Hi all,

Well, I'm off again!

I am with the Ramblin' Recs, the RV group from my Escondido church again.  This time we are doing a loop through Utah, starting in NV and ending in AZ.  It starts at Valley of Fire, a state park in Nevada, then to Cedar City, UT; Panguitch, UT; Torrey, UT; Monument Valley, UT; then to Flagstaff, AZ, and home.  The total trip will take a little under 3 weeks.

Friday, Sept. 23
I left home shortly before 9 headed for Valley of Fire State Park just north of Las Vegas.  I decided to take the short way and go across Hoover Dam, in spite of the reports of long delays getting inspected prior to approaching the dam.  It was an easy run up to Ash Fork and west on I-40.  At Kingman, I angled up on hwy 93 to the dam. 

About 5 miles before reaching the dam there was an inspection station where all vehicles were stopped and checked.  As I approached, an officer motioned me to turn off to the "search" area.  An officer there said this was a Homeland Security checkpoint, and that they wanted my permission to come aboard to check, and to look in all my outside compartments.  As soon as the motorhome ahead of me cleared, I pulled into the first position.  As one officer checked inside, I went outside and opened all the passenger side compartments.  As I started to go to the driver's side he said that was OK, he could see all the way through my storage compartment and I could go.  Total delay was between 5 and 10 minutes.  That was much better than going the way I went last time which was 50 miles longer.

It was very slow going across the dam, partly because of the 15 mph speed limit and partly because of the bumper to bumper traffic, but we kept moving.  It is a very picturesque area!  I then drove through the national park along the west edge of Lake Mead up to the east entrance of Valley of Fire.

When I arrived a little after 2, the only ones from our group already here were Ed and June Pullen.  They live in Indiana, and were former seasonal residents in Escondido.  It is great to see them again!

Through the afternoon and into the evening, the rest of our group arrived.  At this point everyone except the Kindcades (whom I have not met) are here.  They include (alphabetically):

Alden and Merle Avery
Doug and Janet Baker
Norm and Jean Johnson
Dennis and Jeannine Kincade (Will be meeting us at Cedar City)
Floyd and Ruth Lamb
Dick Mason (that's me!)
Bob and Pat Perdue
Ed and June Pullen

I should probably mention a couple of changes since my last report.  I reviewed my transportation situation and decided that I did not need the investment of a brand new Honda CRV, my Saturn, and my motorhome all by myself, so I sold my CRV to couple who also own a Fortravel, and were looking for a nice car that was all set up for towing behind their motorhome - preferably something like a CRV!  They full time in their rig and said the closest to Prescott they would be in the near future was to Las Vegas.  I agreed to deliver it there, and did so a couple of months ago.  While I was there, a young lady I met at church flew in from San Francisco at the end of a trip she was on, and we went to Circque de Sole, she helped me explore the Vegas strip, and she accompanied me back to our homes in Prescott.

I then looked unsuccessfully for a pickup truck that would meet all my needs and budget.  I wanted a 4 passenger, 4 wheel drive truck that I could tow behind my motorhome, with no speed or distance restrictions.  I ended up buying my old pickup truck back from the friend (Keith Scholl) I had originally bought it from, then sold it back to.  (It gets complicated and amusing!)  I then bought a 1999 Subaru Forester also from Keith, who bought a new Honda CRV from the dealer in Prescott.  It sounds like a full circle to me.  The Subaru is towable with no restrictions and has a lot of room inside.  It is an all wheel drive car, so it meets that requirement.  My Saturn is on consignment at a local used car lot.  I have the Subaru with me now on this trip.

It was in the low 90's this afternoon, but cooled off fairly well in the evening.  This is the only location this trip where we are dry camping.  My solar panels should make staying here a couple of days quite easy, but do not support air conditioning!
 
 

This is one of the beautiful formations in our campground.

Saturday, Sept 24
Today was our day to explore Valley of Fire.  It is a beautiful area comprised of many large red rock formations.  The area also contains many, many ancient petroglyphs.

We did our morning "hike" in air conditioned cars.  We drove first to the Visitor Center where they had a short video and many displays showing the history of the area from a couple thousand years BC to the present.  We are camped in Atlatl Campground, and I noticed several other features named Atlatl.  One of the displays stated that more modern weapons replaced the spear and the atlatl.  OK, what is an atlatl?  Finally I found a description of it.  It was a stick with a cup shape indentation on one end which was used to launch the spear.  Using the atlatl, the warrior gained leverage when he launched his spear, kind of like a tennis racket gives leverage launching the ball.
 

The Visitor Center really blends in with the surrounding desert.

Next we drove to the parking area near Mouse's Tank.  Mouse was a renegade Indian who hid out in the area in the 1890's.  Mouse's Tank is an area which collects water from rainfall, and often lasts for months.  There was a 1/2 mile hike to get to it with most of the distance being on a very fine sand.  It just about supported your weight as you walked, but not quite.  Each step was fairly solid, then before you could shift your weight again, your foot would sink, just a little, into the sand.  It also created a very fine abrasive layer between your toes after walking a short distance.  We arrived at the "tank" and it was nearly full of water.  It is a beautiful area with petroglyphs just about everywhere you look.  It was well worth the hike.
 
 

We are starting our 1/2 mile hike to Mouse's Tank.
	These petroglyphs are typical of the many on the rocks in this area.

This is Mouse's Tank.  The water collects from the rain runoff, and can last for months.

	We all rested for a few minutes before starting the hike back out.
The rocks and the sky were just beautiful!

One of the next stops was at the Cabins.  These were several open window and door rock shelters built by the CCC in the early 1930's to provide passing travelers a bit of shelter for the night.
 
 

The Cabins were built for the convenience of passing travelers.  Built in the 1930's they were actively used for a number of years.

We then headed to the nearby town of Overton where we had an excellent lunch at a small restaurant Norm and Jean had discovered on a previous trip.  Half a block down was a fantastic hardware store with just about anything you could want.  There was even a Radio Shack in the rear of the store.  As we left there, we noticed an ice cream shop right next door, so stopped and had dessert.

Back at camp, I fabricated a better clip to hold my CB in the Subaru.  I had discovered that my previous design which relied on sticky Velcro staying stuck to the vinyl dashboard material would not stay with the weight of the CB on it.  My new design hooks over the top of the glove compartment door and is merely kept from bouncing by a small piece of Velcro.  With no load on the Velcro, I think this one will work.  And I did not even use any of the stuff I bought at the hardware store for the job.

After a brief rest, I drove back to Atlatl Rock.  This is a rock that is just covered with petroglyphs.  There is a steel stairway up the side of the rock which allows you to get very close to the markings which must be close to 60 feet up.  Betty and I visited this many years ago, but at that time it was called Newspaper Rock.  I guess changing the name made it more dignified.  Next I drove to Elephant Rock.  I remember hiking to it on the same trip with Betty.  I found out (again) that the fairly long path to the rock looped around and went right back to the road.  The viewing point for the rock is about 100 yards up the road from the parking area.  I remembered that once I reached it.  The walk back to the car was much shorter down the side of the road.
 
 

	The petroglyphs at Atlatl Rock are the best I have seen.  They are clear and plentiful.  I had to climb about 60 feet (6 stories) on a steel stairway to get here.
This was an interesting formation.  There are several places where you can see through small holes in the rock to the sky behind it.

It's almost 7 PM, and we are all meeting at the Johnsons', so I'll close this for now.

As I headed over to the Johnsons' site, I was amazed at the sight!  The wall above their rig was aglow with "fires" in many of the natural holes and mini-caves.  Norm had placed candles, some of them huge, in a number of the caverns.  The effect was spectacular!  We all set our chairs in front of this wall and had an evening of planning, story telling, and good companionship.
 
 

This time exposure cannot do justice to the Johnsons' "fire caves".  Candles in the natural holes in the rocks made it look like the rock was burning from the inside. It was gorgeous!

Sunday, Sept. 25
After a somewhat cooler night's sleep, I got up and joined most of the group for a hike through a narrow cut in the rocks and down a valley toward the other campground.  I went about 2/3 of the way with them and then headed back to camp.  I have Achilles tendonitis in both heels that I am trying to get healed, and did not want to over do it.

We then left camp at our own pace and headed toward Cedar City, Utah.  We intentionally did not caravan here, as the park owners were very concerned that we would all arrive together and overload their waiting area.  I took my time, stopping in St. George for fuel, and later at a rest stop.  When I pulled in to the campground, there were 3 of our other rigs just ahead of me!  So much for random timing!  This is a pretty campground, which is pretty much full.  I only noticed 2 empty spaces when I took a walk this afternoon.

I met our final couple, Dennis and Jeannine Kincade who lived on the same lake in Indiana as the Pullens, but just sold their home.  They are full timjng in their 5th wheel until they decide on a location to get another house.  We are now complete with 8 rigs and 15 people.

I think this is a good point to wrap it up and send this report.

Till next time,

Dick