McGaffs On The Fly

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.

We’ll it’s official, we’ve had to take our names off the homeless club registrar since we were able to move back into our condo. It was a fun run but I can say it’s actually pretty great to be able to sleep in our own bed, just wish we hadn’t sold our bedroom set to our tenants but you know what I’m saying. To celebrate our escape from homelessness we decided to celebrate and get back on the road, over a month in one place can really stifle a couple.

So we completed our checklist and we are heading west.

• Install new hardwood floors in the bedrooms that should have been installed when we did the living room…check.
• Sleep on sofa coach until new bedroom set delivered…check.
• Move two storage units of crap into one storage unit of crap…check.
• Take Little Al back to Paradise to get shade installed in the bathroom (“oh, you wanted them all done?)…check.
• Get another booster because just how many is too many?…check
• Stop at Connie’s Barbershop and Propane to get my hair did (kidding, filled up the propane tanks but she did look like she did a good job)…check.

We left Friday after a quick visit to Dallas with plans for Scottsdale, Page, AZ, Moab, UT, then TBD. So far we’ve spent a night in Amarillo and Gallup and have been fighting close to 25+mph winds the whole way. Gas prices and poor mpg are going to make this a much more expensive trip than past trips, hopefully the winds will push us on the way back and we can make up some $$$.

The highlight of our trip so far has been sitting still on I40 for close to 2 hours because of a roll over crash. Good news though, I had just finished a large ice tea to keep hydrated…bad news though…

Heading to Mass then on to Scottsdale.

We’ve made our way back to the Vineyards Campground in Grapevine with Little Al for a week stay. Although we are still homeless for a few more weeks this is the closest we’ve been to being in our own bed in a while. Little Al is more than excited to see us and had quite a few stories about Lucy to tell, apparently she can be a little aggressive at times.

Since the last blog, we’ve:

👍Seen our sweet granddaughters…been too long.

👍Visited the George H.W. Bush Library

👍Spent time at Paul and Donna’s five star retreat.

👍Were “schooled” in pickleball by Paul and Donna.

👍Seen a few good movies.

We’re heading back to Austin on the 15th and moving back into our condo, it will be great to have a home again…back on the road with Little Al in April. More to come…

We ended up staying in Louisiana long enough to enjoy plenty of seafood and just enough parades (and beads) to meet our needs. Unfortunately it was too cold to see Marie Osmond, we stood in a shady convenience store for over 30 minutes instead waiting for our Uber driver to navigate the closed streets for our 2 mile drive home.

On our trip home we decided to stop in Broussard to see if we could find the grave of my great grandfather. What are the chances we could find a grave from the early 1920’s? Turns out pretty bad…and pretty good. We did find my great-great-grandfather’s grave but not my great-grandfathers. They died within a few years of each other, one too soon and one a great-great-life.

We are back in Texas in College Station at Michael and Ann’s house. We were able to see an exciting baseball game highlighted by a walk off home run in the ninth, basketball game scheduled for Tuesday night. Can’t wait to head north, more camping with Little Al in Grapevine…

Well it turns out that planning to be away from home for two months is a great idea in theory, but living out of a truck and moving location every few days isn’t the ideal life. It seemed so easy in Little Al but he’s actually like a moving house where we can actually store our clothes…and feel comfortable every night. Time to head west to get back home, Joanie needs to see some grand babies…

We had such a good time watching the people and parade in Panama City Beach that we’ve decided to stop in a small town outside of New Orleans to check out early Mardi Gras festivities. Bonus…Marie Osmond is going to be in Metairie at an open air event. I know, she ain’t no Donny but close enough.

We’ve stopped at just about every beach along the Florida/Alabama/Mississippi coast on the way west so we can plan our next year adventures. Plenty of great places to add to our list…and even more to eliminate.

More…to…come…