Well, here it is, the start of 2023. The year started off with heavy rain and high winds. Not my type of winter. We didn’t let the weather deter us from having an exciting and adventurous time.

As a late arriving Christmas gift, we received the warning sign for the motorhome. Copper, a small dachshund dog, wanted to play with Sarge in the worst way, but Sarge stuck to his guns and protected the motorhome. A warning was all that was needed and Copper slowly walked away. No one was hurt, it was just fun watching the 2 of them try to get along, or not. We also received a new carpet for the motorhome.

I was honored to be selected for a continuing partnership with Hammer Nutrition, ESI Grips and Stillwell Performance to support my bike riding and racing. Hammer Nutrition provides all the fuel I need for my crazy adventures. ESI Grips is a family owned business in Prescott, AZ and the grips are the most comfortable and grip-able that I have used, especially for the long distances. Cory at Stillwell Performance keeps the bike suspension working in tip top shape. And finally but definitely not least, Kevin, my trainer. He keeps me accountable at the dining table, in the gym and on the bike. If you’re looking for a coach/trainer who cares about his athlete’s performance and results more than his ego, Kevin is the guy. Let me know if you’d like to talk with him and I’ll get you hooked up.

As we started getting a little stir-crazy, we took a weekend trip to Northern Arizona. I had never been to Meteor Crater so that’s where we headed, sans the motorhome. We tried to make hotel reservations in Winslow only to find out that there was a high school wrestling tournament in town and all the big name hotels were booked. We found Earl’s Rt 66 Motor Court that was a throwback to the bustling Route 66 days. The room was small but cozy and clean. The couple that manage it, probably own it, were very friendly and we enjoyed our 1 night stay. The next morning, we couldn’t leave without ‘Standing On The Corner’ in Winslow AZ with a flatbed Ford. The truck was not being driven by a girl, it was just parked on the road. If you’ve listened to The Eagles you know.

Onward we drove until we reached Meteor Crater. The size of the hole is immense. The area is privately owned by a joint venture between the local ranch and a businessman. It was interesting to learn of the exploration of the crater and the original theories as to how it had been created.

Next stop was the Apache Death Cave at Two Guns. We tried to drive the old historic Rte 66 which is now a dirt road, but were turned back at a locked gate. Two Guns is now a ghost town with remnants of modern buildings but also stone enclosures and walls. Two Guns was part of an encampment during the building of the railroad through the area. The basic story is that the wrong size equipment was sent to the builders so they had to create a camp to wait for the delivery of the new, properly sized equipment.

The death cave is in a 30′ deep crevice. The story is that a marauding group of Apaches raided a Navajo encampment, killing all including women and children. A group of Navajo men were in the area to avenge the killing but couldn’t locate the Apache’s until they noticed heat and smoke coming from a crack in the walls of the crevice/canyon, a cave. The Navajo’s proceeded to block the entrance and burned the Apache’s, so the story goes. I clambered into the canyon to the cave entrance. I entered into the cave a short distance, but my headlight died and I wasn’t willing to venture more than about 2 feet. It was dark, the ceiling was about 3-4 ft high and about 10 ft across and I could only see about 20 ft into the cave. That was the part I could see. Who knows what lurked in the darkness. As the years have eroded the area, there was another hole in the ground on the eastern side of the cave entrance. Essentially there was a bridge between the 2 sections. The east section had a couple of poles that were lodged against the walls of the hole that could be used to work your way into the hole, and possibly work your way through to the original entrance. Not having the benefit of a rope, I wasn’t willing to test the rigidity of the poles as that was the only way to get in and out of the hole.

As we weren’t in any kind of a hurry, we stopped in Flagstaff for the night. When we woke up the next morning, there was over 12″ of snow in the parking lot and it was still snowing. My sister said she had over 2 ft of snow in her front yard in north Flagstaff. Fortunately we had a Jeep and we didn’t have any problems driving around. As we were getting ready to leave the hotel, a young man was shoveling snow in the parking lot driveway. I asked if he was an employee. He said “Nope, I just went and bought a shovel so I can get out of the parking lot”. I just shook my head and thought, you should have bought a Jeep……

Having lived in the Valley for over 40 years I had never visited the Superstition Mountain/Lost Dutchman Museum in Apache Junction. I’m always in awe of the ingenuity of the people of that era and their dedication to hard work. I wasn’t aware there were so many gold mines in the Superstitions until spending a couple of hours walking through this amazing place. They even have an actual working stamp mill and run it along with a demonstration of what it does and how it got to it’s present location.

After visiting 34 states and 11,000 miles last year, obviously the motorhome needed service before we embarked on our new travels. I scheduled the maintenance at Velocity Truck Center (Freightliner) and made sure they understood that we are full-timers and need the motorhome back the same day. We arrived at 7am on the scheduled day. We learned that in addition to the PM (Preventive Maintenance) there were some recalls as well. Nothing they couldn’t handle and it would be done by the end of the day. Valerie called me at 3pm as she was leaving for the day. She said it would be done and there was someone on site until 7pm for us to pick it up. We arrived at 5pm and the customer service guy said it should be done shortly. I sat in the waiting room for about 1/2 an hour when he came in and said the words you never want to hear, “I’ve got good news and bad news”. The good news was the PM was done. The bad news was that the tech had to wait for a part to be delivered the next morning to finish the recall. The tech had left for the day several hours prior without informing anyone. What to do now???!!! The customer service dude (I don’t remember his name) said not to worry. We could park the motorhome in an adjacent lot with electrical power for the night so we did. The motorhome was finished the next day.

January is the beginning of the mountain bike racing scene in Arizona. I competed in 2 races, the MBAA McDowell Meltdown and the MBAA Estrella Hedgehog Hustle. My finishing results weren’t the best and I didn’t set any PR’s (personal records). However Kevin kept reminding me that our training was still in it’s infancy and the change in training focus would take time to present itself. Be patient and trust the process he said. Oh well, racing is a great social event and competition can only make you better.

As we rolled into February we started looking forward to the next adventures. Who knew planning for a year long adventure could be so stressful. Teri had her ideas of where she wanted to go and things to do and I had mine. Yes, we cussed and discussed and as I write this, we still are not finalized. But that’s part of the adventure. Do we travel on Interstates or US highways or state highways? Each has it’s own benefits and drawbacks. Where and when are the bike races and where will we be? What do we want to see and who do we want to visit?

Our friend Joe Caldwell invited us to a couple of ASU basketball games as his guest. The games were exciting to watch and seeing all the people who knew Joe and his legacy was astounding. At the second game, we watched as Joe and Dick Van Arsdale hammed it up. Back in the day, Dick played with Joe for the Detroit Pistons and was a Phoenix Suns player. Then after retiring was the color man for the suns with Al McCoy. James Hardin and Eddie House (both ASU alumni and pro players) were in the house (no pun intended) as well.

A trip to Fountain Hills for the arts festival and to visit our friend Christy at her jewelry booth was a fun day. We took a couple of days to sit through some fun movies, Antman and the Wasp and Avatar in 3D.

One more trip for service on the motorhome to have a leaking tire fixed and have a steering stabilizer installed.

As the month came to an end we attended the Lost Dutchman Days rodeo. I can’t think of anything I’ve seen in recent years that has more patriotism than a rodeo. The event starts with the dramatic display of the flag, singing of the National Anthem and a prayer that encompassed all religions and faiths. It brings tears to your eyes. Every hat was off and everyone was standing. A very moving introduction to the event. The rodeo itself was quite entertaining as well. Why anyone would want to sit on a thousand pound angry bull or horse is beyond me. Take it from someone who rides a bicycle where no one should walk…… LOL.

As our time in AZ comes to an end and we jump into our lives as the dreaded Snow Birds, we reminisced over the last year and identified what we did right and what could be improved. The right list is shorter. We traveled short days, averaging about 6 hours of travel and about 200 miles per day. We didn’t get tired and we didn’t push it. We saw a lot of country and we weren’t bored. On the other hand, we pushed too fast. We did’nt stop to smell the proverbial roses. We didn’t stay long enough at the locale’s we visited. A day or 2 and then we were moving again. We didn’t have the opportunity to meet people in the parks or make new friends. We certainly tried to do too much too fast. We kept up with social media, but it was always historical. We missed out on visiting with friends or seeing sites. We would document where we had been and a friend would say, I’m 1 hour from there. However by the time they saw our post, we were a days drive away. There were also suggestions of things to see or do, but by the time we were informed, we were out of the area.

As we begin our travels next month, we’ll be more cognizant of identifying where we are headed so we have the opportunity to do more, but at the same time, we are committed to slowing down and spending more time in the important locale’s.

Thanks for traveling with us. If you have suggestions for the blog, let us know. Leave a comment here or FB or IG. We hope you’ve enjoyed our travels and we look forward to another exciting year.