Our journey began on Monday, April 14. Back in January our son Brent purchased a 31 foot Jayco Greyhawk class C motor home, and this was her maiden voyage (for us anyway.).  Our plan was to leave in April pick up Brent, Bregitte, Rosemary and Caroline in Phoenix, AZ, on April 24 and deliver them to Monterey,  CA, on May 5. Bregitte’s sister was to (and did) get married in Monterey that week. Anyway there’s a lot to tell, and it won’t all be told here, but let us begin.

One thing for sure, God has blessed us here in these United States with the most beautiful country imaginable.

We left Byram on the 14th and made it to Tyler, Texas our first day out. We stayed at Tyler Sate Park.

Since many RV’ers have pets we thought we would take Gizmo and Little Mo along. The park was very nice.

Who made Texas so big? Our second day found us “hold up” at Palo Duro State Park south of Amarillo. What a surprise! Turns out that according to the literature Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the U.S. It was truly beautiful and like so many of the places we visited we wished we had more time to spend there.

The third day of the trip, April 16, found us making our way outside of the state of Texas and into New Mexico. This may have been the “longest” day traveling of the trip. We did not have reservations anywhere, and Maggie (our GPS) seemed to be taking us the long way around to Navajo Dam, NM. One of the places I wanted to see was Valle Caldera. It is a working ranch which was taken over by the Feds a few years ago and left pretty much in tact. It is outside of Sante Fe and Los Alamos. Well, we did get to see it, but it was getting late when we got there. The drive up NM 4 was our first real elevation and eye-opening. There is no camping at The Valle and so we were left looking for a place to stay. Many of the National Parks had not yet opened (the next week-end was free camping at many of the parks.) We finally landed in the parking lot of a motel! The young man running the place was very nice and let us park for free!

April 17 found us headed out to Navajo Dam, NM, and the highly recognized San Juan River. We like this area so much that we also stopped here on the way back. I actually got to do some serious fishing on the SJ, and it was a blast. We stayed here from the 17-22. Went to church in Aztec, NM, on Sunday.

The San Juan River. We camped in two different campgrounds. This was the Pine River and our favorite. It overlooked Navajo Lake.

The River.

Mule Deer.

This fish was about average size. I had two pretty slow days and two that were pretty good. Biggest fish I caught was about 20 inches; the biggest I had on probably about 25. The river was different from what we are used to in AR and AK. But caught fish on the same flies that we use in AR, mostly very small midges.

Tuesday, April 22 found us headed for AZ and the Lost Dutchman State Park out side Phoenix.

Our first Segura Cactus.

Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ

Wednesday, April 23 Koa in Phoenix.

Thursday, April 24. By the time I get to Phoenix. The main purpose of the trip, of course, was to get to Phoenix to pick up Brent, Bregitte, Rosemary and Caroline. Everything else was just icing on the cake. I guess we were so excited that we didn’t get any pictures of the airport.  Next stop Grand Canyon!!!

Thursday, April 24. The KOA campground just outside the GC.

I could fill up several pages with pictures from the GC.

Friday, April 25 we left the GC for Lee’s Ferry, AZ. Fished Lee’s Ferry Saturday 26.

The only time Brent and I got to fish together was at Lee’s Ferry, very beautiful. It is on the Colorado River. Much bigger than the San Juan and worthy of more than just one afternoon, but that is all we had. Brent got three, and I got one.

Sunday, April 27. From Lee’s Ferry we moved onto Zion National Park in Utah. New snow at higher elevations just about everywhere we went.

Heading into Utah.

The sign says it all. We spent the 27, 29,part of 29 in Zion.

Tuesday the 29th we headed to Bakersfield, CA. We had the oil changed and brakes inspected at a truck shop.

Pulled out on Wednesday, 30th we headed to Salinas, CA. We passed through Las Vegas, Nevada, but didn’t have time to stop!

Salinas, CA

Headed to Monterey on May 1. One of the best parts of the trip was seeing the agriculture industry in CA. The size of the fields and the diversity of what is grown there is mind boggling. The fields seem to never end, strawberries, artichokes, almond trees, the list goes on.

Thursday, May 1 we stayed at Marina Bay Campground. We were able to walk to the beach. Very nice campground.

We spent Friday night and Saturday night May 2 and 3 at the Koa campground near Monterey. This campground was featured on Undercover Boss! Loaded with stuff for the kids. Brent and Bregitte actually got to take a night off and went to Six Flags.  We attended church at the campground. A local church has a yearly camp out, and it was this week-end, very nice.

Sunday the 4th we broke camp after church and headed to Sunset Beach State Park (?). It was a bitter sweet evening as we were parting ways Monday. We had an outstanding time with Brent, Bregitte, Rosemary and Caroline, not long enough of course but nice. Can’t wait to see them in AK in August!!!

Monday, May 5th found us headed out of CA. One last look at the vineyards.

We spent Monday night at the KOA in Barstow, CA. Long day driving.

Tuesday, May 6 found us traveling back into AZ.

The Colorado River in CA.

We saw plenty of these on our travels. Your tax dollars hard at work.

The Painted Desert.

Wednesday, May 7 – 10 found us back at the San Juan River. This was the view leaving.

Saturday, May 10, through Monday, May 12 we stayed in Chama, NM.

The only buffalo we got to see.

A Corvette club for CA, they wanted to trade for the RV!

Monday, May 12 we headed out of NM.

Camel Rock, NM. Wonder why they called it that?

Monday, May 12 we spent the night at Cooper Breaks State Park in Texas.

Our last night on the road, Tuesday, May 13 was spent where we spent the first night of our trip, Tyler State Park, Texas.

We arrived back in Byram on Wednesday, May 13; it was a glorious trip! God truly blessed us. We had no real problems with the RV the whole trip. Had such a great time with Brent, Bregitte, Rosemary and Caroline. Gail and I got to spend maximum quality time together!

Alaska here we come!!!

God Bless!