“Gosh, I miss my cubicle!”

Said Nobody. Ever.

This is one of the things we oftentimes say to one another, when there are no other words to describe how incredibly grateful we are to have this kind of freedom.  And we said it to each other again just the other day while we were enjoying a picnic lunch on some huge flat rocks alongside Clear Creek, near Camp Verde, Arizona.  It was one of those moments of intense gratitude for our good health and the financial means to be out seeing this big beautiful country.

After dry camping in Quartzsite for two weeks, I was weary of sea showers and having to be constantly conscious of our water and electricity usage.  I was ready for life’s little luxuries like long, hot showers and unlimited electricity so we made reservations in an RV park in Camp Verde.  This would be our base camp while we struck out and explored Sedona and the surrounding environs.  We ended up staying there two full weeks, and probably could have stayed longer. 

When we were camping in the desert at Quartzsite, we literally had acres and acres of unoccupied land around us.  After a while, it began to feel like it was all ours and anybody passing through received the same kind of intense scrutiny that somebody would who walked across your front lawn.  In contrast, living in an RV park is just the opposite.  More cramped quarters, more people, more rules.    At the place where we stayed in Camp Verde, there was this one fellow who, amongst the long-term residents, had been there the longest and his place was right near the office.  Dave had gone over one evening to check for an Amazon delivery, and this guy was standing in the shadows nearby, chain-smoking, when he says, “Hey, Dave.” This kind of freaked Dave out as he had not met the guy previously and had no idea how he knew his name.  Maybe he called everybody Dave; who knows?  They got to talking about the park and the guy says to him that there aren’t a lot of rules, but there was just one.  Dave says, “Well, what would that be?”  And the guy says, “Well, Dave, just don’t do anything stupid.”  Um, well, okay then.  I guess that is good advice just about anywhere you go.

Another of the long-term residents actually had a hearse parked in his space with a decal of a skull and these words in the back window “Don’t Let Your First Ride Be Your Last” and “DeadEnd.” Kind of ironic because in that park there was very little television except for reruns of old sitcoms which were aired constantly, including “The Munsters”, with their hearse and all.  You get to meet all kinds of people when you are traveling like this.   People are for the most part very friendly and want to socialize and, of course, everybody has a story.   For many, long-term living in an RV park is a way to avoid homelessness when living on very modest incomes.  We learned that in some cases, people had retired and intended to travel full-time and then simply ran out of adequate funds or they got too old, or too sick, to continue traveling and just ended up in an RV park.  You see a lot of this in Arizona, where the weather is so pleasant much of the year that the living is easy.  No shoveling snow, no hauling firewood, no high utility bills.  No rain jackets! I get it.

 

Sedona’s Red Rock Country, part of the Coconino National Forest, was our destination after Quartzsite.  There is fabulous hiking there, and we had a guide book which listed 135 hikes.  We only got to do four of them, but they were each fabulous in their own way.  We did the Airport Loop our first day out, which afforded us an awesome view of Sedona from up above town.  We hiked the fabulous Lost Canyon trail up to some old ruins another day.  The first part of that trail was pretty tough, and for some of it we were literally on our hands and knees as we climbed up 450 feet of very steep terrain.  Once we scaled that, however, and got up onto Brins mesa, it was wonderful.  From then on, it was pretty much flat hiking and the best part of the day was that we saw only two other people throughout the entire hike.  They were older than us and as we got to talking with them discovered they were from Washington, DC, both still working full-time and not wanting to end their visit to Sedona to return to jobs.  Another of those moments of intense gratitude at not having to worry about the calendar or, really, what day it was.

We also hiked the Doe Mountain trail which was quite steep from the outset but then, once you scaled the Mesa, turned into great flat hiking with incredible views.  On this particular day, it turned blustery and a little rainy and we fortunate once again to have the place virtually to ourselves, likely attributable to the weather.  Those days when you can find solitude and quiet in such breathtaking scenery are absolutely priceless.

There is a beautiful little Catholic church in Sedona – called the Chapel of the Holy Cross – which is literally built right into the rocks.  It is an extraordinary architectural achievement, and the architect – Marguerite Brunswig Staude (who designed it in honor of her parents) – searched for decades for the perfect location for it.  It took many more years to gain the permissions necessary to build it on public land.  Listed on the Department of Interior’s National Register of Historic Places, it is not to be missed when visiting Sedona, no matter what your religious inclinations are.

 

 

 

In Clarkdale, near Camp Verde, a fun thing to do is to take an excursion on the Camp Verde Historic Railroad, which runs between Clarkdale and Philipsburg through the beautiful Verde River Canyon.  We decided to splurge in honor of Valentine’s Day and bought first-class tickets for this 4-hour train ride.  Our guide was a retired schoolteacher from Chicago who went West 37 years ago, found the old mining town of Jerome, Arizona, and never felt the need to return to Chicago after that.   Our first-class coach more resembled a living room than a train car, with comfy couches and love seats and, of course, a full bar.  The ride began with a champagne toast and during the ride we were served some delicious hors d’oeurves of chicken wings and deli sandwiches which were a great accompaniment to one of the best Bloody Mary cocktails I had ever had.  The bartender said she could make it “melt your face off” spicy which I of course had to try. 

 

The town of Philipsburg, where the train turns around, is where some of the scenes for the movie “How The West Was Won” was filmed.  Our guide shared with us that the original water tower had been blown up during the filming, but the scene had ended up on the cutting room floor during editing.  All that’s left of the old water tower now is the structure which was used to support it.

We visited the old mining town of Crown King, which is accessed by about 40 miles of rough unpaved roads.  The road is actually the old railroad grade which has now been pulled up.  You can still see the switchbacks the train engineers used to negotiate the steep, rugged terrain.  Just a few people live there now but it is a destination for many as it is quite unique and has a great little Saloon and General Store.  The gal running the General Store spends two full days each week making the best fudge I have ever had, and she told us that whatever she makes each week sells out the next weekend.  I can believe that, as it was wonderful.  We tried her Sea Salt Fudge as well as a white fudge which was absolutely heavenly.  They ship worldwide and just gained two new customers.  We wanted to explore the pioneer cemetery there but we never did find it.  There is the cutest one-room schoolhouse there (painted bright red, of course) which also houses the town’s library.

 

After our two weeks near Sedona, we headed way up into the northeastern corner of Arizona to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, near Chinle.  We did a driving tour of the canyon rim one day and then hired a Navajo guide to take us on a jeep tour inside the canyon another day.  Canyon de Chelly and its sister canyon, Canyon de Muerto, are unique in that they are on the Navajo reservation but comprise the Canyon de Chelly National Monument which is managed jointly by the Navajo Nation and the Park Service.  Canyon de Chelly is the nation’s second largest canyon.  Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, the Monument preserves ruins of the early indigenous tribes that lived in the area, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples and Navajo.  Once inside the canyon, one can almost feel the spirits of the people who once inhabited it, and it is a true treat to visit this magical place. 

 In order to preserve the ruins and archaeology of the canyons, visitors are only allowed within the canyon with a permit, and must be accompanied by a licensed Navajo guide.  None of the ruins can be entered.  Our guide, Howard Smith, owner of Talking Rock Jeep Tours, was born and raised on the very piece of land on which he now operates the Spider Rock Campground and his Jeep Tour business.  Howard had a “Navajo Hot Shots” decal on his dashboard, which Dave noticed and asked him about it.  He shared with us some of his firefighting experiences when he had been one of the elite firefighters known as Hot Shots.

As it turned out, he had fought the Yellowstone Fire in 1988 and we shared with him that we had both also fought that fire as US Forest Service employees and is actually where we met each other, and returned later to be married along the banks of the Madison River near North Fork Campground, where our fire camp had been located.  We spent a wonderful afternoon with Howard as he drove us through the canyons and pointed out to us petroglyphs and pictographs and attempted to explain their meaning in Navajo culture.  He told us that Navajo children were prohibited from entering or playing around any of the ruins, as had been their parents, and grandparents, and so on.  The elders still talk about the Massacre of 1864 as though it were just yesterday.  There are about 1600 discovered ruins, and it is estimated there are 1200 more that have been located but never excavated nor explored, and never will be, due to a United Nations Treaty protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples that was passed in 2008.

 In 2009, Canyon de Chelly National Monument was recognized as one of the most-visited national monuments in the United States which is impressive as getting there is no easy task and there are few amenities.  We had no cell phone coverage and the only wi-fi available was at one of three restaurants which were several miles away, and even that was spotty at best. 

The irony of us needing permits, and a Navajo guide, to enter the canyon was not lost on me when coupled with what I perceived to be disregard for the otherwise pristine beauty of the place.  There was widespread littering and accumulations of old metal, tires, and other junk along the roadsides and in some of the home sites.  For miles and miles, the roadsides were littered with cans, bottles, plastic bags, and other debris.  There was even a liquor bottle in the canyon itself, right along the path that all the jeeps and horses must follow in order to see the sacred ruins. 

We left Chinle a couple of days ago and drove through some hellacious winds to reach Las Vegas, where we will stay for a few days.  We are in a huge RV resort and hope to take advantage of the pool and hot tub here before we begin the long trip home in a couple of days.  We have now been on the road, living in less than 400 square feet, for 52 days.  We have settled into a routine and, other than the days when we have been traveling from one place to another, our days have mostly been free and easy.  It has been wonderful.

 I am of course hoping our trip home is uneventful.   I am fortunate to be traveling with “Mr. Fix-It” as we have had several instances where Dave has been able to save our bacon.  While dry camping, we have been reliant upon our solar system to supply our electrical needs.  During this trip, we have had two brand-new solar charger controllers fail and Dave has been able to troubleshoot the situation and order and install replacements.  The clutch hydraulics also went out on the Toyota 4x4 pickup we tow, and he replaced that while lying under the truck on a piece of cardboard, using only cheap Harbor Freight tools.  Had he not been able to make the necessary repairs, we would not have had a tow vehicle and we would have had to abort our trip and return home early.  Gotta love this guy.

More later.

Diana