Nebraska Chautaugua and no A/C

We are at Grand Island, NE at a Truck Stop.  But now the weather is humid and hot, not good for sweaty bites for they now itch but it has stopped spreading and started healing.  Two days ago we could not cool down our MH by the dash A/C.  The truck stop we happened to pull into has a huge place next to green grass where we can stay away from the trucks.  John thought our problem was just low freon but it was a motor pump.  After a gulp, gulp, $$$$$ they ordered the part.  It came today and we have air conditioning again. Horray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The truck stop has visitor info so we found out about lovely Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer just down the road.  We spent yesterday in air conditioned comfort viewing exibits and last night at the outdoor exhibit where they have old villages from log housing to a western 1870's railroad town complete with train.  The museum is having an old fashioned Nebraska Chautaugua free to the public.  A chautaugua is a old time gattering that has speakers, entertainers, etc.  We listened to pioneer music and two interpretures - Mark Twain and Willa Cather, both authors.  It was all about the pioneers trek west, just what we love to learn about!!!  So today we have A/C and will go back tonight for another Chautaugua.  We stayed for 4 nights in Grand Island, NE and enjoyed the nightly Chautaugua programs. We learned a lot of history - just what we love.  And again we just fell into the right spot!!

The museum streets were wooden

A rainbow was over the Motor Homes but it is hard to see

On East????

I went to a clinic and was given prednizone and an antiboitic.  It might be chiggers so we washed all the bedding in the MH and Emma's bedding, etc.  I sure hope this works.  We have been without air conditioning and at night I have had quite a time with the spreading of some kind of rash!!!???!!!  On day six I went to a clinic and now we are headed east.  My doc changed meds and I feel better so hopefully we have solved the problem.

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!