Leaving RVSue and Utah too!

I have been working on this blog for several days, BlogSpot is not co-operating! It is not letting me resize my photographs like it usually does. Grrrr!

Therefore, if you want to see the photos full size, PLEASE try clicking on it and the photograph should come up. I apologize and IF I can figure this glitch out, I will come back and resize all the images for you!

Geri

 

Leaving RVSue and Crew and Utah!

 

We had a great time.... checking out all the restaurants!  LOL! Sue loved our favorite from the Twin Bluff Cafe, Navajo Pizza - A normal Italian style pizza placed on top of Indian fry bread! Yummy!

 

Chuck loves this! Can you tell?

 

We spent 3 days at Sand Island with Sue and then moved up to Cadillac Ranch in Bluff Utah. Two of our good friends, Tim and Diana manage this campground. It's small, a bit close together, but we have never been sorry we stopped here. Cost is $25.00 per night with FHU (full hook ups) a nice shower and laundry onsite and the views are wonderful!

This year we had a special treat at Cadillac Ranch, near sunset, a flock of white face black Ibis flew into the pond at the park! Unfortunately I did not have the 300mm zoom lens on.... but you get the idea!

 

 Chuck and Sue visited the Bluff Fort while I dogsat for Bridgette and Spike!

Both Bridgette and Spike were overjoyed when Sue came home! Separation anxiety? Not much!

 

Sue isn't much for posing, but then neither am I, so we both snuck a quick snap sneaky photo of each other!

 

 

 

CAMO LIZARD!

Can you spot the lizard on this tree?

 

If you look close below, I have outlined him in red!
He/She/It was 10 to 12 inches long!

We overnighted in Chinle again, in the Cottonwood Campground at Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  The road from Bluff, Utah to Chinle is just jaw dropping beautiful! It looks totally different

depending on whether you are headed nort or south on Highway 191.  On this day, we hit the scenic roadway right after a rainstorm had passed over. Wet rocks are much more colorful than dry rocks and it was amazing!



This above shot was the beginning of a steep downhill curve and I was yelling at Chuck to slow down and still managed to snap this image through the window! The one below is just layers of colors dressing the earthmother! Shot this one out the passenger window.

 

 Below is the storm that had just passed over, giving the rocks their colorful beauty!

 

 

Always remember when driving on any Native American Reservation, it is open range... horses, cattle, sheep, goats ALL have the right of way. Please drive accordingly!

Datil Well Recreation Area Campground

We discovered this nice campground just off of Highway 60 in western NM. Just a mile or so out of
the town of Datil and down a short dirt road you will see the Visitor Center and campground on your left!

 

 A whole lot of history happened around here!

 

 

There area scenic mountains all around the campground area,

 

The sites are well spaced with a lot of foliage spaced in between. There will be $300,000 worth of improvements taking place here this year. The only problem we had was finding a level area for the MotherShip but we were assured that leveling the sites was high on the list of repairs as are showers. The pit toilets were nice though.

 

There are well marked hiking paths throughout.

 

We liked it so well, nice and cool temps, we stayed 3 nights and with our geezer pass it was $2.50 a night!
$5.00 for those of you too young for a geezer pass.

 

However, Radar was missing RVSue and the crew and so were we! It was a fun week.

 

We will be heading to Arizona to visit some good friends in the next few weeks. I promise a good blog!
Meanwhile that is it from the MotherShip Crew: Chuck, Geri, Radar and DoogieBowser! Thanks for stopping by!

Page/Lake Powell AZ

Waiting in Page AZ

It's so darned frustrating... just waiting on something you have no control over! Our Doctor  in NM is on vacation and apparently left nobody in charge for authorizing refills for prescriptions!  We started trying to get Chuck's prescription refilled while we were still in Hurricane Utah and nothing before we left. WalMart pharmacy told us they would forward it to Page as soon as the approval came through.  We stayed here in Page an extra day, called the clinic and made the request again, and still no prescription for Chuck!    :-(

Usually, when we come to the Page/Lake Powell area we camp at Wahweap Campground .  Their prices have gone sky high but it is a beautiful campground and worth every penny! 
http://phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/lake-powell-at-wahweap-campground.html
So we decided to try the more affordable Page-Lake Powell Campground on 849 Coppermine Road.


It's is $23 here for water and electric and it is a very nice campground close to the WalMart Pharmacy (should we need to run over there!)

 Page is a small town created when Glen Canyon dam was built. Much like how our hometown of Truth or Consequences NM emerged from the Elephant Butte dam!  See DoogieBowser grabbing his leash? He likes to walk himself!

 This campground is huge! As you can tell from the sign on the laundry, the main campers here are Europeans! They come in the RV rentals, Cruise America's etc.  There are at least 3 huge groups of teen tenters here also from Europe. Perfect time for the Europeans to come, the dollar is so devalued that  they can travel far on their euros and our gas is about $2 cheaper per gallon than their gas is back home. 

We are very happy where they put us in the campground. Off in a corner by ourselves. We had no close neighbors here, nice!

The east side of the campground is a huge red rock, and they have created an interesting hiking trail there.  Page-Lake Powell Campground offers an indoor pool, hot tub, exercise room, laundry and is dog friendly.

Chuck and I have the best luck in finding amazing restaurants!  In Page we found "Fiesta Mexicana" and OMG!!!!  It is amazing! (Gaelyn, they have one in Kanab!) The campground folks highly recommended this restaurant to us and we were glad they did! 

 The salsa that comes with the chips is good, but you haven't tasted good guacamole until you have tried it here!  YUM!

 Our server was Fernando, funny, friendly and delightful! He gave good service and we asked for him the next 2 nights we visited! Hey, good Mexican food is hard to find in Utah... we were making up for lost time now that we were in Arizona!

 Chuck got a chimichunga and I got chicken enchiladas with verde sauce. The servings were HUGE and very moderately priced!

The patio outside is colorful and it really feels like a happy place inside and out to enjoy your meal!
I do want to put in a word here about the folks who come from other countries and rent the motorhome RV's.  I just wish you would figure out the speed limit signs and stay on the right side of the road and not drive down the middle! Yesterday we followed a Cruise America RV for 44 miles from Mexican Hat to Bluff UT. The speed limit was posted at 65... They drove most of it over the middle line at 45mph except when going downhill! And there are several long downhill 7%-9% grades where I was wondering if they had found where the brake pedal was yet! EeeeeeK! Because of their erratic driving we opted NOT to pass them with the MotherShip but to follow with flashers on. Only 2 cars attempted to pass them and one nearly got sideswiped as the rental RV drifted over in the left lane, I don't think they ever used the rear view or side mirrors to see if anyone else was sharing the road with them! Of course I agree, the scenery from Mexican Hat to Bluff is awesome and amazing, BUT !!! Please... PAY ATTENTION!
Last night we landed in one of our favorite campgrounds, Cadillac Ranch in Bluff Utah!
Bluff is a perfect place to spend a few days or weeks just exploring the Southwest! Great location! Less than an hour to Monument Valley, http://phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/monument-valley-tour.html

or Hovenweep or Canyonlands National Parks, Moab, The Goosenecks State Park, Valley of the Gods and some of the most amazingly beautiful country America has to offer! Less than 3 hours from here is four corners and Mesa Verde National Park. Usually we just plunk ourselves down right here at the Cadillac Ranch for several days and go exploring! This part of Utah is one that will keep your jaw dragging on the ground, it is just so beautiful.... it screams "THIS is the SouthWest!" to me! It defines the American southwest better than any other place we have visited.  More later in the next blog! 
Love ya'll!
Geri, Chuck and our HoundHerd Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!