Days 127, 128 & 129

20131104. Day 127. Monday

Looking for that big ditch. 

When we get somewhere, We typically like to get the heavy mileage days done first, and dwindle down to the closer places as time goes on. Today will be the big mileage day. To the Grand Canyon.
So we planned, and managed, to get up early-ish. French press is brewed up, and I get the eggs duty. 8 over easy please. With toast please. Thank youz.
Kathleen has a Rent-A-Wreck, and she trusted me to handle the high speed runs up north. Its a 2013 Nissan Extera SUV. Pretty roomy, and comfortable. We load ourselves up and head north on RT179 thru the 10 roundabouts on our way to Uptown Sedona. We get to RT89A, and head towards Oak Creek. It sure is a beautiful ride thru here. The colors are just gorgeous, all the red sandstone, and the way the sun shines on them is spectacular. We drive up to the top of the Mongollon Rim, and stop at the scenic rest stop Oak Creek Vista.

The top of Oak Creek Canyon

Its breezy up here, so we manage to avoid having to pay of the Natives for some unearned trinkets. Apparently, odd vortexes happen in the ladies terlit rooms up here. Or maybe its all a dream we dreamed, one afternoon, long ago?

Looking down into Oak Creek Canyon

We climb back into the SUV, and cruise the rest of the way up RT89A. A quick run, and were approaching Flagstaff. I point the rig onto I-17North, the fast way around the city. 5 miles up, and we intersect with I-40. We head east on “the forty” about 5 more miles until we get to RT89 again. A quick left and a right, and were back on RT89 North. Sign says, South Rim, 75 miles. I had decided to take RT89 North to Cameron, the head west into the Park. I like the view from this approach.
It took us just an hour to get to Cameron, we added some petrol, and headed west on RT64. It takes us along side the little Colorado River on the north side, and the Grey Mountains to our south. And we stop at one of the cool scenic overlooks.

The little Canyon on the Little Colorado River

I love the view here in the desert. And in my opinion, it is a neat way to approach the canyon, this is like a teaser on the way in to the main event. And it sure is pretty here.

So scenic in this Canyon

Its cloudy,,and threatens to rain a bit. Heres hoping it stays dry today.
We cruise on in RT64 till we get to the tool booth. How nice this flash-pass is. Another freelicious entry for us all. We zoom into the first overlook.

Aint that GRAND

Desert view, where the observation tower is inviting us all inside for a climb on up to see the views. And what a view it is.

Typical tourists, well, two East Coasters, and two Hobos

270 degrees of beauty. Mind blowing. Simply breathtaking and spectacular and beautiful, all in one breath.
Of course were trying to keep moving, and hoping to see as much as possible today, so we don’t linger to long. We stop in the vissitiss center to get a sticker, and ask the helpful Ranger whats the best bang for the buck hike. She sends us to the bright angel trail up past the Village. We pile into the SUV, and head on over. The ride on RT64 is just amazing. Were seeing the canyon from all angles here. And its difficult to keep going, but time is ticking away, and we want to get to the hike.
Once we arrive in the area of the lodge, we slide the SUV into some prime parking, and disembark. The trail is right over there. No, over there. Nope, around the corner, and over there? Sheesh, lets just head north, there is a big damb ditch over there. Finally, we find the trail.

This must be the trail.

It looks awesome. We read all the warnings, and pay no attention to them. Well, we have a quart of water between us, no food, and crappy sneakers. Perfect.  Lets go!
The hike down is easy, and scenic.

Cause you really need to walk thru an arch to make it really real

I have never walked down into the Grand Canyon. One more item off the bucket list. Its so neat, you can feel the changes as you descend and it gets real. Its steep. And no oh-my-god-rails anywhere. We go about a mile. But, the sun is already getting low in the sky, so once we get to the mules and cowboys we stop. We keep Kathleen from snatching up a cowboy and taking him home with her.

Look at that ass

The mules take off, and were stuck with the flies and the shit on the ascent. It takes us a while to go back up, and we do stop frequently. Better safe then sorry.
Once were back up on the rim, we head over to the vizzitizz center, and watch the last showing of the movie. Its pretty good. But its almost 5, and this place closes up at 5. We take a quick walk back to the rim, for one last look at the Grandest Ditch of them all. Its breathtaking, no doubt. And it looks different with the sun at a new angle, colors are purple and amber now. Simply beyond words.

This will never get erased from my memory. Simply beautiful

We take the few more pictures, and move along. We have a 2 hour ride back.
We pile into the SUV as the sun is setting. Were on RT64 south now.

Sunsets are spectacular out here

Going down the road at 75mph, and just on cruise control. Its big open spaces out here, and people haul ass. We follow RT64 until were on the outskirts of Williams, a leftover RT66 town. There we jump on the I-40 and head east about 35 miles. Its easy going on the highways. Hammer down. In Flagstaff we get on I-17 south, its about 30 miles to exit 298 which is Oak Creek, RT179. Its all down hill here. Heading off the Mongollon Rim. Wish it wasn’t so dark here, bet its a spectacular view.
We get to exit 298 and head north on RT179. Thru Oak Creek, and past the Resort, up to Rt89A. Westbound a couple few miles, and were at the Olde Sedona Grill. We have a restaurant certificate here. Its pretty tasty. And after a full day of sightseeing, who wants to cook anyways.
We head back to the resort and all are pretty tuckered out. Alex cranks up the music for all our listening pleasures. Were done for the day.

The grand canyon ride

Weather today was cloudy, and only in the 50s

Total miles today was 330 in the SUV, zero on the bike.

Tomorrow we stay close by, and go see some ruins in Cottonwood, then an afternoon in Jerome.

20131105. Day 128. Tuesday 

Time to see some ancient ruins, then taste some wine in Jerome.

Ah, this sleeping in a bedroom, in a condo is a real treat. We sure can get use to this. Even though we have a campah now, and thats inside for the most part, this house stuff sure is cool.
Today we slept in a little bit, although the east coasters are up early, I cant be bothered to much. Eventually I get it together, and head for the coffee. This brewed stuff is not anywhere near as good as the french press stuff. Just sayin. Kathleen and Lauren enjoyed the morning getting a tour of the grounds, and going thru the gauntlet of the time share selling presentation. Sounds like this is the first place that isn’t high pressure. They were done within 90minutes, and scored a $100 gift certificate to an Italian Restaurant right around the corner.
Before to long, were loading up into the SUV, and heading south on RT89A. Destination is Cottonwood. Home of the Tuzigoot National Monument. There are some cool ruins here, found in the 60s. Old indian ruins.

I love her Tuzigoot !!

Pretty neat. Its small compared to some of the ones up North. But very informative. We wander around a while, and learn more then we ever knew about this old stuff.

I learned its older then me

I am not so sure its that great of knowledge to have, but, I did enjoy learning something I didnt know. It was so good, I cant even remember it all.
We crept our way outta there, and headed up RT89A, into Jerome. Kathleen loved the ride up thru Deception Gulch, especially the high speed hairpin corners with no oh-my-god-rails. Its an old mining town that the hippies saved in the 60s. Its now full of art galleries, and tourist type shops.

Who doesnt love a junky art display full of junk?

Pretty cool. Its laid back here man. Like. Wow. Dude. Ha! Really a fun place, right on the edge of the mountains here. We wander around for a while. The Ice cream parlor run by the hippy wins us over, and we chow out on some good stuff there. I almost enjoyed a real root beer float, except she used vanilla ice cream? I mean, who drinks a root beer float with vanilla ice cream? Whats the matter with chocolate? Thats a real float to me!
Then we head up the hill to a Arizona Winery. Caduceus Cellars is the name. And the wine tasting was just fine.

Line em up and lets get tasting

A bit strange names, but still, well worth the time to enjoy them. We ended up buying a bottle of white “The Diddler”, with high hopes it will work out exactly as planned.
We bailed out just as the sun was dropping behind the mountain. The air was getting chilly on the north side of the hill where we are. Down we go, without opening our eyes until were on the bottom of RT89A, and heading into scenic Cottonwood, AZ. We blast over the back way to Oak Creek, via East Cornville road. Which of course, goes right thru Cornville, AZ. After 10 miles, we hang a left on Beaverhead Flats road, and that brings us right to Oak Creek. It was all desert terrain, with some odd hills, and a few scenic canyon runs along the way. Nice ride.
We land at the condo, and relax a bit, enjoy some ear splitting tunes, then gather ourselves up, and head to Dinner. Its a short walk across the parking lot, and were there. Its called Cucina Rustica. A neat little Italian Joint. With Homemade pasta. We tipped a bottle of white, wolfed down some not really Italian bread with peppered oil, then dug into a cheese plate. Finally the meals arrived and we all shut up and chowed out. Something about fresh made pasta just tastes so good after boxed pasta for months. I had lasagna, and was impressed with the flavor. A bit spicy from the snausage, but it was really good. I didn’t want desert apparently, so we finished up and spilt before the cops showed up! Haha. Just kidding, Kathleen wasn’t gonna run no matter what. Then again, neither was I !

Creepy dude kept staring at me in the terlit room

Back to the condo and were done for the night. Time to relax and turn up the volume again. Still.
Weather today was sunny, temps in the mid 60s.

Miles today was 70 in the SUV, none on the bike.

Tomorrow were heading back north, above Flagstaff, to the Sunset Crater, and the the Wupatki ruins.

20131106. Day 129. Wednesday

A ride into the sunset, crater that is.

Another lazy morning was interrupted by the east coast contingent. All wide awake at that crazy hour of 8 am? Really, whats with that, huh?
The coffee keeps tasting better when someone else brews it, so I guess its not so bad after all, right.
We feast away on eggs, and get the proverbial shit together. Trying to have an early start isnt always easy for us hobos! Anywho, we get loaded up with a snack pack, and climber on into the SUV. We blast down RT179 to the Interstate. No need to be scenic here, lets get to the Parks. RT179 takes us to I-17, were we head north. 40 miles to Flagstaff, and were back onto “The 40”. We head east to the RT89 exit, same way we traveled Monday. About 30 miles north, and we see the signs, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. We head into the vizzitizz center, and flash the pass. Good for 4 thanks! We gather some intel, then make it out alive. Thank goodness for that. Into the SUV we pile, and eastbound we go. Its only two-tree miles and we can see the old volcano. Its a funny looking hill, with the top missing. Of course we gawk at all the piles of lava. Its so strange seeing a field full of the stuff. We see the trailhead and whip on in to the parking lot so we can have a hike. Its only a mile or so around. And its right into the lava beds.

See the sunset? Me neither?

Of course one of us lands a bit funny and gives the knee a twist, just to make things interesting of course. It can only make the hike more enjoyable. Kathleen wants a hiking stick for these hikes. She says its to help her balance. I think its going to be a whacking stick, so she can whack me as were hiking. So she is denied the chance to buy one for $120.
After the scenic tour of the lava beds and the view of the mountain without a top, we decide to mosey onwards. North we go, towards the Painted Desert. We stop at a scenic overlook, with no view, and attack the snack pack. That damb bird will get its picture takin, like it or not, right?

Kathleen stalking that damb bird

We enjoy the snacks, but not the view, then get back into the SUV and head on out. Northbound that is, towards the desert overlooks.
We see the sign for the 2.5K run, but figure we will drive instead. We cruise in and see the Wukoki ruins.

Wukoki ruins arent ruined yet

We do the walk, and climb up into them. Its so amazing. These are built into the rocks, and are well designed for something over 1000 years old. We poke around them for a bit, and really enjoy the visuals. We even saw some Apaches approaching from the east!!
After these ruins, we drove back over to the main road, and headed to the Wupatki ruins, right around the corner. We stop into the vizzitizz center again, and wander the museum a while. Fascinating stuff here. Its really interesting to read how badly the white people fucked over the native americans. Time and time again. Relentlessly. Chased them out of everything they ever knew. Chased them away from life as they knew it. Screwed them over every chance they had, and didn’t care one bit. Its very depressing when you think about it. But, I digress.
We walk out to the ruins, and these are totally amazing. Not that the last ones weren’t. But these are huge.

100 rooms, with a VIEW

100 rooms, with a ball court, a ceremony ring, even a blow hole. We take the tour with the narration by numbers, by the english genius. Its really cool to see and read it all. The colors here are so bright.

Crazy cool colors

The clay is redish orange. Very colorful. And gorgeous. We take it all in, and cant help taking a few hundred pictures again. I am a bit done with old ruins, so we muster on up, and git on down the road. Back to RT89 southbound we go. Hammer down. A quick stop at the Safeway for some vittles. Then, Lets get back to reality. It takes about 1-1/2 hours via the interstates to get back to Oak Creek.
Once we settled down, Alex whipped us up some Enchiladas, with a lot of cheese and chicken for us, veggie style for my sweetie. Dinner was EXCELLENT. And filling. And encouraged some serious terlit time for those of us without an iron coated stomach.
Weather today was the same, sunny, high 60s, chilly at night, a lot of stars out.

Riding into the Sunset, Crater that is, even tho it isnt

Total miles today was 190 in the SUV, zero on the bike.
Tomorrow we take it easy, stay local to hike in the Red Rocks near here.