Grand Canyon

I left Albuquerque around 8 am and went to the Flying J just down the road.  I got in very easily and it wasn't busy.  Well I figured in an out, not.  Most of the gas stations now want your Zip Code number and being Canadian we don't have one and they don't accept our Postal Code.  I gave my bank an American address and said to put that as my prime address.  That didn't work so phoned them and of course they couldn't send the bill to my home address they would have to send it to the american address where I will be off and on.  A fix they said was to get a paperless bill soooo I did that and of course they will send me a pin number.  I wish I would get paid for all the hours I am on the phone to these people and Bell.  Now I wait.  To continue the story, they want you to leave your Visa card with them and that I won't do.  Well I was holding up the BIG line so one of the managers turned the pump on.  After an hour I was on my way.  Also some Flying J's propane fills are the wrong way so the MH's have to wait for the spot to be empty then pull in the wrong way.  Lots of fun on the road. 

There are not many rest areas on this route, but did stop at the Arizona Welcome Centre.  It was very interesting, I walked around and enjoyed the history of the area.  The hills were beautiful different colours as I drove.  I learned that Buttes are a single hill in the middle of no where, a Messa is flat level hill I guess you would call them.  They are not high but very flat and a Plateau is a lot of the flat rocks that go for miles.

I had enough of dry camping so stopped at the Meteor Crator Campground just past Winslow. It was a Passport America park.  It was a nice clean park and run by the rangers.  The crator was about five miles from there, but I had picked up a flu bug and was feeling really lousy so I just sat and enjoyed some TV over night.  The wind was blowing hard and the dust was in everything again.  I did do a wash had no underwear left.  I know it needs to be done when I have a couple left.  Yes I know it is more information than you need to know, but that is life on the road. You have to lug your laundry bag, soap and fabric softener to the laundry in the campground then wait.  I do a lot of reading.  You also hope that it isn't busy.

It was only an hour and a half to Williams where I camped at a Passport America Campground.  This organization has a lot of campgound you can get into for half price.  The full price was $35.00, it is the closest one to the Grand Canyon.  I paid $19.00 per night.  Williams is one of the few towns that is still part of Route 66 and goes right through it.  Interesting little buildings, but mostly tours to the Canyon.  The train leaves for the Canyon everyday from Williams.  I was there for four days and took a Jeep ride into the Canyon down to the Colorado River.  We took a van to the Canyon Caverns and took a tour.  You took an elevator down 16 stories.  It took about an hour of walking through these beautiful rocks and formations. This is a dry caveron so there is no water. The guide was interesting and gave the story of how it was found and how they took people down.  Well they didn't take people down they were showed where to go and they even had to take their own flashlights.  Today it has been modernized to the point that some people have their weddings down there.  They were trying to build a place where you could stay over night, but all it did was make it look awlful and it still isn't finished.  We saw a mummified bob cat and a rabbit.  They also put some fake skeltons in among the rocks.  Of course they had a gift shop, but I am trying to get rid of all the stuff I have now so don't buy anything.  This caveron was used as a bomb shelter, they stored food and water there.  It has been down there for years.  The joke is that you would die from lack of air if you had a lot of people staying there, not lack of water or food. The air changes every two weeks.

We picked up the jeep and had to get permits to go onto the Hualapai Indian territory.  The guide was very interesting and kept us laughing all the way down.  There were 7 in our jeep including two cute little girls from Tucson.  We stopped a lot on the way down to take pictures.  One of the places was the "Hole in The Wall" where the outlaws hid from the sherriff.  It was 19 miles down on a very bumpy rock road with a few washes where the water was washing over the road.  Washes are sudden rivers that come down from the mountains when it has been raining and can sweep you up and carry you for miles.  All the guides are very watchful of the weather and they won't go down if there is a threat of rain.  The girls loved it when he raced through the water spraying everywhere.  When we got to the bottom there were quite a few rafts that had stopped for lunch.  A lot were coming out at that point so it was busy.  It is the end of the season so they are having a last kick at the cat.  We had a very nice lunch, you had your pick of different meats and on whole wheat bread.  Usually its that awlful white bread.  They even separated the lettuce and tomatoes so no soggy bread.  Apples, oreos, chips and water or gaterade. On our way home we stopped at Saligman another small town on the old Route 66.  Picture below.  It was where they filmed the movie CARS.  I would love to go back and spend some time there.  Neat stores and restaurants.  The cost was $216.00 and I used a coupon for $10.  It was an all day trip from 9 in the morning till 6 at night.  It didn't do much for me feeling so sick, but hey I wasn't going to miss it.

The next day I headed for the top of the Grand Canyon.  I left really early to avoid the lineups and to get a parking spot.  It is a busy place every day.  I bought a seasons pass for $80.00 now I can get into all the National Parks in the U.S.  It will pay for itself fast because I will be going to a lot of these parks.  You can take a van tour into the park, but I found out there is one section you cannot go into except by trams.  So instead of paying $80 for a 4 hour day I got to start at one end and see it all.  It is so much faster taking these trams they run every 15 minutes and they are free.  What can I say it was amazing.  There were people hiking all the way down to the bottom, staying overnight and hiking back up. I talked to a lot of people and learned where to go and what restaurant was good.  As you can see by the pictures it is a beautiful peaceful place.

The picture to the left is the hole in the wall.  Next on is down the canyon to the Colorado river with the big rafts getting ready to go down the river.

Will continue this later don't want you all to get tired reading.  You all have a great weekend.

Balloon Fiesta Continues

The balloon field is 56 football fields long and they have them lettered from "A" on down the alphabet and the width is 10 numbers wide. It is all grassed so they don't have to put their tarps down.   There is just enough room for your truck and to lay out your balloon.  Its amazing to see 10 balloons in a row inflating.  I didn't work the first day so I was able to take a lot of pictures.  They let the public wander the fields and check out the balloons every time they ascend.  There were hundreds of people there every morning at 6 am and at night at 4pm.  If the wind is low they will take off in the morning and at night they just have the glow.  The glow is all the balloons inflated and at the count of three they all light their burners.  See pictures below.  There are vendors all around the field selling anything and everything.  Food mostly boritto's and mexican things.  They were selling last years clothing for $10 but didn't get there in time.  I did get a nice demum shirt with balloons on it at the local Casino 30%.  I crewed for the Strawberry a picture below.   These balloons run from $15,000 to over $100,000.  The higher priced were the speciality balloons. 

They had the helium balloons there they do a Great American Race every year.  These look like regular balloons that you blow up and they fill them up with a long hose.  I watched them trying to do this in the wind, it was probably about 20 to 25 miles per hour.  They had 6 of them and after they are finished they have to weigh them.  It cost $6,000 to fill them so you are looking at $36,000 for them all.  Well they waited two days for the wind to die down and that didn't happen.  They cancelled the race and emptied the balloons.  The Fiesta pays for the helium and they said only one fill.  These balloons go for miles and days.  They take all their supplies with them, food, cloths and anything else that they need.  The last balloon that is in the air is the winner.  Some have gone as far as Nove Scotia.  As they lose the helium they have to get rid of the weight so they throw things out, I guess where it is safe.  I would have loved to see them take off, but wasn't to be.

I crewed for almost the whole week, morning and night and I suffered the next week, but it was worth it just to get a ride.  Will I go back, if I am in the neighbour hood yes and crew again.  The pilots get all kinds of free stuff and usually take their crew, but not my guy he supposedly had personal problems and wasn't very nice.  Some are great some are not.  Lots of the balloons came over my motorhome and landed in the field in front of me. Some our group helped when they came into land, others just set down and picked up a rider.  The Colorado river is close so a few of them dipped into it, it is supposed to be a tradition, but not recommended.

They have a Balloon Museum on the grounds with the history from the start of ballooning until the present day.  A very interesting place with hands on things you can do.  Lots for the kids too.  Cost was $2.00 for seniors.
It rained one day so didn't have to get up and rush.  There were busses that picked you up near your motorhome and dropped you off when you came back.  I paid $25.00 a day because I stayed over 9 days and the first and last days I got for $15.00.  No hookups but cheaper than some of the tours. Below on the left is the balloon I rode in the Strawberry.  I get air sick but this you just float like on a cloud hard to describe. So I worried about nothing.

I hung out with a group called the Boomers people who were born from 1940 to 1960, what a fun group even though they are all couples.  I had a couple of problems in the motorhome so asked and there was always someone that would help.  Got my 12V plug for my back TV fixed and Barry, the guy that came over, gave me a lesson on Voltgage.  I now have a voltage meter permanently mounted on my wall so I can tell when I need to put the generator on.  I did drain my car battery some how but now I can keep a check on it.  Also found out that my propane tank I use for my portable heater had a bad valve so it is useless unless I pay $25.00 to get it fixed.  I bought it because it was small and I could handle it.  I have three 20 lb. tanks at home of course.

Albuqurque is at 5,000 elevation and the air is very thin.  Went for a walk one day and could hardly breath.  Didn't do that again.  Also very dry and your skin flakes and your nose bleeds.  They say you get used to the height, but I could never get used to the dryness.  I also picked up a bad bug which really knocked me down.  It was going around the group. My bucket list has two things crossed off now.  The cow is Canadian sponsored.

WHOW WHOW Balloon Fiesta

The above shots are from the Palo Duro Canyon in Amerillo, Texas.

My friend Lyn, who was at the same campground, loves to sight see so we headed off to the Sandia Peaks Tramway,  All I can say is WHOW again the west amazes me to no end.  This tran can carry 50 people to the top and the elevation is 10,378 ft.  It carries 250,000 people a year.  There are two towers on the way up.  It was constructed between 1964-1966 at a cost of 2 million dollars.  It is a double reversible passenger aerial tramway.  Five thousand helicopter trips were made during construction of the 2 towers and the cable installations.  There is no water up there so they have to haul it up on the trams.  Lots of ski hills with long chair lifts on the other side of this mountain.  There was a restaurant at the top and one at the bottom.  We had lunch before we went up because we were told the one at the top was expensive.  I ordered toastadios, it was hard tortilla with chicken and cheese on it.  It also had refried beans, quacamole and sour cream.  They goofed up the order so it took us longer. It was under $10 and  very good.  The views going up and down were beautiful and you could see all of Albuquerque.  It takes 15 minutes one way and at the top they have a museum showing how this all came to be.  There was even snow under the decks.  Major ski hills down the other side.  It was interesting while we watched the tram come up the mountain to pick us up there was a guy riding on the top outside.  We asked about it and they said they are always checking the cables and all the mechanical stuff and that is the only way to do it.

I am finally figuring out the pictures, can make them smaller and move them around, but they just don't want to go where I put them anyway some are here.  Later I will be putting all my pictures on Flickr and you can see the rest if you want.

I came into the Balloon Fiesta on the first of October caravaned in with Lyn.  We parked with a group called the Boomers, a chapter of the Escapees group that I belong to.  There are 30 MH's here and we are parked facing one of the landing fields.  Thought mmm I can get some great shots and boy did I ever.  We went over to the park and took the video to learn what we have to do to crew for the balloons.  They need lots of help laying the balloon out, dragging the heavy bag that it is stored in.  If the ground has any sharp objects like stones we lay out a tarp before the balloon goes out.  It is velcroed about four places on the balloon to keep it together so they come off and you pull it out as flat as you can.  There is a rope on the top of the balloon that holds the balloon as it goes up so it doesn't get away from you.  They have a big fan that blows air into the balloon.  Two people have to hold the ropes and the opening open.  When the balloon is full the pilot lights the burners and gives it hot air which makes it rise, all the while we are holding the basket down and it is tied to the truck bumper.  If you are lucky he will say get in.  The first time up he let me go with him.  WHOW I was worried about getting air sick, but there really isn't any motion you just float along.  The view is amazing.  He had streamers to drop on a target.  The balloons are dependent on the wind and the currents and that decides where you launch the balloon.  We launched outside the park and dropped the streamer on the launching grounds.  The wind was pretty strong and we went so fast he couldn't get down close enough to hit the target.

In Albuquerque there is what they call a box where the winds move back and forth over a certain area.  Some days it works and others it takes you outside it.  Well we followed the Rio Grande River for quite a while then landed on the Indian Reservation, a place that we are told not to if at all possible.  You have to call the band office and they have to come out with a key to unlock the gates and then follow you in.  Well we landed pretty hard and got dragged a few feet before he took the air out of the balloon.  Our chase crew came in after we had most of the balloon ready for storage on the truck.   The reservation was paid a quarter million last year to be able to use their land, this year they wanted a lot more and the Fiesta said no so they closed the property.  Needless to say the Balloonists are boycotting the Casino.

This is just a small part of this past week and will add more hopefully tomorrow before I head to the Grand Canyon, time to go to bed. I have never gone to bed at 9:30 in years but after this busy week I am totally exhausted.