Time flies when you’re having fun…

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Sparky

Three days without a post! Did you miss me?

I am working on a mega-post now to document the last 4 days in Vegas. We did a lot and saw a lot. I have the photos prepped; now I just have to figure out how to tell the story. Might have to be multiple posts.

I will give you the general outline:

  • We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, got set up in the KOA RV park at Circus Circus, then had to run to the airport to pick up Jett’s sister, Sybil.
  • On Wednesday afternoon we toured the city a bit, had lunch at New York, New York and went to ogle at Luxor. Did some gambling.
  • On Wednesday night we saw KA, the Cirque du Soleil production at MGM Grand. Did some gambling
  • On Thursday we spent some time at the MGM Grand pool, then went down to Fremont Street for dinner and to experience the Experience. Did some gambling.
  • On Friday we did lunch at the Bellagio, then saw Le Reve at the Wynn. Did some gambling
  • On Saturday (today) we got Sybil to the airport, went to Costco to pick up some stuff, then crashed.  We were exhausted.

It may sound like we are Big Time Gamblers, but nothing is further from the truth.  We mostly played slots and mostly 1-cent and 25-cent machines.  We lost a little, but not so much that we have to beg for diesel to finish the trip.

Details to follow…

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GTW Hop 24: Williams, AZ, to Las Vegas, NV

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Sparky

220 miles via I-40, US 93, I-515 and I-15. Cumulative distance: 4,149 miles.

GTW Hop 24: Williams AZ to Las Vegas NV

This hop started at 7000′ and 60 degrees and ended at 2000′ and 83 degrees. Downhill the whole way, including some sections that were so downhill that Jett closed her eyes.

Over the edge?

The entire route was beautiful in a rugged, desolate sort of way.

Coming down from Williams

Interesting roadside rocks

More mountains

Mountains

The approach to Hoover Dam

The road that replaced the Hoover Dam segment was nearly as great an engineering feat as the dam itself. Unfortunately, you can’t really see the dam from the bridge as the walls are high. But I think that was done intentionally; the road comes with high wind warnings, so having drivers rubbernecking while getting blown about sounds like a recipe for disaster.

There are glimpses of Lake Mead, plus you get a nice view of Las Vegas as you enter from the south.

Lake Mead

Coming into Vegas

Stratosphere and my noble profile

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Grand Canyon

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Sparky

I have seen photos of the Grand Canyon. I have now taken a few (ok, more than a few) myself. But even photos can’t capture the awesomeness of this place; you simply have to experience it yourself. I’m sure it ranks high on every list of the Greatest Places on Earth and it deserves to be there. It is #1 on my list.

Bur first… getting there.

Our initial plan was to stay in the RV park at Grand Canyon Village, right in the Grand Canyon National Park, and the next time we go we will do that as it would allow us to explore in a more leisurely fashion. But this time we opted to take the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to the rim and had just over 3 hours to explore. It wasn’t enough to fully satisfy, but it was probably for the best. Three hours of jaw-dropping wonder can leave the jaw sore.

The train ride was a nice break from driving. Two hours to the rim – 65 miles – and two hours back. We opted for first class which gave us roomier accommodations, free soft drinks and snacks and more attention from the PSA. It was pricey – the list is $140 for a round-trip ticket (vs $75 for coach) – but was worth it for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It began with a “Wild West Show” that consisted of 4 guys humiliating one of the passengers and some banter about cheating about poker. It ended with a gunfight in which one of the cowboys was killed. Twice. The redid the gunfight so that passengers could get good photos of the action. Lame, but entertaining.

Twice-dead gunfighter

Sparky with gunfighter and horse. Sparky on the right.

As it turned out, the gunfighters (even the dead one) reappeared on the return trip to rob the train. The sheriff eventually appeared, too, to arrest the gunfighters. Again, lame but entertaining.

The train robbery

The train itself was very comfortable. It was pulled by a single diesel/electric locomotive and had six passenger coaches and one cafe car. We had a nearly-empty first class coach – there were 10 people in a car that seats over 100. Our PSA was a wonderfully droll woman who was working on her Master’s degree in Chemistry, was dating the fireman and had a daughter who was the PSA in the next car.

Did I mention that Williams is a *very* small town?

The train

Our coach

The hospitality table

The Grand Canyon depot

Jett on the train

Both of us, boarding to return

We saw some wildlife along the way – a herd of mule deer and an elk at the rim. But no coyote, which is what Jett really wanted to see.

Elk at the depot, through a pane of glass (look closely)

Once at the canyon we mostly walked the rim, but took time to have lunch at El Tovar, the very fine hotel in Grand Canyon Village. I had yellow-fin tuna with a prickly pear cumberland sauce that was superb, if surprisingly spicy – like blackened tuna, but with a glaze instead of a rubbing. Jett had a taco that was equally superb. The service was first-rate (Jett said it was “classic 5-star service”) and so was the view.

The view from our El Tovar table

Next to the hotel was Hopi House, which was a replica of a Hopi house (duh). It is a souvenir shop now.

El Tovar

Hopi House

The Canyon. Words don’t suffice. I will just make a couple of observations:

  1. It is amazing that there aren’t more deaths. While the pathway is pretty level and paved, there are many places where you can easily walk right to the edge of oblivion. One slip and you’re a goner. As our PSA said, “If you fall, be sure to keep your eyes open… it is beautiful all the way down. And it is the last thing you will ever see.”  There is a book – Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon that chronicles all of the known deaths. It is updated every January.
  2. The Walk of Time is interesting.  This is a section of the path to the east of the depot where some rocks recovered from the canyon walls are displayed in order of age.  The oldest is about 2 billion years old.  The walk is on a scale where 1 step equals 1 million years, so it goes on for quite a distance.
  3. The bottom of the canyon – the Colorado River – cannot be seen from the south rim at Grand Canyon Village.  I was told that if you walk far enough east you will get a glimpse, but I did not have enough time.  I find it amazing that as deep as it appears from the rim, it is actually even deeper.

That is all I have to say about the Grand Canyon.  Here are some photos, including a couple that prove that we were actually there.

Jett at the rim

Sparky at the rim

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

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Williams, AZ

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Sparky

We went up to the Grand Canyon yesterday, reducing our bucket lists by one. It was a beautiful day, a great adventure and an incredible place. But it deserves its own post, which will take a little time to assemble. So I will devote this post entirely to Williams.

We chose to stay at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park which, as the name implies, is adjacent to the depot for the train that would take us to the Grand Canyon. It was convenient, but it was also a very nice RV park. Another attraction: it had a kennel. We ended up not using the kennel, opting instead to let the dogs lounge in Patience for 9 hours while we traveled to the Grand Canyon, but the fact that a kennel was available was one of the reasons we chose the place.

Patience at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park

Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, with tracks to the left

Good things about the campground? Clean, well-designed, well-maintained, nice dog walk, nice sheltered common area with picnic tables and an “eternal flame” fire pit. Not-so-good things about the campground? No pool (not that it mattered with the chilly weather), the playground was across a road, the laundry was small and expensive and the railroad tracks were active during the night – there is a regular 5am freight train (think My Cousin Vinny).

Common area

Dog walk

And cold. That isn’t the campground’s fault, but it made the stay memorable. Especially the first night when we ran out of propane (well, not exactly out) and I had to step outside at 5am in 25-degree temperatures to switch the tanks. This was the first campground on the GTW where we woke up to frost.

The other reason for choosing a campground in Williams was Williams itself. Its main street is a fragment of old US 66 and is dripping with all the nostalgia that “Route 66” conjures up for Baby Boomers. It has done a pretty good job of maintaining the spirit of the time, though not so well as Hot Springs. Much of Route 66 in AZ no longer exists, having been replaced by I-40. Williams seems to take some pride in being one of the last towns to be on the old Route 66.

Williams declaration of pride

Old Route 66

The town is expensive. I am speaking mostly of diesel fuel ($4.49 per gallon) and food ($12 for a burger, $18 for a continental breakfast for us); I can’t speak to the pricing of the motels that line the main street (which is the old Route 66) – more than a dozen of them, most of which look like they should rent by the hour. We did enjoy the (expensive) food we consumed at Cruiser’s Cafe 66 which is a quality restaurant and a souvenir shop that sells shlock, but very interesting and high-quality shlock. We also enjoyed the animated, joke-telling bear across the street. Typical line: “Sorry about your wife. I didn’t realize that her beehive didn’t have any honey.”

Cruiser’s Cafe 66

Animated bear

Williams is a small town. We ran into the campground clerk at the Safeway and the cafe waitress at the laundry. If you live here, don’t do anything embarrassing because everyone will know about it.

The architecture is interesting, some authentic native american shops exist (and I encountered a Navajo at the gas station), and there are little scenes all around that catch your eye. An interesting place, but very small. A half-day visit is recommended.

Williams bank

Vintage Bronco

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GTW Hop 23: Sun City, AZ, to Williams, AZ

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Sparky

170 miles via I-17 and I-40. Cumulative distance: 3,929 miles.

GTW Hop 23: Sun City AZ to Williams AZ

I knew that this hop would involve some climbing as there is no way to explain a 20-degree change in temperature in less than 200 miles without some serious altitude adjustment. But I didn’t expect the climb we got: we topped out at over 7,000 feet (starting from about 1,200′ in Sun City). The truck had to do some heavy lifting on this hop. There were signs warning about engine overheating. If you did this in the summer, with temperatures above 100 degrees, then there is no doubt that you would have to give your engine some rest along the way. Our temperatures were mostly in the 70s and the engine still heated to more than 250 degrees – a good 30 degrees higher than it has been at any other point on this GTW.

We stopped along the way to eat lunch at a rest area that, like every other rest area we have seen in Arizona, was beautifully landscaped and white-glove clean.

The rig taking a well-deserved rest

Rest area landscaping, with Patience in the background

Rest area garden

Jett didn’t enjoy the climb. Already convinced that we are going to die a horrible death, the steep downhills and dire warnings about overheating engines and failed brakes just fed her fears. She was too busy praying to get many shots of the rugged mountains, but she was entranced by the earlier, flatter landscapes north of Phoenix. Lots of cacti there.

Field of cacti

Despite Jett’s fears, we made it to Williams without incident. We are staying three nights in the RV park behind the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel – a very nice hotel at which we are considered guests.

Grand Canyon Railway Hotel

Hotel pool

Most of the guests in the RV park are traveling in either top-of-the-line motorhomes or very nice fifth wheels. However, there is one guest who is reminiscent of the Beverly Hillbillies. His tiny trailer was festooned with milk crates, all strapped on with miles of bungees. Never seen anything like it.

The Beverly Hillbillies?

We took a walk around the property at sunset (about 5:30 – Arizona is not on daylight savings time, so it gets dark early here). I always knew that I cast a long shadow, but this one was ridiculous.

Long shadow

There are two reasons that we are in Williams. One is to get a taste of old Route 66 (which doesn’t seem to exist anymore in Williams, having been supplanted by I-40) and the Grand Canyon Railway, which we will ride up to the Grand Canyon on Monday. I will report on both of those more completely later, but I have a couple of photos to offer of the train depot – we watched the train pull in at 5:30pm.

The depot, decorated for Christmas

The arriving Grand Canyon train

Categories: AZ, GTW, Places, Routes | 1 Comment

Sun City, AZ

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Sparky

We didn’t see anything in Tucson because we hated the RV park there and got out as quickly as we could. We also didn’t see much of Phoenix, but for the opposite reason: we loved the park so much that we didn’t want to leave its gentle embrace.

I don’t think we will run into another park with a deeper sense of community than Rainbow’s End in Livingston.  But the Paradise RV Park in Sun City comes in a close second. Everyone we met there was friendly, engaging and just downright happy. I had to wonder if they were putting something in the water.

Like Rainbow’s End, most of the residents of Paradise are owners and most of the owners are snowbirds. We happened to be there on November 1, which is the official start of the winter season. There was a big “Welcome back to Paradise!” sign at the office and we noticed a lot of cleaning activity going on, presumably by newly arrived snowbirds. It seems like a very good place to while away the winter.

Another indication that this park caters to long-term residents: the office is closed on weekends. I have no idea how we would have checked in if we had arrived on Saturday.

Paradise is larger than Rainbow’s End – about 1,000 sites versus about 300. Because it is larger it can support more activities. It has a wonderful pool, with water aerobics classes every morning and water volleyball every afternoon. The community center also sports lawn bowling courts, shuffleboard courts, tennis courts and a pickleball court (like table tennis played while standing on a very large table; see this video). There are also two large card rooms, a very large library, a post office, a woodworking shop, a ceramics shop, a sewing room and probably several other activities rooms that I didn’t see. It also has a cafe that is open for breakfast and lunch (weekdays only) and a huge laundry. There are lawn bowling leagues, tennis leagues, shuffleboard leagues, golf outings and who knows what else – a VERY active community. There are over 30 activities available every day.

The pool where we basked on Halloween

Tennis courts

Lawn bowling

The grounds are well-maintained. The common area has a very nice pond and gazebo between the lawn bowling and the tennis courts. Very relaxing. A good place to read or write. And because it is so dry, there are very few insects.

The pond

Common grounds

The residents also take pride in their sites. Many have beautiful shrubs, trees or cacti.

Cactus

Flowering shrub

Of course there are a few who go over the top. Our neighbor had a very gaudy Halloween display, which, because this is an over-55 park, was most definitely NOT for the benefit of the trick-or-treaters.

Neighbor

Patience basking in the sun

The park also has some other long-term residents: rabbits. Not jackrabbits, but furry cottontails. The dogs loved them.

Bunny

Most of the long-term residents live in park model trailers, but a few are in motorhomes. There were a couple of interesting ones that we saw here. One looked like a stretch limo. The other was a Freightliner chassis with a motorhome body – a very odd hybrid of Class A and Class C.

“Limo” motorhome

Freightliner hybrid

We really enjoyed our three days here and wish we could stay longer. Today we drive to Williams, AZ, our base for our Grand Canyon trip. While we are looking forward to seeing the Grand Canyon, we are not very eager to move into colder temperatures. We expect Williams to be 20 degrees colder than Sun City.

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Passport America

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Sparky

We have been having a good time here in Sun City, AZ. The weather has been great. We lounged by the pool on Halloween. Never done that before.

I will give a full report tomorrow, but I thought I would say a few words about Passport America. We are using our Passport America membership to stay here, which means that 4 nights in this beautiful resort is costing us less than $100. The discounts vary from campground to campground, and the limitations vary even more, but the basic idea is that you can stay a few days for about half the normal rate. We have now used PA to stay at about half the places we have been and it has saved us a bundle.

The quality of the campground varies tremendously, as evidenced by Whispering Palms and Paradise: one was horrible, one was wonderful. But if you look carefully at the campground websites (and about 90% now have websites), you can usually get a pretty good idea of what you are getting.

I think the annual membership fee for PA is $44. We have saved that many times over in just seven weeks of travel. You can recoup the membership fee in one week, easily.

Recommended.

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GTW Hop 22: Tucson, AZ, to Sun City, AZ

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Sparky

133 miles via I-10 and US 60. Cumulative distance: 3,759 miles.

GTW Hop 22: Tucson AZ to Sun City AZ

We opted for a good night’s sleep, vacated the “Whispering” Palms park and hot-footed it up to Sun City. I found that Phoenix is snowbird central: it has numerous mega-parks that cater to long-term occupants. They look more like trailer parks than RV parks. Many have over 1,000 sites and one has nearly 2,000. Because they are designed for long-term residency, vary few pull-through sites exist. I finally convinced Jett that a back-in would be fine as we would be staying for 4 nights. I thought I opted for one of the “small” parks – just 144 sites. But that was 144 transient sites; it has many more long-term sites. I haven’t seen a full count, but you can estimate from the map. Our site number – 2126 – suggests that the park might contain nearly 1,000 sites.

Paradise RV Park site map

We are looking forward to our time here as we think it will give us a taste of the “snowbird” lifestyle. I will report on it fully after we leave.

The trip itself was easy until we got to Phoenix. We did see some interesting geological formations along the way.

Picacho Peak(?) on the way to Phoenix

Traffic in Phoenix was very heavy and the drivers there could compete with Boston or New York on the asshole scale. I was trying to get over to the right lane on Route 60 and put my turn signal on. I let two cars pass (they love to pass on the right in Phoenix), then saw a small gap and started to move over. But the approaching car would not stop to let me in. And when she passed, she gave me the finger! Like I had done something wrong. Unbelievable.

Good thing I didn’t have the shotgun in the cab.

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GTW Hop 21: Las Cruces, NM, to Tucson, AZ

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Sparky

280 miles via I-10.  Cumulative distance: 3,626 miles.

GTW Hop 21: Las Cruces NM to Tucson AZ

This was another hop that was easy to navigate: get on I-10 west and keep going until you get there. The only difficulty was that the ramp closest to the RV park was closed (which we were told when making reservations), so we had to get off a little farther away and travel a few more local streets. No big deal. The hardest part of the trip was turning into the RV park. More on that later.

Arizona is beautiful in a stark, dusty kind of way.  We thought that west Texas had a lot of nothing, but southern Arizona has even more of nothing.  We stopped at two rest areas – one to eat and to walk the dogs and another to check out a cut on Grace’s paw that she apparently got at the first one. The first rest area had several prominent signs warning that “poisonous snakes and insects inhabit this area,” so we had a few moments when we wondered if she had gotten bitten. But I think it was just a sharp rock.

Dog walk area

Cactus, railroad and mountains

The second rest area had some incredible rock formations.

Split rocks at rest area

Rest area 2

Lots of rocks

Shortly after leaving Las Cruces we encountered a border patrol checkpoint. Jett was hoping that they would pull us aside and check for Mexicans traveling with us, but they just waved us through.

Border patrol checkpoint

Our destination in Tucson was the Whispering Palms RV Park. We picked it on short notice because our planned destination rejected us because Cha-Cha was a “dangerous breed.” Anyone who knows Cha-Cha will find the thought of him being dangerous hilarious. But it meant that I had to pick a park quickly and this one looked… ok.

Mistake.

The first problem was the driveway. It was a very tight turn just getting into the park. I made it, but it wasn’t easy. Then we noticed that many of the RVs were older. This is obviously a park inhabited mostly by long-term residents who are living on the cheap. The word “shabby” came to mind – the first park that I would describe that way. Another first: there was no working public bathroom. The registration person was “hopeful” that it would be fixed by Saturday – 5 days hence. We didn’t need it, fortunately. The site itself, though a pull-through, was very tight and had no picnic table or any other kind of amenity.

Whispering Palms entrance

Whispering Palms

But wait… it gets worse! We have concluded that the palms here are not really whispering; you just can’t hear them over the road traffic, the train traffic or the jet planes. It was noisy, noisy, noisy. Impossible. We are leaving today. It was cheap ($16.50) but not worth it. I wouldn’t stay here again at any price.

Patience next to the noisy street

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Las Cruces, NM

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Sparky

We stayed two nights at La Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces. It is very neat and clean and has a lot of amenities. It has a great community room, a hot tub (unusual), a very nice laundry (which we used) and the longest dog park we have seen yet. It is also pricy – $45 per night. I’m not sure it is worth it as the sites are barely adequate for our rig (and had no table), the cable connection was unusable (we used our antenna) and some of the rules were just bizarre. For example, they demanded that guests refrain from setting foot on any unused site because they take great pride in how well they groom the fine clay after every departure. I half expected to see Monk at the registration desk.

The tableless site at La Hacienda

The sunken dog walk

Naturally, Jett and I took great pleasure in tramping across one to do laundry. Rebels.

It did, however, have a great view of the dramatic mountains near Las Cruces. That looks like a painted backdrop (see below), but I assure you that those are real mountains.

A butt view of Patience

The sunset also produced some appropriately spooky lighting.

Spooky sunset

We really had just one tourist foray in the Las Cruces area and that was to Mesilla, just outside the city. It is an old spanish town that it pretty well preserved due to the fact that the railroad bypassed it in the 1870’s and it pretty much died on the vine then. But it was a favorite hangout of Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, Pancho Villa and other icons of the wild west. Several of the buildings have plaques documenting the history of the building and they all seem to relish the gruesome deaths of those who formerly resided there.

Plaque on home of Billy the Kid’s lawyer

The town square was quite scenic, with many authentic and colorful adobe buildings. It was anchored by a very picturesque cathedral. The square was hosting a crafts and farmer’s market (featuring locally-grown pecans and pistachios) while we were there.

Mesilla square

Mesilla shop

Where Billy the Kid was tried

The cathedral

I was very interested in seeing the White Sands Missile Range, but those plans were thwarted by a need to get Cha-Cha to a vet to check out a rash that he had developed. Finding a vet on Sunday was tricky, but, fortunately, Las Cruces had a PetSmart with a Banfield Animal Hospital attached. The vet thinks it is a minor allegic reaction and is nothing to worry about.

We still have one extra day to spend before we get to Las Vegas and we will probably spend it in Tucson. The forecast there is for highs near 90 for the next 3 days. So while those of you back east are dealing with wind, rain and flooding from Hurricane Sandy, we will be watching the news at the poolside bar.

We will be with you in spirit.

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