Forest Fires and Rocks

June 2, 2016

Left Thousand Trails CG in the early morning planning on stopping around Flagstaff. There were forest fires somewhere north of Cottonwood so I decided not to go north on Hwy 89 through Sedona and went up I-17 instead. Turned out there were forest fires on both sides of I-17 just south of Flagstaff so I decided not to stay near there and went north on 89 out of Flagstaff. I had enough of smelling smoke in the last few days. 

I turned NE on Hwy 160 then N on Hwy 163 heading to Bluff, Utah area. Went through some amazing scenery in Monument Valley and around Mexican Hat. Ended up checking out Devil's Canyon Forest Service CG between Blanding, Utah and Monticello. It is a neat CG with paved roads, drinking water and clean toilets. I stayed in site 33 which had sun for solar and a toilet and water right across the road. The best part was no other sites close to me so it was almost like having the place to myself. The only bad part was the highway noise from across the canyon. Not a bad place though for $5 a night with the geezer pass. 

The last day I was there I was entertained by a couple of small lizards chasing each other among the rocks. 

Life is good. 

Thousand Trails and a Storm

May 30, 2016

Moved over to the Thousand Trails CG this morning. I want to use their WiFi to do some updating on my Apple devices as well as do my washing, dump garbage and fill water. 

May 31, 2016

Worked on getting my updating done. The WiFi is really slow so I am getting some reading done while I wait. Got my washing done today. 

June 1, 2016

Happy Birthday Chris!!

In honor of Chris' Birthday, a storm came through today. Lots of angry clouds, a rainbow, and only a few drops of rain actually made it to the ground. 

Life is good. 

Wind In The Forest

May 20-29, 2016

It was very windy all weekend while I was in the Coconino National Forest. Almost no traffic on the road I was camped by so that was nice. 

Monday morning I left and headed out of the forest. Drove back on FR139 to FR95 and turned left to FR300 which is the rim road. I thought that would be a wider road since it is so well traveled but it was not. It was definitely a one lane road with few places to pass. To make things more interesting, parts of it are right on the rim edge. Of course I had to meet a truck on one of these places. I saw him coming well ahead of time and pulled up on the bank a bit on a wide place to let him pass. Fortunately for me, he was on the cliff side. Made it out to Hwy 87 with no further excitement and headed down a long, long hill to Cottonwood on Hwy 260. 

After stocking up on groceries at Frys in Cottonwood I headed to BLM land across the road from the Thousand Trails CG I wanted to go to. I can't get in there for a week because they are full. The BLM area was crowded but I lucked out and got a place at the end of the trail with only one guy on the back side of the van and across the trail. He was so quiet, I hardly knew he was there. 

Here is the view out my van door.

Cottonwood is off in the distance. No traffic noise and almost no traffic on the trail coming to my campsite. At around 7 every morning though a hot air balloon came over and one morning they came in very low and touched down on a gravel road near here. I don't think they were having a good day. 

Life is good.