October 23, 2014 Thursday  Ft. Stockton, Texas to Schulenburg, Texas

I am sure anyone reading this blog has driven across Texas. It is a long drive.  We make it through San Antonio at a good time of the day so the traffic is not terrible.  As usual, there is road construction so we have the obligatory slow down on the Interstate to a crawl for about an hour.

We finally got in touch with Jean Lewis.  Walt Lewis was my Freshman and Sophomore roomate when I was at the University of Tulsa.  Walt was a super guy who had a great impact on me.  You may remember that the ATO house had very strict study hall rules.  Walt was like the "hall monitor." No one goofed off while Walt was around.  And, everyone made their grades.  He was one of those petroleum majors and spent his entire working life with Exxon.  Walt and Jean visited us several times over the years, in Arizona, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.  Sadly, Walt passed away a few years ago.

We had tried to call Jean but didn't get an answer or answering machine.  We emailed her but didn't get a response.  So as we neared the Texas hill country between Waco, Austin and San Antonio where they had a ranch, I decided to give Jean another call.  Got her!  She was in Hawaii with their daughter, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth's husband is in the military and they are stationed there.  So, we were glad to make contact with Jean and to learn she is happy visiting her family in Hawaii.

The Schulenburg RV Park was just fine and we spent the night without unhooking Fiona.  No pics. Just a convenient stop in the road as we make our way back to Florida.


October 24, 2014 Friday  Schulenburg, Texas to Lafayette, Louisiana

We got an early start out of Schulenburg and we tried to call for an RV site in Baton Rouge.  We called the place where we started our journey; the Farr Equestrian and RV Park.  But, they had told me when we were there in August that they are sold out for LSU football games years in advance. The park is very near Tiger Stadium.

If we could get somewhere near Baton Rouge we may be able to pull off a visit with our friends, Al and Jean Burns, Joy Schurr and our accountant/friend, Ann Pettiss. And Lib's cousin, Kitty Kuhnert and her husband Ed live near Baton Rouge.  But, it wasn't to be.  We called as far out as Denham Springs and the word was always the same: "You kidding? We have a ballgame in Tiger Stadium this weekend."  LSU was playing one of their big rival games: Ole Miss.  So we finally got a place about 60 miles east of Baton Rouge in Lafayette.  The KOA there had super ratings and, as we found out, the ratings were well deserved.  We wanted a nice place to stop for a couple of days, hook up the satellite TV and watch the ballgames, rest, read, etc.  The KOA fit the bill.

October 25, 2014 Saturday  Lafayette, Louisiana

It was a beautiful day so we set out the chairs and unfurled Cream Puff's awning.  We did some chores, ran some errands and watched the evening ballgames.  LSU upset Ole Miss, Bama beat the Vols.  The SEC race is really getting interesting this year.

The campsites are along a lake.  Maggie loved the ducks and there were the usual dogs being walked by Cream Puff.  One lady has four Yorkies!

We enjoyed our stopover in Lafayette.  We laughed as we were reminded of our days in Louisiana. The signs read "Boudin, Cracklins, and Clean Bath Rooms!"   Who wouldn't want to stop after seeing that sign?

We touched base with family members.  Linda is fine in Montgomery and French and Carolyn are getting ready for a cruise through the Panama Canal.  We plan on seeing them before they leave on their trip next week.  Our good friend, Bob Douglas is off to San Francisco to see his new grandson. 

One more day on the road!  

October 20, 2014 Monday  Phoenix to Las Cruces, New Mexico

We decided to head for Las Cruces, New Mexico.  It was about 400 miles from Phoenix and Cream Puff and Fiona could handle that easily.  We also wanted to see Tucson again and the southern deserts of Arizona.

When we were living out here we often took visitors to Tucson or to Mexico.  In those days there was a real small fishing village at Rocky Pointe, Mexico aka Puerto Penasco.  The students at ASU would go to Rocky Point for quick trips to the beaches of the Gulf of California.  It has one of the largest tide ranges in the world.  At low tide, you would have a mile or so of beach and then, when the tide was up you would have little beach.  It was pretty amazing.  Paul Solomon took his girlfriend down there one weekend and was smooching in the car on the beach only to realize, later on, that the tides were coming up and the tires were under water.  Fortunately, they made it out.  I don't know why they didn't see the water coming up.  Must've been in a deep conversation.  In any event, we used to travel this way from time to time and we wanted to see the area again.

We passed by Casa Grande where the San Francisco Giants had spring training.  Lib's teaching buddy and good friend in Arizona, Diane Downer, ended up eloping with Chris Arnold, a Giant.  We were in the wedding.  As no one else knew they were getting married, I served as ring bearer, best man, and wedding photographer.  They are still married, have two beautiful daughters and live in Colorado.

Onward through the desert and the Saguaro cacti!  Just before you get to Tucson the failed science experiment, the Biosphere is off to the left.  It was an experiment to see if man could live in a totally artificial environment.  I suppose they are thinking we will need to inhabit the moon one day. Anyway, it failed as microbes emerged that "ate" the oxygen faster than it could be generated.  Lib, Michelle and I took the tour 10 years.  Also, this is the area where they filmed a lot of those early westerns that us baby boomers grew up watching on TV.  You know, the black and white films where the bad guys are always running on black horses and the good guys are chasing them on the white horses.  The Tom Mix Memorial is off to our left.  We didn't stop.

We pass by Tucson which is a pretty town.  It is a much quieter and easy-going place compared to the hustle and bustle of Phoenix.  It is also the home of the University of Arizona.  UofA is to ASU as Auburn is to Alabama.  They are big rivals.  Unfortunately, it looks like the UofA has a good football coach.

Soon we are in the plains of New Mexico.  Mountains abound amid open spaces of miles and miles. We pull into the Las Cruces KOA about 4pm.  I start figuring out how to get in touch with one of my first Ph.D. students whom I had not seen in decades.

I go Google and try to find Eric Pratt. Eric had been a Tulane student and decided to go to Ole Miss to get his PhD in business when I arrived there in 1973.  Eric was the first student on whose dissertation committee I served.  He survived my tutelage and went on to have a long career at New Mexico State University. Aha! A hit! I find an entry that Eric Pratt, PhD, University of Mississippi is on LinkedIn.  Ok, now I have to admit that I opened a LinkedIn account years ago just to learn about it.  But, when you try to get out, you can't.  You can read about it on Google.  Its like gum on your shoe.  So, instead of reawakening a LinkedIn account that I hadn't used in 5 years I called my buddy Joe Hair in Atlanta.  Joe was on the faculty at Ole Miss and knew Eric.  Surely Joe had a LinkedIn account.  Well, Joe did but, like me he hadn't used his in a while and he told me it would not let him open Eric's account to get a telephone number or email.  But, not to be foiled, Joe kept looking and found an email address and sent Eric a message to call me.

October 21, 2014 Tuesday  Las Cruces, New Mexico

In the morning, having not heard from Eric, I try the university without luck.  Eric was one of those lucky rascals who was offered an early retirement about 10 years ago that he could not turn down.  So, the current staff at NMSU didn't know how to get him.  So, what to do?  Play golf, of course.

Lib and I played the Red Hawk golf course in Las Cruces on a beautiful day. The photos give you an idea of what the surroundings are like. We also met a couple of young men on the practice tee who are on the Web.com tour and were practicing for an upcoming tournament in Reno.  They were good!

Good posture!  You can see how well manicured the course is and picturesque scenery.

Too much weight on the back side..must get weight to the left foot on follow through!

On the back nine the phone rings.  Its Eric!  He had received Joe's email and called.  We scheduled dinner together.  We were also going to see Eric's wife, Bonnie.  I remembered Bonnie as a redhead and a nurse.  

Back to the RV park, get cleaned up, walk Maggie and we are off to dinner.  We had a great visit. They took us to a nice Las Cruces restaurant.  Warning: these New Mexico-ites can eat HOT chili! But, we didn't let the smoke coming out of our ears spoil the get together.  Eric and Bonnie are doing great!  I remembered Bonnie correctly.  Still a redhead and yes, she was a nurse but had gone back to school, earned an MBA and ended up with a company that took over hospitals that were in trouble and turned them around.  Bonnie was apparently good at this and did this for several years, often having to live separated from Eric.  But, no more.  They are both retired and travel frequently back to the south to see Bonnie's Mom in Louisiana and to go to Ole Miss games.

Eric and Bonnie have one son, Geoffrey.  He is the "apple of their eye" and I can understand why. He graduated in engineering from Ole Miss and was the Outstanding Engineering Major winning the Taylor Award.  He is happily married and works for a sound engineering firm.  

It was great seeing Eric and Bonnie again and we hope to maintain the relationship.  We have already emailed.  They are major league Ole Miss fans and they play Auburn this week at Ole Miss.

Bonnie and Eric Pratt

  

October 22, 2014 Wednesday Off to Somewhere in Texas!

Maggie has been great on the trip.  Let's just say she is mature enough to enjoy all the driving.  In fact, she loves to get in her bed in the backseat.  The bed is raised up so she can see out from time to time but she mostly snoozes.  In fact, we try to get her out in the mornings and play with her around the little yards but she often just heads straight to Fiona and begs to get in!

Maggie waiting for one of us to put her in her seat in Fiona.  

We have changed quite a bit from the beginning of our journey.  We had reservations, sometimes months in advance for RV parks all the way to Montana.  After Glacier National Park we started making reservations days in advance.  Then that dwindled down to just a day in advance.  Now, we felt comfortable just taking off and finding someplace on the road.  Lib would read the Good Sam guidebook and go over the ratings.  When we found something within reasonable distance with a decent rating, we would call ahead.  Never had any problem doing this but we were not exactly staying in well-known places.  Ft. Stockton, Texas was our first stop.

The West Texas countryside was even greener than we remembered it from the past.

At Ft. Stockton we stayed at a nice RV Park.  The very friendly lady manager, with extremely long finger nails, went over the menu with me carefully as I checked in.  She pointed to the adjoining room which was their restaurant.  Menu items were: Fried chicken, Pan fried steak with gravy, Prime Rib, etc.  This was not exactly what two vegetarians were interested in.  I politely told her "we will see."  I learned that phrase from my Mother.  I also knew what it meant: not doing that on your life! 

Tomorrow we are going to try and make it past San Antonio.

Signing off!

October 18, 2014  Saturday Missie to Airport and Football Games

We took Missie to Sky Harbor Airport and said our goodbyes.  We had a wonderful and special time being with her on this trip.  Thank you, Michelle and Missie for being with us and being part of our national park trip experience!

It was time for lunch and we decided to go back to ASU which is not too far from Sky Harbor Airport.  We went to what used to be the old, downtown part of Tempe.  Now, virtually none of the buildings exist that were here when we were here.  It's all sky-rise buildings with restaurants on the street, sports bars, hair salons, etc.  Hair salons!  I hadn't had a haircut since we were in South Dakota.  Both of my hairs were far too long and I looked like a scare crow.  So I got my ears lowered and we went to lunch at a sports bar.

The crowds were beginning to build as ASU was playing a big game, Stanford, at 7:00pm.  We were only a few blocks from Sun Devil Stadium so the streets were beginning to fill with fans dressed in the normal game day regalia.  By the way, the guy who wrote about why we dress up with our team's regalia is a psychologist at ASU.  His name is Robert Cialdini and I was one of his first grad students. The name of the article is "Basking in Reflected Glory."  Cialdini spent his career studying why we are influenced by others and his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, is well known and has been published in 26 languages  If you want to know how Billy Graham got all those people to come down to the front to make their commitment, read the book.

Our waitress: Basking in Reflected Glory

We had a great time listening to the students starting to get riled up about the upcoming game.  We thought about going but found out this game was sold out at the beginning of the season.  Last year, Stanford beat ASU for the PAC 12 Championship.  We went back to Cream Puff and watched the games.  ASU won and Bama rolled over A&M.

Tomorrow we are going to see my old professor and a friend of our from our grad school days.

October 19, 2014  Sunday  Visiting Day

Its amazing how little incidents change your life.  When I was finishing up my Master's degree at Alabama I had decided to just stay there and get my Ph.D.  As a master's student, I was assigned to work for one of the Alabama professors, Dr. Robert F. Gwinner.  I graded papers for him and would help him monitor tests and would get research papers for him from the library.  He had some large classes and he would always remind me, make sure when you pass out the test papers count them out by row.  Sure enough, some of the football players would always take two tests and I would have to wait for them to confess before passing out any more tests.  Pete Jillaba(sp?) an Alabama running back, would always try this but he was honest and would cough up the extra test upon prodding. Then I would move to the next row.

One day Dr. Gwinner told me he was leaving Alabama.  He had been offered the Department Chairman job at Arizona State and he said "Why don't you come out there and get your Ph.D. It's not good to have all three degrees from the same school."  I told him I would talk to Libbo.  That conversation was short.  She liked the idea of something new.  Our parents weren't so hot on the idea. In those days, going to Arizona from Alabama was akin to moving to Mars.  But, we did it and we are so glad we did.

I've kept up with Bob Gwinner over the years.  He and his family visited us when we lived in Baton Rouge when I was at LSU.  He came through in a big A-class (bus type) motor home and they stayed at our house for a few days.  They were taking their two children to DisneyWorld...from Arizona to Orlando.  That was a pretty big deal.   But, now, my ASU grapevine was telling me that Bob was not in good health but no one knew about him or his wife Rose.  I had to pay them a visit while in Phoenix.

I found Bob to be doing OK.  He has Parkinson's disease and was diagnosed in 2005.  He is sharp and cracked jokes and we had a great visit.  But the disease makes it very difficult for him to walk and his voice is weak.  We visited him and Rose for three hours and went out to lunch.  Rose is an angel and a delight.  She had shared with us that it was Bob's birthday so we brought him a cake.

Bob and Rose Gwinner

Bob Gwinner was a very important person in our lives.  He was fair, honest and a damn good college professor.  Libbo and I will always be grateful our paths crossed with Bob and Rose.

Happy 79th Bob!

I must add that Bob always loved Libbo.  One time, as I was preparing to fly off for a job interview, he told me "Take Libbo with you."  I knew exactly what he was thinking.  "They may think you are mediocre but they will love Libbo."  

Through email I have kept up with some people I went to school with at ASU.  One was Gary Ray. Gary was about a year ahead of me in the PhD program and one of those I observed carefully going through the program to tell me what to expect next.  Gary was a good one to watch.  He finished!  His first job was at LSU but he didn't like academics.  He left and moved back to his native Kansas and became an investor.  He must have been a good one.  He retired about 15 years ago and moved back to the nice climate of Arizona.  He now lives in Tempe.  

We had a great visit with Gary.  I knew Gary was an athlete in college.  He was a baseball player as an undergrad.  What I didn't know was that he was an All-State running back in High School on an undefeated football team.  Lib and I looked at some newspaper articles we found in a book at Gary's house.  He was quite a star!

We reminisced about the old days at ASU and LSU and tried to remember who was where now.  We even got into politics and found we share some of the same beliefs about where our country is headed.  (Gary was always a smart boy!)  It was a fun visit and we hope to cross paths again soon.  

I have to say Gary is the reason I have a Facebook account.  When we were in school we went to Gary's home for dinner.  He and his wife, Mary Ellen, had the cutest little two year old daughter. Their little Sheltie would grab the daughter by her diapers and would shake her and drag her around the floor.  She laughed so hard I thought she was going to run out of air.  She loved it and the Sheltie loved it to.  So, one day I asked Gary "Send me a photo of your daughter."  He told me he had plenty of photos of her on his Facebook page.  When I told him I didn't have a Facebook account he told me I was going to have to open one if I wanted to see his daughter.  So, now I have a Facebook account. His daughters are beautiful women!

Old School Chums

Lib and Gary Ray

We left Gary's house in Tempe and braved the Phoenix Interstates to get back to Cream Puff.  We got in a rare Phoenix thunderstorm on the way back but made it home before the hard rains came.  

It was an emotional day for us and we were tired.  Tomorrow, we hit the road.  Not sure where we are headed, we get out the Atlas and "strateegerize" (a la George W. ).  We can't decide if we want to go north through Albuquerque and Santa Fe or just take I-10 straight across, the fastest way home.  I want to go I-10, through Las Cruces, New Mexico, and see if we can connect with my first Ph.D. student when I taught at Ole Miss.  Off to bed, we have a long day manana!  Las Cruces, here we come!

Signing off!

October 17, 2014 Friday To Phoenix and Arizona State University

Time to pull out of Sedona and get to Phoenix.  A short trip down the Mogollon Rim and off the Colorado Plateau and its cool weather.  The lower elevation of Phoenix means hotter weather but it is October.  Forecasts are for the 90's for highs.  Not too bad as it is dry heat; much more tolerable than what we have in the south when its in the 90's.

As we drive we start seeing the Saguaro Cacti that are such a prominent part of the Phoenix and southern Arizona landscape.  Some of these plants are very tall and it takes them decades to get this large.  Missie got some good photos through the window.

Saguaro Cactus dominate the desert landscape around Phoenix

As you can see the desert is very green.  The desert is very fertile and will grow beautiful plants IF it has water.  This summer has been a good year due to the unusual number of hurricanes in the Pacific. Ordinarily hurricanes in the Pacific would not affect the west but this year several have skirted the west coast of Mexico and their remnants have created rain in the Arizona deserts.  

When we lived in Arizona we got to be pretty good at identifying the different cacti.  (Its really easy). Missie took some photos of different cactus plants below.

Barrel Cactus plants.  I once sat on one of these.  It hurt and brought blood.  Libbo broke out laughing.

Prickly Pear Cactus.  We see small ones like this around the south.  In the southwest they get huge and bear fruit.

By far the worst cactus plant to stumble upon is a Choya cactus.  These are nasty and act much like a porcupine.  The needles stick in you and are hard to get out and are painful.  I can't find a photo of one of these in the hundreds of photos Missie and I took.

We reached the park, Desert Shadows, by about noon.  We took care of getting Missie's boarding pass ready for tomorrow and then we took Miss on a tour of Arizona State University and where we used to live.  The campus is HUGE and has changed dramatically since Lib and I last visited Phoenix 10 years ago.  The enrollment is over 68,000 making it the largest, or among the largest, universities in the U.S.  Imagine Auburn and Alabama being combined and then add some.  The buildings have filled in so much, it looks more like a skyrise city than a college campus now.  Very little green area from the road.  You have to walk inside in the mall areas to see the grass.

 This is Grady Gammage Auditorium, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's last creations.

Sun Devil Stadium;  In the early 70's, it was about the size of Denny Stadium when we were at Alabama..not very big.  Things have changed.

Our home from 1970 to 1973.  1909 Farmer Avenue, Tempe, AZ

We took Missie by our old house which was only three blocks from ASU.  It was a modest home but a palace for grad students.  We had a nice fenced in backyard and our children,  Bonnie and Scotty, loved playing in the yard chasing birds.  Not to worry, I don't think a Scottie ever caught anything that flies.  But its the chase that matters to a dog.

Several of the guys in the PhD program; me, Bruce Stern, Paul Solomon, and Bob Ford, found a need for regular exercise.  It was a great stress reliever not to mention the other benefits.  We gravitated to basketball and we would play hard for about an hour three days a week at a little park near our house. To this day, all I need to do is pick up the phone and say "Want to meet at Clark Park?" and each one of them would know immediately who was calling.  Clark Park got us through a lot of tests!

Clark Park; One of the few things in Phoenix that hasn't changed that much!

We had lunch at Chipolte's on the ASU campus and I decided, since it was 3:30pm it would be a good idea to get back on the Interstate and get back to the RV Park before the traffic got bad.  I had been warned that there are too many cars in Phoenix for the infrastructure to support.  Wow!  I was wrong!   We started way too late!  Missie can attest that the drive back was intense.  Lane switching across what seemed like 8 lanes of bumper to bumber traffic; tunnels, and cars speeding then coming to complete stops.  Finally, we made it back home but not before some 20-something pulled right out in front of Fiona while sliding across about three lanes.  I had to brake hard and threw everything in Fiona forward but we didn't hit!  Driving in Pensacola is like driving in Wyoming..no traffic.

Miss had the presence of mind to take a photo.  Look at the traffic far ahead and you can see how many lanes there are and how crowded.  We are all going over 70 just to keep in line.  Note the car in front changing lanes.

It took us well over an hour to get back to the RV Park where I suggested that we have some wine. When I mentioned the Interstate traffic a local at the park replied: "Oh, we don't drive on the Interstates around here."  But, as bad as it was, we both believe driving in Seattle was our worst driving experience.   All the traffic in the area is squeezed down to a small geographical area between the Cascade Mountains to the east and Puget Sound to the west.  

Soon the sun was setting and Missie got some great sunset photos.

Ol Sol beginning to go down

And..a beautiful sunset

Missie is a gifted photographer and is a great navigator.   We are going to miss her traveling with us. Tomorrow we take her to Sky Harbor Airport for her flight back to Birmingham.

Old man and pretty girl toasting the sunset at Desert Shadows

Signing off!

October 16, 2014 Thursday  To Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona, Arizona

We said our goodbye's to the Grand Canyon and took off for Sedona, AZ.  Sedona has always been a quiet, cool (as in temperature) get-away for people in Phoenix.  We took a few trips there when we lived in Phoenix.  We have photos of Lib's Mom, Mrs. Yarbrough, walking along Oak Creek. Plus, Sedona is known for the Red Rocks and Oak Creek  running through the little town.

Red Rocks of Sedona

Still on top of the Colorado Plateau, the weather was still cool.  We drove past Flagstaff and the San Francisco Peaks.  We used to come skiing here.  The Peak is about 12,000 feet so it's a pretty good mountain for skiing.  We didn't get to see much of Flagstaff, or "Flag" as the locals call it, due to the Interstate routing us around it.  There was no Interstate here in the 70's.

We made it to the Rancho Sedona RV Park by noon.  After several attempts we finally backed Cream Puff into her spot and unhooked Fiona for the short drive to lunch.  We had a nice lunch overlooking the town and creek.

Our view from the restaurant porch; we are staying in a park on the creek in the trees you see below. Excellent location!

Missie and Lib decide to shop the shops of Sedona so I went back to the park and did some maintenance chores.  About three hours later the girls were back with shopping bags of goodies.

We set up our chairs outside Cream Puff and popped a bottle of wine.  Shortly another RV pulled in and two couples from Boston arrived as our neighbors.  They had experienced a slight mishap and needed to borrow my drill.  I carry a small "hardware store" in the back of Fiona.  This is from my boating days.  When you are a hundred miles offshore in a sailboat, if you don't have it with you, you aren't going to get it.  Between our boat and the Greer's sailboat, we could stock a small hardware store!  (A bit of an exaggeration but not by much!).  I was glad to loan them my drill.  

The Bostonians were on vacation and were a lot of fun.  They came by for a chat and toured Cream Puff.  As Cream Puff is only 25 feet long, the tour is not very long.  These guys are the scientists that work on developing new medicines.  I urged them to hurry up and develop more drugs for us Baby Boomers!

Boston RV'ers: Sue and Matt Laracy and Ken and Gina LaRose (one wife missing from photo!)

October 17, 2014  Sedona, Arizona

The next morning we took a walk around the park and Oak Creek.  I got some shots of Lib and Missie on the creek.

Oak Creek ran in back of the RV Park; this was a short walk from Cream Puff

And Miss and Lib got a little playful posing for a pic

Next, we are off to Phoenix.  We have mixed emotions about going to Phoenix.  We are looking forward to seeing the city again.  We hadn't been back in 10 years and we had heard from friends that there were big changes, i.e. a rail system in the city.  But, we also knew we were going to lose Missie. She was scheduled to fly out of Phoenix on Saturday.  So, with mixed emotions, we take off, coming down the Mogollon Rim and off the Colorado Plateau.  We know its going to be HOT when we come down from the elevations in North Arizona down to the desert.

Signing off!

October 14, 2014 Tuesday  Drive to Grand Canyon and Sunset at the Canyon

We left Virgin, Utah this am to travel to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Our trip took us by Lake Powell, one of the main water recreation lakes in Northern Arizona.  Missie got a good shot of it even though we were several miles from the lake itself.

Homesite overlooking Lake Powell

Lake Powell

We knew we would be a bit isolated once we got to the Grand Canyon so we stopped in Paige, AZ and Lib and Missie shopped in a Wal-Mart.  We talked to Jackie Drewett, our friend from Pensacola Beach, who used to live in Tuba City, AZ which is very near Paige.  She gave us some landmarks so we could evaluate the height of the water in the lake.  We think the water level is good...not great..but not nearly as bad as it has been in the past few years.  All of the West has received some rains from the hurricanes in the Pacific this year.

We entered the Grand Canyon area from the east side and followed a road about 35 miles along the rim.  The main observation point here is called Desert View.  A tower was built here in 1934.  

A View of the Grand Canyon from the Southeast side of the Canyon

The river here is the Little Colorado River where the Grand Canyon starts.  This is where Jackie Drewett used to hike; sometimes all by herself.   She has dinosaur fossils to prove it.

I will admit that the Grand Canyon was not one of the parks that perked my interest. Since we lived in Arizona for three years in the 70's everyone who visited us from the south wanted to go to see it. So I was so-so interested in seeing it again.  But, it surprised me.  It was a thrill to see the canyon again.  Must be something about being in your 20's versus your late 60's.   You see things a little differently.  The expanse of the Grand Canyon and its enormity makes you realize that the things you think matter in life, like Bama winning or not having gas when you are in the movies, are not important at all.  I am very glad we went back. And Missie was enthralled with it and that made it all the better for us.  Like Michelle, she enriched our trip experience.

The Desert View Tower

An artist at Desert View

We drove to Grand Canyon Village, hoping to get there before dark.  We found our RV site just at dusk so the day worked out just perfectly.  Missie wanted to get a sunset shot of the canyon so we unhooked Fiona from Cream Puff, left Maggie contented with her dinner bowl, and took off.   Miss got some spectacular shots.

Sunset at Grand Canyon; Looking to the East

I forgot to mention that when we first entered the RV Park we saw some Elk.  Missie got this photo of an Elk just outside her window.  The park was lively with laughter; many of the other campers were internationals; many Germans, French and a few Brits.  The Chinese don't seem to be interested in camping. They seemed to dominate the large tour buses coming in on the hour from nearby Williams, AZ.  

A She Elk greeted us as we arrived at the RV Park

October 15, 2014 Wednesday  Tour of Grand Canyon and the Bright Angel Lodge

Missie was interested in being at the canyon at sunrise.  Wait a minute!  That means I have to get up at "Zero Early Thirty" (that is military time for "Its too damn early to get up!).  But we knew Missie was right.  How many times do you get a chance to watch the sun come up over the Grand Canyon?  Not many.  So we set the alarm for "Zero Early Thirty."  Missie got some really great shots.

Old Sol coming up in the East

And the hues change every minute as the sun rises

Lib's shot of Missie doing her magic!

Couple kissing at Sunrise on a point below us

Another young couple was near us.  She told me she and her husband were from Manhattan (that is New York City..not Kansas) and had driven two days straight, by swapping out drivers, to get here for the sunset.  I really liked this couple.  They had a scruffy dog named Fiona.  I told her "Thats the name of my truck!"  Now, you would really expect a young lady from Manhattan would be impressed.  But there wasn't much reaction.  Must have not heard me.  A Southern lady would have known how important a man's truck is and would have said "Hooowwww Nicccee!"

We went back to Cream Puff for breakfast and to get cleaned up for the day.  We spent the rest of the day touring the main lookout points of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We took many pics. Things have really changed since we lived here.  First, you can't drive to the east of the Village to the lookout points (except in January and February).  The National Park Service runs buses up and down the rim all day and past sunset for the thousands of tourists that visit the park each day.  Its the only way to handle the huge crowds.  A bus stops at each lookout about every 10 minutes so it is very convenient.  Second, they've built look out points out near the edge of the canyon.

One of the "new" lookout points

Two Canyon Chicks

In the photo above you can clearly see the Colorado River.  We learned that the Grand Canyon was formed much like Zion and Bryce in that it was the rising and falling of the inland sea that deposited all the sediment layers.  Then, as the Colorado Plateau rose, erosion started.  The Colorado River ran through this area and carved out the ground at the rate of about the thickness of a piece of paper each year.  A few million years later, and you have The Grand Canyon!

We ended the tour of the west side of the South Rim at Hermits Rest.  This was a place built by the railroad company that brought the rail line to the canyon in hopes of creating a tourist trade.  That worked for many decades and the railroad still runs daily!

Hermits Rest

Train arriving at the Grand Canyon

They have rails at the lookout points but you can walk along the rim of the canyon where there are no rails.  Many people have fallen to their deaths at the canyon.  Some were intentional but the records show most were males, in teens to 20's in age, who were "goofing off."  Not a good place to goof off; the fall is about one mile.

Walking along the rim

We had a late lunch at The Bright Angel Lodge where Lib and I reminisced.  When we lived in Arizona this was the only building at the Grand Canyon and we would bring our guests here for lunch.  Today it is dwarfed by another Lodge but it is still operating and very busy.

This is the Bright Angel trail to the bottom of the Canyon.  You can walk it, ride a mule, or take a helicopter to the bottom.  I suggested we have lunch instead.

We went back to Cream Puff and Lib and Missie decided to go back to the Canyon for more sunset shots.  I decided to stay and get some "beauty rest."  I've heard if you don't get enough sleep your white hair will turn dark again!

Sunset at The Grand Canyon by Elizabeth Cooper

Sunset at The Grand Canyon by Elizabeth Cooper

While the girls are at the rim taking the beautiful shots you see above, I am back at the RV Park. First, I take a short nap and, upon awakening, my hair is still stark white.  So, sleep works.  Then I take Maggie for a walk.   Look what we ran into just outside Cream Puff's door!

Two Mule Deer Bucks were at our Door

Soon the girls returned.  We had some wine, a nice dinner and went to bed early.  Tomorrow we are off to Sedona, AZ and the Red Rocks of Oak Creek Canyon.

Signing off!