Grand Adventure 2020

Well today is finally here.  Today my wife and I start our next 29 years together.  Hard to believe she put up with me for this long.  I am a lucky guy. This is our first real trip where I felt like the checklist is being refined to a point of, at least we are not going to forget anything important. 

We got our Grand Daughter in Tow for this Epic Journey. 

I walked away from it all and retired 1 July 2019.  Found this past year money only gets in the way.  Self Inflicted poor is not bad.  I have become a Walmart Shopper and found out, they have Darn Good Prices!

We purchased our very first Motor Home on a Fly and Buy trip Out of San Antonio and purchased right out of Detroit, Motor City from a Great Couple in Adrian Mi. in August 2019.  Prior to that I had only been camping with the US Army. 

Sep 2019 we got our RVn feet wet and took off from our Dusty West Texas Desert and visited Mount Rushmore along with Iron Horse, Needles highways and, Wildlife loop out of Custer Area. We also camped in a deserted Badlands NP, came back thru Wounded Knee and the Reservation adjacent to BNP out of taking a wrong turn.  ;D. It was a Great Trip only leaving us wanting more Adventures.

Luckily my Sister and her Husband have come down to spend some time with her Family here while we are gone.  We just happened to have perfect priced lodging for them at $0.00 so it works out for all parties involved.

We are as we say in Texas, "We are Fixin' to Launch"  Got a 2500 mile loop planned and getting to test the Garmin RV 780.  Got our Jeep (Rover) braked with M&G original System with their Air Conversion Kit installed by the Factory last week in Athens TX.  (Thanks John From Detroit) for sharing that bit of info.  World of difference towing the Jeep at 4300 LB with and without Brakes.  Last week I drove the Winnebago over 600 miles for the very first time since upgrading / adding the Roadmaster Rear Sway Bar, the RM Steering Stabilizer and the 4 Bilstein Shocks on the corners.  World of difference.  For the Class C owners out there.  That Steering Stabilizer took out all the back and forth on the steering wheel.  Drives much better!

One thing I did not do and was on the fence was getting a mobile hotspot thru Google Fi.  I read that Google Fi use T-Mobile and Sprint towers.  Seilerbird (Tom) shared this info with me.  I am still deciding what to do with cell service as we are new to the RVn game.  I know the Monument Valley Grand Canyon area is going to suck for cell reception with the "Insect Carrier" I am currently using for Cell service.  This Carrier let me down big time in 2018 when we took a rent car tour to the area.  I am hoping that we booked out thru the KOAs that we should be functional with their free WIFI in the evenings.  I just could not justify this trip adding the service.  I am thinking I should just change to Verizon in the near future and roll the dice on traveling cross country with that as our one and only service provider.  I had done a poll to most loved Cell provider amongst RVrs and Verizon seems to be hands down #1. 

We are going to hit some Tourist Traps along the way, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Moab, Durango.  Going to make some great memories and snap a few pics along the way.

See Ya, From the Road, Ya'LL/.

JD

Enjoy every minute that you have earned. Life is short and getting shorter you know. So don't fret if that phone has no bars . There are many miles of true beauty and  wilderness out on the road  that is not found on those tiny screens.

Have a great trip, John. Take lots of pictures, and keep in touch here.

Checking in from Monument Valley. I should say pecking in with one finger on my phone. Here in Beautiful Monument Valley, Arizona, or am I In Utah? Anyway..

Had booked this trip back in early Feb, Pre COVID 19 hysteria, and currently have Gouldings RV park practically to ourselves. With good reason I might add. The Tribal Park, Visitor Center is closed.

Gouldings is offering their own 3.5 hour tours on their land though. Today we toured Valley of the Gods in our Jeep and snapped a few Pics at Mexican Hat and of course on The center Line of the road where Forest Gump finally stopped running.

I actually cancelled our trip with Gouldings today starting at 3 PM due to Fierce winds. I thought  West Texas winds were bad,... GEEZ Louise, hope I am going to have paint on the motor home and Jeep after these subside. I kind of keep watching outside after the gusts to see If I need to go chase down any blown away parts to the motor home.  ;D

Anybody driving today near here all they can hope for is some spirit is watching over them.

We toured here by rent car in 2018 and did the tour of the Tribal Park. I will say that when I called Gouldings a month ago and they told me that things were "open" they meant the Gouldings Lodge. Stores, and RV park.

For us we still are happy we came to MV, but for first timers to this area the Tribal park 17 mile loop is really a must see (up close) and I would hold off.

For me, I love the isolation and the lack of crowds. I will post some pics if I can find something I can pull down on the App store to resize them.

I have also come to the conclusion it is about time to part ways with the insect cell carrier we use as I have had sporadic service since leaving Albuquerque Via Highway 550 thru Cuba, and Farmington. So happy I took 550 highway and not IH 40 thru Gallup like we did in 2018.

Tomorrow we are continuing our Adventure and heading towards William's. AZ. I did get a report from our Camping Neighbor that Grand Canyon Camp Ground was filled to about 50% capacity, but with limited things going on at Grand Canyon will stick with KOA I have pre booked.

All for now. Just going to batten down the Hatches, Captain and hopefully Ride it out. Luckily the winds are due to calm tonight.

Wow, sounds like you have started off with a bang up time. Sorry you missed the snow up north. But there was plenty of wind too to deal with in Montana  and wyoming that made it uncomfortable to drive . Hopefully things will settle down for you. Your grand daughter will always remember that off roading too .thanks for thr update

Oh and tying on the tiny computer screen with fat fingers causes some words to look  funny for sure

Sounds great!

What path did you end up driving from a Texas to monument valley?

These are places I hope to visit after we get our trailer next spring Long trip likely 2022. Gotta sell house and buy another next year.

Rob we live near the Geographic center of Texas. That is considered West Texas, not far West Texas,  . Usually average about 50 MPH with pit stops and prefer to limit travel to 250 miles max, arrive early, set up and relax. This trip I think the farthest drive we have plotted is Cannonville Utah to Moab and am going to break my rules and follow IH70 on that leg of the trip due to distance. I prefer back roads as there is more to see of this Great Land we all share.

For our launch out of TX we drove thru Midland, Andrews due to 158 Closure near Big Springs to Carlsbad, NM Day 1.

Day 2, Thru Roswell, up 285 to Clines Corners, took IH 40 into beautiful Albuquerque. Day 2 we stopped at UFO museum. Got or temp taken and were only allowed in the gift shop as the Museum was closed. Was a little miffed that we could come in to only purchase junk, but got the Grand Daughter a Tshirt anyway.

Day 3, IH 25 North out of Albuquerque to 550 which is nice and scenic. The roads running thru the Tribal Reservations were similar to Farm to Market Roads in Texas. Not the best, but I love going thru the one horse towns. Lot's of cool stuff to see just passing thru Main Street.

For me, driving the Interstates is a little nerve wracking. My 32.5 ft Class C you can feel the air push of the big Semi Trucks. The never ending stream of 18 wheelers in the rear view adds to the stress, for me anyway. Once I had a 18 wheeler throw a tire off the Rim (entire tire I might add off the rear set of tandem axles on a trailer at me. I never knew a tire could fly that high!

I will say The Steering Stabilizer, and the rear Roadmaster sway bar, along with the Bilstein Shocks have made a World of difference. I had a failed shock, probably drove it to Badlands last year I am guessing. The Steering Stabilizer has taken all that back and forth out of the wheel. I do run 80 PSI in the OEM rear axle air bags too.

I had a couple wind pushes from Mother Nature, but driving a class C, it is 2 hands on the wheel, always.

JD

Boat Addict said:

Wow, sounds like you have started off with a bang up time. Sorry you missed the snow up north. But there was plenty of wind too to deal with in Montana  and wyoming that made it uncomfortable to drive . Hopefully things will settle down for you. Your grand daughter will always remember that off roading too .thanks for thr update

Oh and tying on the tiny computer screen with fat fingers causes some words to look  funny for sure

Click to expand...

BA,

I am new to RVn game and have read on the Forums that seasoned RVrs have taken Wyoming off their travel list totally, due to winds.

I will agree with TT and Class C that wind plays a big factor.

Driving a house down the road on a delivery van Frame adds to the eXcitement!  ;D. Yea Right!

Enjoy the time - we love being on the road and the adventures.  Even Cape Cod is "quiet" these days!

Made it to William's Early afternoon. Going to roll the dice and venture out early tomorrow to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and snap some pics. I almost took this portion of the trip off the list last month but decided against it.

Drove into William's to visit the Safeway and ventured down the Route 66 main roadway. Area is packed with tourists. Looked like social gatherings was the order of the day in Williams.

I will continue to avoid the crowds but that is just my reclusive nature. I never stray far from my immediate pack.

Looking at the news I see there is a fire near the north rim which has closed portions of highway 89A near Jacob's lake. Hope there is no chance of the fire affecting 89 up to Cannonville Utah.

Planning our Grand Daughter trip for this summer I wanted to go for multiple bucket list places into small windows of time. This is not my vision of how I want to RV in the future though. Still trying to figure it all out. Having a Blast and Living life flying by the seat of our pants.

JD

Thanks John. 550 looks like a great route.
Have fun at the ditch. ?

South Rim from Mathers point to the Geology museum about a 1.5 mile total round trip was our outing on foot  this morning.

We left William's about 5 am for the approx 60 mile drive into the canyon. Had my Access America card ready when we drove in to save the $35 entrance fee but the booths were empty. We parked and there were about 5 cars in the parking lot.

We spent about 1.5 hr on the South Rim paved foot trail. We took alot of pics and just took it all in. Not only did it feel we had the Grand Canyon to ourselves, we actually did. Reality we saw 25 to 30 people during our stroll.

At the end we went to the deserted tourist center only to find a elk enjoying breakfast munching on one of the bushes. It was so cool.

COVID 19 actually created a strange event. I was standing in the middle of one of the world's largest tourist traps but it was empty.

I thought back to our June 2018 trip where at around noon when we came back from the shuttle tours how incredibly packed that area was with people.

Grand Canyon 2020 was a win for sure. Got that priceless pic of my Grand Daughter and the elk at the visitor center. The are the only two in the pic.

On the way back to William's there was a pretty steady flow on cars heading for the Canyon. Glad we went early and got to enjoy that beautiful crisp 60F weather. 

Talked to my son back in Houston today to wish him a happy Birthday. He was sure jealous of the weather we are enjoying.

All for now.

JD

Checking in from Cannonville. Departed William's  at 0500 AZ time. I wanted to get a early start due to the Magnum fire burning on 89A which had road closed from Marble cave to Fredonia on 89A.

Was relieved to see the fire was heading away from 89 as we neared the 89 and highway 12 junction. Huge fire and alot of smoke, looks like AZ needs heavy rain to conquer that blaze.

Was able to do a couple quick excursions this afternoon, saw the beautiful waterfall at mossy cave, walked in the cold stream. If felt so nice. Ventured about 7 miles down a dirt road and walked a Beautiful slot canyon.

Tomorrow it is off to explore Bryce National Park.

Been snapping alot of pics. Maybe share some later when we get back home.

Have not really done anything but hit to tip of the iceberg as these areas really need alot more time than we are spending.

It has been Grand, so far. Off to Moab day after tomorrow taking 12 to 24 up to and a small bit of IH 70.

JD

Great reports, for sure its been a dry time thru the southern states. Lake Powell is really down. Navaho Lake and dam is way below the spillway. Enjoy your drive. We are done driving for a while now. We did not do the northern border states.

Sounds great so far JD.  Like you we prefer the back roads as there are some really interesting spots and beautiful scenery on those.

The fire is awful from the photos I have seen.

Take care and enjoy!

Look forward to the photos  ;D

Coming back to add a bit to Cannonville UT leg of journey. Today we headed into Bryce Canyon National Park and walked the Sunrise Loop, along with the Navajo Loop finishing the loop coming back thru the Rock the aptly named "Wall Street" as we took off on the loop I was thinking, Hum Wall Street? As we finished up the loop exiting the climb up I instantly got it. Sky Scrapers of Rock. Wall Street a perfect name for sure!

I have been fortunate enough to see alot of Great places in the World. Mostly eXcursions while stationed overseas in the military. Places I would have never seen had I not been, but I will say that Bryce Canyon Amphitheaters as they call them are jaw droppingly Beautiful and I would have to rate them top 10 places I have laid eyes on.

Stopped for the obligatory T Shirt for the Grand Daughter and the man at the store inside the park stated business was off about 50%, which equated for a win for us due to lesser crowds.

The shuttle buses are running here limiting to 20 people w/ Social Distancing. We arrived early enough to find plenty of parking at the Loops. Glad we rolled the dice and drove to the parking areas and did not shuttle.

The lady at the KOA was very nice and we were talking the size of the Grand Staircase National Monument as I had seen the signs for as I linked up on Highway 12. She explained that The Grand Canyon was actually the bottom stair, or the start of the Stair and that Bryce was actually the top of the Staircase.

Now she could have been blowing smoke up my backside, but she seemed like she knew her stuff to me.  ;D

I got a bunch of pics for sure. 

My Class C has been performing well with the eXtra suspension upgrades I had done earlier this year. Worth every penny we threw at the upgrade.

I am looking forward to the scenic Highway 12 thru Capital Reef, and linking up with 24 North into a small leg of IH 70 into Moab tomorrow.

All for Now.

JD

PS: Love to hear that Ford V10 screaming on those mountain climbs, It is a Beast for sure!

?... PS: Love to hear that Ford V10 screaming on those mountain climbs, It is a Beast for sure!...?

Glad you?re having a great time, John!

Just curious, about your average gas mileage.  I?m guessing 6-8 mpg?

richclover said:

?... PS: Love to hear that Ford V10 screaming on those mountain climbs, It is a Beast for sure!...?

Glad you?re having a great time, John!

Just curious, about your average gas mileage.  I?m guessing 6-8 mpg?

Click to expand...

Rich, I am going to add it up when I get back. I got receipts, chicken scratch hand written notes, but I will come back and do a trip report that includes mileage. Today on scenic Highway 12 there was alot of down hill 6%, 8%, and one 10%, grade and a good deal of uphill with a summit of 9600 ft. I am sure gas mileage had to suffer a bit, but was a safe road using tow mode and downshifting to"4" on the column in places. Got RPM up to 4700.

7 tow / 9 no tow

Previous trips.

Touching base from Moab Utah. Took Scenic Highway 12  out of Cannonville UT this morning. 12 linked up with 24 at Hanksville to a short Jaunt on IH 70 and then down 191 to Moab. 256 miles in total. We are 1600 miles  plus + into our 2500 mile circle.

For board members contemplating the possible danger of this road I would say the views are worth it. Road is good. Not much shoulder, small stretches of 6%, 8% one 10% grade, but I felt safe driving it at approx 50ft including my tow.

Not a white knuckle ride, but I was gripping the wheel tighter in some places for sure. 

Rocky, Capital Reef National Park was awesome. The vast contrast from Forest on 12 to Crazy Beautiful rugged rock cliffs in the Park were spectacular.

BA was right there is a section of highway 12 down hill that did look moon / lunar like. So glad I did not opt for IH 70.

I will say I did use the change route feature in the Garmin RV 780 GPS as the routes coming out of cannonville did not default 12 to 24. The change route feature is much simpler than Garnin Basecamp. Uploading and all that jazz. (Thanks Tim) Another post on the Forum where Tim has taken me to school on tips and tricks of Basecamp and Garmin. If I did not drift off topic slightly on my rambles, I just would not be..well me.  ;D

All for now. Arches National Park. Early tomorrow.

JD

I think, earlier in the thread, you mentioned that you weren?t seeing the usual crowds of people in the parks?

I?m trying to figure out why the national forest camp sites in the Uinta Mountains, UT, are packed with campers.  My ?theory? is that most folks from the Salt Lake City area cancelled their summer vacation extended trips and are keeping their camping time more ?local?. 

Have fun and safe travels!