TravelStream™ news feed for member pfl_guy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pfl_guy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:28:40 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218755640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218755640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218755640/tpod.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:28:40 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Bryce Canyon, Utah, United States

The next day we headed on to Bryce. The drive was only 120 miles, but went through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Park. Deb started up driving and we climbed to the top of the plateau through forests of aspen and pine. This is the Dixie National Forest so there are large grassy meadows as well as the aspens. We have marked this as a place to come back to next fall on our foliage trip. The mountains and valleys should be glorious with the golden aspens. After we got to the summit, we switched and I began driving which turned out to be a good thing with Deb's acrophobia. The road went up and down, around switchbacks, and then ran down a narrow twisty road which ran along a mountain ridge for six miles with thousand foot drop offs to either side and 10% downhill grades. I'm always a little uncomfortable doing this kind of run and was glad when we finally got to the more level ground as we neared Bryce. We had never come into Bryce from the east. It is a beautiful road with the hoodoos on either side of the road as you climb up out of the canyon to the plateau above. We pulled into the campground at Ruby's Inn just outside the gates of Bryce Canyon National Park. Ruby's Inn is an outgrowth of the stage and auto stop that Ruby set up when the government bought his land to complete the park. His original setup ran tours and provided supplies to the people who came up to see the canyon. When they bought his land, he relocated just outside the park gates and set up shop again. The complex now contains the RV campground, a hotel, restaurant, grocery store, and a gas station and repair facility. They do a bang up business and gouge on prices. After we got encamped for the day, we parked the car as Sunset Point and then caught the shuttle bus to Bryce Point, the highest point in the park. We had made the hike along the rim trail when we were in Bryce in 2006 and knew that the views were spectacular. Again, the park was packed with flocks of Europeans, each flock with its own language. Surprisingly though, they seemed to only stay at the overlooks that had auto or shuttle bus access. Once we hit the trail and walked beyond the first bend and descent, we were alone with the beauty of the canyon. We walked in solitude only meeting an occasional hiker. As we neared Inspiration Point, we again began to encounter the hoards until we passed through and regained the trail leading to Sunset Point. However, the trail between Inspiration and Sunset Points is a popular walk since it is paved and fairly level. Still the views are wonderful and there were fewer people than at the overlooks. We finally reached Sunset Point about 4:30PM and drove back to camp for our afternoon cocktail and dinner.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218666780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218666780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218666780/tpod.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:01:23 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Torrey, Utah, United States

After our adventure on Lake Powell, we headed on to Capitol Reef National Park. If you look at a map of that area of Utah, you'll see there are not many roads. The area is crisscrossed with canyons and cuts so there aren't many options for going from one place to another. Since our goal was to get to Zion, the road naturally ran through Capitol Reef and then Bryce. Capitol Reef is a series of dry washes and ravines that lead down to the Waterpocket Fold, an impressive crease in the earth that runs north/south and funnels water to the Colorado River. The area was first settled by Mormons in the late 1800s and a thriving community existed here until the area became a national monument and park in 1937. The Mormons planted fruit and nut orchards that still exist along the river that flows through the valley. There is also one of the homes set up as a combination store for the campground and historical museum showing how the people lived. The store sells homemade ice cream and pies made from the fruit from the valley. While we were there they had peach ice cream and cherry pies. We decided to go on two hikes while we were there, one down Capitol Wash to the Tanks and another down Grand Wash. You can drive down to the trail head of each of these but there are prominent warnings about being aware of rainstorms. The roads are unpaved and graded and are really the streambeds of the washes. If rainstorms occur, there are warnings everywhere to seek high ground. We drove to the Capitol Wash trailhead and started down. The wash is a narrow canyon that leads to a formation called the Tanks. The Tanks are really a series of pools of water that are on a cascade that comes down from the surrounding cliffs. We hiked up to them via a trail that was intermittently marked and got off trail once until we could find another of the marking cairns. It apparently had rained in the past week because there was water in the Tanks. There is a species of frog that lives up on these dry flats and lays its eggs when the pools fill. The eggs hatch and the tadpoles turn into frogs, all in a few days before the pools dry up again. It seems odd to have amphibians in such a dry area. Along the trail to the Tanks is an area called the Pioneers' Register. The wash was the wagon trail into and out of Capitol Reef. The passing pioneers carved their names into the walls of the canyon. There are signatures from the mid 1800s up to the 1920s. We hiked back up the wash to the car and then drove on to the Grand Wash. The Grand Wash was not appreciably different than the Capitol Wash and, after walking down a couple of miles, we decided we'd had enough desert canyons and turned back. The temperature had gotten quite high and it was a relief to get back to the car, especially since we had run out of water (the smile is staged).  We were staying in the little town of Torrey, Utah, about twelve miles from the park entrance. Capitol Reef is listed in the NY Times book, "1000 Places to See Before You Die". The town is little more than a few hotels, B&Bs, and a small grocery store, but there is a restaurant, "Café Diablo" that is mentioned in the book. We decided to have dinner there after our parched hike. The restaurant is only open during the tourist season since there is not enough local population to support it during the winter. We had an excellent dinner and then called it a day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218492900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218492900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218492900/tpod.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:31:27 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Bullfrog, Utah, United States

We had confirmed the previous evening that the concessionaire had our boat reservation so we showed up the next morning with a cooler of iced tea, water, and lunch ready to navigate down to Rainbow Bridge. The Bullfrog Marina is beyond buoy 93 by about four miles and the Rainbow Bridge turnoff is at buoy 49. The buoys are measured in distance from the Glen Canyon Dam, so depending on the direction of the lake, it is not unusual to see multiple buoys with the same number since that reach of the lake runs parallel with the dam. Bottom line, it was a hike down to the Rainbow Bridge, but it was a cloud-free, cool, beautiful morning.  After signing away all rights to seek damages and having the boat inspected for damage by the rental crew, we were on our way. Speeding down the lake in the early morning was heaven. Lake Powell, however, is very odd. The area around Lake Powell is high desert. The lake was formed by damming up a canyon on the Colorado River that precedes the Grand Canyon so it is very deep, with steep rock walls falling into the lake bottom. Our rafting guide in Moab, Carmen, told us that there were plans to build two additional dams in the Grand Canyon as well but they were scuttled by environmental protests and so never came to pass. However, Lake Powell still sits in the middle of high desert, with nothing green in the way of trees or other larger foliage for miles. Because of all the side canyons and the deep water of the lake, it is a water sports haven. Deb read that as many as three million people use Lake Powell for water sports each year. This is borne out by the huge number of boat trailers parked in the lots surrounding the marina. In addition, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of houseboats, both privately owned and for rent on the lake. The marina where we rented out modest nineteen foot speedboat had houseboats for rent from a mere 36 feet up to a 75 foot behemoth with six staterooms and an onboard hot tub! As we cruised down the lake, we noticed that each houseboat also had at least a smaller speedboat in tow and maybe two or three jet skis.  We cruised down the lake at a nice clip and finally came to buoy 49 after about two hours of wide open sailing. We turned into the side canyon that led to the Rainbow Bridge and motored up until we got to the no wake zone near the dock. We pulled up to the dock and moored without hitting any of the many other boats there as well.  The walk to the Rainbow Arch can be as long as a mile and a half depending on the lake level. The last few years, Lake Powell has been very low, but this year, the lake is within 20 feet of its maximum level. As a result, the walk to Rainbow Bridge is only about two-thirds of a mile and you can actually see it almost as soon as you start walking up the floating dock. By the time we got to the dock, it was almost 11:00AM and the day was developing into a scorcher. We filled our water bottles, donned our hats, packed our cameras, and set off to the arch. We hiked up to the bridge and took many pictures on the way. However, in search of the "perfect light", we were disappointed. The light in the morning was from the back of the bridge as we came up from the dock. Fortunately though there was a ranger underneath a shaded area near the bridge. We had read that it was not possible to go under the arch because that was held sacred by the Navaho people. When we asked if there was a way to hike up and around the arch, he said to wait a few minutes and he would take us to the other side. When he was finally able to free himself, he led us up under the arch and onto the trail that comes in from the Navaho reservation from the other side! We got to walk under the arch and reach a promontory on the far side that had the good morning light that Deb was looking for. The ranger said the only reason the trail is not open to the public is that the stream that flows under the arch has severely undercut the bank and it is dangerous to let people wander unaccompanied. After taking many pictures we went back through the arch and headed back to the dock. On the way back, we stopped to thank the ranger who had shown us the trail through the arch. He had set up an impromptu vignette showing a velociraptor footstep fossil along with an accompanying prop. Based on the stride, the velociraptors were approximately 16 feet tall with 8 to 10 feet of that being leg.  When we rented the boat that morning, we were told that we would need to refuel before heading back up the lake or risk running out of gas. There was a marina five miles down the river from the Rainbow Bridge turnoff so we headed there before having lunch and beginning the trek back. The ranger at the Glen Canyon/Lake Powell visitors' center had recommended several side trips that we wanted to make on our way back so getting adequate fuel seemed a good idea.  We pulled into the fuel dock and the attendant came and helped us gas up, $5.30 per gallon. This really wasn't too bad when you consider that the gas had to be trucked into one of the marinas and then brought on the lake via barge. He said they go through 20,000 gallons of fuel every three to four days! He also checked an oil tank under the rear seat and found it completely empty, not a good sign! When we checked out the boat that morning, I asked the rental agent, Megan, whether I needed to check oil and was told, no, that this was taken care of. Obviously, it had not been taken care of! I had the attendant put in a gallon of oil and we set off up the lake.  I had seen a small side canyon that looked like a promising place for lunch. We gently pulled in and drifted in the shadow of a tall rock cliff. We had lunch and just drifted in the shadow for a while in the its sheltering cool.  As we set off again, troubles began. I noticed that the steering control was becoming increasingly erratic. I could turn the wheel several turns in the direction I wanted to go, but nothing would happen. Then suddenly, the steering would catch, and the boat would lurch abruptly in that direction, which I would then have to quickly correct. This was increasingly difficult when we encountered the wakes from the numerous other boats on the lake. However, after several minutes of experimentation, I was able to anticipate necessary turns and keep us heading up the lake at a reasonable pace. It was then that the next problem raised its head. We were cruising up lake, when all of the sudden, an alarm began sounding. Since we had not been told about the possibility of an alarm, I had no idea what the alarm meant. I immediately throttled back and the alarm ceased. However, whenever I increased the throttle past 800 RPM, the alarm would reoccur. At 800 RPM we would get back to the marina about midnight! We were still at buoy 59 or so and, though we had a VHF radio, we were unable to raise the marina since the canyon only allowed about a 10 mile range. We were able to reach the NPS operator who relayed our message and told us that a boat was being dispatched from the rental company. We tried to continue on, but the alarm continued to sound.  We flagged down a passing boater who was returning to the Bullfrog marina and asked him to tell the rental company that we had minimal steerage and a failing engine. He promised to do so and headed up the lake. In the meantime, we overheard radio transmissions of another failed powerboat. This would become crucial to our recovery. We motored at 800 RPM up the lake for 45 minutes or so and heard nothing from the NPS dispatcher or from the rental company. It was unbearably hot and I was pissed! I pushed the throttle forward to 3600 RPM, and alarm be damned! The alarm only sounded every four to five minutes anyway so I figured it couldn't be that critical (more on that later!). We headed back up lake trying to anticipate the need for turns and impacts with wakes due to the crippled steering, the alarm maddeningly sounding every few minutes. We finally got to buoy 92 and the alarm became a constant tone. With the constant tone, the motor throttled back to 800 RPM and again we were barely creeping up river against the wind and current. We pulled into the shadow shelter of another large cliff and were finally able to raise the rental agency on the VHF radio. They promised to send someone out soon. This after having promised to send someone over and hour and half ago!  We drifted in the shadow of the cliff, waiting, and Deb went in swimming. Finally after about twenty to thirty more minutes, we received a VHF call that they could not find us. They had overshot us, despite our description of our location, and started back up lake. To make sure they would find us, we limped back out into mid-channel and flagged them down as they came back up lake. The two mechanics were very apologetic and immediately diagnosed both the problem with the steering and the engine. The steering system was hydraulic and had developed a leak. As a result, most of the steering movement simply pumped air instead of hydraulic fluid. They topped off the system and, while turning the wheel back and forth, found that a fitting back in the stern had come loose and was spurting fluid. Once this was tightened, the steering regained the necessary control. The engine was a little bit harder to fix. When I told the mechanic about the lack of oil in the reservoir when we refueled, he paled, and then attempted to remove the engine cover. He said that the engine had a built-in reservoir of its own, but that when that was exhausted, the engine went into limp home mode, which was where we were. Even though there was a gallon of oil in the reservoir under the seat, apparently an airlock had occurred and the engine's internal reservoir was empty as well. The final problem was that he could not remove the outboard's cover. Apparently there had been a very severe windstorm a few nights prior to our rental and the cover latch had been damaged. He was finally able to pry it open and indeed the internal reservoir was also empty. The challenge was to get oil back into this reservoir. The opening was small and the tank he had with him was large and unfortunately oil was spilled into the lake in the process of recharging the engine. Once this series of events had occurred, we were finally able to get underway again with no alarms and the ability to steer the boat. The mechanics followed us in as we headed to the fuel dock to once again fill the tanks since this was the term of the rental. However, when we throttled back upon reaching the no wake zone near the fuel dock, the mechanics motioned us to follow them and we headed instead to our original moorage from the morning. We pulled in, tied up, and unloaded our cooler and other belongings. Just as we were about to head for the car, a rental agent came out and wanted to inspect the boat for damage. We went through the procedure, but tempers were getting a little frayed. After the inspection, we went into the rental office armed for bear. We asked to see the supervisor who immediately came out. He was very conciliatory and comped us the gas for our return trip as well as giving us an additional refund to compensate for the half day we had lost. While this was not a perfect solution since we had lost a half day, we felt that it was fair.  We loaded the car, went back to the RV, walked the dogs, and went to dinner at the lodge, having survived our day on the water.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218389280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218389280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218389280/tpod.html Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:57:08 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Bullfrog, Utah, United States

The next morning, our 34th wedding anniversary, we were up early to hit the road to get to Lake Powell, another impromptu stop. We had read about Rainbow Bridge, the largest natural sandstone arch in the world and decided to go see it. However, there are only two ways to see the bridge. The first is to walk twenty miles across the desert of the Navaho reservation in the summer with temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s or go to Lake Powell and go by boat. We chose the latter. When I tried to reserve a boat and campsite at Wahweap campground, which was just off our planned route to Zion, there were none available so I tried instead at the Bullfrog campground. Here I was successful, but the route to the Bullfrog campground took us to the north back into central Utah. This meant another change of itinerary, going from Lake Powell to Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce National Park, and finally to Zion. Not that I'm complaining! The only catch with going to Bullfrog is that you have to catch a ferry across Lake Powell from the Halls Crossing. The ferry is large enough to accommodate 20-30 cars or larger vehicles like us, but only runs every two hours. We hoped to make the 12:00PM ferry and were up and out of the campground by 8:30AM which should have allowed more than enough time to make the two and one half hour drive and make us first in line. However, someone had other plans for us this morning.  We set out from the campground and had traveled about three miles, when I saw a huge dust cloud over the next rise. As we crested the rise, I saw what had created the dust cloud. A car had crossed over the center line, hit a passenger van, and come to rest in the ditch, facing the opposite direction from which it had come. We pulled up behind the van and I immediately pulled out my cell phone and called 911. Cell phone reception in this area is spotty at best, but I was able to get through to the dispatch center and report the accident. While I was on the phone, one of the passengers in the car in the ditch painfully climbed out of the rear passenger side window and fell to the ground with blood on his face and moaning that he was having severe difficulty breathing. There were two other passengers in the vehicle, another passenger in the rear (that we later found out was the driver) and one in the front who was crying in pain. Deb went up and tried to comfort the passenger on the ground that was having difficulty breathing, urging him to stay calm and still until the ambulance arrived. In the meantime, I went up to the passenger van to see if everyone there was okay. The folks driving were French and shaken but fortunately not hurt. There was another car stopped a little further up the road that contained a group of German tourists who had almost been hit by the car in the ditch. In talking with them and looking at the skid marks on the road, it was obvious that the car is the ditch was speeding down the road, went off the road to the right, and since there was no shoulder, swerved back across their lane and the opposing lane, barely missing the group of German tourists, but colliding with the French group. The belongings for the car in the ditch were strewn all along the highway and wash, and the car was a complete wreck. While we were waiting for the ambulance and police, I loaned my cell phone to the French couple to try and get help from their rental company, Alamo. What a disaster! Alamo apparently has some arrangement with a third world call center. This coupled with the poor cell phone reception made any communications impossible and I finally told the French couple that they would have to get the police to transport them back to the campground so they could talk via a landline. In the meantime, as cars went up and down the road, every car driven by one of the Navaho reservation stopped to see if they could be of assistance. Also, a car driven by one of the teachers at the local high school stopped to see if he could help. He had taught two of the three accident victims and tucked his tie into his starched white shirt and did what he could to help. The passenger who was having difficulty breathing was not doing very well. Since I couldn't think what else to do, I called and texted our daughter, Christiane, who is a second year resident at Harvard. I needed some medical advice and there was none available in this remote place. Unfortunately, I didn't reach her immediately and I know I scared her with my brief voicemail and text messages, but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing.  At about this time the police finally arrived, but offered very little in the way of first aid for the victims, simply repeating the mantra, "Stay calm. Help is on the way". Finally after twenty to thirty minutes, an ambulance did arrive. Deb had talked with the teacher and he told her that because of the spotty telephone service and distances involved that it sometimes took as long as an hour or more for help to arrive.  Once the ambulance and EMTs arrived, they immediately began triage and started working on the passenger who was having difficulty breathing. They immobilized his neck with a brace, got him on a backboard, and loaded him on the ambulance and made arrangements for an air evacuation to the nearest hospital. Then it was on to the passenger in the back seat. Again, his neck was braced and I helped steady his head while he was slid out of the back seat and onto the backboard. Once he was immobilized and strapped to the board, I helped lift him onto a gurney and into the ambulance. The final passenger was the girl in the front passenger seat, crying in pain. The problem was that the passenger side door was buried in the side of the ditch. One of the people who stopped at the accident produced a small shovel and was able to excavate the ditch enough that the door could be opened. We again repeated the procedure of bracing her neck, then gently (as possible) lowering and securing her to a backboard, and finally lifting her onto a gurney and into the ambulance. After all of this and filling out witness reports for the police, we helped collect the belongings along the highway and finally we were on our shaken way. Needless to say, we missed the 12:00PM ferry and had to wait until 2:00PM crossing. We hope and pray that all three of the teenagers are okay. Lake Powell is very odd. The lake was created by flooding the Glen Canyon which is above the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. The red stone cascades into the blue water of Lake Powell, creating a boating paradise. The surrounding area is high, dry, hot desert. Since we had just missed the 12:00PM ferry, we were first in line for the 2:00PM one. This was a good thing since we are so long. The ferry accommodates about 25 cars, but we easily take up the space of three or four. We were able to pull straight on and had a spot at the very front. Sam immediately took over his seat in the driver's chair, surveying his surroundings. One thing that does puzzle me is how they got the ferry and all the houseboats to the lake. They must arrive in pieces and then be assembled on site because many are way to large to make the trip overland. In any case, we crossed the lake and were the first off the ferry and then on to our campsite. After our late arrival at the campground (note to all NPS employees: MORE SIGNS ARE BETTER!), we decided to go to dinner at the lodge instead of cooking in the 100 degree heat. At the lodge we had an amazing sight. Due to the rain falling and the angle of the sun, the far rocky shore looked like it was covered with a sheet of ice! It was quite beautiful, but then when we returned that night we had the additional benefit of a gorgeous sunset to welcome us home.  To top the day off, as Deb was walking Sam and Luna that evening, he spotted a rabbit that took off into a deep ravine behind the campground. He tore the leash from Deb's hand and was gone. The bottom of the ravine was probably 70 to 80 feet down and covered with scrub oak. Deb was very upset and started calling for him. All of the campers who witnessed this came to her aid and offered to hold Luna and joined in calling his name. Deb was just about to descend into the ravine in search of him, when Sam came trotting up the side, trailing his leash, with a self-satisfied grin on his face. He came close to losing his happy home!  This was a difficult day, but we believe that we were in the right place at the right time to provide these folks with a little comfort and aid.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218307560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218307560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218307560/tpod.html Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:23:42 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Monument Valley, Utah, United States

We had driven to Monument Valley yesterday and checked with the Navaho tour guides at the visitors' center for a tour of the valley open to the public as well as a portion that is only accessible with a guide. The campsite is nestled in a small canyon that overlooks the valley in the distance. The next morning we met up with our tour guide, Jimmy Keith. Jimmy works for an independent tour group that gives tours of the valley. All of the tour vehicles are pickup trucks that have had the rear bed removed and had a platform installed that holds two or three bench seats under a small steel roof. This means that, while the driver is riding in the cab, you're exposed to the wind and dust in the back. It does have the advantage of not having to look out through dusty windows though. We took off after a little fare negotiation and entered the valley. At first Jimmy was a little reserved and offered only the canned spiel about each of the rock formations that we were looking at, Left Mitten, Right Mitten, etc. However, after we had talked with him at each stop he began to relax and tell us more about his life and life on the reservation. He had been a high steel worker for 36 years and had only recently returned to his clan in the nearby town of Olijeto. His major concern with his family is that they continue to understand and use their native language and respect their culture. He also spoke of the poverty in Olijeto compared to the "riches" that the clans in Monument Valley had due to tourism. However, in contrast to this, he also has a list of the many movies he and his friends have participated in while they were being filmed in the valley. In addition to this, he also is an accomplished musician, playing native flute and drum and also proficient in improvisational chants. I've attached several clips of Jimmy playing, though I'm not to sure how good the sound quality will be. Any lack in fidelity and quality is my fault. At the end of our tour, we returned to the visitors' center and our car. After checking on the dogs, we went to a group of shops along the main highway that featured arts and crafts. We did not find anything that compared in quality to the work that Beautiful Aspen of the Taos pueblo did. We headed back to the RV and made dinner since there is very little night life in this area.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218133200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218133200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218133200/tpod.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:39:42 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Cortez, Colorado, United States

After all the up and down hiking of the previous day, we were in no hurry to get up. When we finally got our act together, I called one of the local vineyards that had tastings by appointment only. The owner was going to be around that day and invited us out to his vineyard in McElmo valley, about 25 minutes from Cortez. We drove out to the Sutcliffe Winery and met the owner John Sutcliffe. John is an ex world class polo player, now turned wine maker and restaurant entrepreneur. He gave us a tour of his small aging barn and expounded on the virtues of French oak barrels over those made from American oak. At this point, another couple from Alabama arrived and asked if they could join the tasting and John led us into his office which doubles as his tasting room. He poured whites, rosés, and reds, all the while telling us about the five star restaurants that serve his wine. He seems to be on a first name basis with many of the chefs of these establishments and has obviously led a rich and varied life. Afterwards, we walked out to his backyard and talked while Deb took pictures of the stunning cliffs overlooking the vineyard. John says that each vine receives five gallons of water a day and he has 20,000 vines! As in most of the west, water rights are what make anything possible. We purchased wine and returned to town, having spent 3 hours enjoying the wine and John's company. It would be great fun to be able to talk at greater length with him.  After the wine tasting, it was back to the RV to get packed up for the next leg of our journey and, of course, another dinner at Tequila's. As we walked the dogs that evening, there was a phenomenal sunset to mark our last day in Cortez.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218067020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218067020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1218067020/tpod.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:19:28 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Cortez, Colorado, United States

The next morning we were up early for our drive to Long House. The main road into the park snakes back and forth through numerous switchbacks and a tunnel to get to the top of Chapin Mesa and then forks at the visitors center to go to Wetherill Mesa. The road to Wetherill has numerous steep climbs and constantly turns back and forth on itself on the way out to Long House. The road is restricted to vehicles of less than 8000 pounds, but several of the Rent-America RVs were attempting to creep up the steep grades. The road is closed from Labor Day until Memorial Day and I can see why. We parked at the end of the road and then waited for our tour group to leave. Access to the site is controlled by only allowing trams to take visitors down to the entry point. We were ferried down to the trailhead and the ranger gave us some of the background of site and warnings about not touching or climbing on the walls of the pueblo. We then hike down a long hill, came around a bend, and there was the pueblo. The ranger talked about life of the pueblo in terms of water and fire. Since the pueblo is perched high in the cliffs, water was always at a premium. To expend water to irrigate crops or in the form of sweat to construct the pueblo, was always an investment. Likewise, since firewood had to be carried down from the mesa above, the use of fire also had to be justified. The pueblo had been discovered in the 1880s by cowboys looking for lost cattle. Since then, it has been the site of extensive archaeological excavation and preservation. Most of the walls and chambers are as they were found. Long House is the second largest of the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde and contains many kivas as well as a large dance area. It was thought that the pueblo housed as many as 120 people. As I mentioned, access to the pueblo is down a steep trail cut into the side of the mesa, but then you need to climb ladders to get in, not one of Deb's favorite activities!  After touring the pueblo, we had to reverse our course and climb back up to the trailhead to wait for the tram. We stopped at an overlook where Long House could be seen in it's entirety. We rode back to the car and then began the drive back across Wetherill Mesa and on to the site of the Cliff Palace tour. The Cliff Palace tour started like the tour of Long House, with a steep climb down to the pueblo. Cliff Palace is the largest in Mesa Verde and was thought to house as many as 160 people at its peak. Cliff Palace was partially reconstructed by the CCC in the 1930s and is about 75% original. The hike out of Cliff Palace had two features that did not endear themselves to Deb. First is an irregular staircase cut up through a thin channel carved in the rock. When you reach the top, you then had to ascend three ten foot ladders, with the last rising up an exposed rock face, 100 foot in the air. Deb's acrophobia was in full swing!  We safely made it to the top and then drove back to Spruce Tree House near the museum. We again climbed down into the canyon and toured the pueblo. There were teams of archaeologists working on the structure, injecting gelatin behind some of the mud in the walls to help stabilize it. It seemed a very tedious process. After talking with them, we hiked back to the top of the canyon and returned home for another dinner at Tequila's.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217978340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217978340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217978340/tpod.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:54:45 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Cortez, Colorado, United States

When I first plotted out the trip, I thought we would go from Moab to Monument Valley, but the nice thing about traveling by RV is that you can easily change which way the road takes you. This was true of our decision to go to Mesa Verde National Park instead. Mesa Verde is in the southwest corner of Colorado near the four corners. It is also another one of Colorado's wine producing regions! We just can't seem to go very far without going to a wine tasting room. We pulled into the RV park in the nearby town of Cortez, got set up, and then set out for Mesa Verde to get tickets to see the ancestral pueblo cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde was home for a Native American Pueblo Indian culture from about 500 AD to 1200 AD. Then, in the course of only a few generations, they all left, abandoning their homes and dispersing to the pueblos that are still left today. There are many theories about the cause of this departure, famine, drought, overpopulation, fire, etc., but no one will ever know for sure. Since the entire park is a World Heritage site, access to the dwellings is only with a ranger-led tour.  On the way to the visitor center, we stopped at Park Point Overlook, the highest spot in the park. We hiked up to the fire lookout station at the top and could see for miles. Mesa Verde continually has lightning sparked fires and the Park Point Overlook had been a target in 2000. The standing snags gave the landscape a ghostly appearance. As we were leaving the overlook, I realized that we were almost out of gas and we were fifteen miles from the nearest gas station. Fortunately, we could coast most of the way back! We refueled and retraced our steps, ending up at the visitor's center just before 5:00PM. We got tickets to see two of the cliff dwellings the next day, Long House in the morning at 10:30AM and Cliff Palace at 2:30PM in the afternoon. The reason for the long delay between the tours was that they are on two different mesas with twenty miles of twisty turning road in between. After getting our tickets we went of to the museum which is also the site of another cliff dwelling, Spruce Tree House. However, since it was late, we decided to tour Spruce Tree House the next day. We headed back to Cortez and went out to dinner at a small family-owned Mexican restaurant that had been highly rated on Tripadvisor.com. It's amazing how many different places are listed there, even tiny little towns that are nothing more than small dots on the map. The restaurant was packed and when we got our dinners, we understood why. The food was fantastic, with generous portions. And on top of that, it was inexpensive. Our entire dinner, with wine and tip, was less that $50. We were definitely coming back!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217890080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217890080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217890080/tpod.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:19:08 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Moab, Utah, United States

After my rafting trip in Santa Fe, I wanted to go on another one. I finally convinced Deb to do a combination jeep trip and rafting trip down a portion of the Colorado River. The jeep portion was in the morning and went up into Canyonlands National Park, which is adjacent to Arches. We arrived at the outfitter, Navtec, in Moab at 7:45AM and met our morning guide, John. We climbed into a 4-wheel drive Expedition and headed off with a French family as our traveling companions. Deb was able to sit up front with John while I was in the back seat. We started off into the backcountry, going up the Colorado River. As we went along, John pointed out some petroglyphs and a small arch overhead. He told us that across the river on private land was a petroglyph that seemed to show a group of Indians attacking what appears to be a mastodon.  We soon turned off the main road and started up a rough unpaved road that was made for Jeeps. There seemed to be innumerable rocks, bumps, and ruts that required John to downshift to climb the hills. Right at the turnoff was a salt mining operation that injects water into the underground salt deposit and then pumps the water up into huge evaporation ponds. We went up past tier after tier of these huge saline ponds that rely on the desert sun for the production of salt. We slowly wound our way up the road and finally came to a large meadow high above the Colorado River. This was the spot where they filmed the scene in the movie, Thelma and Louise where they drove off the cliff. The scene supposedly took place in the Grand Canyon, but this spot stood in for the Grand Canyon since the canyon is a national park and that sort of scene could not be filmed there. John told us that they had to stage the scene twice since when they catapulted the car over the edge the first time, the head of the mannequin stand-in came off.  After going a little further, we came to the southern edge of the Canyonlands park. We had to turn around then since the road up, Schaefer Pass, was closed for road improvement.  While we paused there to allow a "nature break", John told us some about his back country camping experiences. He hikes and camps all over the area and has encountered some of the local fauna, rattlesnakes and scorpions. He has also come upon caves where an Indian mummy will be entombed. His encounter with the rattlesnake was while he was alone, several miles from anywhere. He was packing up to come home when the snake struck. He immediately took Benadryl and then was able to drive a few miles to a rest stop with a telephone. He called 911 and awaited help. By the time the EMTs arrived, he was flat on his back in pain. They called in a life flight helicopter from the hospital in Grand Junction that had the antivenom on board. He said that one good thing was the nighttime flight with a full moon over Arches. After these tales, we were all more careful where we put out feet. After driving back into Moab, we boarded a bus to take us up the Colorado River for the afternoon rafting trip. Our guide, Carmen, had been on rafts since she was two months old since her mom and dad were both river guides. This raft trip was different from the one I took in Santa Fe in that we were on an oar boat instead of a paddle boat. A paddle boat, as the name implies, is one where everyone has a paddle and can help maneuver the boat. An oar boat is one where the guide does all of the paddling and steering. I prefer the paddle boat because you're doing something instead of just being along for the ride. This stretch of the river was mostly just a float with a few mild stretches of rapids. We set out and went a little ways down river to a beach where we setup for lunch. Our group consisted of one American couple, one British couple, and a Dutch family of four. After lunch we continued on down the river, unfortunately mostly just floating along. We got to the take out point and rode the bus back to town. My trip on the Rio Grande near Taos was much more fun.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217740980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217740980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pfl_guy/1/1217740980/tpod.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:20:01 -0400 Another summer on the road

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Moab, Utah, United States

The next day we were up at 5:30AM to walk the dogs, get breakfast, and drive up to the trail head. We got to the trailhead about 6:30AM, with only a few other folks there ahead of us. Our goal was to hike to Landscape Arch, the largest arch in the park and get some shots in the early morning light. Of course, the clouds continued to play hide-and-seek with the sun. The hike to Landscape Arch is a fairly easy one, with wide well maintained trails. Since the sun was not cooperating and the morning was still cool, we decided to hike on. After Landscape Arch, the trail becomes much more rugged, running up and down small canyons, along smooth slickrock, and even traversing the exposed edge of one of the sandstone fins. Deb's fear of heights made some of these sections a little edgy for her even with a husband's steadying hand. The trail runs about three miles into the back country of Arches to a rock formation called the Dark Angel. On the way though we passed another formation called the Double O arch, where two arches are stacked on top of one another. It was off to the left of the trail and since we were descending the back of the fin at the time, we missed it until we got to the bottom. The sun was still intermittent so we walked on a little way to Dark Angel and then returned to an overlook of Double O on the side of the fin and sat down to have breakfast and await the sun. Finally we had some cooperation and the sun poked through the clouds. We took our pictures and began to retrace our steps. Since much of the trail goes across slickrock surfaces, the trail is marked by small cairns of stone, showing the way. Without these, it would be very easy to get lost since the countryside is very confusing and looks the same. The rock formations in the area we were hiking are called the Devil's Garden. The rocks jut up from the ground in small spires and fins, all made from the red sandstone. As we neared Landscape Arch, we encountered more and more people. The number of foreign tourists in the national parks is amazing. We estimate more than half the people camping in the parks we've stayed at have been from Europe or Asia. We heard French, Italian, German, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc. as we hiked back. As we rounded the turn from Landscape Arch, the sun again graced us with its presence and we were finally able to get a few pictures for Deb's reference material. When we got back to the parking lot, we were amazed at the number of cars. When we had arrived at 6:30AM, there were only a half dozen cars in the lot. When we returned at about 11:00AM, there were cars, motorcycles, and RVs jamming the lot as far as you could see. One of the favorite modes of transportation for many of the people visiting the parks seems to be rental RVs. These are small class C vehicles, but they are typically crammed with families of up to 8, all sharing tiny living quarters for a month at a time. Since these vehicles are too small to tow another vehicle, they have to disconnect every morning for tours of the parks and hen return to the campground in the evening. In any case, we were very glad we had done our hiking early in the cool morning before the onslaught of humanity. The solitude (and coolness) made the hike something special that would have been spoiled with hundreds of other tourists yammering away.  Again we returned to the RV for a well deserved afternoon siesta during the heat of the day. We got up that evening and went to the Desert Bistro on the edge of Moab. We had eaten there last year during our travels and had a great meal. Unfortunately, we ordered poorly and were both disappointed with our dinner. The flavors and seasonings for the meal were just not well balanced. I had a risotto with smoked rabbit, which sounds great. However, the rabbit was dry and stringy and the risotto had been flavored with Frangelica. The combination was just strange.  Postscript: 36 hours after we hiked up to Dark Angel, the arch called Wall Arch collapsed in the middle of the night, blocking the trail indefinitely. While we thought this arch looked fragile, we had no idea how vulnerable to gravity it was. I'm glad we didn't make any big noise while we were there!
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