Day 15 – 3652 miles … Pacific Ocean and the Wedding

Today we start the first day of August and our last little push to the Pacific Ocean, the wedding of a good friend and our turnaround for home. We’re off to an easy start, no running around, no pressure. The trailer park we are in wakes up slowly as Jack and I walk the grounds. By the time we get back from our 2 cups of coffee and stroll, the girls are also awake and playing outside. The weather is very pleasant and the grass here is like a soft carpet compared to that of Florida.

Everyone is due for a shower, so we take advantage of the real nice facilities. Genna has become “used” to the shower and even told Michelle that she was her umbrella :). When in an RV, many things play double duty … and since Jack doesn’t yet stand long enough for the shower, he’s been using the “tub”. He loves it! Cries when you take him out. I think he likes the fact that he is up high and can command the entire room from his wash place.

We push west, with our final destination being Santa Monica for a couple of hours before we have to go to our 530P wedding. The drive is, as expected hectic … the smog in LA is thick and the girls keep asking why the city looks so cloudy … Traffic, as this is Saturday is no yet awful, but heavy. I think I lose a year of my life every time I drive around here … I am in constant fear of the person cutting me off (happens every 5 miles), and  am so frustrated that me signaling, is their cue to move forward and block my intended direction. We make Santa Monica by 1230P and park on the beach … for $35, yikes, more than many campgrounds. Parking is tight, so we maneuver around to ensure that we can get out later.

We have a great lunch at a Japanese restaurant, which everyone really enjoys and then we make our way back to Santa Monica pier for a “quick” visit. We do the customary; walk the pier, watch the buskers, enjoy a show from a trapeze school (which Kate desperately wants to attend) and buy stuff from the local vendors. As I walk a while further down the pier, I notice that Jack and I are alone … I turn back to see Michelle and the girls in front of a clown buying balloon animals … noooo! Too late, we are now committed to 3 balloon animals.

The “clown” (a description of his attire) is latino and speaks a little english … enough to ask the girls what they “want”. We end up with a butterfly, a large flower and a bee on a stick. Our “clown” isn’t the fastest balloon animal maker in the world (I wonder if there is a school for this? are they licensed balloon animal makers? Do they apprentice?) … the 3 “creations” takes about 30 minutes … I won’t wait and walk down the pier with Jack people watching.

We leave the pier, ride the carousel on the beach and head back to the RV. Before we get back to the RV (about a 1 mile walk), one of the “creations” suffers a catastrophic loss of air. Oh well, 1 down, 2 to go … one upset child. We don’t realize the time, and leave Santa Monica for the wedding at 4P … yikes … the wedding is 18 miles up the coast highway … and starts at 530P. If you have never driven the west coast highway (PCH), it is very pretty, has beautiful views of the ocean and is, in this section, crowded … we realize that we will not make the wedding with the 2+ hrs we had planned on to dress and get ready. While I wind my way up the coast, the girls get dressed.

We arrive at the wedding site, a beautiful ranch in a canyon … which is not really RV friendly. I curse a great deal, and finally make my way to a parking spot about a block from the event. It is now 510P, Kelly, Michelle and myself are still wearing our “beach” attire … oh oh … I have my suit in the outside storage, which I retrieve. Kelly gets dressed, the Michelle and lastly me :) … it is now 525P, we’re doing Ok, rushed … but still Ok. Oh yeah, did I mention the AC had cut out, since the generator had decided to overheat … not good! We all leave, a little hectic, a little sweaty … but looking good! We make it by 530P … too wait about 15 minute to be seated … the bride walked at 6P …

The wedding was great! Most important we got to see some great friends … Lia (the bride) had been our nanny for one summer when we only had Kate. She’s also the daughter of a very dear friend, so it was great to be here with them. It was also great to see Robin and his wife, as they had travelled from the UK for the event. Lia looked wonderful, the setting (outside) was perfect and the ceremony very nice. The girls and Jack did great throughout the ceremony, not complaining and being very well behaved.

Everyone loved the “party” afterwards … we had a great meal and then went on to the dancing. It was interesting to watch Kate, as she and Jaci stood the side, watching “old people” dance. They didn’t know whether to get in there, or just to watch in amazement, that we could actually move that way. A little prodding and both got on the dance floor. Kate showcasing her moves and Jaci keeping up right along … a couple of people came over and asked Kate if she danced “professionally” to which she proudly answered yes! They even worked up the nerve to request the “Cha Cha Slide” and lead the group. It was a great and memorable party. The girls all got to try champagne.

The nice thing about the RV, was that the little ones could retire early … by 10P, Kelly had gone back with Genna and Jack … while kate and Jaci lasted through the end. We said our good byes, wished the new couple a great honeymoon and headed back to the RV and our drive back to the trailer park. Now, you’d think that at midnight the traffic would be a little less … think again … took us 1.5hrs to get back to San Dimas and our parking spot … within 10 minutes of leaving all the kids where sleeping… within another 15 … I was the only one awake.

Day 14 – 3483 miles … Heat, Heat, Heat

Took us a while to get out of Las Vegas. The girls made a morning trip back to Circus Circus, Kelly headed back in for a little while as well. I hung out at the RV with Jack and did some remaining laundry. We took advantage of the pool that the KOA has and swam for an hour, while Michelle packed things away in the RV. In the end, we left around 1130A.

We drove about an hour south of Las Vegas and stopped for some lunch, shopping at the outlet mall and to fuel our guzzling home … we seem to be averaging right around 6 mpg. The temperature was well over 100F by 10A and continued that way.

This drive has some long hills, not steep and not winding, but still some loonngg hills. This gave out RV a good workout, as the heat did a number on the engine and us :). Our generator also doesn’t like the heat, and it decided to “rest” after just 30 minutes of use. This meant, that the RV’s only AC unit was the one in the cab (driven by the engine). While this does a decent job of keeping the driver and passenger cool, it isn’t enough to cool the rear of the motorhome. By 2P, anything back more than 3ft from the front seats was well over 90F … ugh.

We cross the Mojave desert (yep, that was hot) and make our way into Los Angeles. As we get closer to LA, the traffic gets worse … as the traffic gets worse, my nerves get worse. As my nerves get worse, my temper gets short … as my temper gets short, I make everyone unhappy …. sorry … I hate LA traffic. The combination of really poor condition roads and the traffic that is constant, followed by people who absolutely, must be there, 10 minutes ago … makes this a hell for me … not sure how else to describe it.

We stop about 45 minutes from our campground for ice cream and for me to cool off, figuratively and for real … then continue to our campground in the Pomona Hills. As we turn off the interstate and head up a hill towards the campground, I get passes very angrily by another motorhome … he was in a huge hurry and I was apparently holding him up in this last 2 miles to his (and our) destination. He misses the turn-off and has to make a U-turn, this puts me in front again, and on a road that is only 2 lanes and uphill … wouldn’t you know he tries to pass me again … he realized that his RV didn’t have the engine for it and pulled back behind me … no more than 10ft off my rear bumper … got to love LA.

By contrast to my experience getting here, the campground is very nice. On a hilltop, overlooking LA, with a lake, grass and excellent facilities. We get checked in, get our site and set up. We call for a pizza and it gets delivered to the site … got to love LA.

The temperature is perfect, light wind, around 72F … the girls play on the grass and we have a nice evening. Everyone asleep, to a very cold motorhome (making up for the heat of the day) by 10P.

Day 13 – 3288 miles … Viva, Las Vegas!

Early start from the Wal-Mart parking lot, took us out of the rest of the mountains and onto Interstate 15. We haven’t been on an Interstate for many days and haven’t seen this level of traffic. We make our way downwards towards Las Vegas and heat.

Our destination is the KOA  campground at the Circus Circus Casino on the strip. This is the only campground that is on the strip, which makes it very convenient to experience the city. Calling this a campground is a stretch by any imagination … it is, a parking lot. Granted, it is a parking lot with water, electrical and sewer hookups … but still a parking lot. There are no trees and no shade … it is also the most expensive “campground” we have stayed at so far … costing $70 for the night.

We take advantage of the facilities and everyone has a nice shower and we do 4 loads of laundry. The heat is over 100F, dry and scorching … it is truly unpleasant to walk in the sun. If you can get to the shade, it becomes much more bearable and almost comfortable :)

The kids (and Kelly) love Las Vegas … the kids especially like the Circus Circus hotel, as it’s attraction is an indoor “fair”, complete with rides, games and the spectacles of the city. We brave a walk down the strip, jumping from hotel to hotel, so we can get a blast of AC. We end up around 7P at Treasure Island for the “Pirate” show. Turns out, the pirates are scantily clad girls (the sirens), fighting the pirates (men). When the fire and explosion start … Jack and Genna start crying … this is my cue to take them back. We hop a cab and make it back by 8P.

Michelle and the girls stay out until 10P, catching some of the free circus shows at Circus Circus. Kelly comes back around 930P to change for a night out … not sure when she got back … but I think she enjoyed what Las Vegas has to offer.

While the kids liked Las Vegas, I couldn’t really get “into it”. I’ve been to this city many times, it is the place where we got married … I enjoy it … but am not sure it is really a great kid place … maybe that was my problem :) …

Day 12 – 3169 miles … Canyons, landscapes, roads and a marathon drive

A work colleague several years ago told me something that has stuck with me ever since and made a significant change in some of my outlooks. He explained to me that time could not be gotten back. No matter how much money, or how hard you try, once time is gone, it is gone. For me, this changed my outlook towards being on time for things and appreciating the time that I have. It also made time an incredibly valuable thing. Last night I went to bed thinking about the almost 1000 miles left in front of us, and the need to be at there at a specific time.

We wanted to see some of the signature canyons in Utah … more importantly, we wanted to see Bryce Canyon. Today, I got up at 545, packed up the site while everyone slept and slowly backed out, and headed onto the road … today was going to be a marathon driving day.

Our goal was Bryce canyon, but to be truthful, the drive to Bryce Canyon left a larger imprint than the destination. The destination in this case, acted like the perfect accent at the end of our daylight drive.

For the next 300+ miles we traversed many canyons, climbed several mountains and made it over a couple of passes. Our elevation never dropped beneath 6000ft and we had one pass at 10000ft. The landscape changed every couple of hours. This we all found unbelievable and at times surreal. We’d be in this scrub brush “flat” area, with bright red soil, make it over a pass and the next section had no vegetation and jagged rocks. We’d go down into a valley to find orchards of peaches, then climb out into what I can describe as grey dirt mountains. Come over a bend, and Lake Powell stood in the distance … weird to see the contrast of water in this setting.

We’d continue another hour and find ourselves in smooth mountains that had a purple hues to them. Cross another range and it was basically one giant yellow rock. We stopped countless times to take pictures and take in the views, let alone for me to rest my eyes. There was one section that was a stark contrast to our trip so far out here … beautiful Ponderosa pine and Aspen forests … truly weird when you put it in the context of our last  couple of days. We made one stop, that had ancient (and modern) petroglyphs. Hard to believe that someone carved their initials onto the cliff walls next to these 700 yr old drawings. I wonder if these ancient petroglyphs are not just examples of graffiti, and the elders of the time chastised those who “defaced” the rocks … hmmm

The road, in decent condition for the most part, had countless twists, climbs and descends. Our average speed through all of this was about 35mph, not bad considering. One section of the road truly stuck out. We’d been driving along a “flat” part, actually a mesa top, and you could see in the distance to the right a canyon … cool. A couple of minutes later, you could make out that the canyon on the right was getting closer, also cool. A few minutes later and you could make out a canyon on the left … very cool. A few more minutes and it became obvious that both these canyons met at a ridge … which happened to be the location that our road occupied. Not cool!

Now this section of the road is called Hogsback, it runs on ridge between 2 canyons and descend at a 14% grade for about 4 miles. As we approach this, the road, on the ridge, is the ridge … so, visualize this … 2 lane road, no shoulders, twisting downwards with several hundred ft drop off on either side. As I see this several things go through my mind …. 1. What civil engineering idiot designed this road? 2. Who was this built for? 3. Now what do I do? … my mind was filled with countless movie scenes of cars driving off cliffs … none of which ended well for the passengers.

I pull over to the scenic overlook … so that I could survey the final resting place of the Alonso RV Adventure. I get out and start taking some pictures, trying to ignore the road ahead. I think to myself … that this should not be called Hogsback, but Sphincter Ridge and this outlook should be called Anxiety point.

I muster my confidence and step back inside … I put on my seat belt, not that it would make a shred of difference, we put a movie on for the girls (so they’d be occupied), Michelle explains to them that daddy needs to concentrate and I set off. Michelle looks at me and says, “Stay on the road.” … hmmm … then she adds, “If we go off, it’ll be bad.” …. hmmm … followed by, “drive slow.” … hmmm … 1. Not a needed comment, 2. Didn’t she think I got the gravity of it, 3. Where was the confidence in me, 4. What the heck … here we go.

I descend at a blistering pace of 10 mph, the 15 minutes it takes us, felt like an hour … I saw nothing of the views :) I heard Genna say a couple of times “beautiful” … quickly followed by someone saying “shhhh.” … for the entire descent, I had the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse music playing behind my ears … We got to the bottom, once again cursed the engineer that drew this road and continued on our way. To be fair, the road wasn’t all that bad, and the views, for those who looked over the side would have been unbelievable. The road is/was a true engineering challenge.

We continue on our way, making Bryce Canyon by 4P. We drove the last 2 hrs to Bryce in the rain. On one pass, we could see that it had hailed recently and this kids got out to touch the white stuff. The temperature outside was about 40F. We go to the visitor center, get our booklets for the Junior Ranger program, and find out that this park requires that the junior rangers attend a guided walk, last one at 5P … perfect, we made it on time.

Bryce … is … spectacular. Another park that we plan on spending more time in for a future adventure. The only unfortunate part of such a beautiful place, is  that there are countless (and I mean thousands) of people everywhere … on the plus side, it was late, so the crowds had thinned … but still, to many people, making too much noise, doing the wrong things … which took away from the place. Our next visit, we will come up here very early in the morning, trying to beat the crowd.

Bryce is not a canyon, as it doesn’t have a river flowing at its base. It is, as the ranger explained the weathering of a ridge.  But calling it “The weathering of Bryce Ridge” would be too wordy and not very sexy.  As the girls listened to the talk, Jack and I wandered around the rim of the ridge watching people. I continue to be amazed by the stupidity of some … just when I think it can’t get any worse … it does.

The geology at Bryce is that of very loose rock and soil. Which makes the entire area “slippery” to walk on. From the top rim of the ridge to the floor below is several hundred feet. The rim is well marked, with lots of railings, fences and posted signs. The trails heading into the “canyon” are very well maintained, and heavily posted warning everywhere. The postings (I will paraphrase) … you are very high above 8000ft elevation, the ground is loose, you need to be in good shape to hike, you need good hiking shoes with ankle support and treads for traction. There isn’t one of these signs, there are dozens. The other signs say … stay behind the fences and barriers … as they mark the edge where you will fall.

  I (and Jack) watched countless people in flip-flops and deck shoes climb over the barriers, walk to the edge, on loose gravel for their photo opportunity … while I want to see no one harmed, I found myself willing them to slip … ugh … As we watched more of the “prepared” hikers descend into the canyon in their beach attire and footwear, we saw a ranger team bringing someone out on a stretcher. I walked to the nearby ranger who explained that the person had fallen and twisted their ankle. This happens 3-4 times a week, in peak season daily. They have 2-3 serious injuries a year and have had 3 deaths in the last 18 yrs.

To bring someone out of the canyon requires 8 rangers. One in front leading the way and getting people to stand aside. One at the head of the stretcher to steer (the stretcher has a single large bicycle wheel in the middle of it), one at the rear of the stretcher to act as the brake, and 4 on the sides to do the balancing and provide the power. There is an 8th person at the  end of the group who caries much of the medical equipment. As I watched them extricate the obese woman, I noticed a very pretty pair of flats that she was wearing … this is a “free” service that the park provides, no medical insurance needed … I asked how many real hikers they rescue … he said none in the 8 yrs he’s worked there … anyways … sorry for the tangent, this kind of stuff really bothers me.

We girls completed the 1hr tour, got their booklets signed off and then handed them in at the visitor center. We left Bryce at 8P heading towards Las Vegas, as we had to make some time, as our timed commitment was coming up. We stop for a steak dinner (which I was craving), converted the RV to sleep mode and set off around 930P.

From Bryce, you drive a nice highway south west, but at some point have to cross a range to get to Interstate 15, which leads into Las Vegas. Kate was my navigator, she sat up front and we had a great talk as we ticked off miles. Michelle, who was putting Jack down (I think sleeping), told us to follow this road until Highway 24 then turn right until we got to the interstate. Well, we got our turn-off, made the right turn (now around 1030P) and started seeing some interesting signs … “Winding Road next 15 miles, drive with caution” … “14% grade next 8 miles” … “Tractor trailers not recommended” … “Pass elevation at 11000ft” … “Snow chains required Nov 1 to Apr 1” … "Turnaround here” … yep, we turned around.

Our turnaround brings Michelle to the front (wakes her I figure) … she and Kate look at the map and we have only one option to head west, which is the road that goes through Zion National Park. Kate heads up to sleep and Michelle and I turn onto the Zion road around 12P. Now this road had no signs, except … “no commercial traffic” and “pay park fees” … Ok … not as scary as the last road.

But … If a National Park is there because of canyons or mountains … the road in and out of the park, especially one that traverses the park … will be … steep, small and winding … and it was. Luckily, unlike “Sphincter” Ridge … it was really dark and I couldn’t see what was on the sides … I will tell you that we had dozens of switchbacks, one tunnel cut into the rock and one that had multiple curves and was over 2 miles long. The entire drive was downhill, 15 miles … just over 1 hr.

We finally get off the mountain and end up in Hurricane, UT at a Wal-Mart for the night… started driving at 6A, stopped at 2A.