Trip 78, 2005 West, Part 3
Part 3 of Trip 78.Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Last night was a very yucky one for moi. First of all about 4:00 AM I had a traveler’s stove it up problem and that took awhile to get fixed. Then, I about froze to death. Ham looked very comfy cozy and did his best to warm me up, but I continued to freeze and shiver until I put my green hat on. With all that going on, we didn’t get “up and at ‘em” until a bit later. It was probably about ten or so. The campground had almost completely emptied. Ham went back to the overlook to take pictures, but since the wind was still blowing a la Mariah, I declined to get out in the cold----especially after freezing my bones last night. On the way out of the park, we did stop several times for a picture record. Of course, you always get a different view going than when you were coming. So to speak. By the time we got to Moab we were both pretty hungry; and, for some strange reason, Ham started salivating at the thought of the Mexican restaurant where Nan Lou’s birthday dinner was celebrated, La Hacienda. Quite frankly, after last night’s stomach upset, I wondered how Mexican fare would go down. Remembering that there were plainer dishes on the menu, I thought,” Why not?” There was a wait. Of course there was a wait. But, this time we were told it would only be ten minutes. Surprise of all surprises, I think we were actually seated in less time. Our waiter was efficient and Ham ordered his chicken enchilada meal, while I went for a breakfast of huevos con papa y chorizo. I love to say that. Anyway, it was eggs scrambled with chorizo sausage and fried potatoes. Very, very good! Now the problem was getting the meal. The waiter kept filling and refilling and we kept waiting and waiting. This was all very reminiscent of the Denny breakfast the other day. All cooks in Moab must take a mandatory Slow Training Class. When it finally arrived, the meal was hot and tasty. Then, we went searching for a place to access the Internet so I could answer a letter. We finally found a place in a motel parking lot. That whole process is nerve wracking because it is so time consuming, eating up cell minutes and just trying to get on line. It takes a master computer whiz like his Nibs to even get the letter to read and then send the reply. Finally, we were on our way out of Moab. It seemed like we had been putzing around that town for a long, long time. We were just a short way out of town when we noticed the snow on the La Sal Mountains. There always had been snow, but this stuff looked really deep. As cold as it’s been, I suppose that’s no surprise since they are over 12,000 feet. The road was winding and hilly. The first part of it was drab and I wondered if the scrubby desert plants ever turned green. The mystery will be revealed later. The farther south we went, the redder the cliffs, buttes, and mesas became. Eagle eye Ham spotted Shiprock way over on the horizon. That seemed unbelievable to me since I knew it was very far away and Hammie figured out it was 140 miles by road. Since we were looking at it straight on, I wondered how far it was as the crow flies. Ham finally figured out it was about 90 miles. Who would have believed it could be seen that far. We also saw the snow covered San Juan Mountains and I was beginning to feel that perhaps the sunny Southland must be pretty far away. The cold and I are not getting along for some reason. Ham figured out that the flat rock perched on to top of a spire must be the thing called Mexican Hat; and that had given the village its name. Of course, he was right as usual. The thing is, the little town was so small and dead looking, we wondered why on earth McGarrity named a book after it. Maybe the night life is exciting three nights a year, New Years, the Fourth of July, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Hmm! Maybe I mean Leaphorn’s birthday! The ride was beginning to seem pretty long but, as I’ve said the scenery was spectacular as were the colors, the closer we got to Monument Valley. One red hill even had very even light colored zig zag patterns all the way up. I began to whine that I thought the entrance to the Valley and its campground was a myth. Ham said to hang in there because he saw the entrance. Those sharp eyes again! Anyway, at long last we came to it and, what do you know, the desert shrubs were all green. It must be a Navajo thing. These Indians charged us 20 bucks. Ten for our two admissions and ten for camping! Ham said it was almost OK because we camped here free last time. We had to drive around a bit to find a level spot. We growled at the RV that had taken the spot we had last year, but what could we do? Finally, it seemed prudent to choose level over lovely scenery, which we had seen plenty of. We started dinner immediately and had Chris’ jambalaya, which tasted really good. If I had to spend the time and effort cooking it I don’t think we would ever have it. I’m glad some one can cook up things like that. Then, it was time for a Scrabble game. The wind is rocking the van and it comes whistling in. Ham turned on the engine and we turned the furnace up to fry. I figure if I get really warm before I go to sleep, I might not freeze, even though tonight is supposed to be colder than last night---around 38 degrees, or so. As far as I know, that’s about it. nl Wednesday, March 30, 2005 It was cold last night. I don’t know how cold, but there was a thin layer of snow on the ground and ice on the LER’s windows. Anyway, we turned the engine on for warmth and got up 15 minutes later about 10 AM. Then we went to Goulding’s Trading Post about a mile from the Monument Valley entrance where we had a pretty good breakfast and looked around the shop there. I guess John Wayne made several movies around here and has remained a big deal ever since. We found three new southwest mysteries and a couple of things to send to Chris and wife with the return of their jambalaya bowl. Nan Lou took the wheel and we gassed up for $2.40 per gallon then headed for Flagstaff. The scenery had changed to more grassy fields with a lot of the big rocky formations changing into dirt piles. Some were pretty big ala the Badlands. We passed through Kenyata and Nan Lou remembered stopping there two years ago at the Burger King. She remembers the best parts of our trips. The wind was blowing fiercely, as it had been all night, and the LER was a handful. When we were about 90 miles from Flagstaff the 12,000-foot high snow capped peaks near Flag were easily visible. Soon we passed the Sunset Crater Volcano park where we spent a day or two ten years ago. A few more miles and we reached Flagstaff. I was worried about the LER’s steering and went to the Dodge dealer for some advice. They weren’t doing advice until tomorrow afternoon so we hunted down some Japanese restaurants. Of the three we found on the computer, one had disappeared, one didn’t serve our favorite meal at lunch, and we couldn’t find the other. We tried for the local WalMart but the roads foiled me and we headed down twisty route 89 toward Sedona. Our usual campground was full so we backtracked six miles to the one called Pine Flats, which is usually closed when we are here. It was a struggle to find a level site, but we did. Nan Lou cooked up a clam leg feast and in the middle of eating the campground hostess came for the half-price $9.00 fee. She told us it was going to be 18 degrees tonight. Ain’t that nice. It’s warmer here in January and Febuary, much warmer. We had a serious talk about my bad mood. It was decided by unanimous vote that I get over it and straighten up. So there too. hb Thursday, March 31, 2005 A new day dawned after a low temperature of 24. At least that is what Ham said the thermometer said the low temperature was. However, when I was up rather early, and checked said thermometer, I swore it said 21. I suppose the Shadow knows which is right. Ham seemed to awaken with a better humor. Praise the Lord! He also said we were going on West. That declaration was surprising. We drove into Sedona for breakfast and right away we noticed how the place had changed. The Hyatt was completed at the top of the hill, there were new subdivisions that had sprouted along the main drag, the New York Bagel place had gone kaput, and so on. We noticed all of this without even having breakfast. Being all discombobulated because of these changes, we went on to good old Denny’s. And, yes, the entire staff, especially our service challenged waitress had taken the Denny’s Slow Course. It was just about an hour and five minutes after we first entered the place before we got food. I’m not making this up! I won’t even go into my asking for syrup and never getting it or the food being lukewarm. When we got the check, it was the wrong one. Denny’s is on a roll. Three for three! Then we went to Garland’s rug store and meandered and pondered and looked to our hearts content; and, finally decided (what we knew all along) that the small rugs at Goulding’s by Monument Valley were pretty good buys. That is, if you had an extra four hundred bucks lying around. Usually those extra dollars must be used to keep repairing the aging LER. And so it goes. We traveled around the Coffee Pot area to look at the mobile homes. The one at the top of the hill had been spruced up very nicely. In fact, the whole area seemed dressed up a bit. Many of the mobiles had been disguised to the point you would never know they were trailers. However, the prices have gone up too. Tremendously. We felt a bit disgruntled about the fact that if we were a bit more macho we could have made a killing buying and reselling. As I told Ham, we always look at places as a place to live; never, as investments. So there you have it. Hoo Hah! I thought I would just speak right up and say I would like to go to Alfredo’s Wife in Cottonwood. Ham didn’t whine or complain and of course the 17 mile road is a very pretty drive. Well, drive we did. And we drove. And we drove. We almost ended up in Jerome, each of us thinking we knew where it was. Eventually, Ham was closest, of course. We stopped twice for directions, and the lady at Walgreen’s said they had moved. When Ham found the building, he also found a note saying that the only retail business she was doing was out of her home which was in a different town with no address. Phooey! It was Back to Sedona time. By this time we were pretty hungry. The one place we knew about and where there might be decent parking was at Oaxaca, where we had eaten before. The parking lot was in the back. Ham had a veggie burrito and I had nachos. The price of meals had gone up considerably since we ate there last. The waiter had taken Slow Training. We did a little shop browsing before leaving the area. The price of fetishes has gone up too. At least, if you can judge by an eagle by Husito or something close to that. I thought Ham wanted to go back to the campground we stayed at last night. As always, keeping me on my toes, he changed his mind and pulled in to Manzinita Campground that is closer to Sedona. We found a small, level site that Ham expertly backed into. The collection guy came around immediately. It was again nine dollars. In conversation with the collector of fees he said that they were not full last night, he had forgotten to take down the FULL signs. We are watching the young couple across the way. They have the whole corner and have it completely filled. They have a good fire going and are dressed in hats, gloves, and ponchos over their heavy coats. Good fun! We decided that even when we were young, being that cold didn’t sound like fun. Ham is watching them. I am finished typing. nl Friday, April 01, 2005 We awoke pretty early and took care of our morning chores without needing the furnace. It wasn’t exactly warm, but we weren’t freezing. The meter said it was 29 last night, I guess that 5 degrees extra warmth made a difference. The first thing we did was to look for the Best Western with the Sakura restaurant. I drove as the computer map had shown last night and we soon spotted the Radisson with the Sakura restaurant. Somewhere the Bill Gates map program got it screwed up. It looked just like it did a couple of years ago and they were very accommodating to fix us salmon teriyaki, which was not on the lunch menu. Just like Ocean World except Samurai Sam came out to our table with the big grill in it and chopped, stirred, scooped, and generally put on a fancy show of cooking everything for us. He did the flame thing with the squirt bottle of stuff that burns and had flames all over the grill, table, and plates. He even made giant shooting flame in the middle of the grill that brought the oohs and aaahs from a table of little kids behind us. When their cookie guy did it at their table they really let go with the oohs and aaahs. The meal was pretty good, probably better than the Sakura at home, but I am a creature of habit and like the home stuff better. But the adventure is good. Next we found a Red Lobster and got a gift certificate for Chris and Teresa to send with the John Wayne TP and beer bread in a bottle, then we packaged it up, and found a UPS store to ship it of to Colorado. All of this was near the local WalMart. The one that had signs all over saying No Overnight Parking. After that it was off to find the Verizon store to see what was wrong with the phones. You will be glad to know that there is nothing wrong with the phones. The service is intermittent in canyons with their short burst like messages able to get through and our calls unable to penetrate the walls of the canyons. Also, even if we had the old National Single Rate plan we wouldn’t have any better service in northern Arizona because the Navajos have smoked the piece pipe with Cingular for service and no one else is allowed in there. All of this was told to us by a young man who obviously knew what he was talking about just like all of the Verizon people we have dealt with. He even knew that some tribal chiefs liked Verizon enough to let them onto the rez. I think he was a Navajo Shaman out to put a spell on us. Nan Lou thought he was cute. By now it was getting pretty late in the day and we headed downtown to stroll the streets and see the sights. It is a nice downtown with many bars and eateries and shops. A lot of the shops were closed and the bars were warming up for a rollicking Friday night. Nan Lou had spotted a Cracker Barrel as we traveled cross town on I-40 and I tried to find it. I went to the wrong interchange and naturally it wasn’t there. I returned to I-40 intending to drive a bit until we saw it but I went the wrong way. No problem, I would just get off at the next interchange and zip back onto I-40 in the other direction. Naturally I chose the I-17 interchange that does not allow an easy zip back to I-40. All of this made Nan Lou nervous and she told me to just go to the airport since I-17 had an exit to the airport. I did as I was told, and we found the airport where we had tuna salad in its little restaurant, which was not as colorful as the one in Key West, but we ate healthier. We are now ensconced in the airport parking lot. It is just a plain lot, not short term, not long term, just free parking. Ain’t small towns nice? Saturday, April 02, 2005 For once it was nice and warm when we woke up. This made for many naps and other things before leaping out of bed. When we finally rolled out, I couldn’t believe the thermometer said 71 degrees. Ham said it was because the thermometer was in the sun. Maybe so, but it kept getting warmer to the low 70’s. That felt really nice. We went into Flag, as the Natives say, because Ham was sure there would be a bagel place near the bookstores. He was right, as usual. There was a very nice bakery/deli. Hamilton said it was a Jewish/Italian deli. The name was Malone’s, but they had things on the menu like Italian sodas and canolli. We had very large, but rather tasteless, bagels and Ham had a canolli and I had a chocolate donut like thing with a filling and dusted with powdered sugar. Very nice, but we couldn’t eat all of it. After another trip to the van, mostly to change into short sleeve shirts, it was time to hit the used bookstore. They were having a huge clearance sale. What we chose were mostly Southwestern mysteries that you can’t find at home. We have more books than you can imagine. Just as Ham was in line to pay, I found a Corian horse head cutting board for only five dollars. I just had to have it; but later I wondered if we should give it to Evans as a housewarming gift. We’ll see. Then, we drove to East Flag to the Fry grocery gas station to fill up at $2.18 a gallon. We saw one station advertising $2.09 yesterday, but by today, they woke up and smelled the flowers, or money, or whatever. I went in Wal-Mart as Hammie fixed the poor aging, leaking LER and found a couple of spiffy things to wear in warm weather. I have no idea if they fit or if I look adorable or completely bizarre in them. One nice thing about Wal-Mart, you can get your money back any place in the country. I think, by this time, it was time to head for the movie. We wanted to see Miss Congeniality 2. It was CROWDED. It’s a good thing we got there at least a half hour early. Our favorite seats were taken. At Wal-Mart, as well as at the movie, we were in the minority. Black hair and warm brown faces were everywhere, outnumbering the white people. I guess people drive in from the rez to shop and play on the weekend. I remembered that I needed hearing aid devices. I hated to do it because of greasy hair, dirty hair, and crawly things, but I hated to be in a movie I wanted to see and not be able to hear. This movie was really cute and we laughed a lot. That was nice. Because we ordered the largest size coke and popcorn, we got a free six pack of Peeps. Ham enjoyed them a lot. It was rapidly getting dark as we came out, so it was back to the freeby lot at the airport. Believe it or not, our exact same spot was available. When the sun goes down, it gets cold really fast. For some reason, my throat got sore in the movie, so I think I’ll gargle before I go to bed. That’s all folks! nl Sunday, April 03, 2005 It was so warm this morning I couldn’t believe it. At least it was warm in the sun, the LER is an oven in direct sunlight. Well, it only got down to 36, or thereabouts, last night. I think we were up and on our way to another bagel breakfast about 10 AM, early for us. We had giant sesame bagels and some super size bready thing Nan Lou picked out for our sweetnin. It was big. Then we went to the bookstore to see how their free WiFi worked. In we went with Big Foot and Gator. They had three booths all set up with desktop computers and several booths without. We picked a without one, next to some dude with a geeetar who was putting on a show for the little kids. He was doing all the kindergarten songs that Nan Lou knows so well; ‘Eentsie Weentsie’ Spider and all of those goodies. It distracted Nan Lou something awful as the music wafted over us. It was all she could do to keep from knocking the guy aside and leading the little kids in a rousing chorus of ‘I’m A Little Teapot’ or ‘Koombyyaa’. (I just asked her what some of those songs were because I’m not all that musically inclined, and she replied.) Songs??? This morning???? Oh well. The WiFi worked fine and we busily computed away, Nan Lou answering the latest cry from her friend and I booking a $24.00 per night room for two nights at the Ramada Express in Laughlin, Nevada. I cannot resist these cheap casino hotels, no matter how bad they are. I lust for the one story places with the LER right outside the door, but they will have to wait. I asked one of the clerks in the bookstore if they knew the song by Chicago with the words, “I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow,” which had been haunting me for years. He hollered out for help and a girl came over and started looking on their computer. After a few minutes I thanked her profusely and went about my business. Later, as Nan Lou and I were internetting she came over and told me she had found it and it wasn’t Chicago, but Spiral Staircase. Wow, how about that. I was able to download it right there. Finally we left Flagstaff, who would have believed that we would stay four days in this area, and headed west on I-40, about the only way to go, watching the snow covered peaks of the San Francisco mountains receding in the rear view mirror as we first climbed to an altitude of 7300 feet, the Arizona divide they called it, and then descending over 4000 feet to Laughlin about 40 miles west of Kingman, Arizona. The countryside was mostly rolling hills with some large outcropping of rocky formations that were weenie compared to the rock formations we have seen to date. It had its own beauty and we didn’t scoff at it just because it wasn’t like what we had seen. The air quality diminished the farther west we went, or was it the lower we went, or maybe both. I-40 had many trucks, not as bad as I-70, but more than we’ve seen in many, many days. As we neared Laughlin we could see the many highrise hotels down in the valley next to the Colorado River. Soon we were in the heart of a mini Las Vegas with plenty of traffic and casinos. The RamaDama, as I like to call it, has two towering sections and parking from hell. We parked in the ‘In And Out’ drive in to register since it would have been a three mile walk from RamaDama’s lot. By the way, it looks like they have an RV campground along with a separate RV parking lot. All of this many, many miles from the front door. At least it seemed that far. After a good deal of wandering around in the hotel, we were directed back to very near the door in which we entered to find the registration desk. There were only 20 people standing in line in front of us. Finally, that chore behind us we found our seventh floor room in the West Tower and had our first shower in 20 days. We checked out the dining rooms, a Steakhouse, Dago Delight, Spic Special, and the ever popular ‘All You Can Stuff In Your Gut’ buffet. We chose the Dago Delight and found the service wanting. Nan Lou’s Sammy Clammy was pretty good and my Spaghetti Stupor was a step above good old Fazzoli’s. We had leftovers that we took to the LER in hopes that the fridge will last for two days on the battery alone. This place is crowded. I wondered at the old folks, yes Mildred, older than we, who were being pushed in their wheel chairs, rolled about on castors, and cripping along with canes and walkers, out to have a ball in these places. Right now I am thinking about skipping out on our second day and returning to the peace and quiet of the LER in some WalMart or airport, or maybe even the middle of the Mojave. Everything around here is Mohave, not Mojave. The death Valley restaurant was nicer than the Dago Delight and their overflow camp/parking lot was adequate. But this has AC, and it was 85 when we checked in. hb Monday, April 4, 2005 Today was the day for exploring the London Bridge, relocated to sandy Arizona. We were refreshed from showering last night and rarin’ to go. Breakfast, first. We went to the 24 hour service restaurant of indeterminate name. These places are masters of confusing and frustrating the patrons. We were seated rather quickly. One person takes your drink order, then you wait for an eternity and a wait person appears to take your food order, then a third person brings out the food after a length of time that would accommodate gathering the eggs and killing the chicken. I had French toast and Ham wisely ordered a bagel with cream cheese. I say he was wise because when Person Number Three brought it out, it had a nice serving of fruit. Persons Number One, Two, or Three then disappeared and we waited and waited again for the check. At long last, Ham decided to just put it on the Room tab, and we left. Perhaps, they all were in the barnyard, running down lunch. The drive to Havasu City (where the bridge is) went quickly even though it was 67 or 68 miles away. We passed through Needles, CA, one of the hot in spots of the nation. Today, it was just in the low 80’s, however. We drove quite a ways into the town when a sign was spotted saying parking for said bridge. It was a stone affair with arches, of course, but no more aesthetically pleasing than a zillion other bridges of its age, which was one hundred and thirty years when it was dismantled. We parked in a lot that was for an old English village located under the bridge. It was the dirties, tackiest tourist place we’ve seen yet……and I love tacky tourist shops. The most interesting thing to see were the giant catfish that came up to the edge of the water for people to feed them. You could buy food for them at a beef jerky shop. See what I mean about tacky? We drove across the bridge (big deal, right?) and on the small island, Ham took some pictures of the ocotilla in bloom/ We were both feeling a bit hungry by now and I spotted a Chinese/Japanese restaurant on a tourist map we picked up before driving the bridge. We found the place, at least the back side of it, without too much trouble. We did have to go around to the front. I didn’t realize it was so late. Ham was perusing the menu and was about to say, “Let’s go,” when I used my feminine wiles to convince him to stay. The windows were dirty and the empty room was a bit depressing; but, we were there and we would have had more driving to find some other place. When they thought we were going to leave, the Asian person in charge, yelled for the hostess to give us a lunch menu. No salmon teriyaki, but there was salmon with black bean sauce. I ordered sautéed tofu with veggies. Ham also ordered a California roll. This turned out to be much tastier than the one at Sakura in Flagstaff. The whole meal was a delight. It was also huge. Ham brought part of his salmon back to the van for another meal. Yep, we were glad we stayed. The drive back to Laughlin was easy. Ham took the little printer in to print out some maps, but the darn thing wouldn’t work. It was out of ink or something. Then, we had a message from management saying we didn’t leave a credit card, so we shouldn’t have put the breakfast bill on the room bill. Another 10 mile hike, and Ham had that situation solved. After all that, it was time to settle down for the night. Nl Continued in Part 4 |
![]() Returning to Moab from Canyonlands
![]() Luckily we were able to avoid the large UFO
that hovered over us. ![]() Leaving Moab we saw this herd of invisible
horses at the base of the cliff. We had this power from our close encounter with the UFO. I felt lucky not to be abducted again. ![]() I hate these congested western roads.
![]() This is just south of Moab close to the
highway. It saved us a trip to that Archs place. ![]() Approaching Monument Valley with a storm
brewing. ![]() Those are two of the monuments in Monument
Valley. I forget their name, something like, "The Pair Of Mismatched Winter Hand Coverings" ![]() This is somewhere around Sedona.
I forgot to take any other pictures there. ![]() Wow! Now you too can see the invisible horses.
![]() The colors are changing, or I have the camera
all messed up again. ![]() Finally, civilization! We were so overjoyed especially when we found out there was an 'In And Out Burger' place within walking distance. I wanted to stay for a month. ![]() They billed this as 'The London Bridge' .
I had my doubts since I didn't see any Boobies, and I am always on the lookout for them. ![]() This is the road across the London Bridge.
Can't compare to the Golden Gate Bridge. Or the George Washington Bridge. Or the Bridge Over Troubled Waters. |