GSP - Day # 3

The pattern here at Goosnecks State Park (GSP) seems to be calm mornings, and windy afternoons.....we have been doing our hiking and exploring in the mornings, and by 1 pm we are back inside the coach as the winds increase in ferocity.  We were getting sustained winds in the mid 20's, with gusts into the high 30's for a few hours.  The wind, however, did not discourage a dozen RVers from arriving and setting up camp.  We went from being completely by ourselves to, for us anyway, what seems like a crowd.  Most of these folks will only be here for 1-2 days, so it's a transitory thing.....no one has blocked our view, and no one has tried to crowd into our site, so it's all good.

Around 10 am we decided to take a hike on the other dirt road that forks to the left off the main road (the one that takes you out to the point that we hiked Sunday) and runs around the bluff directly behind our camp site.  While it was not a long hike we did have to do some modest rock climbing to the top of the bluff.

 Every time I see this rock formation I think of the 'peace sign'

 Looking north toward the 'Valley of the Gods'.....I know, she is a goddess, right?

 Found this single, solitary flower blooming.....anyone know what it is?

Panoramic view from the bluff behind our camp site....before the hoards arrived.

We were back from our hike by 11, and sat outside reading until the winds picked up enough to chase us inside for the rest of the day.

Of course, the final game of 'March Madness' between the Wisconsin Badgers and Duke Blue Devils was played Monday night, and it was a close game right up to less than one minute to play, but Duke prevailed 68-63 as time ran out on the Badgers.

Tuesday we'll be hiking down to the San Juan River via the Honaker Trail......stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by!

Boonies

Wind was forecast for the afternoon so I was up early at 6 am.....okay, I fell asleep in the recliner at 8:30 the night before....woke up at 10:30 and went to bed.....:-)  At any rate, I wanted to get an early start on the day so we could take a hike out to the point and back before the winds arrived.

As I composed yesterday's entry I couldn't help but be distracted often by the view out the salon window back towards Monument Valley.

This in contrast to our two days at Goulding's in their 'cheek by jowl' park......don't get me wrong....it is a very nice park, but after you get used to big horizons and unobstructed long views it almost feels claustrophobic to be in a traditional RV park where your neighbors are less than 10 feet away on either side.  Here at Goosenecks our nearest neighbor is 200 yards distant.

We set out on our 2 mile roundtrip walk out to the point about 10 am....along the way TLE spied some local flora.

If you have a high clearance vehicle you could conceivably drive all the way to the point and camp there.....I would love to get out there in the coach, but there is where to turn around.  Took a picture looking back at our location from just under a mile away.......not many folks out here right now.

 .8 miles from the coach

TLE even volunteered to stand right next to the precipice for a picture.......

This is the kind of place you can just sit and take in the enormous view and never become tired of it......

We spent the rest of the morning sitting outside reading and enjoying the still still air, but around 1 pm the wind came up as promised, and we retreated inside for the rest of the afternoon.

I finished one James Lee Burke book (Cimarraon Rose) and started another of his Dave Robicheaux series (Black Cherry Blues) and finished that sometime around 10:30 last night.  I am really getting into this author.

By the time I finished Black Cherry Blues the winds had died down somewhat.....I think they maxed out at 22 mph.......they are forecast to get up to 26 mph Monday afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by!

'Goosed'

This winter has been about revisiting favorite 'boondocking' places from the winter of 2014, and then spending extended periods of time at those sites just enjoying them.  Last winter we were in 'site seeing mode' and just went from one thing to the next spending a few days here and there.  That we must be back in Yuma, AZ for TLE's dental work by April 27th has made it easier to just slow down and sit still.  It has also enabled us to really work on our 'boondocking' skills.

Even though we are in Utah (Mountain Daylight Savings) we have kept our clocks on Arizona time (Mountain Standard).  It just makes it easier not having to change our clocks back and forth as we meander along the Arizona/Utah border, plus it means prime time TV begins at 8 pm, not 9 pm.  The only time we have to worry about the time of day is if we have an appointment such as our 'Deluxe' tour of Monument Valley Friday.  So, I said that to say this.....any times I relate in the blog today, and most days, will reflect Arizona time.

I was up by 6 am Saturday, not because I had anything special to do, but just because I was awake and why lie in bed staring at the ceiling?  We only had 30 miles to drive Saturday.......I know, huh?  Another tough driving day!  Our destination was Goosenecks State Park......a little northeast of Mexican Hat.  Last year we had quite literally stumbled upon this cool state park on a whim while out driving the VW (we were staying at an RV park in Bluff, UT at the time), and were blown away.  You can park your RV right next to the 1,000' drop into the chasm.  Technically this area of the San Juan River is called an 'entrenched meander'.....this aerial view provided by the USDA shows this section of the river.

We departed Goulding's Campground just before 10 am to begin the 30 mile drive to Goosenecks.  Of course, we were still driving HWY 163.....that narrow, unforgiving ribbon of highway we almost got blown off of on Thursday.  There were no winds, but due to the twisty, rough nature of the road we rarely ever got over 50 mph.  Just before Mexican Hat there is a 10% grade downhill that takes you (after a HARD left turn) across the San Juan River, and into Mexican Hat......this section of road is not for the faint of heart.

We arrived at Goosenecks about 10:30 (Arizona Time) to find that they now charge a fee to camp here.  Previously there was no charge, only a 14 day stay limit.  Now they charge $5 to enter the park, or, if you are camping, $10/day....free is better, but for us it is still worth it to camp here.  This place definitely has the 'it factor' for us, which is why we returned.

Took this picture literally 30 feet from where we parked the RV (TLE prefers not to camp right next to 1,000' cliffs)

 Big horizon......long view

 A perspective shot.....there is the abyss right across the dirt road

We paid the ranger for four days in advance.....we will probably stay here 7-10 days, but don't want to lock ourselves into anything long term right now.  We drove down the dirt road that parallels the chasm about an eighth of a mile where we were able to do a 'U' turn and set up facing west (actually about 245 degrees, which is closer to northwest).  This way the sun comes up directly behind the coach, and we should get sun on the solar panels for a little bit more time each day.

While TLE removed all the various bungees she uses to keep the cupboards and drawers closed I went outside to glam up our camp a tad.  We actually have a firepit at our site, as well as two picnic tables.  And the bonus, for me anyway, is there is no room for anyone else to park behind, next to, or in front of our coach.

The awning mat is out with the recliners & Malibu lights

Around 3 (Arizona time) I turned on the first of two Final Four 'March Madness' games....the first pitted Michigan State against Duke.......after the first 5 minutes is was 'no contest' and Duke ended up winning by 20 points....a little disappointing.  The second game had Wisconsin vs. Kentucky.  Kentucky came in 38-0 this season.  It was a great game with each team making small runs, but in the end Wisconsin made Kentucky make mistakes and they won by 7 ending Kentucky's undefeated season.  So, now the final will be Monday night between Wisconsin and Duke.....should be a 'barn burner'.  I have to say that the officiating in these two games was terrible.....I'll leave it at that.

We went outside in between games to watch the sun set while sitting by the fire, and it was a good one......

Prior to our arrival here I had done some checking on how good, or bad the Verizon signal is here, and heard from several it was marginal, so I was prepared to drive down the road a couple of miles each day to do the blog, but upon arrival we found we had a very strong 3G signal.....better than we had at Monument Valley!

Thanks for stopping by!

The 'Deluxe' - God's Monuments part deux

Our Monument Valley tour was not until 3:45 in the afternoon so we took care of some housekeeping (vacuuming, and other interior projects) and took a walk down the hill to Goulding's Market......we didn't need anything, but just wanted to see how well it was stocked.  Well, I can report that they do carry Snap-E-Tom (my favorite tomato cocktail), so they are adequately stocked as far as I am concerned.  

It was still in the low 50's at 10 am when we took the 1 mile round trip walk, and the forecast was for a high of only 59, so we were already thinking about how cold it would be on our tour, which was scheduled to end about 7:15 pm.

We each layered up for our afternoon tour.....I wore an UnderArmor long sleeved shirt, a long sleeve hiking shirt over that, then a vest.  For later in the afternoon I brought a jacket, my watch cap and some warm gloves.....by the end of the tour we were both very happy for every article of clothing we brought with us.  Normally it's in the 70's during the day here, but we are in a brief 2 day cold snap.  The temps will warm back up to the mid 70's by Saturday.

A little history about the area......Harry Goulding and his wife Leone bought 641 acres of land adjacent to Monument Valley back in 1921 to establish a trading post.  Our tour guide, Carol, advised that it was Harry Goulding that helped the local Navajo tribes turn Monument Valley into the first tribal park.  I believe there are four now scattered across the U.S.  If you would like more info on the Gouldings click the link above.

We were picked up in the vehicle shown above, joining about 18 others (at $70/person that is a good amount of money for one tour....$1400).  For us it was a little pricey, but after taking the tour I can tell you it is well worth it, especially to have such a knowledgeable guide such as we had in Carol, who is a full blood Navajo, born on the reservation.  She was sent off to boarding school at age 14 in Salt Lake City, and also attended college there before moving back to Monument Valley at age 21.  In the Navajo culture there are still, to some degree, arranged marriages, but her mother did not want that for her, so she signed Carol up for boarding school.

I won't pretend to remember all the names of all the buttes, 'windows', and arches but will let the following pictures tell the story......

'Snoopy'

3 Sisters

View north from John Ford Point

'totem pole' on the left...420 feet high

Big Hogan 'window'

A 'Hogan'

Inside the primitive 'Hogan' with Carol...constructed with cedar and juniper wood, and covered with dirt on the outside

Just at sundown...left 'mitten' butte (left) and right 'mitten' butte (right background)

Left 'mitten' butte up close

Right 'mitten' butte up close

TLE with our tour guide, Carol....full blood Navajo

By the time we were dropped off back at Gouldings Campground  around 7:30 pm we were quite cold (all available clothing was being worn), but thankful we took the 'Deluxe' tour.....at 3.5 hours it was just the perfect length, and the knowledge we gained from Carol's narration was priceless.  You can take all day tours, but I think that would have been overkill for us.

Thanks for stopping by! 

God's Monuments

I was up by 6 am Thursday.....put the coffee on, turned on the generator, then the block heater, and began putting the entry step and mats away, and we were rolling by 6:45.....sorry neighbors.......don't park so close next time!

As we merged on to HWY 89 we descended toward Glen Canyon Dam which is at 3,700 feet elevation and then began our tortuous climb to over 6,800' before descending back down to Gouldings Lodge/Campground at 5,700'.  Our reason, once again, for the early start was the forecast winds, which did arrive about the time we hit the intersection of 89 and 160 where we turned directly east and picked up the brisk tail wind all the way to our next turn in Kayenta, AZ.....nothing like a 25 mph tail wind pushing 40,000 lbs. of steal down the road!

We stopped at the Basha's in Kayenta to buy a few things before we merged onto HWY 163 to fight the side winds coming from the west (our driver's side) the last 24 miles into Monument Valley.  Keyenta is smack dab in the middle of the Navajo Nation where it is illegal to serve, or, apparently, sell alcohol.  Part of our reason for stopping at Basha's was to buy some wine before we enter Utah....sometimes the 'plan' does not always come together.

Narrow shoulderless 163...Monument Valley coming into view

We left Kayenta a little after 9 to traverse the final 24 miles back into Utah, and Monuyment Valley.  I spent the next 35 minutes wrestling with the wind out of the west trying to keep our 'beast' on the narrow, shoulderless road that is 163.  At one point a gust of wind broadsided us and almost succeeded in pushing us off the road.  Whenever you find yourself in this situation you must resist the temptation to over correct and cause an even more serious problem where you lose control.  I saw the lip of the road coming fast as I gradually turned the wheel to the left.....everything seems to go into slow motion, but in reality you really do usually have more time than you think......I kept turning the wheel to the left and finally felt the coach and trailer respond by moving back to the left, and just over the center line (no one was coming thank God), and then gently corrected back into my lane.  I could see the right wheels of the trailer just go off the lip of the road, and then come back on again.  There was a moment there when I thought worst would happen.

Goulding's is, as TLE would say, a "cheek by jowl" park......very, very tight.....we parked in the 'waiting' area while we went into secure our reserved site for two days.  We then walked to our site (23) to be sure we could get in, and with the lone exception of a slightly low hanging tree it was fine.  Fortunately, we are in kind of  a sheltered area from the wind.

After we got set up I went back into the office to make a reservation for the 3:45 pm sunset tour of Monument Valley on Friday....when we were here last year it was cold and very windy and we didn't have time to take the tour anyway, so we resolved to do that when we came back again this year.

 'Cheek by Jowl'

I spent the afternoon working on my taxes as this is probably the last good broadband we'll have for a couple of weeks.......looks like we'll see some more money flowing back our way from Uncle Sam!

As we sat eating dinner I noticed the moon creeping up over the local sandstone formations.....very cool!

We watched 'Bones', 'Blacklist' and 'Elementary' before heading off to slumberland once again.....thanks for stopping by!

You can afford it!

I am often told by folks looking at my coach in RV parks that they would love to own a Newell like mine, but there is no way they could afford it.....really?  Often at the same time they are bragging about the great deal they got on their 'sticks and staples' Class A diesel pusher at $60,000.....when I tell them they could have had a Newell Classic just like mine, but even newer for less than half what they paid for their coach they look at me in disbelief.  It is true.....you CAN afford it! This is a great time to buy a Newell Classic (late 70's to late 80's vintage).  The one shown below is going for under $25,000 on Craigslist in Panama City, FL (click here to see the ad).

This is just one of many vintage Newell Classics you can find around the country that are well within your budget if you are looking for a Class A diesel pusher.  I am certainly no apologist for Newell Corporation, but it's hard to go wrong with a Newell of any vintage.  It has that cool bus conversion look without the bus conversion hassles......look, I'm not saying all, or even a lot, of bus conversions have problems, but with a Newell you can get that same look with the knowledge this coach was built from the ground up to be a motorcoach.....no amateur hands have touched these beauties.  I could literally devote a blog post every day for the next 2 weeks on different Newell Classics for sale that are so amazingly affordable right now.

Now, back to my recap of happenings on 3rd Saturday.......we had been planning for about a week to meet up with friends Forrest and Cindy (former Newell owners)  to break bread as they were passing south on HWY 89 from Kanab, Ut on their way to Colorado.  We got a call from Cindy about 8:30 advising they were an hour out, so we arranged to meet them on the Page, AZ side of the Glen Canyon Dam at a turn out at 9:45, and true form they were right on time.  

We had planned to have lunch with them, but they forgot about gaining an hour as they crossed into Arizona.....by the time we met up with them it was only 9:45 and way too early for lunch, so we checked out a couple of places in downtown Page after we parked our cars in the Safeway parking lot, but either they were not open, or didn't serve breakfast.  By this time it was after 10:30 and we spied a Thai restaurant across the plaza that had just opened.  On spur of the moment we decided to have an early lunch......we had a great time talking and catching up since the last time we saw them as we crossed the Canadian border back into the U.S. back in July of 2013.....hard it believe it had been almost 2 years!  The food was very good, and we finished just at Noon time.....they still had 5 hours of driving to their rental cabin in Colorado, so we said our 'until next times' and bid them adieu.

We spent the rest of the afternoon putting stuff away in preparation for an early departure Thursday morning.  The weather guessers were forecasting winds in mid to high 20's along our travel route to Monument Valley, but not until late morning.  With a few interspersed breaks in the action I finished my duties around 5 pm just as the evening winds began to come up.....I had already put the chairs and the fireplace away since we weren't going to have a fire due to the wind.....we had happy hour inside instead.  All we have to do in the morning is crank up the DD 6V92 and go!

As the sun left the sky on our encampment at Lone Rock for the last time on our stay here we felt a little bittersweet, but also very thankful for such a wonderful 16 days.....it is time to move anyway as it is beginning to get crowded in our spot.....besides us there were 3 other RV's on the overlook now.....we need more space!

Thanks for stopping by, and remember.....you can afford it!

I feel a little smarter

Have you ever noticed how on a given Monday you think "Wow, I really know a lot about 'this, or that', but by Friday after learning a whole lot more than you thought there was to know you look back on Monday thinking "Wow, I didn't know as much as I thought I did!".  That's kind of how I'm feeling today after the last 7 weeks of mostly living off the grid.  

When we arrived in Cottonwood, AZ on February 13th  we hadn't really 'boondocked' in a year.  Sure we did a lot of dry camping for 1-4 days here and there, but never long enough to really get a better feel for our solar charging system, or for that matter at living on less water from our fresh water tank, or at generating less 'black water'.  Since that day we 'boondocked' 10 days near Cottonwood learning a lot, and now 16 days at Lone Rock come this Thursday, which will be our single longest stretch of 'boondocking' period.  After our 10 day stint in the Verde Valley we both really thought we had learned a lot, and arrived here at Lone Rock feeling just like I described in the first paragraph.

Now, after almost 16 days being off the grid it seems like we were still 'babes in the woods' when we arrived, and I guess that is really my point for today.  You can talk with others exhaustively about 'dry camping/boondocking', but until you spend a significant amount of time doing it with your own RV's setup you will only be scratching the surface of knowledge.  

Everybody's RV is different.....as I have said to TLE numerous times there is an RV configuration for every person's unique taste and/or needs.  And, conversely, every RV has different fresh water/waste/propane capacities, and different electrical needs.  When we were preparing to have our solar system installed we did (with the aid of installer) an analysis of what our electrical needs were going to be, which would determine how many watts of solar panels we would need.  Our coach is more low tech than most newer Class A diesel pushers, and, therefore, does not use a lot of 12 volt power.  The the things that take a lot of power are all alternating current type appliances (TV's, electric heaters, hair dryers, microwave, etc.) which we can run off the inverter.  In our case we no longer have a microwave.....we used to have a GE microwave/convection oven, but it was destroyed when we plugged into a bad outlet during the first year of our wanderings.  Ultimately we opted not to replace it mainly because TLE rarely used it....I used it to heat up cold coffee, and make popcorn.  We converted that space to hold a toaster oven which we only use when we are plugged in, or have the big generator running.  Our biggest consumer of power are our TV's, and we have FOUR of them.  When we are boondocking I only run one TV at a time, when we are plugged in and there is a big 'game' on I'll have up to three of them going at the same time so I don't miss a second of the action.

At any rate over the past 7 weeks we have learned how to budget our power usage, and keep our batteries from discharging too far down.  What exactly have we learned though?  I learned that I can watch almost unlimited TV during the day off the inverter while the batteries are still charging.....this comes in handy on weekends when there is a big golf tournament, or just recently 'March Madness' which was mostly televised during the day.  Probably the biggest thing we have learned though is how important it is to situate your RV in a way that your solar panels get maximum exposure to sunlight for as many hours each day as possible.  In our case, we tilt them up since the sun is lower on the horizon this time of year, and park our Newell so that the nose is facing just a little to the northern side of west on our compass seen below.  This accomplished two things.....we get sun on the solar panels starting around 8:30 am, and finally lose it by 5 pm....that's a lot of charging time.  Plus, by facing west we keep the passenger side out of the sun which helps our fridge (located on the passenger side) function more efficiently.  Of course, this compass heading will vary a little depending on the time of year, and based on the setup of your RV you may need to face a different point on the compass.

Another thing we have learned is that staying in a region of the country where the temperatures don't get too hot (not good for solar panel efficiency), or too cold (doesn't draw down your batteries as fast) pays dividends and means you will have a better chance of getting back to 100%, or close to that every day, and that has been our experience here at Lone Rock. We have noticed we lose half as many amp hours over night here with overnight temps in the high 40's to low 50's compared to Cottonwood where the temps got into the low 30's at night.  Last night (Tuesday) we only lost 5% of our battery capacity over night and that is in direct correlation to the overnight low being in the mid 50's.

As far as water consumption we have been able to keep to less than 2.5 gallons of water per day per person, just like we did at Cottonwood, and used only 70 gallons from our fresh water tank in 14 days.  On the black water front we have learned a lot more about conserving 'space' in our black water tank, and after 14 days had used just 75% of our 40 gallon capacity.....we could have gone a few more days, but we opted to dump our tank Tuesday so we can roll Thursday morning without worrying about that.

So, essentially, get out there and start dry camping/boondocking.....it is the only way you will learn how to do it for extended periods of time!

A few days ago our friends Chris and Cherie posted this picture (below) showing them with friends Becky and Julie whom we met at Amazon in Fernley a few months ago.....what a small world!  They have been workamping in Texas this winter and were able to hook up with Chris and Cherie as they meander down to Austin.

Hi Becky and Julie!! (bottom, left to right)

It was a little windy late in the afternoon so there was no fire, but we did convene, as is our custom, to the 'veranda', as TLE calls it, for our sunset cocktails.

'Cheers!'

Two more days at lovely, exquisite,  glorious Lone Rock and then we are off for Monument Valley.....thanks for stopping by!