Canyon De Chelly

Last year we missed this National Monument because it was out of the way. This year we decided to go there. We stayed in a free NPS Campground, took a tour of both Canyon del Muerto and Canyon De Chelly with a Najavo Guide for 3+ hours.

When we came out we also drove the South Rim drive to get a photo of the canyon from the top.

Now we are in Alberqueque moving to the Balloon field tomorrow. Batteries are charged and I can hardly wait to shoot some photos. The wind is blowing up to 50MPH gusts.

Supposed to get cold tonght and hopefully the wind dies down

Verde Valley, Arizona

Wow, what a beautiful place. High desert and the sky is blue and the ground is very dry and sandy. We went touring some places we missed the last time we were in Sedona. The most interesting to me was Montezuma's Well. That is where the Indian women went to give birth and rest for 2 weeks before returning to the fields to work.

The park we are in is on the Verde River and there aren't very many people here. We may decide to "veg" out for 10 days before heading to the balloon fest.

Today it actually rained, not enough to start any flash flooding, but enough to wash the dust off everything. Night temperatures in low 60's days into 90+. But it is dry air (they all say that)

"Lucky"

Tonight we are in Bakersfield, Ca. Did you know they have Trader Joes here? Good thing we saw it and decided we needed some 2 buck chuck. We un-did the Escape and set off to shop.
(Bet you are holding your breath to see what happened this time), well the tire pressure is low light was on...... so we checked and sure enought a screw was imbedded in the side wall of the tire. A nice youg man drew us a map to a tire store and of course it is a hazard so not covered under warrantee. A hundred plus dollars and 1 hour of our time and we are all set to go on one new tire.
Now the lucky part.....if we had been towing, we would not have seen the light on, the tire would have probably blown and damaged the rim and the car and we would be stranded out in the Mojave desert NOT A PRETTY THOUGHT!
no pictures, wasn't expecting an event to occur.

Hailey Joy

We were hoping that our nephew's baby would be born when we were out here so we could see her. Hailey arrived (Breech) by C/S Thursday. First time grandparents are doing fine as are the parents.

We will be off to the desert Monday

California

We spent the last few days with friends in Willits. It was in the 40's in the am and the 80's in the pm. We toured Mendicino and Fort Bragg and just were lazy. We did wash the RV. That was a project. It turns out the friends live UP a long hill that was in parts greater than a 12% grade. Then I had to back the RV down their driveway past a leaning tree and another one that were so close that we had 8-10 inches to spare. They had some chores to do so we learned how to spit big fir tree stumps for 3+ hours and stack it. It was something different for us weary travelers.

They live in the woods so deer, turkeys and grouse were common in their yard. We saw Bucks, Does and Fawn.

Now we are in wine country. Temp today 95. AC is running full blast. The grass if you can call it that is just straw. What a tinderbox!

California driving

Good Bye Oregon,
Hello California.
It is very hard to believe that we have been gone 3 month tomorrow. We have traveled almost 5200 miles in the RV and lots on the Ford Explorer. We have travelled to many places that we have not been to before and are now back on familiar territory. Weare planning on being off the road for this Holiday. We are going to park the RV and stay with Jim's boss from Navy tech days.
Everyone have a safe and fun filled Labor Day.