North Rim Grand Canyon and Pipe Springs Nat’l PK

We got up early this morning and took the dogs for the walk. We ended up driving up Forest Road 205 for about an hour and then linked up with the road out of Jacobs Lake that heads to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The drive along this route is absolutely breathtaking. There are amazingly gorgeous meadows, seas of Aspen, and the occasional deer and elk.

We walked around the North Rim Visitor Center, the beautiful lodge, and all the cabins, and took in the views from the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The place was nice, not very crowded, and plenty of parking. All of the campgrounds were booked up, which is common for national parks in the summer. But right outside the park there’s like 50 miles of open area that is for camping, which is where we spent the previous night. We are headed off the rim, and on toward Zion tonight.

Along the way we found another national monument called Pipe Springs National Monument. It was a settlement from the 1800s with the natural springs in the area allowed them to raise cattle, sheep, orchards, and fields of vegetables and grains. The fort was actually pretty cool and was well maintained.

We crossed over into Utah outside of Colorado city, Arizona. We got the obligatory photograph and then headed down the road another 30 minutes and found a camp in VLM land up on gooseberry Ridge outside of Apple Valley. It was really windy in the valley today, but it’s calmed down nicely this evening.

We’re making some beef stew and bread for dinner, and watching the sunset. Tomorrow at Zion national Park.

Link to the day’s photos.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250606-north-rim-grand-canyon

Northern Arizona – Flagstaff day 3

We left the house around 11 and headed towards Page, AZ. We made it to Flagstaff and had lunch, and did a couple of quick errands. By the time we left it was already around 3. Since Page was still 90 minutes away, we decided to find a place to stop. Just north of Flagstaff and beneath Humphrey peak, we found a spot, got leveled, and set up Howie. Nice area at the edge of a burn area.

The truck is hauling well. It’s a bit heavier than I’d hoped but we will drop some weight as we consume the items in the pantry. When we were initially planning this trip, it was going to be in the 2008 FJ Cruiser with a tent on top. This setup trades some off road capability for a living space. It’s cozy. We named it Howie, our house on wheels.

Family and the local ER – day 2

Got started on some yard work at my parent’s house. My brothers and I have been looking at this old black walnut tree that had a bunch of dead limbs and I decided to start cutting. Managed to fill my dad’s truck bed full and take the load to the dump. Looks great now and much safer.

The batteries and solar are working great. Ran the MaxAir fan at night and Starlink all day and battery down to 80% by morning. Solar had it charged by 10-11 am.

And another minor hiccup: Kathy has some infection in her finger so we met the local Willcox ER staff. Thanks Julie and crew for the help. Now with some antibiotics and healing. We headed back to Coolidge to pick up and drop stuff off. Tomorrow will be northward bound.

The PanAmerican Adventure Begins

I finally finished all of the little projects for the truck camper and the truck. We’re still getting organized on where everything goes, but we’ll get there. Right now it’s a bit of a mess.

Our first leg of the journey is down to Willcox Arizona to visit our parents, brother, and sister. We had a great day visiting, did a little yardwork, and had a great dinner at Isabelles, south of the border.

We will be heading north today, stopping in Coolidge to gather mail and packages and organize a bit more. We are also meeting up with a couple of friends this evening. Tomorrow will be a drive to the vicinity of Page, AZ.