23 October 2021 Etta Testing

 We got up and took Etta up to the Banfield Vet on the north west side of Albuquerque. We arrived at what we thought was on time, but were surprised to learn we were an hour late. Neither of our iPhones had updated, nor the clock in the truck, so we completely missed the time change when we left Arizona behind! But they took her anyway. We headed out to get some breakfast but got a call from the vet saying they needed the Insulin we had since they did not have any for her glucose test. Surprising that a vet does not have any insulin. We picked Etta up later in the day and the vet told us to increase her insulin doses to 5 Units twice a day and bring her back in two weeks for a follow up test. The Cushing’s test results will take five days to come back. Etta is definitely feeling and acting better on the increased dosage which is a huge relief to us as we feared we might have to put her down. 

22 October 2021 Holbrook AZ to Albuquerque NM

 We waited to hit the road this morning until we could give Etta her insulin shot. We made several stops along the way for Etta to relieve herself as she is still drinking large amounts of water. Again, all the rest stops were closed and we had to get creative in finding places to pull over for her. The I-40 Interstate is in serious need of TLC and there were some serious bumps that tossed the Wanderer and us around a bit. When we arrived in Albuquerque, we found stuff strewn around in the trailer that we had never had problems with before. We are staying at the American RV Resort ($64 per night no discounts) on the west side of town where we have stayed before.  

21 October 2021 Petrified Forest NP

 Etta seemed to be better this morning, so we decided to do a quick tour of Petrified Forest National Park in the afternoon. We drove to the south entrance of Petrified Forest NP and stopped in the visitor center. They had a limited set of exhibits open and of course the park store. We got our passport stamp, hat and post cards before heading out back of the visitor center for the trail through petrified wood. We strolled the trail and could not help but compare the petrified wood here with what we had seen in Utah. We stopped and got our picture in front of “Old Faithful” log where Albert Einstein had stood for a picture in 1931. It was interesting how the wood in logs sitting right next to each other could have such different colors from different types of minerals absorbed. We then drove the 29 mile park road to the north, stopping at the Crystal Forest to do the one mile long loop trail and the Jasper Forest overlook. The shear quantity of petrified wood was amazing. The one log we saw in Escalante-Grand Staircase NM was bigger than anything in this park, but the shear quantity of petrified wood all along the 29 mile road was amazing. The park had signs warning you not to take any samples and even had inspection stations and sensors at the park entrances to check that you did not. But they also had signs that said that theft of the petrified wood was not as significant as rumors indicated. There was plenty of petrified wood for sale inside and outside the park that came from surrounding private land including some very large pieces back in Holbrook. The northern section of the park road overlooks the Lithodendron Wash with dramatic landscape. Only about half the property within the national park boundaries, as designated by congress in 1971, is controlled by the park service. The rest is still in private hands. There is also a piece of the old Route 66 “Mother Road” within the northern portion of the park that is preserved. 

Entrance Sign

Petrified Log

"Old Faithful" petrified log

The colors are amazing!

Petrified log coming out of the ground

Long Petrified Log on Crystal Forest Loop Trail

Looking out from Jasper Point

Petrified log balanced on an eroding hill

Lithodendron Wash

20 October 2021 Declaring an Emergency

 Etta seems worse this morning so we head to the local vet with the intention of declaring an emergency. When we arrived, they suddenly had the time to squeeze us into their schedule (which did not seem that busy). After an exam, urine tests and blood tests, the vet had us bring Etta back to the office. Her glucose levels were extremely high. One of the side effects of Cushing’s disease is diabetes. After talking with the vet, we decided that this had probably been building all summer since Etta has been more lethargic than normal. We attributed it to the extreme heat in Las Vegas but we now believe it was due to her glucose levels going up. The vet told us we would need to begin giving her insulin injections but the exact dosage would require a multiday test that they were not able to handle at the moment (the vet office was also the Animal Control office and all the kennels were full with strays that had been picked up). We would also need to repeat her Cushing’s test to see if the medicine dosage for that needed to be increased since that could also be the cause of the elevated glucose. The vet said we could begin here on 4 units of insulin, once a day as a way to make her feel better until we could get her to another testing facility. So she showed us how to give her the shots and supplied us with insulin and needles. When we got Etta back to the Wanderer, we could already see she was feeling better. Her tail was up and wagging and she had more energy. We called the vet in Albuquerque we had been to in March and made the earliest appointment we could (Saturday) to get her in for the tests. Then changed our reservations at the RV parks (here and in Albuquerque).

19 October 2021 Keeping an Eye on Etta

 We called the Holbrook vet office in the morning and were told that we could not get in to see the vet for 2 weeks. We checked around for other options and the other vets are over 40 miles away and also have limited hours. So we decided to keep an eye on her for today.

18 October 2021 Williams to Holbrook AZ

 We pulled out of Williams around 11 on our way to Holbrook. We were not in a big hurry since it was only a 2-3 hour drive. We noticed Saturday that Etta was suddenly drinking a lot of water and she had an accident while we were out to dinner last night. This is very much not like her. She was still eating fine but was very lethargic. So we decided to get her to the vet when we arrived in Holbrook. We stopped a couple of times for Etta to go to the bathroom on the way. Unfortunately, none of the rest stops in Arizona seem to be open. So we had to get creative in places to pull over safely. We are staying at the KOA in Holbrook ($42 per night, KOA discount). Once we got set up, we called the local vet office (there is only one) and found out they were not open on Monday Afternoons. Etta is still not acting normal and we are worried about her. 

16 October 2021 Grand Canyon Railroad

 One of the last things we had planned in this area was to take the Grand Canyon Railroad up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon the way people have traveled there since 1906. The train we were on was not a steam engine though. They only run the historic steam engines on the first Saturday of each month from 1 April through 30 September. So we had the 1950s era diesel locomotives. The train on this day had a lot of cars attached as there were a lot of visitors going up to the Grand Canyon. On the trip up we had seats up top in one of the dome cars. The view from the dome was actually quite good. We had hoped it would be scenic and we would see lots of wildlife from the upper deck. But it was not to be. We saw no wildlife on the trip up, and after being in this area for three weeks, we did not find the scenery very interesting. The train only rolls at about 25MPH, so the 64 miles up to the park took about 2.5 hours. The train crew tries to keep you entertained with stories and rotating musical entertainment. But at least it was relaxing, not having to wait in line at the entrance station or circle around looking for parking. Once we arrived at the park, we strolled up to the Bright Angel Lodge and then along the rim trail towards the Lookout and Kolb Studios and to the top of the Bright Angel trail before heading back to the El Tovar Hotel. We had made lunch reservations at the restaurant in the El Tovar in advance and as we strolled up, we received a message our table was ready and waiting for us. We got lucky and had a table right by the window looking out over the canyon. We had a leisure and delicious lunch with magnificent views over the canyon. After lunch we decided to walk off the calories and strolled along the Rim Trail towards the Geology Museum for a mile before turning back to make our train back. You only get about 3.5 hours in the park before the train leaves back to Williams and they will leave you behind if you are not on time.  On the way back, we had picked one of the luxury cars (the seats had knee room and padding) for the trip back. We did see one elk along the route before the obligatory simulated western train robbery. One of the robbers took Leslie’s had and fingered her Engagement ring commenting; “I bet I could get something for that!”. Leslie was not amused. We decided that this was the first train we had been on since the train from Venice to Milan in Italy. We don’t think we would do this train ride again. 

View from the dome as we leave Williams

Going around a corner

Arriving in Grand Canyon Train Station

El Tovar Hotel

View from the Rim Trail

View from the Rim Trail looking toward El Tovar (yes that is snow on the ground)

View from the rim trail

Historic Grand Canyon Train Station

All Aboard!

Historic Williams Train Station

One of the historic steam locomotives

14 October 2021 Boynton Canyon and Subway Cave

 We wanted to do a hike in the red rocks before we left, so we researched the various trails in the Sedona area to pick our something scenic, but not too difficult. During our research we came across references to a Subway cave, similar to the Subway Cave in Zion National Park. So we settled on Boynton Canyon trail to the side trail up to the Boynton Canyon Subway Cave. We reached the trailhead at noon and secured the only parking spot in the parking lot. We followed the Boynton Canyon trail for about two miles before turning off to the Subway Cave. The trail up to the Subway cave was very primitive and unmaintained.  We had the impression the NFS would prefer people did not go to the cave. There is a cliff dwelling in the canyon next to the Subway Cave and many people after climbing up to the cave, work their way around on a ledge to the cliff house and nearby petroglyphs. When we made it to the base of the Subway Cave, one look had Leslie deciding she had come far enough. The climb the last 30 feet was up a steeply inclined slick rock surface. After looking things over and seeing the other people in the cave that had made it up, David decided to go for it. As he was working his way up, Leslie heard two other guys slip and fall, hurting themselves, trying to get up. David made it up the steep rock, partially on his butt, to the extremely cool cave and the view out. David was glad Leslie had not tried it, because it would have hurt her bad knee. It was a dicey climb, fortunately going down was easier than going up. He did not go around to the cliff dwelling since the footing looked very slippery. But the pictures were worth it. The hike out turned into a slog. David could not help but think of another hike out with a group of his fried where they came up with a chant: “Cheese Burger, French Fries, Iced Tea, One more step, cheeks hold together”. We both laughed but could not get the chant out of our heads as we trudged (5.8 miles, 827 feet of elevation gain, 3486 calories burned) our way to the Behemoth. We decided we had earned pizza and beer so we made our way to Pisa Lisa’s for awesome wood fired pizza and local brewed beer. 

Entrance Sign to Boynton Canyon

Boynton Canyon

Cliff Dwelling near Subway Cave

View from back of Subway Cave

Looking out of Subway Cave toward Sedona

Subway Cave with the climb up to the cave

Its steeper and slipperier than it looks

David looking down from the edge of Subway Cave

13 October 2021 Pink Jeep Tour

 Leslie has been looking forward to this tour for the last three days. We arrived in Sedona in time to have lunch at The Vault on the patio with a beautiful view of the red mountains. We met our guide, Lucian, along with the other guests on the tour. The Jeeps they use are highly modified Jeep Wranglers. The modifications are done in their own modification and maintenance center. We took the Rim Tour which follows the old (1890s era) wagon trail out of the valley towards Flagstaff. In the 1890s and early 1900s, it would take three weeks to go to flagstaff and back. The road is minimally maintained, mostly by the tour operators, and less so by the National Forest Service. David secured the front passenger seat and Leslie jumped in the back and bounced around. Lucian gave us a running commentary about the history of Sedona, the road, and geology of the rocks along the way. The views were very scenic from the upper portion of the road. The ride was bumpy, but a lot smoother than if we had done that road in the Behemoth!

Our Pink Chariot

View from the Old Wagon Road

Red Rock formations

View from the Airport Mesa Overlook

11 October 2021 Jumping RV Parks

 We moved to another RV park in Williams today. We could not get three weeks in a row at Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, so we booked our final week at Railside RV Ranch ($46 per night, no discounts), about 2 miles away. It’s not as nice as GC but it keeps us in Williams for another week to finish up our explorations. There is a snow storm coming in tonight, so the weather is definitely changing. 

10 October 2021 Sedona AZ

 We set out to explore Sedona today. We looked into some hikes in the Sedona area but wanted to look around a bit first. We took 89A south from Flagstaff through Oak Creek Canyon. It was a beautiful drive but the road is very narrow and winding for the Behemoth. When we arrived in Sedona we spent 30 minutes finding a parking spot and then went to the Sedona visitor center to get some information. We noticed the Pink Jeep Tour company was across the street and headed over to investigate. Leslie was wanting to do a Pink Jeep tour of the Sedona backcountry since she and her mother had enjoyed one years earlier.  But when she looked online, they showed being completely booked up on the tours she was interested in. But when we checked at the office, they had availability for Wednesday for the Rim Scenic Tour, so we booked a tour. We then wandered down the street and found a place to get lunch. The town was packed full of people being a beautiful holiday weekend. After lunch we headed to see the Red Rock Scenic Loop. After heading onto the loop, we headed down to the Crescent Moon Park. The agent at the visitor center had recommended a hike in the park to get nice view of Cathedral Rock. The hike was only about a mile along Oak Creek. There was not a bridge to cross over the creek to hike around Cathedral Rock, but we did get one clear view, the rest of the hike was shaded by 100 + year old sycamore trees along the creek. We then drove the rest of the Red Rock Scenic Loop and were not overly impressed with the limited red rock views unless we kept our eyes on the rearview mirror. We drove back into town and headed down 179 to the south of town. We tried to find the Oak Creek Brewery, but drove past it without seeing it. With traffic so crazy, we decided to continue on down to visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross that is built on a large red rock outcrop. But we could not find a place big enough to park the Behemoth and the place was packed with people. So we decided to visit both of those when we come back for our Pink Jeep Tour and headed for the Wanderer. 

 

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Cathedral Rock

9 October 2021 Grand Canyon Take 2

 We had ambitions to get up early and head back to Grand Canyon NP this morning, but our best laid plans did not work out and we did not hit the entrance gate for the NP until 12:15. There was a ¾ mile long line to get through the 5 entrance gates. That’s when we suddenly realized this was Columbus Day weekend! So the park was going to be packed and parking was going to be painful. We were right, the park was packed and it took us 30 minutes to find a parking spot. Our plan was to visit the western portion of the South Rim. The only ways to get to visit the western portion was to either hike the Rim Trail or take a shuttle bus. Eyeing the line at the shuttle bus station, we decided to hike the Rim Trail for a ways, then pick up the shuttle at one of the overlooks. We hiked the Rim Trail from the top of Bright Angel Trail to Hopi Point (2.8 miles, 351 feet of elevation gain, 1120 calories burned). The trail is paved up until just before Hopi point. From that point on, the trail is rocky and rough. We decided not to rick Leslie’s knee and ankle on the rough trail and jumped on the shuttle to Hermits Rest. The views along the trail are gorgeous and we stopped repeatedly to gawk. We found a really nice site to sit and enjoy our lunch while watching the shadows in the canyon change with the sun. Hermits Rest was pretty cool and well worth the trip to visit. We then had to wait 30 minutes to get a shuttle back to the village. Once back, we considered going to the lodge to get a beer before leaving, but one look at the swarms of people in the village area was enough to convince us to head back to the Wanderer.  Having avoided big crowds has served us well so far and kept us safe and healthy.

You can see sections of the Bright Angel Trail

Leslie getting close to the edge

8 October 2021 Flagstaff Historical District

 We planned to head back to the Grand Canyon today, but weather was moving in and by the time we woke up it was already raining at the park. So we decided to go and explore the historic portion of Flagstaff along the former Route 66. We visited the area when we went to the Lumberyard Brewery but hadn’t walked around. So we went back to explore in more detail. After finding a parking spot on a side street for the Behemoth, we wandered into the historic district. We grabbed lunch at Altitudes Bar and Grill, then crossed the railroad tracks (which run through the center of the historic district) and wandered through the shops, restaurants and bars. The rain arrived as a light drizzle that really was not much more than an annoyance. We did not find much in the area that interested us.  It was surprising that downtown Williams, AZ was more interesting and quirky than downtown Flagstaff.  That being the case, we headed for home. 

4 October 2021 Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot NMs

 Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot are the last two National Park Service national monuments in the area. There is a BLM run NM close to Phoenix, called Agua Fria, but as typical of BLM, it is not developed and from what we could find from our research, just not a lot to see or do, so we decided to skip it. Montezuma Castle NM is actually composed of two units. Both units are just minutes from I-17. 

Montezuma Well is north of the main monument and is a sink hole that has water welling up from under ground. There are some cliff dwellings built into the walls of the sinkhole. Over 1 million gallons a day move through the well. There are some underground tunnels that carry the excess water out of the well to a nearby creek. Near the exit, there were inscriptions by tourists on the rock dating back to the 1890s. The water has heavy amounts of arsenic and carbon dioxide which could have proven deadly to the inhabitants. After walking the Rim Trail (1.2 miles, 102 feet of elevation gain, 595 calories burned), we headed to the main site.  After checking in at the visitor center and getting our passport stamp, we walked the only trail down to the pueblo ruins. The majority of the pueblo rooms are cliff dwellings built into the tall cliff overlooking the Verde Valley. The ruins used to be open to the public, but were closed to prevent further damage in 1951 after the interstate was built. The tallest and largest structure is four stories tall. It has been restored multiple times. The lower rooms have been left in their natural state but stabilized by the park service. It is interesting how the park service has changed its policies over the years from restoring the pueblo ruins to their previous glory to now leaving them in their natural state but stabilizes them to prevent further erosion. After visiting the ruins, we headed over to Cottonwood AZ. 

 

In Cottonwood, we stopped and ate lunch before going to the Tuzigoot NM. Tuzigoot Pueblo sits on a spit of land overlooking the river. At one point, it had almost a hundred rooms. There is a paved trail up to and through the ruins. After checking in at the visitor center, getting our passport stamp, and exploring the visitor center exhibits (we wondered why they were open when the visitor center exhibits were closed at the other NM), we hiked the short (0.5 mile) trail through the pueblo. By this point we are pueblo ruin exhausted after having seen them in various forms all year long. Rather than take the same route home, we headed through the former mining town of Jerome (now a major tourist attraction) and through the pass to Prescott Valley. We headed north in Prescott valley and turned off on a a National Forest road which took us into the mountains south of Williams. The road was paved most of the way and the portion that was dirt was in reasonably good shape. More storms were coming in from the west, so we hurried to get through the dirt portion of the road before the storms caught up with us. It was a pretty drive and well worth the effort. We saw some deer along side the road and were surprised how many campers were in the NF in the middle of the week. The road drops down into the historic section of Williams. 

Entrance Sign

Cliff Dwellings next to the well

Montezuma Well

Entrance Sign

Montezuma Castle

How would you like to climb that to get home each day?

Entrance Sign

Leslie at Tuzigoot Pueblo

Tuzigoot Pueblo

Tuzigoot Pueblo