Wednesday 24th March 2010……Chloride, the town everyone forgot!!

We left Williams in the morning and an easy 2 hour drive on the Interstate brought us to Kingman where we did some shopping and then off to this really spacey hamlet called Chloride.

I found out about Chloride from the website I mentioned a couple of days ago and it is off the secondary highway about 4 miles and really is an old mining town with a population of about 300 people.

We found a great place to boon dock, next to a small park.

I was even able to pick up Wi-Fi from the only cafe in town across the street.  We unloaded the scooter and went on a tour.  I had read of some murals about 2 miles out of town in the canyon and we did manage to find them and they were impressive.

In town because of the lack of water the home owners don`t have gardens most have a funky collection of yard art!!

Now this is a very rare sight!!!!!!!

Yes the mad Professor actually won a game of quick scrabble!!!!!!!

This morning we are going over the Hoover Dam and I am interested to see how close the new bridge has developed since I was last there and into Vegas this afternoon.

Sara has never been before so we have booked a room for a couple of nights, booked a great show for tomorrow and then see what happens after that.

Again Happy Birthday Sam!!!!

Wednesday 24th March 2010…Happy Birthday SAM!!!!

I am not sure if I will have Internet tomorrow so I want to take this opportunity to wish my Niece, Sam a wonderful and happy birthday tomorrow…

Here you are being baby sat by your big Uncle Les!!!!!!!

Tuesday 23rd March 2010…boy the Canyon is GRAND!!!!!

We had breakfast at the RV park office again this morning, I could get addicted to waffles in the morning!!  The weather was a little cool but sunny and I cannot say enough about the owners at the park, at 8.50am they had a driver and a van waiting for us and took us down town to the train depot for our ride to…

The Grand Canyon.

The seats were very comfortable and the train ride should have been two and a half hours but unfortunately mid way through one of the workers took sick and the train stopped and we waited maybe 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and take her to hospital, we are told she is OK.

There was entertainment on the train which was very professional..

Each car had its own passenger assistant and she was very knowledgeable and funny and the ride was a good one.  As we had waited for the the ambulance the staff decided they would give us an extra hour at the canyon so we had over 4 hours to ourselves.

Sara and I took the time to maximise the stay there and we did an incredible hike down perhaps nearly half a mile into the canyon, stopped at a great vista for our home made lunch.  Back up to the rim then a 2 mile walk to another vista and view area.  We then took the free shuttle back to the train depot for the return home.

The camera does not really do justice to this amazing and now number one natural wonder of the world…sit back and enjoy these photos as you tour the canyon!!!!!

We stopped at this vista and had lunch it was just an awesome view!!!

Find the DEER!!!!

Top of the world.

The sun shone the whole time we were here!!

For me carrying that back pack was just too much!!

More entertainment on the way home.

We were even robbed by bandits that approached the train on horseback!!

Even though we arrived back in Williams an hour later our driver was there to take us back to the park.

Simply put a day for the memory banks.  Again I must recommend this park they are super friendly and arranged the whole trip and the cost for both of us 130 dollars…a real bargain.

We move west again and will boon dock in a small place called Chloride and then tomorrow over the Hoover Dam and into Vegas for 4 or 5 days.

PURA VIDA!!

Monday 22nd March 2010…..slide out fixed!!

We had a great sleep and this morning with help from the very friendly RV park owner was able to connect with a mobile RV technician and he came about 11am and after many tests he told me that I do have some serious electrical problems and it stems from when the solar panel was installed and not hooked up correctly.  So to make a long story short the slide out is now working and when I get back home I need to find a good RV man to fix the wiring problems but we are Ok to travel and no damage being caused.

This park is really very nice full facilities and they even provide breakfast in the office this morning we had waffles, cereal and fruit.

We took a scooter ride into the town centre and had fun walking around this is a wild west town and also on the famous route 66.

Sara is really so good to me today she bought me a gift!!!!

Rubber gloves for when I am emptying the water tanks!!!!  Ever so thoughtful!!!!

We had a good supper of BBQ pork chops and later watched a good movie.

Tomorrow we are taking a train trip to the Grand Canyon for the day, should be a fabulous trip!!

Sunday 21st March 2010…….well it was a day!!!!

It was a great place to spend the night very quiet and this was the sight outside Ramona’s door this morning at 8am.

We packed up and were ready to go and climb some Sedona hills when the problem started.  The slide would not retract, nothing, nada.  When I pressed the switch nothing,  now we had a problem with it the day before when we stopped for lunch it wouldn’t open.

Not being technical or handy I don’t know what the problem is but it may be an electrical one.  Anyway Sara and I talked about options as we were 8 miles from town really in the middle of nowhere.  I got the manual out and it stated that the slide could be manually retracted in with a 7/16th ratchet.  Of course that is one tool not in my tool box.  So we took the scooter off and Sara stayed with Ramona and I went to town to get the ratchet and I also went into town and found the number of a mobile RV repair man and left a message with him to come out and help us.

Back at Ramona this was the scene!!!

We tried the ratchet and we couldn’t get it in place there was a metal bar in the way.  We decided to have lunch and we were not worried the worse case scenario was we would stay here another night, we had all we needed.

Around 4pm I went off again on the scooter into town to call the repairman again and yet again I only got his answering machine.

When I got back to the motor home I WAS SHOCKED!!!!!!!!

There was my hero SARA!!!!   The slide was in,  the tools packed away and a big smile on Sara’s face.  She told me she got down and used a wrench to force the metal bar out of the way and winched the slide in.  Isn’t she just the best!!!

So 5pm we were back on the road and went to Doe mountain where we hiked to the top, these are the photos….

I know I look silly!!!

It was a great hike and we enjoyed the exercise and the temperature was perfect.

We then drove for about 90 minutes to a town called Williams.  We are now in a great RV park and plan to stay here 3 nights, tomorrow to get the slide fixed and the next day we are going to take the train to the Grand Canyon for the day.

Another problem I have is that I dropped my camera , yet again and now it is fried so I am in the market for a new one, any suggestions??

So ends a long and interesting day and I have to thank Sara for her help!!!!!

Saturday 20th March 2010…into Sedona!!!

Our first visit this morning on the road was to the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.  This is a huge, about 183 foot high rock formation.

There was a trail down to the canyon bottom

We then headed into the high country and got our first glimpse of snow!!!!

Then we passed the small town of Strawberry where eagle eyed Sara noticed a thrift store with a sign outside saying,”Fill a bag for 2 dollars”   PULL OVER was the next command and here she is!!!!

The next stop was the Montezuma Castle National Monument, where the Sinagua Indians lived in cliff dwellings a thousand years ago. Quite a site to behold!!

Further up the highway was Montezuma’s Well State park.  This is an amazing natural well that the Indians used hundreds of years ago as irrigation for their vegetable fields. A spring pumps out a million and a half gallons of water per day and was vented away by a duct system that remains today.

I am about to attempt a 3.5 forward pike with twist!!!!

Our final stop of the day was Sedona where we snatched these few photos..

This is wonderful scenery which we shall explore tomorrow by scooter.

We are now camped 6 miles out of town in a very secluded and lovely spot with a 360 view of the red rock formations as we await the sunset.

Just a little plug here for a great website where you can down load onto your computer some incredible e books that described areas like where we are parked tonight.

The books cover Utah, new Mexico and Arizona.  I have been using them for three years now and not only do they list great places to park and see most of the spots are free.

The website is:

www.frugal-rv-travel.com

One more thing these books are good even if you are not camping.

Have a great weekend …..