Jims Yahoo Navion blog post
| We bought our 2010 Navion 24J last Fall when my twin was diagnosed with cancer and the bulb went off 'what are we waiting for?...' after tenting, pop-upping and going to RV Shows here in Tampa for 15 years shopping for what we'd get when we retired.... Well, I'm still a few years from retirement, but too many friends and family getting cancer now to just assume we can put off doing what we want until a retirement which may or may not be as achievable then if health issues sneak up (not to mention what our 'government' might do to us by then????) So, we stopped planning and acted and got a great deal and bought what seemed the perfect RV. We drove it up to Ohio on Christmas Eve which was my twin's last day of treatment, and though we lost both front wheelcovers on Kentucky's potholes, the Navion handled that trip flawlessly. So...., we were emboldened and told my twin and his wife to get his strength back and we'd all go to the Grand Canyon at summer's end. We left the day after my daughter's graduation from her anethesia program, and made Alabama the first night late so we stayed at a WalMart. On to New Orleans the next day, and we drove that Skinny Winnie right down Bourbon Street (what other RV could be driven right down Bourbon Street?), parked it in a lot, had dinner and strolled, and then back to a nice private campsite for the night. On North the next day to Memphis and Graceland, then followed Route I-40 to Red Rock Canyon S.P. (very nice, then to a New Mexico S.P. around an almost dry reservoir. We met my twin and his wife in Show Low, AZ finally and spent the night with an old high school pal there. We then went through Petrified Forest N.P., the Painted Desert, and on to the Grand Cnyon N.P. We stayed at a private campground just ouside the park on the South Rim side, and hiked to Skeleton Point the first day, and then the next day we hiked Bright Angel Trail down to the river and back (18 miles total with a mile of vertical drop and climb :( .... I don't recommend that, but cancer survivors are tough to talk out of such quests....)and then off to Bryce Canyon N.P. for three days. From Bryce we went to Zion N.P. for a few days, and then off to Las Vegas to see some old friends retired out there in a residential RV Park. We spent one night on Fremont, and the next on the Strip, and left pretty unimpressed. From there, we drove over Hoover Dam, took the tour, then through Death Valley N.P., seeing where the Badwater Race ultramarathon starts (finishes up Mount Whitney 123 miles later, and our 24J cruised up a 12% grade to Lookout Peak and then right through the 107 degree weather the lenght of Death Valley and into the Sierras. We stopped in the Kern Valley by Lake Isabella (gorgeous S.P. setting there), and then up over steep, twisty hairpin roads over the Sierras to Kings Canyon N.P. We next went to Giant Sequoia N.P. for a few days, and then to Yosemite N.P. where we had to show up at 8:30 to get a wait list number, then came back at 3:00 to get assigned a campsite for th next two nights. We then drove Tioga Pass down to Mono Lake on our way to Lake Tahoe where we spent the night at a friend's house. From there, we started back East taking "The Loneliest Raod" (Route 50) from Carson City to Ely, Utah, staying overnight in a Casino's RV and Bus parking lot (very quiet. We thought Route 50 was one of the quietest and most scenic roads we traveled and would recommend that to anyone in tht area. We then went through Capitol Reef N.P. one day, then to Arches N.P. the next two days, spent a day in MOAB, and then drove to Glenwood Springs, CO for a day of biking and a trip to their hot springs outdoor pool center for about two hours of relaxing bathing, and then we were off to Vail (first time there when its not snowing). We stoppd in a Vail city parking lot above Lionshead Village where we knew skiers stayed in Winter months, and we called the Vail P.D. to get an overnight permit and they sent a squad car over to hand deliver it to us (what service!). As we left Vail, the Aspens had just turned almost fully golden from the sub-40 degree nights that week, and we had a gorgeous drive through the mountains of gold by Breckinridge and Copper Mountain ski resorts, and on into Kansas. Through Kansas and Missouri on Route I-70, past the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, camped overnight at the S.P. on Lake Rand in Illinois, and then down to Alanta to stop overnight and visit my daughter who'd moved there while we were gone and was starting work at Grady Hospital the next morning, and then down I-75 home to Tampa on Monday. 7,504 miles for the trip, and the Navion never had the slightest hiccup of any sort. Averaged over 17 mpg at around 60 mph, too (down to between 15 and 16 mpg in the Sierras with all the climbing)! Plenty of power in the mountains, and we went over hairpin turn mountain roads that I doubt anything other than a car or a "Skinny Winnie' could make without scraping an overhanging rock or tree. Now my twin wants to buy a new 24M Model, but our local dealers won't have them in until January, they say. What a GREAT, sturdy, very driveable, VERY comfortable, well-designed, and totally confidently reliable RV! Can't believe we only saw 3 others the whole trip! | |
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