November Camping Trip - Utah and Arizona

 We decided to go "Chasing 75"again!  That's 75 degrees.  We left after a big snow and drove right through New Mexico to spend 4 weeks in Arizona and Utah.  We spent just one night in NM because they are closed to visitors due to high Covid numbers.  

We followed the weather, with our first stop at Petrified Forest Nat'l Park, then going to Phoenix, AZ area and Lake Pleasant (loved it, kayaked a lot and rode on mtn. bike trails) for one week, and got to visit my friend Madeline for election night and the next day at her beautiful home in Sun City. We hiked at Cave Creek area, rode bikes on a river trail, explored.

Then went north to Sedona area, including camping at Dead Horse Ranch State Park (with good bike trails) and a visit to Tuzigoot National Monument. Weather got better so we headed to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, to Zion and Bryce Nat'l Parks in Utah, to Lake Powell at Page, AZ, and amazing slot canyons.

Then we went south again to Roosevelt Lake, east of Phoenix to hike and kayak (chilly).  And from there, due to cold weather, headed back through NM to get home.  What a great trip!  We got to bike, hike, kayak, and see amazing scenery.  We loved southern Utah.

Again we learned SO MUCH about our camper.  We realize we need more battery power since we like to be off the grid more than in a campground with power.  Scott and I are good about putting our heads together to figure out the issues that arise.  A good time was had by all!

Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell, near Paige AZ

Access by land with a Navajo guide was closed due to Covid, so we blew up our kayaks and paddled 1.5 miles to get to the canyon, then hiked.  Colors and formations were spectacular!

Our favorite campsite was Beehive, above Lake Powell, with no services.  Here we hiked on the "New Wave" rock formation with beautiful lines and colors and no other people.  We tried 5 times but never got chosen for The Wave lottery from Kanab. 

At Bryce National Park, UT.  It's so beautiful there but we saw plenty of other people on the Queen's Garden trail.  I love love love Bryce.

Angel's Landing hike up up up at Zion National Park.  We did not do the steep top section with chain to hang on to.  It was slick and I'm a wimp about heights.  What a beautiful hike!

a mule train in the Grand Canyon on Kaibab trail.

We did a good amount of biking and most of it was difficult for us.  These trails

These Arizona trails with so many cactus were mostly fun and somewhat challenging.  The trails around Lake Pleasant were tough but we saw few people on them.  

Tuzigoot National Monument, built by early people of stones, near Sedona, AZ.

A view in Sedona, AZ.  We hiked at the Bell/Rock Courthouse area, spent Scott's birthday in Jerome, and enjoyed incredible scenery and outdoor activities.  Sedona itself is crowded but worth hanging out in its outdoor areas.

At Lake Powell area, short and crowded hike to Horseshoe bend.  

We camped at Carefree Manor (months long residents there) on the weekend because we couldn't find any campsites (near Phoenix).  We laugh about it but it was clean, cheap, with a good laundry and great showers.

Did a good amount of kayaking on Lake Pleasant and loved it there.

We loved the cactus.  These are teddy bear and there were huge sugauro and prickly pear and others we couldn't name.  Loved them from a distance.

Petrified Forest National Park.  We tried to go there two years but it closed because Trump let the government shut down.  So we finally got there and it was very interesting!

Our birthdays, Christmas, Stats, Goodbye 2020

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, I'm 64.....?

Scott got to spend his November birthday in Arizona!  We stayed Dead Horse Ranch State Park and went to the small mountain town of Jerome for a few hours.  We had a nice picnic lunch and were going to get Mexican food that evening but after a long hike, we were too tired.  So we got it a few nights later in Kanab, Utah.  Happy Birthday, Scott!  Level 6.4 is going to be awesome.

My birthday was in Colorado, after we got home.  We invited our friends Terri & Kent over to celebrate all of our birthdays, as we do together every year, since their birthdays are in November.  With Covid numbers going up, it was an outdoor celebration.  

Dinner was low country boil (shrimp, crab legs, sausage, potatoes, and corn in a delicious broth).  Scott made it in a big pot on our outdoor grill.  We ate at separate tables on our screened in patio with space heaters and blankets.  Then we moved to the back deck with a wood fire, gas heater, and our blankets to continue our visit.  It was cold out!  But we wanted to get together and sadly, that was the responsible way to do it.

Coffee after my birthday run with my Dirty Girlz

Outdoor dinner for our 4 birthdays with blankets and space heaters.  

Scott and I did not visit family for Christmas because of Covid.  My niece and her family all had it just before Christmas so my sister's celebration didn't happen anyway.  Scott's mom got together with family at his brother's but we decided not to be there.  We had appetizers at home for Christmas Eve - including an outdoor fire and our new fave celebration food - bacon wrapped hot dogs.

For Christmas we video visited with our families and then went on a bike ride because the weather was decent.  It was a fine day with a surf (lobster) and turf dinner and some driving to see outdoor light displays.  This didn't feel like Christmas much but we don't want covid and we don't want to contribute to the problem of over-crowding at hospitals.

Loveland lights with Terri & Kent.  We viewed Christmas lights several times for something to do.

Santa brought Scott's grandkids and each of us a Christmas mug! We also sewed and made snow forts and played Yahtzee and watched Christmas movies.

My newphew's kids and dog. We didn't see anyone in person but saw everyone on Zoom.

The year:  Our politics has been overwhelming and I often needed breaks from the news.  The name-calling, antics, crazy tweet storms, and partisanship is poison.  We watched George Floyd killed by a police officer as he tried to breathe, and Black Lives Matter became a slogan, rallies and looting became common. We were thrilled when Trump was defeated by Biden and celebrated in Arizona with my friend Madeline at her house in Sun City.  We pray for a kinder, gentler nation with politicians who don't divide us but attempt to unite a very divided citizenship and make decisions for us, not for their own political power.  We fear for the future of our democracy.  Our country is torn apart.

Runoff for 2 Georgia senators is coming up in January and Trump refuses to accept election results.  These things keep many of us awake at night.

We have hand sanitizer everywhere and use it incessantly.  We have masks everywhere too and are somewhat used to wearing them.  The news constantly tells us how bad the infection and death rates are and how difficult this is on health care workers, restaurants and small business.  Compared to other countries, we have the highest infection rate and death rate.  Healthcare works have to decide who gets treatment and who is left to die. The vaccine is available but not getting to places as promised.   Death toll is over 350,000 at end of December.  People die alone with no one allowed in hospital rooms.  Outrageous! 

Good riddance 2020 and the Trump administration.  Hoping for health and sanity in 2021.

Our travel stats:

Countries visited:  Australia and New Zealand, then Covid hit.

14 States visited:   NE IA IL MO WI MN SD UT WY MT OK TX NM AZ

9 National Parks visited: Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Petrified Forest, Padre Island, Zion, Bryce, Rocky Mtn, Dinosaur, Grand Canyon

7 National Monuments: Grand Staircase/Escalante, Glen Canyon, Vermillion Cliffs, Capulin Volcano (so disappointing), Montezuma Castle (cliff dwellers), Tonto (cliff dwellers near Lake Roosevelt), and Tuzigoot (piled rock dwellings near Sedona).

Hiked 2 slot canyons in southern Utah/Northern AZ:  Wire Pass and Antelope (via kayak)

My year-end stats from Strava

Time spent working out:  485 hours

Distance for all activities: 2,416 miles

Days active:  237

Elevation gain:  50,047'

Most common activity was biking (27%), running (16%), and hiking (17%).  The rest was skiing, kayaking, etc.

Yellowstone, the Tetons, and parts west -Sept. 2020

Our second camping adventure in LaVern, our ePro camper, took us west to Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge National Recreation area on the Green River, then Jackson Hole WY, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons National Park, and Sinks Canyon State Park in Wyoming's Wind River Range near Lander.  We hoped to hike another week in Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest but fires closed the area.  

We thought October during Covid would be a great time to visit our national parks.  And so did 1000's of other people!  We were amazed that campgrounds were full and trails were crowded.  We felt successful because we found a camping spot each night and we found activities away from the crowds.

We enjoyed hiking, some biking, kayaking and fishing, and found some new camping friends that we enjoyed very much.

We learned much about camper batteries and solar (we didn't do so well on these) and boondocking.  We hoped to spend more time away but were tired of the struggle to stay warm most hours, to find camping, and accept the ban on any fires - understandable but sad when camping.  

Dinosaur National Park

Moose at campground near Tetons

Prismatic Pool at Yellowstone.  Geysers and hot spots were amazing!

riding from Sinks Canyon camping in Wyoming

kayaking on String Lake in the Tetons

A bear guarding his recent kill in Yellowstone

Riding at Flaming Gorge in southern Utah.  We also kayaked and hiked there.  It was HOT!

Our favorite boondocking campsite just outside the Tetons

FIRES!  This was a terrible fire year with big firest just north of our border in Wyoming, then fires very near us and damaging Jamestown, Ward, Grand Lake, and the area west of Red Feathers to Walden. California had a very bad wildfire year also - into November.   Many people from the west coast left there to escape the smoke, so that contributed to the crowds too.

Midwest Travels with LaVern (our new camper)

Talk about  GREAT timing! We were all bored visiting my sister after several days of cold in Illinois over Christmas when SHE suggested we go look at campers near her for something to do.  AND, thinking the prices would be better in winter, we looked again in Colorado in January.  We bought our ePro camper before Covid hit, thinking we'd like to travel in the U.S. to supplement our overseas travel.  

Just 16' long inside but with everything one could want, we love that "tiny house" camper.  And we've learned so much and had some fabulous adventures in it this year when we might have been stuck at home being bored.  Yay!! 

After our first experience at LaVern Johnson Park in Lyons (thus, our camper's name), we branched out to St. Vrain State Park (E. of Longmont on 119), to Red Feathers area west of Ft. Collins, to Curt Gowdy State Park (southeastern Wyoming), and to states beyond.

SUMMER in the Midwest states:  Our first road trip in the camper.

We drove east to the Mississippi River and Iliniwek State Park near East Moline, Illinois, to visit Scott's family and our own planned but questionable bike adventure.  We finished it after several years of talking about it, BUT we will never do it again.  We rode over 250 miles, overnight 2 nights, in mud, weeds, some trail.  These canals are historically interesting and partly maintained.

Scott, his sister Robin, and his Mom 

Part of the Hennepin Canal Trail

Near the end of the I & M Canal Trail

From Scott's home town of Rock Island, we rode our bikes on the Hennepin Canal Trail and took that somewhat maintained trail to LaSalle/Peru where we had to find out way to the I & M Canal Trail, which we would ride to my home town of Manhattan.  There were too many perils to describe them all in one post, but often we were saying "where's the trail?" and "they call this a trail?" and "maybe we should find a road".  Quite the adventure on both trails but we got through it together.

Next stop, my sister Vicki's house in Manhattan.  Then on to her lake house in Mattoon, Illinois.  We left our camper and did our one-week ride on the Katy Trail in Missouri - in July!  The trail was maintained but towns along the way were all closed up, we saw few people on the over 300 miles of trail, and the trail itself was boring.  It's HOT! and flat with corn fields, soybean fields, and some tree tunnels every day over and over.  And my back tire got flat regularly. Arghh.... One and done. 

Back at my sister's lake house, we helped her build a boardwalk along her sea wall, and fished, and swam and enjoyed the sunsets.  Lovely!

We both caught some big catfish!  Fun!

Home included camping through Wisconsin and Minnesota before dropping back down to Illinois because we could not find camping on a summer weekend in South Dakota.  We learned A LOT about the camper and finding campsites. 

We enjoyed lots of adventuring on this road trip and a welcome change of scenery during Covid.

Riding in Wisconsin

Stay at Home = Home improvements

The Stay at Home orders got old fast but Scott and I made good use of the time by making home improvements inside and out.  We saw our neighbors doing the same.  Home Depot remained open and busy throughout these months.  Plants and many materials were in short supply.

The OUTSIDE list:

1. Hire and get a new concrete pad for the camper in front and a new concrete patio in back.
This involved us removing the old Lyons sandstone patio (sandstone and sand) and moving gravel from the front drive to the side.  Hard work to prep for the awesome changes.


2.  We created a small sandstone walkway to the back gate.

3.  The flowers in the back yard corner were mostly taken over by grass so we dug out grass, laid landscape fabric, covered in chips.  Great!  Except, the grass was growing through the landscape barrier within a week.  So that is on the Re-do List.  Bummer.

4.  Plant some flowering vines along the back fence and get grass seed to grow in all areas damaged by the concrete work.  This included having a few new sprinkler heads and figuring out how to adjust them.  The vines are looking good & growing!

5.  Buy materials to have a new area planted between the old drive in front and the new concrete camper pad.  I'm doing the planning and buying but letting someone else do that labor.

The INSIDE List:
The inside stuff was mostly painting and all me and I'm happy with the results.

1.  The laundry room cabinets got done (Cabinet Transformations) and they look great!

2.  Finally!  I got rid of the Terra Cotta color (burnt orange) in the living room and laundry room and I like it much better.

Nice to have all these home improvements done so we can travel in our new camper with no worries about home maintenance.  And, Covid made us stay home and get these on the list done.  One of the few silver linings of this pandemic.

I've enjoyed painting rocks while stuck at home too.  Just something mindless but creative and simple. 

Fun Times in March - Stay At Home orders

In spite of the many challenges of this new normal, we've had some great times.   I'm adding pics of some good things happening as we "stay home" by order of our Governor - an order we agree will help stop the spread of the virus.

Also, people are getting creative about socializing at a 6' distance and online.  We Sunday running Dirty Girlz continue to meet to run, now with buffs over our faces and getting off the trail to give required space.  Coffee afterwards is in our cars or standing 6' apart.  
My zumba class is online daily at 10:00 and I love it.  All students are doing at-home online classes which is rough on the parents and some not-so-techy teachers.

As of early April, I don't know anyone who has the virus bad enough to go to the hospital and for that I'm grateful.  The sad news that we hear over and over is stories of loved ones who cannot be with the person who dies of Coronavirus.  They die alone - such a tragedy for all involved.

But on a happier note....  

Scott's grandkids Rhiannon and Brendan stayed with us for almost 3 days.  We were busy!  We made rainbows and went on rainbow hunts in our neighborhood, we cooked and baked, rode bikes, played tennis, basketball, and Farkle.  It was nice for us and for them and their parents.

  

Fact of life - not fun though. Many grocery shelves are empty and lines to check out were long.  In April the stores started limiting the number of people who could be in at one time.
The TV commercials are actually mostly pleasant - with positive messages from businesses and many "we're all in this together" messages.  Political ads for our November presidential election are non-existent.  New York Mayor Mario Cuomo has become a hero to many of us for his calm manner, advocacy for his constituents, and his grasp of this situation.  We also admire and look forward to hearing from Dr. Fauci regularly.

We took our camper out for its maiden voyage!  Scott has learned a lot about how it all works and we were anxious to get out and try it.  All our state parks closed, but we found that Meadow Park, now called LaVern Johnson Park, in Lyons just 9 miles away, was open just for campers.  We were one of 5 campers there and it was magical to have that beautiful place to ourselves.  During Day 1 we rode our bikes,  on Day 2 we hiked, and on Day 3 we woke up to ice and 23 degrees.  But we were ready for it and packed up and went home.

Pic 1 = Coffee after a run in Niwot with the DGz.
Pic 2 = I'm making everyone masks so we wore them in the parking lot after our run at Eagle Trail.  Celebrating Nanci's March birthday too!  Another difficult product to find is elastic for the masks - and masks are desperately needed.

  We made a huge batch of Super 20 to drink every day.  That's at least 20 different fruits, veggies, plants in one smoothie.  We drink a few ounces daily and hope it helps our immune systems.  And they taste good too. 

In very early March, I got together with life-long girlfriends when our friend Roberta came from Costa Rica because her daughter was having their first baby.  Roberta's trip became much longer than she expected as she is not able to get home.  This story is common as more countries close their borders and airlines cut routes. 

Another interesting things about this time - many newscasters, late night funny guys, and even a country music TV special are broadcasting from people's homes.  It's an interesting look into those people's private lives that makes them seem more like us.  It's nice to know they are doing exactly what we are doing during this time.  Money, fame, power does not make you immune.  Some neighborhoods are having dance parties and walk-bys at certain times so we still feel connected.

I have some jigsaw puzzles thanks to my friend Donna!  They are suddenly in high demand so you can't get them anywhere.  I still have some I haven't done yet.  I enjoy them in the morning with some coffee.

This is my laundry room now.  I hope to post a photo of the new and improved cabinets some day.  I just started redoing them all with Cabinet Transformations - a product from Rustoleum that has good reviews.  We'll see.  Lots of work involved so it's a good time to do it. 

The rainbows are coming together with help from their grandpa.  Rainbows rock!

Here's to hoping we all stay healthy, the virus spread stops quickly, and those states that have not imposed any restrictions don't make this last longer for all of us.  That we can test people very soon to find out who has it and who has had it.  That those who have had it can go out and support all those businesses that are struggling or closed.  That PPE and ventilators get to the people who need them.   xoxo