Under Aged RVers

We leave tomorrow for a trip I have been waiting to do for more than a decade. To get a private permit on the Grand you have to wait an average of ten years, and as long as fifteen if you want a specific date. The group we are embarking with is solid. We have done many, many, river trips together, they are our dearest friends, and I wouldn't want to go down this river for my first time without them.

Running the Grand is logistically huge, here are the stats; 16 people, 21 days, 6 rafts, 4 kayaks, 960 meals, nearly 150 cases of beer, 14 rocket boxes, 5 aluminum kitchen boxes, 8 coolers, 24 oars, and a total trip cost of just over $11,000.


Rocket boxes filled with dry goods.


Only the finest brew for river trips. Actually beer snobs may not raft, no glass allowed, so you must adopt a quantity over quality attitude.


Here is my major accomplishment from the last two months. I crocheted 16 beer coozies and washcloths for the members of the trip. Yes folks this is what "retirement" does to you.

Thanks to everyone for following along with us these last 8 weeks. We'll be back in mid-September. I just purchased a new "super camera" for this trip, so I ought to bring back some decent pictures, and no doubt some good stories.

Cheers to All.
Rachel and Dan.

August 14th, 2004
The Loneliest Highway Home.


We had intended to a take four days driving back to Durango, but summit fever got the best of us and we raced back in two days. Our fever pace didn't leave much time for photographs, but then again we were on the "loneliest highway" most of the way so there wasn't much motivation to stop. We were entertained by numerous fighter jets on training missions, a long stretch where people write their names in the sand banks alongside the road with lava rocks, and this fascinating anomaly, the shoe tree.





We made a pit stop in Moab determined to go for a mountain bike ride, but as I stated way back in a past post, Moab in the summer is hotter than the surface of the sun. Even though we should have endured the heat, as a form of training for the Grand in August we couldn’t do it. The pull to drive on the three more hours to Durango and a soft bed, hot shower, cold beer etc. was too great.

Note: While our free guide didn't mention this place, we found a nice road-side camping spot just east of Ely, NV. Look for the National Forest sign east of the town and the camping spots are on the right side of the road, probably 5 spots and a large lot if those are filled.


So here I sit at the in-laws palatial estate, sipping their coffee while they are cruising through Alaska. It is like being at a really nice B & B without all of the other people. Dan is washing his truck and in his happy place as a result. The remainder of this week will be spent rigging and preparing for our Grand Canyon river trip.

Heads Up: While I expect to post at least one more time before then, I am going to be unable to post for three weeks. Now before you all find newer, better, younger, web logs to adopt in my absence, please understand that I will be back and it will be worth the wait! My absence is due to a 21-day river trip down the grandest of all rivers. I have many, many megabytes of photo storage to bring along and I fully intend to post a book-sized photo journal of the trip upon our return.

Additionally I will not be able to respond to emails from the 19th to the 12th of September. If you really want to contact us, you can send us post cards/ mail/ care packages, c/o Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We expect to be at Phantom on the 27th of August. Here's their address.

River Mail
Dan and Rachel Goddard
c/o Phantom Ranch
P.O. Box 1266
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023