Picking up the new Lazy Daze, Zion National Park & Cedar Breaks National Monument.

In our last post we mentioned that we sold our Allegro Bus and bought a new Lazy Daze motorhome. A couple of people have basically asked how we could give up the space and comfort of our 40 foot Class A and go to a 27 foot Class C. It’s hard to explain, but when we full-timed we would not have had anything different then the Class A, but after having bought a house again we wanted a motorhome for a much simpler life. Also we wanted access to the smaller campgrounds.
Perhaps these next three pictures of our campsite in Bryce Canyon National Park can give you an idea of what we were looking for.

We got to the factory around 8:30 on Wednesday July 6th and Dave gave us the walk through where he explained all the operations of the motorhome. Then, we finished up the paper work and went to lunch while they fixed a couple of items. When Sandy and I got back to the motorhome they had our pallet of the 14 boxes we had shipped out next to the motorhome.




Even though it was over 100 degrees with 43% humidity, it only took us about an hour and a half to get the boxes unloaded and shoved into drawers and cabinets. When we get to Las Vegas we will go through and reorganize. Of course, I’m sure we will be re-reorganizing for weeks. Our friends Gil and Nancy, from Henderson, NV, were in town to pick up a table they had Lazy Daze make for them and got there at 3:30. After they toured our new motorhome and we finally got Gil pried out of the driver’s seat, (he said it was sooooo comfortable), we went to the Olive Garden for supper. Gil needed fuel, so on the way to Olive Garden we used the GPS to find a station. Jane, have Gill tell you about our GPS routing experience.  Sorry, Gil and Nancy, that we didn’t get a picture of you for our blog.  We’ll make up for it next time.
If you do not pay California sales tax you must be “DRIVEN” out of the state by an ICC driver before you can take possession. So on Thursday Collin, our ICC driver, drove us to Las Vegas where we had to notarize some documents showing that we took delivery out of the state of California. After checking in at the Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort Sandy spent the rest of the afternoon rearranging. Then we went and had supper at the café here at the Oasis.
On Friday we decided to just sit around and enjoy the new motorhome, listening to the iPod, I doing Sudoku and Sandy working the crossword puzzles and some more rearranging. As I was working the puzzle I looked out the back and noticed that we had a view of some Las Vegas Arches.




On Saturday we left Las Vegas and headed for Zion National Park. Nether Sandy nor I have been to Utah other than to drive I-70. Here we are entering the Virgin River Gorge on I-15



Here is some of the scenery before we enter Zion NP.





The Zion National Park Entrance.




Here we are at Watchman Campgrounds in Zion NP. It’s been so long since I’ve had to level by hand I’m not so sure I remember how.  A Lazy Daze doesn’t come equipped with levelers so that will be one of the additions we need to do when we get back home.



Got it level, hooked up the electric, so what have I forgotten?




Oh ya, time to relax.




Here are some pictures from the park.  Pictures don’t do the scenery justice because of the thunderstorms looming in the clouds.







Weeping Rock is an area where the water seeps out of the rock and gives the vegetation a chance to grow on the sheer walls.




The narrows at the end of the riverside walk by the Temple of Sinawava.   As you can see, the river was crowded with tourists trying to cool off from the heat.




On July 11^th, as left Zion NP for Bryce Canyon NP, we had to drive a switchback
area before we came to a tunnel where we had to wait so we could go through as one way traffic. All vehicles over 11’4” tall or wider than 7’10 require one-lane traffic control and a $15 permit.




The tunnel is 1.1 miles long and was built in the early 1920’s.




The rock formations east of the tunnel are different than in the other part of Zion NP.





This is Checker Board Mountain.





On the way to Bryce Canyon we took a side trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument.




Here we saw some remnants of last winter’s snow. There was a lot of tree damage because of the heavy deep snow last winter.



This is the visitor’s center for the park. When we stopped here the temperature was 46 degrees and the high was going to be 56 degrees. The elevation here was 10,350 feet.



Although Zion NP was beautiful and magnificent, we were really impressed with the different landscape of Cedar Breaks.







Before we got to Bryce Canyon we drove through Red Canyon where we ran into our first rain of the trip.  You can see how easily flash floods occur and how erosion formed these canyons.  It didn’t rain very much, but water came pouring down the cliff and over the road.







Until next time,

Dave and Sandy

Motorcycle trip to Colorado

I have to let you all know that this post is without the much needed help of my editor so you will have to just grin and bear it!!!

We thought it was about time we sent out an update. Not much has been going on other than we sold the Allegro Bus and bought a Lazy Daze which we will pick up in July. We will post on that next time, for now I will tell you a little of the motorcycle trip my two brothers,Glen, Joe and our friend Dale took to Colorado. Dale, Glen and I left Staples around 3 PM on June 19th and headed out for Denver to meet up with Joe, who rode out earlier to visit a cousin of ours, to start our 5 day motorcycle trip. We drove non- stop other than a short stop from 4-6 AM for some sleep in the truck.

Later that evening when we went out to supper we decided we would need to have a t-shirt check in the morning before we left because, as you women know, it's so embarrassing when someone shows up wearing the same outfit as you.

On Tuesday the 21st we started our trip by heading west to Evergreen then down 285 to 126 which we took down to Decker, CO. From there we took a short 9 mile run up to Knight on 97 and back to Decker for lunch.

After filling up on Mexican food at Decker’s Coffee Shop we headed south on 67 to Cripple Creek where we stopped at the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine that last mined gold in 1969. We did not take the mine tour but did take some pictures. Cripple Creek looks like an interesting old town “tourist trap”.

Here's Joe operating an old crane remembering his railroad days as a crane operator.


An old stamp mill.


From there we took CR 1 to Gufffey where we stopped at some interesting old buildings that had all kinds of junk around them.
Joe is checking out some of the old cars. The one on the right is a 1953 Ford 2 door Ranch Wagon.



For all you car buffs here is Joe standing by an original “stove bolt six” motor.


One of the sheds was open and was called Bill’s Garage. When we got in there we all said that the American Pickers would have a field day here. There were alot of interesting items in that old building.

This is one of Bill’s art works. A rocking chair made from draft horse shoes.


Bill also makes lizards.


This is what happens to those that don’t pay their bill at Bill’s garage.


After spending some time chatting with Betty, who was watching the store for Bill, we headed south on 9 to catch US 50 west to Salida, CO. The temperatures in the higher elevations up to 9900 feet were between 60 to 70 degrees with lots of sun and some wind. While the in the lower elevations we had temps up to 86 degrees. It’s a good thing we put the sunscreen on early.
We had supper in Salida at the Boathouse Cantina.


This is the Arkansas River by the Boathouse Cantina.


Here are four well fed fella’s. Dave, Glen, Dale and Joe.



After spending the night in Salida we headed out on day two for our evening destination of Durango, CO. When we got to Monarch Pass just west of Salida it was still 52 degrees at 11,305 feet, but coming down the west side it dropped to 48 degrees before it warmed up to 96 degrees in some of the valleys.






We drove west on US 50 past Gunnison until we picked up 149 south and the upper reaches of the Blue Mesa Reservoir.


It’s a good thing we have digital cameras as we would be broke developing prints. For lunch we stopped in Creede, CO at a place called Kip’s Grill. Very good food! I had the Americana Taco which was a chopped up hamburger patty , chopped up cabbage with a great salsa all in a soft shell taco.




Downtown Creede, CO.


We picked up the Rio Grande River about 30 miles before we got to Creede but this picture was the first picture we took of it and was about 5 miles after Creede.


Continuing south on 149 we picked up US 160 in South Fork, CO and drove SW to Pagosa Springs where the road turned west to Durango where we spent the night. We ate supper at the Texas Serious BBQ which had won the Regis and Kelly BBQ cook off.


After we got in we began to wonder what they were barbecuing.

On Thursday the 23rd we left Durango and followed US 550 north which is called the “million dollar highway" from Silverton to Ouray.
On this stretch of road we stopped so many times because the scenery just kept getting better and better.





We stopped in Ouray for some ice cream and walked the streets for a while. Ouray is an interesting town and is called “little Switzerland”.


Finally we get to the ice cream.


In Montrose we picked up US 50 and headed east to Gunnison where we spent the night. For supper we went to the Gunnisack and had a great a supper. I would recommend the chili burger and the others would recommend the fish tacos. Again today we had temperature that went from 45 degrees to 96 degrees.

On Friday when we woke up it was 39 degrees but by the time we left it was up to 45 degrees. We drove north out of Gunnison on 136 to Almont where we picked up 742 that took us to Taylor Park Reservoir.


After Taylor Park we had 16 miles of fair dirt road.


Then we got we got back onto tar again and picked up 306 and went over Cottonwood Pass (12,126).




From there it was on to Buena Vista where we washed the motorcycleS because they had watered the gravel with sodium chloride for dust control. After washing the bikes we headed north on US 24 to 82 where we turned west and headed to Aspen over the Independence Pass (12,095).


When done with lunch in Aspen we had planned on going back over the pass to take US 24 north to catch I-70. Instead we continued on US 82 and picked up I-70 at Glenwood Springs and headed east to Keystone, CO. This route took us through Glenwood Canyon. For supper we were going to eat at the Goat Pub. but after going inside and discovering that it smelled like a goat we decided to go somewhere else.

On Saturday, our last day of riding, we had a little frost on Glen’s bike. The day before we had noticed that my brake lights would come on while I was just driving down the road. Upon some investigation I found that a wire harness had come loose and rubbed against the rear tire. After using a make shift jack I got it fixed and we headed out for the morning.


By the time we got going and went over Loveland Pass (11,992) we were in the low 40’s. Once we got to I-70 we turned east to Empire where we picked up US 40, going thru Winter Park, Granby and Grand Lake before coming to the Rocky Mountain National Park. There are two passes in the park, Milner (10,798) and Iceland Pass (10,827).






We all thought that this was the most scenic stretch of our ride, although all the rest was amazing by itself. After going through the park we stopped for lunch at east entrance. We were all hungry as we had not had breakfast and it was after noon. From Estes Park we headed south on 7 and 72 until we got to Rollinsville where we got onto 119. We took a swing through Central City where it looks like a lot of restoration is going on. For the last stretch of our trip we got onto US 6 that went through some nice canyons. We ended up at a friend's house where we had left the truck and trailer and loaded up the motorcycles.

Dale, Ron, Glen David, Dave, and Walter.


Joe, Ron, Glen David, Dave, and Walter.


Ron and Lori treated us all to supper by grilling hamburgers and brats. We spent about 4 hours there eating and visiting. We then headed to the motel for the night we found it to be a dump, another good reason to have a motorhome, and decided that Joe would stay a Walter's and Glen, Dale and I would head back home and stop along the way if needed. We ended up driving straight through to home.

It was a wonderful trip and we are already planning for next year.

Until next time,
Dave