Back and Forth

N: 35.18761 W: 111.68940 Elevation: 7079

Woody Mountain RV and Campground, Flagstaff, AZ
          
         I awoke at 0400 and took a shower while Rancho Sedona slept; giving me the much needed cleansing I wanted.  Feeling refreshed I quickly packed up my things and headed up Highway 89A past Manzanita campground, beyond Slide Rock State Park and up the road another seven miles until I arrived at the Cave Springs campground, complete with showers, before any of the weekenders could beat me to the better spots. 
         I checked into the main store/office of the campground and was shocked to learn that showers there were $4.00 for eight minutes of hot water.  I laughed before I said I would think about it as I paid 63.00 for my three nights and one bundle of $7.00 wood I purchased.
         Driving around the 83 campsite grounds I found one that looked promising and pulled into the flat parking stall and claimed F-5 as mine.  Taking my bike off of the rack of my van I road uphill (the incline was barely noticeable to the naked eye but was physically acute as I peddled my single speed bike) to the office where I claimed my site and carefully bungee tied the bundle of wood onto the back of my bike, pleased that going back to my site I would never have to peddled once.
          Unfortunately, I did drop the wood once on the way back but, the plastic wrap held tight and I was able to secure it again to my bike, then I continued back towards my camp site.
         After I had set up my camp I explored my area and found I had a river trail that went down to Oak Creek, although here it was very shallow and it was much cooler as I was now a thousand feet in elevation higher than when I had stayed at Manzanita campground and almost 1400 higher than when I was in Sedona proper.
        The days were much cooler, as well as the night time, making me notice how the Canyon was starting to feel the effects of fall as I took pictures of the changing color of the leaves on some of the trees in my camp and I discovered that right at my camp I had a true example of a living stump like the one I saw at the Rogue River in Oregon.  I decorated it with my prayer flags and took a cute pic.
         I made a nice fire and stared at the stars until I saw the almost half full moon settling down in the West and tucked myself into bed for all of about ten minutes when my F-4 neighbors returned back from the day long journey and decided to light up the place like Cheney Stadium. 
        Without a word from me, I got out of my van and put up my front window sun shade and covered the side windows with tapestries and went back to bed, grateful that I kept my tongue and just did what was necessary to give me darkness, not repeating the bad incident I had when I stayed at Fern Bluff campground and was yelling at the people to turn off their lights. 
        On Saturday I awoke to clouds and the threat of rain but still rode my bike to the little store and bought an individual serving of cold cereal and two packages of hot chocolate, coasting back to my campsite where I had a wonderful meal of my cereal and toast with peanut butter, pineapple juice left over from my previous night of teriyaki, and a steaming cup of hot chocolate to warm me up, getting my day off to a wonderful start.
       Let me backtrack slightly.  When I was staying at the Rancho Sedona they had internet service and I had been on my Facebook page when I saw that one of my favorite inspirational lecturers’, David Wilcock, was to be in Sedona on the following Saturday, September 29^th and I was sure I wanted to go. 
        Cave Creek campground had no cell service or internet service, so after such a wonderful breakfast I packed up Herbette in the cool of the cloudy morning and drove the twelve miles back to Sedona where I planned on calling various places to put my plans into working order.
       As I drove into Sedona I noticed they did not have the rain threatening clouds but instead had blue skies and hot temperatures ranging at least fifteen degrees warmer than when I left Cave Springs, causing the van cabin to heat up to ninety degrees in no time. 
        I pulled over and found that I could not get my phone to work, no matter what I did, including plugging it in and charging it, which it would not even charge.  Upset that my three month old phone had died and I had no way to contact my friends and family let alone the original business I had come into town for, plus it was also too hot to pull over into a shopping center to try to rectify getting another phone or fixing mine as now the van had heated up another ten degrees while I was sitting there trying to get the phone to start.
        I ran into the Circle K and purchased three bundles of cheaper wood and a cold drink before hitting the road back to the campground frustrated, yet adding it up to the possible vortex of the area playing tricks on me.  The worst part was I was stuck in Saturday tourist traffic as I crept my way up the highway, the heat in the cabin of the van rising to over a hundred as I drove the twelve miles to cooler temps.
         I watched for the moon on Saturday night, pleased to see it half full in an optimistic way of thinking.  Prepared for my late F-4 neighbors I battened down the window shades and curled up in bed with my book and drifted off into a gentle slumber.
         Sunday I decided to no nothing all day long and ended up doing everything I had procrastinated on since beginning my journey, the list too long to bore anyone with now, but let’s just say I felt very accomplished by the time five o’clock rolled around and I was ready to start the evening prep for sundown in an hour and a half.
         It takes a lot of work to camp on a daily basis, especially as the evening approaches, the darkness that is overwhelming, compared to the city lights, and then the wild animals that must be fended off by securing your camping area from the fiends like skunks, which are rampant in the area.  There are no raccoons, because they have skunks (?) and the coyote and bobcats stay away from the camping areas, although the campground did have posted a bear warning, it was generic for the publics’ awareness that could be in the area.  The squirrels are pretty daring also as one even came up and stole one of Herbette’s millet sprays from her play area.
         So, dinner must be made and cleaned up before five-thirty or so, then comes the putting everything in its place, from food to clean dishes to bird items.  I cover most things in tapestries like the water jug and misc. baskets I use for utensils and pans. 
         I then have to put Herbette to bed, who acts like she is solar charged and instantly begins her non-stop peeping the minute the sun goes down and that will only conclude as she is placed inside of the van and covered up in my heavy towel, especially during the cooler nights.
          I turn on my campsite lights that glow at night and then ride off to the restroom one last time before it becomes dark, returning to my camp and locking the bike up to the picnic table. I then begin the fire in plenty of time to still see around me in the camp to verify I have all things put away, ready to see the first of the stars come awake for the evening.
           Monday comes early and I pack everything up into the van as I depart Cave Springs campground with the thought I might just be back if the weather gets too hot.
          I turned left out of the driveway and headed North up 89A towards Flagstaff, hoping to miss the morning traffic and beat the heat as I drove straight up fifteen hundred feet in elevation over a two mile twisty road that has a speed limit of 20 MPH. Half an hour later I was on the top of Oak Creek Canyon at the lookout when a young girl ran up to me and offered to take my picture and I offered the same back. 
           I left the viewpoint driving towards Flagstaff, stopping at the local Denny’s restaurant where they had free internet and an ‘alright’ breakfast while I looked up places I might stay near town and finding Woody Mountain RV was actually in the trees, I decided to drive the four miles out of town and stay there. 
           The internet was in the café/store only and the laundry was two dollars a load to wash and the showers were free but had small stalls and no changing area what-so-ever.  The grounds were well kept and the natural beauty was allowed to grow around the camping and RV spaces, giving the place a very non-city feel so, I paid for two nights and spent the first night inside of my van watching internet that somehow crept through the airwaves and let me see a biography on the group Queen, although I did have streaming problems the whole time.
        It was just as well I was able to hang out in my van and watch the internet, as outside the wind howled with ten to fifteen mile an hour gusts and shook my van the whole time, the temperature dropping down into the fifties before I went to bed. 
         I had put my thermostat outside early on in the evening and when I woke the next morning it was only forty degrees outside.  Snuggling back down in my comforter I dosed off and on until the sun rose up through the trees and began to warm my van.
          I surfed the internet and sat around being lazy for the first hour of getting up, finally rising out of the van to go and take a shower and ready the van for an early morning trip up to Walnut Canyon, a place of ancient Indian ruins.
          When I pulled out of the campground at 0920 I could see and feel that it would be a lot warmer than the previous day when it had rained and winded on me so badly I had considered returning down into Oak Creek Canyon and the warmth of Sedona. 
           I drove the ten miles to Walnut Canyon via downtown Flagstaff and paid the entrance fee of $5 which is good for the next seven days; parked my van facing away from the sun, put Herbette in the interior floor and opened up one of the windows on the lee side to let the wind blow in on her.
           I went into the visitor center and read that it was 256 steps down and then the same back up, to see the ruins, but that there was a rim trail that was somewhat flat and only ¾ of a mile long, each way. I opted for the rim trail as I did not bring my water bottle and the day was already warm and I worried about Herbette and how long it would take me to get down and back again. 
          The rim trail gave me plenty of photo shoots and the crows were having such a fun time diving and floating on the strong winds along the rim, it was nice to be there with them in such a beautiful place.
         I continued back along the trail, taking a side path that lead to some ruins that they (the park service?) had yet to excavate and that road took me back to my van where I checked the temperature inside on the dash, which said it was already 90 degrees.  I decide against doing the stair journey at that time and decided to delay that for I have other plans for the area so I think I will try the stairs early on in the morning when the park opens up at 0800 and the heat hasn’t risen for the day. 
        By the time I arrived back at Woody’s the temperature had risen to eighty degrees outside and the wind had died down some, causing me to change clothes once again and settled down for some serious typing and writing.  Not the blogging kind like I am doing now, but the type of writing I set out to do once I was on the road, the type that might sell in magazines and other publications.  I spent about three hours typing until I thought my shoulders would fall off of my body and give me the much needed relief I sought.
         Taking a break was doing the load of laundry I needed cleaned and eating left over food that steamed up pretty nicely. After my chores of folding clothes and putting away all the various dishes and garbage (which I need to remember nightly to bring into the van with me to keep the critters out of it) I crawled into my van and picked the keyboard back up and began writing all over again.
          I awoke at 0530 and decided I would get an early start on the days’ journey as I decided today was the day to go to the Hopi Indian Reservation and see what all the volunteering I had signed myself up for, would really be.
          I packed up my camp and fought about twenty girls on a school field trip, for a chance at the mirror in the women’s bathroom, before I headed east on Interstate 40, seeing odd sites along the way. I came to the small town of Winslow where I turned north onto a desolate byway called highway 87 that eventually took me by the Painted Desert where I took some drive-by shootings with my camera and continued on my way, trying to beat the heat.

           All seemed well as we continued mile after mile of nothingness until suddenly I came over a rise and a cross in the road as well as construction.  I was first in line of waiting for the woman with the ‘stop’ sign to let us pass.  For over 25 minutes we sat there waiting, waiting, and waiting, with not a car in sight, nor any construction crew, just a woman with a stop sign in the middle of a cross section in a highway in the middle of nowhere, I suddenly wondered if I was in some kind of ‘Candid Camera’ moment as l just sat there, engine off, watching the temperature in the cabin of the van rise ever so slightly every five minutes until finally when the gauge hit an even one hundred, from the far rise in the road over half a mile away, came the pilot car that finally found its way to me before proceeded to lead me up and over the rise on the road until we finally passed a state highway ‘line painting’ machine and two pilot cars, and that was the end of the construction.  They were painting the lines!
           At the end of the long highway I found Second Mesa and the only school in the area, K-12, where I parked in the bright sun and I put Herbette in front of the front bumper where was some shade and a slight breeze that drifted through the overly hot paved parking lot, before I went into the new building with its air-condition office and spoke to an older woman behind the counter.  She informed me that all ‘volunteers’ were placed out of San Carlos where the main office was, and that the actual school I was standing in did not take nor need ‘outside’ volunteers.
           I quickly left the curt woman and put Herbette back in the van and drove to First Mesa where I paid three dollars to go through their small but informative museum where again I encountered a very angry and rude woman who took my three dollars but became upset with me when I asked where the Hopi got the wood they used for their long ladders into the Kiva’s.  When she said they probably came from Flagstaff, I added that they were probably the traverse poles used when they migrated during the various season.  The woman sneered at me and said, “The Spaniards brought horses with them, we have been around far longer than that.”
          So, of course I then reposed the question and just made it a statement, “It must have taken a great amount of work to bring those huge long poles from Flagstaff.” which in turn caused the woman to turn away from me and go into the back room where she shut the door. 
          I left the Hopi Indian Reservation feeling as an intruder on people who obviously resent and hate the tourist and white people, or maybe just long haired ones from Seattle, I am unsure, but I did feel glad I was not going to spending any more time there than possible.
           I drove West until I arrived in Tuba City, AZ where I filled up with gas and grabbed a quick sandwich to go, turned south on highway 89 going towards Flagstaff, trepidation in my chest as I now really had no idea where I was headed. 

           Knowing that the nights were getting colder in Flagstaff I decided to go further south back to Cave Springs campground where I paid for two nights stay and which I had the two worse fires I have had since the beginning of the trip (and that is not an easy sentence to make true), so bad in fact I ended up complaining to the campground host whereupon they refunded my $14 for the two moldy, wet bundles they dropped off at my camp site. (F-8 this time)  It burned so badly that I took a picture of the partial burnt wood and that which I did not even bother with.

          On the first evening, after the light of the day settled over the mountains I had the first of my crappy fires struggling to burn when I thought I saw movement by the opposite side of the fire where I shined my headlamp right into the face of a white and black skunk, whereas I yelped “Ewww!” loudly and it scampered off towards the river.  I then announced to my camping neighbors I had just seen a skunk and to everyone’s relief, but especially mine, it did not go in their direction nor did it spray!
            On the second night of a crappy fire I placed tea candles out in a semi-circle around my camp to ward off any critters who might want a bad fire to keep warm near.
           It might have helped but I was so disgusted with my smoldering fire I went into my van at 1915 and didn’t come out until this morning where I packed up my few belongings and drove down Oak Creek Canyon until I came to the Rancho Sedona RV Park where my I have reservations for the weekend.
           The RV Park is less than a mile from where I will be at the all day long lecture of David Wilcock tomorrow.  I found a pet sitter on line and will be taking Herbette there in the morning to drop her off until Sunday, so I don’t have to worry about her being alone at my RV site or too hot in my van.
           In the meantime, I have a shower and laundry, internet and phone service and I am in a different space this time, better option for cooler breezes and shadier trees.  All in all I am so looking forward to tomorrow, hoping it will give me a better direction than the Hopi Reservation gave me. 

           Until we meet again ‘Traveling Thru The Tonda Zone!’

                                              ~Peace~

         

                      

         

 

My First RV Park Since I Was A Kid...

N: 34.5209 W: 111.4535 Elevation: 4212

Rancho Sedona RV Park: space 65

          I arose the next morning with regret I needed to move onward from my wonderful camping spot at Lake Cataract in Williams but, I found myself shuffling my feet forward as I put things away and was on the road before 0900, stopping in Williams for a last minute drive-by shooting as I took pictures I missed while in town earlier.

          I followed Interstate 40 towards Flagstaff and cut off right before I reached the city turning onto Interstate 17 southbound for all of one mile before I turned onto Highway 89A which wound me around the canyon and did drop me down 1500 feet to Oak Creek where I passed up three campgrounds waiting to get to Rock Slide State Park where I was sure I would camp for the night.

          As I pulled in I became very disappointed when I realized that the park was a day use only and the cost $10 a carload to come in.  To add injury to insult, the parking lot had not one stitch of shade or trees with potential for shade so I quickly grabbed the map and found that I had one more campground going south or I could go back north and check the three I passed up for the disappointing Rock Slide, onr that I have passed by six time in my lifetime, and was so looking forward to enjoying.

          Continuing south I drove the mile to Manzanita campground where I found that space 19 was available so I pulled up and made myself at home as I stared at the map and wondered where I would wander to next as I really needed a shower and some clothes washed.

          Feeling too hot to concentrate, I wandered down to the creek where I found a pool large enough to dip down into it, so after I emptied my pockets I did a very cool dip in the water, including getting my hair soaked.  It was cold enough to immediately take my breath away and then it felt slightly warmer as I worked my way back up to the rocky embankment, then back to my camp, where I changed clothes and brushed out my wet hair and felt rinsed but not clean.

        I decided to go into the town of Sedona and get a Mexican meal as I was craving a Margarita.  I drove the five miles and found the Mexican place where I had my celebratory birthday drink exactly 9 months previous on January 19^th.  I went inside and ordered enchiladas along with a Margarita while looking out over the beautiful red rocks that Sedona is known for. While my waiter was very rude to me as I sat alone at a table for four during the 4PM-5PM non-rush hour, I still continued to enjoy the wonderful food and sights as I ate and drank. 

          I was staring at the Crystal Vortex Shop across the street when I remembered a dream I had two nights previously whereas I was handling a pyramid shaped quartz crystal. After I finished my meal, I went across the street promising  myself I would not be buying anything as my budget could not afford an expensive crystal that a pyramid shaped one would cost but, I broke that promise when I found one that was only $19 dollars. Now how could I pass that up…the day was the 19^th, I was in campsite #19 and the crystal was $19 also, add to it that exactly 9 months ago to the day I was in Sedona, and it is the 9^th month currently so, I am now the proud owner of a pyramid quartz crystal. 

          I drove back to the campground and made a fire with the $7 bundle of wood I purchased from the host and settled down for a quick evening where as soon I burned a few pieces I felt I was tired and went to bed.

        I packed early and drove back into Sedona where I had seen an RV park sign and followed it until I came to Rancho Sedona RV Park where I am now.  It includes free showers, pay laundry, river access, and Wi-Fi.  The people did not tell me when I paid for the space that it was breezeless and only partially shaded and that I would spend most of the 90 degree day in a sweat.

          I did knock out laundry and went down to the river and cooled off for a while, backed up my computer and posted on my blog, got caught up on emails and spent over two hours instant messaging my daughter and two of my friends.

          I also spent a lot of time thinking about my children who turned 31 on September 20th and how different the twins have been since birth and how different they are to this day.  One is ever so close and the other is ever so far away…and I am not talking distance in miles.  If I thought it would help I would go to them, but they don’t need me and only one of them wants me, so as I continue on my southwestern journey I love them unconditionally as I always have.

      I looked up on the internet a cooler way to get to the Hopi Indian reservation without dragging Herbette and myself through the heat of the high desert, hoping I could maybe stay at a hotel in Tuba City which is about half way there from Flagstaff but, it looks like there is not a lot in Tuba City other than two expensive hotels, both that are booked for the weekend.

          The Hopi Reservation is too far from Flagstaff to drive there and back in one day and they too are mostly booked in their hotels over the weekend but, Flagstaff does offer better choices of camping and cooler weather.  

          Now that I have showered, have my laundry clean and the internet caught up, I am thinking I will try and find camping locally here near Sedona and set out towards the desert on Monday when things open up a little in ways of getting past the 'weekenders' out sucking up places I could be staying.

          I know I won’t be staying here at the RV park, as this place is so hot…they have no real wind blowing through the place, yet at Manzanita campground the wind blew most of the day giving you the feeling you were not burning up in the 90 degree days.

          I am currently bathed in mosquitos spray because it’s still too hot to shut the door of the van and I can’t see in the dark outside, so here I sit in my van, wondering how long I can outlast the hot, hot days, as September winds down and October is pushing towards me with cooler ones.

         Well, I am unsure when I will have internet again so you and I will have to wait and find out what happens next as I am ‘Traveling Thru The Tonda Zone!”

~Peace~

         

What a wonderful place to camp!

N: 35.24977 W: 112.21346   Elevation: 6800

Lake Cataract Campground site #5: Williams, AZ

          What a wonderful place to camp! 

          I packed up my van except for Herbette and was ready to leave Lake Havasu City after the free breakfast where I totally embarrassed myself making the complimentary waffle, as the machine instantly started beeping at me in the most obnoxious tones, causing most to stare in my direction as I tried to figure out what I had done wrong.

          I had sprayed the waffle iron with the non-stick spray, I poured the allotted premeasured waffle mix onto the machine and then I innocently closed the lid when the beeping began.  Apparently, once the lid closes you must flip the machine over and the three minute timer begins; I found this out as a couple of people came to rescue for the sake of quiet at the 0615 hour.  With that over with, if I ever see one of those waffle machines again, I will be in the know.

          I pulled out of the hotel and drove the three blocks over to see and drive across the London Bridge.  I sang the sad fire song and then laughed all the way across it only to find out I just had to turn around and go back over it again, which only made me sing and laugh louder.

          I filled the tank on Matilda, drove seven miles out of town to the Wal-Mart where I bought a bunch of toiletries that had ran out or were low, before heading north on Highway 95 for the next twenty miles where I hung a right at Interstate 40 and proceeded to drive the next 160 miles without stopping, arriving in Williams at about 1100 AM, after crossing the Mohave Desert and then climbing to the high desert.  What a contrast.

          I had done my homework at the hotel with the internet and had decided on checking three places I might want to camp, but the minute I pulled into the first one, at Lake Cataract, I knew I would be staying here.  Paying for two nights, I have now decided I will be staying for another one also, as this place is far too pretty to leave just yet.

         


The place is lush in wildflowers of purple and yellow, dappled with the occasional orange blossom all growing thick in eight to ten inches of green grass that surround the pine trees that cover the campground.  The lake is small and used for paddle boating and fishing, not swimming, and the breeze that blows across it is so cooling on these warmer days.

          Williams is known for the milder temperatures, ranging between ten to twenty degrees cooler than most places in the state of Arizona and keeping me from wanting to wander much further than these comfortable 75 degree days.  Of course, with the good comes the bad, as being I am up in elevation, the evenings and nights are down-right chilly at 38 to 40 degrees, so I have been wearing fleece at night and capris in the day.
         Found this guy the minute I pulled in...my first since leaving home.  Of course, this is only a garder snake, next time I hope I am as lucky again.
 

         I am 60 miles from the Grand Canyon and have decided that since I was here in January for my birthday to see the sight, I will be saving myself $25 now and maybe later on my way to the Hopi Reservation I might stop.

 I will descending down 1500 feet in elevation to Oak Creek Canyon where I want to stay at Slide Rock State Park, another first for me as I have been by Slide Rock State Park six times in my lifetime and not once have I been able to stop and experience sliding down the natural rock gully.  With the hotter temperatures, the cool water should be pleasant, besides I sure could use a shower and luckily for me, the state parks usually offer them. 
 I feel the closer I get to my destination the slower I want to go.  I don’t want my road trip to end just yet, so I am doing a few of the things around the area before I head out into the dry, flat, hot dessert where my time no longer will be mine.   Selfish as that may sound, it was always the ‘journey’ of getting here, not just getting here, that I want to continue.

          Last night I went into town to see a showdown gun slinging shootout that Williams offer each night at seven, so I wandered throughout the various shops and admired the wares without spending a dime (nice) before I went to the original 1939 Route 66 Roadside Café where I ate a huge pulled BBQ pork sandwich and listened to the live entertainment waiting for the big ‘showdown’ to begin.

          Around 7:15 I asked my waiter about the gun show and he said that he didn’t think it continued after Labor Day and he went and checked on it for me, only to return with my wonderful food and the bad news that the showdowns were seasonal and no longer running.  I finished my meal and drove the one mile back to my camp and had a small and unsatisfactory camp fire.

          Let me tell you about wood differences and a good fire.  I wrote that my very first bundle of wood sucked.  It smelled like chemical wood, burned slow and smoky, while basically gave out little flame but alright heat and coals.  It was so bad, I left a small pile of it at one of my campsites because it was so horrible smelling.

Since then I check the wood and most of it has been ponderosa pine which burns brightly and leaves hot coals and a warm fire to take the chill off, and the first night here in Williams I had some leftover wood from Pine Cove, CA which was the ponderosa type and it burned wonderfully.

          Last night though, that was the beginning of a new stack I bought from the campground host and the minute it started to burn, I knew. There was that odor and there was that smoke again and I rolled my eyes and made a mental note to ask the guy in the morning which type of wood he sold me, for in the future, I will ask before I buy.

          I have been having issues with my refrigerator for about two weeks now.  I thought I was out of propane because I could not get the refrigerator to stay lit once I got the pilot light going.  I didn’t even bother with it the whole time I was at my childhood friends place nor while camping up by Idyllwild because I had nothing to keep cool.  So, yesterday while in town I went to a place with propane and all she could get into the tank was one gallon, so after paying for my regular fuel and the propane, I returned to camp and was finally successful in getting the refrigerator to function and my newly purchased fruits stayed cool.

          When I returned from town last night though, I had a very hard time trying to get it start up, once again lighting the pilot light but the continued running of the fridge would stop once I released the starter button.  Three attempts at different times finally got it running and this morning I would have had Ice had I put water in the ice cube tray (yes, it has this little, itty, bitty, teeny, tiny, ice cube tray that came with the fridge) and could have added it to my Newman’s Own lemonade. So, twice now I have been fooled into thinking I was out of propane and I have not, both times had to do with the refrigerator.  If it wasn’t for the fact I want to eat my own cooked meals where I need a fridge to keep my veggies and fruits fresh for more than an hour in this heat, I would just get a cooler with ice and try that, but again, it is just as complicated as the keeping the refrigerator going. 

          Oh, the woes of camping; fire and ice. It makes me have a greater appreciation for the true caveman of the past who fought to become one with these two elements that make up a good part of the modern human’s existence.  Where would the average American be without cooked meals and cold drinks?
       Well, today is doing nothing but play day.  I am off for a bike ride around the lake and to take some pictures of this beautiful place.  Off to enjoy the day… ‘Traveling Thru The Tonda Zone!’

~Peace~

         

sites in Williams...

         

Beating the Heat...

 

N: 34.3415 W: 114.2129

Lake Havasu City, AZ 

The Hampton Inn (Room 142)

          “The greatest plans of mice, men, and women with small birds…”

        I did not follow my own advice to travel at night to get to my next destination all due to an incident at Fern Bluff Campground that occurred around 10 PM that involved a rude camper next to me who shined his bright lanterns towards my van for over an hour while they set up their tents. 

          Of course, I yelled…but nicely, “Would you please not shine your lights into my van?” but I had to say it three times, very loudly as it echoed throughout the previously quiet and dark campground. 
         They yelled back and I slammed my van door, sat in my brightly lit van and was pissed.  This lasted for about an hour.
          I did fall back to sleep and awoke shortly before a raccoon decided to crawl down out of the tree I was parked under and romp around on the top of my van causing me to hope it was a raccoon and when I pounded on the roof with my hand it finally did jump off and go away.

          I decided then and there to leave and start my next hot leg of my journey so donning my headlamp I set out into the dark of the early morning and packed up all of my things into my van and within half an hour I was pulling out of the campground just as the sky was turning light.

          I drove down the back side of the mountains on highway 243 twenty-three miles down to Banning, CA dropping six thousand feet in elevation to do so.  I drove onto Interstate 10 and headed into the rising sun and temperatures of the new day.

       I took a picture or two of the sights along the way of the highway because the desert was greand luscious looking after last week’s monsoon rains that had hit throughout the area. 

          I stopped and fueled up for the long ten mile climb up another mountain range (far too many of them this journey…up and down.  I have been up to 8000 feet and below sea level at 100 feet) and then drove for the next three and half hours until I finally arrived in Lake Havasu City at about 11:30 in the morning, the day already a 101 degrees when I finally pulled under the shaded drive of the Hampton Inn.

          I paid far too much for a night in a hotel but it has turned out to be well worth the moneys I spent as the room was everything and more than I had anticipated, with a large television, refrigerator, microwave and of course the never used by me hairdryer and iron.  There is also internet, a really wonderful pool, complimentary two drinks in the bar during happy hour, all of which I partook of, and in a short while, breakfast before I leave here and try to outrun the heat again.

          I will be heading north on the 395 before going east on Interstate 40 to Kingman, AZ and further east towards Williams, AZ which will be my next stop as the temps there are running in the high 70’s during the day,  (remember, it currently is 80 degrees and it is only 5AM as I am typing this) which will be very tolerable considering.

          Well, off again to pack and ready for another hot morning of ‘Traveling Thru The Tonda Zone!”

~Peace~

           

         

         

 

Santa Barbara to Aguanga and beyond...

Pine Cove, CA in the Fern Bluff Camp Ground: Elevation 6327

N: 33.79031 W: 116.73354

      I did not leave Santa Barbara as planned because I was offered an excursion to go sailing the following day and decided to take in the wonderfully warm weather and gentle breezes.

          My friend’s buddy has a twenty foot Flicka and he and his wife, along with my friend and myself went out for a three hour jaunt around the marina area, circle the navy ship that was anchored off shore.

          Later, my friend and I spent the evening drinking his homemade mead and meeting up with some of his friends who motored over in their boats (like this home made electric one) and shared friendly conversations and smiles.  It was a very pleasant way to spend my last night in Santa Barbara for in the early morning I left the parking lot of the marina and ambled my way south into the confusing Los Angeles freeway system.

Taking Highway 101 south to Highway 126 where I headed east in a pleasant valley full of orange trees and a plethora of fruit stands offering the orange globes for a mere three dollars a five pound bag; such a deal but unfortunately, I was traveling too early trying to beat the heat, and most of them were still closed.

I had turned south on Interstate 5 and passed many sights in the mid-morning as the sun became hotter and hotter.  I saw Six Flags and took a picture or two of the huge display of the many roller coasters they have filling the hillside until they disappeared behind me and I crept up on the city of Los Angeles through the many suburbs until I finally saw the towering skyscrapers of the core of the city of Angels.

I tried to get a glimpse of Disney Land off to the west but the concrete slabs that separate the freeway from the houses kept me from observing the entertainment playground but, I recalled my couple of visits there and it held me over as I continued driving further and further southbound trying to find Interstate 15.

     After I left the southern suburbs of Los Angeles I drove into a valley that became stiffening hot causing the cab of the van to heat up to over a 110 when finally we came out around a large set of hills and found the ocean pushing cool salty breezes into the van and the temperature dropped back down to a mild 90 degrees as I finally decided I need to use the next rest stop.  I thought I had read my map correctly and was under the impression I could link up with Interstate 15 from Interstate 5 and found my error in map reading only a mere twenty miles south of my intended destination.

 I found no shade to pull into at the rest area and quickly finished my business before taking out the map and realizing I had read it wrong and Interstate 5 never intersects with Interstate 15 but that only a couple of miles ahead was eastbound highway 76 which would intersect me to Interstate 15.  Continuing south before heading east, I was pleased I had looked at the map when I did as I was a mere forty-four miles from San Diego, far from where I was trying to get to.

       I followed highway 76 east for ten miles until I intersected with Interstate 15 northbound where I drove another ten mile to Temecula, CA where I turned off onto highway 79 north and found myself in a heavy traffic area of mini malls and shopping centers.

I grabbed a quick drive-thru meal and drove to a small park where I parked a very hot and tired Matilda in the shade of tree as rain suddenly came down, adding to the already high humidity that filled the 98 degree day.

         Resting under the shade of a tree with the rain and thunder coming and going as it pleased, I passed a three hour wait period I needed to give my childhood friend, who was traveling home from a weekend trip, before I could drive another forty-five minutes to her house.

I met my childhood friend when I was five and she was three and our friendship continued until our late teens where life leads people in different directions causing rifts in time that sometimes take thirty-one years to be crossed, just as we had.

I discovered I needed to be on highway 79 South so I situated myself in that direction, following the four lane shopping mall road until it became a two lane highway leading out into a boulder rock desert.  I came to highway 371 and turned east and climbed up three thousand feet in four miles before I came to the red pole fence with the huge red barn and my childhood friend sitting out on a huge boulder waving at me as I rounded the bend in the highway.

A huge turquoise gate opened up and we drove up past two houses before pulling up to her large casa in the mountains of southern California.  After our hugs and our excitement of seeing each other, she quickly gave me a glance over the 77 acre property that held three ponds, three houses and three horses, as well as many out buildings and other animals.

The property was on the edge of an Indian Reservation and the huge boulders on the property had been used by the natives for hundreds of years, leaving grinding stones and petroglyphs along with a fertility site that include ‘cock rock’ and a ‘vulva stone’ that used to be sacred grounds for them.

My friend showed me her 80X40 foot fenced garden that she and her mother-in-law worked very hard maintaining during the spring through fall season.  She proudly showed off their dune buggy’s that she and her husband share as a favorite hobby that fill their winter months as they go down to southern California to Glemis where they spend weeks playing in the sand dunes.

The property was on the edge of an Indian Reservation and the huge boulders on the property had been used by the natives for hundreds of years, leaving grinding stones and petroglyphs along with a fertility site that include ‘cock rock’ and a ‘vulva stone’ that used to be sacred grounds for them.

We spent the next two days catching up on the last thirty-one years and then we celebrated her husbands’ fiftieth birthday by taking him out to lunch at the local Mexican restaurant in Anza, where he owns the feed shop in town, and then later that night he and I shot my revolver into the tender flesh of aluminum cans that danced off into the pond behind.

          We drank champagne and ate steak and crab legs that my childhood friend expertly prepared for the special occasion.  Later, after dishes, we all sat down with my California map going over the next leg of my journey.

          Seeing as I am in southern California I thought I might go over to the Salton Sea and Slab City, both a tourist attraction of the oddity kind.  Slab city is an old military base that is now a free camping/RV spot where people from all backgrounds coexist in Death Valley.  The Salton Sea is a huge salty lake that is plagued with sulfur odors and dying tilapia fish and is in need of some serious preservation.

      Then I saw the news on the television, the Salton Sea going through an extreme sulfur stage and possible eruption of underwater gases and the odor is wafting as far as Los Angeles, while the tilapia are dying off by the thousands, followed by a major drug bust down in Slab City where many people were arrested.  

      I then checked on the internet and found out a heat wave was washing over the area and the temps would be getting close to a hundred and ten. 

          Taking all of this information in, my childhood friend suggested she and I go camping up in the mountains an hour from her house where the temperatures usually were ten degrees cooler than most places, so this is where I am currently staying.

     We left on Wednesday morning and drove the hour up three thousand feet from her home and found a treed and cool campsite with lots of shade and gentle breezes. We settled into space twenty and set up camp before sitting down and spending the next four hours talking and laughing until our sides ached.  We built a fire that finally decided to burn after much coaxing on both of our parts before we settled down for a short nights rest in the quiet woods.

         In the morning we shared coffee and cereal before we hugged and said our goodbyes; she leaving to go back to her husband and life while I decided I would stay for the next two days in the cool mountains and breezy trees of Fern Hill camp ground.

          The weather is supposed to cool off by Sunday so I have decided that on Saturday I will wait until evening time before going down the east side of the mountain into Banning, CA where I will hook up with Interstate 10 and head up and over the huge mountain range and desert highway towards Lake Havasu in the cool of the nighttime, hopefully beating the heat and giving Matilda somewhat of break from driving in this hot weather.

          Well, off to bed for now...dreaming of where I will go next while ‘Traveling Thru The Tonda Zone!

~Peace~

 

dinosaur who lives down the road from my friend...             Wooden sculpture in Idyllwild, CA

 

 

                                                           
              

                                                           ohhh....another good one!