The Grand Canyon

We left Williams, AZ on Tuesday and drove the 50 some miles to the Grand Canyon National Park. On this trip is the closest we have come to being in an accident. On a two lane road a Nissan van passed us in a no passing zone and zipped in front just before hitting a truck in the oncoming lane. Some people just can't tolerate life in the slow lane.

We reserved a space in Mather Campground for two nights. Our space is equidistant from every bathhouse (that is far), but a nice spot and Rose was happy to be able to rest for a day. It's mixed use so we are in with pure tenters and RV owners who never come out of their boxes and run the generators. Gotta see Oprah!

Shuttle buses run in three loops which intersect, so you can ride from the East to the West along the South Rim just by waiting for the bus. They run either hybrids or CNG powered buses and it does cut down on the congestion in the park. The park can only be described as magnificent. One quickly runs out of superlatives. On Tuesday we hiked a bit on the Rim Trail which is paved from the main visitor's center east to Yaki Point. Many overlooks provide stunning views of the park and a photo really does not do justice but I'll put some in the post anyway.

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long (as the Colorado flows), 10 miles across and roughly 5000 feet deep. Rocks range in age from somewhere around 2 billion years old at the basement Vishnu schist to 270 million for the Kaibab limestones at the surface. Estimates of the time taken for the canyon to actually form (based on a rate of erosion of 1 sheet of paper thickness of rock removed every year) is 5-6 million years.

Yesterday we decided that we would hike into the canyon. The most popular trails are the Bright Angel and the South Kaibab. We took the Bright Angel and set a goal of the first rest house which is 1.5 miles. The trail is well maintained and heavily used and is also the route taken for most of the mule trips which provided and additional hazard although like everything else, the mules' attempts to fertilize the trail quickly turns to dust. We hiked through three formations (about 1200 vertical feet), getting to the base of the Hermit shale before reaching the rest house where water and restrooms are provided.

Along the trail we were fortunate to see some grazing Bighorn Sheep at one of the few places where water was available.

 The mule wrangler guides the lead mule perpendicular to the path and the other mules line up. They do this periodically for rest and the make sure everyone is accounted for.

 We met two young gentlemen (in their 60s) who were finishing a 25 mile through hike. They started at the North Rim and camped at the bottom before hiking out at the South Rim. North Rim trails are steeper so it is easier to hike out at the South. One of them took this picture for us.

A good hike.

Time to check with the social director to see about today's activities (she's reading AAA books now) but we need to break camp and get showers. Later.

Hoover Dam and Rte. 66

We left Boulder City en route to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. There is security involved and the bus was cursorily inspected before we could proceed over the dam. We were not allowed in the parking garage because we carry a 5 gal propane tank under the bus so had to park with the other RVs and walk back across the dam to the visitor's center. No biggie except it is pretty hot out here, another day of over 100  degree temperatures. We're getting used to it but I feel dehydrated most of the time and am not hungry, just want to drink.

The Hoover Dam truly is an engineering marvel. Completed in 1935, it is still amazing to look at and ponder the manpower and materials that went into its construction. The dam itself is 660 feet wide at the base, 45 feet wide at the crest and over 760 feet tall. The quantity of concrete used and the electricity that it generates are incomprehensible. The amount of water impounded in Lake Mead would cover the entire state of Pennsylvania 1 foot deep. The sale of electricity paid for the project many times over and it was completed two years ahead of schedule. I'm sure others helped but this was an American project.

The four columns are the intake structures that feed water to the turbines. The dam curves back toward the impounded water of the Colorado River which is over 200 feet deep on average. This is the view from the observation deck at the visitor's center.

The new bridge is also a pretty amazing engineering feat. This is the somebody and Pat Tilman memorial bridge that will carry Rte. 93, two lanes in each direction, around the Hoover Dam.

After leaving the dam and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, it's back to the desert. This is how things looked for the next several hours as we drove toward Kingman, AZ.

The picture above is what a "landfill" looks like in Arizona. Guess re-vegetation is not too difficult to accomplish since there is not much growing anywhere else. Not much leachate either.

At Kingman, AZ we got onto the, "Mother Road", Route 66, and followed it most of the way to Williams, AZ where we are holed up for the night. Tomorrow we head for the Grand Canyon where we have a campsite reserved.

Check out the following, taken right outside, Kingman. How wild is that?!

The parting shot is Kathy trying to hitch a ride with the taxi driver. Guess she was tired of the bus with no AC. Too bad the driver turned out to be another dummy.

Near Death and Early Man

Yesterday after the Calico Ghost Town we camped at the KOA near Barstow. It was kind of late and in order to get the grill going I took some dead branches from the bushes near our campsite to put under the charcoal. The campsite maintenance guy came by and said that the bushes were oleander and they were poisonous. If we had cooked food on the grill with them in it, it would have affected our nervous systems. Not fatal, just sickening. Fortunately we got them out and continued with dinner. The KOA was a nice campground. This is the plant.

After breaking camp, we drove to the Calico Early Man archaeological site. The site director there was a 75 year old archaeologist who has been at the site for many years and had worked with Dr. Louis Leakey in the 60s. He claims that this was the only site worked by Leaky in the New World. Nice guy and very knowledgeable (seemed so to me anyway). This site is said to provide evidence of the earliest human occupation in the Western Hemisphere, 200,000 years before present, based on stone tool finds. Dating of the tools is based on thermo-luminescence. I'll need to talk to my buddy Kurt, anthropologist/archaeologist about this. This photo is the Main Pit.

After the Early Man, we took off for Boulder City, NV where we planned to take a Motel for the night. Now bear in mind that this is the Mojave desert. Do not, under any circumstances, voluntarily drive a 33 year old air cooled (un-air conditioned) vehicle through the desert in the afternoon in September! When we pulled in to the motel in Boulder City 160 miles later, Rose was literally smoking. Nothing was on fire but she was pretty hot in the engine compartment. Old oil was burning off and coming out of the cooling vents. We got here a nice parking spot and let her rest for the night. Hopefully I didn't hurt her but she was not happy.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the Hoover Dam then on towards the Grand Canyon. We are having a heat wave and temperatures were near 100 degrees today.Wish us all luck.

  

Rt. 66 and Calico

After Fresno and Bakersfield we headed toward Mojave and a campground. After dark (as usual) we found a place and set up for the night. Before arriving we passed the Tehachapi Mountains where 14,500 windmills provide electricity for approximately 300,000 homes. They take advantage of the hot afternoon winds off the Mojave desert. Amazing sight. Our campsite was pretty warm but cooled off quickly during the night.

Septermber 25, Saturday, we broke camp and headed toward Barstow and the old Rt. 66. Many famous structures still stand but Barstow seems kind of like a ghost town that hasn't quite died yet. 

The El Ranchero has a 100' tall neon sign made from steel from the RR and the motel itself is constructed of ties from the defunct Tidewater and Tonopah RR. Hotel for long term residents now.

From here we went to Calico, a real ghost town recreated and maintained as a San Bernidino County park. Calico was a silver mining town in the 1880s. Most of the silver was gone by 1896 but it was revisited several times after that as the price of silver fluctuated.

Several of the buildings are original and you can take a walk in the old Maggie mine tunnels. It was hot but a lot of fun. It's late so I'll bid you good night. Rest in peace. 

Baldisere Who?

Sept. 24, we left our campground in Oakhurst and headed south toward Fresno. Kathy had read in the AAA book about the underground gardens there so we diverted. It was really hot but we found the Forestiere estate. BaldisereForestiere (B) had emigrated to the US from Sicily where his father was in the citrus growing  and vinyard business. He worked on the East coast for awhile as a laborer and tunnel digger. Moving west in about 1906 he bought land in Fresno with the intention of establishing an orchard business. He found the soil poor and the weather hot so he emulated the caves of his native Sicily and started digging underground. Until his death in 1946 he worked on his house with the intention of building a resor. (underground) so people could come and be cool and relax. While working he used his skills as an orchardman and grafted and planted many trees in his house. He went as deep as 22 feet below the surface. The property is maintained by his relatives and is really quite spectacular. All of his masonry used native hardpan clay and aggregate and all of the structures were built by him and his mule.

In the photo above we are in his courtyard which is about 13 feet below ground surface. It was very cool there and difficult to leave. Fruit trees and grape vines that B planted still produce fruit which he sold or traded to provide the little income that he needed to live. He never drew a plan and in total there were about 50 rooms to his below grade house. I was impressed!

We left Fresno and traversed the San Joaquin valley, a high producing agricultural area but all through irrigation. We saw many signs blasting Barbara Boxer for the "artificial water crisis in Central CA". Seem like when you irrigate a desert you are creating a real crisis and it is probably not Congress' fault.

Yosemite

Greetings,

We left from Ellie's house about 1330 on the 22nd. The bus was in about as good a shape as we could get her and it was time to go. It's always sad leaving your children but Ellie is coming home for Thanksgiving so that won't be too long.

After a longer drive than it should have been we were near our objective, an "RV Park" just outside Yosemite. However, it got dark and we had no phone service so we pulled into a free campground in the Stanislaus National Forest. It had all the luxuries, a pit toilet and nothing else. We woke early, packed up and drove to Buck Meadows for a hot breakfast. Turns out our RV Park was about 5 minutes from where we stayed!

Twelve miles to Yosemite. Doesn't seem like much but they were hard miles, giving and taking several thousand feet of elevation in that distance. Our thoughts of driving back to the campground and spending two days in Yosemite quickly dissipated. Driving into the Yosemite Valley is awesome! We were greeted by El Capitan with a small red speck on his face that turned out to be a climbing expedition. I'd rather just jump off the top, because I'd be dead anyway!

That's a lot of Granite!!

Sometimes just walking in the park you loose track of where you are and then look up to gorgeous views that surround you. We walked to Bridal Veil falls but there is just not much water at this time of year. Still very impressive, however. Yosemite Falls was dry. The campgrounds in the park were filled so we really had only part of one day to experience what we could. We did not have time to get to Glacier Point which is one of the best viewing spots of the valley. We were not able to do as John Muir recommended which is to spend some time and look around. I guess he did just that for about 40 years and is responsible more than anyone else for what we are able to enjoy today in 1200 square miles of wilderness (with roads and shuttle buses). The following picture is not photo shopped even though I thought so when I looked at it.

I'll say it before one of you other smart asses does, in the picture you can see half dome, and old bald dome.

We left the park and headed out the South along Rt. 41 toward Fresno. To the East along the Tuolhume River and over the Tioga Pass (9,945') was asking too much of Rose. We got to Oakhurst and found a campground for the night. It had hot showers and campers who were here for the Native American flute festival. Pretty neat to hear the attendees practicing. Time to pack up for the run to Mojave. More later.

  

Mare Island

We have been waiting for a box of camping gear that we shipped from home. It did not come yesterday as expected so we had some time today. Ellie had worked over night so after she came home and went to bed we borrowed her car and drove to Mare Island near Vallejo. Mare Island Shipyard was founded in 1854 under Navy Commander David Farragut (later) the first Admiral of the USN. This shipyard built many navy ships and submarines before it was closed by the Navy Department in 1996. During WWII, atomic bombs, Little Man and Fat Boy were loaded on the fast cruiser Indianapolis for delivery to Tinian Island where they were armed and loaded on B-29 Enola Gay for delivery to Japan. On the return trip, Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine with the loss of many sailors lives. Approximately 900 sailors went in the ocean, 317 were eventually rescued.

Mare Island Shipyard has a museum and gives tours of the Admiral's mansion and St. Peter's Chapel. The chapel was constructed in 1901 for $5000 and eventually had installed 16 Tiffany Studio's stained glass windows. It is a beautiful chapel and a fitting memorial for many service personnel who lost their lives in defense of this country.

There was an historic ship available to tour. It was LCS-26, a Landing Craft Support ship. One hundred thirty six of these warships were constructed in the last year of the war. They were designed to support amphibious landings on Phillipines Sea islands and perhaps the island of Japan. LCS-26 is the last surviving ship of this design and survived only because it was transferred to Thailand at the end of the war and was maintained by them for 40 years. The LCS was a shallow draft (4') vessel that could be run up on the beach. The large stern anchor was dropped offshore then the ship would be winched off when it was time to relaunch.

The next picture is of Bill, an 84 year old veteran of the LCS -82. He is part of a veterans group that is trying to keep LCS-26 afloat and turn her into a museum ship. He was grinding rust from the bridge deck before we came aboard. Great guy! 

Next post probably from the road.

Most Excellent Weekend

Saturday the 18th we were in Pacific Grove. After a muffin and coffee we went on a walking tour of the town and completed our trip back along the walking trail that follows the coast line. There is a nice beach at Lover's Point where they were setting up for a wedding. The ocean view is fabulous along the Monterey Peninsula!

After the walk we took off for the jazz festival. This is a really great event held at the Monterey Fairgrounds. There is an arena where the big name acts perform. Saturday's top bill was for Dianne Reeves and Chick Corea.  The are also 6 additional venues and the lawn in the food vendor area where three or four groups perform during the day and night. At any given time attendees have the option of seeing at least three different acts. Grounds ticket holders have access to all of the venues except the arena where seats are reserved. We took the grounds option and saw four complete shows and bits of several others. We watched John Firmin and the Nocture Band, big band instrumentation with vocalist who did Hank Crawford and "Fat Head" Newman tributes as well as others; Trombone Shorty, a New Orleans horn player with lots of your musicians who played Dixieland jazz as well as Suprafunkrock, his description of his style of jazz, hip-hop and soul music. This band was really good. Next was JakeShimabukuro, a ukulele player who is unbelievably talented, followed by Chris Potter's Underground quartet, an incredible group with Chris on tenor saxophone, a guitar player, drummer and Fender Rhoads keyboard player. All in all a super day. I also had some "Brother Thelonious",  a Belgian style abbey ale by North Coast Brewing. Described by them as Bottled Bebop. We got home late and went to bed.

Sunday we slept in a bit and I took a short walk to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary. The Monarchs will arrive in October, winter overin Pacific Grove and breed in the spring when it is warm enough. It takes several generations of butterflys to complete a life cycle and it is the great grandchildren of the ones that winter over this year that will winter over next year. They all seem to know where to come, however. Also, Monarchs west of the Rockies stay on the west coast in their preferable micro-climates, it's our Monarchs on the East Coast that migrate 2000 miles to Mexico for the winter!

We then drove to Carmel (Clint Eastwood was mayor there for a while and still has a restaurant), a little south of Pebble Beach. Another beautiful coastal town with a nice sand beach. We had breakfast there and walked around a bit. Today is Ellie's 26th birthday so we got her a new car (not) pictured below.

As we were walking back to the car, a miracle happened! It must be the Pacific Coast salt air or something but I think that my hair is coming back! Hope it lasts till I get home so you can see it.

 

Our best to everyone.

Gas and the Grove

Greetings,

Yesterday Kathy took Ellie's car for service while Ellie rested from a 12 hour night shift and a 2 hour staff meeting. I started on a mission to keep cooking gas in the bus. We carry a dedicated 5 pound propane bottle underneath the starboard side of the bus. This fuels a 2 burner cooktop. The bottle was filled when we got the bus last year in Washington but there was some jury rigging involved since the tank is not certified and the valves are not the current standard. I drove to Vacaville to Camping World where the bus looked like a minnow among the giant 5th wheel campers and RVs. They couldn't help and sent me to Solano gas further up the road. Basically bad news there as they did not have the capability to certify the tank so they recommended I go back down the road to Norman's RV repair which coincidentlywais right next to Camping World! No help there either except I found out that Manchester Tank and Equipment company, which made the original tank is still in business so eventually we can probably get this updated. For the trip home we went to Wal-Mart and bought  a 1 pound gas bottle and a Coleman single burner which we'll use when the on-board tank runs out.

Today, after Ellie got home from work and slept for a few hours, we drove to Pacific Grove on the peninsula with Monterey. This is a really cool little town with beach type homes that seem like they are from the 60s, not the monstrosity codos and mansions that seem to dominate the East Coast shore towns. We walked to the Pinos Point light house, oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Pacific, then had dinner at a wonderful Asian fusion restaurant, right next to the Sea Breeze Inn where we are quartered for the next two nights. Tomorrow Monterey and the jazz festival. Hooray!

The Bus is Back!

After a few hours of rest we took Ellie's car to Vallejo to find the German Car Clinic where Ted is the chief mechanic and everything else. It's unusual that a one man shop can still survive but he seems to be doing well. His shop is neat and clean and he is a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge about air cooled VW engines. He was kind enough to indulge lots of questions about the work that he did and things that I should do in the future.

Overall the mechanicals seem pretty sound. Brakes are good at 70%, tires are good, cylinder compression is 120, 115, 115 and 120 psi. and we are fitted with a new leisure battery that theoretically runs the on-board refrigerator and otherwise provides power when we are camping. I'm still not sure that the refrigerator works but for sure it keeps food cold when you stick a block of ice into it.

The remaining big problem is the gas bottle for the 2 burner stove. It is not fitted with the currently required OPD style fill valve and it will be difficult to get it filled. Tomorrow we'll go to a large RV center in Vacaville
to see what they can do for us. Meanwhile I have new door seals and halogen headlights to install so I better get to it.

I tried to negotiate our way onto Ellie's base to see the Travis AFB air museum but they do not currently allow public access. Another loss for the taxpayer due to security concerns. With Ellie working 12 hour shifts from 1900-0700 she does not want to go back on base after she gets home.

Windy as the dickens out here. Happy sailing to everyone.

Vallejo German Car Care Clinic

Hi,
I had a nice conversation with Ted yesterday. Rose is getting a tune up including a new electronic ignition module, plugs, oil and filter change, new door handles (so the doors lock) and a new leisure battery which may allow the refrigerator to run but I am not too optimistic about that. I have ordered halogen headlights and new door seals so she can see better and might be a little more quiet at cruising speed. I asked Ted about installing an oil temperature gauge. He said if I had it it would just scare me. Apparently air cooled buses run at about the temperature where oil starts to break down. I'm anxious to see her again (my daughter, too). We will be leaving on Tuesday, flying United out of Harrisburg International Airport. Can't wait!

Preparation

Hi,

In the coming week, my wife Kathy and I are preparing to leave for an adventure. Our daughter lives in Fairfield, CA while serving in the USAF. We are flying out to visit, going to the Monterey Jazz Festival and then making an attempt to bring the bus home through the beautiful United States.

The bus is named Rose as in Ramblin' Rose by Nat King Cole due to her present color and as a tribute to my mother who loved roses. The bus was built to travel, albeit slowly, which covers the ramblin' part.

The bus is currently at the Vallejo German Car Care Center where Ted is making her right.

Check back from time to time to see how we are making out. Regards,

Tom