Warranty Issues, Part 2

Well, the RV is repaired (at least we hope it is, we won't be sure till we move in about two weeks from now). But the saga with the extended warranty company continues. We ended up paying for the four hours it took to remove and replace the underbelly of the RV, which is the only way to access the hydraulic system.

Today I called the Montana-Keystone customer service department to see if they could tell me how long it should take to remove the underbelly cover on the RV so the work could be done. They estimated two hours to remove it, two hours to put it back on. And they were willing to send me an email with that information. I sure hope that persuades the warranty company to pay up.

As soon as the fifth-wheel was back in storage, we went to the Colorado RV, Boat and Travel show. By the time we came home, we were so anxious to get back on the road, we wanted to start loading up our clothes and other stuff to get going.

While we wait till the week after Easter, we are beginning the many tasks needed to move into the trailer for seven or eight months. We make lists of what to pack, back up the computers in case moving them around causes memory loss, gather up computer programs that can be reinstalled if the computer fails. We collect al the office supplies, household supplies and clothing we will need for the upcoming months. Copies of health insurance and vehicle insurance policies, financial information—all of these things are needed to live most of the year away from the house.

We also have the maps and the Trailer Life Directory out to plan our route to California. What RV parks are open in late March and early April? All of this is part of the planning. Then we wait till the day we hope to depart and study the weather carefully. We would rather not camp or drive in a snowstorm.

But we are ready to go—soon!

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Extended Warranty

        We've entered the land of the extended warranty!  Anyone who reads any of the RVing magazines has heard about problems with extended warranties and about some companies that offer such warranties going out of business.  In 2003, when we bought our Montana, we also purchased a five-year extended warranty that started in 2004 when the one-year manufacturer's warranty expired. It is good till July 2009.  We never buy extended warranties, but paid out the $1700 because, in this case, if we didn't use the warranty, we would get our money back at the end of five years.

 

        Until this February, we hadn't used the warranty.  Last summer, when we were afraid the refrigerator was going out, we thought about using it—those appliances cost $800 or more.  But luckily the fix was simple.  However, when we were looking for a repairman, we called the warranty company to get some referrals.  We were relieved to learn they were still in business.

 

        Then, last week we took the trailer in for maintenance before leaving in late March for seven months or more of travel.  The dealer service department called to tell us the hydraulic system that operates the slides was leaking and needs repair.  We already knew that.  We had to do some repairs in 2004 while in Alaska.  At that time, John did most of the work with some help from a local man—recommended by the RV park in Valdez—who didn't charge us for his advice and help.  Since then we have noticed some hydraulic fluid leaking, but not enough to necessitate adding fluid to the hydraulic pump reservoir.

 

        When I asked the dealer what would happen if we didn't get the leak repaired, the service manager said that at some point we wouldn't be able to open or close the slides.  That sounds like a horror story to anyone who lives in their RV as much as we do, so we asked him to contact the warranty company for authorization to repair the leak—there goes our $1700 refund in 2009.  And that's when the real problems started.

 

        Yes, the repair is covered.  No, they won't pay for all the hours the dealer says it will take to make the repairs.  He asked us to call the warranty company and appeal.  We did.  They didn't budge.  I found another dealer that said the job could be done in much less time—meaning the authorized repair amount would cover the work.  However, they were at least two hours away from the first dealer.  At $3.28 a gallon for diesel fuel (that's today's cost, who knows what it will be later this week), the four hours of driving to pick up the RV, deliver it to the second dealer, and drive back home would cost almost as much as we would save by making the move.  Late Friday afternoon, I called and said, "Go ahead with the job.  How much will you work with us on the part we have to pay?"  Watch for the next post to find out how we came out. 

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We're Going to Oregon

        We're going to spend May and June volunteering at Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery near Astoria, Oregon.  We are really excited about this assignment.  We have spent very little time in Oregon in the past and the area around Astoria, as well as the rest of western Oregon, looks like it will be very interesting to explore.  The hatchery sounds like a volunteer site we will enjoy.  The work is mostly outdoors and the 20 hours a week are flexible.  We really enjoy this kind of physical labor and the opportunity to work independently.  We have talked to two people there—Roger, the hatchery manager, and Pam, the volunteer coordinator.  Both sound nice and easy to work with.

 

        The biggest adjustment will probably be going from the semi-arid, high-altitude environment of the eastern Colorado foothills to the rainforest environment of the west coast of Oregon.  Pam said, "It rains a lot here."  We will need to find rain boots and I will need a jogging suit that repels rain.  We have heavy yellow two-piece rain suits, but we certainly don't want to run in them. 

 

        I do look forward to running at sea level.  And we read this weekend that Portland, OR, is one of the fittest cities in the US.  The tourist opportunities along the Oregon coast, at the mouth of the Columbia River, and in the Willamette Valley look so interesting.  We wonder how we will see everything.  Three years ago we visited a Lewis and Clark museum in Great Falls, Montana, on our way to Alaska.  This year we will explore Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark wintered after following the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.  Our travels give us such opportunities to learn more about our nation's history.   

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Where Will We Go?

        We're really anxious to be on the road again.  When we are here at the stick house, we really enjoy spending quality time with our son and his wife and our two grandchildren.  And we visit with friends.  Plus, it is good to do our workout at the gym, rather than always using free weights in the RV.  But beyond that, it is all work.  This year we have spent lots of time trying to pare down what we own.  And there is always work to do on the house, which accumulates over the months we are gone.  Then we spend a lot of time on annual doctor's appointments, lab tests, and dentist visits.

 

So we are ready to be on the road and have more fun.  But we have a big problem.  We don't know where we are going!  For three or four months, we had planned to head back to Alaska this summer.  Then the stock market and the economy tanked.  It really doesn't look like a good time to be taking funds out of our investments to pay for the diesel fuel to drive there or the Alaska Marine Ferry to return to the States. 

 

        So we decided to find one or two places to volunteer this summer, allowing us to travel without spending much money.  Last summer we were out eight months.  We spent three and one-half months volunteering.  In addition, we spent lots of time in Corps of Engineer and National Forest campgrounds, as well as Colorado State Parks.  In all of these places we use our senior passes and don't have to spend much.  So, by the end of the time out, we averaged only $9 a night for RV sites.  That is really the way to go.

 

Since we only started in January to look for places to volunteer, we haven't had time to nail anything down.  We have applied for spots in a Washington US fish hatchery and in two Oregon state fish hatcheries.  Now we are looking at Oregon state parks. 

 

        We plan to go on the road about the first of April.  However, until we know if we have a volunteer spot starting in May or in June (or none at all), we can't plan our itinerary.  We would like to go down to Arizona, west to California, then up the coast.  If we have to be in Oregon by May first, that will have to change. 

 

        I guess this is a work in progress.  I'd like to have everything firmed up.  Since we've only been working on this for two or three weeks, I guess it is too soon for that.

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A New Truck

This month we bought a new truck. How exciting! It is a 2008 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD extended cab short bed with a Duramax diesel engine. We have spent years moaning and complaining every time we were around people who owned diesel trucks. Why did they need that? The engine is so noisy. Diesel owners always let their trucks idle forever and don't turn them off, even to go into the campground office to register for the night. Why buy a diesel? It is so much more expensive and our 2002 Chevy pulls as much as a diesel.

But when we went shopping, we discovered Chevrolet doesn't make the Vortec 8100 engine any more. Within the next year or so, we want to buy a new fifth-wheel trailer that will weigh more than the one we own now. The diesel was our only choice!

At first we were dismayed. But the new diesel engines are so much quieter. And do we ever enjoy the bells and whistles that came in the 2008 truck: On-Star, XM radio, tire-pressure monitoring sensors, messages that tell us how much oil life is left—all are included, though some will cost extra to keep them operating.

We never expected to use On-Star. In 1991 we had a car stolen. With On-Star, they can track our truck if it is stolen. And the hand-free telephone service is satellite based—just the ticket when we travel through Canada or other areas where our Sprint cell phone won't do us much good.

We'll see about the XM radio, but it includes the Weather Channel and 24/7 emergency weather messages. That should be much more use-friendly than our US weather radio.

All this and the truck looks great and is comfortable to ride in. What a deal!

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An Early Christmas Gift

We received an early Christmas gift this year—it was a phone call. On the Thursday before Christmas I left my cell phone in the car while we went into the mall to walk for some exercise. When we came back to the car, I discovered we had missed a call from our older son, who we hadn't talked to for nearly two months. He promised to call again on Friday, so I carried the phone with me when we went to the gym to work out that morning. Sure enough, as we worked our way around the circuit training room, the phone rang. It was Doug.

John and I went out in the hall to talk. We were on the phone for over 20 minutes while he told us about his life and living situation in Al Habbaniyah, Iraq, where he is stationed with the US Marines. We hadn't talked to him since a couple of days before they shipped out.

In addition to the joy of hearing his voice and learning more about life there, it was good to see that in this deployment he wasn't calling collect. In the 21+ years he has been a Marine, we have received collect phone calls from a lot of very remote and distant parts of the world. But hearing his voice, no matter where he is calling from or how, always gives us a greater assurance he is doing OK.

It is a lonely Christmas for Doug, without his wife and two daughters. It is difficult for all of them. For the many thousands of US troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has been a difficult Christmas season. Please keep them in your prayers.

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Downsizing

            We had a wonderful eight months, traveling and living in our 5^th wheel.  As we returned to our stick house in late October, we seriously considered selling the house and either:  1) living full-time in the RV, or 2) moving to a retirement community where we would live in a high-rise apartment house during the months we are in Colorado.  We have been living in 250 sq ft, more or less, for eight months.  The house was too large and we had too much space.  If we don't need something for 2/3 or the year, do we need it at all?  Or want it?

 

        By the time we reached Centennial, however, we knew we didn't want to go full-time.   Since it is important to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas here, where we have family and friends, it would mean wintering in the 5^th wheel.  We don't like staying in it when the temperature goes below freezing for any length of time.  That happens often during Colorado winters.

 

        About three weeks into our time in the house, we visited Heather Gardens, a community of townhouses, patio homes and condominiums for seniors.  We quickly realized we were not ready for apartment house living.  And it didn't make sense move into one of their patio homes.  Why go to all that work and spend money getting settled when we wouldn't really be downsizing?

 

        So, for now, the decision is to address all the "stuff" we have.  We are sorting, throwing out, preparing for a massive garage sale, giving things away.  If nothing else, it will make it easier to move to a small place, whenever we do decide to do that.  And we are amazed at how much we have we don't need.   

 

        The first thing we are cleaning out is paper—old financial records, kept way beyond what is necessary, excess items in John's work files.  Since we have the room, we didn't bother to weed through things.  We just kept it all.  This task will make it easier for us to find things.  And after going through all the files, we will know what we do have. 

 

        We are also going through the storage shelves in the basement, seeing what we can sell at a garage sale, what we can give away, what we can throw away.  We gave our son two sleeping bags that I made for us in the 1970s.  We haven't used them since we went on an overnight canoe trip in 20+ years ago.  "Build it and they will come."  For most of us, I think it is a matter of "give us space and we will fill it."  We're going to try to let a little air circulate in our space.

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Ready to Winterize

        On our drive from Albuquerque, NM, to Pueblo, CO, today, we spotted nearly 300 pronghorn.  Yesterday it snowed along much of this route, so maybe they were very hungry.  I think the only time we saw that many before was driving on I-25 across Wyoming from South Dakota to Colorado.  We really enjoyed the day.

 

        We spent the last three nights at the Isleta Casino and Resort RV Park on the Isleta Indian Reservation just south of Albuquerque.  This is the second reservation RV park we have stayed in.  Last year we went to Turning Stone in New York.  Both were excellent places to stop.  At Isleta there was a large grass area at each site—unusual for Arizona or New Mexico.  The sites were plenty long and very wide.  In New York we found probably one of the nicest parks we have ever stayed in.  Both places had spotless restrooms and large, well-equipped laundry rooms.  Casinos are not our idea of recreation and I don't approve of legalized gambling.  But, since it is a fact a life, it is good to see reservation Native Americans profiting from it, building schools and other needed facilities.  And we enjoy their facilities when out in our RV.

 

        We spent three nights at Isleta because there was a high-wind warning out for Saturday and Sunday.  Add to that a snow storm over the higher elevations on I-25 near the New Mexico-Colorado border, and we decided we would wait a couple of days to move into Colorado and winterize the rig.  Today we were treated to great views of the snow-covered Spanish Peaks and Sangre de Christos, as well as a snow-clad Pikes Peak.  It was a beautiful drive.  And we didn't have to worry about being blown over or slipping and sliding.

 

        Tomorrow morning we will winterize the water system, then drive back to the stick house, unload eight months of belonging from the RV to the house, and park the rig for several months.  It is both sad and happy—the travels are ending, but we will spend time with family and friends.

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Arizona Hikes

We hiked two interesting trails in Arizona, after we left the Grand Canyon.  While we were in Flagstaff, we visited the Sunset Volcano National Monument.  During the last few years, we have learned that National Parks, National Monuments and National Historic Sites are always worth our time, even if, at first, we don't think we are interested.  We had been to the Capulin Volcano National Monument in northern New Mexico, but this was even more interesting and informative.  The hiking trail led us through the Bonita Lava Flow of a volcano that erupted only about 900 years ago.  We learned about squeeze-ups, spatter cones, caves and why lava can be either black or red.  It was fascinating. 

 

        While in Tucson, we hiked the Esperanza Trail in the west section of Saguaro National Park.  Most of our experience is with conifer forests, but here we saw the cactus forest.  The countryside has a more diverse group of cactus and other plants than we had seen as we drove south through Phoenix. It must be beautiful in the Sonoran Desert (which include Saguaro NP), in the spring when everything blooms. 

 

        Now we are on our way back to the stick house in Centennial.  We will have been away for almost eight months this trip.  We are so content in our 200+ square feet of space in the RV, we wonder why we need 1800 square feet plus a basement and garage.  We do need to be with family and see friends, as well as get our annual physical exams and other such things.  And it is getting colder in much of the country.  We don't like RVing when the temperature dips into the 20 and 30s outside. 

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Arizona

Arizona—when I think of the state, I think of warm weather, sunshine, cactus.  But our first seven days in the state were spent in or near the mountains, at 8,000 ft and above at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, then in Flagstaff, where we saw mountains and Ponderosa Pines all around.  The RV park in Flagstaff was closing on October 15 and that also was the last day the North Rim campground would be open.  Obviously, we weren't in the area where snowbirds spend the winter.

 

        Then we drove to Mesa, an eastern suburb of Phoenix.  At the Mesa Regal RV Park we found a citrus tree at every site—the oranges and grapefruit weren't ready to pick, but if we wanted to stay for a couple of months, we could have picked all the fruit off the tree at our site.  The park had 2005 spaces for RVs and park models—small manufactured homes that can be towed behind a trailer or permanently attached to city utilities.  Summer is just ending, so many snowbirds have not arrived and the park was less than half full.

 

        The weather was delightful—cool mornings so we could get in our run.  Then we had cool evenings to sit out on the patio or stroll around the park.  The sunsets remind me of many western movies and photographs.  And we didn't encounter bugs, at least right now.

 

        But we didn't have a fun stay in Phoenix.  The first time I opened the refrigerator, there was no light inside.  That meant it wasn't working—just like in late August at Kodachrome in Utah.  John installed a new fuse and it started again.  About bedtime, I opened the door and the light was out again.  When John tried to install a new fuse, it blew again.  We knew that meant another day or two or struggling to keep the food cold.  But, at least we were in a city, rather than 260 miles from any RV repair facility.  Since the winter season hasn't arrived, several of the mobile RV services weren't open.  It took us half a day on Wednesday to arrange for someone to come on Thursday.  When he arrived, Gene found that some repair work done under a recall had caused a wire to rub against a piece of metal.  That finally caused a short.  We hadn't really needed the circuit board we replaced in August.  He was able to repair the problem, as well as show us how to make the refrigerator cool down about 10 degrees more than it had been doing.

 

        About two months ago John noticed something in the Rv's suspension appeared to be broken, but he didn't know whether or not it was a problem.  Two men he asked said they didn't think we needed to worry about it. Gene said he didn't know if it was a problem, but suggested we talk to the service manager at RV Traders, an RV sales lot in town. The manager said we should take it to a local welding shop for repair.  We made an appointment for 7:30 the following morning and in two hours had spring shackles, bolts and bushings replaced and repaired.  The tires which had been two inches apart were now about five inches apart.  And when we drove to Tucson two days later, we found the rear end bounce had returned, moving cookbooks and items in the rear cabinets around.  How long had the shackles been broken?  Over a year, at least.

 

        Saturday we finally had some fun, visiting the Arizona State Fair.  Then we were off to Tucson on Sunday.

 

        We have found we enjoy the weather in this part of Arizona.  The fall and winter here would be nice enough we can be outside almost every day, without bundling up in heavy coats.  We expect to spend some time as snowbirds in the years to come.  Something we never thought we would do.

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It's a Grand Canyon

September 30 we finished our time at Kodachrome Basin State Park. From there we went to Kanab, a small town on the Utah-Arizona boarder where many movies have been filmed—think westerns, for example. For us, the attraction was that they have three—count them, three—grocery stores and a nice RV park. It was a one night stop to provision for four days at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The drive from Kanab to the Grand Canyon was amazing. We left Color Country—SW Utah with its sculpted colored rocks—and immediately entered flat land with only low-growing sage brush.

As our altitude increased, there were some low dark green bushes. We entered the Kaibab forest, where we commented that it certainly wasn't like the forests we are used to in Colorado. All around us we saw only short trees, called the pygmy forest—pinion pine and maybe juniper. Then, all of a sudden, huge ponderosa pines lined the road.

It is October and wherever there was a sprinkling of aspen, there was a spot of bright yellow. The drive over the top of the Kaibab Plateau and into Grand Canyon National Park was a spectacular mix of green needles and yellow leaves. This is a wonderful place in the mountains. We're over 8,000 feet and they receive 26 inches of moisture a year here—providing the moisture the ponderosa's need..

After we set up our trailer, we realized we were about 100 yards from an overlook on part of the Grand Canyon. It is called the Transept Canyon. We walked the 1.25 mile trail along the canyon to the Grand Canyon Lodge and Visitor Center. The lodge is rustic and beautiful with a drop-dead view of the Grand Canyon.

The next day, we were up early and left the RV at about 6:15 am to watch the sunrise at Bright Angel Point, a viewpoint south of the lodge. It was cold and breezy as we joined 10-20 other visitors to watch the sun come up. Sunrise over the canyon isn't all that special. And we discovered pollution makes viewing the canyon somewhat difficult. After taking maybe 150 photos, we had breakfast at the lodge; we returned to the RV and prepared for a day of photography.

The sky was clear and a deep blue, the aspen a deep shade of gold, with red and orange mixed in. Visiting Point Imperial, Cape Royal and numerous overlooks in between, we captured umpteen views of the canyon. While bemoaning the haze and pollution, there is no denying the Grand Canyon is still one of the premier natural wonders of the world. And we were there at perhaps the most beautiful time of the year, with all the fall color.

The following day we awoke to cloudy skies and wind. How grateful we were for all the photo opportunities of the day before. Leaf peepers got a real treat on the Kaibab Plateau this week. We decided to take the day off and relaxed in the RV. It was such a peaceful day.

By Friday the weather report included a high wind warning, especially hazardous to high profile vehicles. We were glad it wasn't a travel day. We didn't have to leave till Saturday. Under partly cloudy skies, we hiked the Transept Trail to the lodge, then went on to Bright Angel point, taking many photos along the way. The light on the Canyon was different from earlier in the week and the picture taking rewarding.

Our hike took us through the Ponderosa Pine forest and we worried some about the danger of trees coming down in the high wind. Sustained winds of 25-35 mph were predicted, with gusts from 35 to 57 mpg. We made it back to the RV safely and hadn't noticed any really bad wind gusts. But as I prepared dinner, the wind direction changed and it was much noisier. All of a sudden, we saw that a dead tree across the road had broken about 3 feet above the ground and fallen. The 3-foot diameter downed tree wasn't more than 20 feet from a tent that had just been erected. What a scary event for those campers. How fortunate they hadn't placed their tent about 20 feet further east!

We have loved our visit to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This part of the National Park is much less crowded than the South Rim. We are here at the end of the season—the Lodge, campground and stores all close after October 15. But right now everything is fully booked. Soon the road will be closed by snow till about May 2008. October at 8000 feet is beautiful and very iffy where the weather is concerned. We are boon docking here and look forward to lower altitudes and full hookups in Flagstaff.

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Last Utah Hike

Monday we went on our last long hike in southwestern Utah. We drove to the south end of Bryce Canyon National Park—9,110 feet above sea level—and hiked the Riggs Spring Loop, an 8.8 mile hike through the forest. The trail drops 1,600 feet from Rainbow and Yovimpa Points, passes three backcountry (undeveloped) campsites for backpackers, and climbs back up 1,600 feet. We had hiked the loop twice two years ago when we volunteered at Bryce Canyon. This year we haven't been doing as much hiking (our volunteer work is outdoors and at times very physical) and we haven't been living at 8,000 feet. So the hike was difficult and exhausting, but worth it for two 64-year-olds.

We saw so much wildlife on our drive there. We saw three flocks of wild turkeys, totaling about 75 birds, three groups of mule deer and several small herds of pronghorn and we watched a coyote hunting in a meadow. While we ate lunch, several cows were grazing in the area and one came over to see what we had to eat. What a wonderful day! Oh yes, we started our hike at 37 degrees and ended it at about 51. Fall has arrived.

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We Need a City Fix

        We're ready for an urban fix.  We are really in the middle of nowhere.  No cell phone service.  A thunderstorm put out the regular phone service for about 24 hours.  We are 9 miles from a store where we can buy a bottle of milk, 14 miles from a small grocery store, 22 miles from a garage where we can get the truck serviced, 41 miles from a dentist or larger grocery store, 105 miles from a Wal-Mart. 

        Tuesday, on the way to Panguitch (41 miles) for groceries, we stopped at the only national chain restaurant in two counties—Subway—for lunch.  We will leave Kodachrome Basin State Park in 10 days.  After spending a few days at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we will drive on to Flagstaff, AZ.  Not a really large city, but a city, nevertheless.  We are looking forward to that.

        To cope with our small (8 cubic feet) refrigerator and the distance to a store, I have begun to mix up dry milk for us to drink.  Back when our sons were young, I mixed dry milk with whole milk to save money.  Today I do it to save on gas.  Since we drink skim milk all the time anyway, it tastes just the same.  We save a little money on milk and more on gas.

        After meeting the camp hosts at Cedar Breaks National Park, I decided to try making my own yoghurt.  All I need is dry milk powder, water and a tablespoon or two of yoghurt starter.  It tastes good and means I don't have to plan how many containers to buy each time we go to the store.  I am flavoring it with Splenda and cranberry juice or Splenda and vanilla.  It tastes just fine with my cereal in the morning. 

        We enjoy spending part of each year in the country—where the skies are dark so we can see the Milky Way and other stars, where there are no sirens and very little traffic, where we can hear the coyotes at night.  But this isn't where we want to live all the time.  We are looking forward to getting into a city, especially for cell phone service and fresh vegetables. 

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Fall Is Coming

This morning when we reported for work, the park ranger was catching a hummingbird that had flown into the Visitor Center.  He covered it with his hat, then carried it between his hat and his hand to the door, where it flew away.  A few minutes later he asked, "Do you like bats?"  In the evenings, bats fly around the Visitor Center eating the bugs that are attracted to the lights there.  One of the furry brown animals decided to spend the night in a corner outside the front door.

        Those events may not tell us fall is coming, but the weather sure lets us know.  In the past week, we have had morning temperatures in the low 40s and high 30s.  The afternoon high is still in the 80s, but we haven't seen 90 for a couple of weeks.  And by 6 pm, it is cooling down and very comfortable outside.  The temperatures are great.  This is our favorite time of the year. 

        The campers know it is fall, too.  Kodachrome has been busier this week than it was over the Labor Day weekend.  We still see lots of international visitors.  It is amazing how many Europeans come to the United States, some of them year after year.  We talked to a couple from Germany who has been here 14 or 15 times for their holidays.  This campground is really off the beaten track, 20+ miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, over 100 miles from Zion National Park.  Yet we see many international visitors in tents and in rented RVs.  We also see more older Americans, traveling after the height of the summer vacation season.  Friday the campground was full for the first time since we arrived in the middle of August.  Many of the campers are Utah residents who know this is a comfortable time of year to come to this desert campground.

        The only time we find these temperatures uncomfortable is first thing in the morning.  We have a small Kawasaki "mule" to get around the campground and it doesn't have a windshield, doors, rear window or heater.  When the temperature is 40 to 50 degrees, the wind chill at 20 mph is uncomfortable.  But it sure beats working outside in full sun at 92 degrees.

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Grosvener Arch

Sunday we drove to Grosvener Arch, about 12 miles south of Kodachrome on an unimproved dirt road. The Cottonwood Road was built in the 1960s when power lines were run from the Glen Canyon Dam north to this part of Utah. It is impassable when wet and a real washboard when dry. Many tourists see the road on maps and think it is a quick way to reach Page, AZ, and the Grand Canyon. It may be the short route, but the maximum possible speed is 20 mph, meaning it takes at least two hours to drive the 40 miles.

Grosvener Arch is quite impressive. We were surprised at the number of cars that drove up to view the arch as we ate our picnic lunch. We enjoyed sharing our meal with a friendly Scrub Jay.

For years we have enjoyed the desert southwest, making numerous visits to Taos and Santa Fe, Canon City, Mesa Verde and Utah over the years. This year we are able to spend eight to 10 weeks in this environment and really get to know its beauty. There is sage brush everywhere, as well as Rabbit Bush, Utah Juniper and Pinon Pine. Most of the stone outcroppings here are tan and white, with a sprinkling of pale red. In other areas, there is more dark red and purple colored rock. The country doesn't have the rich greens of eastern forests, or the towering pines of mountain areas. But it is beautiful with its muted colors.

We saw miles of sage and stone landscape as we drove up and down Cottonwood Road. The longer we drove, the more we appreciated the beauty of the landscape. After we left Kodachrome, we only saw one building—an outhouse at the picnic area by Grosvener Arch. It is truly remote country. What a pleasure to be able to get to know it a little in our time here.

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Trail Repair

We spent most of last week repairing damage to the Angel's Palace Trail at Kodachrome Basin State Park. The heavy rain of the previous week, which had cause so much damage on the Nature Trail and in the campground, had also damaged the hiking trails in the soft sand found in this part of SW Utah. First, we worked on a bridge over a dry wash that had been badly damaged when the rainstorm filled the wash with rushing water two to three feet above the bridge. We really wish we had gone out to see what was happening during and right after the rain. It must have been impressive to watch. We gathered stones out of the wash to build a base at both sides of the bridge, then brought in dirt and gravel—road base—to cover the rocks. That meant shoveling the base into our Kawasaki Mule then dumping it at the bridge and shoveling it where it was needed. We also built up rocks at two corners of the bridge to prevent run-off from separating the bridge from the sides of the wash.

Next we filled in a run-off channel in the center of a steep part of the trail, and then we rebuilt the trail-side in two places where logs which had been set with rebar had failed to keep the trail from eroding away. We dug out the side of the trail, then gathered rocks—some as heavy as 80 to 100 pounds—to provide a base for the trail. Then we shoveled in dirt and tamped it down by walking back and forth numerous times.

This work is difficult, back-breaking, and very rewarding. We really feel like we accomplished something last week that will make a difference for hikers—at least until an even worse rainstorm occurs. We also feel good that we are able to do this kind of heavy work at the age of 64. Our weight training and cardio workouts really pay off.

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Photos of Kodachrome Basin State Park

Our host site at Kodachrome

Shakespear Arch

Kodachrome skyline

One of 47 stone chimneys in the park

Partridges that live in the park

Life is Good at Kodachrome Park

What a difference it makes to have our refrigerator working again! Finally, the part came in and Shane was able to install it. Then he came into the trailer and slipped in the fuse for that circuit—which caused a spark. We all groaned. That is what kept happening when the refrigerator went out. But John noticed that the lights on the fridge control panel were lit, then Shane checked the fuse and it hadn't blown. Now we have all our food in our own refrigerator, rather than spread between a small, borrowed refrigerator, an ice chest and the Visitor Center kitchen.

Other good news is that we have moved into our permanent host site at Kodachrome. Early last week we had three rainstorms here, one a real downpour. Our newly-made site turned into a sea of mud and we were tracking it in all the time. This site, however, is crowned and covered with gravel and has numerous Utah Juniper trees for shade. It is great and will make the next four weeks very pleasant.

This is the cleanest park we have ever been in. The picnic tables are washed after each camper leaves, the fire pits and grills cleaned, the gravel and dirt raked and the concrete pad under the table swept. The restrooms are spotless—cleaned each morning and each evening.

Because of this standard of maintenance, the rainstorms created a lot of work. The rain and run-off caused erosion and brought mud cascading across roads, the paved nature trail and campground table pads. After the mud dried, roads, trails and pads had to be chipped—much like you chip ice—then shoveled off, then swept clean. Four of us worked hard and long to clean everything for the Labor Day weekend. Now, whenever we see clouds in the sky, we pray—please, no rain!

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