Month: April 2025

Iowa – home again first time in 2025

It was time to get home. Always something to look forward to, and something we regret since we love the Southwest so much. I did some serious medication and lots of heating pad use, and I was able to drive semi-comfortably.

We left Monument Valley and went to Page, AZ, staying at the Elks Lodge 4 April.  It was a gravel parking lot, and they charged $15 for dry camping. I thought that was fairly high, but, then again, Page is a big vacation spot. Very friendly people though. The next night we went to the Twin Arrows Casino outside Flagstaff, AZ. It is always an easy spot to stay, free, and not too noisy. On 6 April we spent the night at Santa Rosa State Park, NM. Lovely place. It is a bit of a pain to get to, but worth it for a beautiful and quiet spot. We thought about staying two nights, but there was weather coming in, so we kept going.

Monday saw us all the way through Texas and into Elk City, OK where we spent the night at the Elks Lodge. Again it had no hookups, but we were able to find a nice spot. We got to Oklahoma City fairly early on Tuesday. We stayed at the Edmond Elks Lodge. Not very nice due to crowding. We could hear a lot of conversations from surrounding coaches! We stayed two days because a group of elementary and high school friends were getting together. I keep forgetting how little I have in common with the people I went to high school with! I think this will be the last time I try to get together with them. Life definitely does go on.

We spent 10 April on the trip at the Kansas Star Casino south of Wichita. Great place to spend a quiet night for free. The lot we stayed in was gravel, but it was pretty flat and relatively unoccupied. There is an alternative spot closer to the casino that was asphalt, but it was slightly more occupied. Our last night was spent at the Walmart in Osceola, IA. Lots of reefers running all night, but it was handy. A bad wind was coming, so we left early and headed straight home.

We got here this morning and put the motorhome at Big Woods Lake County Park. We are about half unpacked, and we will finish tomorrow. The cats are enjoying the space. Each of them is rubbing their faces over pretty much every surface, marking the place as theirs after so long.

With the new RZR and tariffs being on and off, Kevin has ordered all kinds of things for it. We had them delivered to my oldest son’s place. A lot of things are big (front and rear windshields, bumper, etc.), and our son has joked that he will give us the bill for the storage unit the items required! He also said we owe the poor UPS guy who has to walk up 20 steps or so to their front door! Kevin will be fully employed getting everything put on. I have a list of things to quilt, and I need to get them done before we leave again around Memorial Day, so most posts going forward will probably be quilt-related.

What can be said about Monument Valley that hasn’t been said?

Wow, wow, and wow. We are absolutely overcome with the beauty of Monument Valley. I have wandered around a lot of red rock country, but just never made it here before. We got here on Monday and just rested up. Here is looking out the door of our motorhome at Gouldings RV Park.
Campsite

We also went to the Mitten viewpoint. On the 31 of March (Monday) the West Mitten shadow shows up perfectly aligned with the East Mitten. We were ready to take pictures, but at the last minute the clouds covered the sun and the shadow was lost. We did get some preliminary pictures though.

On Tuesday we took full day tour with a Gouldings Navajo guide named Marvin. It was cold and windy, so we were glad we had a regular enclosed van for the tour. Most of the 3 hour tours were in open vehicles!

We started the trip by visiting the lesser traveled Mystery Valley and having lunch cooked over a fire mostly by his wife. Oh, and we got stuck in sand! It took Marvin, Kevin, and Rick (the other person on our tour) to push the van while I put it in low and gunned it. They really shouldn’t send guides out in an 2 wheel drive van when all the signs say 4WD required! After lunch we visited Monument Valley. Instead of posting pictures chronologically, I am going to arrange the pictures more by type of scenery.

Arches. There were lots of arches.

Eye of the sun

Double arch
Hogan arch
Smoke hole for hogan

And then there were the remnants of the ancestral Puebloan people (previously called Anasazi).

They were a small people based on the size of their hands

Notice the craftsmanship still present in the ruins. Square corners and a combination of large and small stones to keep the walls straight.

And then there is just the raw. beauty of the place.

We stopped at a hogan in Mystery Valley where an older woman explained the process of weaving beginning with the sheep shearing (manual because no electricity!), washing, carding, spinning, and weaving. She had some beautiful things for sale, but it was out of my budget. Maybe I will have to save up for the next time we come.

We didn’t see much wildlife; this is a hard country. We did see this hawk.

We had dinner on Monday at Gouldings Inn Restaurant (Navajo tacos for both of us) and breakfast at the same place (French toast combo) today. Food was good, and service was quite adequate despite a number of reviews saying the opposite. We had wanted to visit the various museums, but my back is still giving me fits. I have another radioablation on my medial nerve scheduled for 23 April, and I can hardly wait.

We have had some wild weather while we have been here. Monday it was windy with a big dust storm, overcast, and cool. Tuesday it was cold and windy with more dust. Wednesday we got rain, snow, cold, clouds, and sun. Today wasn’t as bad though it did rain a bit and snowed a bit more.

Tomorrow we go to Page to register the new RZR then head to Grants for Saturday, assuming the weather is ok.