Month: September 2014

Zion Natl Park – Sunday September 14, 2014

This morning I got up early to see the sun rise over Zion.  My plan was to go the East end of the tunnel and hike the half mile to the view point above the great arch of Zion.  I was the second car in the parking lot and as I started up the trail a group of sheep ran out of the rocks.  I ended up spending 45 minutes taking pictures until too many people showed up the sheep moved on.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Zion Natl Park = Thursday September 11, 2014

We finally made it to Zion, our second significant stop on this trip.  We have traveled 1535 miles and we’ll be here for two weeks.
This is a map of our current travels.

Our campsite is right on the river, site B44.  Being so close to the river helps keep this site cooler then even across the road.  The current weather report calls for 85 to 88 everyday for the next 10 days.

Here are the traveling Flamingos in the front window of the motorhome.

The storm during the first part of the week created a lot of flash flooding.

I took this picture to show the color of the water in the Virgin River. It is usually crystal clear.

We had another first for retirement and traveling for extended periods of time.  The ever popular laundromat, first time I’ve been in a laundromat to wash clothes in over 40 years.  ( I have used them to dry a sleeping bag or two during this time ).

 

Cathedral Gorge State Park – Tuesday September 9, 2014

We made it through all the bad weather.  What was left of hurricane Nordbert came through here yesterday and made a mess of things just to the south of us.  We made the right decision to stay here and set out the storm.  One of the campgrounds I had targeted to go to is on the Virgin River in the area where Hwy I-15 got washed out.  We’ll have to wait and see if the campground is even still there.  The whole town of Mesquite, Nevada lost power and is not supposed to it back until today.
We have been here so long I think we need another campsite picture.

This is the satellite TV antenna using firewood to keep it from blowing over.  I also have an arrangement to use water as the weight to hold it in place, you’ll get to see that later.

We will be leaving here tomorrow (Wednesday September 10) for out two weeks at Zion, from what I have been able to read this morning all the Virgin River destruction was south of St. George and everything at Zion is fine.  Like yesterday the internet connection comes and goes.
We don’t have clouds like this at home so I am obligated to take pictures and show them.

I will not bother you with any more today, however I do have more.

Cathedral Gorge State Park, NV – Monday September 8, 2014

We are still at Cathedral Gorge setting out the weather.  This seemed like to be a good place to be with all the potential flooding the weather channel was talking about over the last several days.  I talked to one of the park people and he said he hoped we’d get some rain but we would not have any  flooding here in the park.
This place does have a of interesting formations.
It has been a little hot for Hank, he really wanted to play with one of these bones but it was just to warm to move.

This was the clouds a hour before it started to rain.  Started at 12:30 and lasted 15 minutes, nothing like they got in Phoenix this morning.  The ground got wet and cooled things off a bit and that’s about all the rain for now.  Still a nice day in my book.  We got some wind Sunday at dinner time with a little rain.  The wind did help to coat the inside of the motorhome with a nice layer of dust.  Still have some thunder so we may get more rain, we’ll see.

We may leave here Tuesday if the weather clears up and definitely on Wednesday.

 

 

Cathedral Gorge State Park, NV – Saturday September 6, 2014

We are still at Cathedral Gorge and the weather has been great, normal for the Southwest.  Hank and I have run the A/C a couple of times and that has been nice.
Tomorrow we are leaving to move a little further south.  Going to either Virgin River Canyon Campground a BLM area 20 miles south of St. George, Utah (into Arizona) or Sand Hollow State Park outside Hurricane, Utah.
Hank and I have been up and out each morning for a nice walk before the sun gets to high in the sky and hot.

If we end up at the Virgin River Canyon Campground I’m pretty sure we will not have cellphone coverage for a couple of days.  We will be at Zion National Park on Wednesday 9/10/2014 and we should have good coverage there.

Be well, Harry

 

 11:00 a.m. update.

Just looked at the weather maps for the hurricane which is moving north from Baja.  We’ll look at the maps again tomorrow and decide where we are going or if we’ll stay here.  South of here may get 1 to 3 inches of rain.

 

 

Rest Stop East of Austin, NV – Monday September 1, 2014

Left Vicki and Richard’s at 9:45 for parts east and south. 

I pulled into a Pony Express historical site for lunch, great place for lunch, not big enough for me to turn around in with the car in tow.  After lunch I got to unhook the car so I could backup to get back on the road.  Oh well, I hope I don’t do this to often.

This is where we spent the night.
I am here: 39 29.877 N 116 30.31 W http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.49796,-116.50517