Thursday, December 29, 2011

Historic Gifford House in Capitol Reef National Park

As promised we are catching up on some blog entries, this time on the Historic Gifford House. Located in the historic district of Fruita in the Capitol Reef National Park near Torrey Utah the Gifford House depicts the typical spartan nature of rural Utah farm homes of the early 1900's. The seven room Historic Gifford House serves as a museum, cultural demonstration site and sales outlet. It is the sales outlet that is the purpose of the entry.

You can get the best cherry pie that we have had, along with the best pumpkin pie and one of the best peach pies or strawberry rhubarb pies that you will ever have. They bake a limited number of pies each day so get there early, the first time we were there we went there late in the afternoon and the selection was very limited.

We have updated 'Our Favorite Things! (Food)' with these entries.

We guess you now know why we liked Utah so much!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

We just got back from the potluck at the park where we had great food and a lot of it. A lot of the recipes have been their families for a number of years and some were tried for the first time and they were all wonderful. The park provided the ham and we have some great cooks here so the ham was excellent.

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and may the peace of the Savior whose birth we celebrate today be with all of you.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Friday, December 23, 2011

Avoiding the crowds

We are hanging loose for the next couple of days avoiding the Christmas rush by just staying in the park. We've got enough food and books and DVR'd programs and DVDs so we can avoid the big crowds and long lines.

As promised here is a picture of the truck after the repairs due to us dropping the Cameo onto the truck bed.















Here is a picture of the truck after the accident.












We certainly don't want to go thru this again with the truck so we have revised our hooking up procedures and triple check the connection.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

No longer rationing

We are using our WiFi Hotspot exclusively this winter since the park does not have free WiFi and we rapidly approached our data limit. Hopefully this will not be the case every month as Bob finished uploading a bunch of Utah pictures to flickr.com and Jo got a new Kindle and downloaded a number of books and apps and games and a couple Readers Digests and TV Guides. With no more pictures to upload and the newness of the Kindle wearing off we should be OK data wise this cycle.

So we now need to catch up on blogging and reading other blogs.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Friday, December 9, 2011

Back in the Saddle Again

We finally got our truck back and man it sure looks nice. In addition to the LineX bed liner we also had it detailed. We swear it looks better than when we got it brand new over two years ago.

We are now in the land of riding high, wide right turns and parking far, far away.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Note: Bob is using his Droid3 to post this entry to see how that works.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Still waiting on truck

One of the parts for the truck repair was delivered incorrectly so we are in a holding pattern until it is received and installed. Luckily it is at the end of the repair process with only a couple more things to be done. The shop thought it would be received towards the end of the week but that was not the case, hopefully it will be early next week.

We have slightly mixed emotions; although it will be great to get our truck back it has been fun being able to park anywhere we like and to make easier right turns.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Good news on truck

We 'should' be getting our truck back next week. But that is not the only good news on the truck. Since there was more damage than originally estimated and since the bed of the truck was also dinged up (we bet you are wondering where the good news is) all the stuff had to come out. That included the auxiliary fuel tank and the fifth wheel hitch and a CO2 tank we had added for filling up tires. With all that out it was now a perfect time to have a LineX lining added. We had originally wanted to do this before we added all the stuff but we picked up the truck at 7p the night before we drove to Michigan to pickup the Cameo so we did not have the time.

We will let you know when we get the truck back,

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Friday, November 25, 2011

Learned something new today (and a great product for RVs)

Today proves the old adage that you are never too old to learn something new. We had a big housecleaning day today and we washed the insides of the windows since we are getting the 5er washed and waxed on Monday. We have always had dirty windows screens from our days of living in the old sticks and bricks but it is much worse in the RV since a lot of the time you are parked on gravel and the wind kicks up and you get the picture. We have tried attachments on the vacuum and other techniques that just have not cut it.

Just recently we were in Ace Hardware and we noticed a packet of Clean Screen wipes so we figured what the heck. Well we tried them out and they work great. Advertisement says specially formulated to attract dust and it sure does. Our screens have not looked this good since we picked up the Cameo over 2 years ago.

The wipes are not what we learned today; what we learned is that the screens on our RV pop out for easy cleaning. Our previous inspections of the screens showed what we thought were mounting screws but they turned out to be assembly screws for the screen. Bob learned this as he was trying to clean the outside of the screen from the outside and popped the screen inward. Our cat Sandra who always keeps track of what we are doing was right there and was real interested in the opening created so Jo ran inside. Once we learned the screens could be easily removed from the inside it was a 2 person job to remove and clean the screen and watch to make sure a cat did not try to escape.

As you can probably tell by the lack of blog updates we are settled in at our winter location and with our sightseeing reduced so will our blogging, that is until we learn something new.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Thursday, November 17, 2011

We ran out of words

Utah is our favorite state so far while full-timing. The beauty was so overwhelming we ran out of words to describe what we were seeing. We kept using the same words over and over again.

Beautiful

















Scenic

















Gorgeous




















Amazing

















Magnificent
Spectacular
Beauteous
Very (as in very scenic, very beautiful, etc.)
Simply (as in simply amazing, simply gorgeous, etc.)

Zion was our favorite National Park, although we did not get a chance to see Bryce Canyon National Park, oh well, must save something for one of our next visits to Utah. We would not hesitate to visit all the National Parks again as they were so amazing and left you wanting to see more. Plus the light at different times of the day impacted the scenery. There were two parts of Zion and we only got to see the lower part so we will see Kolob Canyon next time. The two areas of Zion are a ways from each other that each area has their own visitors center.

The towns we visited were neat too. Moab is a great town with great scenery and stuff to do nearby and great food places. Torrey is remote but very scenic and stuff to do nearby and great food places. Kanab is very scenic and plenty of stuff to do nearby but we struggled mightily to find a good place to eat. To be fair the two best places probably to eat in the town are evening only place and we do not like to be out after dark

We would not hesitate to visit Moab and Torrey again but we might find a different location that is more convenient to visit Bryce Canyon the next time.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Update on truck

It is going to take longer than originally estimated to complete our truck repair. In fact it is more than double the cost and time. The adjuster felt that the walls could be pulled up and save on buying two new side wall pieces, that did not turn out to be the case. The tailgate damage was also worse than estimated and will require a new one.

So we will be skimming along on the top of the pavement like a two person luge in our rental car until sometime in December. We still occasionally think the truck has been stolen when we cannot find it in the parking lot and when we see the car parked in front of the fifth wheel we sometimes wonder who is visiting. We are sure that once we are totally used to the rental car then the truck will be finished.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Friday, November 11, 2011

Veterans Day - Flag trivia

We took a tour of Mackinac Island, MI this summer. In this tour you go by the Post Cemetery where the flag is permanently at half staff. In each tour the guide explains that there are only five places where this occurs. 

Post Cemetery On Mackinac Island, MI
Arlington National Cemetery
Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific, HI

Gettysburg
Normandy, France



Thanks to all those who have served we are the land of the free because of the brave!


Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Back into our movie routine

Now that we are back in our winter spot we hopefully are settling back into our movie routine. As we blogged about last winter we try to go to a movie at least once a week when we are at a location for more than a few days. We have developed a pretty good routine as the Gateway Pavilions where we see the movies has a loyalty t-shirt that you buy and then get a free medium popcorn for all of 2011 and also a loyalty cup where we can pop get refills for $1. Just outside the theater is a Yogurtland where you can get 3 oz free with your movie stub, with about 20 varieties and free sample cups it is an adventure. So we have a weekly routine of a movie with popcorn and a pop and then top it off with frozen yogurt.

We just saw "Tower Heist" and liked it so we would give it a 3. Our total rating system is based a lot on our Netflix watching:

1 - sooooooo bad could not even finish
2 - sooooooo bad but could finish
3 - Liked it
4 - Really liked it
5 - Epic, Must See; worth seeing again in the theatre, worth buying the movie and watching again

We would add another rating of 6 to the Netflix rating system and that would be an all time favorites, which we posted in a previous blog entry. One all time favorite we realized we missed thanks to Bob's sister is "The Notebook" so we have repeated the list here adding it.

So here in no particular order is our list of all time favorite movies, although we are sure we may have missed a few:

The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
The Thin Man (1934)
The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Citizen Kane (1941)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Secondhand Lions (2003)
Rear Window (1954)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
On the Waterfront (1954)
North by Northwest (1959)
My Favorite Year (1982)
Murphy's Romance (1985)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Gandhi (1982)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The King's Speech (2010)
The Notebook (2004)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Another weird feeling

We previously blogged on what a weird feeling it was to spend a few nights in a hotel while our fifth wheel was being worked on. We are now experiencing another weird feeling since for the first time in 2 years and 2 months we are driving a car instead of our Ford F-350.

If you recall we dropped the fifth wheel onto the pickup a few months ago. Except for the sick feeling that we got when we did it and the damage to the truck bed we got off pretty easy. The damage to the fifth wheel was minor, a couple busted screws and some caulking was all that was needed. Our dealer must have felt sorry for us because they did not charge us for the repairs.

We were still able to drive the truck so we continued on our journey until we were going to be at a place long enough to get the truck repaired since it is a 2-3 week job. So yesterday we dropped off the truck and Enterprise Rent-a-Car picked us up. After riding so high in the truck we feel like we are in a go cart we are so low to the ground. It feels like we are falling when we get into our seats and we have to pull ourselves up just to get out. All kidding aside there is a safety issue with the car. We are so used to the gigantic mirrors on the truck and the visibility they provide that the tiny mirrors and visibility with the car will take some getting used to.

Bob has been under the weather the last few days so there are a few blog entries to catch up on so stay tuned. Bob will be blogging while Jo is driving around Goodyear in the rental car since she does not do much driving otherwise.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Sure does not feel like winter

We arrived in our spot for the winter, Destiny RV Resort in Goodyear Arizona on Tuesday November 1st.



















It felt like home as we were pulling into the park. The sunshine was nice when we got here but the temperature was in the mid 80's with a forecast of 5 more days 80 or above which sure does not feel like winter to us. We left from near Winslow and if you recall a previous post it has the nickname 'Windsblow' and today was no exception. The forecast called for 74 mile an hour wind gusts but that was later in the day. We got up earlier than normal and got out of there  pretty fast. There is always wind around 'Windsblow' and Flagstaff but we handled it OK and we were way past both these locations before the wind got too strong.

We plan to be here until at least March 1st enjoying the good weather; once it cools down to our new normal winter temperature of 70 degrees.

We are a little behind on our blogging so now we can catch up now that we will be in one spot for awhile.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Kanab Utah

Kanab is in a great location with access to three National Parks. Kanab is about 90 miles to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, about 40 miles to Zion National Park, and about 80 miles to Bryce Canyon National Park. In town there is the Frontier Movie Town Movie Set Museum and within 20 miles there is the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, and the Pipe Spring National Monument. So Kanab is a sightseers paradise but now for the rest of the story.

Kanab is a small town of about 3500 so there are no Wal-Mart locations or any stores you might recognize. When we started out this years journey that was appealing but it has kind of worn out its welcome. What made the other remote locations better was the local dining options. If we could not get to a cheap grocery store like Wal-Mart then we could eat out. Both of us searched multiple times for a good dining option but came up empty. The place most mentioned by other park residents and online was Houston's Trails' End Restaurant and we tried it for lunch and got below average food with above average surliness from the wait staff. Our best dining was the lunch buffet at Lotsa Motsa Pizza and that should tell you all you need to know about Kanab dining.

To be fair probably the two best places to eat in town were open at 5p but you know us full-timers don't like to be out after dark.

So Kanab is a great location just bring your food with you.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Friday, October 28, 2011

We are off Daylight Savings Time early

Since Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time we fell backwards one hour yesterday when we left from Kanab and crossed the border into Arizna. We are back at the Meteor Crater RV Park near Winslow Arizona. It was about 240 miles driving the first part in southern Utah which is gorgeous. But the big highlight of the trip had to be the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We liked the Page Arizona and Lake Powell area so much that have added it to our list of places to visit.

While here we plan to eat at the Turquoise Room in the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, one of our all time favorite places to eat, and visit Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument near Flagstaff.

After a few days here we are off to Goodyear Arizona where we will spend the winter.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Utah National Parks Tour - Zion National Park

We have to say that Zion National Park is our favorite National Park so far. It is very hard to compare all these beautiful parks that we have seen but the ruggedness and the red sandstone cliffs and then a lighter sandstone formation behind a red one really makes Zion an amazing place to visit. Since we left from Kanab the east entrance into the park on Highway 9 Scenic Byway was the best option. Here is a scenery shot as you approach from the east.


















Since we are a dually truck we had to pay the escort fee through the tunnel so we got the single lane treatment as if we were towing our RV. Bob took this photo of the tunnel while we were waiting.


















It is a 1.1 mile tunnel completed in 1930 with only a couple of cutouts to get natural light. Here is a photo of one of those cutouts after we have cleared the tunnel and then spent some time on some winding roads.


















We toured the Visitors Center and then boarded the free park shuttle to scenic stops into Zion Canyon. The Weeping Rock stop was neat where you can take a trail up to where the snow on the top of the mountains melts and is absorbed into the rock and then weeps out lower in canyon walls. You can actually get underneath where the weeping occurs. Here are a couple of photos from the Weeping Rock area. First is looking at the weeping rocks.



















The next one is Bob underneath the overhang and looking through the water.

 















We saw some climbers going up steep walls at The Bend stop.


















At the end of the line is the Temple of Sinawava where you can walk on the Riverside Walk trail. Ths trail is real neat because you walk near the Virgin River (which shaped Zion Canyon) into an ever narrowing canyon. Here are a couple of photos from the Riverside Walk.















 



























Photos from Zion Canyon have been uploaded to the Kanab Utah set on Flickr.

Utah has been amazing and our favorite State visited so far while full-timing and Zion is our favorite National Park.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Frontier Movietown Movie Set Museum & Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

The North Rim round trip and hiking at 9.000 feet wore us out so we stayed around Kanab. First we toured the Frontier Movietown Movie Set Museum. Kanab has been called Little Hollywood because a lot of western movies and television series have been filmed in the area. To name a few; Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke, Windrunner: A Spirited Journey, Planet of the Apes, El Dorado, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Lone Ranger, Sergeants 3, and Stagecoach. Sergeants 3 and Oceans 11 were the only two films that starred the entire Rat Pack (Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford).

Here is the entrance:














Here are some of the movie sets.






























Next we journeyed to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, which are the only sand dunes on the Colorado Plateau. One of the unique features is the color of the sand. The sand originates from Navajo Sandstone beds in the area. The color results from a high concentration of iron oxides. Although this type of sand is widespread in southern Utah, no where else has the wind piled the sand into the majestic dunes found here.

Here is a picture of the dunes:

















Here is a picture of the consistently fine texture of the sand. The wind is amplified through a nearby gap in the Vermilion Cliffs. The wind is extremely selective; if the particles are too small they blow away as dust, while particles too large cannot be moved the distance from the gap to the resulting dunes.


















Photos from this sightseeing day have been added to the Kanab Set on Flickr.


A side note is that we have posted info on Ron's Mobile Service on the Carriage Yahoo Group, Escapees, RV.net and disputed the credit card charge. We have requested assistance from the 'RV Action Line' from Trailer Life magazine. Thanks to tips we will be notifying the park, Norcold and the BBB.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Mobile Service horror story

And this close to Halloween :-)

Sorry this post is so long. The Executive Summary is that Ron's Mobile RV Service in Colorado Springs CO is unprofessional, rude, overcharges and should be avoided at all costs.

We have utilized RV mobile service companies a number of times and have found all of them to be professional and courteous except one, Ron's Mobile RV Service in Colorado Springs CO. To date the standard practice has been one service call fee per event. If multiple trips are needed there has only been the single service fee and we settle up at the end. Our cooling unit in our Norcold refrigerator failed while in Colorado Springs and Ron's was recommended by the park. Ron himself came out and diagnosed the problem and we were charged a $75 service fee and one hour labor totaling $170 which he said was the minimum charge. Since it was the weekend Norcold could not be contacted.

Bright and early Monday morning we called Norcold to inquire about the warranty since there is a lot of confusion on the length of the warranty. In 2009 Norcold went from a 3 year warranty to a 1 year warranty but since we own a Carriage Cameo that has a two year warranty Norcold gives a 2 year warranty on refrigerators installed in a Carriage. We were less than two weeks past the warranty date. Norcold indicted that they would "probably" provide the cooling unit since it was so close to the end of the warranty but they weren't sure if they would cover the labor. Norcold needed to confirm the diagnosis with Ron's Mobile Service so they asked me to have Ron's call them. Which we did so we talked to Norcold before Ron's ever did.

Norcold did provide the cooling unit free and shipped the unit and Ron's came out and installed it. As they were leaving we were charged another $75 fee which we weren't sure was service or labor. At the time were were not sure if Norcold was going to pay for the labor so we thought it was a reasonable charge of $245 total to install the cooling unit since it took them about 2 hours. Later when we were looking over the Norcold paperwork it indicated that Norcold would cover 4 hours of labor. A lot of times with mobile service companies we pay the provider and then we get reimbursed so we made copies of the receipts and mailed it to Norcold. A few days later Norcold called back and said they already paid Ron's 4 hours labor.

Thinking we were due a partial refund we called Ron's and was treated to the most rude, unprofessional conduct we have ever encountered. First of all according to Ron we should have been happy with Ron forcing Norcold (his words) to give us a free cooling unit, which they already told us that they would do anyway but Ron did not know this. Also since it was a very expensive cooling unit "we got because of him" we should just forget about what money we paid them. He does not know us very well, do he?

We are going to pursue a partial refund from Ron's and make sure that this behavior is made known to the RV'ng community.

Wish us luck,

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Sunday, October 23, 2011

North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park

Our first sightseeing adventure from Kanab was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon located in Arizona about 90 miles away. With the winding roads it took us almost 2 and a half hours but the drive was scenic. We made one stop on the way at the Le Fevre overlook on Highway 89A. Most of the park offices were closed except for the Visitors Information Center and Bookstore but the roads, trails, and scenic overviews were accessible. The weather was perfect, in the mid 60's with sunny, clear skies.

We drove first to the Visitors Information Center and walked on the trail to Bright Angel Point which is a one mile paved trail. But let us tell you that hiking at 9000 ft. is not fun, even the paved trails seemed uphill both ways and this trail was way uphill on the way back. Here are a couple of photos along this trail.





























We next drove to Cape Royal stopping at scenic overlooks along the way. We took the paved trail to Angel's Window and Cape Royal. Here are a couple of photos for this portion.




























































We have to be honest in that we think we liked the Utah National Parks (Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef) just as much or better than the North Rim. It's not that the North Rim was not beautiful, which it was, it is just that Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef were so amazing and much more than we expected.

Photos have been uploaded to the Kanab Utah set on Flickr.com

Till next time,

Bob and Jo






Friday, October 21, 2011

Torrey Utah

Now that we have left Torrey Utah we can reflect on the location which is remote and you may not have heard of Torrey but it is a great place to visit. Located on Highway 24 which is a scenic byway so just getting there is neat. Torrey is the starting point for great tours of the Capitol Reef National Park and Highway 12 scenic byway which was just completed in 1985 turning a 200 mile journey from Boulder to 37 miles. We got great pies at the Gifford House in the park and great food at Capitol Reef Inn and Café (not to be confused with the Capitol Reef Restaurant in the Best Western). We wanted to try the Café Diablo which only serves lunch and supper since it was always busy when we drove by but we never did, oh well, have to save something for next time.

Like we said a very small remote town so no grocery stores, closest is 18 miles away, Chuck Wagon General Store has enough to get you thru the week. The area has better cell phone reception than some areas we have been but still very remote so spotty.

We enjoyed our stay in Torrey and the surrounding area so put this on your list of places to see.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Almost made it to Arizona

We drove from Torrey to Kanab Utah on Wednesday October 19th. Kanab is very near the Utah-Arizona border. Kanab is convenient to three National Parks but unconvenient to any one of them as it is about 90 minutes to 2 hours to a park.

It was another beautiful scenic drive, we chose not to take Highway 12 which was a little longer and mountain driving but took 24 to 62 to 89 which was more of a gradual change in elevation. We are at the Kanab RV Corral in a 50a FHU site with a great line of sight for our satellite dish and a scenic location even though in the heart of the city. Although it is a nice park we have gotten used to having a little more space between sites or having the park mostly to ourselves. It is kind of neat that we are parked next to another Carriage Cameo.

Here is a couple of views of the Cameo in the park with the scenery all around us.






























While here we plan on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Although a lot of the stuff at the North Rim closes in mid-October the roads to the scenic overlooks are still open so we are heading there today.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Utah National Park Tour: Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef National Park was established to protect the grand and colorful geologic feature, the Waterpocket Fold, a nearly 100-mile long warp in the Earth’s crust. The most scenic portion of the Fold, found near the Fremont River, is known as Capitol Reef: capitol for the white domes of Navajo sandstone that resemble building domes, and reef for the rocky cliffs which are a barrier to travel. When we drove thru Capitol Reef National Park on our way from Moab and did not see many cars and when we had the RV park mostly to ourselves we thought we pretty much would have Capitol Reef National Park all to ourselves as well. So Thursday we did chores.

Friday we went to the visitors center and although there were more cars we thought it wouldn't be too bad. We toured the visitors center and then watched the film. At the start of the film we were among two couples that were there. By the end of the film the theater was full and the visitors center was jam packed and the parking lot was too. We changed our minds and did the short day on Saturday and the long day on Monday.

One thing you notice here is how far you can see, the air is so clear that there is 267 mile visibility on a clear day. That contributes to the awesome scenery being able to see up close then the rocky cliffs and then the mountains in the distance all so very clear.

Here are some photos from our tours. The first is our drive from Torrey to the Park.



Panorama Point on the way to the Park



 











Cassidy Arch on the Grand Wash unpaved road.



 












Hiking in the Capitol Gorge



 
















Another arch, the Hickman Natural Bridge at the end of a 1 mile moderate trail



 













Here is our Highway 12 Scenic Byway tour where you can see the clarity and part of the Waterpocket Fold in the left part of the photo.



 













Photos have been uploaded to the Torrey Utah set on Flickr.com

This park is remote and has not gotten the visibility of other parks but it is sure worth a visit.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Full-timing with 3 cats - life on the road with an OCD cat

Every once in a while we blog on how it is full-timing in a 359 sq. ft. 5th Wheel with 3 cats.

We suspect that all cats are a little OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) but Tiger is full blown OCD. It took us a while to realize this but once we did and once Bob started doing the same going to bed routine it has gotten easier to live with Tiger. A couple of recent events just highlight Tiger's OCD condition. Every night Bob gives Tiger dental and hairball treats, giving the dental treats first because Tiger likes the hairball treats best. One night Bob put the hairball treats in first and Tiger gave him quite a look. Luckily she didn't make Bob take the hairball treats out and ate both treats after the dental ones were added.

















The other event concerns the closet doors. Even though Tiger may not want in the closet if the two doors are not in the middle she will paw and cry at the door that is too close after eating her treats. Once it is slid to the middle she is OK with it and jumps up on the bed to go to sleep.


















Life is sure interesting with 3 cats on the road but we frequently make comments as to how nice it is to have them with us, wait we have to go break up a fight, darn cats!!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Canyonlands National Park

While in Utah we visited Canyonlands National Park near Moab. If you do not have much time the trip to the visitor center and the views within walking distance of the visitor center are worth the drive.

You know you are in a remote National Park when you see a sign as you are entering says "No Gas, No Lodging, No Groceries" among other things. All the toilets in the park are of the outhouse variety even at the Visitor Center. The remoteness just adds to the scenic beauty. Even though close to Arches National Park the scenery is vastly different. Canyonlands was formed by the workings of the better known Colorado River and the lesser known Green River.

Canyonlands preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes. Although this is a primitive desert the landscape has been shaped by water.

















The colors of the canyon are amazing







 








Canyonlands also has an arch called the Mesa Arch.



 













Looking through the arch you can see the canyon below and the snow capped mountains in the distance.



 













We did not know much about Canyonlands when we started our Utah National Parks Tour so were were pleasantly surprised how scenic and how different from Arches National Park that it was.

Photos from Canyonlands have been uploaded to the Moab Utah set on Flickr.com.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Friday, October 14, 2011

Moab Utah dining

The first thing you notice about Moab dining is that the "Moab Dining Guide" is everywhere. This free publication lists most of the restaurants with menus which helped us a lot in deciding where to eat. We wish that more places would offer this type of publication.

The second thing you notice about Moab dining is that there are a lot of breakfast only places and a lot of places that are open only at 5 p.m. This is due to the vast amount of recreation activities in the area with 2 National Parks, countless 4x4 trails, mountain climbing and bicycling. There was a bike race while we were in Moab so there were bikers everywhere.

The hit of Moab dining had to be the Jailhouse Café, which is in the historic Moab Jailhouse. Open only for breakfast until 1 p.m. the Jailhouse Café serves excellent food including old fashioned ginger pancakes which were to die for. Soul food bacon and a spinach and mushroom and feta omelet were also good. Try this place out if you are ever in Moab except on Tuesdays because it is closed.

You know we like our Diners so we had to try the Moab Diner which is open all day and serves breakfast all day. Outside of New Mexico Bob had one of the best green chile omelets he has had. Jo had great blueberry pancakes so add this place to your list if in the area. We also ate at the Pancake Haus which is another breakfast only place that is good and got carryout pizza from Paradox Pizza which we also recommend.

Moab is a great place for scenery and for places to eat.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Yet another scenic campground

We left Moab yesterday and journeyed to Torrey Utah. The drive started out near the colors of Arches National Park then we hit the rugged desert and then the beauty of Capitol Reef National Park as we drove through the park on Scenic Byway Utah 24 to get to Torrey.

We are at Sand Creek RV Park (50a FHU sites) and it sure is scenic. The parks out west are some of the most scenic that we have stayed at and the drives between parks are very scenic also. One thing that we have noticed in our travels in Utah is that we have seen more rental RVs than at any other location that we have been in a little over 2 years of full-timing.

We plan to visit Capitol Reef National Park while here but we also plan to catch up on some housecleaning and laundry and some relaxing. Even folks that full-time need a vacation now and then. The weather forecast looks promising with sunny skies and highs in the low 70's and lows in the low 40's so we can pick and choose which days to go to Capitol Reef carefully avoiding the weekend.

Here are a couple of photos of the Cameo at Sand Creek RV Park.
















Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Arches National Park

Our first stop on our National Parks tour took us to Arches National Park near Moab Utah. Arches is known for over 2000 natural sandstone arches including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to vibrant and varying sandstone colors and formations. Delicate Arch is the most photographed arch in the world and is Utah's State Symbol.
















This is a living park as 43 arches have collapsed since 1970. The most fragile arch is probably Landscape Arch, which since 1991 three slabs of sandstone measuring 30, 47, and 70 feet long have fallen from the thinnest section prompting the Park Service to close the trail that once passed beneath it. The Visitors Center has an introductory film that includes amateur footage taken when the 70' section collapsed. Landscape Arch is one of the world's longest arches.









Just entering the park at the Visitors Center is scenic and incidentally the lowest elevation of the park. As we drive along the many paved roads and walk the trails to the many arches two thoughts came to mind; all Politicians should be required to view our beautiful country at least once a year so maybe they wouldn't screw things up so much, and gazing upon these wonders the only conclusion that you can make is that there has to be a creator to come up with this amazing landscape. We generally try to avoid Politics and Religion in our blog and hope we have not offended anyone but we also try to report on what we see and what we were thinking (and on food of course!!).














Along the way you will see the Windows area






















Balanced Rock















And other arches
















Photos from Arches National Park have been uploaded to the Moab Utah set on Flickr.com

Till next time,

Bob and Jo