Southwest Vacation, Day 9+

We drove to Las Vegas and spent the rest of the vacation there. Julie had friends of hers visit and they went to various clubs around Vegas. She also got her first taste of gambling (and losing money). The older folk did our typical shopping and touring of the various hotels. We managed to see one show, "Tony and Tina's Wedding." The girls and Frankie saw "The Blueman Group." Caroline flew back early so she could go back to work. We managed to spend too much money on some art for our new entry.
While driving to "Tony and Tina's Wedding", the 'burb', which had been performing flawlessly, starting having overheating problems again. To be fair, it was 120 in Las Vegas. John and I drove it over to Henderson, where we'd had the window fixed a couple years ago at an earlier Las Vegas vacation, and had them take a look. It turns out the cause of all the grief was the radiator cap's spring had worn and could no longer hold the pressure. The water was boiling over and leaving steam in the line, which caused the original hose to burst. They replaced the cap and to date, the 'burb' is still running fine and it still has that makeshift hose between the water pump and the engine.
We returned on a Friday, had Saturday to recuperate, and then I was off on business travel again on Sunday. Life goes on. Our eagle was delivered while I was gone. Vacation is over, and dollars gone. Time to save up for the next vacation.

Southwest Vacation, Day 8

We visited various locations at the North Rim and all agreed the view was better than at the South Rim. We had a nice picnic lunch under some trees near the edge of the canyon. I was amazed to see such a beautiful forest with flowers in Arizona. When I think of Arizona, I picture Phoenix -- but not any more. We missed the sunset because we were inside the restaurant having dinner during that time, but we were all tired and hungry anyway and we'd watched the sunset the night before. No one wanted to get up for sunrises. I'll bet they were beautiful too.
No photos, but the stars were amazing. We were out in the middle of nowhere with no light pollution. You could clearly see the Milky Way and zillions of stars.

Southwest Vacation, Day 7

This was a driving day with our destination the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We drove through some beautiful scenery along the way. We had dinner at a small village north of the park because we didn't know when we'd get to the park and to eat at the restaurant in the park, one must have reservations. At least at this restaurant, we were outside the Navajo Nation, and Julie could finally get some wine to go with her whine. We had the waitress card her, just to make sure, and to allow Julie the opportunity to prove her age to a stranger.
On the drive into the park, we saw lots of deer and one wild turkey with some chicks. We got there in time to watch the sunset and take a few pictures. We got our cabins (very small) and bedded down for the night.

Southwest Vacation, Day 6

Today was supposed to be a visit to Monument Valley. The first thing that happened though was John and I got up to see if we could find someplace in Kayenta (not a big place at all, smack dab in the middle of the Navajo Nation). We were recommended one gas station, but they said they couldn't help us until 10:00 AM. They recommended a place across the street. We went there and after some deliberation, convinced the guy there to help us now. We had him replace the valve stem that was failing, plus for good measure, the only one that hadn't been replaced yet. Wonderfully friendly, we were repaired and ready to visit Monument Valley.
We drove into Monument Valley and had a great time. The 'burb's tires and cooling system all worked fine. After we finished touring, we had a nice dinner at the restaurant at the entrance to the park. Caroline and Frankie wanted to take the horseback tour, but they were the only ones. We drove everyone else back to Kayenta, and then drove Caroline and Frankie back out to Monument Valley and got them their tour. Meanwhile, John and I watched movies about the Navajo codetalkers at the visitor's center. We met a nice couple there who told us the real secret to visiting Monument Valley was to hire a guide for a private tour. While we were driving ourselves around, we kept coming across signs that said we couldn't go this way or that. The Indian guides you hire can go anywhere and they take you in jeeps. The general tour was a waste of money, but for only $5.00 more each, you can get one of these private tours. Too bad we found out late, but maybe next time. The couple also told us about the nearby John Wayne museum. The kids got back from their horse ride and we left, but stopped by the museum for an hour or so to see what was there. Then it was back to Kayenta for some much needed rest.
We had dinner at the restaurant in our hotel. This was Julie's 21st birthday and she was finally legal to drink alcohol. Too bad they don't sell alcohol in the Navajo Nation. She had to suffer through dinner without any wine -- oh, there was some whining, but no wine.

Southwest Vacation, Day 5

This was to be a long drive day -- a long drive to Canyon de Chelly, our next tour visit, and then on to Kayenta for the night. Well, along the way I noticed my temperature gauge was climbing. We turned off the air conditioner and turned on the heater (yes, we were in Arizona in July) to draw heat away from the engine. It climbed all the way to the top before I could pull off at the next exit. At least there was a gas station there.
Unfortunately, the gas station was no help. The lady working there was annoyed that someone would want to pull her away from watching television, but did manage to tell us that there was a repair facility about 6 miles down the road. Preliminary analysis indicated the top hose had blown.
John and I jumped into his truck (fortunately we had two vehicles on this trip) and drove down the road to the recommended location. Note: We were officially in the middle of nowhere. The place had a wooden painted sign that said "Tire and Lube" and there were a couple guys under a pickup in front of the place. The garage itself was loaded with miscellaneous stuff strewn about -- seemingly no order whatsoever. Next to the building were a bunch of junker cars.
After explaining our problem to the guy that seemed to be the owner, he instructed his worker to go get the top hose out of some Buick he had in the junkyard there. The worker found a handy screwdriver laying on the floor of the cluttered garage and went off, returning in a few minutes with the hose. We told him it looked a bit short, so he got another section of hose from somewhere, some clamps, and a section of galvanized pipe to hook it all together. He told us we could use this for a makeshift repair until we could get to some real civilization. For all this, he charged me $5.00.
We drove back to the gas station where the Suburban was, and upon closer analysis, we found the top hose was only loose. We tightened it up. All the coolant was gone out of the 'burb' and the gas station with the not-so-friendly lady didn't have any. They did have a sink in the back room, so we cut up one of our water jugs to use as a bucket and filled the radiator with water only. When I started the truck, we found the real leak -- the hose that went from the water pump to the engine. A much smaller hose, our makeshift parts wouldn't work. We took the parts and drove back to the Tire and Lube place and explained to the owner. He took the hoses back and was going to return the $5.00, but we told him to keep it if he could find us a hose that would work. He found some old section of hose off an air conditioner or something -- anyway he said it should be strong enough. We took that back, cut it to size, and managed to get it on without the need of removing the water pump -- or the engine.
All patched up, we were ready to drive, but we really needed to get to someplace that could permanently fix our kludges and put real coolant in instead of just water. Clearly Canyon de Chelly wasn't such a location. We were told the nearest place with an actual repair facility was Gallop, NM.
Using the database in my GPS, we found a radiator repair place in Gallop and called them. They said they could fix us up. Using the GPS for navigation, we drove there with no problem. When we got there though, they said they were too busy (thanks for that info on the phone). They did tell us where the Chevy dealer was though, and we drove there. Their repair center was also too busy, but they had a lube place that could handle us in a couple hours. They flushed out the radiator and deemed our hose repair worthy of a permanent fix. They did have some concerns about the thermostat though and told us to drive around Gallop for a half hour or so before hitting the road, just to make sure everything was working OK. Since evening was approaching and Gallop was a long way from Kayenta, we took off anyway and the 'burb' performed great...
...except along the way, we noted one of the tires that had been deemed "OK" by Discount Tire in Flagstaff was going low. We stopped and tried to pump it up, but noted the valve stem was leaking. We were close enough to be able to drive on to Kayenta and spend the night.

Southwest Vacation, Day 4

Bright and early, John and I got up and drove to the local Discount Tire in Flagstaff to get the tire fixed before we drove on. They fixed the tire (valve stem actually) and checked the other three tires. They said one of the other tire's valve stems was also bad, so they replaced it, but the other two were fine.
Back to the hotel and a little morning planning and we were off to the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. These used to be two different parks, but I guess times are hard and now it's just one park. After these parks, we drove to our next hotel in Holbrook, AZ.

Southwest Vacation, Day 3

Day 3 was a short travel day to Flagstaff for our hotel, but Sedona, AZ for touring around. We were able to check out the church on the hill, but while grabbing some ice cream at the local convenience store, I noted our tire seemed a bit low. I tried to pump it up, but I discovered it was leaking around the valve stem itself. We got out the equipment so we could change the tire only to discover that the lug wrench that came with the car didn't fit the lug nuts on the new custom wheels we bought for the car. Fortunately we had brought some tools with us for whatever emergency may befall us. I had my complete socket set. I found the right socket -- it fit the 1/2" ratchet. My socket set has 1/4" ratchet, 3/8" ratchet, and a 1/2" ratchet, with applicable sockets. It also comes with an extender for the 1/4" and 3/8" ratchets. Um... none for the 1/2". I couldn't reach the lug nuts without it. A call to AAA and a guy was there to change the tire for us in about 15 minutes. Still, all that took some time and we missed out on seeing other sites in Sedona. We at least were able to drive around a bit and watch the sunset from the airport overlooking downtown Sedona.

Southwest Vacation, Day 2

Originally, we planned on taking the train from Williams to the south rim 'cause we'd heard that was pretty neat and not too expensive. Well, it's not too expensive if you are willing to ride in an unairconditioned car. An air conditioned car costs twice as much. We figured for the money, we'd rather drive to the south rim and take an hour flight over the grand canyon. Well, some of us anyway. Darby and Bev opted out of the flight and Mom didn't even want to do the South Rim so we left mom back at Williams with one of the rigs for her to tool around in and we drove the trusty Suburban to the south rim airport.
Darby and Bev dropped us off for our flight and they went in to the South Rim village for some lunch. John, Frankie, and Julie-Ana Kenyon, Caroline and I took the flight. It was a great flight, but hard to take photos in the cramped cockpit of the Cessna. We managed to take a few. Frankie and John decided to test the durability of the vomit bags -- they seemed to work. Julie-Ana got sick, but didn't actually use a bag. I think Caroline felt a bit ill, but survived. I managed to survive too. Once done with the flight, we drove into the park and parked the Suburban. We used the free south rim shuttle service to visit various places along the south rim.
One thing I was really impressed by -- I mean besides the HUGE HOLE in the ground -- was the lack of safety railing. I mean it would really be impossible for them to put a safety rail around the whole thing and it would certainly detract from the overall aesthetics and all anyway. It's just I was amazed how easy it was to put your whole life in peril and no one seemed to care. Well, no one but maybe Darby (deathly afraid of heights).
After visiting various places throughout the day, we found a good spot and watched the sunset. Unfortunately, after the sun sets, it gets pretty dark and we didn't think to bring our big flashlights with us. So, with the light from my pocket penlight, the moon and stars, we navigated back to the hotel for a much needed rest.
We found out that much of our early part of the trip was spent on the old route 66. The place we had breakfast 2 mornings and dinner once was a 50's type diner right on route 66, about a block from our hotel in Williams. That's where Darby found her nemeses -- the Pepsi logo.

Southwest Vacation, Day 1

Our summer has been a busy one. I've had to do some traveling for work and Bev has been trying to wrangle contractors to finish the remodel project -- no it's STILL not done yet, but we're pretty close. I think we'll make much more progress now that we've fired the main contractor (Michael de Leon -- if you ever have the opportunity to do business with him, RUN). Only two items remain that keep us from getting our occupancy permit: The upstairs balcony doesn't have a railing and our road is still too narrow. At least the tile is finally done on the upstairs deck and balcony.
In the middle of all this, we managed to get a couple weeks off to go on vacation. I've posted a few pictures, but I've been working on the "motherload." It really isn't ready for prime-time yet, but it's been so long, I felt like I'd shoot with what I have.
The photos are not just my photos -- most are I guess, but a good portion of them are Caroline's. There's a mix of a few other people shooting photos as well, but pretty much all photos in the posted collection are from 1 of 4 different cameras: My Canon 10D, Caroline's Canon 350D Digital Rebel XT, Darby's Canon 300D Digital Rebel, or my little Nikon Coolpix 5600.
I'm only part way through editing photos, and when I edit I usually add a caption. Therefore, at this time, you can assume if a photo has a caption, it's probably mine. No one else has captions on their photos (yet). Caroline mainly took photos of people, but that's not to say she doesn't have scenery shots -- she does. Likewise I spent a lot of time shooting scenery, but I also took people shots too. I tried to cut down on some of the duplication, but there are still some shots that look like others -- as I said, it's still a work in progress, but I got tired of waiting to post.
Due to the lack of captions, I'll summarize the trip in subsequent posts by date. At least all photos in the online album have a date/time stamp so you can figure out where they go in these blog articles. Warning -- I'm not good in boiling down an entire trip to a few photos -- I've posted 420 photos. Yes, that's a lot. Don't try to see them all at once -- you'll get way too bored I'm sure.
The first day was just a driving day. We planned on leaving early and getting to our hotel in Williams, AZ. We figured that was an easy drive to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Not too many pictures from this day as it was just a travel day.