We wanted to post pictures with this, but are having trouble, and now lots of time has gone by, so here is the post, sans fotos.
Don is visiting in Cottonwood and he brought his jeep. So, naturally, we have to go jeeping.
Can you say "adventure?"
Of course it took a few days and a few phone calls back and forth to choose a day for the trip. From watching Youtube, I have been wanting to try the Back Road to Crown King. And, since it is between Tucson and Cottonwood, it is a good place to meet. We decided to go on a Sunday so Margie and Dave could go along. Good thing, too, because Don's jeep won't run so they had to bring their Grand Cherokee instead.
The road begins at Lake Pleasant and climbs the Bradshaw Mountains to join the Senator Highway just outside of Crown King. For those unfamiliar, the Bradshaws were first settled and explored because gold and silver were discovered there. The roads were put in in the 19th century and have not been improved since then. The Senator Highway, though grandly named, is a narrow road fit for high-clearance vehicles and should be traveled by people who are not in a hurry to go anywhere. The Forest Service and ranchers' roads that connect to it, and on which we intended to travel, are rated a six, which means only experienced four wheelers in sound vehicles should attempt to drive them. Modified vehicles are recommended. On Youtube I have seen plenty of stock-looking vehicles making it, so I decided we could, too. We discovered, that for some reason, the Youtube videos didn't show the roughest parts of the trail.
So we met at nine oclock and set out. We passed a Land Rover club staging for the trip, as well as several groups on quads. It is a 34 mile trip to Crown King and my books list it as a six hour drive. The first ten miles or so was graded and well used because boaters use it to access Lake Pleasant. After that it started to be less well maintained with washouts on the hills. We played leap frog with the Land Rover club for a while, as they stopped to allow various members to attempt some difficult stretches, or we stopped to enjoy the view.
We had a nice picnic lunch after we had climbed high enough into the mountains to find some shade trees. Peggie decided she would like to drive for a while. She has obviously paid attention over the years, as she did a fine job of choosing the right line over the exposed rocks and washouts. When it got truly rough, she let me back at the wheel. Shortly thereafter we came to the first obstacle that required road building. That means rocks have to be rearranged so the undercarriage doesn't drag on something. It is also the reason many fourwheelers modify their vehicles with lifts and large tires. Don is helpful to have around at such times because he is good at standing in front and guiding me over the obstacles, thus avoiding damage to my jeep.
When we came to the second obstacle, we decided it was time to let the Land Rovers take the lead, so they could do the road building. Boy, are we smart! Not only did they move the rocks, but we got to watch them choose the right and wrong lines to take over the big unmovable rocks. One of their group didn't do so well. We noticed oil spots on the rocks from a cracked differential. But many of them had run the trail before, so they told us when we came to the last obstacle that it was a "piece of cake" from there on. Okay, there was no more road building, but the next two miles was crumby cake that still required careful driving.
In Crown King is a store and a saloon. The Land Rovers were enjoying the saloon. We looked around and then headed out via the old railroad grade that is the main road in from the interstate. It is still 24 miles of washboards and one-lane cuts with lots of switchbacks, but four wheel drive is no longer needed.
Did you think the adventure was over?
Silly you.
We waved goodbye to Dave, Margie, and Don when we neared civilization and headed for the freeway. Then both of our cell phones rang. "Come back, we are broken down."
Now is the time to note that is wasn't US broken down for a change.
We headed back and Dave had the hood raised and the fan belt was laying over the grill. Since we were in cell phone range, they called AAA and got a tow truck to come from Cordes Junction.
Instead of heading straight back to Tucson, we took Margie and Don to Cottonwood, while Dave was stranded with the Cherokee "out in the middle of the desert, all alone." Don went back to Cordes Junction to pick him up. And we headed home.
After starting at 7:00 am, we finally got home at 11:00. Long, dusty, bouncy day. What fun!
It turns out that the water pump on the Cherokee had frozen up because a bolt from the fan had somehow become lodged in it. We were all grateful it had happened within cell phone and tow truck range, and not down on the rough part of the trail.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wild, wild Long Island
We are having such a good time in NY.
So Ariana could have some normalcy in her routine while we are here, we took the day off from grandparenting to explore Long Island.
We took I-95 to New London, CT to catch the Cross Sound Ferry to Orient Point, NY. It is about a 90 minute drive along the CT coast. New London is home to the Coast Guard and lots of ship yards. We saw a submarine in mid-repair. The ferry was quite nice. The lounge was big and roomy and the ride was smooth. We were perpendicular to 4 foot swells so there was a little rocking, but not bad. It took an hour and 20 minutes to cross. Then we set out along the North Fork (if you look at a map, you can see that the east end of LI is forked like lobster claws). Our first stop was at a farm stand where they had raspberries in three colors and strawberries. We got some of each. Organically grown so we could eat without washing them. The guy ships homemade preserves all over, including a place in Tucson.
He told us that the next thirty miles was wineries and sod farms. There was a "watch for deer" sign, and sure enough, there was a six month old fawn right in the field. No sign of Ma Doe. I had no idea Long Island had deer. How long has the population been isolated? We passed lots of wineries, then had lunch at Cliff's Elbow Too. The waitress recommended a winery and we went for a tasting and bought a bottle for Greg and Tomoko. Merlot seems to be the grape that likes Long Island the best.
We decided to go to Montauk at the point of the south fork, just because. We were already in the Hamptons, after all. At Montauk Point State Park there is a sign posting all the hunting seasons. October is bow season for deer. So watch out. We saw a doe grazing by the road on our way out. I guess she can't read.
Now, most of the way, is agricultural rural. Which is to say, populated. Deer like that kind of area because there is plenty of food, and hunters are too near buildings to shoot. But I no more expected deer on Long Island than bears in PA. Then, right on the edge of Southhampton we saw 8-10 turkeys! This is like the Yukon for heaven's sake! Well, a drive in the country is more complete when wildlife is sighted, just like a good day jeeping is guaranteed when you get your wheels wet.
It was beginning to get dark as we crossed the pine barrens in central Long Island, but we were on the Long Island Expressway, so we made good time. The whole trip took us about twelve hours from portal to portal. It was a good day.
So Ariana could have some normalcy in her routine while we are here, we took the day off from grandparenting to explore Long Island.
We took I-95 to New London, CT to catch the Cross Sound Ferry to Orient Point, NY. It is about a 90 minute drive along the CT coast. New London is home to the Coast Guard and lots of ship yards. We saw a submarine in mid-repair. The ferry was quite nice. The lounge was big and roomy and the ride was smooth. We were perpendicular to 4 foot swells so there was a little rocking, but not bad. It took an hour and 20 minutes to cross. Then we set out along the North Fork (if you look at a map, you can see that the east end of LI is forked like lobster claws). Our first stop was at a farm stand where they had raspberries in three colors and strawberries. We got some of each. Organically grown so we could eat without washing them. The guy ships homemade preserves all over, including a place in Tucson.
He told us that the next thirty miles was wineries and sod farms. There was a "watch for deer" sign, and sure enough, there was a six month old fawn right in the field. No sign of Ma Doe. I had no idea Long Island had deer. How long has the population been isolated? We passed lots of wineries, then had lunch at Cliff's Elbow Too. The waitress recommended a winery and we went for a tasting and bought a bottle for Greg and Tomoko. Merlot seems to be the grape that likes Long Island the best.
We decided to go to Montauk at the point of the south fork, just because. We were already in the Hamptons, after all. At Montauk Point State Park there is a sign posting all the hunting seasons. October is bow season for deer. So watch out. We saw a doe grazing by the road on our way out. I guess she can't read.
Now, most of the way, is agricultural rural. Which is to say, populated. Deer like that kind of area because there is plenty of food, and hunters are too near buildings to shoot. But I no more expected deer on Long Island than bears in PA. Then, right on the edge of Southhampton we saw 8-10 turkeys! This is like the Yukon for heaven's sake! Well, a drive in the country is more complete when wildlife is sighted, just like a good day jeeping is guaranteed when you get your wheels wet.
It was beginning to get dark as we crossed the pine barrens in central Long Island, but we were on the Long Island Expressway, so we made good time. The whole trip took us about twelve hours from portal to portal. It was a good day.
Monday, October 26, 2009
I really did
I knew Pennsylvania had bears in the hinterlands because this summer I had passengers tell me so. But, really, it seems so densely populated, it doesn't seem probable. Traffic was fairly light, only one car had to stop to avoid hitting the bear we saw crossing the highway. The bear turned around and jumped the guardrail back into the woods.
We also saw three deer roadkilled to make the deer crossing signs believable.
The pumpkin we were hunting for was elusive. The field had been picked over pretty well and many remaining pumpkins were too soft. We did the corn maze first. It is a good idea to take a crowd, we had twelve, so you can spread out and keep each other in sight. The big draw for the Fair Dinkums was eating lunch at Friendly's and dinner at Sonic. Everybody had GPS on their phones so directions to and from the pumpkin patch was very high tech.
Ariana is just too charming. She is smart and funny and cute. But we must remember to be humble, also. She speaks and understands five languages:English, Japanese, Spanish, Music, and Gibberish. Gibberish is her first choice when speaking, Music seems to be always in her head, and she can identify many things in the other three languages.
Tomorrow we will take the ferry from New London CT to Orient, Long Island, then drive down the island and back around to Stamford. Locals think we are crazy. "Why do you want to drive on Long Island? It will take all day." Well, yeah, but we have never seen it before, soooo......
And the fall colors here are fabulous. The drive to PA yesterday was awesome.
We also saw three deer roadkilled to make the deer crossing signs believable.
The pumpkin we were hunting for was elusive. The field had been picked over pretty well and many remaining pumpkins were too soft. We did the corn maze first. It is a good idea to take a crowd, we had twelve, so you can spread out and keep each other in sight. The big draw for the Fair Dinkums was eating lunch at Friendly's and dinner at Sonic. Everybody had GPS on their phones so directions to and from the pumpkin patch was very high tech.
Ariana is just too charming. She is smart and funny and cute. But we must remember to be humble, also. She speaks and understands five languages:English, Japanese, Spanish, Music, and Gibberish. Gibberish is her first choice when speaking, Music seems to be always in her head, and she can identify many things in the other three languages.
Tomorrow we will take the ferry from New London CT to Orient, Long Island, then drive down the island and back around to Stamford. Locals think we are crazy. "Why do you want to drive on Long Island? It will take all day." Well, yeah, but we have never seen it before, soooo......
And the fall colors here are fabulous. The drive to PA yesterday was awesome.
Bill saw a bear yesterday--seriously?
Absolutely! We drove just into Pennsylvania from New York and a black bear was crossing one side of the freeway and heading into the median.
Oh my gosh, he's become a bear whisperer!
Oh my gosh, he's become a bear whisperer!
Monday, October 19, 2009
This trip is over
It is Monday, October 19, and we have internet again. We decided to bundle everything with Comcast and it took awhile to get it scheduled, but yesterday we got hooked up. Of course, it wasn't easy. We had to run new cable (ours is 20 + years old) which will be buried sometime in the next three weeks. But we got to keep our old phone number and have more services on it.
Okay, the last entry had us in Cottonwood. Peggie didn't mention the horses. The tow truck driver brought us to his garage in Salina. He put us in an alley and ran a power cord out the back door for us. He showed me how to get in during the night in case the circuit breaker popped. It did, so I was glad I had a way in. However, the security system, a pipe across the door, was impossible to put in place from outside, so I had to wedge the door using the cord to keep it closed again.
During the night, we heard a lot of talking outside the trailer, but not enough to get up for. I heard a horse go by in the street and neigh, but decided that in a small town, that might not be so strange. In the morning, I wanted to check that the back door had not blown open from the wind before the guy showed up for work. The first clue was the folded stairs when I started outside. You never fold up the stairs when you are in the trailer. Then the hoof prints next to the trailer were clue #2. I came around behind the trailer where I was met by three horses in a makeshift corral set up between two tow trucks (try to type two tow) tucked into the corner of the building. They were eager to have their noses and ears scratched, and I found a bale of hay to feed them, so we became fast friends and they allowed me access to the electrical cord. And the mysterious voices and horse noises were explained.
We got dressed and crossed the street for breakfast at Mom's Cafe. By the time we returned, the new pulley and belt were installed. The driver/mechanic had also discovered that my drive shaft had loose bolts on the U-joints, so he tightened those when he reattached it. (He disconnected it for the tow) Serendipity: when things go unexpectedly in your favor....
The loose flapping piece of trailer siding got me to stop. The broken pulley then allowed the belt to slip off while we were stopped, not while traversing high speed or mountainous road. Had it come off while driving we would have lost power to brakes and steering at least, and caused possible damage to any number of components. The loose drive shaft could also have come off at a very bad time creating all kinds of havoc. I got some Gorilla tape at the local NAPA store to secure the siding until we could get home. Attractive. But we were on the road by 9 AM.
Not to leave any loose threads, the horses had come in because the truck pulling their trailer had had to be towed in during the night.
The rest of the drive to Cottonwood went off without a hitch. Well, we have a hitch, but you know what I mean. Don had run power and water out to our parking place in Margie's next door lot, so we were set when we got there. We had a nice visit with everyone for a few days, Mom is better than we thought she would be.
Time to leave on Thursday morning. Don is guiding me as I back onto the street. There are some big rocks lined up to separate Margie's land from the water company's land, so I had to get the trailer at a tight angle. Ordinarily, this is not a problem, but because of the uphill angle, the trailer impacted the cab of the truck right where it meets the rear window. POP!! The rear window is in tiny pieces. Delay departure. The window company is called Adventure Auto Glass. What could be more appropriate? They can fix it between 3 and 5 by bringing the glass over from Prescott. What, they don't stock glass for a 14 year old truck in Cottonwood? We used the intervening hours to give the cab a cleaning like it hasn't had in 14 years. Tiny pieces of glass can find the most obscure places to fall into. On the road at 5.
We picked up the Jeep from Casey and continued home. Somewhere on I-10 we must have passed Casey because she had been in Tucson that day. We got home about 9PM and went to bed.
The unpacking and cleaning took us a week. Our home a/c was broken, of course. It took a week to fix, too. Parts had to come from Phoenix after it took two techs two visits to discover the leak. During that time we had no internet,either. I didn't know how much I would miss it. But the spa was ready by Friday night, and we have enjoyed that. The laundry room cupboards were falling off the wall, so I was able to get them reattached, and rearranged to make things easier and now we have space to install a laundry tub sink.
Today we are booking our hotel and rental car for next week's visit to White Plains. We skyped last night and Ariana sang and danced and read her books to us. Her books are all written in gibberish, apparently. We also got kisses and high fives and bye byes. Nice to have internet again.
Peggie is enjoying her studio. All $200 worth of fabric has found a shelf to reside on until it is time to go into a quilt. Just so you know, if the fabric was $200, she would have gotten it for just over $1 per yard. Uh huh. Nearly two football fields. I don't feel even a little guilty that I got to hang out in town, go out for breakfast and lunch, and see animals and great scenery everyday.
Okay, the last entry had us in Cottonwood. Peggie didn't mention the horses. The tow truck driver brought us to his garage in Salina. He put us in an alley and ran a power cord out the back door for us. He showed me how to get in during the night in case the circuit breaker popped. It did, so I was glad I had a way in. However, the security system, a pipe across the door, was impossible to put in place from outside, so I had to wedge the door using the cord to keep it closed again.
During the night, we heard a lot of talking outside the trailer, but not enough to get up for. I heard a horse go by in the street and neigh, but decided that in a small town, that might not be so strange. In the morning, I wanted to check that the back door had not blown open from the wind before the guy showed up for work. The first clue was the folded stairs when I started outside. You never fold up the stairs when you are in the trailer. Then the hoof prints next to the trailer were clue #2. I came around behind the trailer where I was met by three horses in a makeshift corral set up between two tow trucks (try to type two tow) tucked into the corner of the building. They were eager to have their noses and ears scratched, and I found a bale of hay to feed them, so we became fast friends and they allowed me access to the electrical cord. And the mysterious voices and horse noises were explained.
We got dressed and crossed the street for breakfast at Mom's Cafe. By the time we returned, the new pulley and belt were installed. The driver/mechanic had also discovered that my drive shaft had loose bolts on the U-joints, so he tightened those when he reattached it. (He disconnected it for the tow) Serendipity: when things go unexpectedly in your favor....
The loose flapping piece of trailer siding got me to stop. The broken pulley then allowed the belt to slip off while we were stopped, not while traversing high speed or mountainous road. Had it come off while driving we would have lost power to brakes and steering at least, and caused possible damage to any number of components. The loose drive shaft could also have come off at a very bad time creating all kinds of havoc. I got some Gorilla tape at the local NAPA store to secure the siding until we could get home. Attractive. But we were on the road by 9 AM.
Not to leave any loose threads, the horses had come in because the truck pulling their trailer had had to be towed in during the night.
The rest of the drive to Cottonwood went off without a hitch. Well, we have a hitch, but you know what I mean. Don had run power and water out to our parking place in Margie's next door lot, so we were set when we got there. We had a nice visit with everyone for a few days, Mom is better than we thought she would be.
Time to leave on Thursday morning. Don is guiding me as I back onto the street. There are some big rocks lined up to separate Margie's land from the water company's land, so I had to get the trailer at a tight angle. Ordinarily, this is not a problem, but because of the uphill angle, the trailer impacted the cab of the truck right where it meets the rear window. POP!! The rear window is in tiny pieces. Delay departure. The window company is called Adventure Auto Glass. What could be more appropriate? They can fix it between 3 and 5 by bringing the glass over from Prescott. What, they don't stock glass for a 14 year old truck in Cottonwood? We used the intervening hours to give the cab a cleaning like it hasn't had in 14 years. Tiny pieces of glass can find the most obscure places to fall into. On the road at 5.
We picked up the Jeep from Casey and continued home. Somewhere on I-10 we must have passed Casey because she had been in Tucson that day. We got home about 9PM and went to bed.
The unpacking and cleaning took us a week. Our home a/c was broken, of course. It took a week to fix, too. Parts had to come from Phoenix after it took two techs two visits to discover the leak. During that time we had no internet,either. I didn't know how much I would miss it. But the spa was ready by Friday night, and we have enjoyed that. The laundry room cupboards were falling off the wall, so I was able to get them reattached, and rearranged to make things easier and now we have space to install a laundry tub sink.
Today we are booking our hotel and rental car for next week's visit to White Plains. We skyped last night and Ariana sang and danced and read her books to us. Her books are all written in gibberish, apparently. We also got kisses and high fives and bye byes. Nice to have internet again.
Peggie is enjoying her studio. All $200 worth of fabric has found a shelf to reside on until it is time to go into a quilt. Just so you know, if the fabric was $200, she would have gotten it for just over $1 per yard. Uh huh. Nearly two football fields. I don't feel even a little guilty that I got to hang out in town, go out for breakfast and lunch, and see animals and great scenery everyday.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Cottonwood & Family
After a typical Peggie-Bill Adventure south of Salt Lake City we were able to use our new caution triangles that Casey gave to Bill for Christmas and our Good Sam Emergency Roadside Service that we purchased prior to this trip because well, we tend to have "adventures" when we travel.
A quick stop for lunch at a very windy viewpoint of Lake Powell. We thought we were going to tip right over!
I think these look like cartoon characters and would be great in an animated Disney film.
Bill noticed something flapping on the side of the RV as we were traveling down the interstate. We had changed our plans from following Highway 93 down because of predicted snowstorms and high elevation climbs and we were anxious to reconnect with family so we had taken the interstate. Once Bill pulled over, he noticed that the siding on the RV was coming off and insulation had blown away. As he turned off the ignition he also noticed a high-pitched sound so decided to check under the hood and see if he could determine what was making that sound. The serpentine belt fell off while he was looking at it. See--another thing to be grateful for--he got to see it fall off so he didn't have to guess as to the problem. Hey, let's try out that Good Sam Emergency Roadside Service. Long story short--we were towed to a small town, Salina, over on Highway 89 where we spent the night parked at the garage. There's a real advantage to dragging an RV along with you at times like this. After a quick repair in the morning and lots of duct tape holding the aluminum siding on this pair of Tucson hillbillies hit the road.
Highway 89 south to Kanab, Utah is one of my favorite drives and it was great to see it in the Fall with the color changes and the sagebrush blooming.
A quick stop for lunch at a very windy viewpoint of Lake Powell. We thought we were going to tip right over!
I think these look like cartoon characters and would be great in an animated Disney film.
We arrived in Cottonwood before dinner and plan to stay here a bit. Elizabeth, the greatest mother-in-law ever, has been doing poorly and it is great to be here. Brother Don got here a few days before us, Karin flew in from Arkansas and Brother Dick and Sister Margie and spouses live in the Verde Valley. We have our RV's set up and all is good. We always borrow Margie's grandchildren since they live close and our one lives soooooooooooo far away. Soon we'll go see her too!
I spent today re-establishing services at home--telephone, garbage pickup, cable and internet. You know the ordinary stuff of life. Probably the hardest part of the trip will be upcoming in a few days--UNPACKING AND PUTTING EVERYTHING AWAY AND CLEANING THE RV. I'll even have to find someplace to put my "$200" worth of quilt fabric I'm bringing home.
This has been such a great adventure and I'm sure there are more ahead.
But now? Ah....retirement...such a treasure.
Friday, October 2, 2009
October 1--Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff
We spent yesterday seeing spectacular beauty. There was too much scenery to see in British Columbia so some of it spilled over into Alberta. They didn't know what to do with it so they turned it in to National Parks--seven of them in this one area. We spent the night at Fairmont Hot Springs and will cross the border today into Montana. We're planning to take 93 down Las Vegas. Pictures later.
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