CuRVWander

At 9:00pm local time, 12:00am eastern time we received an email from the North Rim Fees Supervisor (the highest ranked person on the non-law enforcement side of the park system and our primary supervisor).  Looks like the government is going to shut down and she forwarded an email from the Grand Canyon Superintendent, who is headquartered on the South Rim. In his email he was alerting all park officials that most jobs would be furloughed as of tomorrow, including all volunteers.  Even though some of the volunteers get no pay at all, like us camp hosts, there are a class that do get stipends and expenses paid.  Regardless, we are all to cease any volunteer duties. We have been given the option to furlough in place or end our stint early.  But if we do end it, we must vacate the park.  I don't know about the other volunteers, but I'm going hiking tomorrow.  If the House and Senate can't get their act together in a few days then we'll see if it is worth pu...

As the end of the season at the North Rim approaches I was reviewing the subjects I had covered while here.  I was surprised to find that I had no pictures of the campground other than a few shots out my front door and rear window.  Insufficient. I set out on foot to take some snapshots.  But what could have been done in a few minutes turned into a few hours.  Walking past virtually every campsite I was stopped many times to answer questions about the campground, give recommendations on which trails were best for this evening's sunset and then my favorite, pet the dogs that would let me. But I did get my pictures.  I'll begin with where the campers come into the campground, the registration kiosk. That is our co-host, Don with his head stuck in the window, talking to the ranger on the desk today.  I found it odd that other than electricity, there are no utilities in this building.  No water, no bathroom.  The rangers have to close the kio...

We found our way from the South Rim to Flagstaff and the townhome we were lent to use.  What a great place!  Three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a TV that actually received a signal.  Not having seen any TV for the past two months I was itching to get me some couch potato time.  But it was not to be at this moment.  It was late and we had not eaten yet.  Time to find Oregano's . Since we were in the big city we figured that Siri would be able to tell us how to get to the restaurant.  No way, that ditzy phone had no clue.  Luckily I had looked up the address before leaving the townhome and we plugged that into Big Gulp's GPS.  Ten minutes later and we were pulling into the parking lot. We had been warned that this was a popular place and that there was usually a line waiting to get in.  But our late arrival worked in our favor, we walked right in and were immediately seated.  We did what we knew we shouldn't, we ordered the Chic...

After gorging on a Navajo Taco at Cameron Trading Post we are on our way to the South Rim.  There is a road, highway 64, that enters the South Rim at the extreme east side of the park.  We turn off of highway 89 about a mile and half south of Cameron Trading Post and follow this narrow little road with a 45 mph speed limit for next 30 miles. Our patience and taking most of the day getting here was rewarded with some really nice weather and great scenery.  Although I will have to say that the South Rim experience is really different than what we have come to know the last couple of months on the North Rim.  The big difference is people, lots and lots of people.  Then there are the services and facilities for all those people, far more developed and "commercial" than anything on the North Rim. We found and visited with the host at Desert View Campground.  Wow, there is no way I would volunteer for that job.  In the first five minutes w...