McGaffs On The Fly

After spending a few nights in Taos we made our final drive towards Texas. It seemed like an easy route, just drive southeast until we arrive in DFW and park Little Al next to his much bigger girlfriend Lucy.

Au contraire.

We spent the last night looking at the red colored clouds of a raging fire to the south of us…no problem, we’ll just drive to I40 and head east through Amarillo. But after looking at the weather and forecast for heavy thunderstorms and hail we decided we would not be in Amarillo By Morning. We decided a quick trip to see Buddy Holly in Lubbock was our best bet so we cranked on the A/C and spent the night there before taking Little Al home. First time the entire trip for A/C, we’ve used the heater ever night.

And bad news about Little Al and Lucy. After hearing about the bad thunderstorms Little Al asked, actually cried, about moving him under covered parking. Turns out he doesn’t like big girls as much as I thought.

Done for this trip, back to the NE in August…stay tuned.

We spent the last 4 days in Pagosa Springs and compared to most of our trips there, this was an actual slow action paced experience. Not that we didn’t do a lot and exercise to our hearts content but without our leaders Brenda and Dick we just had to fly by the seat of our pants…there was actually no agenda to follow.

Our wonderful hosts, Paul and Donna, allowed us into their new condo and based on our experience it was a 5 ***** stay. We enjoyed pickleball every day, took time to soak in the aromas hot springs (“that wasn’t me it was you”), and visited our regular haunts…Kips, Alley House, and Pagosa Brewing Co. That was not me walking into San Juan Strains, however, must have been a dude that looks like me.

Heading East to Taos, we can see all of the crazy clouds created by the fires, hope we can get around them…25-30 mph winds projected, hold on Little Al.

We enjoyed our stay at Ridgway State Park so much last year that we decided to return on our trip back towards Tejas. Using Joanie’s valuable notes from last year we were able to find a site close to recent bear activity but more importantly close to the bano. Any view at this park is beautiful but our view of the mountains and Uncompahgre River was superb…great note taker my Joanie!

We decided to extend our stay to 3 nights so that we could enjoy the surrounding towns of Ouray and Montrose. We ventured to Montrose for downtime and life “catch up” at the Local library then Ouray so that Joanie could see the worst in me as I whined about altitude sickness.

Just arrived outside Durango for a couple nights before heading to Pagosa Springs…plenty of wind, hopefully we don’t get blown off the mountain.

My Joanie reminded me that since I’ve retired that my number one job now is exercising and taking care of myself. I thought that it was a very touching way of saying she wanted me to be around a lot longer.

Then she took me to Canyonlands National Park and tried to kill me by making me climb every mountain that they had. I learned a lot about myself on the high mountains as we scaled just about every one of them. The main lesson I learned is that I can add one more phobia to my list…apparently the combination of high mountain and high wind bring out the worst in me. Joanie was very patient with me, however, as she flew by me like a mountain goat as I shivered and hugged the floor of Whale Rock.

The highlight of this section of our trip was the time spent at Arches but our beautiful campground took a close second. If we would have never left Dead Horse Point State Park we could have hiked and seen amazing views and enough mountain climbs to make me shiver like a frightened chihuahua. We will definitely be back.

We have ended our drive west and start today to start the circle back home …no plans, we’ll see where we end up on the way.

Although she’s really not bad to look at, it’s pretty obvious that I married my sweet bride for her brains. Thinking well ahead of time, actually before I knew we were going, smart Joanie secured reservations for us to get into Arches National Park. Since I’m an illogical person I assumed that you could just drive through the gates to enjoy the 76, 518 acres of vastness. Good ole Joanie to the rescue…

Our highlight was climbing the 3+ mile round trip trail to Delicate Arch. It was a beautiful hike with amazing views throughout the valley. I can say, however, I enjoyed the hike back down much more than the climb. Why can’t they make these stupid mountains where you always go downhill…is that too much to ask?

We’ve moved our spot at Dead Horse Point State Park, if possible I think our views just improved. Just finished eating lunch at Gloria’s in Moab, heading to the Ford Dealership down the road. Could I have actually bent the hitch for the trailer connection…please say it ain’t so?!

More…to…come

Last night I had a terrible dream. I was standing naked on a Highway and everyone I knew was driving past me and not even looking at me. Then I walked to school and I was late for an exam that I needed to Ace so that I would pass, and on top of that I forgot to do my homework. I’m pretty sure I did it but I think the dog ate it, someone’s dog.

When I woke up I was relieved to find out none of that happened. What actually happened was that Joanie and I were without cell service or WiFi for over 10 hours. It was the most hopeless feeling in the world and I never want to experience that feeling again. It was like I was stuck in the 90’s, bad music and all. Oh well, we head back to our remote campground later today so here we go again. Please world…don’t doing anything crazy until we get back.

Our drive north, first south then north to get around Navajo land, was the most spectacular to me since we’ve started our trip. Our trip took us through Monument Valley and the views along the way were just amazing. We did stop at the Visitor Center (not necessary but for $20 and a bathroom break a deal) but it was not necessary, the views were available for free from every direction.

We are in Moab for 4 nights…r e m o t e…heading to Arches National Park now.

Our drive north from Phoenix took us around the fires but we could see the clouds of smoke coming from them. We had a great drive and took a small section of Route 66 through Winslow, AZ. Be very happy that you didn’t have to listen to my poor rendition of Take It Easy…

Since arriving in Page we’ve had an action packed time highlighted by our tour to the Secret Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. Our fellow tour members were from all over the world and it was great to talk and learn from all of them. If you ever hear about “loud obnoxious Americans”, you can tell them you know someone who was with “loud a-hole Europeans” that actually got kicked off the tour…yep, that happened and we all applauded when they left. Our Navajo guide Tyler handled it much better than I recommended…

We did make a quick visit to see Lake Powell, driving down to the waterfront you can see all of the huge houseboats parked on land. It seems the Tommy Lee visit caused a multi year drought and the lake is over 163’ below it’s all time high level. It is still a beautiful view but not what I’m sure it was at one time.

Leaving this morning for Utah…the journey never ends…

Our drive north from Phoenix took us around the fires but we could see the clouds of smoke coming from them. We had a great drive and took a small section of Route 66 through Winslow, AZ. Be very happy that you didn’t have to listen to my poor rendition of Take It Easy…

Since arriving in Page we’ve had an action packed time highlighted by our tour to the Secret Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. Our fellow tour members were from all over the world and it was great to talk and learn from all of them. If you ever hear about “loud obnoxious Americans”, you can tell them you know someone who was with “loud a-hole Europeans” that actually got kicked off the tour…yep, that happened and we all applauded when they left. Our Navajo guide Tyler handled it much better than I recommended…

We did make a quick visit to see Lake Powell, driving down to the waterfront you can see all of the huge houseboats parked on land. It seems the Tommy Lee visit caused a multi year drought and the lake is over 163’ below it’s all time high level. It is still a beautiful view but not what I’m sure it was at one time.

Leaving this morning for Utah…the journey never ends…

We spent yesterday checking out the Chihuly Exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. What are the chances that there are 2 Chihuly exhibits going at the same time? It turns out pretty good, we started out at Taliesin West (Frank Lloyd Wrights home) and were told we were in the wrong place…after a mad dash south to the right location we were able to meet our time allotment. I was so proud of both of us for handling this predicament like true adults, I think we are finally growing up.

Today we pack up and head north to Page, Arizona for our adventure into parks in that area before we head to Utah. We’re hoping that the fires will stay away long enough for us to get there…

We’ve spent the last two nights just outside Phoenix at the Eagle View RV Resort. Little Al is beyond confused as the temperature at night kicks on his heater and during the day his a/c runs. We’ve been getting up early and doing most of our hiking/walking early to avoid the 90+ degree temperatures. I keep reminding Joanie that it’s a dry heat…she keeps reminding me to not say anything if it’s stupid. We hike so that we can eat, seems like a fair trade off.