On Our Way to Warmer Weather

We found the good “weather window”, as Gary calls it, for our departure for AZ. Great road conditions all day. We are in Bethany, MO, tonight. There is a little snow here, not much. We are in a very small RV Park in back of a commercial area. Only one other vehicle here. It is a balmy 37 degrees. Compared to the minus 12 we had recently in Minneapolis for days, this feels nice. 

Great to be back on the road with a mostly normal knee again. It’s been 6 months. I am thankful for all progress - large, small and smaller. It is a long recovery process, but I mostly have my life back. 

And Then We Made a U-Turn

In case anyone is wondering why there have been no blog updates, here is what happened. We were on our way to Eastern Canada in our motor home. Stopped in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for supposedly two nights. The second day there I rolled my right ankle off an unseen small curb in a parking ramp and landed on my left knee. An ER visit and short appointment with an orthopedist there resulted in a tentative diagnosis of at least a partial if not full quadriceps tendon rupture which will require surgery. We immediately headed for home. Did it in two days, unpacked the RV and came back home two nights ago. My MRI at TRIA Clinic here in Minneapolis was yesterday. I see a surgeon on Monday. 

We are very sad to have canceled this trip. Gary did such a wonderful job of planning it and it would have been lovely. We are planning to do it again sometime. We have been all the places we were intending to go, but would have done some different things this time.  But I am thankful for the outstanding medical care here, and that I didn't seriously hurt my ankle or have any broken bones. Very lucky. I do attribute my excellent bones to all the years of running. I do hope to be able to get back to that. We shall see. 

One friend recently suggested that sometime Gary and I might like to just stay home in Mpls some summer and see what it is like. I guess that this will be the summer!  I hope to be able to enjoy the outdoors at least some of it!

Ann Arbor, MI

We left two nights ago for our annual summer RV trip, this time to Eastern Canada. We intend to go on up to Newfoundland and Labrador. 

We stopped for two nights in Ann Arbor, MI, where the University of Michigan is located. A lovely campus - we walked around the old part. Drove in several beautiful residential neighborhoods adjacent to the campus, then dinner at a brew pub in the college town adjacent to the campus. Lots of summer students and prospective students walking around.     L

A New Car

After over 100,000 driving miles and an additional 90,000+ rolling miles, we decided to give our trusty Saturn to our two grandchildren who live in Mpls. We bought the Saturn in 2005, so it had seen many trips around North America! 

We bought a Honda CR-V, a 2014 with just 15,000 miles on it. 2014 is the last year Honda made this car as a towable. 

Gary installed the hitch base plate himself, and all the other gizmos and equipment required for towing. I think he has now finished everything. He's out on a test drive right now. 

Here is a photo of the new look:

 

This was taken at our storage facility in Hastings, MN. 

We leave for our trip to Eastern Canada soon, by way of Pittsburgh for a family reunion. 

Las Vegas, Prescott and Mesa AZ

We arrived in Mesa, AZ, a few days ago. Gary has been particularly busy cleaning and waxing the exterior of the RV as we prepare to leave it for several months in the RV park here in Mesa. It went from being quite dirty to very shiny. We received two rock dings on the windshield from passing trucks in Utah. One was quite small but the other one was from a very large rock, at least 2 inches in diameter, judging from the size of the round mark it left. We had a glass repair company here to do the repairs, and the smaller one was fixed, but this larger one can't be fixed, so at some point we will require yet another new windshield - our fifth for this motor home. 

Previously we had a very enjoyable few days in Prescott, much cooler than Phoenix, largly due to the higher elevation there. We had one particularly nice walk around Watson Lake. The first photo was taken looking out at the lake from a point above.

 

 

I did want to post one other photo, taken at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas, where we were for several nights. We went on a hike that passed some pictographs about 700-800 years old, I believe. I just love this one. 

 

While we were in Las Vegas, we went to a Lionel Ritchie concert. It was fabulous, and I can't get several of the songs out of my head, particularly "Hello". Ah, my era music! He is a wonderful entertainer! 

Zion National Park

A beautiful hike in an area of Zion not hiked as frequently by the many people here - Kolob Canyons. We hiked up a creek with 55 creek crossings - good thing we had on waterproof shoes. The end of the hike is a beautiful arch alcove. Hikers pass two 19th century cabins and through a very wet riparian area. 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Jacob Lake, AZ, and on to Zion National Park

We left Jacob Lake, AZ, yesterday, which was where we camped for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The only reason I am bringing this up in this post is because of a squirrel. Yes, as we were leaving I looked out the front window and saw a Kaibab Squirrel running down a tree, and he crossed the road right in front of us. It's the only one we saw. Why, you might ask, is this notable?  Well, the Kaibab Squirrel is found only on the North Rim of the Kaibab Plateau which is where the Grand Canyon is. Nowhere else in the world does this exact squirrel live. At first I thought it was a skunk, but then saw it as distinctly squirrel. I did not take this photo, but I wish I had. 

We drove the short distance to Zion National Park yesterday. After we got set up, it was time for a run. The campground is next to the Virgin River which is what formed Zion Canyon. The campground is also next to a desert area that has ATV roads running around. We decided to run there for a little ways. It was fun! The ATVers also were having fun. They watched out for us and we watched out for them. The off road area is also an equestrian area, so we figured everyone had to be careful and respectful. 

Today we went into the park and hiked up the river to the end of the dry trail. This is where people go into the river to hike to The Narrows. We didn't do that but did see hundreds and hundreds of people wading upstream. Many went barefoot,but many had on boots that can be rented in the town just outside the park. 

The trail afforded other wonderful views of the rock walls of the canyon and the wetness everywhere. 

And this view as we were driving back to our RV at sunset.