Retirement trip, Part Two

[John Stephens]

Robert, the charger is part of the Intellibrake braking system that was installed on the car along with the rest of the hitch package.

 

[John Stephens]

A strong headwind made good mileage a pipedream today. Along with the gradual climb from sea level to over 4,000 ft through central and west Texas, my mpg dropped to less than 5 for much of the way today. We are now in high desert in west Texas staying in a relatively nice Van Horn RV Park, presently a Good Sam park but laid out like an old KOA. Decent amenities with cable and wifi, good electric and average water pressure. I'm surprised at how much this park filled up near sunset, considering it's out there in the middle of nowhere.

Nothing exciting to report regarding the trip. Driving through central and west Texas is little more than boring. The most striking thing of the day for me was waking up in 44 degree temps and having it reach 90 this afternoon.

Tomorrow, we make the last leg of the initial journey and drive to our first destination in Rodeo, NM. It will be another long day, putting 323 miles on the coach.

Thank you to all who have weighed in on the electrical issue I have with the toad. I know very little about electronics and only knew that a diode was needed but didn't know what it was used for. At this point, I am going to assume my coach guy didn't wire the plug incorrectly because there was only one loose wire and one empty socket. All other connections in that plug are spoken for.

 

[Robert K]

Thinking it could have something to do with grounds.
If you have it looked at, just something to check.

 

[John Stephens]

I have had little to no wifi since Sunday, most of the time having the typical park wifi that is so slow, it has to speed up to stop. Hence, the lack of posts until now.

Aside from the poor wifi and total lack of cable or over the air stations, Rusty's RV Ranch was a very impressive RV park with the largest sites I have ever seen. Each pull through site was able to accommodate up to a 100 ft. long rig and had a very large amount of side room next to the RV with a fire pit, concrete patio, and stand for either a grill or telescope. This is dark sky country and the rules of the park show that with bans against all lights outside the RV, no patio light, all windows have to be covered after dark, and all lights extinguished before opening the door. There are a lot of astronomers that use this park and no one wants their night vision ruined by an unwanted light source. I must say that after sitting in a dark coach for two hours, I could walk outside and see more stars than I ever have.

The site we had was perfectly level, had very good utilities, and we had no complaints of any kind while there. We took the car up the Chiracahua Mountain and down the other side, leaving the back half of the car looking like it got in a mud fight and lost. The paved road lasted about 4 miles and for the next 23, was dirt, much of the time, washboard style. Judy said she thought she got a backend massage. After coming down the other side, we stopped at the Chiracahua National Monument, drove through the park and saw a lot of interesting rock formations.

We stayed in Rodeo two nights and then drove to Tucson via Tombstone. There was nothing in that town to see and I don't suggest going out of your way to visit it. When we made it to Tucson, we stayed at Lazydays KOA, a very nice park with good amenities but quite small sites. Ours was so short, we were unable to park behind the coach without turning sideways. The cable was SD and fuzzy so we scanned the OTA channels, knowing Tucson would have all the networks, and got excellent service. As with most parks, the wifi was weak. The utilities were good and the site was level.

On Thursday, we drove to Camp Verde and set up in Verde River RV and Cottages Park. This park has poor cable, decent wifi, good utilities, but our site is so off level, I can't get it level even with wood under the front jacks. I don't like having tires off the ground, but am very close on the fronts. We're level enough for the refrigerator, but the doors don't close easily. We will stay here for three nights.

Today, Judy and I drove to Jerome, an old ghost town that was originally founded because copper was discovered in the area. From there, we drove to Sedona, getting good photos of Red Rock and its various rock formations. I had been told by many people to visit Sedona for its beauty and am now glad I did. If it wasn't so cold for this Florida boy, I would love to live there and take in that scenery every day.

We have been very fortunate with finding parks that have dog runs or parks so far on this trip. I think we are on our sixth park and five of them have had dog facilities, including the one we are presently at. Having three large dogs provides a challenge for us old people who can't get out of first gear when walking a hyperactive dog. They build up a lot of energy when having to stay inside a motorhome for days at a time, so having a place they can go off lead and run the energy off is a real blessing.

Yesterday, when driving here, I was pleased with how the engine of the coach performed after the problems we had on our first day. We have been using premium gas exclusively and have only noticed the engine missing or backfiring rarely under load. I am hoping this is maintained as we get further into the mountains. I had to visit an auto parts store today to get a light bulb for one of the side clearance lights that went out, and tire valve extensions for the front tires. I was a bit perturbed about my tire guys not replacing the ones that were on the old front tires when they installed the new Toyos. When I tried to check the pressure yesterday and dropped one of my TPMS sensors in between the wheel and its cover and then took 15 minutes fishing it out, I decided extensions had to be found.

Tomorrow, we will visit Montezuma's National Monument and drive to Payson to visit Judy's old town. If we get up early enough, we might drive to Phoenix for lunch at Lou Malnotti's.

As far as the highways are concerned, we have had good fortune most of the way. After suffering through the road repairs in east Texas, the majority of I-10 was good through that state, New Mexico, and Arizona. There is considerable work being done on the road with large sections being replaced. We were seldom finding undesirable sections of road. Overall, we have been pleasantly surprised.

 

[jackiemac]

Sounds like you're enjoying yourselves!

 

[UTTransplant]

I made note of Randy’s RV park! Now my only problem is to figure out how to have the automatic entry light of my rig not go on every time I open the door! Kevin likes night photography too, and the light bothers him too.

 

[John Stephens]

When we left Verde River RV this morning, we were quite displeased with the park. This is a fairly large park with probably more than 3-400 sites and while walking through it the past three days, we noticed that we were far from the only rig with wheels off the ground due to sites that weren't close to being level. You would think that a park this large would have made sure the sites were more level than this. I turned off the fridge before storing the jacks and when they were finished coming up, viola! The coach door would once again close without having to be slammed shut.

I tried to let the staff know of the problems with the site and the cable when we pulled out. I say tried because my complaints fell on deaf ears. The lady at the check in desk told me she had never had a complaint about the sites not being level, something I do not believe in the least, and when I told her about the cable problems, she said she didn't know anything about them because she doesn't watch television. End of discussion. Not being the owner, she probably doesn't care about the negative word of mouth advertising an attitude such as that will give the park. Especially when there is a sign in the front of the property as you pull in that says Rule #1 is the customer is always right, and Rule #2 is Refer back to Rule #1.

Our drive up to the Grand Canyon proved to me that the coach is now running nearly as well as it did prior to the problem on our first day. We encountered 6 and 7% grades along with extended 5% grades. Although it stayed in lower gears a lot more than I remember it doing in 2019 when we traversed the Rockies, it never sounded like it was missing or backfiring, and ran smoothly the entire time. I know we will run into even steeper grades before this trip concludes, but now feel comfortable and confidant the engine will perform satisfactorily.

The roads to the Grand Canyon were a mixed bag. I-17 was good, I-40 was very good, but AZ 64 was less than desirable in some places and horrible in others. There was a section in the middle that lasted about 20 miles that had been completely repaved and was a relief from the poorly patched sections before and after it that made me wonder if I would have additional damage to the coach or something in it.

We are staying in Trailer Village, the only FHU RV park located within the national park. The friendly young man who checked me in indicated that as of March, they are booked solid through November. He said this is a slow year due to Covid because they normally book up a year in advance.

Each site is asphalt, reasonably level, and has adequate electric and good water pressure. The cable is weak and needs a booster of some kind because when prime time started, the signal began dropping and getting weaker from the greater number of people using the system. The park has no wifi at all and I am having to use my Verizon hotspot from my phone. Unfortunately, the Senior plan we are on does not allow you to use your phone as a hotspot so they throttle me to something ridiculously low. I think when I was first getting into the internet back in the 90's and had AOL dial up 56K, it might have been faster than what I currently am on. So I click to open a new page and sit back and wait for two minutes. That's okay when all I'm doing is writing in my blog.

Although we were quite tired after getting setup and walking the dogs since this is the second park we have stayed at that does not have a dog park, we still decided to see the canyon and drove to Mather Point's parking lot, walking the rest of the way to see one of the seven wonders of the world before it got dark. We'll take the shuttle tomorrow and I'll let someone else do the driving for a change.

When we arrived at noon, the temp was around 55 and only got up to 57 today. I kept my shorts on that I had been driving in because I simply hate wearing long pants. Every time it gets cold enough at home to need long pants, I tell Judy it's time to move south to the islands. But tomorrow, I'll get out the sweat pants because it won't get any warmer than today. I'll also disconnect the water hose tonight before bed because it's supposed to get down to 27. Hopefully, it won't be for too long tonight and nothing in the wet bay will freeze. I'm not too worried about the lines in the basement because Adventurers are supposed to be built to avoid this since the heat ductwork runs close to the lines. It's already down to 43 at 8PM and my heat pump is having the furnace also fire up.

We will be here at the canyon until Wednesday with no wifi so you might not see much from me for quite a while. When we leave the Grand Canyon, we are going off grid for several days in Utah, boon docking in dispersed camping sites and staying in Gooseneck State Park if we can get lucky enough to secure one of the eight spots there. Our next RV park will be in Moab on April 25th.

 

[John Stephens]

The best laid plans...

Did I say in my last post that I wasn't worried about the plumbing because the furnace heat ducts run through the basement and would keep them warm? Yeah, that didn't happen.

When you own an RV, you have to be prepared for something always going wrong, needing repair or replacement. It's a house on wheels being driven down the road, so you have to expect it.

What you don't expect is having to perform the same repair or the same replacement twice in short order. Such as paying $1,800 to an unscrupulous mechanic to replace the squirrel cage and motor for the condenser fan and then two years later, having to replace the compressor fan and motor because the first guy didn't clean the system when he had it out. That happened last year.

But also last year, I had to have a mobile mechanic replace the igniter in the furnace because it wouldn't start while we were on the road. He apparently used a bad part because it lasted only until last night.

I turned the thermostat from electric heat to gas heat so the basement would stay warm enough for the pipes not to freeze when it got down to 27 degrees. At 3AM, I woke up freezing because the furnace never started. It worked just fine during the afternoon and early evening, but when it was needed the most, it died.

It's doing the same thing it did last year, trying to start three times and then stopping. Apparently, the part that mobile mechanic installed wasn't very good. Or, he installed a new igniter and not the sail switch as he said, and now the sail switch has gone bad. Regardless, I had to start the heat pump and take four hours to get the temperature inside the coach to something livable, at least for those of us used to living in SW Florida where it has never gotten to 27 degrees.

The closest mobile mechanic was 60 miles away and although he covers the Canyon area and its RV parks, his service call is $400 plus the first hour @ $146, meaning putting in a $15 part would cost me over $550. So that means we're going to try to get by using the heat pump for the rest of this 98 day trip. I'm hoping that last night's chilly temperature will be the worst we'll see because of the elevation of the Canyon. It will get down into the low 30's tonight and tomorrow, so the heat pump may run all night trying to pump as much warm air into the coach as possible, and it might not keep us quite as warm as we would like, but that's why Judy thought ahead and brought extra blankets.

On the good side, we accomplished two good things today. The first was taking a very scenic drive to the east end of the Canyon, seeing one of the seven wonders of the world. I'm hoping we got at least one good photo that can be blown into a 24x36 wall hanging.

And the second was realizing that the bad cable reception we have been getting at the last two RV parks wasn't caused from the parks, but instead, a corroded cable connection in the basement. I cut off the plug and end of the cable, installed a new connector, and we now have good cable. In 2019, we had the same issue with the Dish and I was afraid the problem was in the cable running through the coach. Now, I realize that both cables were corroded inside the insulation and can be an easy fix.

Tomorrow, we will take the shuttle buses and see the half of the Canyon that we didn't see today. As long as we can stay warm, this will be a nice destination for us to remember.

 

[John Stephens]

We have had limited or no wifi and poor cell service for the past week. We are now in Moab, Utah at a nice park with strong wifi so I'm going to attempt to catch up in an abbreviated post.

Regarding the GC, we toured the entire canyon from the rim. I would have loved to take a hike on the Bright Angel Trail down to the bottom if I was 30 or 40 years younger, but now I have to be happy with drives in the car and on the shuttle bus. We got a lot of good photos, some of which I hope are good enough to blow up into wall hangings.

We decided, after being told that the closest RV mechanic that his service charge to the GC was $400 plus first hour @ $145, that we would wait until we got to Las Vegas to have the furnace repaired. I contacted a mobile mechanic there that said he'll charge $85 service charge and $125/hour.

From the GC, we drove to Goosenecks State Park in Utah. On the way, we stopped at Forrest Gump Point and got a picture, marveled at the sights of Monument Valley and saw the balanced rock at Mexican Hat. Goosenecks is a nice park with boon dock camping and made a good center of operations for visits to Mesa Verde, Four Corners and Valley of the Gods. Four Corners was closed due to Covid so that's still on my bucket list. Mesa Verde was also closed to touring but you could still get close enough for some good shots. Valley of the Gods has been used by so many movies, television shows and commercials that many of the sights are recognizable but still amazing to see in person.

We left Goosenecks early because I made the mistake of getting my reservations mixed up and forgetting how long I wanted to stay in each location. I wanted to be in Goosenecks for three days and Moab for four, but my itinerary reversed them and I made a reservation for Moab Rim Campark for only three nights. We realized the mistake last Thursday and I began trying to call Moab Rim to see if I could get an extra day on Saturday, when we weren't due in until Sunday. Because of very poor cell service in this part of the country, it took me until Friday to get through to them, only to find out they were booked solid but could possibly accommodate us for Saturday in their overflow parking. We chose to chance it and left Goosenecks early Saturday morning so we could be at the Moab park by noon when they began allowing entry. We got the best spot they offered but had a difficult night due to the rule that during quiet hours between 10PM and 7AM, no generators were allowed. Since we didn't have a usable furnace, we had been relying on our heat pump to stay warm at night and now were being told we couldn't use it since it relies on the generator or 110V shore power. That also made a problem for me unable to use my CPAP so I assumed I wouldn't get much sleep that night. It got worse when the Jeep and tent campers next door chose to ignore the quiet hour rules, even when approached by the night security guard, telling him to go to hell when he told them they had to quiet down. They sang songs, told jokes, and shot off fireworks until 3AM. I got no sleep and Judy got about three hours.

I mentioned the problem the next morning to the front desk and found I wasn't the first to complain. The owner of the park was very kind and refunded the charge for that night, apologizing for what happened. The offenders were told they weren't welcome back.

This park is small but very nice. It has space for about 25 RV's, most with full hookups, a half dozen or more cabins, and an area for tents, with or without electric. The sites are gravel, bordered with concrete, with good utilities, strong water pressure, and very good wifi along with about 75 cable channels. Each site has a picnic table and a place to park your towed car along with a grass area for picnicking or your dogs. When I booked this last August, it was the least expensive park in the area. We are paying $59 per night with no discounts since it is in season here. The front desk personnel are very friendly and helpful and the owner attempts to make sure every patron is happy with his or her stay.

We have toured Arches NP and Canyonlands NP while here and have been fascinated with the landscapes. I am beginning to believe that Utah is the most diverse and most beautiful state in the country. And we still have Bryce, Zion, and Capitol Reef yet to visit.

We will break camp tomorrow and drive to Goblin Valley State Park and dry camp for one night in Dark Sky Country hoping to see the Milky Way. I have yet to scratch it off my bucket list, but have scratched off seeing Forrest Gump Hill, the bulk of the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and eating a Lou Malnotti's pizza, obtained in Scottsdale, AZ on a side trip to Payson from Camp Verde. Still on the list for this trip: the Milky Way, Crater Lake, and Mount Ranier.

 

[John Stephens]

A couple of good camping and traveling days.

Yesterday, we drove from Moab to Goblin Valley, only to find the campground completely filled. We drove back to Temple Mtn. Rd., the road from Utah 24 to Goblin Valley Rd., and tripped across a BLM campground that was excellently graded, leveled, and had fire pit/grills installed. We were the third party there at 1PM but I counted 13 rigs that night. It is truly dark sky country, with Judy and me seeing more stars throughout the entire sky than ever before in our lives. Unfortunately, it was a night the Milky Way could not be seen, so it's still on my bucket list. Maybe while we're here in Kanab.

For the first time, I disagreed with the directions that the Garmin 770 gave me to drive to Kanab this morning. It wanted me to drive north on 24 to another highway that would lead me to I-15, completely the wrong way that would add countless gallons of fuel to the cost. I had already checked out taking Utah 24 to Utah 12 and see Capitol Reef, the beginnings of the Grand Staircase and Escalante. That way, we could at least see parts of all five national parks in this state.

Hwy. 24 was a decent road for as long as we were on it. Hwy. 12, cutting through the mountains running through the middle of the state, was a different story. The road, itself, was in reasonable shape in most areas, but I didn't know what to expect in terms of grades and elevations and almost bit off more than I could chew. There were grades uphill going west as steep as 14%, and downhills the same. The engine decided to begin having issues again during the steepest grades and I slowed down to 18 mph on one occasion. I think it was my fault, because just before hitting the steep grades, I got gas and for the first time since the second day of our trip, I got mid-grade rather than premium. After this experience, I'm sticking premium for the rest of the trip. I'm also going to climb underneath the coach and see what kind of fuel filter I have and replace it. Once I got past the mountains, all three of them with the highest being 9,600 ft., the engine settled back down. That sounds to me like a fuel filter problem.

The Garmin may have been trying to give me an easier trip, but I'm still glad we took the path we did. We saw some of the most beautiful scenery and landscapes we've ever seen before. I was wishing I could sit back and take it all in but instead had to keep my eyes on the road. The sights made this way to cross the state worth the trouble.

Although the drive to Kanab was the most difficult of the entire trip so far, we made good time and arrived at J&J RV Park at 3:45. The owner was at the coach before I could walk out the door, providing the best customer service I have seen thus far. This is a city park, located on the main drag of the small town along with many other RV parks and has no shade with trees looking like they were planted last year. Our site is the closest to the office and other facilities such as restrooms, showers, and laundromat. I'm guessing we got this site because we booked so early, the same reason we got such a good site at Moab Rim Campark. The site is relatively level, built on a thick bed of gravel, with good, strong utilities. As in our last park, we are getting outstanding wifi because one of the repeaters is located less than 15 ft. from our roof. I believe this is the fastest wifi we've seen up until now. The price is also one of the lowest we'll see the entire trip @ $250.00 for the entire week.

While we're here, we will explore Zion and Bryce NP's and several other interesting spots. I am hoping to hike through a slot canyon while here. But tomorrow, I think we'll take the day off unless we can get lucky and score shuttle tickets to Zion.

 

[phil-t]

Nice, John. We made that drive, going the east three years ago. Great scenery. We stayed a week at a park in Fredonia (not far south of Kanab. Enjoy the parks and scenery out there. We also did a day trip, in the car to the North Rim, unforgettable views there and of the Grand Staircase on the way back. Was my first view of that area that told the why the name "Grand Staircase". Also,Toadstool Hoodoos, not too far East of Kanab on 89. Easy hike, for the most part.

 

[Old_Crow]

Nice, John. We made that drive, going the east three years ago. Great scenery. We stayed a week at a park in Fredonia (not far south of Kanab. Enjoy the parks and scenery out there. We also did a day trip, in the car to the North Rim, unforgettable views there and of the Grand Staircase on the way back. Was my first view of that area that told the why the name "Grand Staircase". Also,Toadstool Hoodoos, not too far East of Kanab on 89. Easy hike, for the most part.

When leaving the North Rim one year, we actually drove out of our way to Kanab to take 89 to Page instead of 89A. Had a nice stop at the GS-E visitors center and met a docent who actually has a dinosaur named after him because he was the first to find the fossil of this particular species.

 

[John Stephens]

Nice, John. We made that drive, going the east three years ago. Great scenery. We stayed a week at a park in Fredonia (not far south of Kanab. Enjoy the parks and scenery out there. We also did a day trip, in the car to the North Rim, unforgettable views there and of the Grand Staircase on the way back. Was my first view of that area that told the why the name "Grand Staircase". Also,Toadstool Hoodoos, not too far East of Kanab on 89. Easy hike, for the most part.

Phil, One of my bigger disappointments was finding out the North Rim won't open until May 15th, a week after we leave the area. But if we are allowed to drive down there, I would love to see the Staircase on the way back. We caught parts of it - the beginning - yesterday while on the drive to Kanab. Apparently, another disappointment will be not seeing Peek-a-boo Canyon. It seems you can't get there without a high profile 4x4, and the tour companies take full advantage of that with an average charge of $139 per person. The cheapest I found was $99. Sorry, but I won't pay $200 for my wife and me to be driven to a canyon a few miles away. I'm hoping on finding another slot canyon easy to get to before we leave. Still on my bucket list is seeing the Milky Way in dark sky territory and it appears that may not happen, either. My best opportunity was night before last in Goblin Valley but it wasn't visible. There is a chance to see it while we are in Kanab, but that will mean driving out of town. Too many lights here. We will visit the toadstool hoodoos while here and I'm looking for other things to do besides the obvious national parks. Kodachrome Basin is one on the list. I was going to drive to Horseshoe Bend until I was told that Goosenecks was better and with a shorter hike. We parked right by the ledge.

 

[jackiemac]

John, Little Wildhorse was close to Goblin and fairly easy as slots go. Lick Wash is on Johnson Canyon Road and has petroglyphs, we haven't done it but I think its short. You will pass the set of Gunsmoke. If road conditions good you can do a loop back but might be too long for dogs to be left.

I think I might have mentioned these and Willis Creek also reasonably close, before, so apologies if I have.

 

[phil-t]

We did Johnson Canyon when we out there. Saw the petroglyphs and pictographs. Gunsmoke set was pretty run down, but we found it.
We need to go back to Utah.

 

[jackiemac]

Cottonwood Canyon narrows are good but not the easiest to get into. We turned around and I'm glad we did as the other dnd would have been tricky for me, according to Steve. I'm not very nimble

 

[John Stephens]

John, Little Wildhorse was close to Goblin and fairly easy as slots go. Lick Wash is on Johnson Canyon Road and has petroglyphs, we haven't done it but I think its short. You will pass the set of Gunsmoke. If road conditions good you can do a loop back but might be too long for dogs to be left.

I think I might have mentioned these and Willis Creek also reasonably close, before, so apologies if I have.

Jackie, Lick Wash on Google Maps is nowhere near Johnson Canyon Rd. Is there two of them? I think we'll do Willis - you mentioned that before - and Kodachrome Basin the same day since it's in the same area. We're going to drive to the North Rim even though it's not open yet, so we can see the Grand Staircase on the way back.

 

[jackiemac]

@John Stephens directions in the link below which is a friend's website.... you need to go onto Johnson Canyon Road i think. It may join another. I'll need to double check with Steve.

Edit.. it joins BLM500

Lick Wash Slot Canyon, Paria River, Utah

Lick Wash, a distant tributary slot canyon of upper Buckskin Gulch in Utah, forming short narrows through cross-bedded Navajo sandstone. Part of Grand-Staircase Escalante NM

www.americansouthwest.net

 

[Old_Crow]

If you've got a toad that can do forest roads, you can get around the gate on 67 going to the North Rim by taking forest road 22 south of Fredonia. This assumes that the snow pack is gone.

 

[John Stephens]

On Friday, we drove to Coral Pink Sands Dunes park, bout 20-25 miles from Kanab, paid a $10 entry fee, and then realized it wasn't a drive through park, with hiking only. We got out of the car and walked to the end of the concrete walkway and took a few shots of the dunes and surrounding area. I was a bit confused with the name since the sand isn't pink, but more of an orange, colored by iron oxide from the sandstone mountains where the sand is created.

The Recreation.gov website indicated the shuttle tickets inside Zion NP would be made available at 5PM the day before the tickets would be used, so we got back to the coach in plenty of time to log onto the website, hoping we would get lucky on our first try. We left our plans open for the week so we could go to Zion any day we were able to get shuttle tickets.

We got lucky/unlucky getting tickets for the Zion shuttle. Lucky, because we got through on our first try Friday evening at 5:00. Unlucky, because we were relegated to the 1-2:00 time slot with all before that already taken. I knew finding a parking spot would be next to impossible since all the free spots at the visitor's center would be filled by 9:00AM.

We left the coach at 11:15 to make the hour long drive, never knowing how long it will take to get through the tunnel. With no RV's trying to get through it at the same time we did, it didn't take long and we got to the park at 12:15. As expected, the free parking lot was a joke, with multiple cars sitting in the lanes waiting for other cars to leave so they could take their spots, but at the same time, holding up all those behind them. I can appreciate someone sitting for a minute or two when seeing someone getting into their car and leaving, but waiting for 10 minutes and holding up traffic behind them is simply inconsiderate.

We drove to Springdale looking for more parking because we misread the sign that says "Additional parking in Springdale - Take the free shuttle." We thought it said free parking and spent 15 minutes looking for any parking that was free with no luck because there isn't any. We got lucky and found a pay spot in the closest lot to the visitor's center. Anyone thinking of going to Zion should be made aware that if you can't get lucky and find a spot near the visitor's center to get free parking, any lot in Springdale will cost a flat fee of $30.00.

We weren't aware that the entrance to the park was a walk away when we parked. While it was still a bit of a walk uphill on the way back, it was probably the best place we could park. But I had this nagging feeling that I was paying an exorbitant fee simply to abuse my body with a hike I probably shouldn't take at this age.

After getting on the shuttle inside the park, we found that four of the nine shuttle stops were closed. This was disappointing to me because one of the them was the Weeping Rock, something I had wanted to see for 25 years since seeing it the last time when I lived in Las Vegas. The shuttle didn't stop until it reached the Lodge, then the Grotto, and then the end of the line at the Temple of Sinawava. We got off at all three stops and took photos of the canyon walls, sheer rock formations that simply astounded me.

At the Temple of Sinawava, we decided to take the hike on the concrete walkway as far as it went, not knowing how far that was. According to my Steps app on my phone, it was a mile each way. It was a beautiful hike, sometimes strenuous for us, but one that made us feel good that we made it when it was over. I told Judy it was a good thing to do since we're staying in an RV park that has a dog park so we're not taking the dogs for their daily walks and getting the usual amount of exercise.

The park is one of the most extreme in terms of raw beauty since the majority of the park is contained within a large canyon with walls as high as 900 feet. The walls are nothing but rock in most places with only a few trees visible and very little soil. I can't say it is the most beautiful of the national parks, but it certainly is one of the most dramatic.

Today, we drive the Johnson Canyon road and will try to find the Willis Creek slot canyon on our way to Kodachrome Basin.