Living the RV Dream

We regularly use some of our time in Arizona to perform maintenance, especially the outside work on our trailer Penelope.  The weather is very predictable in Sun City, most days are sunny and clear.  This visit we decided it was time to remove and replace all of the caulk on the trailer roof.  This was not a job that we looked forward to getting into, in fact we kind of dreaded it.  We ended up spending most of two weeks on the roof and applied more than a dozen tubes of Dicor sealant.  Once we got going, it wasn't as bad of a job as we had imagined, but we still don't classify it as fun, although it is definitely a part of the adventure of living in an RV.

Gari removes old caulk up on the roof.

Gari working on the front cap joint.

Gari surveys her progress.  Only about 18 inches remains in the middle of the front cap joint.

Back cap joint complete with new Dicor self-leveling sealant.

Close up at roof ladder detail.

Driver's side rear corner completed and drying.

Passenger side edge seam completed.

Close up on passenger side seam.  Self-leveling Dicor.

The finished product.  We even removed the solar panels and reworked the attachment points.  All three Maxx Fans  were removed and the mounting flanges reworked.

Gari washes the roof like a pro after all the caulking work.

More trailer living; Gari defrosts the freezer...

Living the RV Dream! Lol

Balcony House

We ended up visiting the Mesa Verde National Park three times while we were in Cortez, Colorado.  This day we signed up for the Balcony House tour.   This was one of the guided tours that you must sign up for and pay an additional fee, so a bit more planning is required.  This particular ruin site is built in an alcove in the side of the cliffs.  That fact, made this tour the most physically demanding in the park.  To enter the ruin site you must climb up a 30 ft wooden ladder.  To exit the ruin site you must crawl through a narrow, 12 ft long tunnel and also climb up and out on a 20 ft wooden ladder.

We stopped at a few overlooks on the way to the tour.  The Mesa Verde landscape is like a comb, where several mesas, that are flat on top have steep canyons up to 1,000 ft deep dividing them.  The ancient peoples built many defensive dwellings into these steep cliff faces, which had only one entrance/exit access.  Balcony house is an excellent example of this type of dwelling.  The picture below is at Cliff Canyon Overlook.

As we waited for the tour to gather, Steve got a picture of the tile display at the entrance to Balcony House ruin site.

The tiles preview what we will see on the ruin tour.

The group begins to gather.

Richard, our NPS Ranger and Guide leads us down the stairs into the canyon.

Down, down, down we went.

The group makes their way up the 30 foot wooden ladder at the entrance to the ruin site.

The site is divided into two areas, and no one knows for sure why this is.  You can see Gari talking with Kim, an author and photographer from the Netherlands that offered to send us some pictures of Gari climbing the ladder.  To Gari's right you can see the balcony for which this ruins site is named.

This is one of the shots that Kim sent to us of Gari & Steve climbing to 30 ft ladder when entering the ruin site.  It really gives a good perspective of the height involved in getting into the Balcony House.

The shot below is a bad mosaic of the namesake balcony seen at the Balcony House ruin site.  One of the many things the NPS guide pointed out was the additions and renovations that can be seen at the site.  Just as we change and redecorate our homes today.  On the balcony the construction to the left used double log timbers for support, thought to be constructed at a different time, the balcony to the right used only single log timber supports.

Below is a view of the construction of the underside of the "balcony".

There was originally a door where this small window is.  It is this wall that separates the two areas of the ruin site.  The group has moved ahead while we continued to linger in the first area.

It was splendid scenery from this ruin site.  The people that lived here farmed the mesas and hunted the canyons.

Below you can see on of the kivas.  They were dug into the ground for coolness in the summer and warmth in the winter.  The kivas were also used as ceremonial or religious spaces.  You can see the very small hole, or Sipapu in the floor where the ancestral spirits were thought to enter the kiva.  The larger hole in the floor is for the fire, and the hole in the wall was for bringing fresh air into the kiva.  A basket-weave type roof was constructed out of small logs, and a hole in the center top of the roof was the entrance and exit via a ladder.

Gari leads us to the second area of the ruin.  A small pathway ran behind the structures at the cave walls.

Richard provides description at the corn milling area.  The rocks in the foreground were used to grind the grain.

Some of the doors, but not all, had this keystone shape.  Perhaps a man lived there?  No one knows the reason for sure.

 

In this shot below you can see the overhanging cliff  above the dwelling area.

This is the view of the second area as we were about to leave.

Below is the way out.  First you crawl through a narrow 12 foot long tunnel.  This was the only way in or out of the site originally.  The park service added the entrance stairs and ladder that we took to get in.

There goes Steve through the tunnel, I hope he doesn't get stuck!

Here comes Gari out of the tunnel, she fits a little better.

TaDa, she's out!

Next obstacle is the 20 foot wooden ladder, followed by steep rock steps back to the top of the mesa.  Gari leads the way up and out.

Here comes Steve up the ladder.   Sure is a long way down into the canyon....

Here comes the steep steps carved into the rock.

Point Lookout and Petroglyph Trails

While we were in Cortez, Colorado, we were able to visit Mesa Verde National Park several times.  We saw many ruins there.  The ancient inhabitants were famers and hunters living on the beautiful mesa.  This post is two of our self guided hikes at Mesa Verde.  Point Lookout is a trail that takes you up to the iconic point of Mesa Verde, and Petroglyph Trail, you guessed it has petroglyphs along the way.
The iconic Mesa Verde front view point above the Visitor's Center.

Mesa Verde, we walked to the top point up there!

The trail was a steep switchback trail up to the top of the mesa then it flattened out as it went out to the point.  This was a nice shady section that wasn't too steep.

Before we reached the top of the mesa, we stopped and looked back to the parking area where we could just see Romeo the Ram below all by himself in the parking lot.

The trail became steeper here.

We are getting up there now, from here we could see the main road going back into the park area.

The views were magnificent.

 The vast valley below.

Gari carefully strikes a pose not too near the edge.

The view from the point!  The Visitor's Center is down there, but is too small to see here.  You can see the park road winding out toward the entrance although.

Zoomed in a bit, perhaps the Visitor's center is visible here (very near the center of the frame).

The Petroglyph Trail was a beautiful hike along a steep canyon.

Steve stops among the natural trail to soak in the beauty.

This section was a narrow path under a rock stack.

A tight squeeze between those rocks.

Interesting sandstone erosion was found along the canyon walls.

We were surprised by a small ruin at the halfway point.  You could see where the original inhabitants burned their fire by the black marks on the rock ceiling.

We came, we found, we saw the petroglyphs.

Not the most spectacular petroglyphs that we have seen, but these were precious because of the surprising lack of petroglyphs in the area.  The beauty along this hike was also astounding.

More rugged trail, which we thought was part of the natural beauty of this hike, led the way out of the canyon.

Back up on top of the mesa we saw this pointy rock overlook and had to get hero shots.  It was windy up there and Steve takes a wide firm stance on that narrow rock!  The reason that you didn't see Gari on this hike is because Steve's camera malfunctioned and he didn't bring home any pictures :(