Special Edition: Chip Foose Camping Coupe

While making our way back towards our campsite after spending a few hours doing tourist things at the Grand Canyon Lodge and Visitors Center, we walked past the showers and laundry building on the main entrance road, and we spied this beauty....a mid-1930's Ford Coupe.

Now, being fans of nice cars, and having watched more than a few (hundred) car make-over and restoration shows on TV, we had to take a closer look. As we examined the car we saw a few unmistakable design cues that it was at least influenced, if not recreated by the master of resto-mods, Chip Foose. The door handles have been removed to create smooth, sleek lines. The antenna is retractable and has been recessed on the rear deck near the rumble seat. Speaking of the rumble seat, the handle is also gone, and it, along with the doors, must open from an electronic fob. Very cool.

The last piece of the puzzle...Foose rims...this is it! The ultimate camping coupe ala Chip Foose!

A couple of other features...the tail lights are rectangular as is the brakelight mounted on the license plate holder...and this design element is carried through to the shape of the exhaust pipes.

When we mentioned this car to Sue and Fletcher, Fletcher said he saw the owner cleaning the car too. Later, as we walked with Sue and Fletcher to dinner at the Lodge, we saw the car again, this time all shined up and gleaming in the late day sun.

Fletcher happened to see the owner on the path to the Lodge, so we walked over to say hi and tell him that we liked his car...this is Mark, the owner of this very cool car.

This is the (brief) story of Mark and his car...Mark is from Maryland, and 20 years ago he found the hulk of this car hanging in a barn. He thought he could fix it up and maybe it would be a three year and $10,000 project. Well, it turned into a 20 year project costing $30,000, and when we asked him about whether it was done by Chip Foose, and he said it was not, though when we pointed out the Foose rims he said that he did give Chip Foose some money.

When Mark bought the car he found a map of the Grand Canyon in the glovebox and he swore when he got the car done he would drive it out there. Then, five years later Mark suffered a stroke at the age of 44 and it has left him without the use of his left arm.

The 15th anniversary of his stroke came this year and coincided with the day of the eclipse. So his plan came together...he would finally take this beautiful car to the Grand Canyon as he promised he would, and he would do it to on the day of the eclipse to celebrate his triumph over such a very dark and trying chapter in his life. So Mark drove over 1,900 miles from his home in Maryland to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon using only his right arm. (Ask Michael and he'll tell you it's quite a chore even with two good arms!) And on top of that, at one point his GPS led him astray and he ended up on a gravel forest road...this beautiful low-slung coupe creeping along the gravel road at 10 miles per hour...which explains why he needed to do some detailing on it when he arrived!

It was an honor to meet Mark and learn his inspirational story...and to see his beautiful car, the Foose Camping Coupe!

The Long Road Home - Day Two

Morning breaks in Springville...we open the side doors, step out to greet the day, take a deep breath and...what the...?! What is that smell?! Last night it was a little bit like septic tank or feed lot, today it is more like paint factory, latex to be more precise.

Now, we should disclose that during our drive to dinner and back last night, we got a clearer picture of the neighborhood surrounding this RV park and what makes its location a particularly choice piece of real estate. Surrounding this place are: a Stouffer's prepared foods plant, some sort of farming operation, a chemical plant, a train yard and the expressway. So all of those variables may play a role in the particularly pungent morning scent here at the RV park.


But we don't let an odiferous and potentially life-shortening morning breeze deter us from trying out the comfort station. Once behind the closed door of our own clean little bathrooms, and with the eye-watering aroma of morning in Springville safely locked out, we enjoy nice hot, long showers and boy that felt good!

Today's planned segment from here to La Grande, Oregon, is supposed to take a little more than 8 hours. Since our drive is longer today, and to try to avoid any health impacts of breathing air in Springville any more than absolutely necessary, we eat, pack up and get on the road by about 8:30am MDT. Later today we will cross over into PDT and gain an hour which is nice because that should put in La Grande by about 4:00pm.

Provo is the first city we pass through as we head north through Utah. From Springville, we enter the Provo-Salt Lake City-Ogden metroplex...there really is no break to the development through this whole corridor. So it seems like one large city. And one quick observation...these folks like their highways...you'd think this was LA with the 8-lane highway they're upgrading to... We drove this same stretch a little over a week ago, but again Patty is on the opposite side of the highway (now looking out to the East) so she was able to capture a lot of new views of Utah and it's beauty...

After a coupple of hours, we cross the border into Idaho, and, as it turns out, Idaho is prettier looking to the East too...!

While it is mostly sunny, it is much cooler and a little breezy...

About two miles into Idaho, we come around a long curve on Interstate 84 around milepost 109, and we see that the ground stretching out to the northeast is black, as is the ground in the island in the middle of the divided highway. We were surprised because we did not recall seeing this on our way South. Patty rolled down the window to take a few pictures of the blackened earth and we could really smell the freshly charred range. After taking these photos, Patty tapped on that new iPhone she loves so much, and after a quick search we learned that this range fire occurred yesterday at about 11:30 AM. It burned approximately 250 acres, and the highway was shut down from noon to 12:30 while the BLM crews battled the blaze. Eventually the fire was contained by 6:30PM and destroyed one outbuilding on the adjacent farm. Isn't it nice to have the Internet at your fingertips?!

As the miles rolled on, Idaho continued to provide vistas worth capturing in megapixels...off in the distance over the small mountains, you can just see a snowcapped peak which is near Sun Valley...

At about 1:45pm we drive through Boise....unfortunately for Boise, we felt that it was really only worth one photo for documentation purposes...

Another hour and we're into Oregon...and it too provides some great scenery...! This is just outside of Ontario, OR...

The weather is changing, it remIns cool and we see scattered showers all around. Eventually we drive through a shower and ruin our chances at an accurate bug mortality report for the day...

At almost 4:00pm we see La Grande in the distance...our legs (and our butts) begin to rejoice...

For our second night of our return trip, we have reservations at the Eagles Hot Lake RV Park...site 34...Unlike our accomodations last evening, this RV park is situated almost 5 miles from the interstate, a few miles from the nearest livestock yard, no food processing or chemical plants as far as the eye can see, and a good half mile from the train tracks. The scenery of the mountains around us is actually quite nice, and the breeeze carries the scent of freshly cut grass...ahhhh. The sun comes out and it warms up a bit as we get settled in...

Unlike the RV park in Utah, this park is populated by campers and RVers on the move...well, except for this guy who seems to be making this stop a bit more permanent...

Patty had again availed herself of 3G on the move and found a nice little Mexican restaurant in La Grande that good reviews, so we drove into town for dinner at Cinco de Mayo...

Fajitas...!

After dinner, we returned to site 34 and did our photo and blog work for the day. We then took a short walk to check out the RV park which is supposedly situated adjacent to the old Oregon Trail...but when we walked to where the trail is shown on the RV park map we were met by a barbed wire fence with a No Trespassing sign on it...hmmm. So, back to the RoadTrek for a cup of tea, and then we turn in to get ready for our final leg on this journey.

Miles driven: 553.71 (plus a 14 mile round trip for Mexican dinner). Travel time: 9 hours. Bugs killed: not many, though even an estimate Is impossible because a rain shower erased much of the remains...

The Long Road Home - Day One

Well, all good things must come to an end, and today we leave the beautiful Southwest for home. We woke early to try to hit the road for our first of three driving segments...today is going to be a six-hour drive. The morning is brisk and clear, and the wind is stronger this morning than any previous morning; looks like we've timed this thing pretty well again! Before we leave our campsite we need to pack up our gear and batten down the hatches. It's exciting to be getting underway for home, and yet it is bittersweet too, because it is here that we need to say goodbye to our friends, hosts, camping and hiking friends, Sue and Fletcher. We also hate to leave the North Rim Campground which is now our favorite campground of all time. We pledge to return...someday soon.

With the exception of the first hour or two, the route is the same as the drive to get here and therefore the scenery is the same...but this time Patty's passenger seat is on the opposite side of the road so we still have some new "moving pictures" to share. Let's start with a few nice photos of Arizona and Utah as we head north...

Cowboy Butte on the way to Kanab...

Because we are pretty self-contained and self-sufficient in the RoadTrek, we often just pull off the road for lunch, whether it's at a scenic rest area, a viewpoint, or just a wide spot on the shoulder that affords a great view. Today was no exception, and after failing to see, decide--and brake!-- at a few opportune locations, we finally spotted a great turnout and managed to get whoaed-up in a cloud of dust and a few extra feet of braking room. It turned out to be a pretty spectacular roadside stop, and when we parked and took a look around it got even better...a classic western river view compete with oxbow bends. Soon after we stopped, popped open the side doors and made ourselves comfortable, a few other people pulled off...we probably attracted their attention from the road, and once they realized we had chosen to stop (rather than being a disabled vehicle), they stopped too and ended up getting some bonus photos for their vacation albums!

Here are a few more photos Patty took while hanging on for dear life to the top of the RV....just kidding, she was safely strapped into the passenger seat with the window down and the wind blowing through her hair...Just a warning to anyone wanting to try what Patty has done, we did kill one bug on the front of her camera...

Since we have divided our return drive into three segments, we have decided to try staying two nights in RV parks...not only will it be a great experience, but it is also less expensive than hotels, and it allows us to do our own thing in our home on wheels. We're really looking forward to seeing what the parks are like and how it feels...we can be kind of particular...

Our first overnight is at East Bay RV Park and Campground in Springville, Utah. It didn't dawn on us until we were almost in Springville that this may be one of those parks that people actually live in full time in lieu of a more traditional permanent residence...when we made reservations we were thinking about these parks from only our vantage point, as RVers who are on their way to some place else...well, we'll see!

As it turns out, this RV park had a mix of all of the above...full-timers, part-timers, and passers-through like us...We checked in with the delightful ladies in the office who were wearing their embroidered T-shirts and were so glad to see us. They gave us a very nice slot in which to park...no one was close by, and we were adjacent to the comfort station. Most important, they gave us "his and hers" passwords for Internet access on our iPads...what a welcome! Here's a photo of the office...

 

Now, for those of you who, like us, have never spent any time in an RV park, the comfort station is the little building in which you will find all of the critical necessities...toilets, showers, laundry machines and vending machines. This comfort station was deluxe...6 private bathrooms (each with a toilet, sink, and shower) 3 sets of laundry machines, and soda and snack vending machines, all protected by an access code. We gotta say, this is not so bad...we'll give it a full test when we shower in the morning!

Our address is 418 Dogwood and actually there is a pretty nice view here. Springville is just south of Provo and is nestled in the foothills of the Uinta Mountains (think F-Troop and the Heckawe indians..."you in ta mountains?"). We plug the van in, nice to have electricity...and notice a peculiar odor, is that septic? No, not quite, chemical? No that's not it either. Cattle yard? Whatever it is, it is not the most attractive fresh air we have breathed in the last two weeks...but, being the adventurers we are, we pour a glass of wine and get down to photo sorting and blog posting before we head out to dinner.

Do you think we have enough wireless technology in our little van...?! Patty traded in her Droid phone for the iPhone right before we headed out on our adventure, and she loves, loves, LOVES it! As we approached Springville in the RoadTrek, Patty did a bit of online research on her phone about where to eat...she googled, she Yelped, she Urbanspooned, she mapped...and after reviewing menus online at 70 miles per hour (aren't we living in a great age of technology?!) we decided to have a healthy meal at Ginger's Garden Cafe. Now, Gingers is a little health-food cafe tucked inside Christopher's Herb Store, which, by the way, has the most extensive herb offering we've ever seen, and it got pretty good reviews on Urbanspoon.

Downtown Springville is quite quaint...small storefronts, older buildings, and small bronze sculptures on pedestals along the sidewalks...

To try to deliver the highest quality writing in our blog, Michael consults with one of America's literary giants who happened to be sitting on a park bench in Springvile...Mark Twain!

While we were in town, we stocked up on a few grocery items, gassed up the van for tomorrow's long day (8 hours) of driving, and returned to 418 Dogwood. After putting a final polish on our blog post, we turned in for the night...good night Springville!

Miles traveled: 345. Travel time: 7 hours. Bugs killed: dozens (plus 4 mosquitos inside the rig)

 

Tourists on the North Rim

Yet another beautiful morning breaks in the North Rim campground. We really have been quite fortunate throughout this trip...it is more like summer than spring. Everywhere we have gone, the locals or park staff have told us that the winter was unusually mild and the current weather "unseasonably warm". Today we decided to see the North Rim like tourists, but without the sports team t-shirt and white sneakers. Early in the morning, Sue and Fletcher drove out to hike the Widforss trail while we stayed behind to enjoy our big cups of coffee and avail ourselves of the not-so-fast wi-fi on the front porch of fhe General Store. On her way to the store, Patty catches a deer in our campground...and some four-legged campers waiting for their staff to present their breakfasts..these canines are clearly well fed...big boys...

Gentlemen, your breakfast is served...

The porch of the General Store has wi-fi (even slow is better than none at all...the waits for photos to upload allow us to sip our Cafe Bustelo instant coffee, which, by the way, is fantastic, requires less muss and fuss, and tastes good enough for us coffee snobs to drink and enjoy...!) so we sit in comfy chairs on the porch and catch up on our photos and blog before hiking the 1.2 miles down to the Lodge and Visitor Center area.

While working on our iPads, an older gentleman sat down near us and asked "would it bother you if I talk?"... we assured him it would be no bother...we thought he meant he would be making a call on his cell phone. But then he started by telling us that the General Store coffee was not good at all, and asking us small-talk questions like "Where are you from?" We answered his questions best we could as we were creating photo albums, uploading them to our blogging app, reworking text for our next post, and sharing thoughts we wanted to include. We didn't want to seem rude, so we explained that we are on sabbatical and are blogging about our travels, and that's why we both had our eyes and fingers on our iPads. Before too long, we were simply waiting for the wi-fi to catch up to our fingers, and we turned our chairs to face our new friend, and we had a very enjoyable conversation. Our new porch-friend's name is Ron and he is from Oxnard, California. We learned from Ron that the weather in Ventura County California is fantastic, not too hot in the summer, and not too cool in the winter. Ron is 79 years old, and he too hiked the North Kaibab trail yesterday. He got to the Redwall Bridge and decided it was the right point to turn back. He said that on the return trip up to the rim of the canyon he had to stop about every 100 feet to rest. He also commented on the "young people" hiking up and down the trail at a fast pace with far more weight in their packs...we assure Ron that we too were feeling that same sentiment and we are only 50(ish)! We assured him that we would be ecstatic if we could do that hike (even the downhill...!) at his age, and that he had set the bar for us at age 79! Here's our friend (and inspiration) Ron from Oxnard...

After catching up in the blogosphere, we hit the trail and headed toward the Grand Canyon Lodge and Visitors Center. We took the same Transept Trail we walked on Sunday evening to catch the eclipse, but this morning we took our time to enjoy the views...

Michael just had to go out on the rock outcropping for this photo...

When we arrived at the lodge, it was much less crowded than on Sunday evening when both the trail and lodge patios were filled with people watching the eclipse. It was also the clearest day we have had at the Grand Canyon, so it was a great day to get some photos. There are two outlooks just down the stairs from the lodge...

We took a stroll through the Grand Canyon Lodge, and it looks like it would be a great place to stay...it has the look and feel of an old national park lodge...rustic and at the same time gracious and grand. In addition to the lodge, there are several dozen small log cabins for guests...very quaint and rustic, with rocking chairs on each cabin porch. The lodge is perched on the edge of the canyon and has two patios...one on each side of a large sitting room with soft leather couches and chairs, and a huge bay window with glass nearly from floor to ceiling that looks out over the canyon facing south. Along the covered walks around the lodge's circle drive lie the north rim post office, the Roughrider Saloon, a deli and the gift shop. An extremely rare sighting...phone booths!! We took some shots of it all and then did a little souvenir shopping.

One of the cabins closest to the lodge...

We shall return later to check out the Roughrider Saloon...

And we spotted a rare sight indeed...the last of a soon-to-be-extinct species...the pay phone booth...complete with phone books!!

After wandering through the lodge and grounds, we decided to take the short hike to Bright Angel Point. This narrow rock point juts out into the canyon with breathtaking views in almost 360 degreees...

This time, Patty climbed out to the ledge hanging over the canyon below...

Michael reaches the highest point on Bright Angel Point...and confirms it with a photo of the geological survey marker...

Boy, a 0.2 mile walk on pavement to Bright Angel Point can really work up a thirst, and how better to quench that thirst than by having a local brew at the Roughrider Saloon...named after the man who decided to make the Grand Canyon a national park, Teddy Roosevelt.

Looks like this may not be Michael's first beer...

Hey! Look who else decided to play tourist at the visitors center today...our three favorite canine campers! Someone's getting sleeeeppeeee....

After browsing through both the visitors center, book store and gift shop we decided to return to camp by a different route, the Bridle Path. Despite the name, we saw no brides or horses...but it did lead us along the forested canyon rim and afforded us more great views. We promised you a photo of the amazing water stations here at the park...and this one is right behind the Visitors Center. We topped off our water bottles before hitting the trail.

As we walked along the Bridal Path, we discoved the "backstage" of the North Rim...this is where all the employees live in large dorms, and the park machinery is kept and serviced.

This is the new Forest Service symbol for "high voltage"...

Once we returned to our campsite, we cleaned up, caught up on organizing our photos, and prepared for cocktail hour. As the afternoon progressed, the wind grew steadily so that by the time we were ready for our glass of white wine we had to move our chairs to the leeward side of the RV to get some relief. The winds were gusting up to 40mph, and are supposed to be even stronger tomorrow...good thing we did our ledge photos today!

As we enjoyed our wine and snacks watching people and campers come and go, this large RV pulled up across the road. We were amused by the fact that this camper decided to raise three of his four wheels up on blocks to try to make it level...not your typical approach. This made an already tall RV even more imposing...and we discussed whether or not the wind would knock it off its blocks...

After cocktails, it was off to the lodge for dinner and sunset in the main dining room. The dining room was full as it typically is, reservations are required months in advance because both lodge guests and campers alike can enjoy a hot meal served in the historic dining room. To be honest, the food is just OK, but that's really not why folks come to the dining room...it's really for the spectacular views from nearly every table. While we waited a few minutes for our table, Michael struck up a conversation with the young host...Ryan, this was his first season working at the lodge, his training consisted of being told to ask names, look on the list, signal the guy who seats guests, then put a line through the guest name. Michael assured young Ryan that he was doing a fine job...

By the time we finished our meal the sun had set and the canyon was getting darker. As we walked through the sitting room overlooking the canyon we spotted Brighty the Mule, a pack animal who must have been something special since he has been immoralized in bronze, and his inspirational story posted on the wall for all visitors to appreciate. We followed tradition and rubbed Brighty's nose for luck...

Out on the patio, we watched the stars emerge as the light faded from the western sky. The sliver of the new moon is accompanied by Venus as it rises above the horizon the the west...

Tomorrow we hit the road for our return drive to home. Due to the fact that we have added some miles by going to the North Rim, this trip will be completed in three segments...we learned from our consecutive long days of driving on our way south...

Miles hiked: a mere 3 miles. Travel time: 3 hours (including shopping and beers). Bugs killed: Zero