Thursday, November 9/2017

Headed out

We awoke to the sunshine and last night's temperatures were much better than the night before.   There was no issues with the water freezing and that was a good thing.
We headed out on Burma Road and accessed  Highway 89A.
We heard from Jace today and he will be spending the weekend here in Arizona so we have decided to head to the house and visit with him for the weekend.
It will be a bit of a hike but we got an early start this morning and we should be at the house before dark.   Jace is scheduled to deliver in Globe, Arizona today and will stay there for the night.  He will then join us at the new house for the weekend as it is a "long" weekend and he will be lucky to get a load before Monday.

To the Grand Canyon

Our travels today took us along 89 South until we reached the Grand Canyon turnoff.   Neither John not I had been to the east entrance of the Grand Canyon and we had always heard that it is something that you just had to see.   Sooooo......off we went......Grand Canyon.....here we come!!

The start of the canyon.    Huge, deep ravines

Unicorn in Banff

Park Entrance

And so it begins....

One of the many overlooks with views to the bottom of the canyon

The canyon is indeed a once in a lifetime site to see.  Of course me and my fear of edges was not impressed and I did have to totally convince myself that I could get out, walk to the fence and look down into the canyon.   I talked to myself all the way to the fence....."you can do this, Marie"!!   And I did!!   I took a few pictures then head back to the truck knowing that I had controlled my panic long enough to actually take the damn pictures!!
Once back inside the safety of the truck, I was able to actually enjoy the views from a distance.  I only got out at the one overlook and was happy with that!!  I think John was happy too, as he did not have to wheel the truck and trailer around all the little pathways that really were not designed for Rvs!!
The drive through Grand Canyon National Park was really quite nice.  We even saw a road sign warning of "cougar crossing"!!    Of course, I did not get a picture of it and turning around was definitely NOT an option.   John had informed me of that several times on our way down!!

The Colorado River snaking its way through the canyon

Again.....incredible colors

The winding highway that runs along the top of the canyon ridge

increible evergreens

ELK - along the highway

As we left the park, we did see a herd of elk and of course, many of the motorists had to slow down and even stop to take pictures.  Of course John was not impressed with the "looky loos" as he put it as he was itching to get to Congress and these damn people were in his way!!

more elk

$30.00  entry fee for Grand Canyon

smoke from a fire burning on the backside of this mountain
just outside of Williams, Az

As we got closer to Williams, Az, we noticed smoke in the distance and  soon realized that there was a wildfire burning on the back side of one of the mountains.    The smoke was billowing and we both hoped that it was at least under control.
We accessed Interstate 40 at Williams and after a few miles were able to access 89 South again.  This would be the last leg of our journey.  Our winter home was getting much closer!!

Prescott road construction

We got to Prescott, Az and then had to make a bit of a detour as we were over 40 feet long and vehicles over 40 feet were not allowed over the pass so we headed over to Skull Valley and took a rather circuitous way around the pass.   It was a nice highway and we got to see more wonderful scenery so the added miles were not really a hardship.

Before too long, we were pulling up to our winter home in Congress.  We were "home" for the upcoming winter and it was sooo good to finally arrive.   Now.....the work begins!!

Home for the winter

Our first fire at the new house was awesome and it was WARM!!   Woohoo!!   There is heat here is Arizona and that is a wonderful thing.   Even Booko was happy!!    Life is Good - Even better when you are warm!!

Our first fire at the new place in Congress, AZ