Tourist Stuff…

Rather than bore my readers with loads of “vacation” pictures, I thought I would summarize the past week in and around Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Arches National parks. There are thousands of commercially shot pictures of these parks that eclipse our talent behind the camera, or a viewfinder that my friend, Mike, in Springfield relies upon.

In a word, these parks offer a panorama of majestic rock formations, scenery, and ease of travel through them. Succinctly put, Zion is magnificent, Bryce awe inspiring and the Arches unique. Zion was our favorite, but you would not want to miss the other two. Be sure and get your senior pass to visit these parks without paying admission fees of around 30 bucks a shot. I strongly recommend bringing a lunch and/or plethora of snacks and drinks as they are not available once you enter. It will save a fight over half a moldy protein bar later. Only the south rim of the Grand Canyon is open, the north rim being destroyed by wildfire in the past two weeks, driving the tourist crowd to the south side. The air can be iffy at this point so be careful, particularly if an inhaler is in your pocket.

Now for the local flavor. The Navajo Indian people, by far and way are stand offish and not particularly welcoming. I was surprised, even though I understand their history. Page, Arizona is the key to Powell Lake’s Glenn Canyon dam and the lower reaches of a nearly 200 mile long lake. The food was a 4-5 on a 10 scale and outside of Wal-Mart and a very good Safeway store, there existed an infrastructure I suspect is typical of a town founded in 1957. Next up was the charming town of Kanab, Utah. It was rustic, and laid back with a very friendly vibe. We then moved northwest through Utah, with neat small towns (super clean), terrific roads and vistas that were grand. You barely notice the miles clicking off. We returned to a highly tourist and commercially developed Moab, (we were there years ago to a different atmosphere.)We try to dine in most of the time, as restaurants costs are exorbitant. So far, we have not been rocked by any particular place, and we dig deep for local flavor off the beaten path. Of note, we are Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club pharmacy clients and obtaining the occasional refill at stores out west has been as easy as home.

We are striking out tomorrow across Nevada, into Col. Paul Corbin territory, and stopping in Reno to check out the gambling situation. We are on a tight casino budget, as in 20 bucks each, as I once regulated this industry in Missouri, and understand the business. Mathematically challenged folks should not enter these places. The RV parks at these establishments tend to be very reasonable, clean and accessible. We have yet to be burned in a casino park.

We have received conflicting advice on traveling Highway 101 north up the Oregon Coast. A dear friend, experienced in RV’ing says no way. Other folks say yes, just take your time as it is allegedly beautiful. This road is an RV favorite, and as a trooper, I am used to adverse traffic issues, and have infinite patience (well, the adverse traffic issue thing is right..🤨). We are all in on this adventure and hope we haven’t made a big mistake.

We have embraced the full time RV thing and love our modest trailer. Cirrus the Ram is proving to be strong and trouble free. One month in, the jitters are resolved and we are officially vagabonds.

(We are striking camp in the nick of time as the smoke from wildfires has reached us. Utah and Arizona are struggling with fire.)

Until next week!

SR