Random ramblings from 4500 feet, Sedona in Arizona

We were in Sedona, Arizona, at the city park, surrounded by gorgeous red rock formations. It’s a light travel day, so we are doing our routine “quiet time” after lunch. Tessa stopped napping a few months ago, and while we were living a more routine life in Berkeley, getting some alone/quiet time in during the day was easier to do. Not so easy to do while you are traveling about 5,000 miles in 6 weeks time.

We tell Tessa this is time to recharge your batteries. She knows all about batteries, and knows when they are discharged, you run out of energy (hey, it happened again a few nights ago, as we had run the heater since late afternoon due to freezing temps after a snow storm near Flagstaff.  Because this is a trial season with our RV, we decided to not make any electrical upgrades like adding battery capacity, but it’s on the ‘to do’ list for next season).

That quiet day time is also important for Tod and me, as we get to do some of our own things that don’t involve playing/interacting with our 3.5 yrs old. We do end up playing with her more than when we travel by boat.  One of the differences I have noticed between our RV travel and our boat travel is the people we have met. While we have been lucky that we have met 3 interesting traveling RV/camper families, in general we have not connected much with other Rv'ers, and we for sure miss that connection. To be fair, we are traveling outside the main travel season here in the US, where in Mexico we cruise during prime time, so the chance to meet people you connect with are higher. Even when there were no cruising families around, we met fun and interesting sailing couples, and enjoyed spending time together. Boaters tend to be a social bunch, and a wave while passing underway, or chat while sharing an anchorage is more common than not (or talking on the VHF radio at night when you see a boat close by). We have not experienced that same ease of contact while traveling with our RV.

As the blog title says, just ramblings. Just ask me again next RV season.

As you can see from the pictures, no more snow storms for us, but heat from the dessert near Phoenix. No more off season for RV'ing this far south either, as we got one of the last spots in Lost Dutchman State Park near Phoenix. Two more days here , then we leave Betsy in Phoenix for 2 weeks to fly to Tod’s parents in Ohio. Early December we will be back in Phoenix and drive Betsy to Bliss in Mexico for another cruising season.

awning out for the 1st time in Lost Dutchman State Park

Lake Pleasant County Park, 45 miles north from Phoenix

boon docking "anchoring" outside Sedona

we stopped at interesting visitor center of Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona

Warmer? Not so, but so much Canyon beauty!

This morning Tessa and I stayed in our bed, covered under the blankets, while Tod drove us out of our dry camp spot covered in light snow. The road was unpaved, we were 12 miles from Bryce Canyon in Utah, and during the night our house battery got discharged enough that we couldn't use our heater any more. Outside it was well below freezing. No need to feel sorry for us -- well OK, you can feel sorry for Tod, as he got up, while we were cozy in bed. He drove for 20 min, while we had the heater blasting again getting Betsy cozy inside, and 30 minutes later we ate pancakes while enjoying a great view.

Since we left Montana, we have seen temperatures of 70 degrees (21 C) in Provo, Utah (unusually warm we heard), to 15 degrees (-9 C) at night near Bryce. But weather doesn't matter that much when you are surrounded by the incredible beauty of Utah. We visited Capital Reef National Park, and did a great hike with Tessa. Unfortunately our camera stopped working....We drove on to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, and stayed at a simple camp ground right inside the canyon (Calf Creek).  At one point Betsy was really struggling going up the hills. No wonder, as we got to summit of 9,850 feet (3,000 m) on Boulder Mountain, the tallest summit we passed with our RV.  The drive along Highway 12 from Capitol Reef to Bryce was quite wonderful, with multiple different breathtaking landscapes.  In Bryce it was cold enough that Jolanda & Tessa stayed close to Betsy while Tod did a quick hike/run into the canyon (and played with taking pictures in "Vivid Color" mode... you can tell which photos those are!)

We are now in Zion National Park, and unlike other places, it's busy here ( I don't want to think what high season looks here)! The campgrounds in park is full, so we are staying 1 mile outside the park in a RV park . Warmer weather (55F), and a long holiday weekend must be some of the reasons, plus the fact that it's the last weekend for the trolley here that takes you on roads that no regular traffic can go. Another great hike for us three today, and it's really fun to see Tessa hiking up and down, and enjoying it.

beautiful Bryce Canyon NP on a sunny day 

The snow in Bryce made the colors stand out even more

up, up, up hill in Zion

At the top of hike in Zion - Upper Emerald Pool

Betsy just outside park at Capitol Reef NP

The drive between the parks on SR-12 Scenic Byway is stunning too

Messing around on rocks at our campsite in Escalante NM

Tod & Tessa climbing up rocks  at our campsite in Escalante NM... can you find them?  You will need to zoom!

panoramic view along Highway 12

Yellowstone, just in time!

We are really stretching traveling during the “shoulder season” up north: camp grounds are closing a day after we leave (or shut off the water for the season), roads are about to close. So far, we have been really lucky with the weather. The drive up to Yellow Stone was beautiful. Tod and I both visited the world’s first National Park independently decades ago, and I forgot how huge it is.  Just when you are happy to arrive at the West Entrance, it is still 60 miles to the only campground open in the South this time of the year, Lewis Lake.  We saw our first bison and elk on our drive south, and also the first snow. Not much snow, but we can imagine it piling up here in the winter. Fortunately 2 visitor centers were still open, and Tessa enjoys visiting these centers a lot (especially when there are movies playing!). On our second day, we waited for the old Faithful geyser to erupt (the famous geyser of this park, but Yellowstone has many others, and has the most geysers in the world), then drove out to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River with waterfalls.  Our second night in the northern part of the park, Mammoth Hot Springs, was warmer, but not so warm that we wanted to go out for a long hike, just a short visit to see the terraces composed of travertine.

Once we made the decision to visit Yellowstone, we called our cruising friends of s/v Believe, Sherilyn and George, in Bozeman, Montana north of Yellowstone to see if they were home. Spending time with them was great, and we are looking forward to see them again in a few months in Mexico. They recommended to us to visit the Museum of the Rockies in their town, and boy, are we glad we did! This museum has a huge exhibit of dinosaurs of different eras, the largest one on display was about 38’ long!  With many interactive displays and films about the discovery of the dinosaurs in this area, combined with a special kids section, makes this museum well worth a visit.

Sherilyn knows how to make a girl happy, and made these for Tessa, now
we can hear here everywhere she goes

Time to move south now, as the weather is changing!  As we came south past the west side of Yellowstone park we encountered a bit of snow that was starting to stick on the roads, so we were happy that we didn’t stay any longer in Montana.  With our LPG heater we are staying warm, but outside play is a bit more restricted, and that’s what we like to do.

change of scenery: after long drive, we arrived in Bear Lake State Park, Idaho

Some stats: we have done more than the 3500 miles, and also crossed the $1000 level for gas (yikes). Camping fees for the month of October, mostly state and national parks and forests, average $14/day (off season rates). You can spend way more when you choose RV parks with full electricity, water and sewer hook-ups, but we tend not to like RV parks.  The most expensive overnight stay was $35 in a RV park in Vancouver (well worth its cost due the location).  To dump our grey and black water tanks, and fill up our water tanks for showers and dishes, we use a handy app on our phone that locates places all along the US. LPG for our heater, fridge and stove is readily available everywhere we went so far.