Solar Install and a Rodeo in Prescott Valley, Arizona

After our May trip to southern Utah, we spent some time visiting our friend, Bill, and going to Lake Mead for some water-skiing trips.  We parked the the trailer in his driveway.  This visit also gave Al time to do some big projects on the trailer.  

One project was when we had our axles replaced last September while in Rock Springs, Wyoming, the technician did not have the correct size suspension parts.  The company instead had the parts mailed to us so Al could install them.  The suspension part absorbs the road shock better.  Al had to disconnect both axles to replace the yellow part.

Then he tackled the installation of 1200 watts of solar on the roof in 6 panels.

 

 

The panels were installed but remained covered so they didn't start generating power from the sun before all the connections could be tested.  He installed the panels on rails so they can be tilted if needed for more sun exposure during the winter months.

 

 

 

Solar breaker box and Solar charger.

 

We got in a couple of water-ski trips to Lake Mead.  Here is Bill's and our ski and camping gear waiting to be packed into a truck for the drive to the lake.

We went to Lake Mead to do some water-skiing in the little water that is left in the lake.  Due to the drought the water level is WAY down.  This is the Temple Bar launch ramp.  Each year the launch ramp gets longer and longer and the park service needs to extend it.

One day while we were out on the water we heard some animal noises so we took the boat closer to shore to investigate.  This cow was having a spat with her husband and making quite the fuss.  (Yes, it is a cow!)

The angry wife

The husband, hiding from his wife

Another fun thing we did was attend the "World's Oldest Rodeo" in Prescott, Arizona.  It wasn't as good as the one we attended in Wyoming last summer but it was still enjoyable. 

All of the sponsors of the event are represented by a flag that is paraded around the arena.

Nice Opening Ceremony

I always love seeing the Clydesdales.  Do you see the little one running to join the team?

One of my favorite parts of this rodeo was the Mexican cowboy doing rope tricks.  His arm muscles must be huge to swing the rope for so long.  And the horse he was riding had this long, beautiful mane.  I've never seen that before.  (Maybe it was mane extensions?)

But the best part was when his 6 year old son joined him on a miniature horse and did matching tricks with his dad.

Another night we had an opportunity to spend with a couple that volunteer for the LA Angels Spring Training every year with us.  Holly & Tony invited us to their Prescott house for a delicious home made lasagna dinner.  It was a very nice evening with delicious food.  We enjoyed getting to know them better.

We also got in some hiking with Bill's neighborhood hiking club.  Thanks to Chuck for leading the fun hikes. 

After a couple of ski trips to Lake Mead and some projects on the trailer, it was time to head to Lake Powell for a week.  I'll pick up there in the next blog entry. 

Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah and Wrap Up our Southern Utah Trip

We left Escalante and the wind and dust behind and drove to Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah.  This was the only stop on our southern Utah trip where we had a reservation and paid to camp!

 

Kodachrome Basin lives up to its name -- its wonderful scenery practically cries out to be photographed. Named for the classic Kodak color slide film by the National Geographic Society after an expedition there in 1948, the park is chock-full of tall stone chimneys and pink-and-white sandstone cliffs, all set among the contrasting greens of sagebrush and piñon and juniper trees.

Our first hike was to Chimney Rock 

Then we did the Shakespeare Arch/Sentinel Trail although the Arch collapsed in April 2019.  The trail was just a 1.6 mile loop trail but gave us a chance to see the basin.

Even without the arch this hike was nice. 

Another day we set out early for a 7.3 mile hike on the Cool Cave, Mammoth Spire, and Panorama Point Loop. 

Ballerina Spire

A favorite part of this trail was Cool Cave.  It's hard to tell the depth of the cave from photos but it was "cool."

Since we were so close, we made a visit to Bryce Canyon National Park on our "down" day.  We purposely didn't wear our hiking boots so we didn't get tempted to hike.  Bryce is just so beautiful!

Our last top on our way back to Prescott Valley, AZ, was for a couple of nights on BLM land north of Jacob Lake.  We found a nice and quiet site to relax among the trees.

Our southern Utah trip yielded me five new Junior Ranger badges:  Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point, Capital Reef, Arches, and Kodachrome.

Here were our stops on our Southern Utah trip visiting 4 of the "Big 5" parks and a couple of State Parks (we didn't visit Zion on this trip).  We did this route in a counter clockwise direction starting and ending in Prescott Valley, AZ.
 

We enjoyed our month in southern Utah visiting some awesome national and state parks.  Next up was some water skiing.