Saturday June 20th 2020

The temperature climbed a few degrees today and the wind calmed a few miles per hour. Today’s peak temperature was in the low nineties, will little to no wind. It was comfortable in the shade and dangerous in the sun.

I would best describe today as a do nothing kind of day. While I did accomplish a few things, I primarily watched some TV and read. Tomorrow is another day.

Friday June 19th 2020

The slightly unseasonable cool spell continued today. The temperature peaked around 90 degrees and the wind was almost calm. Late in the day a few clouds dotted the blue sky making a very pretty sunset.

I spent a little time today exploring more of the Homolovi State Park, but most of my time was spent in front of the computer. I’m back in full scale travel planning mode. I worked out a rough plan that gets me to Mississippi River by the first part of August. It involves stays of three or four days every one to two hundred miles with a couple of longer stays in areas with interesting and safe things to do. I would like to spend more time in some areas, but the attractions are mostly indoor museum type places. Given the current pandemic conditions I’m focusing on outdoor attractions and nature.

Once I reach the Mississippi River in the Memphis area, I could turn south toward Vicksburg Mississippi or continue east across Tennessee. The southerly route doesn’t currently have any definition beyond Vicksburg and it puts me along the Gulf coast during hurricane season. The easterly route probably turns south after a visit to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. To make the decision I really need to determine where I will be for the Labor Day Holiday weekend. The holiday weekend is probably already booked at the popular places.

I’ve set a goal to have my route back to Florida figured out by the end of the weekend. I’d also like to have the key stops booked and the rest of my original reservations in Wyoming and Colorado canceled.

Thursday June 18th 2020

The weather was beautiful today. The temperature was below normal for the season peaking around 90 degrees. Even the wind cooperated with only occasional strong winds.

This was a day in the life type of day. I didn’t do anything specific, but the day went be quickly. It certainly wasn’t a blog entry worthy day.

As the weekend approaches the campground is getting a little more business. Each night this week there have been about fifteen to twenty sites occupied. Most are only here for a single night. On my walk around the park this evening there are more occupied sites. Some of them look like they’re here for more than a single night.

Wednesday June 17th 2020

The wind wasn’t quite as dominant a force today. At times it was very strong, but at other times it was almost calm. The temperature reached the low nineties under a clear blue sky.

This state park preserves the remnants of four villages of the ancestors of the Hopi people. The small farming communities in the Little Colorado River flood plan were occupied from around 1260 to 1400AD. Unfortunately they been vandalized a lot over the years.

Today’s big activity was a hike to the first village known as Homolovi I. It is located along the Little Colorado River about a mile and a half from my campsite. I hiked down along the access road. There isn’t a trail from the campground. Most of the wildflower blossoms along the road are gone now, but I found a few colorful bushes to take pictures.

I didn’t find the remains of the village very interesting. The existence of the village site is interesting. Thinking about what life might have been like for the residents of the village is interesting. I just found the piles of rocks that represent the ruins to be uninteresting. It takes a lot of imagination to connect the rock piles and occasional piece of a structure with an actual village. Picture taking at the village site was not allowed out of respect for the Hopi peoples heritage.

The Little Colorado River is not much of a river at this time of year. It is wide depressed area of the desert like many of the rivers in this area. On the plus side, there is actual water in the Little Colorado River. It is in small muddy narrow channels. Near the ruins there is actually a sign warning about Quick Sand. Monsoon season began last Monday, so there is likely to be more water flowing in the river sometime this summer.

Tuesday June 16th 2020

The wind kept the temperature today, but walking and driving were a challenge. By eight this morning the wind was building from the southwest. As the day went on it continued to get stronger until night fall. Once the sun passed the horizon the wind seem to disappear with it. Hopefully it doesn’t come back as strong tomorrow.

I got the last couple of camp setup tasks completed this morning. The bike is off the car and the rack is safely stored under my RV home. My Honda CR-V is now in touring mode. First up was a run to the local Walmart for groceries.

Walmart is my store of choice for two reasons. The primary reason is they are all over the place with a fairly consistent layout. The second reason is the prices are OK without the need to have a frequent shopper card. Today I visited a medium sized Walmart that broke the consistent layout advantage. Possibly because of limited space products were often found on aisle caps or in other featured display areas. Instead of being able to get in and quickly get what I needed, I found myself going up and down aisles and generally wandering around the store.

This Walmart was taking “social distancing” a little more seriously than the last two I’ve visited since the start of the pandemic. At the entrance a pair of greeters were wiping down carts and only allowing one customer group at a time to enter and pick up a cart. Only after the party enters the store could the next customer pickup a cart. They also reminded everybody about keeping your distance from other customers. The majority of customers were wearing masks, but they still didn’t follow the one way arrows.

I don’t consider Walmart a high risk of infection type place, but it is one of the riskiest places I’m likely to visit. I’m not going to areas with big crowds, restaurants or bars. Whenever possible I’m not visiting indoor places at all. I’m viewing Walmart as a microcosm of the local area. This area seems to be more virus aware than others. The fact that it is located on the edge of the Navajo Indian Nation that has suffered heavily from the virus is probably the reason.

Again this evening the smoke from the forest fire in the Tonto National Forest was visible on the southern horizon. The smoke is probably thirty miles away and the wind is carrying it more westerly toward New Mexico. The actual fire is much closer to Phoenix than here. I’d guess it is about 100 miles south and a little west of here. The fire called the Bush fire is currently the largest forest fire in the country and is zero percent contained at this time.

Monday June 15th 2020

After a week in Holbrook AZ, today was moving day. I relocated to the Homolovi State Park outside Winslow AZ. This park is actually thirty five miles in the wrong direction. When I made the reservation New Mexico was just beginning to open up. I chose to spend an additional two weeks in an Arizona State Park.

I departed the Holbrook KOA just before the 11AM checkout time. The wind heading west on Interstate 40 was very strong out of the southwest. It is a good thing I only had a short distance to travel. Wind hitting either of the front corners of the RV is a real fight with the steering wheel. I went an extra exit west into Winslow to top off the gas tank. It was primarily to kill time, but it will save me a fuel stop when I leave. I got to the Homolovi State Park before the noon checkout time. Luckily my site was available.

The campground is located in open high desert land near the Little Colorado River. Very few of the little more than fifty sites are occupied. My site is on higher ground with a couple of little shade trees and view for miles. The wind blew very strong all afternoon. Toward evening a dust cloud or possible smoke from the forest fires in the Tonto National Forest to the south was visible off to the southeast. This is going to be an interesting location for the next two weeks. I expect lots of sun and lots of wind.

Sunday June 14th 2020

The wind today was a little weaker than yesterday. The temperature peaked in the low nineties with very few clouds in the sky.

I returned to the Petrified Forest National Park today. I passed through the northern area of the park that I visited last Wednesday and started touring in the area to the south. This part of the park I remembered a little better than the northern part from my visit in the fall of 2017. Standing at the high overlooks and walking the trails was difficult in the wind. It is hard to imagine how bad it must have been during yesterday’s stronger winds.

Most of my time in the park was spent hiking the Crystal Forest loop trail. The area is covered with pieces of petrified wood from a rain forest 225 million years ago. This area of land was near the equator before continental drift brought it to this latitude. There are some impressive specimens to see. Some are still in long logs and other pieces have cracked off into prefect slices. The color of the quartz in the petrified wood is dramatic. Here are a few of the many pictures I took today.

Back at the RV park in the afternoon, I started to get ready for a travel day tomorrow. I’m not going far, but I still have to pack up the weeks worth of clutter I produce living in the RV.

Saturday June 13th 2020

The day began as a bright sunny day, but it didn’t last long. The wind picked up out of the southwest and clouds started to appear in the sky. Soon the wind was steady at twenty or more miles an hour. Gusts in the area were recorded in access of 40mph.

My plan was to return to the Petrified Forest National Park today. The wind caused me to reconsider the plan. It was hard to walk outside in the wind. There is very little high ground for many miles to slow the strength of the wind. The high desert in this region is very flat. The low humidity, high wind and warm temperatures have raised the fire danger to extreme. To the south of here a number of fires are currently burning. Tomorrow is forecast to be a little less windy, so I’ll try to go back the National Park then.

This became a this and that kind of day. I watched some TV, accomplished a few outstanding tasks and did a little more travel research. It’s time to figure out where I’ll be in July and August.

Friday June 12th 2020

Today was a little warmer and a lot windier than yesterday. The temperature peaked in the low to mid nineties and the wind blew strong out of the south. Tomorrow is forecast to have even stronger winds, but some cloud cover that should keep the temperature down a little.

The water supply to my campsite is not great. The pressure and the rate of flow are very low. To compensate for this I’ve been using my internal water tank and demand pump. I needed to add water to the tank this morning. It is simple matter of turning a valve and making sure the water from the campground is turned on. I did exactly that this morning then went back inside my RV home with the intent of turning it off in a few minutes. The water’s rate of flow was so slow that I couldn’t even here it from inside like usual. I soon got involved with other things and forgot about the water filling the tank.

Some time later, I’d guess about an hour, my neighbor came to my door and informed me that I had water overflowing out of my RV. Sure enough water was running out of several places on the passengers side of my RV home. After shutting everything down and relieving the pressure in the tank I started to survey the damage. Most of the water went out the overflow and down the side of the RV as expected, but some of the water got caught on seems and cracks and flowed back into the basement of the RV.

I spent the rest of the day removing damp or wet items from the basement. I spread them out in the sun to dry. None of the contents were ruined or damaged. The basement bay doors stayed open to dry the compartments after I sponged them dry. It was looking pretty good as evening arrived. I’ll open everything up again tomorrow morning when the sun is aimed right at the passengers side of my RV home. Hopefully, the heat and very good desert drying conditions will get everything dried out.

One other time I overfilled the tank, but that time it was only by a minute or two. This time I’m not sure how long it was overflowing. There was a good size puddle on the ground. I’m lucky that the flow rate was so slow.

Thursday June 11th 2020

The temperature climbed back into the low nineties today. That isn’t bad when compared to the one hundred and eight in Phoenix today. A little wind during the middle of the day helped keep the shade comfortable.

Today was dedicated to catching up on chores and maintenance tasks. In addition to general sweeping and vacuuming, I had a couple of days of dirty dishes and a couple of weeks of dirty laundry to deal with. I got the cleaning and the dishes done, but only about half the laundry. I need more quarters to feed the mechanical beasts. I haven’t been making enough cash transactions to acquire quarters in the normal course of things. Buying some quarters is back on my list of things to do.

My exercise for the day was a couple of walks around the campground. There continues to be a wide variety of states of origin for the campers. Today I added Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina and Oklahoma to the list of states that have stopped in this campground. There are also an ever increasing number of rental RVs stopping for the night. RV travel has clearly resumed.