Rochdale shopping centre bosses approve 'Asian squat toilets' | Mail Online

Rochdale shopping centre bosses approve 'Asian squat toilets' | Mail Online

Two out of Three

11:30 last night, we had just gotten to sleep when SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!!!!!!

The LP gas detector in our 5th wheel went off. 

After an instant of confusion, followed by several seconds of pure panic, I located the darn thing and took it off of its mounting to remove the batteries. 

Surprise! The damn thing is hard-wired into the system – no batteries to remove.  Meanwhile, it is still screeching at a dB level that could probably be heard in Dallas.

I knew we didn’t have a propane leak, so I cut a wire to shut it up.  Then I read a tiny label on the alarm that said, “Replace - July 2010.”

Back to bed, then at 1:30 a.m. we heard

BEEP!  BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The low battery alarm on the carbon monoxide detector went off.

Ripped that of the wall and removed the batteries. 

There is only one other alarm in the trailer, the smoke alarm. Took it off the ceiling and was going to disable it too, but Honey wouldn’t let me. 

Went outside and had a cigarette and a beer – finally got back to bed about 2:30 or so.  No more incidents and we finally got to sleep.

For what it’s worth, the smoke alarm works fine – set it off cooking sausage for breakfast this morning.

Guadalupe

On the banks of the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas.

The river is beautiful – much better than last year when it was almost dry this time of year.

Had a real disappointment two days ago when we arrived at Balmorhea State Park.  I hadn’t been there since I was twelve years old, and I was really looking forward to taking a dip in the huge spring-fed pool.

Balmorhea State Park features drive-through campsites with lights, water and cable TV.  Unfortunately, when I pulled up enough to connect my power cable, I didn’t have enough room in front to disconnect the truck from the trailer. 

After several tries, we finally gave up and left.  Spent the night in a small but nice campground adjoining a truck stop, then came to Kerrville a day early.

Just as well, we love this place.

No Thanks, Mr.. Hughes

The previous entry was supposed to be posted yesterday.  We were in an RV park with excellent Wi-Fi, but when I attempted to post to my blog, it sat and sat, and finally timed out.

Turns out the park’s ISP was Hughes Net.  Fast downloads, but uploads almost slower than dial-up.

Today we’re at another campground, and the post uploaded fine. 

Back to Texas tomorrow – a long haul from Silver City, New Mexico to Balmorhea Texas.

Grand Canyon – Meteor Crater

No entry yesterday after our visit to the North Rim of Grand Canyon because:

1. Wi-Fi at the campground was terrible – Kept losing connection.
2. I was tired – decided I could give myself the evening off.

Folks who had been to both kept telling us that if we had only been to the South Rim, we had to visit the North Rim.  Now that I have, I can tell you that they were right.

The drive down through Kaibab National Forest is pretty,

but the Canyon itself is fantastic.

 

Lots of visitors from all over, and a Lodge and Welcome Center larger than I had been led to expect.  Still, crowds and traffic were much better (lighter) than on the South Rim.

Drove today to Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona. 

The movie, the museum and the guide’s lecture were fascinating, but the crater was not that impressive after a day at Grand Canyon. 

 

Tomorrow will see us in Silver City, New Mexico.

Kanab Utah

Said good-bye to the Sheltons and Nevada this morning and drove to Kanab, Utah. 

Travis and Cheryl headed for Colorado where they plan to meet up with their daughter. Later, on their way home, they hope to pick up their newly repaired motorhome in Oklahoma.

On the way down, we passed near the entrances to Bryce and Zion National Parks, and saw the Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park.  Whatever else you might say about Utah, it is colorful.

We’re staying at the Kanab RV Corral

and headed for the North Rim of Grand Canyon tomorrow.  Here are a couple shots from our campground.

We went grocery shopping this afternoon at Honey’s Market.  I told Honey to show them her driver’s license so we could get an owner’s discount.  The got a good laugh about that, but they did stamp our register receipt, which gave us a 15 cent per gallon discount on diesel – saved us $3.50.

Least Visited National Park

Currently in Baker, Nevada – still in the Pacific Time Zone by about 100 yards. Mountain Time starts at the Utah line just past the campground office.

Baker is on US 50, which Life Magazine labeled the “Loneliest Highway in the USA.” Apparently, Nevada is proud of that – “Loneliest Highway” signs appear more often than mileage markers.

Today we visited Great Basin National Park; the least visited national park in the system. Not surprising, considering the location.

The park’s attractions include Wheeler Peak

which at 13,000 feet, sports a glacier within sight of miles of desert,

and Lehman Caves, which is actually a single cavern in spite of the name. Rangers give tours which range from an easy one-hour visit to serious spelunking with special reservations.

The other attraction is a couple of groves of Bristlecone Pines.

These gnarly little trees are the oldest living things in North America, with some in the park exceeding 3000 years of age. Makes the California Redwoods look like adolescents.