11/21 The Forlorn Midwest November Weather

Even though it's gray outside, there's something comforting about returning to the Midwest in November. Not to be completely cliche, but there's the reminder of sipping pumpkin lattes and eating chili while curled up under a blanket watching When Harry Met Sally forty times in a row. Now I sure Sam would probably choose another movie, but you get the drift...
Last night was our last night in Monty for awhile. He did right by us and kept us warm and toasty during snowstorms and gusty winds, but oddly enough, he was not tested during a thunderstorm. We'll probably have to wait for April for that. We've decided to store Monty in Michigan for the season at Krenek's RV Superstore (!) in Coloma, Michigan near South Haven. We'll probably be doing some RVin' on the west coast of Michigan, so heads up to all our peeps over there.
It's always strange to come to the end of an adventure like this. I am excited to be with our families for the holidays, but I also wonder when we will have a chance to travel like we did. I want to head back to Arizona to visit Tucson and Canyon de Chelley. I want to go back to New Mexico to see Las Cruces and Carlesbad, and then zip down to Texas to hang out in San Antonio. I want to drink more wine, and hike more red rocks. I want my clothing to dry superfast. I want to eat more green chile, and see more tumbleweeds. I want to play in more dogparks and practice making more diesel noises. But I also want to go home.
We want to thank everyone who made our trip so unique. It's been incredible.
Love,
Sam, Juliette, and Nora Woofington Swett

11/19 Mike Loebl has a Doppelganger

Last night we stayed at the Will Rogers Downs "Racino" KOA near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Without a doubt, that combination of concepts brings multiple levels of confusion, but that's not the main purpose of this post so I'll ignore such words like, "racino" and "Tulsa." 
Anyway, everything was going fine last night until the mere mention of the dreaded "Celebration Roast." Those who know me might know that I love those damn things, but every time I've prepared one, someone breaks down, gets weepy, or just plain has a life crisis...

11/18 Ode to Sam and His Royal Fifth Wheel Drivin' Badarsness

On the road yesterday from Albuquerque to Amarillo, Sam really began to strut his stuff while driving Monty. Let's just say that it has been fairly, uh, gusty, while driving through the Texas Panhandle. Like so breezy that when we stopped for a quick Veggie Delight with Avocado! (tm) at Subway, I couldn't shut my car door without rolling down the window first. I'm pretty sure Sam's gonna come back from this trip looking like he's all 'roided up like Hulk Hogan or something. It's hard work pullin' this rig in the wind.
Also worth mentioning was the smooth move yesterday when Sam manuvered Larry and Monty nonchalantly into a tight diesel spot-- like he was driving a Mini Cooper or something.
I'm sure there will be more to come, and let's keep prayin' that I don't take the wheel!

11/16 How Not to Tow!

Since Sam discovered RVing on Youtube this evening, he's pulled up a couple of videos that have us cracking up.  I thought I would share at least this one (I think it could be us soon). And this one.

11/16 Rollin' to a Close

As Sam sits on the recliner comparing prices on RV sewer hoses (The Viper, for example, is apparently much more money than The Dominator), we realize that our Southwest journey is coming to an end. For the past two days we hung out in Albuquerque doing things like going to the Art Museum, driving up to Sandia Crest (the tram is closed for maintenance, grrrr), and taking Nora to two more dog parks. As much as we would like to head south to Las Cruces, or west to Canyon de Chelley, after seven weeks of being on the road, I think it's time to get our real life back on track. Tomorrow we will be heading out of Albuquerque and heading east. It will take us a few days to get back north, and then we plan on harassing Clare and Dave in Michigan for Thanksgiving, and possibly Larney Otis in Maine (if she allows us!) for Christmas (since we LOVE winter in Maine!)

11/15 Yesterday, Santa Fe... Sing it!

I got a little lazy yesterday and didn't post anything, so I'll try to cover it today.
Yesterday, we did a road trip to Santa Fe since it is only an hour north of Albuquerque. Like a lot of our sight seeing, it was a mix of eating Mexican food, taking Nora to a dog park, and wandering through the city. Now I know Santa Fe is SANTA FE(!) but we didn't do anything too differently there. We ate lunch at a local favorite, The Pantry, and MAN, that was good.  I'm telling you, we get the best food in New Mexico! Super yum. My spinach and tomato enchiladas (with green sauce) were incredible, and Sam dined on a chile rellenos omelet (with red sauce) with hash browns. The reason we keep talking about food is because we keep sitting at the counter at these local places and getting the most delicious food ever! Hands down, these beat the ritzy places we've been to in Chicago. In fact, every time we eat at Monroe's in Albuquerque (uh, we've been there for three meals LOL), we try to convince the owner to open up a place in Chicago.
Anyway, I digress...

After we ate, we took Nora to the Frank Ortiz Dog Park in Santa Fe. Like everything in Santa Fe, there was even art in the dog park! And a rubber tire, too, but hey, who's complaining?
So then we decided to explore Old Town Santa Fe. Now, I don't want to surprise anyone, but Santa Fe is really an artsy city. I just wanted to make that clear. You know, like LOTS of art... Like galleries, murals, artistic clothing, fake doughnuts, I mean, even the parking structure is adobe-style artistic! We both enjoyed wandering around Old Town, but since we weren't in the market to purchase anything, we stopped wandering a bit and visited El Burro Alley Cafe. At that point, it was getting dark, so we decided to head back to Albuquerque. We got on the road just in time for the sunset.
We know we missed a ton of stuff, but we know that we'll be back in good time.

11/13 Mr. Salsa at Applebees

First of all, don't hate on the Applebees. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow. Today that flow took us to an Applebees in a strip mall. Rocking. I had a really large beer and some not-so-vegan talapia while Sam chowed down on his burger. Our bartender was a Bears fan who was really excited by their win. That was pretty cool until I found out that apparently the Bear's win came at a very personal loss (i.e. over the Detroit Lions). Sigh.
I soon got over my sadness for the Lions, and finished up my talapia. As we were getting ready to leave, we started talking to the bartender. He started pointing out the regulars to us, and as he nodded across to the senior gentleman drinking White Zinfandel on the other side of the bar.
Mike, the bartender said, "Yeah, that's Mr. Salsa."
I said, "Oh, as in salsa dancing???"
I guess I spoke too soon because just then, I noticed that Mr. Salsa was wearing a chili pepper tie (which turned out to be a stealth cell phone holder). Before Mike could add anything more, Mr. Salsa's ears perked up and he lept up from his side of the bar and power walked over to us. He threw his arm around my shoulders and started explaining how he started making salsa from scratch.
Sam and I listened intently to his overview of salsa making (lot's of peppers!), and before we knew it he had run out to his car to get a jar!
No name, no label. We think his name was Mike, too, but that could be just a lucky guess. Thanks, Mr. Salsa.  Have another White Zin on us!

11/12 Stop Wining!

It's been another day of zooming from place to place, and it's still not over.  We started the day by tiring Woofington out at the dog park. Then we headed on over to a local Albuquerque favorite, the Flying Star Cafe. It's a local cafe that LOOKs "all corporate and stuff" yet, it isn't. We both had really yummy food, and we'll probably go back before we leave. (Sam gives it a check-plus LOL).  After that, I designated Sam as my private wine tour driver.  We got a chance to go a bit north to three very different wineries. We started at Gruet Winery which was conveniently located next to an RV Dealership, amusingly enough for some classy sparkling wine. The classy ladies who served us even let us keep one of wine glasses. After that, we headed north to the desert town of Placitas to try some wine at the very original Anasazi Fields Winery owned by poet, Jim Fish. As was expected, his wines were as creative as his poetry. I have to admit, the Apricot wine was a bit too different for me, but we walked away with a bottle of American Cranberry wine that is simply delicious. I'm sure it will mix well with Mike Loebl's award-winning tofurkey. After checking out the smaller wineries, we classed it up again with tasting at Casa Rondena Winery. The place was packed, and we were lucky enough to be standing next to one of the most personable MLM guys I've ever met. He was in a travel business called WorldVentures, and MAN, was he a talker! I told Sam that if he sold some knives or something tangible, I would have bought all of them from him. Too bad he was just selling membership into a traveling club. He was the kind of dude you just want to have over to a dinner party because he's so fun and outgoing. Too bad, no knives. Tonight, we are headed over to the National Hispanic Cultural Center to see Yjastros: American Flamenco Repertory Company. I'll report about that tomorrow. To see the complete set of pics, go to our SW Trip: Albuquerque page.

11/11 Quick Touring in ABQ

Awesome taco salad at Monroe's

This was when we split up to cover lots of distance:

Sam worked hard on biking the Paseo del Bosque Bike Trail while I headed to the ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden. Since I had taken Nora on a marathon training walk this morning ("Leave it! I said, LEAVE IT!") I decided to let her snooze in the car for a bit. This bit of multi-purposing worked well for us, as I really enjoyed my stroll through the gardens, and Sam zoomed off on his mountain bike. After our separate journeys, we came together for all things good: Yummy Mexican Food and a Dos Equis Amber. We decided that we were going to be a bit smarter today about where we were eating, so we used the power of YELP to find Monroe's.  Yum. Yum. Yum. We sat at the counter and were joined by a couple of characters. Sam had the tamales and I had a taco salad. Oh. Also, Sam seems to have a SLIGHT sopapilla problem.  He LOVES them. Before I could say, "Holy Guacamole!" he had DEVOURED two sopapillas with honey.

After that, we headed to Old Town again to check out some more stores, and we made another great discovery: Nora likes pumpkin ice cream. Wow. We are always learning something new.

11/10 ABQ Rapid Drive

Albuquerque Fun
We headed on over to a new shwanky-danky dog park, North Domingo Baca this morning so our poor, neglected, shelter dog had a chance to romp with some buddies. She, of course, made a lot of new friends, and played "steal-the-half-bitten-off-frisbee" for as long as another dog would chase her.
After that, we decided it was time for a little human fun. We left pooch back at the rig so she could catch  a dog siesta, then we decided it was time to take Larry to Old Town. We decided to take the long way there, down Central Avenue (Route 66), because it passes through several other neighborhoods. We got to see hipster cool Nob Hill, the University Area, as well as the appealing Downtown neighborhood. We also saw Albuquerque's own version of Bus Rapid Transit, with their ABQ Rapid Ride. Don't get us started about why this really isn't BRT (let's just say, there are NO designated bus lanes, and we think you still have to pay on board this puppy). Don't make me nerd out and compare this ABQ nonsense with our ultra-cool BRT in Bogota, Colombia. I'll do it you know....
So anyway, we had a mediocre lunch (I think Sam's chili relleno was good) at a touristy spot in Old Town, and then we headed to the Visitor Center. We started talking to these two awesome volunteers (perhaps from the AARP clan) who filled us in on goings-on in ABQ and the surrounding area. We thanked them, and before Sam knew what hit him, I had dragged him into a jewelry store and spent $80.00.
Whoops.
At least it wasn't an art gallery.

More tomorrow as our journey continues...

11/09 Made it to 'Querque

If you haven't seen the Jeremy Piven movie, The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard. then unfortunately, you've missed my little reference above. That's not really a problem because the movie was pretty darn horrible except for some randomly funny stuff that happened when we least expected it.

Uhhh....

Now that I'm thinking about it, that movie had some good stuff...

Like Will Farrell in the Abe Lincoln costume...

And some really bad humor about Pearl Harbor...

Maybe some stuff about paying in unmarked bills...

Maybe I need to review that movie again..

That being said, I think we're going to call it a night. I'm fading fast, and we've got a big day tomorrow of dog park fun.

11/08 Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour

Guest-blogger Sam here. Today we did a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon with Maverick Helicopters. This is something I've been thinking about doing for years, and was one of only three (!) must-have items that I wanted to do on this trip. I took a helicopter tour of downtown Chicago back in the 1980s -- my only previous helicopter experience. None of the other passengers today had been up in a helicopter before. Unlike my Chicago experience, our pilot today did not leave his door open (although I did ask him if I could roll down a window)…

This very cold morning started at 9F but the clear, sunny skies promised a nice day for flying. And the 6.0L PowerStroke fired up on the first try (after about 15 seconds of glowing). Having accidentally left my snow brush and ice scraper in California, I had to send Juliette to the kitchen to get a spatula so I could scrape off the ice-covered windshield. At 8:15 we pulled out of the Williams KOA en route to the Grand Canyon Airport 60 miles away in Tusayan for our 9:30 rollcall. We arrived in plenty of time and grabbed some extra breakfast.

As our names were called, we met our pilot and headed out to the waiting American Eurocopter ECO-Star EC-130. Our fellow passengers included a couple from Michigan and a mother and daughter from New York. After a brief safety and equipment overview we strapped on inflatable yellow PFDs, climbed aboard, and fastened our four-point harnesses. We were seated in a configuration of the pilot's choosing, based on our bodyweights as measured beforehand. Juliette sat in a forward middle seat and I was in the slightly raised aft row on the right. We all wore headsets with mics so we could all hear and be heard at any time.

The pilot fired up the Turbomeca Arriel 2B1 turbine engine and in a moment we lifted off smoothly (video) and headed out from Grand Canyon Airport. We flew 400 feet above the snow-covered treetops of the Kaibab National Forest for a few minutes. The pilot did a bit of narration and answered questions. We approached the 5,000-foot deep Canyon and then, with obvious excitement in his voice, the pilot said "this is going to be cool!" and… it was, indeed. The ground dropped away and we were past the edge of the South Rim. Magic!

A relatively rare full coat of snow covered the highest mesas, and some puffy clouds hung below the Canyon's rims. As the Colorado River came into view, we could see rafters. Yes, that's a year-round activity.

During the rest of the flight, I took pictures and just enjoyed the smooth ride and the amazing view. Juliette and I both agree that this was an awesome way to see and appreciate the Grand Canyon. Words don't do it justice. Watch some in-flight video here to get a sense....

Here's our whole photo album from today.

11/07 Pancakes and Potato Chowder

As Mike Loebl would say, HRHRHRHR!

Well, we were planning on heading out to Flagstaff today, but KOWABUNGA, folks--we've been hit with another winter storm. I really wish Sam loved Christmas decorations, because Monty would look Saah-WEEEET(!) in some festive lights, an inflatable Santa, and a nativity scene out front. It's actually a shame we don't have it because it would sure make me feel better about this whole snowstorm in Arizona thing. Accuweather PROMISES us it's supposed to be clear tomorrow. We'll see. I've been known to seriously want to lay the smack down on Accuweather as I have spent many stormy nights while tent camping in Wisconsin.
Nora loves this crazy snow, and of course, is snoozing on her towel after her third romp of the day. We, on the other hand, got to spend the day doing laundry, eating pancakes, and making potato chowder in the slow cooker. Pretty soon, I'm about to crack open the Sutter Home, and we'll have to call it a party.

11/06 Day Trippin' Out

Before
With the weather still cold and Christmassy in Williams, Sam and I have decided not to dig our big rig out until it clears a bit more. Since everything is about an hour drive from our campsite, we've decided head south to Sedona for the day.
The road to Sedona is absolutely incredible, by the way. The elevation drops quite a bit, so in a one hour time frame, the climate dials back from winter back to fall...
After
We are heading back from Sedona on Route 89, and WOW. I feel like we have taken in a lot today. I actually had low expectations of Sedona because of its overly touristy vibe, but we both ended up liking it. Nora, on the other hand, LOVED it. We spent a good part of the afternoon in Tlaquepaque, a faux village built in colonial Mexican style. It housed restaurants, shops, galleries and more. We went out to lunch then I did a bit of wine tasting (while Sam helped me out by eating the chocolate wafers that were served to us). At this point, Senorita Woofington was hanging out in the car because we really didn't want to be the jerks who brings their bull-in-the-china-shop dog to a plaza filled with GLASS ART STORES. Cough Cough.
After awhile, we began to feel guilty, so I asked the wine saleswoman if dogs were allowed to wander through the plaza. She nodded enthusiastically and said that all of Sedona is extremely dog friendly. We decided to test the waters with this theory, so we went back to get Nora.
Well, normally people like to say hi to her since she looks like a goofus stuffed animal, but I don't think we've ever experienced anything like this. As we walked her from the car to the plaza, she was surrounded by new age-y dog lovers. One woman was waving people over for dog petting, while another came out of her shop to say hi. Pretty soon, I was thinkin' that we could fund our trip this way... After Nora Berner bumped, snuggled, and ate some sticks, we decided to move on to the next area. The same thing happened! In fact, we couldn't round a corner without someone else coming up to get free doggy hugs and kisses. I'm pretty sure she was happy, although she might have snuck in some demands for better dog treats.
Our time in Tlaquepaque ended as I rounded a corner and saw a really amazing mosaic project. I realized that the artist, Trish Metzner-Lynch was right there working on it.  Her stuff is really amazing, and I would highly recommend checking out her website. She says she is powered by wine and potato chips, so she can't be half bad :-)
After we left Tlaquepaque, Sam decided in his head that he wanted to drive the Schnebly Hill Road i.e., the same road that is used for 4X4 jeep tours. Our pictures don't look that crazy, but I swear Larry might never be the same.
Let's just say that Nora and I will both be doning our whiplash collars and gulping down dramamine this evening.

11/06 When Good Imax Goes Bad

Yesterday, after the weather cleared a bit, Sam and I decided to be hip and go to the IMAX show at the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC GRAND CANYON VISITORS' CENTER.
Now, I love IMAX. I mean who doesn't? To feel like you are flying/floating/running/driving/jumping/doing drugs... etc. is an amazing experience. I mean, I STILL have fond memories of almost vomiting on the guy in front of me during a showing of To Be an Astronaut at the Detroit Science Center. Anyway, we thought, hey, since we both had a hard time conceptualizing the Grand Canyon, we thought we'd get another perspective. Not to mention, we also had a bit of cabin fever after hanging out in Monty most of the day.
After driving an hour to Tusayan near the Grand Canyon, we realized that the next showing of the film wasn't for another forty minutes. To pass the time, I nearly purchased a "Hug me, I'm a Little Chili!!!" onesie for Harper (Jess and Donnie's little one), and a terrifying rattlesnake mug to cure me of ANY desire to ingest caffeine in the morning. After this brush with shopping doom, we decided to hang out by the burnt popcorn and the Sierra Mist (which I, of course, demanded).
At 5:25 pm, the excitement began to build. Folks were lining up, and in just moments, the doors to the theater would be opened. In a minute, the whoosh of cool theater air greeted us, as we followed the mobs of tour-bused-in-visitors. We sat in our perfect middle-to-back seats, and tuned into the sadly low-resolution previews...
Thirty-five minutes later, we walked out of the show and looked at each other. It took about three and a half minutes for Sam to immediately began mimicking the narrator (think really deep, important-sounding voice): "WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL BECOME OF MAN IN THE SHADOW OF THE GRRRRAHHHND CANYON! ONLY THE PAHWERS OF NATURE HOLD THE TRUTH!!!!"
Oh geez...
First of all, I just found out that this movie was actually released in 1984. Uh, yeah. I didn't make that up. Can I repeat that? 1984. Like George Orwell. To make matters worse, apparently this is the longest running IMAX film ever. At least that's what we were led to believe. Now, we're both pretty sure that it's not because of the content. Yeah, I know, I was pretty much on the edge of my seat during the river scenes, but did we really need the bad Spanish-speaking conquistor in the previous sequence, or the side-boob shot at the beginning?
I really think the guys from National Geographic who filmed it (over 20 years ago!) were like, "Yeah man, awesome ultralight shot man! Yeah, let's run that rowboat down the river just for the f*&^$#k of it... It will look awesome!"
To make matters worse, there is a REALLY COOL Grand Canyon Imax movie narrated by Robert Redford, and with music by DAVE MATTHEWS. Did the NGCGVC offer that movie?
NOPE.

11/05 Snow Patrol!

We woke up this morning to four inches of snow on the ground. Little Miss Snow Speed Demon, Nora Woofington Swett, was in HEAVEN. She tore around the campground looking for lost hikers and the remains of campfires past.  This dog is just plain, FUNNY in the snow. She all of a sudden turns very, well, Swiss! She puts her working dog cap on, and just starts PATROLLING! Running beside us, she makes sure we haven't fallen in a deep snowbank, then she gallops ahead to check out any other dangers that await--you know--like avalanches, hot doggin' telemark skiers, unruly snowshoers, or lost Iditarod participants. She might not let us leave!

11/04 Hunkering Down

Nora and Sam "hunkering" on the couch

Oh Monty, I love you more and more each day... The weather has gotten nasty here. They're expecting a rain/snow mix tonight, and well, just plain yucky weather. After we went to the Grand Canyon, we headed on over to Safeway to pick up a bunch of helpful supplies like guacamole, beer, red wine, pancake mix, and refried beans. Oh yeah! Looks like this is gonna be a fun one!

11/04 Rim Trail from Powell Point to Hopi Point

We're sitting on a rock overlooking the canyon. Unlike other parks on the Colorado Plateau, the Grand Canyon has not blown us away. In all honesty, it's so huge that seems like a painted movie backdrop. Unlike Dead Horse Point State Park, Arches, and even Canyonlands, we can't touch it, we can't even see much of it, and our photographs hardly have any impact. The biggest awareness I have of its VAAHSTNESS is that each gust of wind causes vibrations of sheer terror in my stomach as I try to anchor my ass as firmly as possible to the rock. As I hesitantly sneak a peak at the canyon below, it's only the closeness of the ledges underneath me that hint at the steepness and power that this canyon holds.

11/04 Tofu Skillet?!

OK. Who cares about the view?! We have stopped for breakfast at Bright Angel Lodge, and THEY HAVE TOFU!!! Who knew?!!!!! I can go home to Chicago now and say that I have experienced the best the GC has to offer.

11/03 Back on Track

All empty here except for a few big rigs

After a few days of adjusting to haulin' the big rig, we decided to put in some miles and get this puppy back on track. After all, we were darn sick of California and we were ready to head on out to 'Zona and Grand Canyon Country. Well, we made it. We're here for three nights, and I hope we can "get our sight-seeing on" after lots of quick overnights. We are sittin' at almost 7,000 feet again at the pretty darn cool (literally) Circle Pines KOA.  It think we are some of the last campers here for the season as the expected highs are in the twenties tonight.

It seems like every day we learn something new about Monty. Today realized that we needed to take on fresh water, turn on the water pump, and disconnect the sewer--otherwise, everything will freeze overnight. Supposedly, our internal systems will be fine as long as we keep the furnace on. Apparently we have a ritzy system so everything is all insulated. I hope this is the case, or else we'll find out the hard way that we should have been camping in Miami. 

So this is to Rob, Megan, and Deuce--it's not warm here, and there might be snow on the way. Yep, we've got a fireplace, but we might also be kickin' up our space heater! 

11/02 Back in the Desert!

Who knew that we would love the desert so much? We are in Barstow, California for the night and we are right near the Mojave Desert. Sam, once again, is/was my hero. He is a great driver--even in the windy conditions we had today. That being said, we've decided to do something drastic.

I mean REALLY drastic.

Not like buy a huge RV or something...

We have decided to ignore (cancel) our existing itinerary, and just see where the road takes us. It's different driving Monty and Larry-- to have a set schedule makes things more complicated. When we started this trip, we had only a few places we wanted to go: Moab, Santa Fe, Sedona, and Albuquerque. When we started to plan, it became harder and harder to limit things. All of a sudden, our route changed so we could see both northern and southern Arizona and New Mexico. We wanted to go east and west, to see the White Sands, Carlsbad, Tucson and more. But we are realizing that there's still time for us to return someday. Now, we have reverted back to our original plan. Depending on the wind, we'll see our original locations, but maybe we'll just have to come back later to see even more. We promise to keep you all in the loop.  Save some turkey for Sam!

11/01 Do You Want to Store Our Truck?

So I KNOW that my Chicago friends out there are excited to store a HUGE diesel truck in their parking spot right? Oh, I forgot. It won't fit in YOUR parking spot, either! And did you know there are street regs about parking a pickup on the street in Chicago? Oh yeah, I know you can get a special permit from your alderman, but guess what? Larry is STILL over the weight limit for that special privilege. LOL So maybe We can buy this for the city and then keep Larry in Schaumburg or better yet, I'm thinkin' it will go well in Clare and Dave's driveway.

10/31 A Bullet-Pointed Overview of our Time in Petaluma

• Lots of fun with Jonathan and Diane!!! Thanks to both of you!
• Three meals at Dempsey's in Petaluma (Yum!)
• Lots of time at FABULOUS Reed's Trailers in Petaluma (Thanks to Mike & Rick!)
• Half a day at McLea's Tires in Petaluma
• One meal at Henny Penny (the best veggie burger I'd had!)
• Three different sleeping arrangements at the KOA in Petaluma (great service, once again)
• Two meals at the Burger King in Petaluma
• One meal at La Rosa Market in Forestville, CA after wine tasting (Gracias para the Lagunitas Pale Ale! You made Jonathan's day!)
• And finally, two different fabulous wineries in Sonoma County.  We love Battaglini Winery and Joseph Swan Vineyards

10/31 Happy Caliweeeeen!

Not our campsite......

First of all, Happy Halloween to Harper, Avery, Mia, Seamus, Emily & Roger and, well, pretty much all of the kids who have popped out of our our friends'/family's wombs lately. I hope your mommies & daddies let you eat yummy candy like Reeses, not lame stuff like apples or even crappy Tootsie Rolls. Let's just be honest--Tootsie Rolls totally blow beans if there happens to be a Reeses or Kick Kat option...
I'm not sure we'll be handing out Snickers bars to any senior citizens tonight at the KOA in Los Banos, California, but if needed, I can offer up a few bags of split peas or quinoa...
As of today, we have officially moved Monty from Petaluma on our way to Williams, Arizona(the Grand Canyon area). We decided to take it slow and only go about 130 miles per day so we could get used to driving this hefty monstrosity on the expressway. So far, so good! In just a few days, I managed to learn all about electric trailer brakes, air suspension, tow mode, extendable mirrors and truck speed limits. Who knew that Larry and Monty were perfectly coordinated to work together just like Ginger and Fred...?

10/30 Loss of Hipster Points

It's 6:30 in the morning, and my brain is awake wanting coffee while Sam's is still catching z's upstairs in the bedroom. So I don't bother my sleeping fifth-wheel driver, I'm down in the living area typing on my computer and staying out of Sam's way. As I am sitting here, I started reflecting on everything we've just done. With a bit of quiet space, of course, the enormity of it all has snuck up on me.
I must admit, I am terribly in love with Monty. He's cozy like a house, yet is (relatively) mobile. We got a great deal, and I know that we will get a ton of use out of him. But, let's just admit it--in a lot of ways, he's really silly. And, I think we're the youngest couple ever to buy a fifth wheel this huge (although I found this blog post from a young couple who bought a fiver from their grandparents and had to learn how to tow it). To make matters worse, when all this is said and done, I'm pretty sure that our hipster points have dropped by fifty million or so.
I keep having these flashbacks to when I was living in the Dominican Republic. Everyone there wore tons of color and tropical prints. Of course, I had to invest in a couple of breezy hot pink, green, yellow, and purple floral print pant-skirts. In Santiago, I wore them with a grin on my face--feeling all free and flowy and Caribbean. When I got home to cold and drab Michigan, my outfits just didn't have the same, let's just say, pizzazz. All of a sudden, I was a petite tropical flower in a sea of Gap jeans and gray hoodies. As cool as Monty seems now, if we can't use him in Wisconsin or Michigan, it's just not going to matter how great he seems here. We've done our research, and I think everything will work out just fine, but I know that we still might have to make some compromises.
But as I rock back and forth on my recliner with a goofy grin on my face, all of a sudden, the epiphany hits--I am smiling and relaxed. Apparently I've just gotta be who I am. If that's an honorary AARP member, then that's OK-- as long as Sam is one too...

10/29 The Subtlety of Diesel

You've all heard the sound of a diesel truck. You know--shakee-ah shake-ah burururururu shake-uh cough cough. It's great when it's that farm dude's vehicle next to you that's causing all the racket, but when you realize YOU'RE the jackass who is waking everyone up, things can go two ways-- pump up the diesel pride, or hide head in shame at blatant disregard of community noise levels. Two days ago, I was definitely in the second camp. Luckily I'm small enough that I only need to bow my head a bit and I am dwarfed by Larry's monsterous interior.
Yesterday, however, as I began to pick out GMCs, Rams, and the all powerful FORD F-250s, I felt my diesel pride BURNIN'! So what if we paid more for fuel? So what if you could hear us coming before we crossed the continental divide!? We could pull your whole barn and STILL get 17 miles to the gallon!
Yeah, that's what I'm sayin'. You'd better look behind you and make sure we haven't towed your stuff away while you're busy coverin' yer ears over our "noise!"

10/28 Dig the Big Rig

Yes. That's Jonathan and Sam aligning chocks, plugging in connections, and figuring out why the heck we are pulling a trailer the size of my first condo across the Southwest. Sam is my hero, and drove Monty here from the dealership without incident. Honestly, if it were me, I would've had some sort of altercation with the parking gate at the KOA. Sam managed to slide on in between the two yellow poles and chug into our nice pull-through spot.

It's been a really long day. Tomorrow, we have to pack everything up because we are taking both Larry and Monty to the local tire place to add HUMVEE style mega-tires and to fill them with superhero nitrogen. The plan is to avoid the sort of blow-outs that we had on the way here with the popup.

More news tomorrow as we get settled.  

Jonathan was amazing today--we could not have done it without him. Many, many thanks to him and Diane.

10/27 Meet Larry

Larry, our FORD F-250 POWER STROKE TURBO DIESEL V8 LARIAT SUPER DUTY is parked in front of our Kamping Kabin. Yes, I said Kamping Kabin. And yes, I said Ford F-250. Even though we seem to own several RVs and a small fleet of trucks, we are spending the night in one of the KOA cabins since we have traded in The Clippah. Tomorrow, if all goes well, we pick up Monty, and go through a special RV course on how to pull a ridiculous load with a ridiculous truck. Apparently, it involves cones and a parking lot. But that's tomorrow. If we pass the test, Larry gets to pull Monty over to our new 40 foot pull-through RV site at the KOA, and we will "camp" for the first time.
Today, we picked up the truck and are all paid up with our California taxes, $80 diesel smog test, and lot's of fun other extras that we won't need in Chicago.
By the way, do you see that wonky front wheel angle? That's my doing. I just took Lair for a spin around the KOA.  Scary, eh? Stay off the I-5, folks!

10/16 The Clippah Staying West

So, yeah, uhmmm. I don't know how else to say this except for as bluntly as possible:
The Clippah is being retired for a fifth wheel named Monty. If you don't know what a fifth wheel is, then I'm sure my adoring brother will explain it to you. He LOVES them, and I know he will be very willing to tell you why we made a wonderful decision.
At this time, I'm pretty sure my mother and father think that we have played an April Fool's joke on them a bit too late. Either that, or they think that we have been admitted as honorary members of AARP. Neither is the case LOL.
There is an extremely long story here that I won't share right now, but it involves RV shopping yesterday with Jonathan and Diane at local Reed's Trailer Sales (fabulous, fabulous service) after enjoying our lunch perhaps a little TOO much...
We are a bit behind today after lots of big decision making, but we promise to share more details and information soon.

10/24 Pleasantly Perfect in Petaluma

After our first intense "city drive" in awhile, we made it to Petaluma, located north of San Francisco. We're staying at another KOA. This time we are here for five nights. One of the reasons we decided to come here is because Sam's dad, Jonathan, and his wife, Diane live here so we are excited to see them tomorrow. Another important goal of the trip is to "do" wine country.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love me some WINE. It might not love me back, but I don't seem to mind that much. We are right by Sonoma and Napa, and we heard that some of the vineyards are even dog friendly. Yet, I know that one of the best ways to see wine country is by bike. We'll have to decide what to do because we didn't bring Nora's trailer, and as far as I heard, she can't yet balance on the handlebars.

10/23 Secret Campground

To break up our drive from Vegas to Petaluma (near San Fran), we decided to stop in Visalia for the night. From the road, I was horrified to think that I had chosen to stay in an industrial park (OK, OK, I know, we had just stayed in a parking lot for two nights, but that was Vegas!), but as we pulled in, my shoulders relaxed in a sigh of relief and I realized that the campground was really quite beautiful. Once again, consistent KOA won the game.
By the way, Nora is already tired out from romping with another dog at the grassy off-leash dog park here.
Jonathan & Diane, we'll see you soon!

10/22 There's Something About Vegas

I have fond memories of this silly place, and I think I'm going to miss it a bit when we pull out of here tomorrow morning.  It's been fun to be in a city and to have malls, restaurants, and cell phone service. It was even fun to camp in a parking lot. We met a lot of cool people at the KOA here--people from Canada, Israel, and we even heard about a couple who had driven their antiquated Mercedes bus conversion across Asia who were now in the process of driving down to South America.
In the short time we were here we met a couple from Texas (here's a little shout-out to the Roses and their dog Kipper) who were doing a similar thing to what we are. They are blogging it too at ontheroadwiththeroses.blogspot.com
Tomorrow it's on to California, but Vegas, I'm warnin' you, we'll be back!
By the way, even Nora had a great time here playing at the dog park!

10/22 Bellagio Buffet

Before:
So we were warned that the wait could be about two hours on a Saturday or Sunday, but sometimes it's hard to imagine such a long wait for some flapjacks. Since I have so much time on my hands, I'm thinking that these lines really seem like a big Disneyworld trick. You know,  there are lots of twists and turns and when you finally reach the next room there is a whole new set of lines and twists and turns. But it must be worth it... After all, the TV monitor in front of us keeps advertising not ONE, not FIVE, but TEN different types of potatoes! We are gonna be livin' large at the Bellagio Buffet when we finally get to our table...

After: 
Not as bad a wait as I thought. Well, blogging on my Evo helped pass the time. So, I want it to be known that Sam sure can put away some tenderloin! I think he's been holding out on me. "Yes, dear, of course I want more quinoa. I LOVE quinoa..."

10/21 Beer Me!

After almost three weeks of rockseeing, Las Vegas is a welcomed diversion. Like usual, we are staying at a KOA. This time it's basically in a parking lot at Circus Circus. We read about this KOA ahead of time, and snorted about the possibility of staying here. It seemed sort of random and slightly hilarious, so we decided to do it.
Let's just put it this way--here at Circus Circus, we aren't really on the ritzy side of the strip. We're more on the, well, BUDGET side. In other words, it takes way more effort to get handed an "escort" trading card on this end of town than it did the last time we stayed near the MGM. It took at least three walk-bys before a dude even offered me anything...

10/20 Bryce Canyon National Park

Fast and furious. We did it. It's interesting because compared to Zion or Arches, we weren't really amazed by Bryce until you drive in a bit. You have to drive up the mountain to the overlook to get to the sections that are the most famous (the hoodoos or columns that everyone has seen).  There are a couple of hikes that we decided NOT to do because we had already done the bike ride in the morning. There is definitely a lot more to do if we were to spend more time here.

10/20 Sam's a Badarse

If riding his bike up Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone wasn't enough, Sam has proven his athleticism one more time. Right now, I am sitting in the 4-Runner, winded but content. Sam, on the other hand, is still riding the Red Canyon bike path that winds its way up to the summit of yet another mountain in Southern Utah. Surprisingly this bike path was my idea, "Oh! It's only 5 miles up, I can do that! It goes through the Hoodoos! Ohhhhh!" Well, my out-of-shape butt climbed it for thirty minutes, then stole the car keys from Sam and rode back.
I must have timed this perfectly because a busload of French tourists just pulled into the visitor center. See??! Now I look like the badarse instead of Sam. Now if only I could time other stuff like this....

10/19 Sometimes Laundry Baskets Make All the Difference

Today we drove the brief two hour distance from Zion to Cannonville, UT.  We are once again staying at a KOA. There's something kind of homey about the KOA thing. I know that I can do laundry, I know that I can take a shower, I know that I can get wifi, and I know that customer service will be pretty decent.  It's not necessarily camping--it's more about having a consistent place to stay on the road.  Think of a Holiday Inn where you have to provide your own bed (!). This KOA, though not in the most happening location, stares down the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (I'm eyeing at it as I write this post), and the very cool Kodachrome Basin State Park (we checked that out today after we arrived) is just eight miles away. Tomorrow, our plan is to visit Bryce Canyon, but today I was lucky enough to wash clothes in the cleanest laundry room I've ever seen--they even had sturdy black laundry baskets for me to deliver Sam's freshly cleaned t-shirts to The Clippah.

10/18 ZNP: The Well-Oiled Machine

You know how I feel about efficiency, and Zion National Park seems to have modeled their experience on the German Rail System. With mandatory public transportation throughout the park, we didn't suffer the same "bear jams" that we did in Yellowstone. To make ZNP more efficient,there are buses into the park from the cute town of Springdale (a walkable and slightly trendy town outside the park). Additionally, due to the tunnel system into the park, larger vehicles are either prohibited from entering, or, they must pay extra for an escort. And finally, during the high season, travelers are required to park at the visitor center and board the Scenic Drive Shuttle that runs through the park (I am calling this ZBRT). Now, as much as I miss my mother's narration "DAY-vid, Quick! Turn into Canyon Village!!! We need to drop off the recycling!!!" The narrated ZBRT is a great way to keep crowds to a minimum and the information flowing.
As I write this, I am sitting in the sun at the Zion Lodge stop. We just hiked the georgous trail to the Emerald Pool, and now we are enjoying our lunch. We are planning on jumping back on the ZBRT and continuing north to the last overlook...
So we're back on the bus and I have to admit that I have a pang of regret about ignoring some of the hikes. Right now, Nora Woofington Swett is back at the campground in the air conditioned popup (actually, I'm much more concerned that she has been racking up our bill at the resort with hours of ATVing, Zip lining, and horseback riding), and we don't really have the time to hike the longer trails. Instead of hiking, we are on the shuttle, and admiring the tiny dots of the rock climbers who are scaling the canyon to our left. Sigh. Nora would have approved of Zion and the ZBRT. Maybe it's time we invested in her own (Needs) "Therapy Dog" vest.

10/17 Dangers of the Outdoors

You have heard all about the dangers of bears, buffalo--excuse me--bison, and mountain lions. But have you heard about the precarious experience that is The Water slide???? Even though I had been warned by many experienced outdoorsmen, I blatantly ignored their opinions about the most subtle attack of them all--BUTT BURN on a dry water slide. Without fully understanding its consequences, I perched on top of the Zion Ponderosa slide, ready to plummet into water. Sam had already completed this challenge three times, and I had yet to conquer my fears.  "It's easy!" He called from the pool below. Little did he know that my fate was sealed.  Without proper protection on my rear end, I was about to receive a little taste of mother nature's fury.

"Zwweeeehheee--blub-blub-OWWWWWW-zweehh-SPLASH!

And now, folks, I have rug burn on my butt.

10/16 A Popup Life

I know most of you are jealous of my McMansion that I've been living in. I'm rockin' a dual-purpose-indoor/outdoor stovetop, a portable refrigeration cooler, and even a mini slow cooker. Don't hate. I got the high-end features, and I aint gonna lie.
When we started this idea, I was secretly scheming to get some sort of cool hip trailer you know, like this, or this, or maybe even this. The problem is that although I am quite tiny, Sam is well, tall. This makes upgrading to a cool hip trailer really difficult. Most of the travel trailers out there have only about 6'6" of headroom (I don't really see the problem, but whatever...) The Clippah, on the other hand, has quite a high ceiling. We're talking 6'10" giving Sam a whopping two inches of head clearance! For us to upgrade from our very basic popup would mean purchasing a larger tow vehicle (can you imagine a Ford F150 jammed into our parking spot in Chicago?) or purchase a ritzy "high wall" popup camper.
Sometimes it would be tempting to have more "stuff" to make everything more homey.  For example, we've been sleeping in our sleeping bags at night because the temperature drops a lot. We also have to hike to the bathrooms at 4 am when we've had too much beer to drink the night before.  But then, on the other hand, we never have to clean the bathrooms, and I don't have to worry about the bed being made! The funny thing is that we don't use all the features that this came with.  We don't use the water hookup, we are not using our fridge (we purchased a plug-in coleman cooler instead), nor are we really using indoor stove hook-up (we always connect it to outside instead).  To cook, we saute up quick dinners outside on the stove, or I use my mini slow cooker.  In the evenings, we watch a tv show that we've downloaded to Sam's computer, or we just hang out.
I'm finding that I can live without a lot.
Just don't you take my Bodum electric tea kettle.  No one messes with my morning Starbucks Via...

10/16 Zion Ponderosa

This is our shwanky leg of the trip, with us diving into readily available shower stalls, and busting out our wi-fis with abandon.  We are here at the Zion Ponderosa Resort.  It sounds a little cheesy, but it's great after three days of not showering, and no internets!  It's actually quite beautiful here, and very close to the entrance to Zion National Park.  We will use this time to slow down a bit, do laundry, and maybe even go horseback riding!

10/15 Flat Tire!

So, I'm learning a lot on this trip.  I'm learning about stuff like "steel-belted radials" and the benefits to having multiple spares.  We were on our way to Zion when we heard a "ph-lushshhsh!" I looked at Sam and said, "What was that???!" We fixed it, and will be getting the bad one replaced.

10/14 The “Caw” of the Wild

Waking up in the quite a.m. of the Kayenta Campground is pretty much heaven.  The only noise around us is the “caw” of the gigantic ravens that occasionally swoop down onto the campground to scavenge some extra snacks.  Right now, a raven is roosted at the top of the light post and is scoping out his territory. 

When we first arrived, and I saw two of the big puffed up birds for the first time, I was terrified.  I immediately thought “Hitchcock!!!!” and high-tailed it the other way.  (There were two ravens having some sort of late dinner meeting on top of a campground shelter--I’m pretty sure I saw two dirty martinis and some deals go down—it looked pretty serious).  Anyway, the ravens are quite a presence in this whole region.  Maybe some of our bird watching family members can add more to this post.

10/14 Lots of Points!

Wow.  I don’t need to add much.  Nora gives it a thumbs up. We leave tomorrow in the a.m. and we didn't want to miss this opportunity to see this "Mini-Canyonlands."

10/13 Back at Kayenta

Our day wasn’t over quite over yet, as we returned to beautiful Kayenta (named after the type of rock that covers the park) Campground in Dead Horse Point State Park.  We knew that Nora had been sitting in the car all day, so she would want to do some hiking herself.  We decided to take a different trail this time. 

Skip this part unless you are a dog training SUPERFAN:  Sam and I have been working on HEEL with little, sweet, Nora (LOL), because most of the time, she has to be on leash when hiking these trails.  I personally do not see the fun in being pulled down a rocky pass, but hey, sometimes, I’m wrong.  Anyway, Sam and I have finally gotten on the same page when it comes to HEEL.  Apparently I was using the command as a punishment (i.e., yanking her to a stop and grunting, “HEEL,” whereas Sam was correcting her tendency to walk ahead (pull) by stopping and moving backward, then using “heel” to start her off correctly.  Anyway, you know pups can be a slow learner, but Moms was really messing her up.  Long story short, she’s getting a bit better, and she is learning to hike on and off the leash.

Keep reading here if you have skipped the previous section: So with Nora in a perfect HEEL, we headed on out to an amazing overlook of the Colorado River.  Pictures should be in the Dead Horse Point  State Park Campground album. 

10/13 A Discussion on the Road

“So, I kind of like Utah”  

“Yeah, me too”

“How do you feel about not going to Tahoe & Yosemite, but instead staying in Utah a bit longer?”

“Yeah, that sounds great”

And so it went.  After Moab, we are headed down to Zion for four nights, and in that time, we had planned on zooming up to Bryce Canyon for a quick day trip (it’s about two hours away from Zion).  After this discussion, we realized that we should just concentrate on enjoying Zion, and then head to Bryce Canyon for two nights after that.  

So here is our new itinerary (the Google Calendar has been updated):

Arrive Zion on Sat, Oct 15 and stay for 4 nights

Arrive Cannonville (near Bryce Canyon) on Wed, Oct 19 and stay for 2 nights

Arrive Las Vegas on Fri, Oct 21 and stay for 2 nights

Arrive Visalia (near Fresno on the route to Petaluma) on Sun, Oct 23 and stay 1 night

Arrive Petaluma on Mon, Oct 24 and stay for 5 nights

10/13 Moab Madness!

Today, we tried to fit in everything we could.  First we had breakfast at our campsite, and then we took Nora and the bikes to a separated bike route on the side of 191. This is the road that twists around the edge of Arches National Park, and continues south to the town of Moab.  We saw the bike route when we were driving in yesterday, and Sam immediately decided that it would be a destination for us.  This morning, I biked a section of it, but Sam did more (I was worried about Nora hanging out in a car for too long).  

After that, we drove into Arches National Park.  Our surly British Rough Guide has a great quote about Arches, and describes it as, “the national park for people who aren’t so sure they like national parks.” Unlike other parks (think Yellowstone), it is only a short drive in before you start actually seeing the sites, and once you are there, you can spend the day doing things that suit one’s level of interest/energy.  Since we had the dog with us, we did a lot of popping in and out of the car (no dogs on any trails).  But it was enough to give us a taste for the park. Here is our Arches photo album.

After Sam and I reflected on the park itself, we realized that it was beautiful, but the magnificence of the entire region (and even the drive in from Colorado) had blown us away.  The national park was incredible, but it was so much more crowded (and much less so than normal being that summer was over) than our quiet campground. In fact, we were OK with just seeing the major sites.  We know that if we ever want to go back and hike some of the incredible trails, we will have to do it sans “the dog.”

10/12 Dead Horse Point State Park

I had done a lot of research about where to stay when we were in Moab, and through Trip Advisor and Yelp, I found out about Kayenta Campground in Dead Horse Point State Park. One of the neat things about the park is that is nestled between Arches and Canyonland on its own mini plateau.  This makes exploring this park a lot more intimate and rewarding than just driving through the national parks and hopping out to take pictures every so often. In this small 21-site campground, we had electricity, but no showers, however; we also had amazing views and incredible trails right outside our door.  And, unlike the national parks, dogs are allowed on the trails here. That alone led to our meeting Maggie, the Great Pyrenees dog, and Tucker, the magnificent, friendly, and fluffy Bernese mountain dog. Oh, and of course, their owners…Here's the album of DHPSP.

10/12 First Impressions of Utah

The drive from Cortez, Colorado, to Moab, Utah, is only a little over three hours on two-lane state highways.  Yet, the landscape changes so much that it feels as though we had taken a trip to Mars. Now I know that certain family members of mine are not very interested in Utah (cough…cough…), but I have to say that this is some of the most incredible scenery I have ever driven through.  I kept muttering things, like, “This reminds me of Petra!!” or just, “Whoa,” over and over.  With Canyonlands National Park to our left, and Arches National Park looming in the north, the orange landscape seemed pretty impressive to two kids from Chi-town.

10/14 Island in the Sky

PARTY SIZE!!!

Canyonlands is a huge national park.  Island in the Sky district is part of the drivable area filled with hiking paths, viewpoints, and wonderful picnic areas.  We spent much of the day there, and our pictures are in this album.  We listened to a 15-minute presentation with a NPS ranger explaining the geology of the canyons. Sam wants to come back and drive the 100+ mile, 4x4-only White Rim road and camp on BLM lands. Here are the photos from the day.

10/12 No internets in Moab

Hi all, today we head to Moab for three nights and we are staying Dead Horse State Park. We will not have wifi or 3G, so we'll post all of our adventures when we come back to civilization.