our brake lights were not working on the RV or the Jeep we are towing, not good! Seems we blew a fuse (might be Lisa's fault but she is not admitting anything at this time) which in turn affected the brake lights and cruise control. So we quickly changed our plans and instead of a short day of driving we dove the longest yet in the wrost winds yet, 486 Miles, to get us to Flagstaff, AZ where we were able to get into a RV Service Center the next day!

As we were driving to Flagstaff we came across the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest which we could not pass up! These pictures don't do the area justice, so amazing with all the different colors in the dirt:

Painted Desert Tepees

Petrified Wood - really feels like stone and has so many colors within it!

Route 66 went through the National Park once upon a time - now this vehicle and the faint trace of the road is all that remains. (Not sure we have mentioned it before but for some reason Lisa is infatuated with Route 66 and whenever we can we are exploring parts of it!)

We love the comments on the blog and are so grateful that you are all following our journey, we hope it makes you want to start exploring yourself!

Next Blog: Who knows :) So far we are about 50/50 for hitting the dates we have set for updates so check back when you can and follow along, we enjoy the company! (Coming Up: Grand Canyon and Sedona)

Change of Plans

Saturday we had a great time in OKC with Uncle Ted and Aunt Sandy showing us the sites. We drove from Russellville to OKC, 279 miles and stayed at an RV Park right down the street from Uncle Ted and Aunt Sandy. After a tour of the RV we were off!

We headed downtown to Bricktown and checked out the local scene where we took a water taxi tour of the area and learned a few tid bits about the areas history. After the tour we headed to Mickey Mantle's restaurant for dinner, so yummy, make sure you save room for the carrot cake if you ever make it there, excellent! After dinner we headed over to the Federal Building Memorial and took a few moments to remember what had happened and be thankful for our lives today. Here is a picture of the Reflection Pool at the Memorial Gardens.

Thanks for a great day Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ted, we love you and it was so great to be able to visit you at your home away from home!

On Sunday we woke up early and started our way to Carlsbad, NM. All was going well until Lisa drove the RV (her first time unless you count pulling out of a parking lot) and while she was driving the large slide on the RV decided to "creep" out about 10 inches (the brake was not working properly), we stopped numerous times to try to fix it but not until the 3rd attempt did Troy figure out that the brake had somehow "slipped" into manual positon and needed to be set to automatic. So needless to say it was not a fun drive for us and we didn't make it all the way to Carlsbad. Instead we made it to Amarillo, TX (about half way to Carlsbad from OKC) which is a beautiful place to get "stuck" as we had a ton of fun exploring the area. We drove for a few on the "Mother Road"- Route 66 and headed to Cadillac Ranch. A crazy display of 10 Cadillac's stuck in the ground in the middle of farmland, strange, very strange!

We then took a drive to Palo Duro Canyon which is said to be one of the most beautiful places in all of Texas, it did not disappoint us!

Next Blog: April 9th (at least we will try for that!)

Lake Dardanelle State Park

A picture of Copper and Chase in their "puppy jail" - we are trying to keep them here while we are driving, only seems to work half the time :)

We made it through the monsoon (with a brief stop at a Truck Stop to let it pass) and a "short" 225 mile drive we made it to Lake Dardanelle State Park in Russellville Arkansas. (About 60 miles NW from Little Rock) Most of the state seemed to be flooded however when we arrive we were greeted with pure beauty and a Bass Fishing Lake - what could be better?

In our minds this is our first "true" camping experience with the RV as Graceland was not very rustic. (As I am sure you can imagine). We set up camp and took the puppies for a long walk around the campground to check the place out. Then we enjoyed a quick peak at the sun for sunset, Troy threw a few lines (with no luck) and then the storm rolled in. We discovered that we have a leak coming from the skylight in the kitchen, fun! At least it is a small leak and Troy will be able to use roofing caulk to patch us right up!

The next morning we went off to explore a few of the other State Parks in the near by area. It was cold and rainy so a drive was a perfect way to spend the day. We went to Petit Jean State Park - beautiful, too bad the trails were way to muddy to explore the area. However we did take a short walk to Cedar Falls, wow! All the rain had the waterfall working overtime, what a sight!

After the falls we drove to Mount Magazine State Park located within the Ozark Mountains. To get from one park to the other we passed a zillion chicken farms (Have you ever smelled a chicken farm, yuck!) and a few million cows and we then were in the mountains. Amazing drive until we got to the top (the tallest point in Arkansas), fog, lots of fog however we grab a quick bite at the Mount Lodge (Gorgeous) and before we left the fog had burned off and we had a easy drive back to camp.

Next Blog: April 6 recapping our visit with Uncle Ted and Aunt Sandy in OKC on our way to Carlsbad Caverns

Memphis, TN

We are now on our way to Lake Dardanelle State Park in Russellville, AR and it seems the best time for us to recap our journey is while we are driving to our next location so here we are: The long drive takes a toll as we are still learning about the RV and all its many functions. Getting gas is a challenge, you need to pick the gas station and the pump itself with care, the RV is 12 ft 10 inches tall so height is a factor but more than that is getting back on the road once you get gas, not so fun! But with everything we will get better with time and we are finding our favorite gas stations already.

Driving through TN was beautiful, we kept saying over and over, look at how green the grass is! (Winter was way too long this year!). We drove 442 Miles on April 1st (Lisa's b-day) and we arrived at the Mempis-Graceland RV Park located off of Elvis Presley Blvd on Lonely Street behind the Heartbreak Hotel which was directly across the street from the king's home itself - Graceland. This was our first camping experience with the RV and it was so much fun. Minus the rain and the fact that the starter broke on the Jeep (Not fun, no Beal Street for us!). All is fixed now and we spent an extra day at the park which worked out great to learn more about the RV. So, instead of heading to Beal Street we got picked up in a Pink Cadillac Limo (No joke) and we were taken to a local BBQ joint, let's just say we would not return for the BBQ but the Pink Limo was a hoot!

The next morning we headed to Graceland and toured his Mansion, automobile collection, the Lisa Marie and Hound Dog II Air Planes and 2 museum's; 1 dedicated to his outfits and 1 talking about his time as Private Presley. Seeing all of the pictures of Elvis reminded us how at times Jim (Lisa's Dad) had a striking resemblance to Elvis, very cool!

Did you know Lisa had her own plane? :)

Did you know that Sirius Radio has a station dedicated to Elvis, All Elvis, All the Time - we listened to it during our stay in Graceland in Memory of the King. (However we never heard Troy's favorite Elvis tune "In the Ghetto", good thing he as it on his itunes and we can listen to it over and over and over again anytime he feels like it!) And a visit to Graceland would not be complete without trying a few of favorites of Elvis so we made ourselves Peanut Butter and Banana Grilled Sandwiches, not bad! This was the first meal we cooked in the RV and we (Lisa) made the fire alarm go off, oops - next time we will turn on the ceiling fan!

For those of you wondering the puppies are doing very well, adjusting to all the changes in daily routine but getting to spend quality time with us!

Next Blog: Saturday, April 5th on our way to Oklahoma City

Day 1

Our first blog entry of the trip, crazy! We are so excited, nervous and thankful to have this opportunity, thank you everyone for your love and support!

The first day of a trip is always a bit hectic.  Making sure you have everything you need (That was a bit tricky for this trip!), getting out of the house on time and oh by the way don't forget your passport (Canada, eh) and yesterday was no exception!  Searched for over 45 minutes for mine, I just had it for Geneva, where could it be?  Turns out I packed it weeks ago with the important stuff and we already had it in the RV, thanks for finding it Troy!  

Troy's goal was to have us leave the house at 10:30 AM and make it to Louisville Kentucky to camp for the night. Well we pulled out of the driveway at 1:15 PM (Took me a bit to pack up my scrapbook supplies, not that Troy or my brother understands this since "it is just paper and stickers", how dare they!   We pull out of the drive and it seemed like we were dragging the Jeep instead of pulling the Jeep, sure thing, we pulled over in a near by parking lot and the steering wheel was locked, oops!  So we fixed that and we were finally truly ready to hit the road.  The dogs had a bit of a rough time adjusting to the RV (they are doing much better today) and honestly we did too, not as easy as driving our Jeep!  

We made it 317 miles on day 1 to Carrollton, Kentucky, the Wal-Mart parking lot to be exact. Might as well start the trip out in true RV Style - Thank you Wal-Mart!

Tomorrow: Graceland and Heartbreak Hotel RV Park