Day 47 Zion National Park

We are still camped at Zion. Yesterday we drove thru the scenic canyon, that is normally closed to private vehicles. During the summer months only free shuttle buses run. We took about a 3 mile hike to the Emerald pools. It was quite a strenuous, but beautiful hike. We took lots of pictures of all the beautiful, rugged mountains and cliffs. Later we watched rock climbers coming down a mountain. It was very interesting watching thru binoculars. It was a man and woman team. At one point their rope was caught and the man had to climb back up about 200 ft. to free it. They finally made it down OK. The weather is great here.

Day 46 Glen Canyon Dam/ Lake Powell

We left Page, AZ yesterday and drove around the areas where we could see Glen Canyon dam and Lake Powell. It is really a beautiful lake, but the water level is very low. Later we wound up at Zion National Park. We went through a tunnel that we were too wide for, and had to pay and extra $15 for an escort thru the tunnel. They had to stop the traffic from the other direction so the larger vehicles can go thru the center of the tunnel. We are at the Watchman campground. We were surprised to find electric hookups at a National Park, and with our Golden Age Passport the price is only half price at $9. Our pass also gets us the entrance fee free, normally $25. Good news, I now have Sprint internet service and can send pictures. The last 4 pictures were taken at Lee's Ferry.

Day 45 Page, AZ

We left Lee's Ferry yesterday and went to Page, AZ. We had to hit the Walmart and restock supplies. I had a slow leak in one of the tires, so had to get that fixed at Walmart too. It was leaking around the valve stem. They said it was caused by rust on the rim. By that time it was almost 1:30 so we found a campground in Page. It was the first electric hookup we had since Laughlin. It gave us a chance to recharge all the batteries. I got to fill a propane tank this morning, then we will be on the road. Sorry no pictures here either. I got a strong signal, but as I am roaming on another network and not Sprint, it has a slow download speed (100K) and hardly any upload speed (1K). Maybe things will improve futher on.

Day 44 More Lee's Ferry

We are still camped on the hill overlooking the Colorado river at Lee's Ferry. Yesterday we hiked up Glen canyon and saw the historic ruins of the old Ferry service. There was also the remains of a steamboat which had sank and what was left of a gold mining operation. We walked thru Lonely Dell ranch looking at all the historic remain of buildings, etc. We also sat along the shore watching the commercial raft trips ending their 15 mile trip from Glen canyon dam. In the morning we also saw the individual rafters leave on their long and very dangerous trip thru the Grand Canyon. It is all rigidly controlled by rangers. There is only so many allowed per day. We only counted 8 rafts and 3 kayaks. They say that you may have to wait for as long as 10 years for a chance to go down the river. We have taken a lot of pictures, sorry can't send any, it still don't work.

Day 43 Lee's Ferry

We left Grand Canyon yesterday and drove to Lee's Ferry. It is 15 miles below Glen Canyon Dam. This is a spectacular campground with a great view of the Colorado river. We will probably be here several days. This place is where they launch and retrieve rafts. Years ago there was a ferry here to cross the river. We seen a coyote walking just below where we are camped. Last night we also watched and took pictures of the full moon. I have been told that last night was full moon, not the night before. We will probably do some hiking along the river today.

Day 42 Leaving Grand Canyon

It has been great here, but time to move on. Yesterday we spent more time taking walks along the canyon rim. Last night a ranger gave a full moon talk on the canyon rim at Mather Point. We was supposed to go for a ranger walk also, but that was called off when maybe 200 people showed up. They said it would not be safe. Barb and I walked by ourselves for about a mile along the canyon rim in the moonlight. The canyon was really fairly bright in the light of the moon. It was spectacular. We plan to head in the direction of Glen Canyon dam and Utah today.

Day 41 Enjoying Grand Canyon

We got to move soon I am running out of blog titles. The weather is so great now and we are really enjoying this place that we hate to move on. It is in the 70's now with crystal clear skies. The moon is almost full so at night it even lights up the canyon, so beautiful. This is a national park campground so there is no electricity or showers. It is only $9 a night with our national parks Golden Age Passport, but we paid to take showers yesterday and it was $1.75 each for 5 minutes. At noon we were eating lunch at the picnic table, and the chickadees and nuthatches were flying around very close. I put crunched peanuts on my hand and the birds would set on my hand and eat. In the afternoon we rode the free buses along the canyon rim and seen the places we had not been before. We saw a bald eagle and the pack mules on the trail. Taking lots of pictures, sorry can't send any.

Day 40 Still more Grand Canyon

We are still at the Grand Canyon at Mather campground, and planning to stay another day. We have to renew our campsite by 11 am. It is now about 10 am wednesday. Yesterday we started out walking the rim east, but by the time we got to first place where there was a bus stop, there was no food available, and being hungry we took the bus back to central village to eat. At 3 pm we watched the ranger program about the California Condors. We talked to her and found out she was from Oak Harbor, OH. We did not see any Condors. The previous day we saw one setting on a ledge. Later we took another bus west to the end of the line and watched sunset. We caught the last bus back to village and went to a resturant to eat supper, but there was an 1.5 hr. wait so we went back to camper. Still have problem sending pictures.

Day 39 More Grand Canyon

Yesterday we left camp at about 11 am and walked the mile to the rim of canyon. We then proceeded to walk west on the rim trail taking a lot of pictures and looking at all the beautiful scenery before us. We ate lunch at Grand Canyon village, and proceeded on west unill about 5 pm. They have shuttle buses that go along the road and make 8 stops in about 7 miles. We were getting tired and it was getting on to sunset so we caught a bus and went back to the village. I think we walked about 4.5 miles along the rim trail. We had supper and took another bus back to camper. Sorry we have a lot of great pictures but this connection is too poor to send any.

Day 38 Grand Canyon

We are at the south rim of Grand Canyon at a campground called Mather. We was going to go to the new Skywalk at Grand canyon west, but changed minds after we found out it was many miles of stone road that is very rough. Last night we rode the bikes down to the rim trail, took a few pictures before dark. I been having a lot of trouble posting my blog. Worked for several hours last night trying to connect properly. I think I got it working now. It is pretty cold here, after our heat wave at Laughlin. It was 32 degrees last night. A few minutes ago I had my connection device up on the roof of camper, and a raven came along and tried to steal it. I will try to add pictures later, I am sending this while it still works.

Days 36 & 37 Laughlin, Nevada

We are still in Laughlin for one more day. Have been eating too much. We go to a breakfast buffet in the morning and a dinner buffet in the evening. As for exercise we sometimes walk a long way to the buffet as there are many casino's here to choose from. Friday nite they all had the seafood buffet, so it was hard to choose which casino. I don't know if we picked the best one, but the one we tried was great. We stuffed ourself's with shrimp, snow crab, etc. The slot machines have not been very kind too us. It is very hot here, over 90. In the pictures, the first on casino drive, we are camped on the right side. The second is the view of Arizona (across the river) if you are on the roof of our camper. The Riverside casino has several rooms of car collections. I spent some time in there taking pictures. The last picture is a vehicle that belonged to John Wayne. Tomorrow we head for Grand Canyon west and the new Skywalk.

Days 34 & 35 Laughlin, Nevada

I'll just combine 2 days, that will maybe take care of missing a day. We got into Laughlin, Nevada about 5 PM yesterday. Got tired of California and the coast and thought we would try to dry out a little in the desert. There is beautiful clear weather here and temperatures in low 80's. Laughlin, Nevada is a row of casinos along the Colorado river. Last night we went to the Joe Diffie show. It was very good. After that we hit the slot machines. Barb put 3 quarters in a machine and won 15 quarters. We quit while we were ahead and went back to the camper and bed. We are camped at the Riverside Casino RV park which is right across from the Riverside casino that started it all in Laughlin. This morning we ate breakfast at the Edgewater Casino. Had to wait in line 15 min, lots of people out here. Later today we hope to take the complete river walk which goes about a mile between the casinos and the river, and eat supper at one of the buffets. In the first picture is a large number of windmills. This is only a small section of a large wind mill farm. The second picture is where we are camped, and staying for a second night.

Day 33 Hearst Castle

Left the campsite this morning and first thing we saw was the Hawk on the sign. We went on to visit Hearst Castle. It was an amazing and fantastic tour. The tour lasted 1 hour and 15 min. Then there was a 30 min. movie. They have 4 different tours of the castle. They cost $20 each. We just took tour 1. Took about a 100 pictures, here is a small sample. We left the castle about 2 pm and headed east after having about enough of the coast. We are staying at a campground in Bakersfield, CA tonight.

D32 Big Sur area

I took a walk down the beach to look and take pictures of the old cement ship that was at the end of the pier. It was about a 100 ft. long. We left our beautiful beach front campsite and continued on down the coast on highway 1. From Monterey CA. to San Simeon the scenery is fantastic. We seen beautiful vistas around every bend in the road. We came to another area along the coast where there were hundreds of sea lions. and later we seen 9 California Condors at the same time. When we got to San Simeon there was hundreds of Elephant seals in the water and laying on the beach. We got a campsite at San Simeon State Park. This one did have pay showers, but no electric.


Elephant Seals





Sea Lions (Try to count them, don't count rocks)




Ocean vista



California Condors



Historic Bixby bridge (built 1932)

Day 31 Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

We left China camp state park at about 9:30 Sunday morning. Our intention was to cross the Golden Gate bridge into San Francisco before traffic was bad. Instead of going straight on through without stopping as was the original plan, I turned on some side streets to get to the Golden gate park below the bridge. We found a good parking place and went walking. I even walked out on the bridge. We spent several hours taking pictures and browsing around. It was really terrific even if there was fog. We left the bridge and drove around quite a while getting lost trying to get back to highway 1. Found it after one of many wrong turns through a park where they were having an old car show cruise in. Headed south looking for a campsite. Found one just south of Santa Cruz. It is Seacliff state beach. It is very nice on the beach, but without any hookups, or showers, water, or dump station. All that for $33 per night. We thought being Sunday night that we would have no problems finding a site. We found out that the camp sites are hard to get unless you make a reservation. Everyplace is so crowded out here. Went in grocery store, could hardly get through the aisles, and the parking lot was full. On top of that prices are pretty high. Paid 3.30 a gallon for gas. In the pictures, the first is us driving on bridge, third is city skyline, fourth is Alcatraz.

Day 30 Point Reyes

Today we left highway 101 at Petaluma, CA. and headed for Point Reyes. It was a very scenic drive, but we must have negotiated 500 turns and twists and up and down and around hills on a rough narrow road. All this and we were only about 40 miles northwest of San Francisco. The road was also full of bicyclist. We finally made it to Point Reyes Lighthouse. It was a beautiful cloudless day. The view of the ocean, beaches, hill, and rocks was fantastic. They said we were very lucky because they get a lot of fog, wind, rain, and cold. On the way back to 101 we stopped at Stinson beach where the movie The Fog was filmed and walked on the beach. We left there and followed highway 1 back to 101. This stretch of highway followed the ocean's edge about 300 feet in the air, and had another 200 curves and up, down, narrow with more bicycles, cars, and motorcycles. Made it back to 101 and found a state park called China camp. It is for tenters, but they will let RV's stay for only 1 night with no electric or anything in a parking lot. All this for $20. The private campgrounds are few and far between and they charge about $50 this close to San Francisco. Tomorrow we head for the Golden Gate bridge and beyond. One picture is all you get tonight, very weak internet connection.

Day 29 Barb in tree

Today we drove about 200 miles down highway 101 to Windsor, CA where we are camped. Nothing too much happened today. We did however pull off the highway at a sign that said "Drive through the big tree." I paid my $5.00 and proceeded to the Chandelier tree. In the first picture you see me heading through. In the second picture, I am backing up to go around. I am very disappointed it doesn't fit. The third picture needs no explanation.

Day 28 Redwood National Park,California

We left our beautiful beach front campsite this morning and headed down the coast. The rain had held off, but it was very cloudy. We made numerous stops on the way, taking many pictures. The first is Arch rock, and the third is the largest island off the Oregon coast. It is home to many birds, among them is the Tufted Puffin. Later we crossed the border into California, and right away were disappointed. Everything changed, in the way of increased traffic, and more development. The gas prices jumped from the low of 2.79 I had paid in Oregon to 3.35 per gallon. We found out that we had been spoiled by scenic Oregon. We went through Redwood State and National Park. Found out that National Pack sections pertained if you went off road and backpacked into the wilderness. All the California public campgrounds were state park without hookups and still 18.00 per night. In Oregon the state parks are 16.00 with full hookups. The last picture is called "Big Tree" a redwood. It is 23 ft. diameter. We are camped in a private campground tonight, the Emerald Forest in Trinidad, California. The forecast calls for more rain tonight and tomorrow. Its following us.

Day 27 Face Rock, Oregon coast

After the not too good day yesterday, today was a fantastic one. The first picture was sunset beach across the road from the campground. From there is was go north back to highway 101, or continue south on a dead end road. We knew that there was a lighthouse out there so south it was. We were sure in for a shock because at the end of the road we discovered 100's of sea lions. It was great watching and taking pictures of all of them. A little further down the road we seen gray whales, or I should say " Barb seen them first". They were spouting water, but they didn't come out of water too far. We had one sorta good whale picture but it didn't make the blog. We had so many good pictures of the scenery, it was hard to decide. In another picture if you look for it you will see a face. It is called Face Rock. The last picture is of our great campground called Arizona beach campground. That is where we are camped tonight.

Day 26 Coos Bay, Oregon

This post comes a little late. Last night we had no internet access. Yesterday started out great, it wasn't rainging for a change and we took a hike on one of the tallest sand dunes in Oregon. After that we headed south for Coos Bay where there was a Walmart. We needed to resupply. Walmarts are very rare so we have to try to hit the cities where we know they are. We couldn't find it. Finally went to information center. We found out where Walmart was and in the process the women talked us into going to myrtlewood factory for a tour. They said that this is the only place in the U.S. that the mytlewood tree grows. They make bowls, clocks, ornaments, etc, and even golf putters. It was very interesting. After we visited Walmart we went to Sunset Bay State park for the night. By this time it had started raining hard. Set up camp, tried to set up dish for TV, no luck too many trees. Then I discovered there was no cell tower close enough, so no internet, no blog. Read a book and went to bed. I will tell you more tomorrow.

Day 25 Spouting Horn, Oregon Coast

We are still slowly moving down the Oregon coast. Yesterday we made 85 miles, today 42. It was a beautiful cloudy day, without rain. Forget about seeing any sun, we are just happy when it doesn't rain. There is so many fantastic scenic thrills awaiting around every bend in the road. We keep stopping to go exploring. The pictures are as follows. The first photo is called Devils Churn. It was formed many years ago, by the sea going into a small crack in the rocks. Eventually it cut a huge grove through the rock. The second photo is called Spouting Horn. What happens here is the waves rush through an opening in the rocks, and shoots out a large ocean geyser followed by the sound of a horn. The height of spray and noise depend on amount of water rushing in. They say it is really loud during a storm. I took the third photo thinking it was going to rain soon. It didn't rain that time. The lighthouse is called Heceta Head lighthouse. It has the most powerful lens on west coast, that can be seen for 22 miles. This lighthouse is still in service and if you look close at the photo you can see the light which blinks every 10 seconds.This photo was taken at the spot where they take calendar photos of this lighthouse. It is up to 62 degrees tonight, and if this keeps up and Ohio's temperature goes down like it is supposed to we may even be warmer here. It is supposed to rain a lot with high winds tomorrow, so we may not get far. We are camped in a National Forest campground tonight.