Westward ho!

We survived the twisters so far, tho a tornado watch was called yesterday for the area where we remain today, i.e. Sidney, Nebraska. Tomorrow we continue our journey west on I80. Two more days and we leave Tornado Alley during this record breaking season of funnel storms.

Then north to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks, where we will once again camp without benefit of utilities. We just picked up a Blue Boy septic tank , yet another step in our dry camping technology.





See how easy it is! (Doesn't Jenna look good since she retired?)
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More good stuff (camping) for sure.


Bruce

Storm runners (away from)

More tornados in the Midwest today, centering on Kansas. Oh, yes, I did mention that we were driving into Kansas today, didn’t I?

One ear tuned to the radio. One eye cocked on storm clouds and lightning to the south. Another eye on the map as the radio announcer reports tornado activity. Quick, turn north, the tornado is approaching from the south! Ha ha, travel is fun!!

We had planned to camp at a state park for one night, then drive on to Smith Center, Kansas for our service appointment the following day. Expecting no storm shelters in a state park, we decided to press on to Smith Center, where we knew we could enter the service building in the event of a twister.

Thus we arrived at 6pm, just as rain started spitting. But so far, tornado activity and baseball size hail have passed us by, tho a tornado watch remains for several more hours now.

Well, at least if a tornado does carry our trailer away, we can easily order a new one from the sales office across the street, assuming it has not been carried off too.

No pictures…we were busy fleeing for our lives. Ha ha ha!

Forecast for the next 48 hours - widespread thunderstorms, possibly severe in the afternoon. May produce large hail and strong winds.

And no tumbleweeds out here to advise us!

Bruce

Tornados in Colorado

We spent two nights at the "RV Park" in Idaho Springs, CO, about 30 miles west of Denver. Since we didn't want to pay for utils here for two nights, being cheap and self-contained, the owners put us in a driveway to other RVs, next to their house. Worked out OK, cause they didn't want to hear our generators, so they gave us a 20amp extension cord.

Then we departed for Seibert, CO. First we ran into southerly winds up to 40mph.








As we drove down I70, tumbleweeds scampered across the highway, in a headlong rush from the storm. Some even clung to our trailer, thinking we could save them.

But we discovered that the fleeing ones knew more than us. Of course, the tumbleweeds live there, and we are but strangers passing through.

At our quaint, albeit nice, little park in Seibert, we set up our computers and learned of a tornado watch in our area. And a tornado warning 50 miles away.

We prepared our few possessions and our disinterested dog to move into the hosts' storm shelter. Also readied the RV to quickly close the slides to minimize possible damage.

Thunder, lightning, winds, but thankfully no tornado.

Next time we will consider the opinions of tumbleweeds. Who knew?

Bruce

Rifle Gap State Park, CO

Three day stop over at Rifle Gap State Park, a pretty lakeside Colorado fishing lake and park at 5,000 feet ASL. How nice to see snow covered mountains on the distant Rocky Mountains and evergreen trees nearby after five months in the deserts of CA, AZ, NV, and UT. And miles away from any highways makes for a peaceful sleep in the fresh mountain air with the full moon rising over the nearby hill.

It's still pretty dry even here, tho the weather service predicts possible thundershowers. Coupla pics to make this official:

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From here, we will drive 170 miles east on I70 for a night or two at Idaho Springs, at a mountain RV park.

Bruce

Canyonlands National Park

Another beautiful park, particularly striking for the difference between it and Arches, tho only 30 miles separate them. We spent an afternoon at the northeast section called Islands in the Sky.

Driving from one view point to another, seeing canyons and canyons and canyons. Words cannot do justice, nor can our puny camera take in the sweeping vistas with so much detail. Here are two meager pictures.

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You just gotta see it for yourself.

We returned to Arches the next day to hike a few more trails and see some more you-know-whats. So one more pic (of many) of the place.

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After two more days dry camping, we struck out for Colorado.


Bruce

Arches National Park

We visited another superb park these past two days. Arches NP contains over 2,000 natural sandstone arches fins, pinnacles, spires, and balanced rocks. You gotta see it to appreciate it. A few pics can’t do it justice, but what’s a blog without pictures.



The Three Gossips

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Moon wall
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Wall Detail

After two weeks of dry camping, it’s nice to have utilities. We’re flush with flushing! We stayed two nights at a park south of Moab, then moved to another park north of Moab closer to the parks. Likely we’ll remain here for four nights, the last two dry camping, as they have no more spaces with hookups. Then we will continue our journey eastward with yet-to-be-determined stops in Colorado.

Tomorrow we will drive to Canyonlands National Park, an hour from our current location. Reportedly as spectacular as Arches, but completely different. Ho hum, more beauty.

We spent one evening in Moab, the local town for Arches and Canyonlands NPs. Most of the town is dedicated to the sports of cliff climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and 4 wheel touring.

This last “sport” seems most curious. People go out into Canyonlands NP, usually in small Jeeps. (Looking around Moab, you’d think that the Jeep was the State Vehicle.) Now we know nothing about this avocation, but we learned in the park visitors center that the desert surface is alive with organisms and quite delicate, taking up to 250 years to recover from the slightest damage. So these folks go out into the desert to test their skills driving up rocks and out of holes in the ground. It sure looks destructive to us, particularly in a national park.

Liberal envirowackos – that’s us.

Bruce

Bryce Canyon NP

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Bryce National Park. I’ve run out of superlatives for these natural treasures.

The hoodoos, as well as the sandstone cliffs of Zion NP, inspire awe of natural processes at work back millions of years ago. Then we project our own interpretations of form and even function on these natural wonders, like the religious names of peaks and towers in Zion, and the different hoodoos at Bryce. But still the beauty remains, assuming you hold a yen for such things.

We do, hence our journey to these places.


Natural Bridge
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Hoodoos and grottos at Bryce Point

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A hoodoo panorama at Bryce Point


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Bruce

Still at Zion NP

Today is our unofficial last day at Zion National Park. We’ve made the most of it these last few days, going on easy but glorious hikes. (Yeah, hiking the trails 11 weeks after surgery!) I’m filling my hard drive with pictures I can hardly stand to delete. Here’s a few

Along the Emerald Pool Trail
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In front of the Three Patriarchs

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Cottonwood seeds
At every gust of wind, the air fills with these seed puffs, like snow.

Tomorrow we drive up to Bryce National Park,reportedly even more impressive than Zion. Hoodoos abound. With a steep climb to primitive camping and subfreezing weather, we consider it day trip, rather than take our trailer there. More pics to come, no doubt.

Then we begin our journey eastward. We will stop for at least four days at Canyonlands NP and Arches NP and Moab, UT. We will not suffer.

Bruce

Kansas bound

After a month’s respite, we have retuned to our avocation of RV repairs. This time some staples are popping out from their assigned positions in the luan paneling on our slideout roofs.
* Which will eventually puncture the roofing material laid over the paneling.
* Which will then admit water and interplanetary aliens.
* Which will make me wet and unhappy, in that order. Abducted too possibly.

Peterson Industries, the trailer manufacturer, readily agreed to repair this flaw at their factory, somewhat inconveniently located in Smith Center, Kansas about 1,000 miles from our present Utah location. Thus have we altered our itinerary.

It appears that Smith Center, the county seat of Smith County, was named due to its location. At the center of Smith County. Now that's practical!

We will depart for said Center on 5/9, eventually arriving on 5/26. After a few days of aforementioned alterations, we will somewhat retrace our 1,000 mile path and return to our planned route through UT, ID, OR, and back to Concrete, WA.

This detour will take us to places we had not expected to visit, including the Rocky Mountains, Kansas (of course), a bit of Nebraska, and southern Wyoming. We do know that Kansas is flat and the Rockies are not. Which exhausts our knowledge of the mid-West, even tho we lived in nearby Arkansas for 10 years.

Eastward ho!

Bruce