Trek to Wyoming and oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have time until we report to Bryce so the decision was made to explore Wyoming.  It is a lovely state with lots of history, especially the Mormon, California and Oregon Trail history.  It is absolutely beautiful in southwestern Utah entering Wyoming on I-80.  We visited Fort Bridger just over the border and spent a pleasant afternoon learning about the trails and the old fort.  The 3 trails intersected at Ft. Bridger and famed mountain man Jim Bridger had a trading post previously.  This is west of the Rocky's.  We climbed over the Rocky's and into high plains staying at Curt Goudy State Park (8,600 feet) for a few days of peaceful high mountain meadows watching a clear cold lake.  People were water skiing, fishing and having summer fun.

We were perched on a hill above the lake and our view from our chairs was wonderful.  Wild flowers everywhere, grass, mountains, and water -- what a combination!!!!  Then I woke up with dizziness, a very sore neck, and beginning disorientation.  So leaving Curt Goudy we headed down from the high desert and into flatter country on the eastern side of the Rocky's.  So our plans are now to head east instead of north entering Nebraska.  See if I feel better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bryce Canyon National Park

After Zion and the testing issue in St. George, we headed to Bryce.  It is just as beautiful as last year.  We are testing the waters if altitude sickness is the underlying cause of how I am feeling.  I am fine now- maybe pills interaction?????.  We stayed in Bryce Canyon in North Campground, 8,300 feet altitude, just up the road from of last year's site, a few minutes from the rim by walking.  Emma on one of her morning walks walked right into our former camp host spot of last year.  She must remember because she jumped on Dave's leg when he entered our MH.  Dave was the person who worked opposite as camp host last year and is again this year.  After a dinner with Dave in our MH, visits to others we knew from last year, taking in some ranger talks and a walk we used up 4 days and I am fine.  I walked both campgrounds and some of the trails at the rim.  I did not attempt down in the hoodoos till I get acclimated!


Bryce Canyon NP from rim



Beautiful Bryce

Zion NP

It was our 3rd time in Zion and the beauty still gets to me.  Soaring high into the sky are monoliths.  But June on a weekend it is crowded and not as pleasant as last year in cold, snowy April.  We visited a casual friend and camp host at South Campground who is leaving in a few days.  He is off for the summer to the cooler, wetter Oregon coast.  He has been in Zion since fall and will return in the cooler weather in a few months.  Lightcurve on the Road is his blog and Mike and Blue, his dog, love people to visit them on his blog. 


This in on the road to the east entrance



Pictures on the ride to the east entrance tunnel

 

Life gets interesting

Zion is beautiful as always.

We are at Willowind Campground in Hurricane, UT, about 20+ miles away from Zion NP. We are under trees here at Willowind.  On Sunday I visited the ER in St. George.  My blood pressure was going crazy again and I had breathing problems. They sent me home with new meds after taking blood tests. We visited a cardiologist today and I had an Echo/Stress test.  My heart seems fine. They are fine tuning meds and cannot find the reason for my problems so.............we stay at this campground and try to be patient.  I feel like I have a medicine chest in the MH.  We keep picking up more medication! And I still do not know why I feel like I do!!!  I felt fine Saturday!!! My goodness, life on the road!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOT!!HOT!!HOT!!!

A lot has happened in a short time.  We had our rodant chewing problem fixed in Tuscon and went up to Dead Horse Ranch State Park just below Sedona, AZ on Monday.  It was very hot but we plugged into electricity so we cooled the rig down enough to sleep.  In Tuscon it was 112 degrees (to hot to potty Emma at noon - her paws would burn on the rocks or pavement)  It was over 100 when we arrived at the state park near Sedona.  We did not even take the car off towing mode, just spent the night to cool down.  The next morning we arrived in Williams at Kiabab State Forest campground (no hookups) and at 7,700 feet it was much cooler.  After cooling down the rig I could open windows and there was a breeze in the pines.  The next day we visited Williams, west of Flagstaff on the I-40 and just hung and read books and enjoyed the birds.  We saw 3 different birds not seen since Bryce Canyon National Park, a mountain bluebird, a stellar jay and a woodpecker that I cannot remember the name of. 

In this campsite it is cool and breezy and buggy.  Between pollen and the high altitude I could not breath.

I had not been feeling right since we left Petrified Forest and was having a hard time breathing.  My blood pressure was high so I called my CT Dr. and he said head to a clinic.  At Williams the doc took an EKG, etc said he thought I had altitude sickness.  He called the CT doc and gave me a new prescription for my blood pressure.  At Petrified Forest we were at 6000 feet for 3 months and then we went to Tuscon in a day and the heat was over 100 degrees.  Then we came back up to 7700 feet at Williams, just south of the Grand Canyon.  It was OKed to go on to Sequoia and Yosemite, just watch my symptoms.  A high with very warm temps is right over this area for a week.  Going west we went lower in altitude so I felt fine again but the heat was getting me.  We stopped in Needles, CA last night and it was 107 degrees.  Today it was going to get to 112 at Needles but we were headed right into the Majove Desert, which gets hotter.  To make a long story short, we are skipping the middle CA national parks and are at Hurricane, UT, near Zion National Park.  It is still HOT/HOT/HOT but not like the Mojave.  We are in a RV resort under a tree and it is over 100 here but....it will cool down.  Heat and I do not get along so I can either die of the heat OR altitude sickness.  I have choices!!!!!!!!!!!  In Bryce which will be cooler at over 8,000 feet, I will see how I feel and might have to go down in altitude again!!!!!  Life on the road is sure an adventure!

Rats, pack rats

Yesterday we packed everything and took up the jacks.  It was time to leave.....but the jack lights on the dash would not work.  John pressed something and the jacks went up but something was wrong with them.  Oh, what now!  We called Lazydays and left a message with the tech that answered questions on the road.  In the parking lot of a Walmart after John checked everything he could think of and I shopped, we decided to call Tucson Lazydays and ask for an appointment the next day.  Yes, they could see us first thing in the morning so we headed south instead of the planned west.  The "On the Road Service Tech" called back and John did his suggestions but nothing worked.  We were on the way south anyway.  We slept in the Tucson overnight lot at Lazydays.  At least there was electrical hookups!   It was hot and we needed air conditioning for the first time this trip.

The tech today told us the bad news and the good news.  It was the wiring harness to the motor home that pack rats had made a nest in and chewed wires.  The good news was that it was fixable and it seemed the critters did not raise young there and do more damage.  So we are here on Saturday night in the campground and today it was 106 degrees.  Emma had to be carried to the grass at noontime to pee.  The pavement could burn her feet.  The air conditioning did not keep up with the heat so it is 8 pm and 88 degrees inside but I think the outside air will now cool and make the air conditioner work.  We are off to COOLER pastures tomorrow with bars of Irish Spring next to our wiring harness (a suggestion).

After the next door neighbor at Petrified Forest had trouble with his truck wires we put lights around the MH, put out traps, put moth balls and Fresh Cab in the compartments but the wiring harness is behind the propane tank and in an open space directly in the middle of the MH unprotected.  We will never know when we were invaded.  It will always be a mystery like the fire last year in the engine of the car.  I now have full respect for the rats of the desert southwest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!