Sunday, October 27, 2019
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Desert find 2
Walking Jess tonight I came across 2 scorpions, these appear to be the bark scorpion which is identified by the dark spot on its head and the fact that it keeps its tail to the side instead of curled up over its back.
Scanning the Land
October 13th, 2019
Now that we are settled for a few months I took the opportunity to do a little metal detecting. There is a homesite that is knocked down. Goes back to the 1800's, the family that owns this campground originally lived there. Didn't find anything since there is so much trash, rusted tin, nails bottle caps scraps of all kinds. There isn't enough time to sort through it so I just moved on to an old barn foundation and did find a 1984 quarter! lol, so instead of finding something someone left something.
Found some neat rocks though and a square nail in one of the washes.
Now that we are settled for a few months I took the opportunity to do a little metal detecting. There is a homesite that is knocked down. Goes back to the 1800's, the family that owns this campground originally lived there. Didn't find anything since there is so much trash, rusted tin, nails bottle caps scraps of all kinds. There isn't enough time to sort through it so I just moved on to an old barn foundation and did find a 1984 quarter! lol, so instead of finding something someone left something.
Found some neat rocks though and a square nail in one of the washes.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Desert Find!
October 11th, 2019
First night in Arizona desert at Gateway Ranch Rv Park. We are here for about 3 months waiting out winter in Ohio. So the first night I took my black lite out to search for scorpions and I didnt have to go very far except to right out in front of the Rv! As you can see they glow in black lite. This one was about 1-1/2-2" long, I didn't bother picking it up to measure lol. There are 3 basic scorpions in the Sonoran Desert, the Striped Scorpion, the Giant Hairy Scorpion and the most dangerous the Bark Scorpion. Which is this? Again I don't know because I didn't capture it to inspect and it doesn't matter cause I only wanted if I could find one, success in a very short period of time. At the time of writing this which is the 12th, I just went outside and searched around and didn't find anything but maybe it is to early, it is plenty dark at 8:30. They come out at night because it is in search of moist areas and food.
First night in Arizona desert at Gateway Ranch Rv Park. We are here for about 3 months waiting out winter in Ohio. So the first night I took my black lite out to search for scorpions and I didnt have to go very far except to right out in front of the Rv! As you can see they glow in black lite. This one was about 1-1/2-2" long, I didn't bother picking it up to measure lol. There are 3 basic scorpions in the Sonoran Desert, the Striped Scorpion, the Giant Hairy Scorpion and the most dangerous the Bark Scorpion. Which is this? Again I don't know because I didn't capture it to inspect and it doesn't matter cause I only wanted if I could find one, success in a very short period of time. At the time of writing this which is the 12th, I just went outside and searched around and didn't find anything but maybe it is to early, it is plenty dark at 8:30. They come out at night because it is in search of moist areas and food.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Arriving Utah!
September 28th, 2019
We made it to Thompson Utah this Saturday afternoon, it was a short drive of 144 miles some things of note, on the highway was a sign that said watch for eagles on the road and the speed limit is 80. Our campground (Ballard Rv Park) is about a mile north of I70 in a plot in the middle of BLM (Bureau of Land Management aka public) land. Originally they only had a spot open for Saturday but when we got here some road workers finished up and moved out so we got a spot for 2 weeks at $166 a week. That is a bargain for this area, we are about 30 miles from Arches National Park and 35 miles to Moab, if you try to get anything close to the Park or Moab you are looking at minimum of $60 to $110 a DAY! From here we can visit Arches and Canyon Lands along with Dead Horse State park and all of that is within about an hour. We are surrounded by gorgeous mountains. This park has about 30 spaces all full hookup and some cabins/tiny houses for rent. Nothing fancy and just the basics which is just how we like it, they do have wifi but it is not very fast at all but its something. Air channels are not even thinkable here LOL, way to far from any city.
Yesterday afternoon we took a short drive through part of Arches park and we are just amazed at the wind shaped sculptures. I downloaded an app for Arches/Canyon Lands that is a driving tour. I got some quick pics and have pictures below, a lot of them are from right around our campsite.
Thompson is an old town I guess and is mostly deserted of any businesses but signs still stand or hang, there was a cafe and an hotel, I will get some pictures of those before we leave. I then found on the google maps, the road we are on pretty much ends at the railroad tracks which by the way Amtrak trains run on or some passenger train. Beyond that is mostly BLM land but it appears by google that there is still some pavement left that leads to an old ghost town and some Petroglyph type drawings on the walls of the Canyon, they are called Sego Canyon Rock art. Definitely going to that!
Nights are really dark here since there are not lights in the campground to speak of so hopefully I can get some nice night photos and hoping to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way.
Today is Sunday and we are hanging at the RV because the wind is blowing so hard @ 30mph and 45mph gusts that being outside is horrible, the sand blowing actually HURTS, its like getting sand blasted, I had the screen door open for about 15-20 minutes and my computer was covered with sand! We even had to pull our slide in because the topper cover kept unraveling and when the wind would suddenly stop it would snap shut with a hell of a noise! So its a day of well deserved rest.
The view about is our our RV window
We made it to Thompson Utah this Saturday afternoon, it was a short drive of 144 miles some things of note, on the highway was a sign that said watch for eagles on the road and the speed limit is 80. Our campground (Ballard Rv Park) is about a mile north of I70 in a plot in the middle of BLM (Bureau of Land Management aka public) land. Originally they only had a spot open for Saturday but when we got here some road workers finished up and moved out so we got a spot for 2 weeks at $166 a week. That is a bargain for this area, we are about 30 miles from Arches National Park and 35 miles to Moab, if you try to get anything close to the Park or Moab you are looking at minimum of $60 to $110 a DAY! From here we can visit Arches and Canyon Lands along with Dead Horse State park and all of that is within about an hour. We are surrounded by gorgeous mountains. This park has about 30 spaces all full hookup and some cabins/tiny houses for rent. Nothing fancy and just the basics which is just how we like it, they do have wifi but it is not very fast at all but its something. Air channels are not even thinkable here LOL, way to far from any city.
Yesterday afternoon we took a short drive through part of Arches park and we are just amazed at the wind shaped sculptures. I downloaded an app for Arches/Canyon Lands that is a driving tour. I got some quick pics and have pictures below, a lot of them are from right around our campsite.
Thompson is an old town I guess and is mostly deserted of any businesses but signs still stand or hang, there was a cafe and an hotel, I will get some pictures of those before we leave. I then found on the google maps, the road we are on pretty much ends at the railroad tracks which by the way Amtrak trains run on or some passenger train. Beyond that is mostly BLM land but it appears by google that there is still some pavement left that leads to an old ghost town and some Petroglyph type drawings on the walls of the Canyon, they are called Sego Canyon Rock art. Definitely going to that!
Nights are really dark here since there are not lights in the campground to speak of so hopefully I can get some nice night photos and hoping to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way.
Today is Sunday and we are hanging at the RV because the wind is blowing so hard @ 30mph and 45mph gusts that being outside is horrible, the sand blowing actually HURTS, its like getting sand blasted, I had the screen door open for about 15-20 minutes and my computer was covered with sand! We even had to pull our slide in because the topper cover kept unraveling and when the wind would suddenly stop it would snap shut with a hell of a noise! So its a day of well deserved rest.
Friday, September 27, 2019
Epic winter trip
September 27th, 2019
We are on a 6 month trip to hopefully escape winter in Ohio stopping first in Utah. We left on September 23rd on a Monday and made our first stop to visit friends Keith and Mary Davidson, they own the KOA in Terre Haute Indiana. It was a good distance for the first day of 210 miles. The next day we really moved along and left Indiana and crossed Illinois and part of Missouri. We were going to take our time but with the strange weather patterns we were concerned that we would run out of time to see the 5 National Parks in Utah so sprint across the US was now the plan. The next day we finished Missouri and got into Kansas then Thursday was finish Kansas and get into Colorado. Friday was my most dreaded day and had been on my mind since the beginning of planning this trip, that anxiety was crossing the Rockies west of Denver, it did not fail to support my fears, with about 5 major passes with up to 9% grades and miles long uphill the trip was horrible, a couple issues one being at high elevation gas engines produce less power and with the RV coming in around 22,000 pulling the CRV it made for terrible uphill power. At one point we were down to 25 mph and losing speed. I pulled to the side of the road and let it rest for a few even though nothing was overheating. When we got back the power was better, makes me think there may be an update needed to the ECU. Anyway we made it through but believe me we will NEVER make that trip again in this RV. The scenery was incredible with what little I was able to see.
We are on a 6 month trip to hopefully escape winter in Ohio stopping first in Utah. We left on September 23rd on a Monday and made our first stop to visit friends Keith and Mary Davidson, they own the KOA in Terre Haute Indiana. It was a good distance for the first day of 210 miles. The next day we really moved along and left Indiana and crossed Illinois and part of Missouri. We were going to take our time but with the strange weather patterns we were concerned that we would run out of time to see the 5 National Parks in Utah so sprint across the US was now the plan. The next day we finished Missouri and got into Kansas then Thursday was finish Kansas and get into Colorado. Friday was my most dreaded day and had been on my mind since the beginning of planning this trip, that anxiety was crossing the Rockies west of Denver, it did not fail to support my fears, with about 5 major passes with up to 9% grades and miles long uphill the trip was horrible, a couple issues one being at high elevation gas engines produce less power and with the RV coming in around 22,000 pulling the CRV it made for terrible uphill power. At one point we were down to 25 mph and losing speed. I pulled to the side of the road and let it rest for a few even though nothing was overheating. When we got back the power was better, makes me think there may be an update needed to the ECU. Anyway we made it through but believe me we will NEVER make that trip again in this RV. The scenery was incredible with what little I was able to see.
So Friday night we are sitting at Glenwood Colorado River KOA in Silt, Colorado, fantastic campground and clean and well organized. Deanna is getting some laundry done and tomorrow morning we finish our final leg into Utah and Arches National Park.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
