We’re just getting ready to head on over to the Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally XV” at Quartzsite. A place we’ve been to in January over the last several years. Check out some of these links to learn more: (HERE) and (HERE).
On Thursday we went into town (Casa Grande) to do our shopping so we have something in the refrigerator before we head to Quartzsite on Saturday. The cupboards are bare, we basically emptied them before we went to Germany for the last 5 weeks.
But before we hit WalMart and spent our monthly budget on groceries… we stopped by the Casa Grande Elks Lodge to see our friends Jerry & Marilyn. I mentioned in my last post that they had just arrived in town and messaged us.
Elks Lodge #1957, Casa Grande, AZ.Me, Stilla, Marilyn, and Jerry.
We had a nice meal together at a Mexican restaurant that is right next to the Elks Lodge.
It was great catching up with Jerry & Marilyn, we haven’t seen them since we left Colorado Springs (link HERE). We made plans to meet up again for Friday spaghetti dinner at the Elks Lodge. Yoo Hoo! We’re looking forward to that 🙂 We may also get to link up again in Quartzsite…
I’ll probably post again once we get to Quartzsite. Lots to do now… gotta load up the ATV and get ready to roll again after the Urban Escape Vehicle has been sitting still for such a long time.
The American flag was still flying at the house on our last day in Germany. I’m sure Wolfgang put up the Bavarian (Bayern) flag after we left. What a great time we had 🙂 It was sure nice to see all of Stilla’s family again and especially our son William.
Wolfgang drove us to the Munich airport early in the morning on Monday in his RV. It was raining again, but we made it without incident.
Thanks for the ride again Wolfgang 🙂
Our flight to Atlanta lasted about eleven hours, three movies, and two meals. Of course the meals are conveniently timed to interrupt any sleep that you might feel coming on 🙂 Distance traveled was around 4,800 miles.
Notice the shadow of our plane on the ground as we neared Atlanta.Atlanta skyline in the distance under the wing.
Our Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport experience for incoming international flights was certainly different from our outbound flight experience. We must have stood in four or five separate lines after getting off the plane and almost missed our connection to Phoenix. First, there was a line to put your passports in a newfangled reader that spits out a customs form with your picture on it; next, there was a line at customs to show them the form that we just stood in the previous line to get. Then we had to pick up our luggage from the carousel and stand in line to recheck it. And finally, we had to go through another security check to get to our gate… you know, the security check where you put half your clothes and all your carry-on in bins to be x-rayed, followed by the dreaded pat-down because I have an artificial hip. Anyway, we just made it to the plane as it was boarding for our last leg to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Bi-plane on display at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
My Mom and stepdad Jim picked us up at the airport after our ~4 hour, 1,587 mile flight. It was sure nice to see them again.
Our first stop before heading south to Casa Grande was a Taco Bell at Stilla’s request. One thing that’s hard to find in Germany is a Mexican restaurant 🙂
And here we are back at the “Dirt Farm” again after more than 5 weeks in Schnitzeland. When we got to Casa Grande in the late evening on the 11th, the first thing we did after saying Hi to our little dog ‘Coach’ was to put the slides out on the Urban Escape Vehicle and check things out before we went to bed. Everything checked out good and seemed to be alright until the next day when I plugged in the tire pressure monitoring system and found out two of the tires had gone way down. This wasn’t obvious to us at first because we left the jacks down while we were gone on our trip.
I couldn’t understand how the tires could have lost pressure until I remembered that I had an oil change and service done at the nearby Speedco® just before we left for Germany. The Speedco® technician that checked all the tire pressures didn’t reseat the pressure monitoring cap correctly. I have a Pressure Pro® Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) that I installed soon after purchasing our Coach. This system uses valve caps that send a wireless signal to a monitor on the dash. It’s been pretty reliable and saved me from driving on low tire pressures on at least two separate occasions. Well worth the money.
Tire Pressure Monitoring Valve Cap from Pressure-Pro.
I used my old air compressor which is stored here at the ‘dirt farm’ (my brother Steven & Cheryl / Mom & Jim’s place) to air up all the tires. I used the opportunity to purge any leftover nitrogen from the tires that Redlands Truck & RV® put in a few years back while we were in Quartzsite. I haven’t seen any advantage to using nitrogen in the tires. Plus, where do you find nitrogen at when on the road and you need a refill?
On Wednesday morning, we put ‘Coach’ on a leash and took a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the nice sunny weather. We also need to get started on losing some of the weight we put on while in Germany 🙂 We walked over to the Escapees RV Park “Rover’s Roost” which is just around the corner.
Escapees (SKP CO-OP) Rover’s Roost.Entrance sign at Escapees (SKP CO-OP) Rover’s Roost.Memorial at Escapees (SKP CO-OP) Rover’s Roost.
We walked through the rows of parked RV’s and saw another Alpine!
Of course when I saw someone outside the Coach, I walked over and introduced ourselves. We met Joan who then introduced us to Ken. We talked for a short time and Ken & Joan showed us the inside of their beautiful 2005 36′ Front Door Double Slide (FDDS). It’s always great to meet up with other Alpine Coach owners! What nice people, as all Alpine owners seem to be 🙂 I asked them if they were going to Quartzsite for the Desert Rat Rally but they already have other scheduled plans. Hopefully, we’ll get to see them again in the future at one of the Alpine Coach Association rallies. Nice to meet you Ken & Joan… please keep us in mind for one of the upcoming Alpine SoCal or ACA rallies 🙂
And that’s all for now folks. We’re just fighting off the jet lag and prepping to head over to the Desert Rat Rally in Quartzsite (←link). I’d like to get there a couple days before the Alpine Coach Rally kicks off so I need get the ATV ready and loaded up, among other things. I’ll post again as time permits… lots going on.
BTW – We just heard from good friends Jerry and Marilyn. They just got into town here and are staying at the Casa Grande Elks Lodge. We first met Jerry & Marilyn at the Colorado Springs Elks Lodge and went on a nice motorcycle ride with them (among other things). Old Post HERE. We plan on getting together today (Thursday)… stay tuned…
We made it! We’re back at the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande, AZ where we’ll stay parked until we get back from our trip to Germany on the 11th of January.
We made the circa. 290 mile trip from our overnight boondocking spot at the Red Earth Casino located next to the Salton Sea without incident. We arrived at my brother Steven & Cheryl’s ~5 acre “dirt farm” in Casa Grande, AZ before dusk. I wrote about why they call it the “dirt farm” in previous posts HERE and HERE.
Driving across the border into Yuma, AZ.
Stilla even took over driving duties for the last 100 miles or so 🙂
The long and straight Highway 8 (east bound).
Here’s the Urban Escape Vehicle in front of Mom’s house.
A few pictures around the “dirt farm”:
Opposite side of Mom’s house, looking at one of the chicken coops and the casita.My brother Steven & Cheryl’s house on the “dirt farm”.Steven & Chery’ls (new to them) Class-C RV parked by their house.View of the “back 40″… the horse corrals and sheds behind Steven & Cheryl’s house.
We’re expecting to have a bunch of relatives and friends here for Thanksgiving, so we’ll enjoy that while we get prepared to leave for Germany on the 3rd of December.
I was able to find a couple round-trip tickets for just under $1,200 so we’re all set to spend the Christmas and New Year holiday(s) with Stilla’s family. And, more importantly her father’s 85th birthday on the 8th of December.
I’ll post again in a couple/few days… there’s lots to do before we leave: I’d like to get the oil changed in the Coach, plus we still need to top off the fuel tank and dump our tanks… Check back soon 🙂
On Friday the weather outlook called for rain later today, and the forecast doesn’t look good for the next three days 🙁
So much to see and do in and around Kanab, check out this website (←click here) that highlights three pages of attractions.
Here’s a brochure we got from the campground office:
We decided to start off by driving the Silverado over to the Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitors Center which is within eyesight of our campground. This is the place that holds the lottery for a 6-mile hike to see “The Wave“.(← click here).
This is a picture of “The Wave” below: (photo courtesy of NationalParkTourz.com)
In order to hike “The Wave,’ you must have a permit. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) limits access to the North Coyote Buttes WIlderness Area to just twenty permits per day. Ten of the permits are available in advance by an on-line lottery that is conducted four months before the month for which the permit is sought. The remaining ten permits are made available by lottery the day before ones intended hike. Year round the lottery is held at the ranger station on the east end of Kanab. The lottery for the walk-in permits takes place at 9:00 in the morning. (ref: NationalParkTourz.com)
The lottery is held behind these doors (below), we were too late to try our luck. I don’t think my hip replacement would like a 6-mile hike anyway 😐
Here’s a few more photos inside the visitors center:
We decided, that since rain is imminent for the next few days, that we would try our luck at visiting the Grand Canyon North Rim while the sun was still shining (off and on). The other attractions that are nearer – or even in Kanab can wait until tomorrow or ?
So we put our little dog “Coach” into the Silverado and headed south to the North Rim (~80-90 miles one-way) to try and beat the rain.
Road sign (below) as we got closer to the North Rim.
We stopped at the North Rim Country Store to get some snacks because we heard the concessions at the North Rim were closed for the season and also, we forgot to pack lunch.
And finally we arrived at the park entrance. It was 80° when we left Kanab and is now in the mid-to-low 40’s.
Some of the leaves haven’t fallen off the trees yet.
One of the nice campground host(s) back at the Hitch-N-Post in Kanab told us that most people only go straight to the lodge and miss out on a lot of scenery. She recommended that once inside the park, we should take the road south to Cape Royal to see Angels Window. So we followed the tip and drove ~15 miles to the viewpoints.
Cape Royal is the southernmost viewpoint on the North Rim, and it has the widest panorama of any Grand Canyon overlook – the great gorge occupies about 270° of the horizon, from Marble Canyon in the north, south over Palisades of the Desert, and westwards for many miles towards the main South Rim visitor area around Garden Creek. (ref: AmericanSouthwest.net)
Our first view of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim:
We finally reached the parking lot and took the path(s) to the Cape Royal Pt. and Angels WIndow viewpoints:
No dogs allowed 🙁Angels Window. Notice the people on top – we’ll be up there soon.Stilla in front of Angels Window at the Grand Canyon North Rim.
We chose the path on the right first to see Cape Royal Pt. The sun was just starting to go behind some clouds…
Here you can see the clouds rolling in (below).
We walked back up the path after taking a lot of pictures and then went out on top of Angels Window for some more awesome views.
Stilla on top of Angels Window at the Grand Canyon North Rim.Rare photograph of myself – on top of Angels Window at the Grand Canyon North Rim.Stilla on top of Angels Window at the Grand Canyon North Rim.
We drove back to the main road and went down to the main North Rim Visitor Center where the lodge is located. It started raining on us 🙁
We toured the visitors center quickly… it was 15 minutes before closing time at 5 PM (Arizona time).
Whiteboard on the wall (below) at the Visitors Center with the weather outlook.
A shot of some of the cabins situated around the visitors center.
We didn’t go down to the lodge or any of the viewpoints here because it started raining heavily by now. Here’s an information board in front of the visitors center regarding the lodge.
We plugged our campground into the GPS that I remembered to take out of the RV for our trip today and headed back to Kanab through the rain. We ended up putting about 200 miles on the Silverado by the time we returned.
And that was our Friday… it’s still raining off and on this morning (Saturday) but the sun is trying to peek out. Maybe we’ll try to visit the Animal Sanctuary and Little Hollywood today… stay tuned 🙂
It’s been a great rally! It was sad to see all the Alpines leave this morning (Wednesday) 🙁 There were many, many hugs and ‘see-ya-laters’.
Some of the Alpines passed by as we finished taking down the EZ-Up Tents, and packed up the tables and chairs to take them back to the rental place in downtown Page.
This time we switched it up and put the round tables in my truck (above) and the chairs in Daves’ (below).
By-the-way, is anyone missing their lawn ornament? This one (below) was left in site 22. Yes – we know who you are (Mike & Donna). We were thinking about holding it for ransom. If you want it back, just contact the Guhsés’ who may deliver it to the next rally for a fee 🙂
After finishing up with the rally clean-up, Stilla and I took the Silverado to Hanging Garden. We’ve passed by the entrance sign many times on our travels between Page and the campground.
Some of the other Alpiners stopped by here during the Rally and told us it was worth seeing. We turned just after the Glen Canyon Bridge at the sign (above) and went down the gravel road to the parking area. When we saw that the road continued on down towards the lake after the parking area, we decided to see where it went. Here’s the view back to the Glen Canyon Bridge from the road.
The gravel road ended in another parking lot overlooking the lake. We parked the truck and walked down closer to the lake.
After checking out the cool rock formations, we drove back up to the Hanging Garden Trail parking area.
The informational placard says it’s a 1-mile round trip.
View (below) of the massive rock formation near the parking area that we had to walk around to get to the Hanging Garden.
We started down the trail with a full bottle of cold water.
And we kept walking…
and walking…
and walking.
When the trail wasn’t easy to see; we just followed all the rocks lined up along the sides.
Stilla posed for a picture in front of some neat looking sandstone formations.
And we just kept following the rock-lined trail.
We were completely alone so far on our hike and almost began wondering if should have waited for the 5 PM ranger-guided tour… what if we took a wrong turn?
We pressed on and kept following the trail over hard rock…
and through soft sand…
until we finally saw from a distance, what looked like it could be a Hanging Garden (below).
We hiked up the hill towards the shady alcove.
View of the lake behind us.
And finally! Here it is – the Hanging Garden.
We had it all to ourselves.
I’ll bet these flowers (below) look really nice when they bloom.
Another view back toward the lake from the Hanging Garden (below).
We took a few more pictures and started our hike back to the parking lot. Another couple finally showed up after we arrived, so we were no longer the only ones on the trail.
Our water bottle was empty by now and the sun was cooking us slowly.
One last picture of the Hanging Garden on our way out.
We were glad to be back at the truck where we had another bottle of water. The Hanging Garden was definitely worth the hike. Check it out if you’re in the area 🙂
After a stop at WalMart in Page for a few groceries, we made it back to the campground to relax for the rest of our last evening here at the Wahweap Campground.
We found David & Nicole back at their Coach – just relaxing after their tiresome tour-of-duty as wagon master(s).
We’ll say our farewells before we pack up and head out this morning (Thursday) after I get this post published. They are going to stay a couple more days to try and see some of the local sites that they didn’t have time for while performing all their wagonmaster duties.
We’re thinking about heading over to Kanab, UT today. We heard there’s some good attractions there. And it’s conveniently along our route to Las Vegas NV, where we want to be on the 22nd to meet our son William who’s coming in from Germany to visit for a couple/few weeks 🙂 Check back on us…
The Alpine SoCal Rally continued on Monday with a “Free Day” – there were no scheduled events other than our usual 5 PM “Social Hour”.
Everyone did their own thing today. Our ‘thing’ was to rent a party boat and cruise around Lake Powell with 4 other couples. The couples were: David & Nicole Guhsé, Bill & Patti Figge, Norm & Beth Cannon , Bob & Connie Bowers, and of course, ourselves. Our wagon master for the Rally, David Guhsé arranged the rental.
Everyone packed lots of food, snacks, and drinks. The Marina staff piled our bags into the shuttle service vehicles that were waiting for us at the entrance.
(L to R) Nicole, Patti, Beth, and Connie.
The staff transported us down to the docks.
Here’s David securing the rental boat for us at the rental office / boat.
We walked down the dock between all the house boats and party boats to find our ride for the day.
And here it is.
We inspected the boat.
We got operating instructions…
and some location tips.
It even comes with a water slide 🙂
We maneuvered away from the marina…
past the other rentals and private house boats…
and out into the lake we go…
(L to R) Bob, David, and Bill.
Norm made awesome Bloody Mary’s with all the fixin’s to get us started. Mine was a virgin 😉
Looking down from the upper deck.
Our route for the day would take us into Navajo Canyon.
Now take a deep-breath and follow along on our tour with this collection of photos:
Stilla on the upper deck.
Aaah… Life is Good!
We stopped a few times throughout the day to jump in the water. Here’s the first time I went in.
Bill on the water slide. I took my turn next. Bills wife Patti also took the challenge.
Bill and I in the water. It wasn’t cold at all – quite pleasant.
It wasn’t long before we had pre-lunchtime snacks spread out on the kitchen island.
David & Nicole Guhsé.
Rare photo of us.
David and Bill lounging on the upper deck.
Norm takes a turn at the helm.
And Bill takes his turn.
Stilla on the upper deck.
Stilla lounging on one of the bench seats.
We stopped again for another swim. A couple of the girls got into the water.
I swam over to a rock island (below).
Bill joined me on my rock island.
We carefully picked our way back off the island and into the water.
And then we fired up the BBQ and cooked hot dogs. We also reheated some fried chicken and wings.
(L to R) Stilla, Connie, Bob, and Patti.
Bill really dressed up his hot dog… it was worth a picture.
Norm & Beth Cannon.
There was lots of pointing going on all day by pretty much everyone… the scenery was magnificent.
Bill and I jumped in the water one last time and swam over to the cliff edge. Why, you ask? Because we could.
We headed back to the Marina to meet our 4 PM rental return deadline.
David, Bob, Stilla.
Check out this triple-decker with two water slides.
View back up to the Marina office from the docks.
We pulled into the fuel station to top off our diesel tank at exactly 4 PM. Our fun-time was over 🙁
What a great day! After tallying up the fuel costs and splitting the rent for the day, each couple paid ~$130. Not bad for a full day of fun, eh? 🙂
We got back to the campground just in time for “Happy Hour”.
Everyone we talked to had a great “free day”. Some couples went fishing, others went hiking, etc.,
When the sun went down, Orville & Mary Ann demonstrated their Bonfire in a Can. Don’t forget to check out the link.
And so ends another fine Alpine Coach Rally day! Stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of our Colorado River Float Trip 🙂
Saturday started off with yet another great breakfast spread courtesy of our wagonmaster(s) David & Nicole Guhsé. They’re still on track to receive an A+ grade for their performance so far 🙂
Our rally schedule for the day called for “no organized day time activity” until our Dinner Cruise aboard the Canyon Princess at 5 PM. Agenda below:
However, before we did nothing for the day – we set up an impromptu “GearHead Session” after breakfast.
A “GearHead Session” is simply a forum for members to discuss anything related to our beloved Alpines – usually of a mechanical nature. There is a always a wealth of information to be gleaned from our members. Subjects discussed during the session included, but were not limited to; tow bars, tow bar breakaway switches, receiver hitches, dual-pane window fogging, lubricants and sprays for steps & slideouts, water tank dump valves, and more. It was a good session.
The rest of the day was pretty much a hang around do-nothing day that I used to finish up yesterday’s blog post.
At 4:30 PM all the Alpiners headed over to the Marina to get ready for our scheduled dinner cruise.
A couple of our members showed up in the exact same shirt which got a good laugh.
We hung around in the Lodge lobby until it was time to go down to the dock.
That’s our ship on the lower left in the picture below.
Some of us took the courtesy tram down to the ship…
while others walked down…
and here she is – the Canyon Princess: The website says the following about this tour: While relaxing aboard the Canyon Princess, you will enjoy the breathtaking sunset on Lake Powell. This dinner cruise combines spectacular Wahweap Bay scenery with a delicious dining experience. The Canyon Princess Dinner Cruise includes a delightful menu made up of salad, breads, a variety of entree options, and choice of dessert. Your favorite beverage is available for purchase at the bar. This two-hour dinner cruise aboard the Canyon Princess is sure to provide you with special memories of your trip to Lake Powell.
We boarded the ship for our two-hour tour… uh oh, did I say two-hour tour? Hmmmm… sounds familiar somehow 🙂
Lots of carp and some stripers were hanging out around the dock.
We were all seated in the dining area and pretty much had the entire boat to ourselves except for a few other couples.
Our menu:
The dinner was great!
Now – enjoy some pictures of our evening dinner cruise:
We returned to the dock all too soon. It was an awesome evening!
Back at the campground we walked around the campground loop with little dog “Coach” and stopped to admire Greg & Marcy Vaughan’s light show…
It was a warm and pleasant evening. Later, we hung out with a small gathering of our Alpine friends outside one of the Coaches until it was time to call it a night.
Check back tomorrow for a recap of Rally Day 5 which includes a tour of Glen Canyon Dam.
Thursday was Day 3 of the Alpine SoCal Rally at Lake Powell and it started off with another awesome breakfast served by our Wagon master(s) David & Nicole Guhsé! Stilla and I got up early and went over to the get-together site to help set things up. Breakfast was a home-run and went off without a hitch thanks to the rally team.
After breakfast we had our Alpine SoCal Member meeting consisting of the usual stuff; old business, new business, future rally dates, etc., and then we voted on the nominations for our officers which was a no-brainer because all the leadership positions, except for the president, would be filled by incumbents that (as-always) have been doing an excellent job.
And now for the big news: Since our current SoCal Chapter President (Joe Darling) has been experiencing some health issues including a recent back surgery, 🙁 he is unable to continue in this role.
Get well soon Joe!
Therefore the nominating committee contacted members recently to find someone to fill the position. Of course, no one can replace Joe – only follow in his footsteps. I kept it to myself until now, but I was nominated and it was voted on in this morning’s meeting. I will take over Joes’s duties beginning January 1st. I am humbled by the chapter members confidence in me and hope I can live up to expectations and Joe’s legacy.
After all the meeting fuss was over, 🙂 Stilla and I took little dog “Coach” in the SIlverado and we went for a day-trip since today was a “free day” until our scheduled “La Familia Spaghetti Dinner”.
We drove back out towards the South Entrance of the Lake Powell Resort & Marina and stopped at some of the scenic viewpoints:
We exited the Resort & Marina area and headed back through Page…
Sign as you exit the South Entrance to the Lake Powell Resort & Marina (we turned left)
to another viewpoint at Scenic View Road:
We parked and walked down to the view point:
After negotiating the many slippery steps, we got a good view of the Glen Canyon Dam and the bridge.
Wish we could be in that boat (below) 🙂
We walked back up the path / steps to the parking lot.
In the parking lot, we met this nice couple from Germany. They are traveling around the US and even plan on going down to Argentina! We talked for a bit, because as most of you know, Stilla is also from Germany. They shared their blog address with us (below) so if you’re interested, give it a look. Once again, I have to say – we get to meet the nicest people in the RV world 🙂
We moved on over to Horseshoe Bend. Here’s the view of the first part of the path from the parking lot.
And here’s the view after you get to the top of the first hill. See the little people heading down the trail to the cliff edge?
We put little “Coach” in his doggie back-pack.
Lots of tourists at the edge of the canyon.
Stilla on the edge 🙂
Horseshoe Bend.
See the little boat down there?
Wish we were in it.
Picture of us in front of famous Horseshoe Bend, courtesy of some nice asian tourists.
The sun beat down on little “Coach”, he didn’t like walking in the hot sand.
The view back down to the parking lot (below). A few buses had arrived full of Asian tourists that we shared the trail with.
We continued south on 89 to Lee’s Ferry which looks like its only a few miles straight line distance from the campground when you look at a map, but it’s 100 miles to drive. We took 89 south and then got on 89A north to get there. Here’s the view (below) coming down the mountain south of Page.
We stopped to check out the view at a turnout and Stilla browsed the Indian jewelry vendors.
At the bottom of the mountain we turned right towards Marble Canyon (sign below).
When we got close to the turn for Lee’s Ferry, we crossed Navajo Bridge.
We pulled into the Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center. Normally, I would expound on this and other locations we stopped at, but I’m pressed for time to get this blog post published, so please don’t forget to click on the links embedded in the (green-colored) text to learn more.
After Navajo Bridge, we turned on Lees Ferry Road into Marble Canyon (←link here).
We stopped and toured the campground here for future reference as we often do. Here’s the sign (below) if you’re interested in camping here. It looked like there were quite a few sites that are big-rig friendly.
We returned the same way we went in and snapped a few more pics of the cool rock formations:
And we returned to Page after about 200 miles of driving today. Here’s the view (below) coming in to Page from 89 south. It was right about this time that our Wagonmaster (David Guhsé) called and asked if we could stop by Strombolli’s Restaurant to pick up the garlic bread for our spaghetti dinner.
We rolled back into the campground (with garlic bread in hand) just in time for our “La Familia Spaghetti Dinner”.
Another awesome dinner goes off well. Everyone enjoyed the spaghetti dinner with lots of garlic bread and salads:
David even put on some “mood” music that fit the Italian theme.
We were treated to an awesome sunset as we finished our dinner:
Hope you enjoyed today’s tour… check back tomorrow for Day 4 of our Alpine SoCal Rally. Wish all you readers out there could join us 🙂
Welcome to Day 2 of the Alpine SoCal Lake Powell Rally 🙂
Warning! – Picture heavy post again today… consider viewing on a laptop or desktop computer since mobile devices often have trouble downloading the pictures. Hint: If an image doesn’t load, try refreshing your screen.
We started off our day (Thursday) with a fine Alpine breakfast…
courtesy of our wagon-master(s) David & Nicole Guhsé. Here’s David boiling up some eggs to add to the already huge spread consisting of yogurts, fruits, muffins, croissants, etc.,
Nicole put the finishing touches on the spread…
and Lorraine Foster helped prep the tables.
And then the hordes attacked 🙂
Breakfast with a view.
Some folks (below) took advantage of the limited time after breakfast to detail their Coach before our first scheduled activity of the day.
Bob & Helena Mazzocco. (Bob seems to be doing a fine job supervising) 🙂
Our agenda for the day (below) has us meeting at the Slot Canyon Office for a tour of Antelope Slot Canyon (←click link to see more).
Everyone piled into their cars for the ~10 mile drive over to the Slot Canyon Office in downtown Page for our 10 AM tour.
We got an extra treat while waiting for our tour to start with an Indian hoop dancer:
After the entertainment, we all piled into the modified pickups for an exciting drive to the canyon…
It took three of these pickups to transport our large group of Alpiners.
We drove through a long semi-dry wash to get to the entrance.
These rigs must go through a lot of springs and shock absorbers to keep them running smoothly over the rough terrain.
When we arrived at the entrance to the canyon, we all piled out of the pickups… no worse for wear and tear…
and walked to the mouth of the canyon where our driver then took over duties as tour-guide. Each group of ~12 people had their own driver / tour-guide.
We entered the canyon…
and everyone said ooh and aah numerous times…
Antelope Canyon was formed by erosion of Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due to other sub-aerial processes. Rainwater, especially during monsoon season, runs into the extensive basin above the slot canyon sections, picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. Over time the passageways eroded away, making the corridors deeper and smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic ‘flowing’ shapes in the rock. Click HERE to learn more about this place from my friend, Wikipedia®
Our tour-guide / driver turned out to be quite an expert on taking photos in the canyon. It didn’t seem to matter if it was an iPhone, Android, or expensive digital camera… she would take your picture-taking device and change the settings for the best picture. She even took many of the cameras or phones from people and took the pictures herself.
It’s hard to do this awe-inspiring place justice with pictures. Everyone took lots of photos (us included), here’s a sampling:
If anyone would like to see more pictures of the awesome place, simply send me a message and I can email the full-size originals.
Our tour-guide gathered us all together for a couple great pictures inside the canyon:
Alpine SoCal group in Antelope Slot Canyon. (Lake Powell, AZ)Alpine SoCal group in Antelope Slot Canyon. (Lake Powell, AZ)
We exited the canyon at the opposite end and took a short break in the sunshine while one of the Indians played a flute.
Bob & Helena Mazzocco soaking in some sun after the cool canyon.
We backtracked through the canyon to the entrance and squeezed past the many tourists that had come in behind us. Our nice guide made sure she didn’t lose any of us on the tour and saw us back into our seats for a return trip back to the office.
The rest of the day was basically ‘free time’ with no scheduled activities until we all gathered again at our campground for “Social Hour”. We had some leftover pizza and garlic bread from yesterdays dinner along with assorted snacks that folks brought over.
We closed out another fine rally day with good conversation. We also welcomed new members; Frank Krauland and Reginald & Karen Bodeux. It’s always good to get new members and important for the future health of the association in order to remain strong and viable.
I hope you enjoyed today’s tour… stay tuned for more adventure on Day 3 of our SoCal Alpine Coach – Lake Powell Rally 🙂
On Tuesday, David, Frank, and I went to Page, AZ to pick up tables and chairs for our Alpine SoCal Rally at Lake Powell. The rest of the Alpines are due to arrive today and we have pizza & salad scheduled for 5:30.
Here’s Frank and David strapping down the large round tables on the back of David’s truck.
Hope we make it without losing any…
We fitted all the chairs in the back of our Silverado. I was sure not to lose anything 🙂
Frank and I followed David (at a safe distance) to keep an eye on the load.
We went through the South Entrance to get back to the Wahweap Campground.
And we made it! Not a single table was hurt during transportation or in the production of this blog post 🙂
All set up… let the Rally begin!
We put out the “Alpine SoCal” sign on the main road to our loop to make sure no one gets lost.
We have all 26 sites in Loop C reserved for the Rally.
We also put out the “Alpine Southern California” sign in front of our get-together site to mark our territory.
Coaches arrived throughout the day:
Everyone gathered at our get-together site for Happy Hour and by 5:30 David Guhsé arrived on time with the pizza and salad. Here’s a collection of pictures I took of our Alpine Coach Association SoCal group enjoying our first evening together:
Everything went great and a good time was had by all. We even had lots of leftover pizza, salad, and garlic bread. We’ll try to save the leftover salad and freeze the garlic bread to have with our Spaghetti dinner scheduled for Friday.
We did learn a couple lessons; 1) Everyone should probably bring a light jacket or sweater because when the sun goes down it gets a little cool, and 2) If we stay until the sun goes down, (which is highly likely), we should all bring along a flashlight next time.
