Sedona....

Remember the RV'rs 4 greatest fears?  We are now experiencing #2. Brake Failure. We made it to this lovely RV park in Sedona, AZ and I went in to register.  When I came out and Bill started it back up the brake pedal went to the floor.  Now, if you've ever been to this area you know it is miles and miles of 6-9 % downhill grades. We were lucky to have made it here safely. Now we deal with the problem. Mobile Mechanic? Tow to a shop? We'll keep you posted! Always a new adventure!

Where are all of the Old People?

Bill and I kept asking ourselves that question as we visited Flagstaff, AZ.  It's a college town, we get that, but no old folks? Really? It seemed strange. Don't get me wrong, the young folks were really nice to us. They were really polite. Bill thinks they must get $4500 a piece for old people at some kind of "clean up Flagstaff and put 'em in a nursing home" program. I am not exaggerating......no one had gray hair and wrinkles. Weird.

Flagstaff was a charming and clean city. Those kids keep it up real nice. Here's a photo of some back alley....

Nice and clean!

There are lots of great old hotels with some great old signs.  Old Route 66 runs through the middle of town.

We found a great spot for lunch full of locals (all young of course) called MACY'S.  The cuisine was "organic fresh veggie" and I had a world class sandwich filled with cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives, cream cheese, two different kinds of mushrooms and sprouts on two slabs of homemade wheat bread. Outstanding.  They roast, grind and brew their own coffee which was delicious. Interestingly, the man who took our order was sort of old but not really.  His hair was gray and in a long pony tail with blue and pink stripes.  He had a casual relaxed way about him and a smile that would knock you out. No wrinkles. Was he old? Was he young? Some kind of hybrid Flagstaff-ion experiment? We will never know.

Off to Sedona tomorrow!

What Are The 4 Things RV’ers Fear Most?

1.       A Blowout. Significant damage to the RV as the large tire comes up through the floorboards and takes out plumbing, flooring and often people.

2.      Brake failure.  A large bus screaming down a hillside has dire consequences.

3.      Awning opening while driving.  The awning begins to unfurl, flops over the RV, breaks, tears, mechanisms bend while the driver is trying to find a wide spot in the road to stop.

4.      No cold beer.

We did not have a blowout. Our brakes work fine. We ALWAYS have cold beer.  That leaves #3…the awning.

Let me begin by saying that we take extreme precautions with our awning.  We have the normal locking mechanism and then Bill has a secondary fail safe as well as straps and line that hold the arms in place over and above the locks that are also on the arms.

While on our way to Flagstaff we were just driving along doing our thing when out of NOWHERE came a violent gust of wind.  The motorhome jerked over into the next lane scaring us half to death and we heard the dreaded noise.  Flapping.  I looked at Bill and asked “Are we ok?”.  He calmly said. “No”.  He tried to slow down and look for a wide spot in the road.  About ¼ mile down the road he found one.  The wind was now blowing steadily at about a 20mph clip but nothing like the horrible gust that had hit us broadside.  After assessing the obvious damage we both knew that it had to be opened before we could try to get it closed. The straps, secondary locks, etc were GONE. A piece of one of the broken straps was hanging lose and the big mechanism had been torn open by the force of the wind catching it.  With winds blowing we carefully opened the awning, rolled it back on the pole by hand and with the help of Duct Tape, more line, strapping and back-up closures we decided we had done all we could do until we could get to our next destination. The blessing? The arms were not bent which meant that the frame would go back into place.

When we got into Flagstaff we were afraid to open it again. But, we did and were pleased to know that no major damage had occurred and only new safety closures were needed. We dodged a very costly bullet.

And we had Cold Beer.

"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?".......
Remember the song by Chicago?? Well, they must have written it after visiting Page, Arizona.  Even the Park Rangers here at the Glen Canyon Recreation Area struggle with this question.  You see, if you are sitting in our campsite it is, lets say, 3pm.  If you go about 1/4 mile from the campsite it is 4pm.  No matter WHERE you are your cell phone will say it is 4pm as will your computer. The satellite TV won't even work because it can't for the life of it figure out what time zone you should be watching. If you go on a tour to Antelope Canyon? Why you are in the Navajo Nation who does observe daylight savings even though the rest of Arizona does not.
The next line of the song is "Does Anybody Really Care?" And the answer is.....
Apparently not if you live in Page........

Rafting on the Colorado River...
Tomorrow we leave Lake Powell.  The weather has been warm, the scenery has been spectacular.  Today we did "nothing".  By "nothing" I mean we sat by the pool, drank Bloody Marias, I washed the comforter which was desperately in need of a good cleaning and Bill fiddled with a chair he found until he got it to fold up. It has been a nice day.
On Friday we managed to get the Tracker stuck up to it's axles in the sand on Lone Rock Beach.  Lone Rock is a gorgeous white sandy beach where you are allowed to camp right on the sand.  It was amazing to us how many motorhomes were down there when we could hardly get down in the Tracker! But for the adventuresome, it was well worth the risk. Bill didn't take any photos of the motorhomes, trailers and tent campers here but believe me there were many. You just drive right down and pick your spot.

Yesterday we rafted down the Colorado River.  It was warm, beautiful and a lot of fun.

 The backside of the Glen Canyon Dam

In order to get down to the rafts which, obviously are about 1000 feet from the surface you have to descend through a 2 mile long tunnel. which has an elevation change of about 800 feet.  The tunnel is one lane and heavily guarded by Homeland Security and was accessed by bus.  It is pitch black inside. PITCH BLACK!

 Tunnel entrance from the bottom

 Birds eye view while riding "shotgun" with the bus driver.  You get 2 full miles of this and then.......

You see the "light at the end of the tunnel"

Tomorrow we head for cooler weather as  it is supposed to be around 96 degrees here.  We will be staying near Flagstaff at Fort Tuthill County Park for a few days. We'll get down to Sedona and Oak Creek for some "tourist stuff" and then head out to Bullhead City for more Colorado River access.