Antelope Canyon ....... photographers paradise

November 3 (Friday)

With a sunny forecast this was the day to visit Antelope Canyon. I suspected the sun would create some pretty cool effects on the rocks. The tight quarters and number of stairs would be challenging so Cheryl stayed at the trailer and I went to Lower Antelope Canyon for the Photography Tour at 1230. I arrived over an hour early. Forgot about the time difference from Utah to Arizona! I got the last spot on the 1230 tour so getting there early was a good thing. Gave me a chance to catch up on some texts and phone calls. Cell service has been pretty spotty. Not sure about Roam Mobility yet. I'll give it a few more weeks.

It was a great tour, lots of pictures, even had a marriage proposal in our group. (Not me!) Antelope Canyon was everything I had heard it was. By taking the Photography Tour we could bring tripods and take our time going through the Canyon. With Navajo fee it was $55 for about two and a half hours. Here's a few untouched photos to drool over.

A young couple from California chose Antelope Canyon to get engaged!

I stopped at a liquor store on the way home. Never got back to the trailer unto nearly 4PM AZ time. Went to Ray and Deb's and with Steve and Diane had a two hour talk about ……everything FT living is about. These folks have been at it for years and their knowledge is immensely helpful.

Gorgeous moonrise

Our View From Here!

On to Lone Rock near Page, Arizona

November 2 (continued)

After Cedar Breaks we headed back to Hwy 14, turned East and enjoyed a very nice controlled decent over to Hwy 89. The climb to Cedar Breaks from the West is very steep but the decent toward the East is much less so. In my opinion this is the best route. The truck handles the ascents and descents equally well........but the driver much prefers a more gentle decent. Just me, but after all it IS me driving.

Heading East on Hwy 14 are a number of old lava flows beside the highway. This was a very active volcanic area in the past and certainly helped create the landscapes we see today.

The road south on Hwy 89 is one of the 'Oh Wow!' roads. Seems like we uttered those words after each bend and hill on the highway. Yes, you can tell we are new to the area!

We stopped for a break in Kanab. Stopped at the Visitor Center and talked to an old timer there. He knew a lot about the area and the movies that were shot in Utah. Cheryl had her picture taken with John Wayne figure outside visitor center.

We kept on Hwy 89 to Lone Rock campground outside Page, AZ. Lone Rock is in Utah and is on the shore of Lake Powell.

As we entered the beach camping area, I spotted a truck and trailer rig I knew from the blogs I follow. Met Steve and Diane from 'Living the Dream'. Parked in front of them was Ray and Deb from 'Kastle's Journey'. With their help, I found a path out to the beach and found a site suitable were I wouldn't sink in the sand.

Lone Rock is a fabulous camping spot with scenery to match. The rock changes colour with the light. It's like a new scene with every hour. Here is late afternoon light and of course the moon rise. Wow!

That's Our View From Here!

Off we go.....sort of......then back on track

Sunday, October 29
We set out Sunday late morning from Red Deer heading for Lethbridge. We expected to cross the border first thing Monday and beat the coming cold and snowy weather by at least two days. So all was well with a great 40 km/hr tail wind........until we went over the bypass from Hwy 2 to the Stoney Trail just north of Calgary. Our friend the north tailwind quickly became the wicked witch of a cross wind. The wind caught some low and poorly attached belly cover on the trailer and ripped it down. The sickening scraping noise as ABS panels disintegrated on the asphalt turned a good day into a very bad one instantly.

So here I was parked precariously on the side of Stoney Trail, a brutally cold and high wind tearing at my light jacket, and a nice burst of sleet to add further misery to the unpleasantness. I'm on my back trying to place fiberglass insulation, wiring and plumbing in place, holding the panel up with one foot and trying desperately to fasten a couple of screws to hold the ABS underbelly in place. It didn't take this boy long to realize I was NOT going to get a permanent fix in place and that my only hope was to get things buttoned up enough to make it to an RV Dealer.

This was Sunday, so I knew we had to get off the highway and find temporary refuge from the cold and wind for the night and hopefully get repairs done Monday morning. The really bad weather was just behind us. Yuck!

As luck (if you can call it that) would have it I was about 2 KM from Rangeland RV, a Cedar Creek dealer, in Balzac. As well, the Century Casino and horse race track was just across the street from Rangeland. We stopped at the Casino and yes we could spend the night in their parking lot. It was only 2:30 in the afternoon so we enjoyed some early dinner and watched a few horse races. It was -7C plus a wind overnight so the trailer furnace ran a lot, but we survived and had the trailer to Rangeland by 8 AM Monday.

Monday, October 30

The good news was they could squeeze us in to repair the under belly. The bad news was it might be 4 PM before we got the trailer back. So we spent the day shopping at Cross Iron Mills and worried about how these delays were going to affect our well planned trip south......ahead of the bad weather.

Rangeland actually got us fixed and on the road by 2:30 PM. The under belly now very securely and correctly fastened. (I should explain that the reason for the under belly panels to come off was mostly because I had them off to do some repair work on the black tank valve. Subsequent work by another RV dealer meant they were off a second time and neither time were they replace correctly. Sorry, no pictures available to help explain this further.)

We made it as far as Six Flags Campground in Milk River at dusk. We really didn't feel comfortable going further in the dark on a road we didn't know. We would just get up very early and cross the border Tuesday morning. This also saved us a counted day in the US.

Six Flags is a good overnight stop. Power and water for $25, and only a few km's north of the Coutts/Sweatgrass border crossing. The picture above was taken about 6AM. Believe it or not we were not the first out of the campground that morning!

Tuesday, October 31

We got to the border about 6:30 AM. Were we catching the border guard coming off a night shift and grumpy, or were we the first people crossing for the day shift and an eager guard. The only question that stumped me was 'what are you bringing with you?' Really? Everything, would be the reply but he wanted specifics.  After a few ramblings and bumbles on my part he let me go. You wouldn't think that was a hard question, but you try thinking about all the stuff you have with you when you are planning a nearly six month stay. And it was 6:30 in the morning!

We headed out on I15 South bound and made our first stop in Great Falls for fuel and coffee. Next stop was Butte for a fuel top up and a leg stretch. We really wanted to be at Fort Hall that night.

Lots of wind north of Idaho Falls off the Snake River Plain. Apparently this is a very windy part of the country. Lots of mountains and large plateaus as you head south. We had tail winds, head winds and cross winds. The later is no fun, the former I don't mind as much.

We stayed at the campground attached to the Fort Hall Casino. Full hookups for $22.50/night with Good Sam. The wind blew very strong overnight. The trailer shook and we began to think that we might have outrun the snow but we might get delayed until the wind subsided.

Wednesday, November 1

The heavy winds subsided briefly in the morning, just long enough for us to skedaddle out of the Snake River Plain. By the time we got to Pocatello (about 15 minutes) the wind was nearly gone. There were wind warning for the area north of Pocatello for the whole day so we were lucky to cheat the weather gods one more time!

The drive through Salt Lake City was 'interesting'. I got behind a Walmart truck and stayed there until we were past the worst of the traffic. We went through just before noon. We had considered stopping at Provo for the night but it was too early in the day. Stopped for fuel and lunch in Nephi (I think it was). The fuel pump was pushing so much foam I could only get about 3/4 tank in after 10 minutes of trying! I think his tanks were nearly dry although whatever the issue was it caused no problems for the truck, thankfully.

We kept going all the way to Cedar City. We definitely need to spend some more time in this area. Very pretty town and lots of things to see and do in the area. We stayed at the KOA. Nice pull through site. $40/night. Went to Walmart to stock up on stuff. Got fuel, and no issues with filling.

Thursday, November 2

 I went to the Kane County Tourism office in the morning to see about Hwy 14. They said just take it easy and no problem taking fifth wheel through, even into Cedar Breaks. We left the KOA about 11. Drove up Hwy 14. Very steep in places and narrow. Turned in to Cedar Breaks, again very steep and narrow in places. Stopped finally at a pullout and viewpoint. Elevation was 10,950. Truck pulled very well going up. Going down is hard on brakes even with Tow Haul in manual and Engine Brake on. Just go slow. Incredible scenery! We would have liked to hung out there a while but it was only 39 F and a wind. As well we both started to feel the effects of 10,000 feet plus altitude.

More to come........
This was Our View From Here!