Last day at Zion National Park

WELCOME to our newest Follower, Sassy!  Sassy has recently completed her first year on the road with her darling dog, Bennie.  She has a Class A Toy Hauler which holds her 2006 Harley Davidson, Heritage Softail Classic - so Sassy is doubly brave, a solo traveler AND a motorcycle rider.  Wow!  I've been enjoying her blog for quite a while, check it out if you haven't already.  We're really happy to have you along on our adventures, Sassy! 

Today is our last day at Zion National Park in Utah.  There is a 14 day limit, and today is our 13th.  I originally reserved this campsite at Watchman for 10 days, but then came early to see if we could get in and we were able to get a site in the South campground for three days, then moved over here.  I thought about extending at this campsite for another day, but it's really cold and tomorrow will be the same.  Wednesday the weather is going to warm up quite a lot, but we'll be gone by then.

I feel fortunate that in 13 short days I've been able to enjoy Zion in warm weather where I could wear shorts and tank top, sitting outside reading my Kindle, and also experience rain and wind and cold and a dusting of snow.  

I woke up this morning and there was snow on Watchman again.   It came down a little lower than last time.  There is still fog on the top.  Can you imagine sitting at your dinette having your coffee and cereal with strawberries in the morning, cozy and warm, and looking out the window at this?

 Closeup of Watchman with snow

I finally installed the discs that came with my camera - the Panorama program automatically  stitches photos together if you take them one next to the other and move to the right or left, up or down.  Pretty cool.

Playing with Panorama settings

- you'll have to click on the photo to see anything.

My front yard this morning in the moving fog.

Some of the lower peaks around Watchman have dustings of snow, too, so it must have been colder last night.  

One thing I can't figure out - I have a black laptop and black kitchen appliances.  You all know how the inside of our rigs get dusty, and need continuous cleaning.  What I can't figure out is:  for the last few days The Palms has been completely closed up except for ceiling vents, it's been calm during the day, it's been rainy so the ground isn't dusty, so why am I still getting so much dust???  Every night I turn off the laptop and close the cover.  This morning when I opened it, there was a fine film of dust covering the keyboard and surrounding area.  How in the world did that get in there?  :(   The table doesn't show the dirt, but I can feel a slight grittiness on it.  That's a real mystery to me. 

So, anyway, tomorrow we move.  I don't have hitch-itch, but I'll be happy to be moving south into some warmer weather.

 It was foggy last night

Sunday's moon peeking out of the clouds.

There were a lot of people here over the weekend - the campground was full except for 4 tent campsites when I came in from shopping at the end of last week even with the cold wintery weather.  I guess the weekends are filled with reservations, but during the week there are vacancies.  The Ranger said the weekends are always busy - the Park and Watchman Campground are open all year.   I'm surprised there are still some tent campers, they must be freezing.  

I was talking to a man in the laundromat in Springdale (he was using their elect for his laptop, not washing clothes) who is tent camping here.  He was a little worried about the forecast of snow, but said he's able to keep warm in his tent in pretty much any temps.  Hardy soul!

A neighbor up the loop came by the other day and was interested in The Palms.  He and his wife have a camper over their truck and a small toy hauler for his motorcycle, tools, etc.  When they are together, she rides behind him on his motorcycle.  He asked if he could bring her by in a few days when she gets here to see the inside.  

So yesterday they came by.  They are both retired, and he loves being outdoors but she doesn't.  She said a few days is all she can take; she has lots of things going on at home, it sounded like she is very social and would miss all her friends and activities at home.  I felt kind of sorry for the husband, but he gets out by himself and she joins him when she can for a few days.  I think he felt if they had a motor home about the size of mine, she would like it better - nice bathroom and shower, kitchen, just more room.  She liked it, but...  not impressed.  You can tell, and  I doubt his plan will work.  As I've read in lots of blogs, if you aren't both really with the RVing plan, it won't work.  You'll both be miserable.  

But it was fun to give the tour.  I always enjoy showing people the interior of The Palms.  

Not much going on today - I'm going to the dump station this afternoon to empty tanks and fill the fresh water so we'll be ready to leave tomorrow without having to stop on the way.  I have no idea where we're going - either Saint George, UT, or Las Vegas, NV, or maybe somewhere in Arizona.  Your guess is as good as mine.  :)

From Me and My Dog, have a great Monday, everyone!  :)

It's Snowing in Zion! :)

Yeaaa, it's snowing.  When I woke up I could see some wind, some rain and some snow.  I went out and took photos, but you can't see the snow.  If it starts snowing harder, I'll get some where you can see it coming down.

Mountains topped with fog.

You didn't know me when I lived in Camino or Pollock Pines right above Placerville.  I lived right on the snow line and we'd get snow every year. I was only snowed in once, but I worked at home so there was no problem.  Our roads were plowed, and I'd keep my car pointing to the street, right at the bottom of the driveway.  Both houses had long driveways and I never shoveled snow.

 This is my Pollock Pines house

When they were forecasting snow, I'd go to the grocery store and stock up on way more than I needed, I always had a big stock pile of wood because I used wood stoves for heat.  I was ready for the duration.  There was such excitement about the possibility of snow.  (Remember I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.)  During one snow storm, the top of one of those trees came through my living room ceiling upstairs like a knife.   The weight of the snow broke the top of the tree right off. Took down some fencing and the deck railing on the left upstairs side of the house.  That was definitely exciting! 

When I woke up this morning and saw little flying snowflakes, it was like Christmas for me!  So far it's intermittent, and nothing is sticking, but I love watching it, hot cup of coffee nearby.

I'm so glad I have my new converter and a stocked larder.  We could stay here for days and never move - and we will. :)

More later...  time to make some soft boiled eggs with cut up buttered toast mixed in.  Just the kind of breakfast for a cold morning.  Just wanted to post about the snow while it was happening.

Update:

 Can you see the snow on the peaks?

Snow capped - just a light frosting

From Me and My Dog, have a great Saturday, everyone!  :)

Housecleaning today, going to town

WELCOME to our new Follower, Jenny!  I don't see a blog for Jenny, but her profile photo is a huge black dog, so Jenny and her Dog are following Me and MY Dog.  Thanks for signing on, Jenny, I hope you enjoy following along with us on our adventures.  Welcome aboard!  :)

Katie and  I walked over to the visitor's Center yesterday to see if they had outgoing mail service, my Dad's birthday is coming up,  and I had to leave Katie outside again.  This time I took her photo.   She's being such a good girl:

Katie waiting.

I was testing out the Panorama setting on my camera, and this is what I got - I think it was three clicks.  Really easy, and it turned out perfectly:

That's a bit of The Palms on the left

 The sunset was really pretty last night:

I love taking photos of little birds.  This guy and his friends were in our site this morning:

 

This morning I cleaned the house, stripped the bed and got all the laundry together including rugs and the things I don't launder every time.  We stopped at the dump station on the way out of the park and dumped the tanks and filled up with water.

As I was waiting for the fiver ahead of me (how much water do those things hold, anyway - it took forever to fill his water tank! ) I watched this little guy who was up the hill next to me:

Then we went into the town of Springfield to find a Post Office to mail my Dad's birthday card, do the laundry and top off the fridge and food cupboard.

As I was driving around the loop to my campsite, I saw this guy in the field:

 He was munching in the field, and there is a doe on the left

 I watched him for a while, then got back into The Palms and went on to our site.

I put Katie's leash on we headed out for our walk in the direction of the deer.  When we got there, they were done eating and were resting.  Each was on a different side of the field across from each other.   I went to the edge of the field and he casually watched me, but didn't move anything except his head.

 Resting after dinner.

As we continued walking around the loop, I saw these little birds chirping up in a tree - they were all sitting close together, and were just starting to fly away, and I got one in flight - right in the middle.  I liked this photo:

Then we went home - I got some photos of the clouds overhead.

 

Inside it was nice a warm.  Everything is clean and good smelling.  I got out fixings for dinner and pan fried a filet mignon, made some Spinach Surprise and toasted Italian bread with a nice cheap Cab.  Yum!

It just started raining, and there's a chance we might get some snow tonight. That would be pretty cool - pun intended. :)

From Me and My Dog, have a great Friday night, everyone!  :)

 

Resident critters

Welcome to our new Follower, Bud Russman, whose blog is Arizona RV Guy!  It's funny, when I checked out his blog, his current post has info about Forest River, which is the manufacturer of The Palms.  He's talking specifically about their travel trailers and fifth wheels, but I recognized some of the things he was talking about that are part of The Palms.  This is a new blog, and I hope it continues along the same lines, because it looks like it will be interesting and helpful.  Welcome aboard, Bud, we're happy to have you along on our adventures!

Whew, was it cold last night.  When I woke up at 8:30 it was 38 degrees inside, and little Katie hadn't moved from under her little nest inside a small down comforter.   It was warm inside The Palms yesterday evening due to the two space heaters we have (I'll forever love all of you who suggested I get electric space heaters!!!), so I didn't put her jacket or sweater on her when we went to bed.

When I woke up, right away I thought about Katie, and looked down to see a bump still under the quilt.  Usually she will come out during the night, but not last night!  I got up and spread a quilt over her, too, and she didn't move.  I peeked to see if she was okay:

 "Hey, Mom, let me sleep.  It' so nice and warm in here."

I looked out the kitchen window and saw this little guy:

A little past noon we were at 73 degrees in here, up from 38 degrees.  It was time to take off the warm clothes and turn off the heaters.  :)

I was sitting here watching TV on my laptop when I heard some rattling outside my screen door.  I looked over my shoulder....... right into the eyes of a squirrel climbing up my screen. I don't know who was more surprised!   I, of course, got up for the camera while he scurried away and Katie went over to the door to see what she'd missed.

On our early afternoon walk, we were just about to turn into our driveway when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye:

 Anyone out there - is it safe?

 Hello...

 Food...

Yum!

He was so funny - he kept popping in and out of his hole, grabbing a little greens, back into the hole, looking back and forth.   We stood right next to him watching and snapping photos for a long time.  I can't believe how good Katie is when I stop to take pictures.  She'll sit for quite a while, completely quiet.

Later this afternoon there were lots of little birds in the bushes and on the ground behind The Palms, picking things out of the soil right near another hole - there are lots of animal holes here.  All of a sudden a head pops up, looks around at the birds, and goes back in again.  I wanted to get a picture of him looking out at the birds, but he didn't come back out.

Here are some shots of local flora.  These are from the front of the little shop area right outside the park:

The grounds are landscaped beautifully.

 The sun was setting across the valley.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Wednesday evening, everyone!   : )

The continuing saga... new converter and batteries

The other night my CO2 alarm went off, and it wouldn't stop until I had both large windows open for a while.  I haven't had a problem since.

I woke up this morning, and had absolutely no power, even though the wall unit said there was still 1/3 power in the house batteries, which was normal, but I got nothing.  Well I did get something when I tried to turn on the water pump and a light - a high pitched, continuous screeching beep.  That was a new sound! :( 

So...   I packed up The Palms, and left the campground.  On the way out I asked the ranger at the ranger station if he knew of any RV repair places in the area.  He gave me two business cards, one really close, but he mainly did emergency repairs, and the other was back in the town of Hurricane and is a full repair shop which hopefully would have parts, if needed.  It's called Main Street RV and Marine.  I called and they said they could see me today, so I went down.  I stopped and filled the gas tank and headed down the hill to Hurricane. 

Here's the power center - with the black cover - the converter is under the drawer on the bottom right.

The owner came out to diagnose the problem, and he seemed to know what he was doing.  He thought it was probably a bad breaker, and seemed surprised when they were all okay.

 Power Center

Then he checked my converter and it was dead.

Old converter - D.O.A.  :(

He said the batteries weren't getting charged except when I drove the truck or started the engine.  In fact, when he pulled out the drawer over the old converter, he said, "Wow, do you smell that?"  It was like a burnt match - brimstone.  That might be what set off the CO2 alarm.  And it might have eventually caused a fire? 

I haven't been able to turn on any of the lights in the coach and have been using a small LED Coleman lantern - hard on the eyes, and it didn't give out much real light.  Not so cozy.  :(   So I was really glad he found something that could be fixed or replaced.  The new Converter is bigger than the old one.  The old one is a 45 amp and the new one is an 80 amp.

New Converter - My Hero!

He said I shouldn't have any issues now.  Also, I'll be able to dry camp much easier, but he did recommend that if I'm going to do a lot of boon docking, I should still get some solar.  That is still my plan when I'm in Arizona.

And while he was at it, I had him pull the two new 12V batteries I bought in August and install two new 6V deep cycle batteries.  He gave me a price break on the new ones and kept the old ones.  So now I have better batteries and a new, bigger converter that works.  

I knew the 6V batteries had to be wired in "series," and the 12V batteries were wired in "parallel."  When the owner turned on the system, it didn't work, and he went outside to check the batteries. The technician who was installing the batteries hooked them up wrong.  The owner explained to him that they had to be wired in series because they were 6V and showed him.  Thank goodness he caught that before I left.  When I need new batteries, I'll make sure to mention it, you never know.

I'm sorry I didn't get their names, but Main Street RV and Marine is a husband and wife run business, with the wife in the office and the husband and his crew running the shop part.  

They were both very nice and they had two large dogs there, one was a black Great Dane, a beautiful, sweet girl, and the other was an older black dog with a grey muzzle and white feet.  The dogs kept coming over to say hi, and were very curious about Katie.  The older one tried to come home with us. 

 Here's another shot - this looks like a really nice converter!  :)

I'd recommend this repair shop if anyone is ever in the area of Zion and needs RV help.

When I turned on the lights over the dinette tonight, I almost had to put on sunglasses!  I didn't realize how dim the lights have been in The Palms, but they are sure brighter now.

 

I took photo this on the way down to Hurricane - so interesting.

I love all the different shapes of these hills and mountains.  The one above looks like something out of Egypt.

 Pedestrian entrance to the park.

 Sunset the other night

   

Moon rising over the mountains last night from the campground.

Well, it's been more than four hours and the lights are still bright - YES!  And I still have full batteries according to the wall display.  That's a first.  I'm usually very optimistic, but I have to admit this issue has had me a bit worried.  I'm soooo hoping this is the end of it.  Keep your fingers crossed.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday night, everyone!  :)