On the Road to Lee's Ferry and Utah

THURSDAY APRIL 5 2012
DAY ONE

We are not real proud of this, but somehow we got our starting dates mixed up! We were thinking we were to begin at Zion River RV Resort on May 1st. Not so! Tuesday, our new boss, Mason, called wanting to know where we were! We were due there April 1st NOT May 1st.  Well, as things worked out, we would not have been able to make it April 1st even if we had the date right in our minds, the MotherShip was still waiting on the factory to send one last piece so the repairs could be completed on her grey tanks!  First the factory sent the wrong tanks, those had to be returned and wait for tne new ones to arrive! Finally when the new ones arrived, they were also the wrong ones but they could be adapted to fit, but it meant 2 more weeks before the factory sent the right valves. So we decided while we were waiting for parts, to get a box welded on the back of the MotherShip to carry our generator and LP gas tanks. Chuck had the generator converted to LP several years ago because we don't want to carry around gasoline!

We left T or C on Thursday, after 2 mad days of packing like crazy! We had just gotten the MotherShip back on Monday... Tuesday we got the call from Mason that we were long over due... so yesterday we left about 11am with the bed just loaded down with everything that would pile on the bed! We drove I-25N to Socorro and turned West on Highway 60... a beautiful drive through hills and mountains and small towns like Magdalina and Pie Town and slipped into Arizona about 3pm and are now camped in Springerville. Tonight we plan to be in Flagstaff, tomorrow night at Lee's Ferry and into Zion on Easter Sunday!

There won't be too many photos, I am also driving my TrailBlazer up... It costs a lot less to run around for 6 months in my TB than 6 months in Chuck's "Beastie" V-10 Ford dually! Besides...  we have sold both saddles to a place in Utah and needed the room in my SUV to carry them! The price of the saddles will more than cover the cost of extra gas used. BUT there will be photos a few sentences down taken at the beautiful Lee's Ferry on 89A in AZ,

FRIDAY APRIL 6 2012

DAY 2

We spent Thursday night in Flagstaff. Nothing exciting to report there! We stayed at the Greer RV Park on highway 89 heading out of town. We drove 3 hours north on 89, a lot of holiday traffic on that 2 lane road, but they have passing lanes every few miles so the traffic doesn't get backed up too bad!

SATURDAY APRIL 6 2012

DAY 3

After leaving Flagstaff, we followed highway 89 North until we came to the Page/Lake Powell turn-off. We took the left hand turn Highway 89A and the scenery just exploded! It was amazing! We turned right at Marble Canyon and headed down to Lee's Ferry. The campground is boondocking only and with a senior pass $6 a night! You are camped up on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River in the most amazing Canyon!

 This was at the entrance to Lee's Ferry. A lot of rafting tours take off from here headed for the Grand Canyon!

 The color of the rocks is amazing! Layers of colors!

 Chuck walking the hound Herd before we head into the park!

 There will be interesting balancing rocks along the way. Last year Chuck and I posed under this very rock with plenty of headroom to spare!

 Our campsite overlooks the Colorado River... to the right of that tree! Not bad for $6 a night! We intend to stop here on the way back when we have time to spend several days! It was a bit crowded, but not full. You must remember, this was Easter weekend!

 Sitting from the campground picnic table, we had a great unobstructed view of the canyon and the river!
Great sunset colors reflecting on the canyon walls!

 Campground at sunrise.....

 The hiking trail from the campground down to the river! To see more about Lee's Ferry... here is a link to the blog from our 2010 visit!http://www.phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/10/lees-ferry-az.html

One last photo on our way out of Lee's Ferry this morning! 3 hours later we arrived in Virgin Utah at our workamping job with Zion River RV Resort.

www.ZionRiverResort.com   We will be working here for 6 months, until October!  I will get busy and take some photos of the park, but that link above will show you much of the park! 

We did notice as we passed the Grand Canyon North Rim on Highway 89A, that it is still closed for the winter. That is one steep ride up to Jacob's Lake where you turn to go into the park! But it was a beautiful ride!!! 

Well, that's it for now, just wanted you to know we arrived in Zion safe and sound!

Happy Trails!

Geri, Chuck and the Hound Herd! 

Canyonlands National Park

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

We decided to go to Moab to visit our friends Paul and Diane Thibodeaux. If you remember we travelled together last year, from Spearfish SD, to Cody Wyoming, to Tetonia Idaho and we had a great time exploring with them! Well, they are now workamping in Moab and we decided we wanted to visit Canyonlands National Park too, and maybe Arches as well. Both are just a short distance from Moab! Paul and Diane are always fun to visit and they were only 4 hours away so off we went! The drive to Moab was views of snow capped mountains and red rock formations! We got to their campground on the Colorado River and just caught up for the first few days. It had been several months since we had seen each other.  They had to go to work, so Chuck and I took off exploring. We decided on a twofer, Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands were on the same road just a short distance from Moab. 

Highway 191 north out of Moab, is as interesting as the drive to and thru Canyonlands NP!

Merrimack and Monitor Formations

Click on image to read... this formation was on the road into the park.

A couple of old juniper?cedar? trees.

Dead Horse Point State Park,

complete with a raven to greet us!

All I can do here is share my images! It was beautiful!

This is where the Colorado and the Green River flow.

After Dead Horse Point, Chuck drove on the few more miles to Canyonlands National Park. If you have your "Geezer" card (Golden Age Pass) you get in free!

 Off on the side of the road, cacti blooming 

in yellows and magentas!

The Canyons were amazing! I have never seen anything like this. The Grand Canyon is amazing also, but very different from what we are seeing here.

 Plant Fossils in the rocks!

Click on to this image to see full size!

A beautiful view!

 By the time we made it back to the Merrimack and Monitor formations, storm clouds were building.

We have NO idea how this motor home got way up on that rock formation! Must be a road there somewhere that we missed! Click to enlarge!

Well, we didn't make it to Arches! But we will go back, Moab, Utah is a beautiful town!  We decided we wanted to go back to Torrey, Utah and this is where I sit now as I try to catch you up on our travels!  This is what Chuck and I do best, he drives, I take photographs and we know how blessed we are to be able to do this! We are also blessed to have you as friends and follow along with us!  Happy Trails!

Geri, Chuck, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar reporting from the MotherShip!