Leaving Arizona in the Dust

Saturday, April 2, we said our goodbyes to the friends who were still left in our park, shed some tears, and were on our way. It was already warm at 8:30 in the morning; we had our windows all the way down. The sweetness from the grapefruit and orange tree blossoms hung heavy in the air, and I took gulps of air to try to preserve it in my lungs.

I silently said goodbye to my favorite mountain, Red Mountain, as we sped by it.

Four Peaks Mountain was off in the distance.

We saw many, many bicyclists on the road.

I didn't find out till later that they were participating in the "El Tour de Mesa",  a 72-mile charity ride around Red Mountain to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I will miss this beautiful scenery,

and this.

The drive out of Arizona has many curves.

We soon left the desert-like surroundings with the tall saguaros behind, and entered in the Tonto National Forest. We saw small patches of that funny white stuff called "snow". Here is a huge flooded area from the melted snow. I just love the reflection of the blue sky and pine trees!

An area that was burned from a fire.

A couple of funny signs I saw along the way......


I might have qualified to work there if it were "FAT Ankles Cafe!"

A hotel for horses? Seriously?

Doesn't this look like a bat-mitten shuttlecock for giants?

We stayed in Holbrook, AZ overnight. The wind started to pick up later in the evening. The next morning we checked the weather and high winds were still forecasted. We got on the road anyway.

This is lava rock all along the road from a long ago volcano.

Horses grazing not seeming to pay attention to the gorgeous red rock backdrop.

Remember the high winds forecasted? It seems they weren't lying.

Look at these!

Not to worry. We made it to Albuquerque in one piece. With gusts up to 65 mph, that tail wind gave us better gas mileage! We set up in the blowing wind and it felt like we were getting sand blasted. The tiny granules of sand were stinging every exposed inch of our skin. We made sure all our windows were closed, but somehow a fine dust permeated the air of our trailer, settling in our ears, noses, and throats. Everything is covered in dust inside AND out. So much for Jim's wash job on the truck and trailer!

The wind blew through-out the night. The trailer rocked so hard that I felt I was on some kind of a ride at Disneyland. I was so worried that a nearby tree was going to snap in half and come crashing down on our trailer. It was an uneasy night. The next morning it was still windy, but not as bad as the day before. As we were packing up to leave, Jim hurt his back. It was only about 30 degrees outside. We were cold, wind-blown, and now sore. Time to move on.

Next post: our trek up a volcano near Raton, NM

Home Sweet Winter Home

I am  happy to report that we made it to Mesa, Arizona in one piece.

The wind died down by morning when we left Holbrook. Instead of taking Rt. 40 west to Route 17 south, two major highways, and therefore a safer, but longer, drive; we opted for a shorter, steep, through the mountains, albeit beautiful scenery, but scare-the-pants-off-you two lane highway, 'cause that's the way we roll!

Holbrook is near the Petrified National Forest, so there were many tourist shops in town selling petrified rocks. Petrified meaning a LONG time ago, so of course, we're talking dinosaurs. Lot's of dinosaurs.

 

The drive started out flat just to fool me. Wide open spaces - yellow against blue sky. Actually quite beautiful, I think, because yellow and blue are my favorite colors!

I saw this sign,

and found out that for the last 52 years, there has been an actual Pony Express that takes place every January . It is 200 miles long and runs from Holbrook to Payson, AZ. Each cowboy rides one mile at full steam. That's a LOT of riders. They start from both towns. You could actually purchase an envelope ($1), write a letter, and then have it HAND STAMPED that it was delivered via Pony Express! Isn't that cool? Jim and I are definitely going to look into this! Oh, and in March all the riders are in the "Prada del Sol", Parade of the Sun, held in Scottsdale. We're talking lots of horses. Last time we attended there was over 1,000 horses!

Another sign I saw -

Notice the longer horns? That's elk. I kept my eyes peeled on the landscape, but didn't see a one. I did spy a herd of mule deer as we sped by, but no elk.


Doesn't this look like a mirage in the middle of the desert?

The scenery started to change as we entered the Sitgreaves National Forest.

I was enjoying the scenery and the road was going up and down just a little. Then the hills started getting steeper. And what goes up MUST COME DOWN.

We started seeing signs like this:

and my favorite

Danger - curves ahead!

You like that? How about this one?

See? I told you. Dangerous. Looks like a roll-over.

Look at the tall pines on top of these red rocks!

Pretty soon we were out of the forest and into the desert area. We were getting closer to our winter home. I was surprised to see some yellow wildflowers still out on the mountainside. Didn't they know that it was just about November?

Nature's artwork

I spot my first saguaro cactus and know that we are almost home!

More saguaros can't be too far behind. Yep. They number in the thousands!

My favorite mountain in the area - Red Mountain

Pretty soon we're tooling down the highway towards our exit.

And finally, I see the palm trees that line our resort and the HUGE American flag.

We are home. For the winter, anyway!