Arizona

Images of Arizona have always been brilliant sunshine, super hot days and beautiful cacti filled landscape. I guess that was because they only made the western movies in the summer time.

We woke to the sound of coyotes howling in the hills, chilly temperatures and rain. We got on the road and headed to the Petrified Forest. By the time we arrived here the rain had turned to snow and it was cold. The wind chill factor was very low. Woolly hats, gloves and jackets had to be worn – and that was in the camper!!

The Petrified Forest national park was having its 101st birthday the day we arrived so we got to sign the birthday card and received two free posters but no birthday cake or hot toddy.

We were stunned by the beauty of the Petrified Forest. The colours of the logs were amazing as was the size of some of them. We did a couple of the walking trails before the rain/snow put paid to that. The last little stop we made was to have a look at the Agate Bridge. This is a huge petrified log that water had washed the sandstone out from underneath, forming a bridge over a small canyon. In the early 1900’s they tried to preserve it by giving it some extra support by putting a concrete beam underneath it which seems to have worked.

The national Park is very concerned with the amount of wood being stolen from the park and random vehicle searches are done as you leave. They estimate that over one ton of stone disappears each month.

Just when you think you can’t possibly see anything more spectacular you arrive in the Painted Desert. By now the snow was really starting to fall and the wind was icy cold so Marty decided he would look from the van but I ventured out at each viewpoint. The last viewpoint did see Marty get out and take in the full beauty of the landscape. Words (well not mine anyway) can’t begin to describe the beauty of it. If anyone ever comes to Arizona this has to be a destination.

We carried on up the I40 and parked up in Wal Mart in Flagstaff and the snow was really starting to fall. I thought it was great and was really enjoying prancing around outside with the snowflakes falling all over me. Marty didn’t share my enthusiasm one little bit. What a party pooper.

The temperature in the van dropped overnight to the very low 20’s. (That is F not C). Marty was freezing and not a happy camper at all. My menopausal hot flushes were doing their job nicely and I wasn’t suffering near as much. It was very lucky that I had put water in the kettle the night before as our water tank had frozen solid. No way that we were getting anything out of there. We had breaky and made a start for the Grand Canyon. The van started first pop and we were off. About 5 minutes later we were stopped on the side of the road and not going anywhere. While Marty was on the phone to AAA (thank goodness we had joined) a police car, lights flashing pulled up behind us. When I told him we had broken down and were on the phone to AAA he said he would just sit behind and wait till the tow truck came. Nothing like having a police escort I guess. When I told him a few minutes later that the AAA was an hour away he decided he’d only stay a few m ore minutes and then be off. An hour later another police car arrives so we have to explain everything again. He told us to put our hazards on and if the AAA hadn’t arrived within the next hour he would try and arrange for some other tow firm to remove us from the roadside. The AAA had been having a very busy night. It was a comforting sight to see the rear view of the truck in front of us. Luckily it turned out to be nothing serious. Turns out the old girl doesn’t like this cold weather any more than her driver and decided she would put in a protest by upsetting the delicate balance of her choke and air cleaner. At least no major mechanical work was required and we were eventually on our way.

A decision had to be made re our venture up into the Grand Canyon, and a couple of the other national parks in the area. The weather forecast was not good with warnings of at least three more snow storms due to hit. It was a hard decision on my part but common sense had to prevail and I would have found it rather hard to sit and watch Marty trying to mend broken water pipes without feeling a twinge of guilt, so we decided to call it quits and head back to California. Beaten by the weather our big trip had come to an end. It seemed such an anti climax but we have already decided we will come back and spend a couple of months finishing of the trip maybe next August/September.

We spent the night in a little camp just out of Needles and then made the 400 mile trip to Creston the next day. No mean feat at an average speed of about 40mph. It took is just under 9hrs only stopping for gas. Traveling through the Mojave Desert, which took quite a few hours, was quite something with the terrain changing depending on the altitude. It was never boring and quite beautiful. We of course had more time to enjoy it than the other motorists as they were all traveling at or above the 75mph speed limit and had no time whatsoever to enjoy it.

We stayed in Creston (snow on the road in) a couple ofdays with our friend Marty D, tidying up the camper and trailer then headed up to Salinas to spend a couple of days with my sister and her family. We rode up the Big Sur. What a great ride that is. Came home the same way stopping at Hearst castle to see what money can buy. Pretty impressive sort of place. As you can see I was quite taken with the pools.
We spent another couple of days with Marty as the weather had turned to custard and I was too whimpy to ride the bike down to LA in the rain. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary by going out to dinner with Marty D. The waitress was got so excited when she saw the two Marty's that she tipped Marty D's salmon dinner all over my Marty's trou. We got very good service after that plus free dessert. There was so much food that we took doggy bags home and Marty D was able to have a celebratory "Got rid of the kiwi's"dinner after we left.

Yesterday weather conditions had improved so we set off. This was my first long ride on the bike since we have been her. The 101 wasn't too bad and the 405 was only hairy the two miles either side of LAX so only a coffee and a nice hot bath were needed when we arrived back at Westminster. Now the fun starts. Unpacking, cleaning and selling the old girl who has done us proud for the last 9 month's and over 16,000 miles. (we did 12,000 miles on the bike)





This will be our last blog so we hope you have enjoyed following our travels. We have meet some lovely people seen some amazing things and stunning scenery. It has been a wonderful journey but now we must go home and start planning the return visit.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and we will see you all when we return back to a lovely warm NZ climate in early January.