We made it all the way to California, 2257 miles!!! And we are still married! After passing through the Arizona mountains we entered the barren Mojave Desert in California in the afternoon. It was 112 degrees!!!! Cliff barely got us to the campground in Barstow as our gas tank was almost empty. We are still not used to the extremely long distances between gas stations here.
Our plan was to visit Death Valley National Park tomorrow, but flash flooding damaged roads a few days ago and we are not quite sure which roads are open. The national park is an almost three hour drive from here and we will inquire about the roads in the morning before making the trip. I hope we will be able to go. I visited Death Valley 30 years ago and would like to go back and share this experience with Cliff and our boys. Our campground in Barstow is lovely, although we passed through some run-down areas on our way here, which was a bit unsettling, considering Barstow's high crime rate.
Of note: The campground has oleander bushes and there are signs everywhere not to eat these bushes as they are poisonous. I guess we need a plan B for dinner.

After a short hike through the desert at almost 100 degrees, we finally made it to Canyon X. The slot canyon was absolutely beautiful with a stunning display of vibrant colors.  We also found out why it is called "Canyon X". Right at the entrance, when looking up, there is an x-shaped opening towards the sky. Our guide was great and did not rush us through, which I heard can be an issue with these slot canyon tours.  Due to the dust in the canyon I did not take my camera and we only used our iphones to take pictures. The hike back up to the parking lot in the extreme heat and high altitude was challenging, especially since I had to wear extra clothing to protect myself from the sun. Unfortunately, my sunburn has now turned into an angry heat rash, definitely a heat rash, not monkeypox, making it very uncomfortable to be out in the sun.
Since we will be leaving tomorrow, we decided to wash our clothes and dragged two full hampers of dirty clothes to the campground laundromat. Unfortunately, the machine to obtain quarters for the dryer ran out of quarters and we were stuck at 10pm with two large loads of wet clothes. Therefore, we enjoyed our last night here surrounded by laundry hanging everywhere. Tomorrow we leave Lake Powell and get on the road to Barstow, California. 

We made it to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon today. Thirty years after coming to this country I finally saw the mighty Grand Canyon! It is enormous, vast, and spectacular. It is also a photographer's paradise. I took hundreds of pictures, using this opportunity to try out new settings on my camera and learn more about photography.  I walked a tremendous amount to get my pictures, but soon had to slow down as I could feel the effects of the high altitude. We were at 7000 feet above sea level and Cliff and I quickly noticed that a) we are no longer young and b) we are out of shape. But before we could dwell too much on the realization that we are getting old, the spectacular scenery captured our attention as we stood in awe of the mighty Grand Canyon.
Tomorrow we will visit a slot canyon; not the famous Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon, but the less known Canyon X. Our tickets for the Lower Antelope Canyon were cancelled due to flash flooding and no tickets were available to replace them. We only found tickets for Canyon X. The name definitely sounds a bit mysterious and science fiction-like and we are having a lot of fun imagining what might await us.

Finally the weather cleared and we made the two hour trip to Monument Valley. I have no words to describe the beauty of this national park. If I could just park our RV at Monument Valley and stay there forever...! We took the 17 mile scenic route which took us almost three hours as we stopped every couple hundred feet to take in the breathtaking views. Cliff enjoyed being able to drive his truck on the dirt road in four wheel drive. Of note: Four wheel drive was not needed. I was so focused on taking pictures with my new camera, that I forgot my sun protection and burned my skin. Again. I even have an interesting sunburn pattern on my arms, reflecting me holding my camera. Overall, I do consider it a small price to pay for all the great pictures I was able to get today. 

Today we woke up to more rain. While the weather cleared here at the campground, our weather app showed rain at the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. Therefore, we decided to wait another day before making the 2 1/2 hour drive to each national park. They have amazing Lake Powell boat tours here going through the breathtaking canyons, which we would have loved to do today, but unfortunately, they were already sold out. I was also not able to find tickets for Antelope Canyon, but was able to get tickets for Canyon X, which is another slot canyon. It is less famous and less visited, but we are glad we will be able to experience a slot canyon - assuming it does not get closed as well. Our tour is on Tuesday and we are hoping the slot canyons dry out by then.
With the weather not quite cooperating we had another relaxing day, grilling burgers, taking pictures of the scenery around the campground, and playing board games. We watched the sunset over Lake Powell and waited for the stars to appear. I can actually sit out here at night without being attacked by mosquitoes. Only a bat flew by. 
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Today we mostly stayed on the campground, enjoying the views and taking some more time to relax. We held off driving the two and a half hours to Monument Valley as it was cloudy there with a high probability of thunderstorms. Cliff and I went back to Horseshoe Bend as I wanted to take some more pictures with my new camera. Since I got burned yesterday I hiked to the viewpoints wearing long hiking pants, a T-shirt with a jacket on top, and a wide brim hat. It was 95 degrees at an altitude of almost 4000 feet, but I somehow survived in all my clothing and was able to get additional shots of the breathtaking scenery without burning additional skin. A win!
Unfortunately our tour of Lower Antelope Canyon tomorrow got cancelled due to flash flooding. There is water in the slot canyons and we are not sure how soon tours will resume. This tour was one of the highlights of the trip and we are hoping that we get another chance to see these slot canyons. We have changed the itinerary of our trip to give us more flexibility to visit Monument Valley and Antelope Canyon and cancelled our campground in Williams, AZ, near the Grand Canyon. We will stay here until August 3rd and instead will make day trips to the Grand Canyon.

After five days of driving we enjoyed a relaxing day at our beautiful campground. In the afternoon we visited Horseshoe Bend and stopped at multiple vista points to view Lake Powell from above. I have no words to describe the landscape here; it is absolutely breathtaking and humbling. To view Horseshoe Bend we had to walk about one and a half miles, a detail we somehow missed. Without sunscreen and only  a few half full water bottles we had found in the truck, we followed the trail to Horseshoe Bend. Needless to say, we got burned by the strong and unforgiving Arizona midday sun.
This morning we also discovered that all our IPhones showed different times and compass readings (Arizona is on Mountain Time, but does not have daylight savings time).  We did figure out that some of our IPhones interpreted our location as Arizona, and some as Utah, as the campground sits on the border. That explains the discrepancy in times. We still do not know why our compass readings are different, but I definitely would not want to rely on an IPhone compass in the wilderness.

Finally in Arizona! Our campground at Lake Powell is beautiful and the scenery is breathtaking! We drove 372 miles and are on our 9th tank of gas. It was a pleasant 82 degrees when we arrived and I am loving the low humidity. We can't wait to explore the area!

We made it to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. Today we drove 371 miles and gained another 3000 feet in altitude. At 6500 feet we are definitely in the high desert now with significantly cooler temperatures. It is currently 60 degrees here and we are thankful to get a break from the heat. We also survived our first thunderstorm in the RV and were able to watch beautiful lightning bolts over the high desert landscape. We managed to set up the RV just before the storm hit the campground and escaped getting rained on. After 4 days on the road and setting up and packing up the RV daily, we have become much more efficient with our process. What takes the longest time is Cliff connecting and disconnecting the sewer line, mostly because he is married to an infection preventionist, who yells out detailed step-by-step instructions to prevent any contamination of clean items. I also hand out gloves and disinfectant wipes, too many to count. 
Our campground in Grants, NM, is in the middle of a volcanic field, surrounded by black and twisted lava, deposited here by past volcanic eruptions. That was a nice surprise.
Also of interest: We are on gas tank number eight now. 

Greetings from Amarillo, Texas. To get some much needed rest we only drove 271 miles today, passing cattle ranches, wind turbines, and casinos along route 66. It is still extremely hot with temperatures over 100 degrees, but the low humidity makes it more bearable. It looks like we have left the oppressing humidity from the South behind us. The land has gotten flat, as flat as it can get, and yet, we still gained 2400 feet in altitude today. Our campground in Amarillo is located at 3600 feet above sea level and the landscape and climate have dramatically changed. There are very few trees and there is a hot, dry wind, making our eyes feel gritty. 
Of interest: Our campground near Oklahoma City in Tornado Alley had underground storm shelters. I had always wondered where campers would go if a tornado came roaring towards their campsites . Feeling much more prepared for camping in Tornado Alley, I immediately tried to locate the storm shelters at our Amarillo campground, but there were none to be found. Let's hope the weather stays nice.