Hi all,

I was just told by Floyd that I made an error when I talked about his and Ruth's anniverary.  I said it was their 58th.  It really was their 59th!  Sorry Floyd and Ruth.

Saturday, Oct 8
Norm and Jean pulled out first thing this morning, so we are now a group of 11.

Today, we decided to drive to Bluff and Blanding.  This was a pretty long drive, but was all on high speed highway.

Our first stop was at the historical district of Bluff.  There were a couple of cabins and wagons from the original Mormon trek to Bluff, as well as monuments to the pioneers in that original party.  In addition there was a re-creation of the original meeting hall, complete with forced air heat, grounded outlets, and a pedestal with a microphone stand.  I think these were probably not original!  There were also the remains of a stone home built by an early stone mason.  I am not sure why, but it was largely demolished.  With the thick, squared stone walls, it looked like it should stand forever!  It was a very interesting area with a lot to look at and wander through.
 

	This is the remains of the Joseph Barton cabin.  It had a typical sod roof which did a good job of insulating the interior, but would drip water long after the rain ended.
A couple of ancient wagons illustrate what the pioneers actually lived in during the trek.
	This is the stone home of Kumen Jones, one of the first to bring his wagon down the Hole in the Rock. He had this house built adjacent to his original cabin near the turn of the century.  His original cabin was destroyed by fire in 1975.

We then continued on to Blanding where we initially stopped at a small visitor center.  They had pamphlets of area attractions and a small museum.  When we signed their guest book they gave each of us a gift.  This was a small bag containing a small box of breakfast cereal, a tube of toothpaste, a couple sticks of gum, sample packs of several cleaning products, and a Natures Valley almond bar.  We found out where the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum.  This had a very extensive collection of artifacts of the area.  Their specialty was pots and pottery from the Anasazi era.  They had hundreds of them!  They also had displays of other artifacts from that period.  There was an ancient ruin out back.  It was a very nice and quite extensive museum.
 

The museum had a number of display rooms just full of artifacts from the ancient Indians of this area.
	This was a household pueblo.  It housed a family and was part of the larger compound in this area. It was first occupied around 825and abandoned around 950.  Around 1125 it was re-occupied for maybe another 100 years.  The second group of owners added the kiva.

On our way back, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Blanding where Betty and I had eaten a year ago.  We started our Colorado trip a year ago today, and went by way of this area, spending a night in Blanding.

As we were driving home, we could see extensive areas of thunderstorms ahead.  We saw some lightning and many, many rain showers, but we only drove through a couple of them.  Back at camp, we had several showers and their high winds blow through.
 

Driving back to the campground, we could see many thunderstorms ahead.  There were a number of showers along with some lightning.

Sunday, Oct 9
The Averys pulled out early this morning.  Now we are 5 rigs and 9 people.

This is Sunday, a day of rest.  We are just staying at home, doing some of the routine tasks that must be done, and relaxing.  I cleaned my windshield and vacuumed the floors.  Mostly I have been doing things to use my 24 hours of high speed Internet access.  I now have about 2 1/2 hours left, and am running out of things to do.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Flagstaff for one night, then home.  I actually have the shortest distance to go at about 2 hours to Prescott from Flagstaff.

Monday, Oct 10
Happy Birthday, Merle!

We got up and got ready to leave camp at a leisurely pace.  About 9:30 we pulled out on our 175 mile drive to Flagstaff.  During the drive, I occasionally saw the Perdues and the Lambs.  I caught up to them and we all turned off at the Wupatki Ruins turnoff.  We stopped at the visitor center and looked at some of the ruins.  I left first and continued on past Sunset Crater.  I was the first one into our campground in Flagstaff, Black Barts.
 

	These are two of the ruins at the Wapatki National Monument

Over the next couple of hours all of us arrived.  We made dinner reservations at Black Bart's Steak House, which is on the premises of the campground. 

We just got back from dinner.  It was outstanding!  Black Bart's claim to fame is their midwestern beef which they cut in their own kitchen, and their singing waiters.  There was music most of the time.  Much of the time there was a waiter up by the piano singing.  Some of the time there was an ensemble number with waiters throughout the restaurant singing.  Most of the singers were very good with a few truly excellent.  There were a couple that were, how should I say it, not.  Our waitress sang several numbers and was the best of the lot (in my opinion).  She is a post graduate student in Vocal Performance and is hoping to go to New York soon, heading to a career in grand opera.  All of the waiters are from the music department of Northern Arizona University. 

I had a delicious fillet mignon which I could cut with my fork.  I think everyone enjoyed the evening.

Tomorrow we will say our goodbys and head our separate ways.

Tuesday, Oct 11
Happy Birthday Kylie!

Betty passed away 6 months ago today.

I was up fairly early and saw Ed out working with his water hose - it had frozen!  I gave him a hand and soon we had water flowing freely through the hose and he was then able to run water into his trailer.  I'm glad I put my hose away last night.  The Lambs and the Bakers left about this time.  I said my goodbys and got ready to leave.

Bob Perdue said he was driving home through Prescott and we decided to caravan.  Pulling out around 8:30, we arrived at my home by about 10:30.  Bob and Pat came in and got a quick tour of my home, then headed back on their way.

As always, you can see this report and my other reports along with a number of photos at:

http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason

This was a wonderful and totally enjoyable trip.  Thanks for accompanying me.

With love,

Dick