The Grand Canyon

What can I say about the Grand Canyon?  It's one of the natural wonders of the world, it's majestic, and it's unbelievably massive.  One mile deep in some places and 12 miles across from the south rim to the north rim. 

Jim's setting up his photography equipment.

Careful Jim!

We hiked along the edge for about two miles.  Visited the Yavapai Point Museum which is not an Indian museum, but displays the history of the Grand Canyon.  The Yavapai Indians are from around these parts and an active tribe, hence the name.  The windows face north with a tiny view of the river far below. 

World visitors enjoying the view, cameras in hand

Along the south rim walking trail, it is impossible to see the Colorado River at the bottom of the gorge.  So many layers of rock, only the top third can be seen.  There are large rock samples displayed along the trail, such as different types of sandstone and limestone, representing individual layers of rock deposition over millions of years.  

If you have not visited the Grand Canyon, be sure and put it on your "bucket list." 


Our visit to beautiful Arizona is coming to an end soon.  We are leaving Camp Verde on June 11 and heading north for the summer through Monument Valley, Canyon Lands, and the Arches on our way to Denver.  Jim's mom is turning 95 years old in June and we want to help her celebrate.  Brad and Carrie, Jim's son and daughter-in-law, are flying into Phoenix on June 10 and will ride in the BAM with us to CO.  Should be fun having family traveling with us. 



It's Getting Hot!

The Montezuma Castle National Monument is located just 3 miles from where we are staying at the Distant Drums RV Park, Camp Verde, AZ.

This is the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. The 20 room high-rise apartment, nestled into a towering limestone cliff tells a 1,000 year-old story of ingenuity and survival in an unforgiving desert landscape.

The Sinagua culture reveals a hard-working people tending their fields, picking berries, fishing in the nearby river, and carrying water up ladders to the living areas.  Their lives were in constant survival mode (This is a model of what the inside looked like.) 


Beautiful and majestic Sedona, AZ

 It's no wonder they call Sedona the "red rock" country!

 



Riverbend Hot Springs Resort, New Mexico

How many Buds does it take to cross Texas? I have a friend who once measured distances between towns in Wyoming by the number of six-packs of beer he consumed while driving from one town to the other. He was serious, but that was in the old days. How would he measure the breadth of Texas? Cases! From Orange, TX to El Paso, it’s almost 900 miles, one-third of the distance between the west and east coast of the US.

BAM has navigated almost 1700 miles of I-10 starting in Florida, across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, spending time in New Orleans, then San Antonio, Texas at Freightliner and visiting brother Tom. Bonnie and I just wanted to put some miles on the Moho. Texas interstate rest-stops are overnight-friendly, so we drove until dark and parked at one, an hour or so from El Paso.

Truth or Consequences (T or C)

Walls and buildings artistically painted, bringing color to this otherwise dull-colored town.  

Towns like Hot Springs, NM grew in the 30’ & 40‘s due largely to the “healin’ waters”. As modern drugs and procedures were developed, spa-based towns gradually lost their allure. So what does a dying town do to put itself back on the map? Enter a contest (actually more of a challenge) from the game show, Truth or Consequences. The first city to officially change its name to the game show’s title would be rewarded by having an episode televised from that city. T or C, as the locals call it, got its 15 minutes of glory and back on the map - but apparently it wasn’t enough.

Many small ma and pa motels line the streets, now vacant, sinking slowly back into the desert. However, if you look past the blight, there is a tight community of artists showing their wares along Main Street, some baby boomer hippies (or maybe just ol’ farts without a retirement nest egg) cruising by in hunks of junk, worthless even in older Mexico 120 miles south. The city has two supermarkets; one called Bullocks which is located downtown, and a fairly new Walmart located at the north end of town. Surprisingly T or C has several good restaurants. Did I mention the hot springs?

The entrance.

We were parked at Riverbend Hot Springs Resort on the Rio Grande River. The word “eclectic” could have been born here. Riverbend began back in the 40s, formerly a minnow bait store, a youth hostel and now what looks like a T or C favorite day spa and 12-unit motel.

Deck over looking the Rio Grande River.



  

It is breaking in its second generation family. Lee, the father, passed the resort’s reins onto son Jake a few years ago. Did I mention the hippy influence here? Lee has an infectious smile, wears tie-dye shirts and sports a nice goatee and ponytail. His son Jake is educated, smart and has good tastes. He still hired Bonnie and me, tho. For our hook up, Bonnie worked 3 mornings each week doing the laundry for the units. My responsibilities looked like the honey-do list from……… for which I received cash.

This place is somewhere between an electrician and plumber’s challenge and.nightmare. Most of the motel units are either 50’s vintage wood-clad mobile homes or frame cabanas built during that same era - with electrical and plumbing the same age. Then there is the combination of solar and low voltage lighting around the hot tubs. The place looks spectacular at night. A half-dozen water fountains each have their own plumbing and lighting issues.

Eight 2-4 person hot tubs, plumbed with 101-108 degree geothermal hot water - and not a hint of sulphur smell! The pools overlook the banks of the Rio Grande River, a unique feature in T or C. It’s the only resort on the water. Although the weather was terrific during our short stay, 75-80 degrees, most of the vegetation seems hesitant to emerge from the winter.

Outside hot springs and patio over looking the river.  Ahhhhhh!

We reluctantly left our favorite workamping group and hot springs the end of March to arrive at our next workamping gig in Camp Verde, AZ , near Sedona, April 1st.  We'll be here for 3 months, so stay tuned to more news and photos. 

San Antonio's Alamo and Riverwalk

Before Bonnie and I left Tavares, FL we spent a whole day giving both the BAM and the Subaru long overdue wash jobs. After months of sitting under live oak trees both vehicles needed a good scrubbing.  Little did we know we were jinxing our trip!

Just a half day down the interstate, the alternator light flickered on.  When I stopped to check it out, I discovered a fine oil mist all over what had been the spotless Subaru and a clean BAM butt.  Not only did the alternator fail, but BAM developed an engine oil leak.  Neither was serious enough to strand us so we decided to proceed down the road until we reached a capable repair center.  I ran the generator occasionally to charge the batteries and monitored the oil level.

We limped into “Freightliner”, a large truck repair center, in San Antonio last Tuesday morning, expecting to hit the road after what we thought should be a quick fix, again in a couple days. Yeah, right!  We're now calling it "Camp Freightliner".  It's really not bad...we have full hookups!!

We forgot, this is Texas....operating  on Texas time!  First the mechanics assessed repairs, handed the paperwork to the estimator who then calls our extended service contract company so they could approve repairs.  Of course, by then it's late Friday afternoon.  Nothing happens after 5pm Friday until Monday morning!  It seems the whole repair industry shuts down for the weekends, even though people break down on weekends, too.

Well, finally this morning, everything was approved - $500 in parts, but $3000 labor!  Thank God for our extended service coverage.  Of course parts still need to be ordered - and should be here tomorrow morning. So after a week of assessing, estimating, approving, ordering and shipping, mechanics should be able to actually repair BAM and get us on the road by Thursday.  One week and two days long.  Are we having fun yet?

The silver lining to our extended San Antonio stay was an opportunity to visit Bonnie’s brother Tommy and his quit southern, beautiful wife Kathy.

Remember the Alamo?”  San Antonio is best known for two features, the Alamo and the city's Riverwalk.

The Mexicans fought hard to protect and maintain Texas as part of Mexico.  The Alamo, or course, is the site where a couple hundred Texans (including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie) attempted to hold off 2400 Mexicans for almost two weeks way back in 1836.  All but two of the Texans died or were executed.  Today it is considered a Texas shrine in honor to those who died there.  Evidence of the siege is still apparent today.  The adobe and rock walls are textured by hundreds of bullet pock marks.   In 1845, Texas became the 28th state. 

Interestingly, the Alamo and its compound sit in mid-town San Antonio, dwarfed by sky scrapers and traffic.

San Antonio’s Riverwalk must be the city’s best calling card. Envisioned and built 80 years ago as a flood-control project, the Riverwalk is a Venice-style diversion of the San Antonio River through downtown.  The several-mile long project is lined with hundreds of stately oaks and palms, crossed by numerous pedestrian and car bridges.  Many shops and restaurants provide places to pause a while.....and spend a little cash.   And it’s all 20 feet below the street level.

We strolled along the river's edge all day enjoying people watching and the ducks.

 

New Orleans - French Quarter - Mardi Gras!

Jim and I finally left Florida after almost 3 months in central Florida. We were a little disappointed we didn’t get further south in Florida, but apparently all the RV snow birds maintain a high demand on available RV parking spaces in the most southern RV parks. In short, we determined we couldn’t afford the high rent district. Our longest stay was at the Tavares, FL, Riverest park, a little over a month. As anxious as we were to leave and see other places, we were reluctant to leave the relative warmth of Florida.

On Tuesday, Feb 15, we BAM’d west across Alabama and Mississippi, our goal being New Orleans, Louisiana, down on the bayou. Our first night was spent in a Walmart parking lot off I-10, somewhere in Alabama. We like that place, mainly because it's free overnight parking and we can stock up on groceries!

We had no idea 2011 Mardi Gras was about to begin until we parked the BAM at an RV camp in Abita Springs, LA about 45 miles north of New Orleans. Jim likes Abita Springs because he discovered they have a pretty descent brew pub there - good spring water, I guess. Thursday morning we drove the car across humongous Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans. The causeway is over 30 miles across - you cannot see land in any direction from the middle. It reminded me of Florida's causeway to Key West.

We had no idea what to expect in ‘Orleans. There is still a lot of construction on the roads and roofs from hurricane Katrina, but most places looked normal. I-10 across the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain took quite a beating from Katrina and it appears entirely rebuilt. We saw several sections of the old highway just gone! Apparently the French Quarter, where the New Orleans Mardi Gras is held, was not flooded from Katrina because the land is higher than most nearby cities and neighborhoods.

Love this photo of a cat sitting in a window reflecting the buildings across the street.

Jim and I wandered the streets of the French Quarter and checked out all the little shops and tourist attractions, eating our way through 10 square blocks, admiring the 200-year old French architecture. Lunch was enjoyable on this balcony over-looking the quiet street below. 

It was then we decided to come back for the beginning of Mardi Gras to see the crazy people and have some fun.

Off we went Sat., once again making the drive into the Quarter to find a parking place. If you look closely at the New Orleans area on a map, it is mostly bayous and islands. Strangely most the people talk like New Yorkers and are very friendly.

No, I'm not a two fisted drinker!

There were lots of silver clad people frozen in place,....and yes, that's what you think it is.

We walked the boardwalk of the Mississippi River and saw large barges and a few stern-wheelers carrying supplies and people up and down the river.

Entertainers everywhere.  Of course you should drop money in their boxes.

As the day wore on, the normally lazy French Quarter streets became more crowded and more crowded until everyone was shoulder to shoulder. Around 7:00 pm, the "adult" parade started. I've never seen so many costumes and crazy people in my life all in one place. The floats were pretty hokey (and suggestive, if you know what I mean). I believe the French Quarter could be the 2nd most sinful town, or maybe just playful, Las Vegas being #1. Of course Rio could be in the running, as well.

Everywhere we went people on the balconies were throwing beads....and no, I didn't have to lift my shirt!  :o))  I ended up with a neck full of beads!

How would you like to live on Bourbon St in the French Quarter?  This magnificent house was  privately owned and lives for weeks every year with the Mardi Gras celebration. 

That's a float?

Whoops! 



Let's go home!