October 24th, 2011

Prescott is one of those places that I feel people try and keep to themselves.  The beauty of this area is impressive.  We have spent our time here exploring the town itself, the mountains around town and the state within 150 miles.  WOW!!!  We are staying in what I will call a "reasonably priced" RV resort.  Most of the people here have planted roots.  With the cheap price to live in such a place, I can understand.  They keep to themselves and leave us alone, so I won't complain.  We are staying at the edge of the Willow Dells.  This is an area that is full of rock to climb and trails that take us all around the area.  We have hiked a ton and are now starting to run the trails.  The red rocks with the pinyon pine and Alligator Juniper are magnificent.  All about a 30 second walk from our door. 
We headed out to Sedona Saturday the 8th and was blown away by what was there.  That is the real red rock.  As deep a red as I have ever seen.  The natural beauty is amazing, the tourist trap that it is, is not.  That place is running on tourism.  It was a bit disappointing to walk the town and get mostly tourist oriented shops.  We headed out south of town to a Frank Lloyd Wright cathedral.  It is a chapel built right into the red rock countryside.  I pulled into a parking spot at the bottom so we could walk around and decided to get a picture.  As I walked to the area I wanted to photograph a man asked if I could get his picture.  Being the nice guy I am I said "sure".  We exchanged names and began talking.  His name was john.  John asked if I was a "god fearing man"?  I told him that I was and this spun us off onto a great conversation about how great the lord is.  He told me about his troubled, jail filled, miserable life he once had and how the lord had delivered him from it.  He now does Prison ministry work.  I told John about our trip with the kids and why we want them to see what the lord has here for us.  It was one of those moments in life where you can feel the lords power touching you.  He asked if he could give me a hug.  I said sure and we said our god bless yous.  He introduced me to his girlfriend and we went our separate ways. (After a second hug)  It was a moment that just struck me.  Here we were, out where we know no one and I meet someone that has the word of the lord spilling out right when I need to hear it.  No one will ever convince me that that was anything but the lord.  We hit the road up to Flagstaff for the rest of the day.  It was a great day to drive.  We were able to see such a wide range of terrain.  From the dry desert too the beauty of the red rocks, all the way up to the wonderful, snow capped San Francisco Peaks.
Wed. the 12th saw us at the Grand Canyon.  I had flown over this magnificent hole in the ground many times.  This was the first time that any of us had ever seen it up close.  I think we all just stood and gazed out at the great unbelievable size of the thing.  Never could I have imagined just how BIG it is.  We decided to hike the South Rim trail over too the Bright Angel trail head.  It was a grand hike.  We walked for about 2.5 miles and around every bend was another vista that would take your breath away.  We all wanted to do a hike down into the canyon, but I didn't want to kill the kids.  The bright Angel was perfect.  1.5 miles down is a rest hut and a bathroom.  We ate a light lunch and began the 1.5 mile and 1200+ vertical foot ascent.  Lowman and I went pretty fast up the trail.  A bit of competition.  Hailey was the one that I was worried about.  The was a champ.  I think she only stopped once and was even passing hikers going slower than her.  She too is a competitor.  Another 3 miles back to the truck and we were done.  And I mean DONE.  We hiked about 9 miles that day.  Beautiful weather and the dry air.  DONE.
We had our first visitor the weekend of the 15th.  Tres' sister Ginny (G-G) came down from Vegas to spend a few days.  We had a great visit.  We had not seen her in a few years, so it was good to catch up on things.  We took her out to Montezumas Castle, Montezumas Well and back up to Sedona.  Being able to see the Cliff dwellings was a treat.  It is what Hailey has been studying in History, so she could put it all together.  The Well was another interesting site.  There were cliff dwellings in the sides of the Well.  Around the rim were more dwellings.  You walk the site, around the well it is bone dry.  You walk the trail from the rim of the site and down to the creek.  HUGE Arizona Sycamore trees all along the creek bank.  There is an outlet from the Well underground.  It spills into a canal system that enters the creek.  The temperature change is so nice.  Shade and cool.  Stark contrast too 25 feet above you.
On Wed. the 19th We headed out to Wickenburg.  It is a small town about 60 miles to the S/SW of Prescott.  This town was the center of mining in the area for some time.  It just missed being the territory seat by a few votes.  Great Museum, and some of the best home made ice cream I have had in a while.  Sweet cream ice cream.  Again, great weather. 90 and sunny.  Getting spoiled.  They have some of the coolest cacti scattered around the town.  Big, old cactus.  Taller than two men and bigger around.  Beautiful.
We got the Crapper back on this weekend.  I fiberglassed the crap out of it and Tres, Lowman and I reattached it.  Hopefully it stays on this time.  I put extra screws in the brackets.  Pray!!
Just a few more days and we are moving east.  A quick stop in Santa Fe and off for a Visit too the place of my birth. TX.

Prescott, AZ 10/04/2011

Well folks we are officially back out on the road.  We have been in Bakersfield, CA for the last month.  What an experience that was.  During our time in Bakersfield we had some crazy things to take in.  I will tell ya'll a few stories.  One that stands out, is my need to get my thyroid medication.  I had about one week of meds left so I called in my prescription to the pharmacy like I always do.  It is usually ready that day if I call it in early enough.  When I went to pick it up I was told that it was denied.  They asked if I wanted to resubmit it, I said sure.  Second day, same result.  I called my Dr. the morning of the third day and was told that it was "all good" and it would be ready the next day.  Went back in the next day (day 4), same result. Denied! Now I call the Dr. office with a bit more, we'll say, "enthuiasm".  The nurse on the line says,"I will call the pharmacy and call you right back".  No call back from the office at all.  Day 6, I call the Dr. office and get the famous answering machine.  I left a nasty message about the length of time it was taking to get this done, where I am in the country and the need for my medication, as I am now on my last day of meds.  No call back.  Now my lovely wife gets on the phone with the Drs. office. I am completely out of meds.  They inform her that since it has been so long since I have been in, that I need to be seen before they will fill my prescription.  SWEET!!!!  I am in Southern California with no meds and the need to see a Dr.  No way I can get in to an Endocrynologist in any less than 2-3 weeks.  Only other option is to go to the County Health Clinic.  If  you have not experienced an "Inner-City" clinic, you ae truely missing out on one of the craziest places you can visit.  I had to go in as a walk-in and wait,and wait, and wait.  In my two days I am waiting I am one of maybe 5 people there that speeks english and one of 3 that is white.  Was everyone staring at me or was it just my emagionation?  Two days later I see an old school Dr. that after asking how I feel, how the meds are doing and any health problems associated with the meds, fills my meds at the same dose.  I needed to get my blood work done so he sends me down to the "real" ghetto clinic.  Now we are in it.  Roll up the windows and don't stare at anyone.  In my travels I have found that most places I visit if there is a "Martin Luther King" Dr., Ave., Blvd. whatever, it is usually on "that side of town.  Yep, the clinic is off MLK, big fences, bars on windows and doors.  Two young black men helping another black youth get over one of the big fences into someones yard.  Sagging pants and bad intentions written all over them.  When we get done, we find out that this is the area where most of the murders in Bakersfield happen.  Super fun.  Blood work comes back good and I am now set.
We also made a trip up to the State Capitol, Sacramento.  I have some great memories of Old Sacramento from my youth, so we took the kids to see what it was like.  First stop was to get some of the saltwater taffy that I love.  $15 later, we had a big bag.  Tres and the kids had never been on  train so we hit the old train that takes you along the Sacramento river.  It was a beautiful day and the train ride was wonderful. On the way back to Bakersfield we stopped and had lunch with my Sister Pam and my nieces, Kaitlyn and Amber.  We hadn't seen each other in years so it was a great visit.
We started to get the itch to get back on the road.  The visit with the Jerrolls was fantastic, but we are meant to travel. 
Back on the 58 at 0630 the morning of the first.  Up and over Tehatchape pass and straight into the Mojave.  What a landscape.  We live in the high desert, but nothing like this.  Miles and miles of some of the driest country I have ever seen.  Still beautiful but no place to plant roots.  I find it amazing that people could eek out any kind of existance in these kinds of places.  We motored right into AZ., past Kingman and headed to the 89.  After turning south on the 89, I hit the worlds largest bump in the road.  I didn't even see it comming.  The trailer actually got airborne.  I should have stopped to check everything out, but didn't think anything felt wrong.  Soooo not the case.  We hit the Chino valley and a man pulled up next to me and said that I had lost my sewer line.  I thought that the hose had come out of the bumber.  That is where the sewer hose is stored.  I pulled over to check and it was still there.  I peaked under the trailer and noticed that the sewage holding tank was not where it was supposed to be.  It is a 40ish gal black tank, its pretty hard to miss.  I bungied the line to the tank in place and drove the last 8 miles to our campground.  We dropped the trailer and headed back down the highway to find what was left of our crapper tank.  About 15 miles from Prescott we saw our tank.  Laying right beside the southbound lane.  Other than a few holes in the tank it seemed fine.  Most of the "goodies" were out of the tank so Tres and I threw it in the bed of the truck and headed home.  I am now patching the holes and will hopefully get it fixed and get it reinstalled here in Prescott.  Oh the life of the traveler.  Yes folks it IS as glamerous as you think.
We are enjoying the Prescott area.  It is a neat little city, centrally located to so many things.  We will spend a month here and venture out to the sites.