The NCAA Basketball Tournament is over, I’ve stuffed myself on the buffets in Las Vegas, and I see the weather guessers are predicting warmer temperatures in Ocean City than in southern Utah, where my next stops on my Adventure 2011 Meandering Tour are taking me..  The main goal is to go where it’s warm, well, dah, why not go home then?  Don’t think the thought isn’t ricocheting around in my noggin.  It is, but that would mean missing the Grand Canyon where I view it from Toroweap (http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/tuweep.htm), gorgeous vantage points, and I wouldn’t experience the road to BullFrog deep in Utah’s nowherelands of Grand Staircase Escalante. Both are east of Las Vegas and kind of on the way home, so I’ll include them. On the forecast also includes chill of 30s at night and rain for Toroweap.  Whoops, the sand pits that are part of 65 miles of no maintenance road from Colorado City to there “will turn to a quagmire of quicksand that will pull your tires right off their rims.”  That’s what the hostess at the Virgin River National Recreational Area told me when I stopped to fill up with drinking water. She said, that’s what happened to her!
    Well, I came anyhow; I can’t miss the Grand Canyon. It’s a main event along with the Keys, Bear Island in the Everglades, and kayaking in the canyon at Big Bend N.P., Tx. for my last 12 yearly adventures. I drove the 65-mile road to Toroweap in 21⁄2 hrs. Pretty quick; I’m not sure I ever did it that quickly before. I didn’t see any sand pits and there was only one rock break hill that was a challenge and I didn’t need my 4WD at all. The whole way the sky was a menacingly dreary stormy grey.  If it would’ve been in the 30s I’d have feared snow and surely cancelled, but it was 50 climbing towards 60.
    When I pulled into the campground there were two other slide-in campers on pickup trucks and about a dozen empty spots. I traded solar panel stories with one of the other campers, since I saw he was using one, too. He relied on his to run his refrigerator, laptop, and other electric needs. Of course he had a larger one (135 watts) than mine (40watts), which is enough for my computer, email and photo editing.  I use propane to power my refrigerator and cook.
    Then I went to the canyon to do long exposure photos of the walls and Colorado River at the bottom excluding the dreary sky. It was a perfect day for that. A long exposure requires a tripod, because the shutter is open much too long to hand-hold the camera without moving.  I can also take several exposures for different lengths of time and combine them into one image to create a High Dynamic Range Photo.  That I’ll do at home, because my panel won’t capture enough Reddy Kilowatts for all the time I’ll spend tweaking that operation.  (The results of the HDR images are phenomenal! Look at the difference in the HDR & nonHDR photo of the same view.  You may be able to see it better on my website or Fb.)
    As I began my walk to the canyon, a drizzle began, so I got my rain slicker. As I was nearly done, the rain became steady.  I’m glad I’d shed the camera with the long telephoto lens when I got my jacket, because I couldn’t have protected all that gear. I can get wet, but my camera gear does not appreciate it. As I got inside my nest, the real rain hit. Some days I’m lucky!  This is the first rain I’ve experienced since March 9, when I dodged tornados and thunderstorms as I left Florida going west. The rain has given me the opportunity to write this.
    I’ve lit my propane lantern; makes light and the heat keeps it toasty warm in the nest. I need to remember to keep the vent cracked open, though, so the carbon monoxide will escape. I was hoping to get a radio station, but I can’t. After dark the reception will be OK, but I can’t get any stations here in the daylight. So no radio or cell phone, limited electric for the computer and, of course, no internet. I say I don’t need that stuff and I haven’t, but this is the first chilly rainy evening I’ve had to stay inside; may be early to bed. I can listen to George Neary on Coast to Coast A.M. He always has some thought-provoking guests about UFOs and other out of the ordinary subjects.
    The grey sky is as rare as the rain, since I haven’t seen it either as I enjoyed Spring Break in south Padre Island, Tex., Big Bend, Cibola NWR and the Mojave Desert. It’s stopped raining. While I have the chance I’m going for a walk. Who knows what’s out there to see. I’m not taking my big cameras, just the “point and shoot.” It’s still very grey and dreary, but there’s a bunch of fluffy white clouds low over the canyon. I wonder if any are in the canyon near the river? I go to see. As I walk the mile or so from my campsite to the rim over looking Lava Falls, I see the sky is brightening where the sun should set.  As I get close to the rim I can see down into the canyon and the greens, browns, and yellows are saturated and the light is perfect, no shadows or blown out high lights, just completely even. Where is that tripod and other gear?!?! Then the sky begins to get pink in the west and slowly darkens to rose bands of color. The color isn’t over the canyon, but it sure beats rain and I can see there’s a blue sky up there behind the clouds waiting for tomorrow, and so am I.
    I’m up as the world here at Toroweap begins to lighten. It’s not as cold as I thought it would be. It’s 50 rather than the predicted 30s. I get my tripod, camera gear, and a big cup of coffee. The coffee will be a hand warmer as well as warmth for my insides. I walk to the east to the rim about a mile away and wait to see what nature will show me. I get nothing spectacular, no colorful sky, big horn sheep, or Falcons, but the sun’s rays are warm and there’s a blue sky. That’s enough!