Friday, November 12/2010

With yesterday's adventures behind us, I wondered what today had in store. The trailer needed to be turned so that when we did get the hitch fixed, we could hook up to it and get out of Dodge!!

The big question was - Will the jeep start today and will it run long enough for us to winch the trailer around so that it is sitting in a position for the bus to be able to hook up to it?

The sun is shining and it was only right that we should enjoy it and start on our suntans!! With the coffee drank, John headed over to the jeep and to my amazement, it started!! Yeah, maybe I won't set it on fire after all!! About an hour later, with a bit of ingenuity, the trailer was where it needed to be - hooray!! The jeep heated, I could hear the rdiator boiling but it lasted long enough to do the job. It really has some issues - ones that had better be worked out when we get to Wickenburg.

With the trailer issue worked out, we headed back into Parker with the bus. Off roading again, we managed to get to the pavement without ripping any important parts or pieces off the bus. The first welding shop we found (thanks to the GPS) was closed. The second shop we went to looked like the yard from "Sanford and Son" (a total mess of junk and old cars - Oh my God!!).

As it turned out, we met a cacophony of characters. One being, "No Shoes", yes, that is what everyone called him. Apparently the fellow, dressed only in a pair of pants, had never worn shoes a day in his life!!. Then there were the ladies, perched on an old couch in the yard, drinking beer. One thought that John should let her come live with him in the motorhome! Then along came a rather large man who told John that he was dying - his liver and kidneys were shot and he just didn't feel well. John said he was sorry to hear that. We were there for about two hours. Thank heavens the welder looked "normal" but the people that came in and out of the business looked like a parade of down on their luck, lost souls. Not to mention the four scraggy looking dogs, making the term "junkyard dog" come to mind. $130.00 later, the hitch was fixed and we headed back to the trailer stopping at the grocery store first. It was getting dark by the time we arrived so we sat outside enjoying the peace and quiet of the area, eventually enjoying the stars.

We spoke to our oldest son on skype and he wanted to know if we were ready to sell the jeep to him (after hearing of the trials of yesterday). I told him, if he would have asked yesterday, I would have given it to him - never mind sell it!! Today, the stupid thing did what it needed to so I have dearer thoughts towards it.

Thursday, November 11/2010

Remembrance Day today - Lest We Forget. Wouldn't it be nice if we could live in a world without war and be charged with the task of only remembering those that have already fallen instead of those that have yet to fall. We can only hope.

I looked up Valley of Fire State Park and this is what I found. Valley of Fire, is Nevada's oldest state park. It was dedicated in 1935. The rough floor and jagged walls of the park contain formations of eroded sandstone and sand dunes more than 150 million years old. These features are the Park's attraction, and often appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun's rays. Not only is the Park a favorite place for campers, hikers and bikers, Hollywood has filmed numerous movies here. Scenes from Transformers, Total Recall and Star Trek Generations have been filmed here. And - for all you "trekkie" fans, it was here that Captain Kirk fell to his death. You just have to love google!!

One can certainly tell that we are now at a much lower elevation. The weather is much warmer and we didn't have to use the heaters at all last night. I think we must be sitting somewhere in the 2000 foot range ( a lot like home). The sun is shining through the big front windows and it is certainly warm. With the bus road ready, we rolled into the nearest gas station to fuel up and make the drive through Las Vegas, hit the corner of California and settle for the night near Parker Az. The drive through California took us on the Joshua Tree Highway. Here we travelled through the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area. This is an area of 6,050 acres established to protect a forest of dense, old growth Joshua trees. Now, Joshua trees are from the genus Yucca and got their name from Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid 19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer. They are "fast growers" for the desert. New seedlings may grow at an average of 3" a year for their first ten years then only grow 1 1/2" in the following years. If it survives the rigors of the desert, it can live for hundreds of years with some surviving up to a 1000 years. The tallest trees can reach 15 meters tall. As with most desert plants, it is "armed". The leaves are bayonet - shaped, tapering to a sharp point and the leaf margins are serrated. Now isn't that a surprise!! Everything, it seems is "armed" down here in the desert. Everything shouts "leave me alone - or else"!!

We quickly found the road we wanted and headed to the boondocking area. We weren't 5 miles down that road when we heard the strangest of noises, John looks in the mirror and says "oh my goodness honey, I think the hitch just broke" (and if you believe that statement, I have the proverbial ocean front property here in Arizona!!). Out to investigate and sure enough, the trailer was holding on by a very small piece of metal that had yet to separate from the bus. We pulled off the road onto a trail and traveled "off road" for a few hundred feet. Now let me tell you, this bus is not really meant to do any sort of significant off roading. We did manage to get the bus situated for the night. We had unhooked the trailer and got the jeep out thinking we could move the trailer much easier with the jeep. The jeep did well until the trailer got stuck and then the jeep decided not to start anymore so we ended up leaving the two vehicles where they were for the night and deal with them in the morning. "Honey, is this the adventure, you were talking about?"

Wednesday, November 10/2010

It was a "chilly one" last night. We had both heaters running and John set the heater up in the big bay to ensure that the pump didn't freeze. Definitely time to move!! There is lots of cloud coverage this morning and it definitely looks like there is "rain in them there hills"!! Hope it isn't snow!!

Once the bus is road ready, we head out. John was able to see some of the petroglyphs from the road as we were driving through "the gap". It is still a bit hard for him to walk on all the uneven ground. His knee and ankle ache alot if he over does it. Good thing I have a walking partner in Hogan!!

Todays travel once again took us through some pretty awesome scenery. We climbed one pass with the summit elevation at 6150 feet and as always, what goes up, must come down and these down grades were 7%.

We ended the day taking a scenic tour through the Valley of Fire State Park. It was absolutely amazing and the rock formations did indeed look like flames shooting into the air. I will google info on the park tomorrow. Once out of the park, we found a boondocking site near the road and settled in for a quiet evening.

Tuesday, November 9/2010

Well, it was supposed to get to below freezing last night so we left one of the heaters on. This morning when I got up, there was no frost on the ground and it actually looked quite pleasant out. It didn't even feel all that bad when I let the dog out.

Went to make coffee this morning and the coffee pot saga continues!! It would not turn on and only leads me to believe that this one has kicked the bucket as well!! This is coffee pot #3 since the summer!! What the heck is with that!! It is a good thing that I carry the old perc with us.

After chatting with my sister on skype for about half an hour and catching up on all the gossip back home, I looked up information on this area. This is what I found.

The road to the Parowan Gap follows an ancient trail through the Red Mountains that was used by Native American Indians who lived in the Parowan Valley. Yearly, they would travel through this area on their way to harvest desert resources. In the process, they would stop and peck designs onto the smooth faces of the large boulders. The exact age of the petroglyphs is unknown. As always, they are considered an important part of the American Indian ancestry.

These petroglyphs are different from the typical petroglyphs with mostly human and animal designs. Here at the Gap, many of the petroglyphs seem to have counting characteristics with tic marks or repetitive patterns of lines and dots. One of the great discoveries within the last few years is that the Indians here must have been fascinated with numbers and dates. To them, the Gap became a great calendar of times and seasons. The inscription on the "Zipper" petroglyph has been determined to be a calendar with solar alignments, a map and a system of outer cairns (gathering of stones).

In 1849, an expedition to scout out places for new settlements discovered the Parowan Gap and the petroglyphs. The Gap was soon used by white settlers as an access route and eventually over the years, improvements had to be made. As late as 1963, many of the large stones were cleared away and even one large stone, covered with petroglyphs and known as the "Hotel" was blasted into pieces. Now, how is that for progress and preserving history!!

It has been estimated that nearly one half of the cultural record has been destroyed since its discovery in 1849. How very sad. I can't help but believe that destruction such as this would no longer be allowed to occur in this day and age. The petroglyphs are now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places signifying their importance as a cultural treasure.

Hogan and I walked down to the "glyphs" and they were incredible to see. Of course on the way back up the hill to the campsite, I realized that we were in the upper elevations as my breathing was rather labored on the climb. Once back at camp, we decided to stay for the day and head out tomorrow. The sun shone all afternoon but once it decided to slip below the hills, it became much cooler and it wasn't long before you could see your breath. Time to move a bit further south and into the lower elevations.

Monday, November 8/2010

We arrived here at Fort Deseret last night. I can hardly wait to get out and explore and of course, take a picture of Rider at the fort!! Although it is a little rainy this morning, I am hopeful that it will stop by the time we are ready to explore.

I did some research on the fort and this is what I found.

Fort Deseret was built by the Mormons in 1865 to protect the settlers during the Black Hawk Wars and to serve as a way station for weary travelers. At the time, the US army was too busy with the Civil War to protect settlers traveling west and advised the settlers to either move to a safe place or build a fort. With nearly 100 men (98- to be specific) working on the fort, it was completed in 18 days. Constructed of mud and straw, it's 10 foot high walls provided portals through which guns could be fired. It was approx 550 feet square. In the Spring of 1866, the fort protected area inhabitants when Black Hawk and his warriors arrived, demanding cattle. With the people and most of the livestock inside the fort, the Indian's threat was settled peacefully.

Most of the walls have fallen, however there is still a trace of where the actual fort stood. The east wall of the fort is the one that remains the most intact (as you can see from the pics) and still has the corner bastion intact as well. It was most interesting and Hogan ran around the place like he was possessed!!

We got the bus road ready and once again headed down the road. John wants to stop at the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs tonight and, if the weather is nice, maybe say for a day or two.

We travelled through "open range" as we soon discovered, as we came around a corner and there were several cows on the highway!! They didn't seem too concerned with us but being rather unpredictable, we slowed down - just in case one decided to cross in front of us. A bit further down the road, we saw a couple that hadn't quite made a successful crossing!!

The area we travelled through today is mostly desert with the Cricket Mountains and the Red Hills in the distance. We crossed one pass that was 6570 feet at the summit and it was here that we encountered a bit of rain which quickly turned into snow on the windshield. Once down to a lower level, it turned back to rain - thank you.

We eventually made it to the Gap and found a campsite and a bit of wood!! Bonus!! There was a cool nasty little wind blowing off the surrounding hills so a campfire was not really in order. We will have to watch the weather reports for this area to see if we will be staying or heading out again tomorrow. In the morning I will hit the internet and read up on the Gap and it's petroglyphs.

Sunday, November 7/2010

We travelled through some of the prettiest country to date today. Once out of the campsite, we headed down (or should I say up!) highway 39. It was a long, gradual steady climb over the mountain range. The bus ran beautifully and we eventually reached the summit of approx 8500 feet. The descent was also long and gradual and like I said earlier, took us through some of the most gorgeous country we have seen. There were cabins and houses strewn along the highway making me wonder if people lived in these year round or if these were their summer getaways. As we got closer to Ogden, there was a continuous stream of properties along the highway that had nothing but a camper trailer on then - most gated - proclaiming "private property". People will absolutely camp anywhere - even 15 feet off the highway!! It was a beautiful area though.

We hooked up to Interstate 15 south, travelled through Salt Lake City and Provo and finally stopped the bus at Fort Deseret for the night. It was a good day.

Saturday, November 6/2010

It was chilly in the bus this morning and there was a bit of frost on the ground but, the sun is shining through the windows and it looks like we are headed into another nice day.

We are staying in this spot for today but may have to move a bit further south tomorrow as the weather forecast for this area is rain Monday and snow Tuesday. What the heck is with that!! We want to stay away from the white stuff!!

There are two football games on today and one of them involves our Roughriders. Go Riders Go!! Before we left Canada, I purchased a Saskatchewan Roughrider Gnome to accompany us on our travels. I have taken a few pictures of "Rider" along the way and as soon as we can get another download cord for the camera, will post them on the blog.

As it turned out, the Roughriders won the game!! Yea!!

When we arrived yesterday, the previous campers had left wood (a rare find) and John and I thought it was our duty to burn it. Hogan and I scoured the nearby area for a few more pieces of burnable wood but that scrubby old sage brush does not offer much in the way of wood.

We did have a great fire and Hogan kept all manner of wild beast away from us!!