Homeward Bound 

Usually we will make a summer trip back to the Spokane area to visit Shelby, family and friends. Washington State is still officially listed as our "residence" and still the legal location for our business. Last year we spent three months of the summer, but this year we will cut that down to two months. Shelby wants to spend her 21st birthday in Las Vegas, so we will caravan down there mid-September. After that we will hit the road again, heading back across the country and settle on a winter resting spot.

So funny how places change. We loved Galveston in the winter. Cooler temps, just the locals on the island...peaceful. Summer is a completely different story! HOT, muggy (they set a temp record this year at 102). Crowds of people everywhere, always in a hurry to get from place to place. And I will repeat here again. Texas drivers are terrible!!!

A few last shots before we left the island...

West Point at the end of Galveston Island. Awesome sunsets. You could walk out 100 yards on sand bars.

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Our trip back to Spokane will take 10 days with a few multi-day stops Utah and Colorado. Our first night on the road we checked into a National Park (Waxahatchie Creek) outside of Dallas. We love staying in actual parks, but because of our rig length most cannot take us. This was a great park!

A couple of days later we hit the "grind". There is so much to see almost everyday on the road. And most would think it's paradise all the time. We hesitate to ever complain because this lifestyle is truly wonderful. However...consider your house "bouncing" down a freeway most of the time.

Maintenance is an ongoing, daily ritual.

Check the right handle bar (throttle). Last thing holding the scooter to the rack in back. Campground hosts enjoyed the seat.

We literally limped into Albuquerque, Arizona. A few miles earlier, the rear strap broke on the scooter deck. The next bump sent it off the carrier, hanging only by the handlebar strap. It took the next two motorists to alert us of the problem dragging behind our trailer. We still have a trailer tire not wearing correctly, and on it's last thread when we pulled in. However, the biggest problem turned out to be the right front truck bearing/hub assembly that was shot and made the wheel sound like it would fall off at any moment. We really scrambled to line up appointments in a town we knew nothing about. In the end, we got everything taken care of and were back on the road Saturday afternoon. So, with four new trailer tires, a truck that was quiet once again, and a broken scooter securely strapped, we headed to Mesa Verde, NP. in Colorado.



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These were pics of just one of the dozens of fires burning all over Colorado : (

The Mesa Verde park was fantastic! I continue to be amazed at how little I know about the country I live in. I will say I was surprised by how much "risk" the park takes on it's guided tours. (We took two tours of the ruins). There were many ladders to scale up the rock walls (one was 32 feet). Some pretty questionable rock stairways and small tunnels to crawl through.

Don't get me wrong, Sheila and I loved it, and what an awesome workout as well. But there were many small children negotiating all of these trails too.

Long Palace. The most famous area.

They say that "Long Palace" was more of community gathering place. For the palace families as well as all the smaller "houses" throughout the canyon. 10-40 thousand people.

It absolutely amazed me how these people got around the canyon by scaling walls.

Photog Sheila zooming in on the walls across the canyon.

There were tiny houses like this one throughout the entire canyon.

 Walking through the rooms and buildings was special and something I won't forget anytime soon. I especially enjoyed climbing down into a "Kiva". These were their cerimonial rooms.

 



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Next stop was Arches, NP. in Utah.
Every turn revealed spectacular scenery. Even our campground was breathtaking.

Hands down, our best "Rear View" to date!

One of the great things about Arches NP was the hiking freedom they still allow. As long as you stick pretty close to the marked trails, you can climb on and around all of the rock formations. (which is pretty much all of the park : )

This is a BIG recommend for National Parks if you've never been before.
We have tons of pics, seems the beauty here was endless. Below pics are of a picnic spot where we had dinner. ( We're getting better at using the camera timer )

 The colors of the landscape seemed to be always changing with the arching sun.

We explored and climbed until after dark. They never close the Arches NP gates.

We both love whitewater rafting. And Sheila had on her bucket list to "run" a big water river. We've done the Clark Fork, Salmon and Snake rivers back home. Those were class I - III rapids. So here we were next to the Colorado river. You guessed it, we booked a 4th of July all day trip down the Colorado. (rated class III - IV+ rapids). It was a blast! No pics after the drop in spot. We were afraid the camera would get destroyed, and Sheila did get tossed out once : )

This was our "drop in" spot. Shoulda got one of those waterproof cameras : )

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I'll close with another artsy pic I took in Arches, National Park.

Thanks for reading!