Jerome, Cottonwood and Sedona…Prescott Hot Shots

 

March 29th 30th, 2014

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, for our departure from Dan’s Escapees North Ranch Village. We drove a couple miles before our first stop, a yard sale. Helen and I both found a couple of books on Arizona parks. Leaving the valley, we climbed some 3,000 feet to the town of Yarnell. Now, some of you might or might know, that Yarnell was the scene of a great tragedy just in the last year or so. Nineteen “Prescott Hot Shots” smoke jumpers lost their lives in what is known as the “Yarnell Hill Fire”. As we crested the mountain top and entered the town, we could see the burnt foliage encroached into the town… nothing left, but the boulders. I wanted to drive a little closer to the site of the main fire and so I navigated around a few back streets. I knew I was there when I spotted 19 purple ribbons on a chain link fence. At this point, I also spotted a sign saying “Shrine” pointing to another side street. We arrived at the “Shrine of Saint Joseph”…not what I was expecting. The Shrine was there many years before the forest fire. Ironically, some of the shrine did burn, but many of the fourteen stations of the cross remained intact. We walked up the mountain and viewed both the station of the cross and the massive destruction of the fire. We left thinking of those “Hot Shots” and how they left this earth.

On the road again, I decided to head to Jerome and Sedona instead of taking a non scenic route north. We had previously visited Jerome, this mining town high on the cliffs over looking Verde Valley. We’re glad that we did take this route. We don’t like to repeat adventures, but this proved us wrong. Jerome was more scenic then we remembered. The afternoon was spent walking the streets and looking at the many galleries. One thing that we were able to witness was a glass blower making a fine looking multicolored wine glass. He was an excellent teacher and described the many phases in the creation of this fine art.

Down off the mountain side and into the town of Cottonwood. It was around 4:30pm when we found a church and attended mass at 5pm. We didn’t have a place to stay as of yet, but that 50 cent book back at the yard sale directed us to “Dead Horse Ranch State Park”. We were lucky and got the second to the last site available for the night. Now, we got to talk to our neighbors who were from Canada. We got to practice our French language with them. Now, here is the possible twist that might make this an unusual connection to us and our friends Dan and Jan. They had just come from their condo or home in Mexico. I asked where and the gentleman said “Mazatlan”. Now, that is where Dan and Jan stayed on the so-called “Secret Beach”. I am not sure if that is the same spot, but it’s close! Can you believe how small this world is getting!

Sunday morning, it was a little cloudy as we headed for Sedona, just a few miles up the road. The skies soon cleared and the sun was shining brightly. We inquired where to go to a “must see Sedona”. A mountain biker, on a side road, gave us all the info we needed. A tour of the Loop road and a tour and hike of the “Dry Creek Road” would take care of all of our desirers. The driving Loop tour first, followed by a popular hike filled the afternoon. Between the both of us, we took over a couple of hundred pictures! Every curve in the road or trail was another reason to stop and frame a picture perfect shot. Dozens, or hundreds of people were doing the same thing. Sedona is probably only second to the Grand Canyon, as far as photo opportunities.

That is what we did and saw!

 

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Congress and the Key West Connection!

 

March 27th and 28th, 2014

What does Congress and Key West have to do with one another? Of course, it’s Dan and Jan! That’s Congress, Arizona and Key West, Florida. Our Trumbonian friends live at an Escapees RV village known as North Ranch, in the town of Congress. Dan is a professional retiree. What I mean is that he retired when he was 47 years old and has been trekking all over the world ever since, with his lovely wife, Janice. This journey has been going on for 23 years he tells me.

We arrived at this very unique village, with its setup of full RV hookups on every house lot. Some 250 houses are ready to accommodate RV’s. We pulled into Dan’s spacious yard in mid afternoon and he had us all hooked up, with all the amenities.

Dan, like myself, is a tinkerer. He walked me around his yard showing me the many projects he is in the process of working on. One of his priority projects is restoring a popup truck camper for next winter’s trip down into deep Mexico.

Jan sat down with Helen, on the outside patio, and talked while Dan and I continued discussing the project’s in and outs. The afternoon was gone before we knew it. Later, Jan whipped up a delicious dinner and soon it was time for me to hit the sack!

The next day, Dan asked me what I wanted to do, and I said that I needed to rest and get the camper re-organized and cleaned. Dan said that would work for him because he had to run an errand into town for a neighbor. I spent the morning relaxing, which for me is washing the camper windows, wiping down everything that had gotten dusty from that infamous dust storm, back in the Casa Grande area. The sun was warming me as I worked, I just loved the free time to take it all in.

Dan returned from his neighbor’s errand and I helped them unload one of those (in a box) storage sheds. The four of us finished the afternoon talking about the wonderful time we had with the many military retirees and the farewell parties that we both received when leaving Trumbo Point. Mike and Terry, Dave and Michelle, Kevin and Jinny, Steve and Cheryl, Paul and Joyce were just a few of the many people that made our stays in Key West so memorable. Dan, also has the knack of recounting his many trips around the world, with countless friends that he made along the way. I especially like his adventure of traveling from the Mediterranean Sea to Paris, France by canal in a rented river barge with other couples. The trip consisted navigating through some 80 or so locks. What a way to meet locals! From river lock attendants to people in small towns at grocery stores and shops. Dan and Jan have seen and done a lot of wonderful trips.

That evening, Dan and Jan took us to a remote small town, way up into the back hill country. Our destination was Kirkland’s Bar, Hotel and Restaurant. This establishment has been around since 1923 and is original. Besides being all of the above, it also boasts to be haunted and had a former brothel. Many a cowboy has been through the doors. The restaurant part has an open pit, wood fired grill, that the owner himself prepares western steaks that are the best in Arizona. I tried their locally brewed beer, which was tasty with the gourmet dinner. We had a tour of the establishment including rooms, haunted areas, that have had ghost busters come in to do one of their TV shows. I took pictures of a face which appears on a wall. They say that the evidence in your camera will gradually disappear…We’ll see about that! We left the restaurant after dark and headed back to Congress. Jan was driving and after a long decent from nearly 6,000 feet to 4,000 feet, when we had a run in with a deer that was crossing the road. Jan’s truck couldn’t avoid hitting the deer. We stopped and checked out the damage. The bumper was pushed in and touching the tire. Dan and I pried enough to get it off the tire. We made it home with no other problems. Jan handled herself very well in the incident, she’s a cool person!

The next morning we said good-by to Dan and Jan and left for another days’ adventure.

That is what we did and saw!

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Apache Junction…Friends and Neighbors

 

March 26, 2014

Norm and Vi welcomed us very warmly. We had a delicious dinner and a pleasant evening chatting about many subjects. Vi’s brother, Roger, and his wife, Lorraine, came over and joined the conversation after dinner. Roger lived next to my folks’ home back in Berlin, NH and, as a kid, I knew him. I can especially remember him working on his Indian motorcycle. Norm’s family also lived just down the street from my folks and later built a house in my present neighborhood. Bill and Nancy also stopped in to say hello. Bill taught school at Berlin High and I’ve known him for a long time, both as a fellow teacher and later as a customer when I was in business as a general contractor. They presently all live in adjacent homes in Apache Junction.

We had a good night’s sleep in the camper. In the morning, we were going to go hiking with Norm, Vi, Roger and Lorraine, but I remembered that I had a Berlin Works Board Meeting scheduled for 12pm (Berlin time, 9am Apache Junction time) and that was scratched off the agenda. There could also be a possibility of another dust storm in the afternoon. Norm said it would be wise not to be hiking in the outback. He explained about “Valley Fever”, a fungus that lays dormant  the desert. It can be ingested by humans and cause fever and tiredness for months. Norm said he actually got this ailment one winter and wasn’t up to par for a long time.

We, instead, took a tour of the neighborhood and took pictures of the blooming cactus. Now listen to this! A cactus full bloom only occurs for one day a year. They are at full blossom at night. The blossoms don’t all happen on the same day, but more than one can blossom at the same time. It’s a confusing schedule, but again, we were fortunate that the cactus followed our schedule and not their schedule which is normally in mid April. I got some very good pictures!

After the conference board meeting, Norm and Vi took us on a site seeing tour of Tortilla Flats area. A spectacular mountainous region with lakes, cactus and panoramas. Tortilla Flats was the original stage coach stop on the Arizona Trail. This watering hole refreshed the horses as well as the coach passengers. Today, it does the same thing with restaurants, bars and live entertainment. We had lunch and enjoyed the décor of the old establishments. The walls are completely covered in dollar bills with little notes left from their donors. We drove a few miles further to the crest of the mountain pass to get more photos! The dust storm never did kick up and it turned out to be a super day with our friends.

That is what we saw and did!  

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Arizona…The Desert’s Beauty!

 

March 24th and 25th, 2014

It had been a few days since my last blog. Monday was a driving day from White Sands Missile Range into the South Western state of Arizona. We parked at a “Love’s Truck Stop” for the night. It was a little town by the name of Benson. Not much to report here other than some 50 other truckers sleeping in a mega parking lot.

Our game plan was to drive near Tucson and visit Saguaro National Park. We wanted to visit the western portion of the park. It is divided by the city of Tucson. I noticed, on the map, that one of the access roads had a note that “high profile vehicles” were banned from the Gates Pass road. With this in mind, I selected the Kinney road entrance. It was a long climb, but we finally arrived at the NP entrance. It is hard to imagine a forest of cactus of several species, with names that are difficult for us none natives to even pronounce. What is easy to take in is the beauty of this desert. With a video at the visitor center that gave us a native Indian interpretation of what the desert represents, we left there with a better understanding of this strange, but beautiful land.

The first thing was to join a Park Volunteer for a bird observation walk close to the Visitor Center. We were told that the snakes were out and to be careful of possibly running into one of the seven species of rattle snakes in this park.

One of our hopes was to be able to see the cactuses in bloom. This only happens in a short time frame each year. Luckily, the odds were in our favor as we started driving the Golden Gate Road. The flowers were everywhere and this gravel road wasn’t too heavily traveled. It was a winey, mostly uphill, narrow road with a few pullouts to stop and get close-ups pictures.

Our destination, on this side road, was to Signal Hill (2,446 feet) to view the ancient Petroglyphs more than 800 years old. When we arrived, it was time to take a short rest (better known as a nap) before hiking to the Petroglyphs. The temperature, in sun was recorded at 94 degrees and very sunny. About twenty minutes later, we awoke to find somewhat of an overcast sky. Off we went on our short hike, to the ancient rock carving site. Another Park Ranger told us to be careful of snakes…that one was spotted under a picnic table. Ok, we moved forward like a recon patrol looking for enemy snipers hiding in the bushes. The Ranger also said that it would rain! She said “30 inches, that’s one drop every 30 inches”. It hadn’t rained in months!

At the top of the mountain, we found the Petroglyphs, took pictures and talked to another couple who were hiking. The sky was now getting darker and we could see heat lightning and rain falling from the sky several miles away. The gentleman said to me (a native), “The rain is falling, but dries up before hitting the ground. Do you see way over by the mountains? It appears that the rain is falling up into the sky! That’s not rain, but dust blowing up from the ground”. He advised us that it was coming our way very soon and we all headed back to the vehicles. We did feel rain drops hitting us just a few hundred feet from the camper. Safe at last!

I had originally planned to take the Golden Gate road up over the mountain to save several miles back to civilization. The Park Ranger had said that this short cut was a passable road, but a high clearance 4x4 was needed. Just my type of vehicle. I was psyched to go for it. Ah, but wait a minute. Remember the possible coming rain. Maybe there would be some of those infamous flash floods coming down from the mountains! Play it safe, I was thinking! We took the long way out of the Saguaro NP and soon were on I-10 heading to Phoenix to our former neighbors Norm and Vi in Apache Junction.

Remember those dust cloud off into a distance? Yup, we were heading right for it! Helen was snapping pictures right and left. It wasn’t noticeable in driving the truck camper, just a light dust cloud covering everywhere. Minutes later, both of our phones went off nearly at the same time with a severe weather text alert about staying off the roads, don’t go out, if your on the highway pullover, shut off your lights and don’t step on your brake lights.

We both looked at each other and wondered what to do! The traffic was still moving, at least at a slower speed. We kept moving forward. At the junction of I-10 and I-8 (Case Grande), it got real bad. A State Trooper was heading in the opposite direction holding back the traffic to 40 miles per hour. Our west bound side was still moving faster than it should be. I tried to keep an extra distance in front of me, but the traffic nearly came to a stop. No good places to pullover were available at this location. Finally, the GPS said to take our scheduled turn off I-10 to County 587 road. It wasn’t more than two miles and the blue skies were all around us. We took another direction as directed and the dust storm caught up to us again! We did this three to four times again before we outran the direction of the dust storm.

We arrived at Norm and Vi’s home safe and somewhat sound. The only casualty was that my waterproof cover on my generator blew off somewhere. That was some adventure for today! Norm said that they never have dust storms like that until August. It isn’t a normal thing for this area. We spotted several photographers taking pictures of the upcoming storm.

All in all the desert is a wonderful and different land for us to enjoy and explore!

That was we did and saw!

   

Marathon Day!…2:30AM to 8PM…It was worth the time!

 

March 23, 2014

On Sunday, the main road coming into White Sands Missile Range is closed at 5am. This is because the marathon course crosses the paved roadway at the underpass on route US70. Jerry could only get accommodations in Las Cruces and had to enter the base before the road closed. Well, normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but remember, this marathon has 6,200 participants and the bulk of them were driving in the day of the event. I told Jerry and Cathy to knock on our camper door so they could warm up. They were on base at 2:30am, but the spot that I had reserved, in front of our truck, was taken by someone else. I was also up at 2:30am figuring they would come in anytime. What I didn’t realize was that the parked car in front of our truck wasn’t theirs. I called him and he was parked over towards the start line. We connected around 5am.

Now, for the unbelievable Bataan Death March Marathon... I’ve seen many events in my life, but this was certainly one that will be remembered for a long time. Here in front of my eyes, were 6,200 participants mostly made up of: Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Coastguard and even Marines, all of which were volunteers to participate in this remembrance of all the Bataan Memorial Death March  that occurred in 1942.

Jerry was psyched and ready! I still can’t imagine a guy, who never has run a marathon (26.5 miles) with a rucksack weighing 45 lbs. and walk over terrain that is several miles up hill, in desert conditions, from sand to rocky trails, to pavement. What a guy!

After the opening ceremony, the participants were released in different stages. The wounded warriors were first, followed by the heavy (rucksack) military and so on. Each walker/runner had a digital chip tied to their footware to record start, intermediate and finish times. We all cheered Jerry on his quest to complete the marathon. Some professional marathoners would complete the course in unbelievable time, of course with no rucksack. We left and drove to the first and only water station that would allow us to watch Jerry come by and encourage him. Jerry came by and a volunteer gave him a cup of water. Cathy also held a cup and I took a picture. I titled it “The Toast”.

It was some time after 8am when he passed the first water station with another 24 miles ahead of him. Helen, Cathy and myself went back to the truck camper for a rest and contemplation on what Jerry would now be facing. He had figured between 8 to 9 hours. He planned on stopping often to change socks to prevent chaffing on his feet. I took a nap and the ladies went for a walk and soon we were at the finish line. Some of the professionals were already crossing the finish line, but remember with no min 36lbs rucksack. After lunch, the young ROTC teams started to come in. The early afternoon saw more and more cross the finish line. The medical personnel were busy in their very well equipped field hospitals. They were set up to handle hundreds of casualties mostly from foot problems.

Around 4:30pm, Jerry came into sight of the finish line. I couldn’t believe this guy! WOW, I was fortunate to catch him (on camera)crossing the finish line with his left foot stepping on the electronic mat with a time of 9:9.21. I also was able to record them weighing his rucksack with a weight of 45lbs. He met the standards and most of all, did the run/walk in remembrance of the guys who did and didn’t make it back from the Philippines in WWII.

Jerry’s feet were like hamburg. He said he started to have trouble at the 12 mile mark. The medics took him into the first aid station and lanced his blisters. He was tired, but OK!

One has to think that the story doesn’t end with Jerry. Remember the 88 year young, who has run 323 previous marathons (from a previous blog). Well, he came in close to 8pm. What endurance! Burt is an inspiration to all of us! Untold numbers also had a very long day and must also be congratulated for their perseverance.

We are on the road again as I write this blog. I may visit this Bataan Death Memorial March Marathon again as my mind reflects on everything that we have experienced in five days at White Sands Missile Range.

That is what we did and saw! 

Bataan Death March Marathon ~ The Excitement!

 

March 21, 2014

This morning, the Volunteer Park (officially called campground area) was starting to slowly fill up with more individual teams coming in from all over the country. I’m told there will be some 6,200 participants in this marathon. Many of them were eager to stop and talk to us and share information on the great marathon.

We spent the early morning listening to some remarkable stories that Burt recounted of his many marathons. We kept asking and he kept telling. Jerry and Cathy showed up in later morning from where they were staying in Las Cruces. We sat at our picnic table enjoyed the sun and also soaked in the conversations from many people. Jerry had taken care of his registration duties and late afternoon we decided to visit White Sands National Monument with them. The Visitor Center was again the first stop. A video explained how the White Sand area came into being. Now it was time to drive the 8 miles into the great dune area. Many more people were in the area now than in our previous visit. We found a dune with hardly any foot prints to take more (lost in the desert) type of pictures. We all had many good laughs on this private dune of ours in the White Sands of New Mexico.

That is what we saw and did! 

White Sands MR…Bataan Death March Marathon!

 

March 20, 2014

The Advance Party AKA Jerry’s Support Team has arrived! We were one of the first arrivals at the start/finish line and also the campground area. All of the hookup sites were reserved, but a large area was set aside for dry camping. Just up our alley! Restroom and shower facility just a hundred feet away.

One of the first RV camper arrivals parked just around the corner from us. It was a fellow named Duane with the nickname of “Poncho”. He had run the marathon at least three times, that I can remember him saying. He was very knowledgeable in telling us all kinds of marathon info. Poncho is also an excellent story teller and did so many times in the course of the day. He was a former Ranger and ironically served in Vietnam in my neck of the woods, or should I say rice paddy. We both enjoyed talking to him throughout the day.

Poncho had mentioned that one of his buddies would be coming later in the afternoon and he usually set up his tent right next to us. Burt was his name. Now, here is what is unusual about Burt. He is 88 years old, has run in 322 marathons of which 9 were international. Poncho said, “He only started running marathons when he was 57 years old”. Burt showed up a little later and we found him to be a wonderful character. Burt had come down from Minnesota about a week ago. He has been spending time here in the New Mexico deserts looking for rocks for his collection. He showed us two large bags of his quartz gems. He had some beauties and even gave us the choice of selecting and keeping one apiece.

Jerry and Cathy were still a few miles away at their hotel in Las Cruces. We decided to head over to the commissary for groceries. After the grocery detail, I said to Helen, “I’m going over to the base exchange and see if I can get a haircut”. Helen, stayed back to put the groceries away. I walked to the back side of the BX and spotted the barber shop. I walked up and looked inside. Who was sitting getting a haircut? Nobody, but Command Sergeant Major Jerry himself. Wow, what a surprise! Cathy was parked on the other side of the building and soon we were all reunited. We spent the day back at the campground talking to many people about the marathon course and its difficulties.

There are several classifications that walk or run the course. From individuals to teams. Everybody agreed that the most difficult class was the military heavy class. Some of requirements in the heavy military class…are to have a regulation uniform, carry a 35 pound rucksack for the entire 26.5 mile course. It is to be weighed at the end of the course. I put the rucksack on and let me tell you, you’ve got to be insane to think that you could carry this weight on your back for 26.5 miles! What class do you think Jerry will be competing in? Yup, the military heavy class! Go Jerry! Another important thing to remember is that the elevation here is 4,339 feet above sea level. Back home in Berlin, NH, the elevation is  980 or so feet above sea level. The air is thinner up here and breathing is more difficult. I can’t see how Jerry will survive. He has been training back in New Hampshire, but everybody knows it’s been snowing and the temperature has been below zero making it difficult to train effectively. We will do everything to support Jerry in his goal of completing the marathon.

That is what we saw and did!

 

Alamogordo, NM …White Sands National Monument

 

March 19, 2014

Today’s journey took us from Brantley State Park, over near Artesia, to White Sands Missile Range south of Alamogordo. Brantley SP is located on the Pecos River just above a holding reservoir. The park is well maintained with all sites having water and electricity. We arrived after business hours and did a self check-in. We parked next to a couple who were sitting outside enjoying the early evening. It wasn’t long before we were sitting with them. Ted and Leslie were traveling back home to Georgia. Ted was gracious in giving us a couple of his prized Pumpkin brewed beer bottles. We spent the evening talking about different places to visit. The evening ended as the temperature started to drop. It was a pleasant time at Brantley SP.

In the morning of the 19th, I finished writing my blog on Carlsbad Caverns and downloaded about 150 pictures from our three cameras. It is a little time consuming to sort, pick, resize and upload pictures for the blog. I do this because I enjoy writing about our travels.

On the road north to Artesia, we experienced large open country with the most amounts of oil rigs actually pumping crude from the ground. In some areas, we could smell the crude. In Artesia, I made sure we gased up the truck for our high mountain crossing over to Alamogordo. Several signs warning truckers that they were not allowed on this road were noticed. A descriptive diagram, on the signs, even showed elevation drop from 8,654 to some 4,000 or so feet drop in sixteen miles. The elevation noted on my GPS, here Artesia, was around 3,990 feet above sea level.

The road was straight as an arrow as far as I could see. No trees, just rolling gentle fields with small herds of cattle grazing. The skies were filled with what looked like smog, but it was really fine dust. Later that day, talking to travelers from Tucson, in the west, to San Antonio in the east, all reported the same dust cloud conditions. A local person said it wasn’t normal for this phenomena. Back to the drive west, to White Sands National Monument…The road continued to climb at a slow pace for a couple of hours. The terrain now changed to big pine trees and mountains. More cabins and mountain resorts ranches came into view as we now were at 5,000 plus feet of elevation. One could sense that people would come here in the dead of summer to escape the high temperatures in the valley cities below.

Finally, at 8600 feet, we crested at Cloudcroft. They actually have a ski lift! We noted patches of snow on the shady side of the highway! Amazing, that we even get excited about seeing snow from two New Hampshire snow bunnies! 

Now, comes the forewarned decent from a high elevation to the valley floor, in just a short distance. My truck has the ability of shifting to a manual mode and this made the decent easy and safe. Nothing to report about the drive down except the shear cliffs that the road cuts along side of the mountains.

White Sands National Monument was our afternoon place to visit. We stopped at the Visitor Center to get our National Parks cancellation stamp in our NP Passport book. It was an eight mile road into the dunes. From a distance, I wasn’t impressed! We were told that the first five miles were a non-stop safety zone, but than we could stop anyplace after the paved road ended. Well, the first thing we spotted were kids sliding down the dunes in a flying saucer type of sled. Next, another bunch of girls were sitting on a high ridge and posed for us, as I took a picture. The whiteness of the sand (actually gypsum) was astonishing! It wasn’t that hot here in New Mexico today, but with the sun reflecting…some girls were in bikini tops! Ah, that was our queue to change into our shorts and grab some of our own (glamour) shot pictures..Ah, ah! We tried climbing untracked dunes, laying on the dunes, writing our geocaching handle in the sand and so fort. It turned out to be a better experience than I originally thought or planned.

Time to head to the Missile Range, another 20 miles down the road. The whole area (hundreds of square  miles) belongs to the government for live firing of missiles and other weapons. They often close US 70 when they do a test firing. This is done regularly, but nothing today. We arrived and noticed heavier than normal security for a base. I stopped to check-in at the Main Gate Office, only to find it closed for the day. A note said, “go to the guard for check-in”. Now, here I am next to the main entrance and just a few feet away, I could see the guard watching me. I started to drive over to the barricades, but didn’t notice a curb. I jumped the curb! What a grand entrance to one of the most secure bases in America. After showing my military ID, I was allowed to proceed to the campground. Here is where we stayed for the night.

That is what we saw and did!