OFFICIALLY UNRETIRED

It was a little before noon that I rejoined the work force yesterday, when I started driving one of the public transit buses here at Grand Canyon National Park. For the next 3 1/2 months, 40 hour work weeks will be the norm, and being retired, will once again have to wait until after Labor Day.

Driving one of these 40 foot buses on roads that weren't designed for large vehicles can be a challenge at times, but often, the real challenge is dealing with the public. When you add the fact that there often is a language barrier, communication often resorts to a primitive sort of sign language. Fortunately, most of our visitors speak at least a little bit of English.

Sometime today, the summer bid for schedules will get down to my position, and I'll have a little bit of a choice concerning routes, days off, and shift hours. Last year, being at the very bottom of the totem pole, I had almost no choice. So far, the weather has been almost ideal, with daytime temps in the 70's, a few clouds, and night temps down into the 40's. Last year, I remember being snowed on in early June. Hopefully, that won't be the case this year.

THE CRITTER PARADE

It didn't take very long, after arrival here at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, before the almost daily morning parade of hoofed critters began. I took these pictures a couple of mornings ago, as Gracie peered out the window at these female, Rocky Mountain Elk.

Not the best photos through the window screen, but you get the picture.

As the summer progresses, we watch several things take place with the deer and elk. In another few weeks, the does and cows will give birth, and we'll soon see the babies following their mothers around the park. It's amazing how fast they grow. Toward the end of summer, the big males start to shed the velvet on their antlers, and begin to compete for the right to perpetuate the continuation of their species. Last year, we left before the full scale Rut had begun.

"What Elk? I just want to finish my nap".

My vacation is over. It's back to work later this morning, and 40 hour weeks until Labor Day. Patty is only a few days away from her trip to Paris, leaving this coming Wednesday, first to fly to San Francisco where her Brother lives, then on to France on the 17th. When she gets home on June 7th, I'll drive the truck to Havasu on my first day off, leaving it there, and we'll bring the Jeep back to the canyon. I have a feeling that this summer is going to pass rather quickly.

BACK IN BUSINESS

With the outside Internet phone connection completed two days ago, it was just a matter of waiting for the modem to arrive via UPS. Rather than sit around twiddling my thumbs, impatiently awaiting Big Brown to show up, I jumped on the KLR, and took off into the depths of the Kaibab National Forest. I started toward the west end of the canyon, and the Havasupai Indian Reservation. After about 10 miles, the landscape turned from dense forest to an open plateau, with scrub brush, and not much in the way of trees. Being completely in charge of my destination, I quickly decided that riding in the Ponderosa Pine forest was much more pleasant than the open desert. A quick U-Turn took me back into the trees, and back toward the South Rim Village.

East of Tusayan and the village, I stumbled across this really cool 123 year old log cabin. It started out as a sheep camp in 1889, and eventually became part of the forest service inventory. There was a fellow doing some carpentry work on the cabin, and he told me that when it was retired as a ranger station, it became available for rent by the general public.

Just a few miles from the cabin, I stopped at an old fire lookout tower, that has been preserved by the forest service. The original Grandview tower was built of wood, then later reconstructed of metal. After climbing about 30 feet up the 80 foot tall tower, my acrophobia overwhelmed the desire to see what the view was from the top, so back down I went. Once again on sold ground, I jumped back on the bike, and came out of the forest on Desert View Road near Grandview Point. Prior to the arrival of the railroad in 1901, most of the visitors to the Grand Canyon came by Stagecoach from Flagstaff, and they traveled very near to this old Forest Service fire lookout tower.


When I arrived back at the motor home, there was a not too unexpected small box by the door. It didn't take me long to hook everything up, and once I got the modem and computer configured, it was Back to the Future, and a rejoining of the electronic civilized world.

Tomorrow is my first day of work, and for the next two weeks, I'll mostly be driving the Hermits Rest (Red Route), with Tuesday & Wednesday as days off. In the next couple of days, by seniority, all the drivers will be bidding on their summer schedules. Out of 57 drivers this year, I've moved up to #47, and with any luck, there might just be a few good schedules to pick from when it's my turn to choose. We'll see...........

PROGRESS UPDATE

The scheduled installation of my Internet connection is tomorrow, however, the Century Link installer was here yesterday, 2 days early, and hooked us up, at least on the outside. The next thing that has to happen is the delivery of the modem via UPS. That is also scheduled for tomorrow, but perhaps I'll get lucky, and it'll show up today. Once it arrives, I'll be able to rejoin civilization.

FROM BAD TO WORSE

Yesterday, I was frustrated with my Internet options, trying to find a better solution, than the very slow Sprint data card. The Sprint phone and data card are on roaming here at the South Rim, and neither one work very well. This morning, the frustration level elevated considerably, when a Sprint pop up said that I had exceeded the data limit, and I had to call them for more access, at an additional cost. Before buying the new computer, and upgrading to the new Sprint USB data card, I specifically asked that my new Internet plan continue with unlimited coverage, as was the case with the old plan. I was told that the new plan (2 year agreement) would be the same, with unlimited coverage. Well, after calling Sprint, that simply is not the case. Because they have to pay Verizon for use of their towers in this area, the roaming charges get passed on to the customer. The apologies were abundant, however there was nothing they could do to change the situation. That wasn't a very good option anyway.

Well, now what do I do? Last year, we had access to an unsecured wireless network, but no such luck this year. I had spoken to a utility phone guy a few days ago, who was doing some work at an adjacent RV site, and he told me that there was no Internet access through the hard wired phone lines. It was beginning to look like the only option was to either switch to Verizon, or add them to our existing plan with Sprint. Not a good option, primarily due to the cost, and the required trip to Flagstaff. I also knew that I wasn't going to go with a satellite plan, just for a period of about 4 months. Taking the computer to a WI FI hotspot at one of the lodges also wasn't a very good option.

At my wits end, I decided to check with Sharon, the transit system manager, to see if she knew of something that I was missing. One of her first comments was that there should be access through the phone line, and she thought that all of the sites where we're parked, had the infrastructure installed. Having dismissed that possibility due to my short conversation with the utility guy, I made a phone call to Century Link, the telephone provider. After a short conversation with the representative in Phoenix, he said that indeed, they could provide Internet access through their phone lines. Yahooooo!! I'm back in the ball game, at least I will be when Century Link can get out to the motor home. I almost have an idea how a drug addict feels when his supply is cut off, then he once again gains access to his feel good substance.

So, the good news is sometime this Friday, with any luck, we'll have a sort of high speed (1.5 Meg) connection, and life will return to normal. With me starting work tomorrow, most likely the blog will be out of service for a couple of days, at least until we get hooked up this Friday.
The real headline for today is "from bad to worse to better"!

FRUSTRATED

The daily Grand Canyon Railroad Train's arrival at the South Rim.

As previously discussed, my Internet connection through a Sprint USB data card is marginal at best. This is a Sprint roaming area, and so far, no unsecured WI FI networks are available. I had one more picture of the Grand Canyon Railroad train, that I was trying to load, but after 25 minutes, I gave up. It seems that earlier in the morning (like before 6am), the connection seems to work much better, but when folks start using the cell phone and data networks, then the speed & connectivity come to an almost abrupt halt. Verizon is the strong carrier here at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and I suppose I could go that route. But, that doesn't really make sense, particularly given the fact that we're only here a few months.

As much as I have gotten into a daily rhythm of blog posting, it's looking more and more like that will have to change when I start work in a few days. Right now, I have the time to deal with the issue, but when time is limited, I won't be able to sit in front of the computer for hours. It's amazing how reliant we sometimes become on certain things, then, when taken away, or severely limited, the frustration level goes through the roof. I'm in the process of transitioning from this 6 year old laptop, to a new Dell laptop, which in some respects, is adding to my increasing lack of patience.

I took this picture of the moon last night at about 9 pm. According to the astronomers, this was the brightest moon of the year, as it's orbit was as close as it gets to mother earth. Here at the 7,000 foot elevation of the Grand Canyon, there is virtually no light pollution. When you want to look at the stars, or the moon, this is a pretty good place to be. The moon light last night was so bright, you certainly didn't need a flashlight to see where you were going.

A RIDE IN THE FOREST

Since arriving here at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, I've been looking forward to getting on the KLR, and doing some exploring in this middle section of the Kaibab National Forest. About 10 am, I took off, armed with a forest service map, and my Garmin GPS.

It's no secret that one of my passions is trains, and when I found a road that paralleled the Grand Canyon Railroad tracks, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I crossed the tracks a couple of times, but was a little late to catch the daily train on it's journey from Williams to the South Rim. South of the canyon, I stumbled upon some old buildings adjacent to the tracks, that at one time, probably had something to do with the maintenance of the railroad. The sign near the tracks named this location Imbleau. I'll have to check at the library for information about these abandoned structures.

"Sure hope there's no high speed train coming"

After about 50 miles of riding several forest service roads, I re-emerged into civilization near the airport at Tusayan. When I topped off the fuel tank before heading back into the park, I had only used a little over a gallon of the 6 gallon capacity tank. Sure wish the motor home got that kind of fuel mileage.

I still have a few days left before starting work, and that first day has been moved up to May the 8th. That's going to be National Park orientation day for the 10 or so new drivers that are coming on board this summer. The transit manager asked me to drive a bus, that will take the new employees to a few different locations within the park. Hey, that means I have seniority on more than just one or two people, and will have a little better pick, when the drivers bid for routes and days off in a few weeks. Seniority is good when you have it, and not so good when you don't.

LOTS OF PINE TREES

Most people think of Arizona as nothing more than a whole bunch of Desert. If they were talking about the western, or southern parts of the state, they would be mostly correct. Conversely, the northern part of Arizona is home to the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world. At an elevation of 6-8,000 feet, this forest covers much of the vast Colorado Plateau, and Grand Canyon National Park sits right in the middle of this huge forest.

Yesterday, I drove just outside the Park, to the Tusayan Forest Service Office, in order to obtain a map of the area. One of my motives for bringing the dual sport bike to the canyon this year, is to do some exploring on the forest service roads surrounding the National Park. It will also be my main transportation to and from work, which is a distance of about 2 miles. During a couple of scenic flights last year, I realized that there are a vast number of dirt roads adjacent to the South Rim, and after picking up a map, I can now take off and have some idea where I'll be headed. I also have a GPS that makes it virtually impossible to get lost.

Not much on the schedule for today, so it might be a good time to take off on the bike, and see where some of these dirt roads go.......

WHAT A VIEW

This is how my day started to unfold yesterday, as Miss Gracie decided that a little lap time was in order. When Gracie became a part of this family a couple of years ago, this type of activity was a rarity. Now, it's more the rule, rather than the exception.

After stopping at the Bus Yard to complete some final paperwork regarding direct deposits, withholding, and some other routine forms, I drove over to Yavapai Point. This was my first look at the canyon, since arriving on Monday. Even after spending the entire summer here last year, the view of this magnificent landscape never seems to loose it's WOW factor.

This view is looking west toward Powell Point.

Looking down into the canyon toward Phantom Ranch.

Later in the afternoon, the urge to create my famous fried potatoes, overcame the desire to eat a more healthy diet. This is what the finished product looked like, before the appetite made a large portion of this picture disappear. Along with a big BBQ'd steak, I didn't go to bed hungry.

This morning, I had considerable difficulty loading these pictures, primarily due to the very poor Sprint data card connection. It took forever, and I'm not sure if there's an answer to improve the situation. Perhaps an external antenna might improve the connection, but at this point, that's just a guess. When I start work, and time becomes a little more critical, the obvious answer is that posts will only occur when I have sufficient time. Hopefully, another unsecured wireless connection will make itself available, and solve the problem.

FIRST FULL DAY AT THE CANYON

Lots of stuff accomplished yesterday, while getting reestablished at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The last things I had to do yesterday, was unload the Kawasaki KLR 650 Dual Sport motorcycle, and get the EZ up placed at the front of our RV space. Unlike last year, where the RV space was not level, this year I'm parked on level asphalt, and getting the motor home parked, was much easier.

About mid day, I reported in at work, and learned a little more about what to expect for work in the coming few weeks. At the end of the month, all the drivers will be bidding on the their work shifts and routes, and that's when I'll know what my schedule and days off are going to be. This year, I'll have a little more seniority than last summer, when I was pretty close to the bottom of the list.

The medical clinic at the South Rim Village.

The first order of business was a trip to the medical clinic for the required drug test. I could get into a long diatribe about drug testing, especially when some organizations like the ACLU, and a few activist judges think that drug testing of some groups like welfare recipients, is an unreasonable search and seizure under the 4th amendment. But, I won't, sufficing to say that if you don't have anything to hide, what's the big deal?

After leaving the clinic, I stopped at the library, renewing the card for another year. At Park Headquarters, I picked up the vehicle access sticker, then stopped at the General Store, before heading back to the motor home. The last order of business was the preparation of a batch of stew, before retiring to the recliner for some reading and TV. Today, I just might have to take my first peek at this big hole in the ground called the Grand Canyon.

This is "Sami's Road", that now has an overlay of gravel, rather than just dirt, like last year.

SLOW, BUT WORKABLE

My first attempt to load pictures of yesterday's drive to the canyon was futile. However, the second attempt was a little bit more successful. Each picture took about 5 minutes to load, but at least it worked.

Two lazy bums on the floor behind the driver and passenger's seats.

"Yep, I'm the co-pilot on this trip".

Driving into the Grand Canyon National Park.

Even before the busy season, there's always lines of vehicles at the entrance gate.

TRAVELING TO THE CANYON

Yesterday was a travel day in the motor home, from Lake Havasu, to the Grand Canyon. I said adios to Patty, and pulled away from the house a little before 8 am. The drive east on I40 was pretty uneventful, as I only made one stop in Kingman for fuel and propane. When I passed through the National Park Gate, it was about mid day. Before I parked the motor home in our tentatively reserved space in Trailer Village, I first checked with the Xanterra Housing office. Space 94 was still being held for us, so by late afternoon, I was parked, and had most everything set up.

That's the good news. Now, the inevitable bad news. I'm posting this edition, with an Internet hookup by way of our Sprint Data Card. The south rim of the Grand Canyon is a Sprint Roaming area, and the connection is almost non-existent. The speed is so very slow, that if I'm even able to load any pictures, it will probably take forever. Last year, we had a nearby, unsecured network, that we utilized, but this year, I doesn't look like we'll have that same option.

I haven't given up, but I guess even a slow connection is better than no connection. I may be able to boost the reception with an external antenna, and if that's the only way to enhance the connectivity, I may look into that option. Otherwise, my routine of almost daily posts will be considerably less, and without a faster speed, photos will be far and few between.

LEAVING FOR THE CANYON

In a couple of hours, 1/2 of Travel by Chance will be on the road again, destination Grand Canyon. Yesterday was a flurry of activity, as I loaded some last minute stuff, put the motorcycle carrier on the back of the motor home, and hooked up the truck. Except for the computer, the cat and the dog, I'm ready to roll. I'm also ready for some cooler temperatures, as the summer has definitely arrived here in Lake Havasu.

A couple of days ago, we discovered a quail nest in this little raised flowerbed, next to the shed in the back yard. Sami was paying a lot of attention to the area, so when we checked a little closer, we found out why. The bottom picture shows the nest with 14 eggs sitting on the ground under the foliage.

So, for the past couple of days, we've been taking Sam out on her leash, keeping her away from the nest. Whenever we get too close, the bird sitting on the nest takes off, but so far, it's always come back. With our absence, and less activity in the yard, in about another week or so, Patty may have a bunch of baby quail to keep an eye on before she leaves for Paris on the 16th. According to the all knowing Internet, the incubation period is 2-3 weeks. In our 10 years of living here, this is a first.

By this afternoon, I'll be getting everything set up for our summer at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It's only about 225 miles, so it will be a relatively short trip.

My oldest son Michael is back in the states, returning from 3 months in Afghanistan, and he will be reunited with his wife Amy in Augusta, GA tomorrow. Welcome home Mike!

DESERT STORM SHOOT OUT

The boat kicking up the big spray, has just begun an attempt to reach it's top speed.

One of the key ingredients of the Desert Storm boating event, is the shoot out, which took place yesterday at the tip of the island, in front of Site Six. There's nothing complicated about the shoot out. A 2 mile course was set up, with a radar speed trap near the end of the liquid, 2 mile race track. There's only one goal for the participants, and that's to get their boat to it's top speed near the end of the course.

The race course was moved from last years congested waters of Thompson Bay, to the narrow part of the lake, at the western tip of the island. For spectators, this was a huge improvement, as folks like us could sit on the elevated hills overlooking the lake, with a much better view of the boats in action. Where Patty and I parked our chairs, we could see most of the 2 mile course, and we were joined by a lot of other people who were enjoying a 90+ degree day.

Last year the boat that claimed the "King of the Desert" title, reached a top speed of 180+ mph. Since we missed some of the earlier boats, I'm not sure who the top dog was this year. During the time we watched the boats accelerating through the course, the fastest boat reached a top speed of a little over 150 mph.

Today, this huge boating week comes to an end. Events like this are a big shot in the arm for the local economy, and from our perspective, it sure looked like this years Desert Storm was a tremendous success!

A NEW DRAG STRIP?

Could it be? A brand new, state of the art drag strip right here in Lake Havasu? This subject has been approached by the local paper on a couple of occasions, but the big story so far, is the potential location has switched from the south side of the city, to approx. 100 acres of city owned land near the airport on the north side.

At the Desert Storm street party, the Lake Havasu Drag Racing Association had a booth, and the association members were pretty confident that this was going to happen. They said that the city was "200% behind it", and with city owned land that would be leased to the association, one of the biggest hurdles has already been crossed. They also said that the necessary financing to build a facility was already arranged, and that this proposed drag racing complex would be more than just a drag strip. The tentative plan is to build a 1,000' concrete raceway, with a 2,000' shut down area. A tower with suites, and initial plans to have spectator seating for 5,000 is also on the drawing board.

The hope is that ground can be broken this summer, and the first racing action will take place before the end of the year. This all sounds a bit on the ambitious side to me, but we'll just have to wait and see. Having been involved with local government as a county planning commissioner in CA, I've seen lots of these projects start off with a bang, and fizzle out over time. There will be lots of hoops to jump through, and a lot of the success, or failure, of ambitious projects like this, depend on the tenacity of the folks trying to make it happen.

One of the goals of this facility, will be to attract the professional teams for winter testing. During the off season, between the last Pomona race in early November, and the start of the new season, also in Pomona in early February, the pros, and many of the sportsman racers do a lot of testing. Right now, most of the pro teams travel to Florida in December and January to do their off season experimenting. I can't help but think that a first class facility here in Lake Havasu would almost be the ideal location regarding weather and altitude (almost sea level), and should be a powerful magnet to any drag racer who wanted to do winter testing.

We'll have to see what, if any progress has been made, when we return to the Lake in September. If it's still moving forward, I just might have to get involved, and lend some of my enthusiasm to the project. Hmmm, is there a race car in my future?

DESERT STORM STREET PARTY

As I sort of predicted, the spring storm passed through the area rather quickly, and we had part sun and clouds for the rest of the day. The Desert Storm street party was scheduled to start at noon, and we were seated at the Red Onion Restaurant a little before twelve. The crowds weren't too bad at that point, and we enjoyed a nice lunch, seated at one of the street side tables.

The downtown area (McCulloch Blvd.) of Lake Havasu City is an area that embraces special events many times a year, with the street closed to vehicular traffic. The Desert Storm street party is one of the larger events, attracting a multitude of people to this half mile stretch of "Main Street". In the 10 years that we've been here, we've seen a transformation from an old, dying downtown area, to a more vibrant business area, with lots of new specialty shops. The Red Onion opened a few years ago, and it's one of the newer, thriving businesses. These street closure events, don't benefit all of the businesses, but they do expose the area to many thousands of people who might just discover a new business, and venture back to do some shopping.

What would a performance boating event be without a picture of a big, supercharged motor?

This boat was one of Patty's favorites, with a very patriotic paint job.

This boat is from Marc, Chandra, & Laila's hometown, Tucson, AZ.

Yes, this is a small dog, but these boats have become so large, this little Yorkie looks even smaller!

Some of these boats are so extreme, I caught myself saying "WOW" more times than I can remember. I think the longest boat was 48', which is about 7-8 feet longer than our motor home. I stopped at the Mercury Marine display, and asked what the retail price was for their largest 1,350 horsepower motor/outdrive combination. The answer was $202,000! That's just for the drive train. Most all of these extreme performance boats have two engines, and we saw one with three. The entire collection of boats and related products was indeed sensory overload.

Lucas Oil is the sponsor of so many performance motor sports teams, that no other company comes even close. Not only does Forrest and Charlotte Lucas sponsor racers in just about every form of motor sports, they also sponsor entire racing series, like the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. They just recently built a facility in Missouri for Drag Boat Racing, and took over that series as the corporate sponsor.

Lucas Oil has recently expanded their line into marine products, and this big display was here for the first time. While we were there, Forrest Lucas appeared, which was a bit of a surprise, since the Houston NHRA Drag Race was just kicking off, and his son Morgan, is doing very well this year, as the driver of a Lucas Oil sponsored top fuel dragster. I'm sure that Forrest's jet was parked at the airport, and as I write this, he's probably already in Houston.

Forrest Lucas in the grey shirt and sunglasses.

Some of these paint jobs are just incredible!

I'm not much of an outboard guy, but three 300 horse Mercs does appeal to my hot rod side.

What would a boating event be without some attractive ladies, wearing skimpy outfits?

We spent over 2 hours checking out all of the toys, and other stuff, before heading back to the house. Today is the Desert Storm Poker run, and I would love to be in a helicopter as all of these powerful boats run at close to full throttle from one stop to the next. Tomorrow is the shoot out, where the fastest boat will be crowned "King of the Desert". It's a good week to be a boating enthusiast here in Lake Havasu!