Lake Havasu City, AZ

The London Bridge

North bridge canal looking towards the lake

Lake Havasu City.  Home of the London Bridge.  Wasn't aware of that until a few days before arriving.  I was aware that a US town bought the bridge when London put it up for sale.  Just didn't know it was moved here.  The area is pretty in it's own way.  To us the mountains look like a painted canvass background.  Weather's terrific.

This place is a snow bird location.  We're here just a little early as most people don't get here until  

One of almost two dozen lighthouses on the lake

mid-to-late November.  RV parks aren't full, but they do a good business over the weekend.  The place reminds of us of Florida. Most homes appear to be ranch style with stucco siding of a pastel color and ceramic roof tiles.  AC is by evaporator cooling.  Still, it is in the desert.  The sand seems the same as Florida.  Landscaping is typically rock

with drought resistant vegetation.  Grass looks out of place.

One of the reasons we're here is to get the trailer serviced and have a roof mounted satellite TV antenna added.  Sunshine RV is the dealer that helped us with our bedroom slide-out issue last year over the phone and got us going so we could get back to DRV in Indiana and get a complete fix.  Since they treated us so well last year, we thought we'd come back to them with our business. We have a Good Sam Extended Service Plan (ESP) for the trailer and finding it's pretty much useless.  Even the service manager at Sunshine RV is scratching his head over our claim rejection (which was pre-approved before we got here as was having Sunshine RV do the warranty work.)  Good Sam was an excellent club when we joined them in the early 1990s.  We thought so much of them that we became lifetime members of the club.

However, we're finding that service has deteriorated.  Two years ago we went to Coach Net as our emergency road service due to    

View from Waldo's BBQ

the complaints on the various RV forums about the Good Sam Emergency Road Service.  Now this problem with ESP surfaces. There is an appeal process, but I'm not giving it much hope.  It may be time to cancel the Lifetime  membership, too.  They've become a lot like AARP - more oriented to selling you stuff than providing useful services.

 While I'm on things not working, Lake Havasu City is not know as a Verizon Wireless town.  Within the last couple of months, Verizon was able to obtain 3G Extended Service here.  While it's great as cell phone service, data is hit-n'-miss and more miss than hit.  If you're coming here with a Verizon mifi or smart phone hotspot, don't look for good data service here.

Anyway, our first week here was great.   The new satellite antenna is working fine (though every time I start playing with the control box, I always manage to send the antenna into the stow position.  It's good entertainment for others in the campground, I'm sure.  I can hear it now - "Oh, look Martha, there he goes again...")  We're still awaiting a new over-the-air TV antenna for the trailer and get it installed before leaving.  And we'll probably get the shock absorbers replaced on the truck while we're here, too.  Later, David

Looking from the campground west across the Colorado River to California

Williams, AZ

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Grand Canyon Train departs for the Canyon

Williams, AZ.  Last Route 66 town by-passed by I-40.  One of the neatest little towns we've stopped in over the past two years.  This year it was to get the truck service and spend more time in Williams.  And if time permitted, see some of Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.  We were lucky.  Sometimes you get the truck back in a couple of hours.  Sometimes in four days.  This stop was the two hour variety.  So we spent some time in Flagstaff and then moved on to the Grand Canyon.

Mather Point Lookout

My last visit to Grand Canyon was with my parents either in 1963 or 1964.  Donna was here in 1968.  My only memories are of the Desert View Watch Tower and the campground near there.  Today, the Grand Canyon South Rim shows a lot of influence by a Disney Imagineer.  Major paths are paved and rarely straight.  You move about the south rim via a shuttle system with interior overhead advertisements specific to the national park.  Though busy, the park seemed very clean.

One of hundreds of views from the South Rim Trail

The weather was great this week, so our views were outstanding.  We overheard a tour guide estimate visibility in excess of 85 miles.  We took advantage where ever we could.  If you look at the 350+ pictures we took, all pictures of the canyon seem to be the same.  But as we walked various portions of the south rim, each turn seemed to give a new perspective. 

Phantom Ranch

The south rim walks are easy and most of it is handicapped accessible.  Our first day was just along the south rim and the Trail of Time.  The second day was on the Greenway Trail.  The Greenway Trail is the last portion of the old 1912 Hermits Road - now paved, handicapped and bicycle accessible.  And for nine months of the year, only accessible by shuttle bus.  We really enjoyed both days.  May try to visit the north rim the next time we're in this area.

Desert View Watch Tower

 As always, Williams, AZ is fun.  We found a new, hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint: The Singing Pig.  You have two choices for dinning:  1) the noisy saloon or 2) the trough - a long table with eight to ten chairs on each side.  The trough is best for conversation.  We spent over two hours there just talking after dinner.  Once people realized Donna and I are full-time RVers, the questions just kept coming.  I've learned those questions center on two areas: 1) logistics - how do you get

View of the Colorado River from the Greenway Trail

mail, do banking, doctors, dentist, etc and 2) which is better - motor home or fifth wheel trailer?  We answer as best we can and keep going. 

So that's a recap of our week.  Tomorrow we move to Lake Havasu City, AZ -  home to the London Bridge.  Current plans are to have the trailer serviced there and hang out through Thanksgiving.  At least that's the plan.

Later, David

Old Locomotive Display at the Grand Canyon Railroad Depot

Petrified Forest Natl Park

Newspaper Rock

Painted Desert Inn - Route 66 Historic Site

 We safely made it down to Holbrook, AZ from Colorado Springs with stops in Las Vegas, NM and Grants, NM.  Today was visit Petrified Forest National Park day. While the park service notes that most people visit it in one to four hours, we spent close to six.  We walked four of the seven total trails getting just over 3 miles of walking in. 

I remember my first trip here with my parents, and I was disappointed as I expected a large stand of rock trees - none of this laying on the ground stuff.

CCC painted glass in the Painted Desert Inn ceiling

Today was a much more pleasant visit as we knew what to expect and were able to plan somewhat ahead the stops we wanted to make.  For those of you not familiar with this park, it's another part of the "Badlands" of the west.  Unique to this park is the Painted Desert that runs from the Grand Canyon to south of I-40.  Now add to this one of the greatest concentrations of petrified wood in the world. 

Crystal Forest walk

Then mix in some Pueblo ruins plus a significant amount of petroglyphs and you get Petrified Forest National Park.  Hopefully the pictures give you a good feel for what we saw.

We had planned to move to Williams, AZ tomorrow, but we've got some weather coming in.  So we're gonna spend an extra day here in Holbrook as the front passes through.  Freezing precipitation and 50 mph winds in and around Flagstaff being predicted for

Crystal Forest walk

tomorrow just didn't seem to be an ideal traveling day.  Other than dirty truck and trailer, we'd probably been OK, but why do that if you don't have to?  Anyway, the hardest part was changing the reservations at Williams, AZ.  Seems there's another set of Drivers there next week, and they kept mixing us up.  Then add in that android smart phones are, apparently, poor cell phones and it got a little frustrating.  For example, dial a number with my smart phone and

Blue Mesa walk

I get a phone message that it's a bad phone number.  Use Donna's cell phone and the call goes through.  Yes, that builds a lot of confidence in your cell phone provider!

Anyway, here we sit in Holbrook, AZ until Saturday.  Then we move over to Williams, AZ for a week.   As always, that's the plan until it changes.  Later, David

Blue Mesa walk

Crystal Forest walk

Crystal Forest walk

Colorado Springs, CO

Donna, Avery, Barb

Sunday morning view from Garden of the Gods Campground

We've had a great visit with Barb & Avery while here in Colorado Springs.  Yep, seven years is just way too long between visits.  We'll have to do this way more often.

While we've seen most of the sights of Colorado Springs, it was good to be back for a few days.  Our weather was a little cooler than expected plus the "frozen precipitation" & low clouds hung around a little longer than the local meteorologists expected.  It happens - it just seems to happen to meteorologists more often than the rest of us! 

Anyway, we survived and had a beautiful Sunday to show for it.  Donna, Barb, & Avery got in some shopping time.  I got to go to Camping World and buy them out (and spend all day Saturday watching football).  And we found this neat little restaurant called "The Mason Jar".  Speaking of "The Mason Jar" - is it just me, or does anyone else think it strange that Cracker Barrel sells "Yankee" Candles?  Think about it.  Cracker Barrel specializes in cornbread, fried okra, and chicken dumplings.  And then sells something with the word "Yankee" in it?

But I digress.  If all goes well, we move to Las Vegas (New Mexico) tomorrow.  Tuesday it's on to Grants, NM, and Wednesday is suppose to be Holbrook, AZ for a couple of days and a short visit to Petrified Forest Natl Park/Painted Desert.  Friday we move to Williams, AZ for a week to have the truck serviced and a day or two in Grand Canyon Natl Park with a side trip to Meteor Crater.  At least that's the plan.  Later, David 

No trip to Colorado Springs is complete with out a visit to Garden of the Gods State Park.

Rocky Mountain Natl Park

View east from Deer Mt Summit Trail

We've had a great stay here at the Elk Meadow Lodge & RV Park this week.  We skipped the RMNP for the weekend due to crowds.  Instead we, and gazillions more, attended the Elk Fest at Estes Park.  The little town was busting with people.  All parking was taken.  So we drove down to the hotel by the marina, ate lunch, and walked back into town.  We had a good time plus Donna found her a quaint  little knitting shop.  So now she's back into knitting.  It's coming back slowly to her, and a two hour visit yesterday with the "knit doctor" has helped.  Oh, and we have definitely enjoyed the Elk!

Anyway, we went back into the park Monday and Tuesday.   We took the Trail Ridge Road up to the Alpine Visitor Center and had lunch.  We also walked the Tundra Trail.  I felt like I'd shoved snow clear off our driveway back in Fredericksburg when we had finished that one mile trail.  Unfortunately, we won't make it to the Colorado headwaters which would have been a great event given we've gotten to the Mississippi & Missouri headwaters this year.

Yep, a little cool on the Tundra Trail

Yesterday, we took a stroll along the Deer Mountain Summit Trail.  It's a six mile round trip to the summit - which we didn't do. Instead, we walked the trail for about an hour just enjoying the views.  The angle of the sun along the trail was perfect to light up the aspens and made for several great pictures - two of which start this blog post.

So, today is our last day here in Estes Park. We may go back into town for a meal and walk around Estes Lake one more time.  No matter what we choose to do, we will fill the truck with diesel and bring the water hoses back inside the trailer as we'll experience our first hard freeze tonight since Voyageurs Natl Park.

Alpine lake from the Tundra Trail

Tomorrow, if everything works, we'll move to Garden of the Gods Campground at Colorado Springs for the weekend and, hopefully, a visit with Barbara Welton.  Our plans to camp at the Air Force Academy didn't work out as they have a home game this weekend.  Wait list was 22 rigs long.  As we're fans of Garden of the Gods State Park, and if we're lucky, we may find ourselves within walking distance of that park from the campground we'll stay at.  If not, we're close and hope to take advantage of it.

Mushroom Rocks, Tundra Trail

As always, that's the plan - until something changes.  Later, David

Deer Mt Summit Trail view