Sedona, AZ to Marble Canyon, AZ
Today we leave the Coconino National Forest that has been a perfect home and we head to the Grand Canyon. He had seen another canyon on the trip and asked me how much more epic the Grand Canyon was to that one. There was no number I could give other than 10/10. It’s incredible epic. We had been going back and forth about going to Arizona but I knew he needed to see the Grand Canyon so we decided to come this way. I am extremely fortunate to say that I have been to both Sedona and the Grand Canyon before when I was 19 or 20 years old. My brother and Amy brought me out there to see the World Baseball Classic. But Jason hasn’t experience it yet so I am excited to watch him take it all in.
We woke up slightly later than we wanted to and Jason wanted to make breakfast but I showed him the radar for Grand Canyon and we got moving quick. It was hard to do it though with the perfect temperature it was, wearing sweatshirts and sweatpants to stay warm. we dressed for warm and rain. It’s easy to get hooked up and going when you’re boondocking. We still had 2/3 of our two camper batteries full and somehow the propane tank is still on great shape. The propane not only is used for cooking on both the Blackstone and the stove inside, but it also runs the fridge when we aren’t hooked up to shore power. We have no idea how we still have propane but we’ll take it!
I went to give Jason a granola bar for breakfast when I noticed… we had a visitor in the car!! Apparently when the trunk was open the other night he got in. We found some poop on a towel and I had to throw away a bunch of snacks in our snack bag that he had tried to get into. He did a good job on a life saver and attempted to get to the dark chocolate covered pecans with no success. We’ll deal with this later.
It was an easy hour and a half ride from our campsite to the entrance of the Grand Canyon. We had called Jason’s parents on the way to check in on them. We bought them a digital picture frame that we can email photos to so they could stay in touch with us on the trip. Lillian says she just watches it over and over again and we’re glad we found a way to keep them with us while we were away. While Jason was talking and I was driving, I saw a sign that said “wildfires tune to 1610AM”. Lovely! I got Jason’s attention and we bid our farewells until we could hear what the radio had to tell us. It turned out to be nothing. Just- “if there was a wildfire we’d tell you here”… nice.
The America the Beautiful Pass came in handy again! After a long 20 minute stop and go wait to get in, we were through. We found parking and it still hadn’t rained yet, just sounds of thunder in the distance and a ominous grey color in part of the sky.
I let Jason approach the end by himself and watched has he stood in awe. He didn’t move, didn’t take his camera out. He just looked out over the expanse.
All of a sudden- I’m crying. Not because of how epic this place is… because in front of me there was a silver and white miniature schnauzer. We lost Josie in October in the middle of the craziness that the beginning of the year was. My mom was just about to start a new treatment as well and my Grandma Jean passed away the same week. So much was going on at that time I knew I hadn’t properly grieved the loss of my first dog, my love Josie. I couldn’t approach the dog at first but finally we caught up enough that I said hello. The owners were so nice and told me Coco was only a year old. I told them about Josie and how she lived to 12.5 years and was the best companion. I may have over exaggerated it a little bit because if you knew Josie you also know she was a very particular dog and was extremely regimented and scheduled and drove us nuts with being allergic to 7 types of grass and 4 types of trees along with chicken and various other things dogs shouldn’t be allergic to. But I loved her insanely and she gave the sweetest kisses when she wanted to. Before leaving the area, the owner saw me again and brought Coco over to say goodbye. Ahh I needed this so badly. (I’m crying worse while writing this. Arg I miss her so much).
We stopped as often as we could throughout the park. The skies finally opened up at around 12:30ish. Jason had jumped out to take pictures and came back SOAKED but thrilled. We took about 3 hours in the park but couldn’t stayed for longer for sure.
I was taking the brunt of the driving today. Jason had gotten us out of the campsite and to a gas station but I wanted to do the rest. We had decided against Utah due to mudslides and issues with the dogs in some of the national parks, but we found a few places in northern Arizona we wanted to explore so we headed north before back east Colorado.
We drove a long time through Navajo lands which surround the Grand Canyon north to Page, AZ and eastward. The skies kept looking bleak, but we never got more than a few drops.
Our plan was to stay off grid tonight at Lee’s Ferry Campground in Marble Canyon, AZ. There were a few other places around but this was our first stop. We arrive to the highest gas price we’ve seen so far. $3.79 per gallon. 🤪
The camping area here is quite small and there were no hook ups but a dump station across the street. No big deal we thought. We thought it was going to be around 75 degrees at night based on the forecast but right now when we arrived it was 95 degrees. Shiiiiiit.
We decided we’d bring the dogs down to the water to get them cooled off and make a plan from there. The town of Page, AZ was 50 minutes away but had some maybe vegan options? So we thought we’d drive until things cooled down and then come back. The Colorado river was running quick in some areas but we were able to get the dogs into a quiet spot. Jason joined them, for whatever reason! It. Was. Cold! No way was I going in there.
We actually never made it out of town. The water was great, dogs were happy, and Jason and I were loving taking pictures of the area. The scenery was perfect. It was just too good.
All of a sudden… up on the hill we saw them. Wild horses. Wow! Then they came down and took a drink right across from us. They were so close and so peaceful.
In the parking lot, a fox ran through and up on the mountain tops were Three Billy Goats Gruff!
We went for a quick spin back up to the gas station a few minutes away for Gatorade. It was hot, man! We stopped at a few stone structures we saw on the way in and caught some sunset pictures. What a stunning place. What I love about this is that we might never have experienced this if we didn’t make any of the decisions we had made up until now. We were truly meant to be here.
We got Gatorade and went into the general store just to stay in some AC for a minute. They actually had things made out of vegan leather!
We noticed there was a coin operated shower we could use that opened in the AM. Awesome! At this point, any shower is a good shower.
Back at the campsite, we took everything out of the car to try to find our rodent friend. We also took it as an opportunity to clean up a bit. The 4Runner is covered in dirt and dust from all different states. Winslow deserves a bath that’s for sure.
It was too hot to think, so cooking was totally out of the question. Sandwiches for dinner it was!
Jason was tired so attempted to sleep. We have a few fans that can be charged so thankfully they were at 100% and ready to go. Jason found a way to sleep. Bear, Patch, and I did not. It was 86 degrees at midnight. Breeze was gone so it was just hot. Between the panting and heavy breathing, there was no way I could sleep. I became a Momma Bear and I did whatever I needed to to help them to cool down. Water on their bellies, alternatively fan on each dog, ice cubes in their bowl. I brought them for a walk around the campground at 2:00am. Others were awake too, walking around or sitting at their picnic tables.
At 3:30 Patch had settled next to Jason but Bear still wasn’t feeling it. So I brought out a little puck light and my book and sat with him outside. The moon was waning but there was still a lot of light outside. I hear a chirping sound, which turned out to be bats. They flew in front of me grabbing the bugs that were attracted to my light. I felt terrible for the little guys. Bear finally fell asleep on the rocks outside and I stayed next to him until around 5:00am when I had him go back into the camper. Jason woke up and I took a few minutes to try to get some sleep. Hottest night of the trip but hopefully this is the last one. Tomorrow we will be asleep high in the mountains of Colorado.
Vegan On the Rhode 