October 16

We left Central City, CO and travelled South to Pagosa Springs, CO where we stayed two nights in a Lakeside RV Camp right on a river.  The drive to get there was on Colorado Hwy Route 285, which was an awesome drive. Some really fantastic scenery along this route. Colorado is a beautiful state. 

View from our camp site in Pagosa Springs, Colorado

After Pagosa Springs, we continued Southwest to Canyon De Chelly National Monument (Pronounced 'Shea') in Northeast Arizona.  Canyon De Chelly is on Navajo Land and although not as grand as some we've seen elsewhere, still a beautiful area.  We stayed in the Monument campground which had no hookups, but temps were mild and comfortable so we didn't need the A/C.  This campground had thousands of those little, hard, cockleburrs all over the ground. They stuck to our shoes and got carried inside. Walking around in the morning I started finding them in my bare feet and they felt like walking on nails.  I probably picked up a hundred of these things out of the carpet.  I still found several on occasion for several days after we left.

There are several trails into the Canyon, but all but one must have an Indian guide with you in order to visit.  We took the one free trail called the Whitehouse trail. A gorgeous winding trail from the Canyon rim to the bottom where there were some ancient pueblo dwelling structures near the bottom. At the bottom, there were several Navajo Indian tables set up in the shade selling their art work and jewelry.

The hike out was just as gorgeous, but uphill. It took us almost 2 hrs to hike up the 1 1/2 miles trail.

The trail into the Canyon went thru three of these tunnels

Hiking sticks really help a lot with balance and pressure on the knees!

The trail is steeper than it looks

At the bottom this foot bridge crosses a wash

Ancient Pueblo dwellings the Navajo call "The White House"

One of the petroglyphs at the White House

One of several rest stops on the trail

From Canyon De Chelly we continued on Southwest to Show Low, AZ where we stayed two nights at Fool Hollow State Park. This was a great park at about 7400 ft. altitude amongst tall Ponderosa Pine Trees.  The sites were long and wide with lots of room around the sites. One of the finest parks we've visited.  It was time for an oil change in the truck, so one day I stopped into the Ford dealer for the oil change.  They also checked my brakes and said my front brakes were getting thin, but I decided to wait until Camp Verde to have that done.



About 150 miles further and we're here now for two weeks at Distant Drums RV Resort in Camp Verde, AZ.  The first five days was our Heartland RV Club rally. We had 23 rigs show up and we had a great five days with new and old acquaintances. Lots of food, fun, and conversation around campfires each night.  This was our fifth Rally this year and the last until we do the Heartland friends campout in January at Quartzsite, AZ then the Tucson Rodeo Rally next February.

Us, with our rally badges

Singing around the campfire

One day we went bowling. This is June showing off her form.

My team mate Rick lining up for a strike

Team Support

 A free shuttle takes us from the campground 1/2 mile to the Casino where they have a fantastic buffet. We did lunch there once and breakfast at least five times. Everything imaginable was on the buffet, traditional eggs any way you wanted, sausage, bacon, biscuits, gravy, SOS, fruit, salad bar, omlets, chicken fried steak, potatoes, and more; so we would fill up then skip lunch on those days. 

After the rally, everyone left to other places while we stayed another 9 days.  I found a garage to do my truck front brakes and happened to get a good deal as they were offering free brake linings to honor breast cancer month. They said that saved me about $50...

 

 

Not far is Red Rock State Park near Sedona, AZ. There is no Campground here, but several nice hiking loops.  We enjoyed a two hour hike and the beautiful formations from the bluff.

We'll leave Camp Verde on October 18th and head up tot he Grand Canyon for five nights, then we'll work our way to Apache Junction, AZ where we'll stay for the winter.



HAPPY HALLOWEEN!