November 28, 2005

November 28, 2005

Tuba City to Grand Canyon, Arizona

YEAR 2 DAY 164

 

Today we sadly remember the anniversary of Toby's death a year ago.

The sun was shining all day. At 7:00 A.M. this morning, although we weren't here yet, the temperature in Grand Canyon National Park was minus 2 degrees F.. Today's high was 34 degrees F..

I woke early this morning, and went to the RV park's shower building for a very long, very hot shower. When I went to do today's preventive maintenance, checking the truck's tire air pressures, my tire guage wouldn't work. It was either frozen or broken. Gee ... I think I've had that tire guage since I bought my first car in 1972. Guess I got my money's worth out of it. I didn’t even bother to try dumping the holding tanks. I knew the valves, and perhaps even the contents, would be frozen. I did refill the fresh water tank, however. I checked out why the fridge isn’t draining properly, and discovered that the drain line from the back of the fridge out through the exterior vent is clogged with ice. I guess it’ll stay that way for a few more days, until we head south out of the Grand Canyon to lower elevations and warmer temperatures. I did some minor maintenance to a dinette chair, then began preparing for departure. When we were completely ready to leave, I started Dee-Dee to give her a chance to warm up, and we walked next door to the Tuba City Trading Post, a Navajo Nation arts and crafts store. I bought myself a small Navajo sand painting. I’m going to mount it in the bedroom.

We departed the Quality Inn RV Park, and filled up with diesel before heading out of Tuba City. We headed west on Hwy. 60, back to Hwy. 89, where we turned south. As we drove south through the Navajo Nation lands, there were road side arts and crafts stands occasionally. We stopped at one and bought a gift. We continued south on Hwy. 89 to Hwy. 64 where we turned west towards Grand Canyon National Park.

Once in the park, we found our way to the Trailer Village campground. We pulled into a site, and while Joanne prepared lunch, I attempted to drain the holding tanks. We had been driving in sunlight all morning, and I was hopeful that the contents and valves might have thawed. They did, and I was able to get the tanks mostly drained. The water lines in the campground had frozen, so I wasn’t able to hook up water, to back flush the black water tank. So the holding tanks are mostly empty, I hope, and we have a full tank of fresh water to get us through the next couple of days.

After lunch we walked to the campground entrance to catch a park shuttle bus, to go exploring. There are 3 shuttle bus routes in the park. The blue bus picks up and drops off at each of the two campgrounds, and at a number of places in and around Grand Canyon Village. The red route west, and the green route east, pick up and drop off at scenic viewpoints along their routes. The service is free. We caught an eastbound blue bus to The Market Place in Grand Canyon Village, then transferred to a westbound blue bus to the Village Transfer station. There we caught a red bus. We got off to see the Grand Canyon views, and take photos, at The Abyss, Pima Point, Hermit’s Rest, Mohave Point, and Hopi Point. The canyon views were stunning. The temperature was frigid ! We got back to the trailer in the campground at dusk. I chatted for awhile with the man from Edmonton, in the Class C parked in the site next to us. While Joanne prepared supper, I downloaded and processed today’s photos. We had supper, then I worked on today’s accounting and journal entry. We were cold, and tired, so we went to bed early, and read the newspaper.

Bo seemed to be feeling poorly today, and he got car sick yesterday. Both he and Teddy seem to be more thirsty than usual. The last few days we’ve been at altitudes from 5000 to 10,000 feet. Most of the time has been between 7000 and 8000 feet. I wonder if they could be suffering a bit from altitude sickness ?

I have just read last year's journal entry for this date, a tribute to Toby on the day he died. It evoked grief for both of us.

DSK