A friendly greeting, ein freundlichen Gruss aus Utah Many of you have written me to let me know you appreciate these little trip reports. Since people apparently like them, I added some more friends to the list. My wife and I have been on our first long RV odysee since May 17th when we took off for Oregon with quick stops on the way out at the factory where this RV was built in Napanee, Indiana, then on to Naperville outside of Chicago to visit with our son, Bernie, putative in-laws and then old friends Vance & Iris Cummings in Fargo, ND. The weather was mostly rainy and chilly but it didn't matter too much as we drove most of the time. Once in Oregon we leased a camping spot for the year to obtain a legal address there and then registered our RV and our toad. The toad is a 4WD Jeep Cherokee Limited which tows without adding milage on the odometer and on all four wheels. The RV is a 40 foot diesel pusher with all the amenities of home.
From Oregon we worked our way south and we have lately been crossing back and forth between Nevada, Aizona and Utah to see various wonders of nature along with the man-made wonder: Las Vegas. We spend from 1 to 3 days in a location but know full well that in most cases a week is needed. There is simply too much to see and do along the way. My other problem is that there are too many pictures which need to be taken. It is simply awsome out here and I would like to take it all back on film.
We stayed a couple days at the base of Mt Whitney and explored as much as possible. Some roads were still closed as the winter washes much dirt across the serpentine roads which weave there way up into the clouds. But there were plenty of other roads to take. At the bottom of the mountain are spectacular scenes which have been used in many hollywood movies as backdrops. From Mt Whitney we drove through Death Valley National Park for a whole day stopping along the way but not camping anywhere. We probably should have as the desert has its own beauty. In other words we went from the highest spot in the 48 states to the lowest and hottest spot. Usually it's about 120 degrees in the summer in the valley. We arrived in Vegas and stayed at a rather fancy place called the OASIS RV Resort. The prices are generally around $20 per night for all RV parks. Vegas was very tiring as the casinos seem to have no end and one can never find his way out of there which is probably the idea. Marlies had to dispense with some quarters - all of them - before she could leave happily. I didn't even bother. I enjoyed the spectacular phantasy which the casinos build up on the outside. I was also very much impressed with the inside of NY- NY which really was done very artistically and showed, with much imagination, various lifestyles and scenes of New York City. One day we spend in Red Rock Canyon just outside of Vegas and I even climbed a small mountain on a rather lengthy hike. Marlies waited down at the bottom but fell anyway on the way down the less challenging path. She was more scared than hurt and valiantly marched on a step at a time. Next was Zion National Park where we bought a Golden Age pass for $10 which gives us free entrance to all kinds of federal parks and forests. (Last night we camped in Kaibob National Forest campground for the whole sum of $5.) All these trips from one place to another are accompanied by phantastic scenery on the way there. The Virgin River Gorge on the way to Zion was one such trip. In this case it was an interstate highway which cut through the gorge next to the river but mostly we travel the smaller and more "interesting" scenic roads. One of those roads was the one from Zion to the Grand Canyon. I actually tested it first with the jeep. It is a switchback road build in the 20s when cars were small and a 60 foot RV with toad had not been thought of. They actually place a 50 foot limit on combined length but nobody said anything and I paid $10 for them to close the tunnel at the top of this road so I could have the entire use of the thing. With all my preparation I still forgot that I was wearing sun glasses and upon entry into the tunnel all was pitch black. My lights were on but I still could only see a slight white line in the middle of the tunnel. Boy, did I swich glasses quickly. All went well and yesterday (Sunday) we camped at the closest campground to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon at Jacob's Lake. All RV parks were already booked and we chanced a National Park campground where they have no direct hookup facilities. I squeezed into a so-called pull-thru with 1/2 an inch to spare against a railing. Marlies swore I would not be able to get out of there. I managed quite well this morning and Marlies said, 'that was good'. She's finally realizing that I can drive this thing and is now even knitting as we drive. Quite a change from the pins and needles 'Vorsicht' messages I used to get every mile or so. She would read every sign on the road as if I couldn't see it. The marvel of marvels came when she actually used the video camera to film my treck up to the afore mentioned tunnel. I can't look down as I get scared and dizzy but she has no such fears of hights - just roads. Yesterday was a very, very windy day on the canyon rim. It is close to 9000 ft high up there and cold. The vista is indescribable. One must see it. We bought all these videos and watched some of them but none do the real thing justice. One impression I must share and that is that sometimes we need to remind ourselves that this is America. That is how many foreigners come to see our sights. My chances of stopping a stranger are surely 50-50 that such a person speaks German for example. They are here in all manner of vehicles and we meet them at every turn. A Rotel bus seems to be following us or maybe there are many of them. These things are Mercedes buses which have sleeping facilities in three stories in back. Strange looking vehicles. They hold up to 40 people but the one we saw in the Zion RV park had 'only' 26 passengers. That brings up a story. I was relaxed and drinking a cup of coffee when a couple stood not too far away discussing our RV - in German. The man came over and said: 'wieviel money? wieviel kostet zat?'. I let him struggle a few seconds and then said: 'Sie koennen ruhig deutsch sprechen.' The man almost fell over. 'Der kann deutsch', he hollored over to the women with a sense of total amazement and she too came over. They were from that Rotel bus we saw parked near the entrance. Marlies was cooking but I could tell the lady was absolutely burning to see the inside and when Marlies could also speak German, well, she was really babbling away. All this in 'bayrisch'. Most of the folks we meet or hear seem to come from the southern part of Germany or maybe Austria or Switzerland. It's tough for me to have a conversation without a lot of 'wie bitte?' Today there were swarms of Germans here in Bryce National Park and we saw the red bus again. But many Germans seem to rent cars in California and drive from there. Others take those typical tour busses. Like I said, I'm really amazed at the numbers. It seems that no matter which corner of this country I go to see, they are there too. Yesterday out on the point of the Bright Angels lookout, where I was scared of the hights and hugging the wall of the 4 foot path, a lady stood there as if a thousand foot drop was nothing. She was pointing out some scenery to her son in bayrisch (the Bavarian dialect of German) and I asked her if she wasn't afraid. I mean it was windy and there are no rails and lots lose stones. She just said that they were used to the hights as they were from the Alps. Well, well - I didn't think one would ever get that close and not worry about falling down. We had a nice conversation and she mentioned that the northern rim was much nicer because there weren't as many people there and it was less commercial. I had no idea. I thought it was very crowded here too as I couldn't even get a cabin to rent. She said that she had just gotten one 20 minutes ago. I wonder if they reserve these things for the foreigners? :-) Anyway, we went back to our RV which was 41 miles away. (That's why I asked about a cabin) and I made a nice fire and we watched the flames for a while. There was plenty of pre-cut wood lying about. I set the heat to 63 degrees and we went to bed. Both of us had a terrible night but neither wanted to wake the other. I couldn't breath through my nose and get enough air. At least that was the general feeling of my body and it resorted to mouth breathing which then was totally dryed out every time I woke up. I also had one lousy headache. I felt totally rotten and wanted to throw up. Marlies had the same symptoms. We then realized that we were trying to sleep at over 8000 feet altitude and that our bodies were resenting the change. In the morning I took four Sinutab pills and walked through the forest to get fresh air into my system. That didn't help much. Marlies then gave me some alkaselzer and I laid down on the sofa a little. I fell asleep and woke up feeling fine. That was one hell of a relief as outside the sun was shining and it was an absolutely beautiful morning. The wind from the day before was completly gone and the sky was as blue as blue can be. In the space of an hour or so I had turned from a miserable feeling to wanting to commune with nature and become a part of it. I felt great again. With Marlies it took a little longer. I spoke to some other campers and they informed me that plenty of liquids and about two days time are required to adjust to the thin air. With my new great feeling I even managed to squeeze out of our campspot with compliments from wifee. We then drove to where are now at the entrance to Bryce National Park where (Ruby) Syrett family seems to own everything. There is an inn and restaurant, a nightly rodeo, trail and wagon rides, RV park and even and a huge service center where they will change my oil on the diesel tomorrow. We even got their prime spot right out front where they like to show off the big rigs so that others might also come. It works well as we've already found out ourselves when we pull into places where we see other nice rigs. It was funny because I had asked for a full-hookup and they didn't have any. Then I said I had a 40 foot motor home and all of a sudden one had just become available. :-) There are about 10 large Tepees set up outside of our front view. They rent these out too. That way one gets the Indian experience. A western wagon rolled by a little while ago with Indians on horseback faking an attack. Here all that is not all that far in the past. There are huge reservations all around here. One can only shake his head at the desolate land given over to the Indians for their reservations. Anything the white man had absolutely no use for they gave to the Indians. Sometimes they'd find out there was something there and they simply chased the Indians somewhere else again. It's a sad story. Marlies bought some jewelry from some Indians who had parked themselves at an Arizona lookout right next to the sign which forbids such activity on national park land. It's $8 a nice necklace or 3 items for $20. Supposedly all made on the reservation but maybe it comes from China too. :-) Today we saw a little of Bryce. This is where the Hoodoos are. These are the strangest rock formations one can imagine. Did I say awesome? There are dozens of viewing areas one can explore and trail. Today we went to just one: Sunrise Point. Marlies did not want to take the long hike down into the canyon. I went off on my own, camera in hand. Germans are everywhere on the trail. I stopped a few dozen times to photograph undescribable scenery. It was very windy again. As I got about 2/3 of the way down a huge black cloud came out of nowhere and brought a tremendous storm with it. Icecold rain started to smack into me and it became difficult to manage to cross the many small passages which had staright drops down to the wherever. The path is worn but hardened mud. I could just see this stuff soaked with water and hurried as fast as I could back up to the top. I had no idea how far down I had gone. Others came from even further down and were also rushing out of there. Scary darkness in the sky and wild winds pushing and howling. Now I knew how those funny forms were made. Huffing and puffing with my heart pounding a mile a minute I fought my way from one sheltered wall to another. There would be absolute peace in such a sheltered place but go a few steps further and my glasses were about to be ripped off. Finally I saw Marlies in her red jacket waving above. She was worried as the storm was up at the top too. I got there and drank the water she had waiting for me and slowly the sky turned back to a beautiful blue. Wierd! We got out of there though and decided to sign up for another night here and another trip back to the canyons tomorrow. I've read stories of flash floods and canyons are not a very safe place to be in bad weather but the suddenness of this change really brought nature back to me as a thing of beauty but also of danger. The good thing about our early exit was that I got some time to write these notes. When we leave here we'll be dropping in on Salt Lake City some hundreds of miles to the north. Got to see all these genealogical sources with my own eyes too one time. Hope all id well at home for all you folks. With greetings from southern Utah Fred & Marlies