livingthedreamwithsallyandvic/wp-admin

There are only two ways in to here. One is Canyon Road, a narrow curvy road between huge rock outcroppings. (Not for trailers!) The other is a detour, about a lane and a half wide. If someone comes toward you, somebody has to crouch at the side of the road. We got through with the camper all right.

There are 80 spaces, each one spaced far apart from the next – yay – on two loops. There is a picnic table on each one. Several vault toilets. The scenery is incredible – Sierra Nevada mountains behind us, snow capped mountains. A bubbly ice cold creek runs past us.

Yesterday we saw a Gambel Quail with her brood. We tried to count them and gave up after 15. They were all over the place pecking for food. We watched them out our back window for a while – if only the camera worked through the window! They took off when we went outside. The babies were flying! The whole thing was astonishing.

We are leaving tomorrow morning, heading to Mammoth Lake/east entrance of Yosemite.

This was a good place to stop and rest and “lick our wounds”. We have been through it the past couple of weeks. Spent the weekend gathering supplies (food, propane, etc), doing laundry and such. Tomorrow (Monday) we head to Tuttle Campground in CA. (128 miles) It is called a campground but there is no power. Essentially we will be boondocking.

We will be visiting Sequoia National Park and the surrounding area.

Wish us luck no more travel issues.

Our truck was finally fixed after 5 days including the weekend. The Serpentine belt wore out and shredded. The tensioner had to be replaced. Also the max air flow sensor had worn out. The mechanic ordered a new one, put that in and still didn’t work. We think it was defective because the next one he ordered worked perfectly. We stayed another day to drive around and make sure all was well. This whole time we were stranded at a Shell station 45 miles from the entrance of the Grand Canyon. Endless noisy traffic.

We met some truly wonderful people: Cathie who works part time at the Shell came over as soon as we got there and put the hood of the truck up. She helped with finding a mechanic, then finding a tow service (Adam’s Towing and Repair) for the truck, taking Vic to get a part, taking Vic to Adam’s to pick the truck up.

We also became friends with Cheryl, a Navajo woman selling handmade jewelry and crafts at a table in front of the Shell. There were several other women with tables but she’s the one we became friendly with. She even started calling Zoe “sweet sweet”, our nickname for her haha. She lives on a reservation in a house. Some people don’t have running water here, they get it brought in.

Yesterday we decided we were good to go and started off towards Needles, CA. 85 miles down the road one of the camper tires blew up and flew off, shearing off the lug nuts in the process.

There we were on I-40W, semis roaring by at 80 mph, not much of a shoulder, it was dreadful. Called AAA and they were useless. After calling around to several local towing services we realized no one had a tow capacity for the camper. We had to drive very slowly to the next exit and luckily on the off ramp there was a gravel area big enough for us and 20 other campers.

One guy we talked to, Jack, has a tow service and is a mechanic but his truck isn’t running. However he tried his best to help us in some way. Vic talked to him a couple of times. Jack gave us several names and numbers of locals to call. None of that panned out and we eventually called Eric, the mechanic we had for the truck 85 miles back at Williams AZ, near the Shell. On the last call Jack asked if we had food and water. He was prepared to bring us whatever we needed. He is a man of such kindness I can’t believe he is so down on his luck. We went to his house this morning – we had to meet this guy. He’s a wealth of information.

Eric, the mechanic from Adam’s Towing has rounded up everything (cross your fingers) and will be here this afternoon to get the camper back in the road. We need way more than just a tire.

That’s our update. Wish us luck.

Hi friends. It’s not all fun times on the road. 45 minutes into our trip to Needles, CA the truck indicators said the battery wasn’t working. We spied a Shell station and planned to pull over when the truck lost power right in front of this Shell station. Vic was barely able to steer it onto the very large apron in front of the gas station. Talk about extremely scary!

A local woman was very helpful with an offer to call a mechanic she knows. By then Vic had figured out it was the alternator (from talking to his brother Ralph who knows just about everything to do with cars and trucks). Vic knew what part he needed and the woman offered to take him to a store nearby and get the part. Can you believe some people? The mechanic showed up and couldn’t fix it so the truck got towed and we are sitting here overnight. What needs to be replaced is the tension pulley for the fan belt.

The truck will be ready tomorrow and we will be on our way again. The local people have been so nice. We feel so fortunate we ended up here, a safe place with help nearby.

May 8, 2024

Did you know the Grand Canyon is one of the seven wonders of the world. It truly is spectacular.

5,000 feet down and 2,600 miles around the rim. When we stood at the edge (at a safe distance!) we couldn’t see the bottom!

Yesterday we went into the park around 10-10:30 am and were overwhelmed by the crowds. We couldn’t find a parking space at the Visitor’s Center! It’s not even “season” yet.

We did see an elk on the way out so that was cool.

This morning we got to the park entrance by 7:30 and had a much better time with fewer crowds.

By the way it’s pretty cold, it went down to 27 last night but then it warmed up during the day.

We decided this is a spectacular thing to see but we only need to see it once. There is too much commercialization and fighting the crowds is not our thing. We wanted to see the Bright Angel trail with its petroglyphs but even early this morning we couldn’t get a parking space. It seems that access is limited to people staying at the Angel Lodge, people that get to the park before it opens, or people taking the bus around the park. We were disappointed we couldn’t get to the trailhead.

The Colorado River flows through the park. What fun that must be to float or kayak down it.

Tomorrow we go to Needles, CA. I’m looking forward to a much lower altitude. Havasu National wildlife refuge is there, looking forward to that as well.

5-4-2024

We are staying just outside the Petrified Forest, a national park. We drove through it today, stopping at points of interest and walking a couple of the trails. The scenery is different from anything we’ve seen so far. By the way, we crossed the Continental Divide yesterday and now we are on Mountain Time.

First, here’s our set up.

This is what they look like close up.

We stopped into the Visitors Center at the end and got a sticker for the camper, of course.

We are staying in place until Monday because of the wind advisory for tomorrow. It is not advisable to be on the road with a camper in high winds. Next stop is Flagstaff, AZ.

A couple of stunning photos that didn’t make it into any of the Bosque del Apache posts:

We’ve had a nice stay at Enchanted Trails, an RV campground with everything except a dog park.

It was reasonably priced ($43/night) and had decent laundry facilities with very cute decorations.

There is a display of antique cars and antique campers.

One day we went into Sante Fe, shopped and had lunch at Thunderbird Bar and Grill, second floor overlooking the Plaza. I had a burger that was to die for.

We found a very nice park – playground area, skate board area, pickleball courts and a large grassy area where you could throw a ball. We went there several times for Zoe, she loved the grass.

The reason we stopped here for 5 days was to get the battery situation fixed. That turned out to be fantastic. There was definitely a problem with the batteries – they were supposed to be wired together in a certain sequence but they were not. Also the wire used was not the appropriate size. How it worked as well as it did is a mystery. A day and a half later and $2800 lighter we are all set and ready to go.

Tomorrow we will go to the Petrified Forest State Park for a couple of days, then on to Flagstaff and a day trip to the Grand Canyon.

4-27-24

We’ve gotten an appointment for the camper for next Wednesday May 1 with Jordan the guy Vic was talking to. We are going to stay in an RV park convenient to the business so Jordan can send a mobile tech. We head to Albuquerque soon, probably tomorrow morning.

In the meantime we have some more photos to share.

The coyotes are much healthier looking than the ones we’ve seen in Florida.

I always know I’m in New Mexico when I see flowering cactus.

These quail are numerous around the campground and also in the refuge. They have the cutest calling sound.

4-25-2024

We are staying in place until we have an appointment to have the batteries checked. Vic has several calls in to anybody remotely near us while we wait to hear back from Jordan, the guy who said he could get us in next week. He is supposed to call with a day they can look at our rig. We have power here so we are not suffering at all plus the wildlife refuge is close by.

Meantime we are taking more pictures in the Refuge. Here are some birds and a duck we saw this morning.