An abrupt end...

To catch up: 

We departed Sharon and Kyle's house in Rimrock on Sunday March 19 and drove back down to Sierra Vista to Beth and Aaron's. We stayed there until Wednesday March 22. We departed Sierra Vista and had a long day's driving to Van Horn TX, east of El Paso. We had stayed in this RV park on our way out and it was an easy overnight place. The next day we headed northeast through TX to just south of Abilene and stayed for 1 night at the Tye, TX RV park. 

On Friday March 24 we arrived at a college friend of mine and her husband's beautiful home outside Dallas, in Frisco TX. Carol and Josh treated us royally and it was great to visit and catch up with her and to spend time with Josh. We left Frisco on Monday, March 27, my birthday, heading for another friend's house near Fayetteville, AR. It was an uneventful drive until about 4:45 pm. 

We were driving on I40, about an hour away from our destination when a young girl hit the rear of the Casita. She hit the passenger rear side of the trailer with the driver side of her car. I am not sure what she was doing all the way over there as we were in the right lane. But she must have been going really fast because she knocked the Casita into the truck and sent both vehicles fishtailing into the middle lanes.  The truck went on its driver's side and the Casita went on it's passenger side and we slid along like that into the left lane. Then the truck flipped on its roof and the Casita, because it was laying on its opposite side, righted itself. We ended up almost in the median, in a turn around lane that just happened to be there.

So there we were, hanging by our seatbelts in the upside down truck and all the stuff in the back was thrown around as were the dogs. The side airbags went off too. We both released our seatbelts and our first thoughts were for the dogs. A whole bunch of people had stopped and were waiting to help us out of the side windows, which were blown out. One of the first people who spoke to me was the young girl who told me over and over how sorry she was that she had hit us!  Wasn't really who I wanted to see or what I wanted to hear!

A couple of the fellows and Steve started going through the back seat of the truck, removing stuff to get to the dogs. Remarkably neither Steve nor I, nor either dog were injured! We both have a couple small cuts and this odd burn on our upper arms from the air bag going off but that is it. Amazing and our guardian angels were surely watching over us. 

So state police and EMS arrived, and tow truck drivers to haul away the vehicles. The young girl was on the far side of the road from us. She was able to drive her car away. But the state police did site her for something (don't know what yet - unsafe lane change or following to close something like that) but it was definitely her fault so her insurance will be paying out. 

We had to decline EMT services as we could not bring our dogs in the ambulance and could not leave them there so that was that. It took an hour or more to get the truck right side up and both vehicles on two different flatbeds, then the tow truck driver loaded all 4 of us into his rig and aff we went to Alma, AR where the tow yard was located. Thankfully Xi came with her pick up  and got us and the dogs and some stuff that we needed for the night. What an ordeal and some birthday! 

We spent the next day on the phone with insurance companies, went back to the tow yard to get some more stuff, like dog food and clothes and made a plan to get all the stuff out of both vehicles the next day so they can be towed off for damage assessment. 

One of our generous friends is driving his big Dodge Ram truck out here to get all of us and will tow a little uhaul full of our stuff home for us. It is really nice to have good friends!  In the mean time Xi and Lyn are taking care of us, feeding us amazing meals and figuring out the logistics of this all with us. Again...good friends! I can't imagine doing this from a hotel room. 

So when Doug arrives on Saturday we will start our last leg home...probably 2 nights, 3 days worth. Certainly not the way we hoped to end our journey. We will have to shop for a new truck and camper after we learn what the payouts will be, as we assume both are totalled. 

We are tired and anxious but very grateful for the love and support so many of you have shown us, and of course for being alive!  It could have been SO much worse. 

A sad end to our first adventure. It was really sad to leave the Casita today. She just looks awful as does our beautiful truck. I know it is all just stuff...but I will miss them both. 

How we landed

 

Fiberglass hull breach

Passenger side damage

 

Anderson anti sway hitch

It may be hard to tell from the photo of the Anderson hitch, but that is supposed to be a flat piece of metal. It is folded in half and sheared off from the stress of having the Casita go over on it's opposite side from the truck and then go upright again. Crazy!

 

Rimrock, AZ (near Sedona) and a change in plans

 Hello friends! We are in Rimrock, AZ, about 30 minutes south of Sedona (and 1500 feet lower), an hour south of Flagstaff. We are staying with my niece Sharon and her husband Kyle. They have a house up on a mesa in a little neighborhood called Montezuma Lake. He sure got around, that Montezuma. 😍

We have not made it to Sedona, and honestly there is not a super draw to go there given the crowds of tourists plus it is spring break here for schools so there are even more people. We have been spending time at local haunts and historic places. 

It was really nice for some of our days here and also very rainy for some of them. There is so much water between rain and snow melt that the rivers are very high and flood warnings were issued for low lying areas. They said it is the second 100-year flood in 3 years. Climate change for you.  But the rains are causing the flowers to start blooming which is great to see. 

Oak Creek - high water!

Spring rain flowers

 We arrived here on Saturday, March 11, and will depart Sunday March 19. Sadly Sharon's dogs were not at all accepting of ours so ours have been staying in the Casita and in their little dog yard. Steve has been sleeping out with them and I have a bed in the house.  Not optimal, but do-able.

Last Sunday we went to hear Kyle's band play. They are called The Invincible Grins, and are a great straight up rock and roll band that plays some really good originals. They are about to release a new record so check it out. 

While here in Rimrock, we saw our very first scorpion. It was a baby, about the size of a dime. Their dog Lucy noticed it first. It is the color of the carpet. Fun fact - scorpions glow under black light. Everyone around here has a black light flashlight with which to do scorpion check at night. Yup - check your beds! 

On the carpet

Under black light

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday we went birding to a local Audubon spot called Bubbling Springs where we got to see our life Black Hawk. Super cool bird. Tuesday we hiked 7 miles along Beaver Creek. Wednesday it rained but we went to Jerome, AZ which is a LOT like Bisbee. Very cute town. Thursday we went sightseeing to Toozigoot and Montezuma Castle National Monuments. F Friday (today is petroglyph ranch day, at the V Bar V Heritage site. Saturday we go to the pecan and wine festival in Camp Verde, where the band will play again.

Black Hawk

 

View from Jerome, in the fog

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hiking trail

 

Hiking trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Montezuma Castle National Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Montezuma Castle National Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

V Bar V ranch petroglyph site

Those long necks are cranes, rare in petroglyphs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Cottonwood/Verde Valley area really has a lot going for it. There's a pretty vibrant music and art scene, lots of breweries, wineries and more. If you are looking for a place, this might be one. Reasonable shopping and dining but easy to get away too. 

This Sunday we depart and here's where the change comes in. We were supposed to head a bit north to Fool Hollow Lake State park, and to a few more state parks before ending up at the Grand Canyon in mid April. Instead (drum roll please.....) 

We are going to start heading east. 

Yes, we are going to cut our trip short by about a month. For a few reasons. The main reasons are around the dogs. They really get the short shrift while we are camping. They don't get enough attention or enough exercise and they are stuck in that little space while we are out and about during the day and then again all night. It's really taking a toll, especially on my old girl Summer, and it is just not fair to them. So while we will take our time getting there, we will probably arrive about a month earlier than we had planned, mid April instead of mid-May.

We don't have camping reservations and are just going to wing it, stopping when we are ready to and staying a few nights if we find a place we like. So that's the scoop!  We will head back down to Sierra Vista Sunday to Beth and Aaron's and get ourselves prepared for the return trip, and then start heading east along the I40 corridor on Wednesday. Will keep you all posted on how that is going. 

It has been a really fun time but we are both feeling the pull to be home. Three-plus months on the road is a respectable trip and we don't feel bad about cutting it short. Maybe we will pick up where we left off next time we do this....

Leaving you with Mule deer

 

Homolovi State Park

Before we left Kartchner Caverns, we visited The Amerind, an American Indian Museum, gallery and history center. There are the most amazing places in the middle of no where. This is in the town of Dragoon, AZ but right off I10. They have a very large collection of pottery, baskets and incredible Navajo and native jewelry. No photos allowed. Super cool place.

Amerind Museum

On Monday (March 6) we departed Kartchner Caverns and southern Arizona. I am considering this the start of the second part of our trip.  It was an almost 400 mile drive north and east to Homolovi State Park. We drove through Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff to get here. That's a long day for us as we have been keeping it to a couple of hours or so and this took about 6 hours. We got on the road just after 8 and arrived at the campground around 4, including stops for gas and such. 384 miles, average 15mpg which is pretty amazing considering the altitude climbs. We had the choice or a twisty mountain route, or the safer but longer interstate route, which we chose. 

Snowy Flagstaff highway

The drive the the mountains around Flagstaff was very pretty - and up to 7,000 feet. Lots of snow up there. Then descended back to about 4,500 where we are now. 

Humphries Peak, San Francisco Mtns, highest in AZ

 

 

 

 

 

We are quite close to the town of Winslow, AZ, made famous in the Jackson Browne song Take it Easy. There's a Standing on the Corner Foundation which has created a little park and tourist spot where you can have a photo opp..and plenty of old white people taking advantage of it. Pretty fun. And funny. This is right on old RT 66 and there's some nice remnants of that architecture.

yes both of us

 

 

 

 

Flatbed Ford

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a restored hotel here called La Posada - much original to the site and very nicely done. Interesting history if you care to read it.

La Posada

 

 

 

 

 

Interior

Ex-ballroom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homolovi (pronounced Home-O-lovey) is Hopi for "Place of the Little Hills" and it is still considered sacred ground to the Hope. There are two Anasazi pueblo ruins at the park, and they are covered in pot shards everywhere you look. You can feel the ancient-ness of the place, and in the pottery pieces themselves. These sites have been heavily looted over the years both by pot thieves and by Mormon settlers who used the stones for their dwellings . There are also some petroglyphs in the area.

 

Potshards

ancient mortar

ancient wall

lot of potshard, many colors and patterns

 

 

Restored Kiva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

colors and patterns

 

 

Petroglyph

Petroglyph

 

 

 

 

 

 

 There's not a whole lot to do here, and this desert wind that has hundreds of miles to pick up speed is driving us kind of batty so we are leaving on Saturday a day early, instead of Sunday, and heading to Rimrock, AZ to spend the week with my niece Sharon Smith and her wonderful hubby Kyle. This is about 30 minutes south of Sedona and there is much to do in the area - birding and hiking and other stuff too. 

It's really great to have places we can stay besides campgrounds. Really nice to be able to break the camping up with friends.  

Full moon rising

 

Sun setting behind Winslow

 

Stats: $251 for 6 nights so $41/night. Water is turned off for the winter, too! So that is a bit steep. Bathrooms are sort of heated, but do have hot water. Did not try the showers. Not my favorite place as campgrounds go. Off to do laundry tomorrow. Yee haa.

Kartchner Caverns State Park

 I have a bit of catching up to do!

First, thanks to all of you who responded to my links question. Enough of you do click through that I will keep them. Thanks!

Before we departed from Beth, Aaron and Sierra Vista on Monday, we went to Coronado National Memorial - named for the explorer who passed through the area in the mid-1500's while looking for the famed golden cities. Of course he did not find them and caused a lot of death and destruction. 

There's an unimproved cave on the Memorial, which we hiked up to but did not go into. Then went up a really rough road to the top of the peak. Rather than going back down that way, we went around another way - much longer but an adventure nevertheless. 

Cave into

Cave mouth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Sunday, we attended one of the weekly performances at the Arizona Folklore Preserve. If I lived here I would go to these every week!  There are shows 44 weekends a year, they only stop in July and August. It is a partnership with Arizona State University, and it mostly staffed by volunteers. Super cool place. This is Randy Huston, who put on an excellent, interesting and funny performance.

 

On Monday, we packed up and departed Sierra Vista for Kartchner Caverns State Park. This state park is only about 35 miles from Sierra Vista, so not a far trip for us. There is indeed a cavern on the property, with an interesting history. Two young geology students were exploring a local sink hole in the mid 1970's and spelunked into this cavern. They kept it a secret for a couple of years, exploring it on their own. They then let the landowners know about it, and brought them into the cavern as well. The family kept it secret for another 10 years! Finally, the family (not surprisingly named Kartchner) sold the cavern to the state, and the State Park was established. It took another 5 years or so to make the cave accessible to the public, with a visitor center, entrance-ways and walking paths. 

Anemone blooming on the trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kartchner hills

Little alpine ferns

Mountain Bluebird all over, Almost indigo

 

 

 

 

 

This is a "live cave" meaning it is still forming, still has water running through it. There is also a Common Cave Bat colony who uses this cave as their nursery, so the cave closes for tours from mid-April to mid-Oct for bat-rearing season. They are very careful about not bringing in white nose fungus, which is affecting a lot of bat populations across the country You cannot bring in anything with you - no phone, no bags, nothing. No photos or video allowed either, so no pics. Tour guides are volunteers, and ours was terrific. Very interesting to learn the history and about how they are conserving the bat colony and surrounding area.

There's also several miles of hiking trails up and around the hills and draws. We took a seven mile hike one day, along Guindani wash, which we crossed many times on the trail. Really nice to be walking along a draw that actually has water in it!

 

On Wednesday night into Thursday, we had a snow storm. Yup! About 2" and down to 25°. In Sierra Vista, Ft. Huachuca was closed, as were schools. There is no snow clearing equipment at all here so just have to wait until it melts, which it did pretty quickly. This was the morning we had our cave tour. The cave is a steady 70° and 90% humidity so it was a big change from outdoors!

1 1/2-2"

Can't quite see the hills

 

 

 

 

 

 

By afternoon it was all gone

Apparently this is one of the coolest winters on record for southern AZ. Figures, we leave NY where it is a warm winter to come here. Oh well - we are still enjoying ourselves!

If you are ever near Benson, AZ, eat at Mi Casa! Tiny place with maybe 10 tables but great food for a great price and really amazing desserts. Yum!

Friday we took a drive to the Cochise Stronghold, in the Dragoon mountains, where Cochise led his band in winter and where he was able to hide out from Mexican and US soldiers for a while until he and his band were captured. It is a beautiful location with live oak, pinion and spruce trees, and a running stream, quite full from the recent snows.

We have a two more days here and then we move north of Phoenix to
Homolovi State Park and Hopi Territory. We are really hoping it will not be much colder than we are here but we shall see. 

Stats for Kartchner Caverns - 7 nights with water and electric is $233, so $33 a night. That's a lot for a state park. They do not give a discount for the Golden Age pass. Good bathrooms, sort of heated, nice hot shower. Nicely laid out park.