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| Pool and Beach Coronado Condo |
After
Christmas in St Augustine we left on December 30 for an anticipated 2.5 month
stay in Panama to finalize our resident visa and enjoy the beach in Coronado and
the mountains of Boquete. Unfortunately, after only 2.5 weeks in Coronado, Panama,
we had to return home to St. Augustine for Bob to have rotator cuff surgery on
his right dominate shoulder. We felt that the extensive recovery and Physical
Therapy would be better closer to family and friends.
The
surgery went well except that Bob unexpectedly went into Arial Fibrillation
(A-Fib) in the recovery room; thankfully, he converted to regular heart rhythm
overnight in the hospital. He had never
had a heart issue before that. Bob is
still doing PT for his shoulder while we travel; and has good range of motion, although
he is careful to not lift much weight with it yet.
With
all going well for Bob’s surgery recovery, and no more A-Fib issues as per the
St. Augustine cardiologist, we departed on our 2016 RV Ramblin’ trip in early
April. Unfortunately, instead of a quick
4-day trip across the country to reach Tucson AZ, Bob went into A-Fib again and
we ended up spending 4 days in Kerrville TX, 50 miles west of San Antonio. Bob
went through a series of specialized heart tests in San Antonio. Fortunately,
these tests eliminated all serious coronary heart diseases. The cardiologist
there put Bob on cardiac medications to control his A-Fib and reduce the risk
of stroke.
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| "Memorial" Cowboy Boot and Texas Bluebonnets |
While
waiting for test results in Kerrville TX, we had the opportunity to spend some
time in the hill
country. We parked our RV along the
upper Guadalupe River, a beautiful fast “stream” with banks shaded by “old”
cypress trees. Spring was everywhere,
with the beautiful spring green colors in the trees, bushes and grasses. The wildflowers
were blooming everywhere, even along all the roads; the Blue Bonnets were
especially beautiful.
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| Texas Wildflowers |
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| Saguaro Cactus Bloooming |
After
getting medications in Texas, we left for Tucson and the Saguaro National
Park. Unfortunately, we ended up in an
emergency room in Tucson with Bob in A-Fib again, and Bob was admitted. After 3 days and different medications, Bob
was released. Our cardiologist wanted
Bob to come back to Tucson in 2 weeks for a follow-up.
After
Bob’s hospital stay in Tucson; we finally got to spend one day in the Saguaro
National Park and at the Desert Museum - an excellent museum that covers all
aspects of the desert. As in TX, the AZ desert
was in bloom. Everything that blooms in
the spring was in color – even the Saguaro cactus had flowers on the tops. The weather was perfect – not too hot or cold
and we enjoyed our shortened stay. We
had to leave on time as we had campground reservations at the Grand Canyon NP
which were made over 1 year ago. While
driving north, we had the opportunity to have dinner in Phoenix with Linda’s
niece, Kristin Puma. She has two beautiful
sons and our visit was much too short.
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| Casa Grande 4 Story Pueblo |
We
stopped at Casa Grande Ruins, between Tucson and Phoenix, which is one of the
largest prehistoric structures ever built in North America. Archeologists have discovered evidence that
the people who built Casa Grande (Great House) and its surrounding compound
also developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections
which lasted over a thousand years until about 1450 AD. It is thought that climate change which
caused the area to become drier, and their own success which caused
overpopulation, both contributed to the rather rapid demise and dispersing of
these people and other similar civilizations in the SW.
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| Yearling Elk Grazing by our RV |
As
everyone knows, the Grand Canyon is awesome, but to a geologist and his interested
wife, it is really something special. It
is impossible to see in a picture or a video of the enormous scale of the
place….it is 1 mile deep and over 10 miles wide. The “trail of time” walk that
runs along the rim helps to put the timeline of the rock layers and geology
into perspective. The sunsets were
fabulous, but it got cold quickly at night.
We wore winter clothes at night and Linda had to wear gloves in order to
take pictures. Our campground was full
of elk - they lay down beside the RVs and cars, and we saw a California Condor
in action! Even this early in the season, the lodges and
campgrounds were full; however, not as busy as during the summer. We really enjoyed seeing the South Rim from
the top this time – the last time we were at the Canyon was in 2000 (or 2001?)
when we did a 10-day raft trip down the Colorado River. Both were marvelous experiences. The North Rim was still snowed in and closed,
so we plan to go there next year, during the summer.
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| Grand Canyon near Sunset |
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| Lake Powell Early Morning Reflections |
From
the Grand Canyon, we moved east and north of Flagstaff to Page AZ and Lake
Powell. Lake Powell is a reservoir,
formed by flooding Glen Canyon with the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam,
upstream of the Grand Canyon, and is the second largest man-made reservoir in
the US. In order to build the dam, a
bridge had to be first built; the nearest river crossing was over 70 miles
upstream, a 200 mile trip to get from one side of the dam to the other. That bridge is now Rt. 89, just below the
dam. The Lake took 11 years to
fill. When we were there, the lake was
about half way between its high water in 1980, and it’s low water in 2005 –
about a 400 ft difference. The high
water mark is seen as a “bathtub” ring around the lake; discoloration of the
rock due to water incursion. The lake is
beautiful and HUGE; from the dam it extends 186 miles long (when full), has
over 1960 miles of shoreline and over 96 major side canyons. It is a house boaters dream (need at least 2
weeks to really reach some of the more remote areas).
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| Rainbow Bridge 1983 (NPS) |
One
of our best days, was the boat ride on Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge National
Monument: it can only be reached by boat. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day with no
wind when we took our ride to see it.
Rainbow Bridge is one of the world’s largest known natural bridges, and
is considered sacred to American Indians.
When Lake Powell is full, the water extends right up to and even under
the bridge. When we visited, we had a
1.5 mile hike uphill to reach the bridge.
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| Monument Valley |
We
left our coach in Page and we spent a day visiting Monument Valley, Valley of
the Gods, and the San Juan River Goosenecks.
Monument Valley is one of the definitive images of the American
West. The isolated red mesas and buttes
surrounded by empty, sandy is entirely within the Navajo Reservation. There is one main road through Monument
Valley, US 163. There are dirt roads
that can be taken to see the more remote buttes; but this must be done with a
Navajo guide and a permit. We only
traveled along Rt. 163 on our way to see other sights in the area. In the morning, it was so windy that there
was a sandstorm and we couldn’t see anything.
Thankfully, by the time we returned, the wind had died and we got a good
look at it.
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Valley of the Gods
|
We
much preferred Valley of the Gods, near Mexican Hat. It is a hidden gem with scenery similar to
that of nearby Monument Valley, but without the tribal restrictions; isolated
buttes, towering pinnacles and wide open spaces that seem to go on
forever. A 17-mile drive dirt road winds
through the valley; it is bumpy with steep sections. We loved the fun drive in our Jeep Cherokee and
it was mostly deserted. We started out
with an overcast and windy day, which limited visibility, but by the time we
had finished, the weather cleared and the views were fabulous.
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| Moki Dugway 11% unpaved road with switchbacks |
We
stumbled onto the Moki Dugway, just past the Valley of the Gods, north on Rt.
261. It is a staggering, dirt switchback
road carved into the face of the cliff edge of Cedar Mesa. It consists of 3 miles of steep (11% grade),
unpaved, switchbacks, which wind 1200 feet down to the valley floor. We had originally planned on coming south to
Monument Valley on Rt 261, but the Moki Dugway would not have been passable
with any RV. It was lucky that we ended
up doing it as a day trip from Page in our Jeep rather than later in our RV.
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| San Juan River "Goosenecks" |
From
the top of Cedar Mesa, we had fantastic views of the Valley of the Gods, and
the Goosenecks State Park, where the San Juan River winds and carves it way
through the desert 1200 feet below.
Here, you can see a rare geologic formation, known as an entrenched
meander; a meandering stream that has cut deeply into the landscape.
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| Antelope Canyon Ray of Light |
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| Antelope Canyon Sand Fall |
One
of the most photogenic locations in Page was a trip through Antelope Canyon, a
slot canyon. Except for mid-day, no
light enters the canyon, but at that time you can see light shafts shine into
the slot. Linda got some great pictures
at noon on a photographic tour. The
photography of the smooth water-worn walls of cross-bedded sandstone is an
indication of the danger during a rainstorm, and in fact, during the rainy
season, the tours are often cancelled due to flash flood dangers.
Just
like during our sailing and cruising adventure, we have to fix things in
“exotic” places. In Tucson, while Bob
was in the hospital, we had a mobile mechanic replace our aging 6-year old
house and starting batteries (we should have done it in St Augustine). In Page,
Bob replaced the in-dash back up camera monitor that failed in Texas. We did a few other repairs so our coach, and
it should be really ready for the next segment of our trip. We feel sorry for
cruisers (sea and land) who do not have some self-maintenance capabilities or
easy access to replacement parts.
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| Panama City |
While
in Tucson, we finally heard from our Panamanian lawyer that we had been
approved for our resident visas in Panama, and that we needed to return to
finalize the documents. We arranged to
travel to Panama from Page AZ in conjunction with our return to the Tucson
cardiologist for Bob’s follow-up thread mill stress test. Bob’s meds are
working great and the Cardiologist gave us a “good to go” report.
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| Petrified Forest Logs |
We
left our RV in Page to go back to Tucson and Panama. Along the way, we stopped at the Petrified
Forest NP and enjoyed a few good meals along the historic Route 66 (we forgot
about Winslow). Driving through Salt
River Canyon on the way to Tucson was impressive. After a 3-day trip to Panama,
we returned with our permanent resident visas. No illegal entry for us!
We
are now headed to Utah and the “Grand Circle” of: Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Canyonlands and
Arches National Parks, before we head further north. We hope that we will not have any additional
significant diversions, now that health, coach repair and legal requirements
all seem to be in order.
In
spite of the health issues (no A-Fib since Tucson) and travel delays, we are having
a grand time seeing this fantastic country.
We are immensely grateful to God and good doctors. We feel truly blessed
that Bob’s medical situations are being managed and we are looking forward to less
stressful adventures as we move north into Utah and then Wyoming, Montana and
Canada.
Let
us know how you are doing and keep in touch.
Best,
Linda and Bob
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