This is not the South

When we last talked, we had left Phoenix where it was hot and about 1000' above sea level and were on our way towards Flagstaff where it was about 6000' asl and just a bit cooler.

Well, we certainly weren't going to stay anywhere near that cold mountain near Flagstaff so we kept traveling east until we found a great RV Park near Meteor Crater. Now if you need a refresher on the greatest meteor strike crater in the world, look up our blog from a few years ago where I covered it in length. No, I don't remember the exact blog, do some research already. It will be worth it.

See. We're a long ways from that cold mountain. This is just outside our RV Park and believe it or not, this road is Route 66 which brought visitors from the west to see that great wonder of the world, the Meteor Crater. We have been on Route 66 many times in our travels but honestly this is the first section that was not paved. Maybe not that many came to the Crater; who knows.

But the most excellent reason for stopping where we did was so we could spend some time in Winslow Arizona. Now if you don't know why that's so cool, shame on you! It's part of our cultural identity. Listen to the Eagles song and join the party.

It's all about a hot chick in a flatbed Ford; but I'm stating the obvious.

The song may be the main reason that Winslow is on the map but the La Posada Hotel has been here since the 30's. It's an historic hotel which has had famous stars from Rudolf Valentino to John Wayne to Harrison Ford stay here. That explains why the staff never fell all over themselves when we walked in; just more famous celebrities.

This is what a flower garden looks like in the desert. A few daffodils, a couple of stunted trees and lots of prairie grass. I can see why Hollywoods best would come here for quiet contemplation.

We couldn't wait any longer for someone famous to show up so it's down the road we go. After miles of flat boring desert the scenery started to change as we neared the New Mexico border.

First, we started to see some cliffs in interesting shapes and colours. 

Then we drove through lava fields that stretched on for miles. Now this is more interesting than sage brush and dead grass. 

Our next stop is just west of Albuquerque New Mexico. It's along Route 66 and has an authentic garage that was used way back when. This is the RV parks work shed now, the office was a bit more modern.

It's a nice park along the old Route 66 and has nice atmosphere. And right next door is a Camping World store where we went and picked up a few necessities.

The park has about 8 old trailers from the 50's era. They've been restored and set up on their own sites in the park. Each of them can be rented so you can get an original camping experience. All the fixtures and interiors are original. You can't take the old Hudson for a drive though.

We're in the back, parked in line with a couple of those cool trailers. I've never seen old trailers like these that you could rent for a night or so. A neat idea. The owners have the office and club house full of antiques and collectibles from the 50's, focussing on Route 66 mainly. Even the laundry room has old wringer washers and washing items. Grammy had no interest in using the scrub board.

Here is a bigger trailer for rent with another Hudson. Time to head out; I'm glad I'm leaving in Harvey and not one of these 50's trailer. We like our modern amenities too much.

Time to Leave the South behind

Well, our relaxing winter in Hemet is coming to an end. We have kept only as busy as we wanted to and apparently we didn't want to too much. I golfed a lot and Grammie did a lot of Swedish Weaving. At least she had something to show for her efforts.

We went for a few drives; here we managed to go high enough in the mountains to hit snow. We still don't miss it!

I usually go for an early walk; us older folk don't sleep in much anymore. So I get to see lots of sunrises, like this one. 

There are a few abandoned units here. People can't pay the fees and just leave their unit like this one. It was damaged in a Santa Anna wind storm we had a couple of months ago and the people just disappeared a few days later. The park can't do anything with it until legal process is followed which can take months. In the meantime it's an eye sore.

Although not as bad as this one. They were evicted due to non payment of site fees but the park still must wait months before touching it in case they come back with the back payments. Thank goodness there are some lovely rigs, like Harvey, that offset these eyesores.

But it's time to head toward home and our first stop after a 6 hour drive is just west of Phoenix in Buckeye AZ. I do love the architectural style down here.

Finally we are set up for the next few days. Having stayed in Hemet for a few months, we're out of practice and our setup routine took longer than usual but we'll speed up.

A walk around the park brought us to this happy hour setup. Now these guys know how to set up, no folding lawn chairs here. If you can't read the sign on the Tiki bar it says "Tiki Bar Open We serve whatever you bring". I like it!

If you've been following our blog, you know that we like to visit State Capital buildings whenever we get the chance. So who knew that Arizona's state capitol was in Phoenix, just a harrowing hours drive from our relaxing RV resort. Interestingly, the building is mostly museum and the actual government offices have been moved to buildings around the capitol building, kinda like school portables only more substantial. 

In front of the capitol buildings is a park dedicated mainly to the ships of the second world war.

You may recall that the U.S. entered WW2 after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour and sank a number of ships. Now which ship had the most loss of lives and couldn't be salvaged? What state are we in? (and not confusion) Come on you didn't know. You read the name on the anchor. This is the memorial to the states namesake, the USS Arizona.

These 2 big 16" guns are from the Arizona and the Missouri. One sank to start the war and the other was the site of Japan signing the surrender. Those bent things are stands holding stainless name plates of every person who died during the attack on Pearl Harbour. The flag pole behind them is the actual signal mast retrieved from the Arizona. A somber reminder of lives lost.

One of the constants of our travels is that we must keep traveling. Our route home is along a trail we have scouted before so there may not be much new to report but I'll try to keep it interesting. Leaving Phoenix, we climb about 6000' as we leave the lower desert behind and approach Flagstaff. And so ends our first posting on our return home blog. Stay tuned, who knows what zany antics we may be up to in the next few days.