Sent from Cortez Colorado

Sunday 12^th June
Forgot to mention in our last blog our visit to Horseshoe Bend on Sunday evening before stopping for the night at Wal*Mart, which can best be understood from the pictures in our Gallery so if you are just getting the emailed blogs don't forget to go to www.TheOldAgeTravellers.blogspot.com and click on the little map on the right hand column. This will open the gallery and a selection of the thousands of photo's we have already taken. Horseshoe Bend was a one mile walk but well worth it. It was a 270deg Ox- Bow Bend in the Colorado River which we could view from a rocky overhang 1000ft above the river, if you look at the second enlarged picture of the three canoes which can hardly be seen in the previous one it will show just how high we were.
Monday 13^th June

We woke to find that Steve couldn't put his foot to the ground because of the pain from his Achilles tendon so Judy goes to Wal*Mart for some Ibuprofen and an ice pack to try to reduce the pain and swelling. He could drive though so we drove to the lake and spent the day going through the photo's ready for uploading them to our online gallery at the visitors center which has wifi then back to Wal*Mart with all the other motorhomes and trucks for the night.

Tuesday 14^th June

Steve's heel is no better so we decided to move on back to Flagstaff and the Petrified Forest, lucky he is able to drive. On the way Steve remembered a Thrift (Charity) shop we had visited before, just outside Flagstaff and wondered if they might have some crutches.

When we got there Judy went in and sure enough they had some which they adjusted for size and whoopee for $7 we were mobile again so we found another Wal*Mart for the night.

Wednesday 15^th June

Up early to visit Walnut Canyon where we had a long chat with the Ranger, he was very good and said the canyon would be too much for Steve but described everything we would have seen then went through the next few places we wanted to visit. He advised against "Meteor Crater" and showed us a picture saying that it was $30 to look into a large hole in the ground and unless we had a particular interest in meteor's it was probably not worth it.

But The Petrified Forest and Painted desert were, then we should go on to the Canyon de Chelly, pronounced "de Shay".

So onward passing through Winslow which was again on the "Route 66", we had hoped to stop to see some of the places mentioned in the guide book but they had all the roads up and there was nowhere to stop in an RV at all.

The Petrified Forest and Painted desert were great and the crutches enabled Steve to hobble around and at least experience some things. However he was getting rather despondent as everybody we met was saying it would be at least six weeks and maybe even surgery! But we persevered with Ibuprofen every few hours and ice packs whenever we stopped. Because "hop-along" was a bit slow we found ourselves in Navajo country with nowhere to stop but Judy spotted a lake near Ganado so we took a chance and stopped there even though people had said "you can't stop at night in Navajo country". We had a good night and the few Navajo's who drove past us paid no attention at all.

Tuesday 7^th June

After a good night we could visit the Hubble Trading post just a couple of miles away. This is a working Trading Post which has been taken over by the National Parks Service to preserve the history and artifacts of the operation but still provide a service to the Navajo Indians.

We took the tour of Mr. Hubble's house then spent quite a while talking with a Navajo guy who told us a great deal about the history and some interesting snippets like the large collection of valuable woven Indian baskets owned by Mr. Hubble which he had boxed up and said he was going to get rid of because there was nowhere to show them. While he was away his daughters had got them out and fastened them on to all of the ceilings of the house and trading post as the walls were all covered with pictures where they stay today. But this gentleman told us that the senior Chiefs would no longer enter the building because the baskets being upside-down was "bad medicine" because all the good things in life would flow out, something like us hanging a "lucky horseshoe" upside-down.

We arrived at canyon de Chelly about lunch time, it is owned by the Navajo's but operated by the Parks Service and interestingly had a free campsite.

The Visitors center was interesting and they explained that there were North and South rims of the canyon with overlooks only on the North and overlooks and a decent on the South.

We decided to tackle the North Rim and see whether Steve could manage the overlooks some of which were a quarter mile walk but on fairly level paths. Steve managed fine albeit a bit slow and we got set up in the campground by about 5pm. We met a very nice lady called Elizabeth who had been full-timing in an RV with a tow-car behind for 13 years. We got out the maps and she started to tell us about all the places we intended to visit and others we should not miss. Then a Navajo Ranger came along and invited us to a talk about the history of the canyon so by the time we had finished we had missed dinner but well worth it as the talk by the Navajo Ranger was extremely interesting.

Friday 17^th June

Steve woke to find no pain in his heel , so all the ice may have done some good. We set about the South Rim and Steve just used a walking stick and by the time we got to the "White House" decent, decided that with his boots and two walking poles he could manage it, a 3 mile round trip descending about 1000ft or so. We took it slowly and all went well, we saw the local farming on the valley floor and some very well preserved cliff houses in a massive overhang.

We finished the other South rim overlooks which culminates in the spectacular view of the Spider Rock. Please see our online gallery for pictures.

Back to the campsite to have a quick snack before another Ranger talk about "The Navajo Long Walk" which was a harrowing story about the way the "White Men" had treated the Indians.

Saturday 18^th June

Went to say our goodbyes to Elizabeth and had coffee when she told us about a Rodeo she had found out about. Change of plans, we couldn't miss that so off we went only to find Elizabeth arrive just after us in her car. It was a small local Navajo Rodeo and great fun. We had a fantastic day (see pictures) and decided it was best to drive back the thirty miles to the campsite rather than trying to find something deep in the reservation. Elizabeth came in to "our house" and we had a great evening with her telling us more about the places we should visit. We really have met some super people on our travels.

Sunday 19^th June

Coffee to finally say goodbye to Elizabeth and dog Simon and she produced some presents she had made for us and a crystal necklace for Judy. We finally left and headed for Durango stopped on the way at Kayenta for coffee at McD's and managed to talk on Skype with Nik & Annie then Kerry & Cheryl then headed to Monument Valley with a quite big storm brewing so much that it was very difficult driving and the views were disappearing in the sand storm. After paying to get into the Park which was operated by the Navajo's and for camping, we found we were not allowed to take our RV on the "Self Guided Tour" but had to take a Navajo truck tour at $150 for two hours! Also the camp site was just an area of sand with no facilities and in the windiest area of all.

Monday 20^th June

The Storm had finished so we took some pictures but decided not to pay $150 for what everybody else could do for free. Unfortunately talking with others, they also agree that the Navajo's are being just a bit greedy. They are understandably unhappy at their treatment over history but are very disorganized, and just not providing the service which is provided by the National Parks Service, the private trucks they are using look un-maintained and in many cases downright dangerous, they have no uniforms, no name badges, demand cash only and give no receipts so not a good impression. But the views we could see from the terrace see were fantastic and perhaps we missed some close-up's but it is a big country with many more places to see and for us it was better to talk with our feet as were many others. So we left to visit a local Trading Post often frequented by John Wayne etc. When they were making various films in the area then on to the long drive to Durango to take a trip on the narrow gauge Durango to Silverton Railway tomorrow. We decided on another night at Wall*Mart so as to get an early start to catch the train without too much driving.

Tuesday 21^st June

Up at six to get to the station for seven in time to get tickets for the eight o'clock excursion, not cheap but it turned out to be a wonderful day. We left promptly at 8 in an open carriage, there were about six carriages some of which were enclosed plus a buffet car, pulled by a genuine steam engine for the 50 mile spectacular journey along the rushing San Jose river climbing all the time to 9,305ft arrive at Silverton at midday for a couple of hours to explore the old mining town and have lunch then back on the train for the return journey arriving back at 5:30 totally exhausted. So after a McD's thick shake to cool down just an hours drive to a National Forest Campground for the night and to have a shower to wash off all the soot from the engine and wash our clothes to get rid of the smokey smell.

Please again see the pictures in our gallery, the train itself was interesting and the views into the rushing river with white water rafting were spectacular.

Sorry it has been so long this time but as you can see we don't get that much time to keep up with the typing.

...................................................

Sent from Lake Powell Arizona

Tuesday 7^th June

After a very cold night in the Kaibab forest we awoke early to frost. We set off towards Sedona and had a really pleasant drive to Flagstaff where we stopped to phone Rudi & Jackie who we had met near Hoover Dam and had invited us to park in their drive if we decided to visit Sedona, Rudi was in and said for us to come over. But first we wanted to investigate the historic downtown area of Flagstaff which sits on the old "Route 66". The area was nice and the buildings had the flavour of the old western town but had lost the spirit really as it had become mainly a restaurant and bar area.

The drive to Sedona was along the "Old Creek Road 89a" a really picturesque road winding through the mountain roads and forest. Rudi & Jackie were really hospitable and got us set up behind the house where they had water, electric and dumping facilities which they said for us to use as we wished. What really nice people to be so hospitable to two strangers.

Wednesday & Thursday 8^th & 9^th June

After visiting the Ranger Station we spent two days doing various hikes in the Redrock area around Sedona where our annual pass was accepted for entry, culminating on Thursday afternoon with a visit to the Palatki Pueblo's which were houses built under an enormous South facing overhanging rock and had been inhabited since prehistoric times by many different cultures. The wall drawings were obviously done in many different eras and the Rangers explained what the Archeology had discovered.

Friday 10^th June

We set off for Jerome, an old mining town perched on the side of a hill. It was a booming town 1876 to 1953 when the mine closed finally becoming America's largest Ghost town with the population dropping from it's peak of 15,000 people to just 50. But those few people re-invented the town and it is now a small pleasant town of gift shops, art galleries and restaurants.

On the way to Jerome we stopped at a very large sewing and quilting shop so Judy could explore. There was some beautiful quilting work on show but then Steve found an enormous quilting machine in the back room which could take quilts about 4 meters wide and do all the setting out and intricate quilting stitching we had seen on the walls.

We had lunch in Jerome at the Haunted Hamburger restaurant which one of the Rangers at Palatki had said was a must but warned that the meals were big. The waitress suggested that we have one meal for the two of us which for a dollar extra they would put on two plates with extra fries etc. and for us that was just about right. But she did a good selling job and persuaded us to have one of their "Home Made" eclairs also to share, see picture in the gallery!

Jackie and Rudi had invited us to eat with them that evening and we had a really pleasant meal on the veranda overlooked by the beautiful the backdrop of the Redrock Butes and Messa's.

Saturday 11^th June

We said our goodbyes and headed back to Flagstaff and all the way back to Antelope Canyon which we had missed when we left the Grand Canyon North Rim because we had not marked it on our map. But we were told that the experience would be worth the 275 mile round trip but our route would take us past the Sunset Volcano crater and the Wupatki Pueblo's this time which we had also missed by using the different route.

The Sunset Crater was a strange experience, the volcano had covered the area with volcanic ash over 900 years ago but there is still only just a smattering of vegetation and a few trees, everything else is just black volcanic rock shale and dust.

The Wupatki Pueblos were very large and would have housed probably over 100 people in their time. It was very interesting trying to understand how they had lived.

Sunday 12^th June

After the night spent in a parking area in Tuba City which appeared to be a town of fast food outlets, we continued on to Page to see Antelope Canyon. There are in fact two canyons and as they are in the Navajo Tribal Park are owned and operated separately by the Navajo people. There was no Visitor Center as we had become accustomed to in the National parks where we could look around and find out what was available, just a pay booth. After quite a long wait while the lady in the booth was apparently explaining everything to each of the cars in front she went through the whole thing with us explaining that there was a $6 per person fee for entering the park then their tour which was $25 per person or the other tour over the road to a different canyon which was $20 each but only the one park fee. We asked which tour was best and she said with the light as it was the other tour would be best so we went there.

Our Navajo guide Buddy explained that the two canyons were different this one was "V" shaped the other "A" shaped. So quite dark but with eerie light beams entering the canyon but he thought the one we were in was best for photography with an ordinary camera.

The experience was amazing with the canyon floor in places being only three inches wide and the most incredible shapes and colours. We will put some of the 100's of photo's we took into our on-line gallery.

After the tour we asked Buddy our guide where else we should visit and he very kindly marked the good view points we should visit on a map, firstly to see the Glen Canyon Dam and lake Powell from a couple of overlooks then visit the dam itself then an amazing overlook from cliffs to Horshoe bend a 270 degree ox-bow bend in the Colorado River, he suggested we visit it at sunset but it was very cloudy and we decided that there wouldn't be much of a sunset tonight, so dinner would be better so we drove back a bit to town and spent a very good night in Wal*Mart's parking lot along with about thirty other RV's

Steve has somehow stretched one of his Achilles tendons and is limping about in pain so tomorrow will have to be just a lazy day by the lake while he rests it so we can hopefully continue with our hikes.
Till next time......

Monday 6th June

On Thursday 2^nd evening after we had rested from our hike, we drove out of the Grand Canyon National Park into the forest where camping is allowed as long as you are parked ¼ mile off the tarmac road or "the pavement" as they call it. One of the rangers had highlighted a few roads on a map which she said had some nice camping spots so we took the first one. After a ¼ mile we came across a sign saying Saddle Mountain Wilderness and Arizona Trail 3 m, the road wasn't as bad as the "Hole in the Wall" one so we decided to take it and found a really great place to park for the night and a short walk to the rim of`the canyon with a very different view over to the flat lands in the west where the canyon was not so dominant.

Friday 3^rd June

We woke early and started on our drive round to the South Rim spotting a wild Turkey in the woods as we went. Quite a dramatic change of scenery from the forest to the desert with large red "Butes" looking just like we have seen them in the Cowboy films. There were very many stalls along the way where the native Americans (Indians) sell their crafts but unfortunately we were a bit early for them and very few were occupied, presumably the coaches are later than us. We crossed the bridge over the Colorado river at Cameron then did the last bit of the drive into the east gate of the Grand Canyon National Park again. The Ranger on the gate was extremely unhelpful (unlike every other one we had met so far), saying that all the camp grounds were full even the first come first served one which seemed very strange. We missed the turning for that one which wasn't marked and drove about 5 miles before returning to find it was nearly empty! We bought our ticket from the machine to claim our spot then drove the 25 miles to the Grand Canyon Village. First we checked at the campground near the village and found that they did have a couple of places free so we could have been more central however they had none for Saturday but one on Sunday so we booked that and decided we would have to drive out to the forest on Saturday evening.

This park had shuttle buses like Bryce & Zion so we took the shorter scenic route to see the views where vehicles were not allowed to go then returned to the visitor center to watch the excellent film about the park. To finish the day we worked our way back the 25 miles to our campsite calling at all of the viewpoints on the way, this side of the canyon was very different, it is 1000ft lower than the North Rim and the canyon goes down in large steps. It was too dark by the last two view points so we decided to see these in the morning and returned to our campsite via the petrol station because the alarm had come on (I am sure there is a hole in the tank!!). Because of it's remoteness the fuel was rather expensive so we only half filled this time. Interestingly though our credit card worked in the pump, luckily as the kiosk was closed and we wanted to leave early in the morning.

Saturday 4^th June

A fairly early start to visit Desert View which is at the eastern edge of the park, The view here was good being able to see the transition in the landscape to the desert beyond, it also had a tower built to resemble a "Hopi Indian" tower, this gave a great view over the Colorado river far below including the rapids and a few ox- bow bends. Onward to the village where we parked and jumped on to the village shuttle to visit the central area. We got off at the train station where the long excursion train was in. This has been built to resemble the original trains built for this line with observation areas in the roof. A bit like the pictures we have seen of the "Rocky Mountain Express".

The "Village" was great with many original or carefully reproduced buildings keeping the whole thing "in context" except the Hotel had somehow been allowed to extend with awful concrete accommodation blocks looking just like a typical university student block. What a shame. Perhaps the influence of money!!

By chance we came across a dance demonstration by some Native American's which was very interesting and entertaining then after lunch we came across a Ranger talk on the Condors, which was very interesting especially as at the end of her talk a Condor decided to circle in the canyon just behind her.

We finished the day on the "Red Route" of the shuttles which was the picturesque route, nine miles again where vehicles were not allowed. We stayed on the bus as we had little time before dusk but saw that it was a must for perhaps Monday because tomorrow, Sunday we were going to decend the canyon.

Not having anywhere to camp we headed out of the park to the forest and found that the park finished after just a mile then a mile after that we found a really nice spot the correct distance from the road and had a very peaceful night.

Sunday 5^th June

A fairly early start to park and don our boots and rucksacks with "Camel-Backs" for water and food etc then catch the shuttle to "The Bright Angel Trail" the most popular trail down into the canyon from the South side. Again we decided to just walk an hour down, so set off at 9am and arrived at the three mile mark which had a primitive "Restroom" and rest area at 10:20 just over our time. After 30 minutes rest and food as recommended by the Rangers we set off back up. The ascent was fine except that logs had been put across the track to hold back the earth and produce a series of steps which were no problem on the way down but going up they broke the rhythm and were a bit steep for Judy's little legs.

The views and changing geology going down and up were fantastic and we must say that in the last three parks, the adjective "AWSUM" used constantly by the Americans for everything, started to become appropriate.

We arrived at the top at 12:20 making a return trip of just 1½ hours which to us was impressive, but apart from the logs it didn't seem as steep as the North Rim trail. So second decent done we were very pleased with ourselves because we had improved albeit the altitude was 1,000ft less but we were still feeling fresh. We now wish we had done the extra 1½ miles to the Indian garden but never mind. We had a restfull afternoon to type this and get some more washing done while the facilities were available.

Tomorrow we will walk the 9 miles of the Red route seeing all the viewpoints and return on the bus.

Monday 6^th June

We started our walk at about 10am thinking it would be a level 9 miles but some of the climbs seemed steeper than the canyon decent yesterday!

We were really pleased we decided to do this hike today because the canyon scenery changed considerably, getting much more rugged and dramatic and because there were quite tight bends in the rim and canyon we were able to see right to the bottom and the Colorado river at many points.

At one point we saw the tiny dots of a couple of blue inflatable rafts. Looking through the small binoculars we had with us Steve saw that one was going through some rapids while the other waited it's turn then it started but got the angle wrong when it entered and was spun completely round and went through the rapids backwards. At the next observation area there was a board explaining that although the river looks quite gentle from our position of over a mile away, it was actually a roring torrent classed as an 8 on the rafting 10 point scale. Both rafts disapeared from our view as they were going through so we kept looking each time we glimpsed the river to see if they were ok, but we didn't see them again.

It was a good but strenuous day to finish our time at the Grand Canyon so after sending this email and emptying and refilling before we leave the park we will spend another night in the forest tonight, then head for Sedona in the morning which many people have said is absolutely beautiful. Well we have seen some amazing sights so far let's hope it comes close.

Both of us agree that so far Bryce Canyon has to be the most amazing of all, Grand Canyon comes close because of its enormous scale.

Till next time .....................

Steve & Judy

Thursday 2nd June

Wednesday 1st June
We spent the morning hanging around at the North Rim Campsite waiting to see if we could book in for a couple more days, unfortunately they have a similar system to the UK camping clubs  which allows people to book up to six months ahead but who sometimes don't show, so they are turning many people away when there are sites not used,  but the site had a good laundry room so we did our washing, sent a few business emails and had a long Skype call with Nik & Annie, while doing that Steve realized that with the good connection we had here we could sort out a problem we had accessing one of our bank accounts on-line,  sure enough the usual 45min call trying to get to the right department but got it sorted out ok in the end.  With Skype it only cost about 60p I think it would have used all my 120 days worth of calls on our USA PAYG mobile (cell) phone.  So all jobs done by about 1pm and Steve walked over to the office to find that we could have a pitch for just one evening unfortunately it was not within reach of the wi-fi. 
Off we went to explore as many of the view points as we could.  There was a driving route which we followed and saw some amazing sights ending up at the North Rim Lodge where we saw a great sunset from their patio.  If you have a good map or look on Google maps, we visited; Point Imperial, Vista Encantada, Roosavelt Point, Walhalla Overlook and Cape Royal which was amazing walking out over a natural stone bridge to a small (fenced luckily) promontory hanging about 1000ft up.  We arrived back at our pitch after dark which meant a bit of very careful maneuvering between the trees so as  not to damage the van, nights are really dark here.  We decided to get an early night so we could be on the road early in the morning so as to be able to get a parking spot at the trail-head for our decent into the canyon.

Thursday 2nd June
We found a parking spot at the trail-head of the North Kaibab Trail which heads down to the Colorado river, a fourteen mile hike and 6,000 foot decent.  Not for us today!  As we had a parking spot we decided to have a good breakfast first as recommended by the Rangers but a bit of a mistake because as we hit the trail at 8am the Mule train carrying tourists down came onto the trail ahead of us and the rule is that Mules have priority so we could not pass.  Not a problem for us as we thought that the mules would be faster once the Wrangler had finished his pep-talk to the rookie riders.  But after we got going we were caught up by three guys who were intending to walk from North Rim to South Rim that's 14 miles down and 7 miles up so time was critical, eventually they called to the wrangler at the head of the line and he allowed them to pass so hopefully they made it in time, rather them than us although I would fancy it sometime but I thing I would camp at the bottom before the accent the next day but it would take a few days getting used to the altitude first.  Anyway, we had dropped back a bit because apart from the dust the Mules were kicking up following them was like following a cart load of manure as they all started getting rid of their breakfast!!
Well we made it down two miles to a water stop, actually that is as far as the Mules go. Our pedometers registered just over 5 miles there and back because of the smaller steps you take walking down and up a steep slope, it was actually 8,100 steps and an accent/decent of 3,500 feet so not bad for a couple of pensioners!
Well after our hike we have spent a leisurely afternoon reading and doing emails etc. before we head out to the Forrest to park for the night for an early start to drive to the South Rim only about 8 miles as the "Condor"  flies but 203miles 5.5 hours as TomTom directs us!
Till next time. ................................
Steve & Judy

Tuesday 31st May 2011

Sorry about the date error with the long post I sent from the visitor center at Bryce Canyon this morning.  It's hard enough keeping up with the time switching between Pacific, Mountain and Mountain time (Daylight Saving).  We have been moving between three states quite rapidly.
I managed to connect to the internet at the visitors center this morning as those of you who clicked the link to get the blog emailed to them will know.
After leaving Bryce and filling up with Propane at a garage just outside.  It was so cold there that we had been using the heater quite a bit.  We had a nice drive with the weather getting steadily warmer.  We stopped at Kanab which was quite a reasonable size town with a good supermarket to stock up a bit as we may not see any shops for a few days.
We arrived at the North Rim of the Grand canyon at 5:30 and went into the Visitors Center the lady Ranger was very informative and told us where we should walk to get the best views and where we could camp outside the Park as the Camp Ground was booking only, but she said it is worth calling in because sometimes they have "No Shows".  As we were at the Canyon we took a walk first to "Bright Angel Point" which was a thin slab of rock hanging out over the rim.  The view was fantastic but at this point we could not see the bottom, so off to the Camp Ground and yes they had one place left so we booked in and got set up.  At the little shop we noticed people with laptops so inquired and were told that they had free wi-fi and the log-in code. Great we should be able to connect from our van with the "Super" wi-fi ariel.  Off to the rim to see the sun set over the Canyon and were shown by some friendly fellow campers a very thin lump of rock hanging out over the rim about 1000 foot up.  Where they said we should get a great view.  Well over the past few years Steve has begun to suffer from vertigo for some unknown reason.  Well a bit of vertigo was not going to stand in the way so out we go walking the plank over the rim.  (who needs the new glass sky-walk on the South Rim?)
With luck if we manage to get another camp spot tomorrow with this connection we will be able to attach some photo's to the blog.
By the way although we are at 8,310 ft here it is much warmer than at Bryce canyon we are still in tee shirts at 11pm.
Please look at the blog if you can, Steve has now put a second page with the GPS trace of our route.  Unfortunately it is difficult to get the time and bandwidth while traveling to update the interactive Google Map as we had hoped.  But although not scalable this is a screen shot of the actual second by second GPS trace we are doing live using Microsoft Streets & trips which is the American Version of Autoroute.  We are hoping to stop somewhere long enough to investigate whether Steve can incorporate the gpx files that can be output with Streets & Trips into Google to  be able to produce a scalable map.  If anybody has the time to look into it for us he would appreciate an email about it.
Must sign off now as we over did it with the computer this morning and ran the battery down so had trouble starting the van!
Steve & Judy

Monday 30th May 2011

Wednesday 25^th - Well having got the puncture fixed and filling up with propane across the road.at the Eagle RV sales company where a very nice lady just wouldn't let Steve go, chat, chat, chat we were finally on our way to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. Because of our delays we didn't arrive at Hoover dam until 6:30 pm to encounter a Homeland Security check to ensure we were not about to blow-up the dam. They were absolutely charming and exceedingly polite again, not as we had been led to believe. Somebody we had met told us that Obama had ordered "personality transplants" for all Homeland Security officers, if that is correct then they have done an amazing job. Perhaps UK Tax Inspectors and call centres could benifit from the same course!! (don't even get me started on French beaurocrats)

The officer told us that the Dam tours were finished for the day but we might like to visit the new bridge and then if we drove back a couple of miles the Hacienda Casino allowed RV's to park for free overnight. Then we could get a good idea of things before our visit to the dam in the morning.

The bridge was amazing right next to the dam and giving a great birds-eye view. Quite a feat in itself spanning the canyon only a few hundred feet down stream of the dam. It had only been open for a few months and had relieved the bottle-neck of the dam, which before was the only road. After walking right across the bridge and taking many pictures of the dam we went back to the casino we had been told about and pulled in behind a large 5^th wheel RV also stopped for the night. A 5^th wheel is a large articulated caravan which uses a pick-up as it's tractor unit. They are popilar with full timers because they provide the size of the largest RV's with the convenience of having the towing vehicle to go around in. Like a caravan but far more maneuverability and more stable.

We went to search out what food the casino had to offer and met the owners of the 5^th wheel Rudi & Jackie who suggested we visit Sedona, their hometown, which they said was beautiful and said we could park on their drive while we did so.

The casino food did not look very good so we cooked-in. But they had a free film about the construction of the dam which was very informative.

Thursday 26^th – An early start to visit the dam which meant driving across to park then walking back over the dam to the visitor center. We caught the first tour which was really interesting, after some lunch we left about 2pm to drive north beside Lake Mead the man made lake as a result of the dam which has been made a National Park.

We stopped at Echo Beach Campsite which had about 120 spaces but we were the only ones there, $10 a night again in an envelope into the safe. We had a really nice evening sitting in the warm outside having dinner.

Friday 27^th - a fairly early start to drive to Zion National Park. The scenery was getting much more like we see on the cowboy films now with small towns of wooden buildings with horse trailers and pick-ups outside. The country got even grander with towering red cliffs as we arrived at Zion.

The park was heaving with people, we hadn't realized it was Memorial Weekend, something like our August bank Holiday and everybody was heading for Zion one of the more accessible parks.

The Ranger at the gate told us that there were no camp pitches left in the whole park and if we wanted to leave by the east exit we had to pay another $15 for the rangers to stop the traffic to allow us to go through the Mount Carmel Tunnel 1.1 miles long cut through solid rock by hand before they had large vehicles like the RV we were driving.

We checked at the campsite and they had nothing then chatting with one of the staff in the visitors centre when we bought a map she told us we may be able to find space at Coal Pits Wash ten miles back out of the park if we didn't mind "Primitive Camping" we certainly didn't so headed there to get about the last spot between the bushes with about forty other tents and vans. We had a really nice evening chatting to other campers and carefully drinking a couple of beers. We had been warned to take care with alcohol in Utah the Mormon area!

Saturday 28^th – We started early and managed to get a spot at the camp ground at 7:45 which was 6:45 to us because Utah is on Mountain time, so we could get a good day's exploring in. Luckily a Swiss couple waved at us to say they were leaving in half an hour so to claim their spot with our cash in the envelope. The park had a really good system of shuttle-buses as they didn't allow vehicles in the canyon. Which was great for Steve as he could explore wuthout driving. We had a really full day investigating as much as we could and did a couple of hikes of 5miles and 2 miles the one to the emerald lakes was particularly beautiful but heaving with people because of the holiday weekend. We decided to get up early next morning to get through the tunnel.

Sunday 29^th – The tunnel was no problem and we only had to wait about ten minutes for the Rangers to stop the traffic to allow us through. It was very low and narrow without any lights so we saw the reason for the one way only for large vehicles.

Out of the tunnel and the scenery dramatically changed and as we got nearer to Bryce Canyon we could see giant monoliths of red rock in the distance. But the temperature was steadily dropping from the 80degF of yesterday (sory the Americans only talk deg F). We arrived at the park and were told that there were only a few camp spaces left so to grab one quick which we did. Then went to the visitors center to sort out what to do. Bryce had a similar Shuttle-Bus service and an extra bookable 3½ hour trip to the very south of the park. We decided to book that for tomorrow but for now just to ride the first bus that came right round the circle just to see the sights then do a hike later. The first bus turned out to be the one we intended to book for tomorrow but the driver said he had space so to climb aboard. The driver "Spike" gave a continuous knowledgeable and witty commentary and took us walking at every view point to point out the sights. At one point though we were at over 10,000 feet and it was so cold. There were still patches of snow from the mornings fall! The scenery was breathtaking looking down into a prehistoric lake with towering intricate sand spires and temples that defy belief. Hopefully we can put up some pictures on the blog soon.

Unfortunately Steve lost his new glasses somewhere on the coach trip so we visited the Rangers desk and called the coach office with no luck.

Because we are now at over 8,000 ft the temperature at night really dropped we ran the heater as much as the battery would allow but still had a cold night. This motorhome is not as winterized as our one at home. After meeting a couple of Dutch and German people who had brought their vans over we are beginning to wish we had done the same. Although a smaller engine our van is far more powerful and much warmer and of course we would have all our bits and pieces and gadgets around us. And our fuel consumption would be half but we have what we have.

Monday 30^th – After our cold night we woke early cooked Bacon and eggs then set out on our first Moderate Hike taking in the Queens garden route and part of the Navajo loop, which involved a 1.6 mile decent of about 800ft then a 0.6 mile assent of 900ft it sounds easy but the 8000ft altitude was really getting to us. It was impossible to get enough oxygen through the nose but breathing through the mouth had a very uncomfortable drying effect

Interestingly our pedometers registered enough strides for ten miles because of the climb and decent but the total from the camp site was only five. But the scenery here was just unbelievable these towering sand spires looking from above like the Terracotta Soldiers in china but when we were down amongst them they were enourmous probably the eighth wonder of the world.

In the afternoon we decided to take the long bus ride to see if we could find Steve's glasses but unfortunately had no luck so after checking in with the Rangers again to see if they had been handed in did another two mile hike frome Bryce point to Inspiration point to finish off the day. We must be getting fitter, not bad for a couple of "Old Fogies".

We will be heading off tomorrow towards the Grand Canyon North Rim which is supposed to be much less commercial than the South rim which many people have advised us to avoid.

So more next time, Hopefully we can send this from the visitor centre tomorrow which Steve discovered today has Wi-Fi.

Till next time...........................

Steve & Judy

Wednesday 25th May 2011

So we arrived in Las Vegas at obout 4pm on Sunday evening after stopping at a shopping mall  in "Pahrump" the first town we came to after leaving Death Valley. We found a Radio Shack there and managed to buy a small 75watt inverter to charge Judy's camera.  It only has a mains charger and twice we have had to run the large and noisy 2.5 kw generator just to charge this tiny battery not only noisy and inconvenient but a bit expensive.
Arriving in LV we drove down the strip from one end to the next looking for somewhere to park.  Judy remembered that somebody had mentioned parking at Circus Circus Casino so we headed there and sure enough about 5 acres of parking out back with a few campers there already.
So blinds up and "let's hit the strip" we ambled along taking in the spectacle, tagged on to a German tour round the Venetian which was amazing, even went about three floous below ground to the conference centre, the corridors were bigger than some conference halls we had been in!  The size and scale of this town is just breathtaking.  Through a door and stopped just in time to avoid being hearded onto the bus with the Germans.
Back to the Strip and quite a bit of josteling from the crowds and Judy suddenly realised that her handbag was open and all her cards were gone!!  There was nowhere to sit quiet to considder things so we had a long and fretfull hours walk back to the Camper.  We hadn't realised how far we had walked.  Steve had left the details of "Sentinel Card Protection" in the van anyway.  Finally back at the van Judy went through her handbag to find what else was missing while Steve started writing out the information he needed to ring Sentinel. Suddenly Judy found her cards right at the bottom of her bag not in the pocket she usually put's them in, it was only a small bag but like the "Tardis" with what is has in it.  Panick over and time for a drink to calm down,  what a relief!!  But a lesson to us to sort out things into different places, just in case.
It was now about 11pm and we had not had a meal so again to the strip to find some food.
After the fright we had a good night's sleep and decided in the morning to search out "Down town" which we had been told had a fantastic laser show.  It wasn't lasers but "The largest Video screen on the planet!" but a fantastic sight the whole roof of this quarter mile mall was a video screen.
We found an RV park near to where we had parked so went in to find out whether they had space so we could park there for the night.  Had a chat with a very nice lady who told us where to get a good steak that night.  It was only about 3pm so we decided to go to the "Stratosphere" which we had been told was a must.  It was fantastic with an incredible 360deg panorama.  We spent quite a while watching the "braver than us" people doing tethered free fall jumps from the top 866ft.
It was 6:30 by the time we got back to the van too late for the RV park but we decided to eat in Downtown and enjoy the evening and lights there.  The meal was great, prime rib, not a steak as we had expected but an inch thick slice off what we would consider a Sunday Roast but extreemly tender and tasty.  The evening in the mall was fantastic with a much better atmosphere than the strip, much more friendly, three different groups playing and the night time show on the roof screen amazing.  We headed back to Circus Circus to park for the night but encountered a Security Gard on a bike saying "you can't sleep here"  but we could park while we walked the strip.  So another three or four miles walking to watch the show at Treasure Island amongs others and arrived back at the van at about 2:30 am by which time the guards on bikes had gone home so we stayed and had another good nights sleep with a few other campers nearby.
Tuesday we moved the van to the Central Car Park behind "Excaliber" and had another good day's walking, we saw the MGM Lions, the rain and fountains in the "Mile Long Mall" at Planet Holliwood, The dancing fountains at Bellagio, the Sphinx and Egyptian Relics at Luxor, New York, just too many to list.  But the strip was too frantic and noisy so we headed “Downtown” again to eat and “Hang Out”  the Steak at a different Restaurant was disappointing and the waiter realised and didn't let Steve give him a tip!  Not what we had been led to believe.  
We raced back to our parking place and even with our sore feet limped the mile and a half to see the dancing fountains at Bellagio at night, the last show was supposed to be at midnight but we arrived at one minute past just as it had finished and everybody was leaving, what a disappointment.  But we must move on tomorrow.
Wednesday 25th May another good nights sleep so woke early to type this and now heading off to Hoover Dam hopefully to find a McD's on the way to send it.
Sorry if there is just too much information here but we are doing this blog for us really and others to enjoy if they wish.  I will try to put up some pictures if we can get a good connection soon.  Unfortunately I have not encountered enough bandwidth to update the Google map yet and may have to try a different system.  We are constantly plotting our route with Autoroute (Streets & Trips) so I may be able to upload that
Just an update before I send this. We popped into Cruise America the company we hired our RV from just to ask a question,  five miles down the road when we pulled into the parking to send this as we got out we saw a large coach screw in our front tyre!  So back to Cruise America and they fixed it with a new Tyre while we waited, so just a bit of shopping for essentials then on our way again which will be 3:30, lucky we have 2 1/2 months left ...............................

Steve & Judy

Friday 20th - Saturday 21st May 2011

After a good night's sleep we headed for Barker Dam and a two mile round trip walk to find the old dam still holding water and producing a great oasis for animals and birds. It was constructed by a rich Rancher to provide water for the cattle and their mining operations, a case of those that controlled the water had the power. The walk continued past the dam and we found ancient Indian paintings on the walls of a cave. Back to the car park for a sit and a cup of coffee before setting of on another 2.5 mile round trip walk to see the ruins of an old Ore Crushing Plant. On the way we found an old house now derelict and an abandoned old pick-up motor vehicle, which because of the dryness only had surface rust but was still structurally sound. A little further on we came across the wind driven water pump which was presumably for the house. We finally came across the Ore Crushing machinery which was apparently in use until 1966. Most of the machinery was basically intact and you could see the precarious working conditions, especially in the heat of the Mojabe desert. We slowly drove through the rest of the park stopping to read many of the roadside information boards then set our target for the nights camping at the Mojabe reserve another park but not a National Park. The three hour drive took us along a beautifully straight stretch of the old "Route 66" from Amoy to Essex unfortunately we missed our turning and ended up on a dirt road so had to backtrack a little. We found the "Hole-in-the-wall" camp ground at about 6pm and again posted our Camping Money into the safe. This time it was $12 but they had water and dumping facilities which we used before leaving the next morning. The visitor centre a short walk away was not open in the morning but some guys we met said the dirt road we intended to use was smooth and no trouble to use, the map said it was ok for two wheel vehicles so we took it, it was about twenty miles which would save us about 50 miles back tracking. It might have been ok in a car but it was what they call a "wash board" surface and shook our RV to pieces or it sounded like it and were down to 5 or 10 mph but it was beautiful scenery and worth the shaking but took 1-1/2 hours. We finally hit proper road so continued on to Kelso which was just a railway stop which had become important during the second world war but was now just a visitor centre.

We were heading for "Death Valley NP" so filled up with Petrol at Baker the last fuel stop before the park. We took the South to North route via Shoshone which was stunning with a seven mile continuous hill taking us from about 1200ft down to 200ft below sea level. We stopped at Badwater which is the lowest point about 282ft below sea level where we stopped and along with about 500 other people walked out about half a mile onto the salt lake. Which actually was a damp salt surface but not a lake. Amazing though, as it was about 106 degF Back to the air conditioned cab for the rest of the drive to our camp for the night at "Furnace Creek" stopping to walk into our first canyon "Golden Canyon" on the way. We had a nice evening sitting out listening to the wildlife all around. We took a walk to the visitor centre to talk about where else we could go but they were advising against hiking as it was getting too hot for safety and were actually closing some of the back country roads. So we decided to leave the park and head for Las Vegas where we are sending this from but that's for next time ................

Thursday 19th May 2011

After leaving cathedral City we took the side roads rather than the interstate which was lovely mandering through the fields then arrived at Joshua National Park about 11:30.  The Ranger at the Visitor Centre was great talking us through the sights in the park.  They couldn't take our credit card to pay for the anual pass to all the National Parks so she said "just go into the visitors centre at the other end and pay there"
We stopped and walked to an Oases and both agreed that this is what we came for.  Joshua has both the Colarado and Mohabi deserts and the transition is remarkable from the hot Colarado to the cooler, higher and damper Mohabi.
We did as we were asked and went to the next Visitor Centre and paid our $80 for the years pass which we will save on the first six parks. Then after being treated to a suggested route to our next three parks backtracked to find our first camp site.
We found our pitch, 120 tent and RV pitches all very secluded each with a picknik table a bar-b-que and a fire pit.  We walked back to the entrance to pay our $10 fee in an envelope through the slit in the safe. Then Judy prepared dinner before we took a 2 mile walk thrugh the desert at sunset, for us absolute blis.  Sorry to the city lovers who suggested places we should go, this is why we hired an RV rather than hotels or motels.  The rock formations here are incredible like gigantic granite marbles piled on top of each other.
So dinner eaten, blog written, will send as soon as we find a McD's  outside the park, so to bed for another day of trecking tomorrow.
.........................

Wednesday 18th May 2011

In the Morning we moved round to Star Bucks to send our emails and have breakfast while we waited for the rush hour on the freeway to subside.  We had experienced the traffic yesterday going round Los Angeles, the camper is so out of balance because of the long overhang behind the rear wheels that you can see that the front wheels are lifted.  Steve is constantly struggling to keep the thing in a straight line.  At one point we had an artic with a trailer overtaking on each side with very narrow lanes. (undertaking seems to be the norm here!), it was a nightmare for him .
So we headed for San Diego and arrived at Mission beach. It was very windy, the Pacific Oceon but still people were in swimming, without wet suits!  We had a walk around then chatted to a guy in the car park who suggested that we should head for "Downtown" so we did.  Unfortunately the parking meter bays are about twenty foot long and we are 25 foot long so parking was a bit difficult. We arrived in a quiet lane about three miles from the centre and stopped to plan.  The city looked nice but we are not cafe or resteraunt culture people and both decided to miss out the cities and head for the parks.  So we headed towards Joshua National Park via Palm Springs.
We needed to take on fuel and stopped at a station advertising a very cheap price.  Problem, no Credit Cards, Cash or Debit Card for a fee.  We opted for Debit Card as we are guarding our valuable cash.  Problem, our european Debit Cards do not work because the retail machines only use the magnetic strip so our PIN numbers which are stored on the chip do not work, problem, we were relying on being able to use " Cash-Back" to get cash.  So it looks as if we will have to use atm's which I hope will be set up for our cards and suffer the exorbitant bank charges.  If anybody has more information then please email us from the blog to let us know.
Palm Springs looked really nice but again cafe & resteraunt culture so we took a slow drive through and stopped at the next town.  While going through Palm Springs we stopped again for fuel at a Chevron Garage which had` accepted our Credit Card before.  Problem, have to pay first, but we wanted to fill up.  Steve offered to leave Judy as security again with the Credit Card but the guy said we must pay first so Steve guessed that we needed $200 worth so that is what he took.  He said that he would credit the difference  if we paid the wrong amount.  It only took $168 so back to the cash desk and they produced a credit for $32 so another lesson learned.
We stopped at "Vons" supermarket in Cathedral City which we were told was "Safeways" did a bit of shopping and sure enough our Safeway card did the same magic and produced a %16 discount.  By the time we had finished it was getting a bit late so Steve asked if we could park in their Car Park overnight, "no problem, go ahead" was the answer so we parked on the flattest bit which just happenned to be in reach of McD's wi-fi with Steves super aerial we brought with us.  So the evening spent having dinner and sorting out a few bits of necessary business on the internet.  Then in the morning linked up with Nikki on skype before he left work in the evening in the UK.  The internet really is incredible, here we are on the other side of the Atlantic and still able to carry out our business.
So onwards to Joshua ...............

Tuesday 17th May 2011

Sorry folks six days since our last post.  We made an early start on Thursday and back tracked to avoid the road block right back to Salinas which we had driven through the day before and the views going north on Highway 1 were even better than going south then down the H101 which runs parallel to H1 but on the other side of the mountains. At about 4 o'clock Steve realised that he had not been watching the fuel gauge, which had been dropping quicker than our motorhome at home, then the 50 mile warning came on in the middle of nowhere along Green Valley road.  We had a rather worrying hour watching the miles left, count down.  Then had to make a decision on whether to turn right to go back up to Hurst Castle just before the road block that had stopped us yesterday or to turn left. We decided that Cambria to the North was closer so turned right.  We reached a "Gas" station just before we ran out and had to pay a premium price for being "out of the way".
On to Hurst Castle just at closing time. The next morning's tours were all booked and we really wanted to be in LA by Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with our friends so we decided that we had seen many Stately Homes in the UK and a US one couldn't be that much better especially as we had to choose between five different tours, so we decided we would head on down south and give the castle a miss.
We pushed on to Morrow Bay and spent a delightful half hour watching the seals playing in the Bay and the Seagulls trying to pinch their fish.  Then onward to find a parking place for the night and took a wrong turn and found ourselves in a "HillBilly" looking settlement full of trailers and kids playing in the street and a seedy Saloon bar that looked just like it had come from an old Cowboy film.  We finally found the way back to the highway after a kind motorist had stopped us to say that the road ahead was a "bit tight" for our RV (not good to rely on TomTom too much) so we turned round and finally found the H101.   It was dark by now so we soon stopped in a rest area till morning. Six hours was the limit but the Truckers were bedded down for the night so we saw no reason why we shouldn't do the same.
In the morning we pushed on to LA missed Santa Barbara unfortunately as we had passed it without noticing.  We spotted many RV's parked by the sea below us, from the Freeway between Santa Barbara and Ventura so decided to investigate.  They were parked on a short piece of the old H1 just tarmac with no facilities and $27 for 24 hours. We found a day time parking place and had lunch and a short rest before pushing on to Moor Park just outside LA where our friends lived.
TomTom found their house easily and it was a surreal situation knocking on their front door in another continent but we were made very welcome and met their two children and many of their friends as it was their turn to host the supper party on the Saturday evening.  They took us to see the Hollywood Sign and the walk of fame, some of the stars houses in Beverly Hills and Sunset strip then on to Malibu and the second most expensive houses in the US, many of them just wooden shacks!
On Sunday they took us to Santa Barbara where the children went on an antique "Merry-go-round" and we had ice creams on the wooden pier. On Monday they lent us their car and we visited the Getty Villa as the Getty Museum which Judy would have really liked to see was closed on Mondays.
Today Tuesday we set off south towards Disneyland and arrived there in torrential rain which was obviously set in for the day.  We decided that Disneyland in the Rain would not be good so would save that for another time or when we visit the East Coast sometime.
So we headed on to San Diago stopping at a Wall*Mart to buy a mobile phone just in case of emergencies when we head east towards the Grand Canyon and beyond and are now parked up for the night in another Wall*Mart car park just outside San Diago.
Till next time....
Steve & Judy

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Two days in hopefully we will find an internet tomorrow to send this.

Cheryl & Kerry dropped us off at Heathrow on their way to work on Monday morning. The flight was comfortable and not too arduous and landed at San Francisco airport a bit early.  Homeland security were exceedingly polite and respectful, not the "Belligerent Animals" others had told us about so through the controls and straight into a cab. The cab driver added his own two dollar tip to the 12.20 dollars then rounded it up to fifteen dollars for the five mile journey to the hotel actually about two miles as the crow flies but getting on and off the freeway added the extra!

The hotel were expecting us and greeted us with hot cookies which were so sweet and gooey we could only share one. We phoned the RV company to arrange the early-bird pick-up from the hotel then went for a two hour walk along the Bay shore to try to stay awake till normal bed time and to get our legs working properly after the flight. We arrived back at the Hotel at about 6pm (2am UK time) bearing in mind that we had woken at 5:45 to travel to Heathrow.  So we watched TV till 11pm (would you believe "Piers Morgan Interviews" on CNN) so to sleep to wake at 6:45.

The pick-up was early and the reception at Cruise America friendly.  We did the video then the paperwork then were shown to our Brand New RV with only delivery miles on the clock.  Great in most respects but of course every scratch from trees an bushes will show.  The vehicle preparation was bad, I pointed out that it had no number plates so they had to fit them, what would have happened down the road if I hadn't noticed?  I asked if there was an inventory for the cookware kit and was told "no only the display in the office" so it became a game of "Generation Game" trying to
remember what was in the display and checking it against what we had. (I found the inventory in the book the next day! Too late!)

We left Cruise America to find the local Wall*Mart for provisions and to buy bedding etc.  The kit on offer was 50 dollars each for an ultra thin sleeping bag, pillow, towels and sheets and a few other bits. We spent 104 Dollars for a beautiful bedding set which had a duvet, fitted sheets four pillowcases also two pillows each towels, tea towels & dishcloths etc etc. so well worth it even if we donate them to the Salvation Army after.

Wall*Mart was a bit of a shock, the only fresh food was; apples, potatoes. lemons, limes and tangerines.  No salad green veg nothing!  How are we going to survive.  We bought some pizza's
and other bits and pieces of food but mainly our sleeping stuff.  Milk was by the gallon, nothing smaller but only 3.40 dollars. It looks like America was going to be a culture shock!!

So cup of coffee and away, no kettle, Judy definitely remembered seeing a kettle in "the display" so back to Cruise America which was only a couple of miles.   We had also found a couple of other things and some damage that needed reporting before we left.

So finally on our way without the coffee.  Twenty miles on we took a wrong turn and ended up in a shopping center with a Safeways, we had forgotten a few things in Wall*Mart so a bit more shopping in Safeways.  Wow what a difference, acres of fresh veg and salad, olives cheese the lot, we were like two kids in a toy shop, knowing now that we would be able to eat fresh fruit and vegetables!!  Then we noticed many things with "Club Price" on them about 50% off so asked the manager about the Club card and were presented with one after filling out the form and the manager overwriding the assistant by saying "they don't need all that address stuff" after we had chatted about our planned holiday.  He swiped our new card and the whole bill started reducing in front of our eyes.  It ended up reducing our bill by about 12%  and we hadn't particularly chosen the specials because we didn't think it could apply to us.  So it looks like Safeways from now on.  By now it was about 5pm but we thought we had better get some miles on so headed off down "Highway 1".  We didn't find the camp sites Judy had picked out and the one TomTom Suggested turned out to be a boys camp in the middle of a forest so not for RV's.  We also managed to lose Highway 1 going through Santa Cruise.  About 9pm we came across a Wall*Mart with a Dutch camper parked up so decided to stay there for the night.

We had a good night and Steve chatted with the Dutch guy in the morning who were 3 months into a six month trip of USA Canada, but as we had foreseen when we had originally planned to do the same, he had no end of problems getting the Visa's and the shipping of the motor home had cost about £3.5k.  The Visa problems was the main reason we abandoned the idea of taking our Motor Home, because living mainly in France we could not be without our Passports.

We needed a few more things missed from the "Generation Game" so reluctantly went into Wall*Mart in the morning, well we had used their car park over night after` all.  What a difference, just like Asda in the UK with plenty of fresh fruit & veg, but not as good as Safeway the night before, the San Francisco one must just be a bad example, but we got some chairs for sitting out, for less than the hire charge and a few other essentials then off down highway 1.  We were getting low on fuel so pulled into a Shell station, after finding the filler cap right at the back of the wagon Steve couldn't get the fuel to flow, asking the cashire she said I had to leave some security with her, so I left Judy! Still couldn't get the fuel to flow so back to the cash desk.  The young lady came out took one look and said "Yo gotta push it in Hon!" pushed down on the nozzle and pulled on the trigger.  There is a fume recicling system on the pump so it has to lock on to the top of the filler!!

What beautiful scenery, but about ten miles on we passed a sign saying "Highway 1" closed ahead, we had asked about the mud slide at the Big Sur we had been warned about by a contact on the internet but were told by the guy at Cruise America that it was now open but one way alternate traffic only.  Yes that was fine but sixty miles on the road was actually closed completely just before Gorda (GPS 35.87642N-121.44572W), so we turned around to return but the scenery was worth the double trip.  We are now parked in a really nice spot in the woods on the cliff overlooking the sea (GPS 36..16884N-121.68264W) halfway back to get the Highway 101 south again and I am sure we will have to do a bit of unnecessary miles to get back to Hurst Castle which is only about ten miles passed where the road block is.

More to follow after tomorrow..........

Don't forget to  let us know on the blog if you have any suggestions,

Steve & Judy