Morning from AZ Strip & Pipe Springs Mon.

Good Morning from the AZ Strip & Pipe Springs Nat'l Monument!

We made the run to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday! It was an absolutely glorious day!!!  If you really want to know just how big you aren't...then you need to stand on the side of the Canyon...no signs, no fences, no tourists....and you will get a feeling that you have never had and  probably it will change how you look on all the great things done! It is humbling!

I really don't know how to explain just what this trip has done to me and my look upon daily living...but it has been changed. So I guess that the best way for me to try to explain it is....share some of the photos from the Canyon!

Well, all packed up and ready to head out this morning! Might get 30-50 miles under our belts today!!!  Stick around and keep an eye out for updates...we will be hitting Zion Nat'l Park and Grand Staircase Escalante Nat'l Monument over the next 5-8 days...so when I have decent Wi-Fi again, there will be more pictures and maybe even a video or two!!  

C'ya!  Be Safe!!

ARIZONA!!!!

Hi guys! Well, I've made it to Arizona. Can you tell!!  LOL! Right now I'm parked at the Paiute Tribe campground just up the road from Pipe Springs National Monument. And back down the road just about a mile is the turn off to run into the Strip. We just might do a short run into the area this afternoon. Want to scope out a spot to camp at starting probably Wednesday.

The campground here is basically new. They have just recently do a lot of upgrades to it, it has a new "common building" that has showers, a laundry facility ( and I was surprised that they were only $1.75 washer and dryer).  

Spent a couple of nights just east of Jacob's Lake, which is the cutoff to go down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The North Rim doesn't open for several more weeks.  But did some Forest Road driving in Sidekick. Was a really pleasant day.

I will definitely be doing this type of travels to see the "big" sites either before the season or after the season. The traffic is hardly any!

There will be a couple of more updates over the next two days....so stay turned! 

Arizona for the Summer!!

Still in Texas...and still working on Europa. But we are getting closer each day to being ready for the trip AND adventure to Arizona. This has been a good stop and working visit to the kids here in DFW area. Have gotten quite a few things accomplished with Europa.

Due to all the rain...and I mean RAIN...that has been coming through the area over the past few weeks, I think I have finally found and conquered the leaks that were left in Europa. I even found a couple that I didn't realize that I had! The small ones were easy...there is still an issue with the windows...but my temporary fix has worked, so this coming week I'll be making small "awnings" over the middle of the windows to channel the water away from the bases of the windows...that is where the leaks were coming from.

Also have gotten the antennas for both the SiriusXM Sat Radio and.....

Hard to see, but I also found a "dome" tv antenna that works like a little champ... 

And both are mounted on the ladder on the rear of Europa, and they both work like a charm!

I've also managed to get 3 100watt solar panels mounted on the roof of Europa and still have my 120watt kick-out set, so when parked for over 24 hours or so, I can have a total of 420watts of solar charging my batts...and with a total of 35amps plus at times, I do believe that I will be able to do just fine in the desert!

 

I've also managed to get 4 aux batteries installed, so it seems that I will have the storage to get thru a couple of days of gray skies just fine. My main power drain is the fridge, and at a low setting, enough to keep my cheese and a few things cool....to include a couple of beers!....this should be a peaceful summer!

That is about it for now! Stay tuned for more of our adventure this summer!

OH!!!!!

BTW......

Believe it or not.... After going to the Arizona Strip with my buddy Pete, when we get "done" with that adventure....Pete will be headed to Idaho for the summer, back to the Sawtooths....and I will be headed to the Apache-Sitgraves Nat'l Forest to camphost 2 primitive campgrounds until end of September or so. 

They have a total of 17 sites....all primitive campgrounds...just fire pits...one bathroom each campground....next to the East Fork of the Black River....at an elevation of 7800 feet plus!!!! 12 miles from the nearest paved roads...OFF THE GRID!!!  And I'm just really looking forward to it!

So I'll be doing updates every couple of weeks when I "go to town" to do laundry & get supplies. Should be a fabulous summer!

Take care and more to come!!!

C'ya!!