Trytokeepup.blog

As we started planning our summer adventure it seemed odd to see snow falling on the mountains around the valley. The Superstitions, 4 Peaks and McDowells all had layers of white stuff. It gave pause to wonder what the rest of the world would look like as we left the Phoenix area. We are spoiled and tend to forget the weather in other parts of the state and country. We also had heavy rain on the first day of the month and mid month.

We had decided we wanted to learn to fly fish so we found a class at the AZ Fly Fishing shop in Phoenix. A day long event where we learned to tie knots, were schooled on gear, the different types of flies, and then we went to a park to learn and practice casting. The instructors make it look so easy and effortless. I hope I can be half as good as they are….

After one of my previous races, Teri decided I wasn’t training hard enough so we had ordered a single speed custom built bike from Kaolin at the Flat Tire Bike Shop in Cave Creek. I picked it up a week before our travel day. As of this writing, I’ve only had 2 good rides on it. It is different from my full suspension geared bike. It’s going to be fun.

Of course no trip can be taken without maintenance on the vehicles. We took the motorhome to Roberts Tires to have the tires rotated and to identify a leak on one of the rear duals. I have a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) on the tires and one of the sensors had continually identified a low tire (outside passenger dual). I had checked the tire regularly with an air gauge and it always read properly filled. For grins I decided to check the inner dual. Guess what!!?? The sensor was on the wrong tire. Roberts fixed the leak and we were ready. A few final Dr. appts, get the motorhome washed and we were ready. We couldn’t leave without a final meal with my daughters, grandkids and friends. We met Nichole, Landon, Cooper, Melanie, Tom, Kennedy and Brooke for dinner at The Thirsty Lion and had a great visit. We had breakfast with Joe and Richard as well during the week prior to leaving. We always have a great visit with everyone when we get the opportunity.

The Cactus Cup mtb race was the final race for me in the valley. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked in my placing or my finish times. My coach Kevin had to remind me we had changed my training program and he knew my expectations were too high, but he didn’t say anything so as to not deflate my balloon. After much discussion, I felt better as I had fulfilled the underlying goals. Hammer Nutrition has always been a big sponsor of this race. Had the opportunity to meet with some other Hammer sponsored riders as well. Cory is always a kick in the pants and we love hanging out with him. He does a great job keeping the bike suspension in tip top working condition as well. Stillwell Suspension is the name of the shop in Scottsdale. stillwellperformance.com

As soon as the race was over, I hit the road to TX. We had offered to let my grandson, Damian, “protect” Teri’s jeep while we were traveling. He readily accepted our offer. So, I left Apache Junction on Sunday afternoon and drove 1200 miles to Harlingen, TX arriving on Tue morning. I spent several hours with Damian and my granddaughter, Mia while teaching Damian about the jeep. It is the first vehicle he has ever ‘owned’ and he has never been exposed to a diesel vehicle, so there was a slight learning curve. When we were done, they drove me to the airport and I flew home arriving late Tuesday night. Wednesday was spent getting everything ready to say goodbye to AZ.

We were on the road on Thursday, March 16 headed to Lake Havasu for an MTB race. Sarge had to say goodbye to Riley, the other cat in the RV park. In the race I did much better and had a fun race. The race was a bit different than others. I went out hard and hit the single track in 3rd. 1st was gone, not to be caught. 2nd slowly pulled away and I couldn’t hang with him. Jeff sat on my wheel until about mile 5 when he pulled around. He finished 3rd. I was too hot going into a corner and had to slow and was passed. At the top of a long climb, I stalled and the chain fell off. Got passed again, now I’m sitting in 6th. A mile later I caught #5 and I’m back in 5th. As I started the 2nd lap, I could see 4th in front of me about 30 seconds ahead. I was able to catch him several minutes later. We fist bumped as I passed and we encouraged each other. In a steep climb, I stalled again and he rode past me. At the 18 mile mark of a 20 mile race, I was able to catch and pass him again and that’s how it ended. I finished in 4th. It was fun chasing and trading places with John. That’s how racing should be. We had a chance to visit with a lot of people and Teri was talking about riding, racing, and our adventures past and future. We allow Sarge to wander around the campsite and monitor him through an Apple AirTag. Surprisingly he stayed very close to the motorhome and didn’t roam as far as he has been known to. We asked him about this but all he said was ‘meow’.

We took a drive to the Bill Williams Wildlife refuge to do some fishing. We stepped onto a dock and began setting up our gear. As we were using fly gear, we would need some extra room for casting. As we were preparing to cast, some guy came onto the deck and set up about 10 ft from us paying no mind whatsoever to us. Some people are just ignorant and rude. We packed up our gear and went to another area. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong and impeded any casting so we headed back to the car. As we were packing up, a gentleman about our age approached and asked some questions about the area. He had a strong european accent. It turns out, Chris is from Germany but has been living in Canada. He was traveling in a cab over camper and pickup around the country. We shared some stories, showed him some of our travel apps and had a nice visit. It was a good thing, because the highway had a backup that lasted about 2 hours due to a near head-on crash. Fortunately there were no serious injuries according to the officer I spoke with.

As we left Havasu and headed north towards I-40 and Kingman, it was windy with the winds from the south that had us struggling. It required concentration but wasn’t scary. As we rolled through Williams there were several feet of snow to the sides of the interstate and ADOT had not even bothered to clear the drives into the rest areas. The depressions along the interstate were full of water which I have not seen in a long time. Our destination was Cottonwood for another mtb race.

We rolled into the Verde Valley Fairgrounds and set up camp. We only had electric service but there was a water fill station and a dump station available. It rained the first night there (Sunday) and the dirt grounds became saturated and muddy. Teri started doing laundry and after 4 days we had to dump the gray tank and fill the fresh water. It rained again on Monday and Tuesday all day and night. You can imagine what the mud holes looked like now. The winds were 20 mph and fortunately we didn’t have any problems. We took a drive into Prescott Valley on Monday for fun and Teri was looking for an Espresso coffee maker. Apparently no one drinks espresso any more because we couldn’t find one in the 3 stores we checked. On the way back to Cottonwood we stopped off in Jerome and had lunch at the Haunted Hamburger. The food was delicious. You have to try it. On Tuesday we went back to Jerome in the rain to check out the various stores. The folks in Jerome are very friendly and enjoy showing off their wares. As we drove north into Jerome, we could see the clouds coming down off Mingus Mt. that just enveloped the town. I am always mesmerized by the sight of roads that just cling to the side of a mountain. That afternoon we drove to the Verde River to see about fishing. The river was in flood stage with the brown water cascading through the river banks. Too high and too muddy to fish.

Wednesday we drove to Deadhorse State Park to try our hand at fishing in 1 of the 3 ponds in the park. As we were doing our best, a man who had been fishing to our left, called over and asked if we’d like some help. Of course we accepted. He spent about 15 minutes giving us casting pointers. He had such an easy cast, I can’t believe I’ll ever be able to match that. After he left, we were still practicing our casting when a man walked up from my right and said ‘you’re back casting too far’. We talked for about 30 minutes. His name was Randy and he works as a guide in Wyoming in the summer. He left, we practiced some more and called it a day. Still no fish. Thursday I took the single speed out to pre ride the 1st half of the race course. That was a tough ride. As I finished, the RV repair guys had shown up at the motorhome. They were early and they were there to make adjustments to the awning. The awning was hitting the slide out when the awning was being retracted. They spent about an hour and had it fixed. We highly recommend Currier Master Mobile RV repair. Friday I went out on the full suspension bike and pre rode the 2nd half of the race course. Afterwards we drove into old town historic Cottonwood and braved the wind and rain.

Race Day, Verde Valley Rally, Hurty30 was a 30 mile race. Some brave souls opted for the 40 mile version. The course is tough with steep climbing and descending, rocky ledges to climb and drop off. Chloe Woodruff was the only person racing who I knew. We chatted pre race. She was doing the 40 mile option. Cory Stem was announcing and he is always a character. At race registration, there were no age categories listed or to select, so I figured it was an open category. Chloe passed me at my 20 mile mark and she finished 1st in her category. As I finished the race, I was physically and emotionally drained. I had beat my goal by 10 minutes. After calming down, I had to go to the bathroom. As I exited, Teri is yelling at me “They called you for podium, get over there”. What??!! I arrived at the podium just in time for photos and received my 2nd place bottle of wine donated by Confluence918 winery. I was ecstatic and pleasantly surprised. As we sat to eat we were in a conversation with Erik and his wife from Henderson, NV. Then it was time to leave. We walked to the car and Teri says ‘Guess what I just did’?! I said ‘No you didn’t’ and she just nodded her head. I said ‘How could you lock both sets of keys in the Jeep???!!!!!!!’ I slammed the window in frustration thinking of the various ways we could get in, including breaking a window. Then Teri said ‘the Jeep app!” Oh yeah. The app allowed us to unlock the jeep with our phones. We were good to go.

A quick stop in Apache Junction to pick up last minute mail and we were headed for New Mexico. Why? Another race, of course. Tim and Monica’s dog Tito didn’t want us to leave.

Our first stop in NM was in Silver City. As you drive north into the city you can see the huge open pit mine that gives the city it’s name. Silver, copper, gold and other minerals are all being pulled from the ground. The size of the operation is astounding. We had arrived a day earlier than planned at the Manzano’s RV park and our space was not available. They did have a boondocking (no hookups) space available and we parked there for the night. The next day we moved into our space (#15) for 2 days and then had to move to space #22 for the remainder of our stay. Not a huge inconvenience and the folks were extremely friendly. We took a drive into the city and walked the downtown area. The buildings are old and historic and has a very ‘home town’ feel. A quick stop in the Visitor’s Center to gather some information and marvel at the murals painted on the walls of the Center and we were on our way. There is a metal arch announcing the entry into Silver City. As you cross under the arch, you immediately see a huge ditch with water running through it. This is called The Ditch. When Silver City was originally founded, The Ditch was Main Street. The founders failed to realize that their Main Street was also the main channel for flooding waters. The Ditch is now 20 ft deep and and has walking paths along it. Obviously Main Street was moved. The majority of the streets in the historic area are narrow and are designated as One Way. The Ice Cream shops boast homemade ice cream and they are fantastic. The Ice Cream Emporium boasts 36 flavors of homemade ice cream. The interior is designed as a gathering place with several tables for sitting, table sized checker boards, air hockey and other games. The Army/Navy store is as authentic as you can find. It reminded me of the Surplus store in Mesa many years ago. High Desert Pies is a pizzeria with some excellent food with a view of the street from 2 stories up. It was a nice relaxing place.

We took a drive out to Whitewater Canyon to view the Catwalk. This was the location of a mining operation long, long ago. The catwalk has since been reconstructed but is still in the original location. The catwalk was used to hold a pipeline that carried water from the canyon down to the mouth of the canyon to provide power for the mill and drinking water for the workers. The miners would have to traverse the catwalk with nimble feet less they fall into the gorge with the roaring waters. As you walk along the concrete and steel catwalk, you can still see remnants of the original catwalk with steel cables attached to rings that are pounded into the rock walls. While eating lunch we fell into a conversation with Chris. He is a nomad from CA who is living in his Sprinter van. He was a life guard, a life guard instructor, a CHP officer and then moved into Search & Rescue over the course of his life. He had ‘Covid hair’ as he called it. It was silver as he is a couple of years older than me, braided and landed at the middle of his back. He loved to talk and said that was from his time of solitude during Covid.

A drive up to Bear Canyon Lake to try our hand at fishing was another day of casting practice. We stumbled across a huge waterfall on the drive there that isn’t marked on any maps or road signs. When we finished casting practice, we were packing up our gear. There was a family packing up their boat and gear as well. As the man approached, he asked ‘Are you Law Enforcement’? I said yes and asked how he figured that. He said “The Oakley’s and the decal on the jeep”. I live in my Oakley sunglasses. I have a full sized window decal of the Thin Blue Line flag on the rear side windows of the jeep. I asked ‘You too”? He said yes. His name was Javier and he is LEO for the Forest Service, just promoted to Investigator (detective) and assigned to the Silver City area. We wished him and his family well in his next 10 years to retirement.

We took a drive out to the City of Rocks State Park to visit with the Flintstones and Rubbles. Unfortunately they were out so we just toured the City. These are rock formations that have been carved by water and wind providing paths through the towering rock skyscrapers. Some very interesting formations were seen. Some formations you wonder how they ever got that way, especially the round rock boulder that is balancing on top of 3 smaller rocks.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that we were there for a race. We went to the Historic Ft Bayard area for a preview. Ft Bayard was once a Ft used to protect the Buffalo Soldiers and later brought back into service for WWII. The buildings are all still standing, however most have been boarded up. One of the larger buildings has been remolded into a museum and visitor center. There is also a tour available with numbered stops throughout the fort and descriptive narrative signs. The parade ground was to be used as the main venue and parking and camping. The fort also has its own Fire Department and the Forest Service uses some of the property for their operations as well. At the entrance to the fort is the Forgotten Veterans Memorial at Bataan Memorial Park. A fitting tribute.

Next up was the race, but’s for the next chapter. Thanks for riding along with us on our adventures. We hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave any comments. See you next month.

John & Teri

The month of April started with a bang, the bang of the starter’s pistol to start the Tommy Knocker 10, a 10 hour mtb race in Silver City, NM. The race course was a 13 mile loop that traversed the hills surrounding Ft Bayard. In those 13 miles were about 10 water crossings. They weren’t deep, the deepest maybe about 2-3 inches deep but the splash sure affected the drivetrain. After about 5-6 crossings the chain would be creaking and groaning, crying out “why are you doing this to me”? I finished 6 laps for a total of 74 miles. Don’t try to do the math. The first lap was a shortened parade lap around the venue to stretch the field out. The elevation was a killer and by the last lap, I was barely turning pedals but I finished. I finished in 11th of 22 in my age group. I considered that respectable.

We stayed at the Manzanos RV Park. The owners were extremely friendly and accommodating. We arrived a night early but they graciously met us at the main gate and led us to a boondocking space. The next morning we moved to our site. There was plenty of room and we had a view of the sun rising. After 2 days, we had to move to a different site as ours was reserved. We knew we would have to move before we arrived, so it was not a surprise. The 2nd site had a westerly view that sat on a ridge that gave us a wonderful view of the Silver City valley and the sunset.

We took a walk through downtown Silver City and admired all the old, original buildings on the main street. This was a rebuilt main street as the Main Street was now referred to as The Big Ditch. When the town was first founded, they established Main Street without realizing it was a river path. After rebuilding subsequent to the numerous washouts, main street was moved. There were large murals on the sides of buildings and an artist was in the process of painting one of them as we toured. Ft Bayard was also the site of the Bataan Memorial and the Forgotten Soldiers memorial. Ft Bayard was originally built for protection of the Buffalo Soldiers and then decommissioned. It was recommissioned for WWII and later decommissioned again and is now an historical site.

We toured much of the area to include Mimbres, the Catwalk and Lake Roberts. Mimbres is a small community with many small homes and a lot of agriculture. As we drove through Mimbres, we rounded a curve and were greeted with an unmarked waterfall. It was about 20 feet high and water just poured over the edge. The Catwalk is a landmark from a mining community from years past. The Catwalk received it’s name as the pipeline that was run from the canyon downstream to the mining mill and the community was built on a raised platform above the river. The miners had to walk like cats on the boards to work their way around the operations. The CCC and other federal agencies have since rebuilt the walkway for visitors but you can still see the remains of the original equipment (spikes, cables, etc) pounded into the rocks. The river roars through the narrow canyon 5-10 ft beneath your feet as you walk back into the canyon. We met Chris while we were eating lunch. He was an interesting fellow. He was our age and told us his life story beginning with being a lifeguard in San Diego as a teenager. He spent a lot of his adult life in Search & Rescue in CA.

We wanted a fishing day. The drive to Lake Roberts was something else. Steep climbs, tight corners and a narrow road with no center line or shoulders. There is no way the motorhome would have navigated the corners. We threw our fishing lines in the water with no results, just more casting practice. As we were preparing to leave a family was also packing up the kids and loading the boat. As the husband/father ushered his kids to the bathroom, he looked at me and asked “LEO”? (Law Enforcement Officer). I said ‘Yes, you’? He said yes. I asked how he knew. He said “The Oakleys and the window decal”. He was referring to my Oakley sunglasses and the Thin Blue Line decal I have on the back windows of the jeep. Javier is an LEO of 16 years with the Forest Service recently promoted to Investigator. We wished each other well and safe travels.

A day drive to the City of Rocks was also on the agenda. Our plan was to stop and say hi to Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Barney and Wilma Rubble, but they weren’t available. We did have a wonderful hike through all the rock formations. The sights Mother Nature has created for us are amazing.

The night we were preparing to leave we checked the weather report as we try to do each day before traveling. Winds were predicted at 30-40 mph with gusts to 70 mph. We extended our stay for 1 more day.

The next day we rolled into Las Cruces. On the way there we saw an 18 wheeler that had overturned in the median, presumably from the winds the day before and the crews were still trying to upright it. We felt this strongly supported our decision to delay our travel by a day. We rolled into the Las Cruces KOA that afternoon. The campground sits on a hill on the west side of the city. We had a pull in space where the front of the motorhome sat right up against a block retaining wall with a view of the entire Las Cruces valley. We spent a day strolling through Las Cruces and ended up in Old Mesilla. An old, historic town with some amazing shops and food. The mexican lunch was delicious.

Our next stop was Carlsbad. Our primary reason to be there was to visit Carlsbad Caverns. But first we did a tour of the city. We drove to the Lake Carlsbad Beach Park which is a city park on the edge of a reservoir which allows boating, fishing and even has a swimming area. We found the town to be very industrialized and commercial. The downtown is very congested as the main US highways travel through the downtown area. Lots of cars, trucks and semi-trucks fill the streets. Our park seemed to be filled mostly with long term residents, many who work in the oil fields. PU trucks and work trucks left in the morning and returned at night. We didn’t see anyone lounging on their front porches or walking the park streets. Everyone really kept to themselves. We noticed that the air had a dirty smell to it, an oily smell. Little did we realize the impact the oil industry has on the area with huge oil fields. There are also potash mines in the area. Throughout our travels we have found ingenious ways to stay in shape through walking, hiking, bike riding and strength training using TRX straps, bosu ball, stability ball, dumbbells and try to have fun doing it.

We found a fishing hole called Higby Hole. When we first stopped, there were 2 men fishing, one who’s name was Jimmy. They both grew up in the area and proceeded to tell us of the changes they’ve seen and not all for the good. Later we stopped back to fish. We didn’t catch anything but had a good laugh. We heard splashing in the water beneath tree branches that had fallen into the pond. We thought it was a fish. We tried for about 30 minutes to free it or at least see if there was anything there. We didn’t find anything and the splashing had stopped. As I attempted to cast my line, the fly caught in a bush behind me. As I bent down to lay my pole on the ground, I heard a slap of a hard case hitting rock. I looked down to see my box of flies bouncing off the rocks and into the water. I had forgotten to zip up the pocket of the vest where I keep the fly box. I watched it hit the water, out of arms reach so I grabbed the fishing net from the back of my vest and snared the box without falling in or getting wet. A short time later as we were packing up, Teri asked if I had her car keys. I said I had seen them where I laid my hat when we were attempting to release the apparent fish. We searched for 15 minutes looking everywhere we had been for the damn keys. As we were giving up, I starting laughing and pointed to her waist. There, hanging from a belt loop were the keys. As we look back we laugh at all this.

We took a drive to Sitting Bull Falls park to see the waterfall and have lunch at the picnic area. The Falls were dry and the picnic area was full of people with nowhere to park. So much for that hour long drive. However we saw some amazing scenery. As you drive along all you see is flat land with some rolling hills. As you make a turn between the hills, you find yourself in a canyon with the walls gradually climbing higher and higher above you. It really is amazing.

Yes, we did a tour of the Carlsbad Caverns. We have toured many caverns and caves throughout the country in the past year. This one is amazing and probably the most amazing of all the caves we’ve seen. A mile long hike into the cavern or you can take the elevator down 700 ft. Of course we walked the path down into the Cavern maneuvering around the switchbacks as we wound our way into the blackness. Once you reached the bottom, it is a scene from a Star Wars tavern. The cavern opens up about 100 yards wide by 50 yards deep and a ceiling of 10 feet. There is electricity, running water, a snack bar and modern toilets in this natural opening of the mountain. After a short snack we continued through the cavern for another 1.5 miles around the big cave. The sights are breathtaking. We then boarded a 15 passenger elevator after standing in line for about 20 minutes for the ride to the surface. It is truly an adventure to take in.

From here we traveled to Farmington through the historic towns of Lincoln and Capitan. These were very small towns with the highway flowing through the middle among historic buildings. We didn’t stop, although we probably should have. We spent one night at the Socorro Rodeo Grounds. They have an RV park with electricity, water and sewer and few other amenities. But it served our purpose well as it was inexpensive and easy access.

I have mentioned before the challenges we face when we are identifying the things we want to do, places we want to visit, where we want to park the rig, etc. This was no different, but we always work it out without yelling, hitting, biting, screaming, etc. Mostly. Just kidding.

Upon our arrival in Farmington, we met up with Shaun, Shorell and Kimori. Kimori had a ballet recital which we attended and were quite impressed with her performance. We all had dinner prior to the recital. Shaun and I were able to get in a bike ride, one of my first on the single speed. He put me to shame as he rides SS on a regular basis. We spent one day driving to Durango where we met up with Mikel and Steve and had a nice lunch. Mikel was my Chief at the college until he retired and Steve was a Commander at Mesa Community College while I was a Commander at GateWay Community College until he retired a couple of years ago. We had a great visit.

One of our scheduled and anticipated activities was a guided fishing trip on the San Juan River. We sailed with Conner McIntyre who contracts with Fisheads San Juan River Lodge. We arrived early and had a home cooked meal in the restaurant and Connor arrived precisely on time. Originally we had signed up for a wading trip where we would be able to wade out into the river to fish. Connor had called us the day before and suggested a float trip instead due to the amount of water in the river from snow runoff and said we would have a better adventure. We took his advice. We drove to the landing site where he put the boat in the river. We were surprised to see about 5 boats in the area and about 10 folks fishing in waders. Connor set up our lines and we cast off. As we passed each boat Connor and the guide in the other boat would acknowledge each other and share information. As we started at the upper end, Teri and I both fished off the right side of the boat while Connor expertly maneuvered the boat along the river. I had a bite but couldn’t land it. Conner patiently explained what I needed to do differently when fly fishing rather than bait casting. 2 more bites that I couldn’t land and then Teri caught our first fish. I have never seen trout that big in person in the wild. After a few minutes of fighting, Connor was able to snare the fish in the net and haul it in the boat for a photo opportunity. Then the fish went back in the river. This area of the San Juan below the Navajo Dam is a catch and release only area. Teri caught a few more before I landed my first and only. I did have 1 that jumped off the line before we could get it in the boat. Teri caught 6 but she says I caught the biggest. It took about 5 minutes of fighting to get it landed. What a rush. During the day, Connor was super patient with us as he untangled lines, changed flies, netted fish, paddled and searched for the perfect fishing spot. We felt like such amateurs and yet through it all he kept a friendly, patient attitude even when I made a stupid move which tangled lines badly. He stayed calm and kept us in the game. We finished floating to the exit point where he provided us with a fried chicken lunch and then we drove the boat back to the starting point where we fished for a little more. Then the day was done and we headed back to the lodge. What a great day and we are so thankful to Connor for his patience, expertise and knowledge.

We had planned to do the Chama to Toltec train ride while we were there but found out after our arrival they don’t start running the train until May due to weather.

From there we dropped into Santa Fe. We walked the downtown plaza area but didn’t spend a lot of time as we have been here several times before. However we found other things to do. We have never been on a white water rafting trip, so guess what we did?! As it was just the 2 of us, Los Rios River Runners set us up with some other people. We arrived at the Rio Grande Gorge Visitor Center about 15 minutes before our scheduled arrival time. The Visitor Center was still closed. As we stood around another car pulled in with a couple in it. As they parked near us, they looked around questioningly. We asked if they were there for the rafting trip. They were. They were Don and Lisa from MA. They were in the west to meet up with family and sightsee. As we waited for our trip guide we were becoming increasingly concerned we were at the wrong location. The instructions said if you were late, they would leave without you. We decided to check another area so we got into our cars and drove a short distance. I saw a sign on an older building that advertised rafting trips. We stopped and I entered the store. The owner confirmed that we were indeed at the right location. The guide had called and said they were having technical problems and were running late. We returned to the Visitor Center and waited. Joel arrived a short time later driving a van and towing an inflatable rubber boat. Joel drove us to the river where we unloaded the boat and he proceeded to provide us with a safety briefing. He explained how to hook your feet under the bolsters that are like seats in the boat. He said to not seat on the bolsters and they would act like a trampoline and pitch you into the water. He said there were few rules, but there were 3 that we needed to know. Rule 1: Stay in the boat. Rule 2: Stay in the boat. Rule 3: Stay in the boat. He then explained how to paddle as we would be active participants and not just riders on this adventure. After this safety briefing we loaded up. Don and I sat in the front on either side of the boat, Teri and Lisa directly behind us and Joel was at the rear in the middle. As we slowly drifted into the river, Joel gave us rowing instructions. All Forward meant we all rowed. Sometimes that was said with a number which represented the number of strokes such as Forward 3. We each paddled forward 3 times in unison. The in unison was an important part. Left forward meant the folks on the left side paddled forward. Backward was just that. You get the idea. Soon we were rolling up to a series of small swells, class 2 rapids where we got our first taste of rocking water as well as looking up at the looming rock walls of the canyon that were several feet high. We felt so inconsequential. We passed the initial test and continued floating down the river. Joel kept up a continuous commentary on the history of the area, identified various landmarks and answered all our questions. Joel explained this was his first trip of the season so he wasn’t sure what water conditions we would encounter. He said we would definitely see some class 2 and 3 rapids. We paddled and floated for about 2 hours, then took a break for lunch. Remember the older building that advertised raft trips, well they were a restaurant as well. We had an authentic Mexican lunch on Los Rios River Runners. From there we headed back to the boat for another 3 hours of river running. The class 3’s were swells of 3-5 ft that were higher than the sides of the boat. When we dropped into the trough, I could feel the rubber hull bend and then straighten under my feet as we crested the trough. Of course, we had to paddle through each of these troughs and over the swells or we would capsize. No chance to take photos of the FUN stuff. We got sprayed as we dropped into the trough and we got wet. Our feet were sitting in water, our clothes were wet and we had grins from ear to ear that wouldn’t quit. We crossed under a low hanging bridge. We felt we had to duck to not hit our heads. The bridge led from the road over the river to a piece of land that had been terraced and looked like it could have been a garden or winery. Joel told a story of the Bikers and Hippies wars of the 70’s that occurred at this site. The story was that the Hippies were growing weed and the bikers wanted a part of it. The Hippies had always declined any offer of ‘help’ from the bikers. So one day the bikers showed up in a show of force to take over the Hippie commune. Unknown to the bikers, the Hippies had hired several Viet Nam vets to protect them. After a gun battle, the bikers left with empty hands. (Teri and I were unable to verify the story through internet searches, but the story sounded good either way). The largest of the rapids were the last of the trip prior to leaving the river. It was also the longest. No time to rest, just paddle, refer to Rule 1 and have fun. When it was over and the water was calm, it was almost disappointing. We said good bye to everyone and agreed to stay in touch with Don and Lisa. We had purchased a waterproof disposable camera, as suggested by Los Rios River Runners, but unfortunately is was 35mm film, not digital, from WalMart. First of all, the photos do not do justice to the turmoil of the river and the rapids. Secondly, I couldn’t photograph and paddle at the same time in the rapids. Thirdly, it takes almost 2 weeks for WalMart to get the film developed and they did not have a process to provide it digitally. Fourthly (?) we weren’t going to be in the area long enough to get the photos returned. I lost count as to where I was in the count, anyway we decided to wait until we could find a store that could develop the film and provide it to us digitally. We finally got it done in Denver a couple of weeks later.

We took a day and drove to Taos. We have always heard what a great place to visit. We were disappointed. It was a long drive from Santa Fe for what we found. We don’t regret the trip, but it clearly didn’t meet our expectations. The small villages surrounding Taos were more interesting to us. The Taos plaza is small and not uniformly laid out. There didn’t seem to be any zoning restrictions as commercial, retail and residential were all clustered together. The homes and many buildings looked in disrepair. The plaza was all retail and there were no historic buildings noted that we could see. Teri had been looking for a turquoise necklace and she found what she wanted so the trip wasn’t a waste.

It was a windy day with winds up to 30 mph. We did take a scenic route home that took us over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. This was an amazing view looking down into the canyon. We arrived home to find that my fiberglass flagpole had snapped due to the wind. Someone (I never found out who) had removed the flag and had neatly and properly folded it and left in on the table for me.

We took a trip to the Pecos River near the town of Terreros to do some fishing. This took us up into the mountains northeast of Santa Fe. A narrow winding road that increased in elevation and had some beautiful scenery. Terreros is an old mining town. We stopped at a small forest service campground and got our gear out to fish. We had decided this was the day to test our wading equipment, so on went the waders and necessary gear and into the water we went. We stayed surprisingly dry. The waders actually felt buoyant as we stumbled over the rocks in the river. We didn’t fall and we didn’t catch any fish but we looked good doing it. The water flow was too strong. We found this out in several other attempts at fishing as you’ll read about in later chapters.

Naturally I found time to ride bicycles and one of the reasons we were in Santa Fe was for a race. The 6 Hours in the Basin of the Commonweal put on by Core-Crew is a race I did several years ago and wanted to do again. The race course was a 10 mile loop with 700 ft of climbing per loop at 6500 ft elevation. My goal was 6 laps but I ended up with 4 for 40 miles total. It was good enough (?) for 13th of 19 in the 50+ age group. Not what I was hoping for, but if you’ve read some of the earlier posts, you’ll know that I’m in a transition phase of my training and that has a huge effect on the race outcomes.

Before leaving the area we took a drive on the Turquoise Trail. This is the name given to a route that goes from Santa Fe south to the east side of Albuquerque and follows the turquoise mining history. Our first stop was Cerrillos. A cute little town, almost a village that has a visitor center, a park that provides miles of hiking trails, a few shops and restaurants. We stopped in at one of the bars/restaurants for something to drink before stopping at the trading post. The bar is small and intimate and had a duo playing guitars in the corner. The trading post is owned by a couple who have an active mining claim and all the rocks, minerals, and trinkets are hand made and come from their claim.

Next was Ma’drid with the emphasis on Ma unlike Madrid, Spain. This is a tourist town. Larger and more retail oriented than Cerrillos. This was a mining town that became a ghost town that then became an artist’s haven which it is today. As you drive through the valley you can see all the tailing piles on the canyon walls. The town is filled with food, drink, arts, crafts, and jewelry establishments. It is definitely a tourist attraction as the road and parking areas were filled with cars and motorcycles. As we continued to the end along I-40 we were looking for the Musical Highway. This is a segment of Route 66 that if you run on the rumble strips, the harmonics play America The Beautiful. We searched the area for 30 minutes and couldn’t find it. Then Teri found an obscure post on the internet that revealed it had been removed.

Our last stop of the month was South Fork, CO. This was our introduction to CO on this trip. Our hosts were Mikel, Linda and Steve. As we arrived in town we stayed at Peacock Meadows Riverside RV Park. The managers, Debra and Ron were friends with Mikel and Linda and had been warned about us. Mikel and Linda made sure they gave us the welcome we deserved…. LOL. We had a great visit. The park was largely empty as the summer season hadn’t started yet. Ron stopped by each morning to say hi while on his rounds. Mikel and Linda met us as soon as we had set up and drove us around South Fork showing us the sights as well as stopping at Steve’s house. His house sits right on the river. We saw a few spots where we thought we might be able to fish, but never had the opportunity. We had dinner at Ramon’s Mexican food which was delicious. The banter between Mikel, Linda and our waiter was fun to watch. We woke up the next morning to deer munching on the grass in our front yard. The park is right along the Rio Grande river. We tried fishing, but again the flow was just too fast. One morning I watched our neighbor open his door to take one of his dogs out for the morning business. One of the other dogs saw the deer and he was gone…. He wasn’t gone long and no deer were hurt. We took a drive up over Wolf Creek Pass into Pagosa Springs. This small city was quite inviting with the downtown area filled with small shops that grabbed our attention. We walked past the Springs Resort and saw the multiple hot springs pools and decided we needed to do that. We scheduled a couple massage for a couple days later. Mikel and Linda spent another day with us as we drove to Creede and then to the North Clear Creek Falls. Creede is a small community with very friendly people. We walked the downtown area and stopped in at some of the shops. Everyone was very welcoming. After a small lunch we took a drive over the Bachelor Loop. Creede is a mining community and the Bachelor Loop took us into the mountains surrounding Creede up to the mines that supported Creede, or was it the other way around? We were at a very high elevation and the views were spectacular. We continued up the highway and ended up at the North Clear Creek Falls. This view of the waterfall was amazing. We had to walk through some snow to arrive at the viewpoint. The wind was blowing hard and it was cold. We didn’t spend much time marveling at the views. On the way back home we stopped at a few signs that gave the history of the area. I was surprised that toll roads were in place back in the mining days.

We all ran into Pagosa Springs on Saturday to attend the Brews for Rescue event. This was a beer tasting event with the proceeds going to a dog rescue shelter that was run by one woman. Can you say Craft Beer? There were more than I’ve ever heard of and dogs all over the place. It was a great afternoon. On the way home we stopped off at Treasure Falls on the way up Wolf Creek Pass. A short, steep hike to the falls for an amazing view of a waterfall. On Sunday we drove into Pagosa Springs and had a wonderful massage. Then we relaxed in the hot springs pool. Very relaxing. Of course we tried to fish again. We drove to Beaver Creek Reservoir only to find it was still frozen over. I didn’t trust the ice to try any ice fishing although I did see what I thought was a hole cut in the ice. Mikel and Linda had driven us to Million Lake and we thought we might try fishing there but the day we were going there, it had snowed that morning and so our plans changed.

As I wrap up this segment of our travel, we want to thank all who hosted us, guided us, participated with us and generally just showed us a great time. From here we are headed to Ouray and then to Golden and the Denver area.

Stay Safe.

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.

We arrived in Arizona on November 1 as planned. We shoe-horned the motorhome into our space with inches to spare on either side and the rear at the Sundance West RV Park in Apache Junction. On the driver side, we were inches from the sewer cap and on the passenger side we were inches from the cement patio. We were backed up against a tree and had to remove the tow bar assembly to back in far enough so the front mirrors weren’t in the road. We are parked directly across from the dog park area. At first you might think, OH NO… but it turned out to be a blessing. The park is the focal point for all the residents and we met so many people at the park. Sarge wasn’t too sure about being this close to the park, but as you’ll see, he got used to it.

So what do we do to occupy ourselves having returned ‘home’ with no jobs to occupy our time and take up the day in an area we know so well? I ride my bike daily and am getting ready for spring racing season. There are several repairs and improvements we wanted to do to the motorhome that we didn’t want to do on the road. Reacquainting with old friends and family and getting ready for the holidays took up a lot of our time.

We found an Arts and Crafts Festival being held in Fountain Hills. We have never seen or attended a festival as large as this one. So many booths and presenters, it was an all day affair.

The C4 – Captain Cosmo’s Crazy Challenge mountain bike race was held in Cave Creek. A 25 mile course through Cave Creek Regional Park and the SpurCross Conservation area. I finished in 2:25 which beat my time goal but not near good enough for a podium spot. There were some strong riders out there. We reconnected with old friends and made new ones, Rick and Roxie, Votaire, Kaolin, Laurel, just to name a few.

We meet with friends, Joe and Richard each Tuesday morning for breakfast in Tempe. Joe is a former NBA/ABA basketball star and is in the ASU Basketball Hall of Fame. Richard is a former co-worker from the college and we developed a strong working relationship at the college that has carried over into a good friendship.

The dreaded annual doctor and dental appointments took up a large portion of the first several weeks after we arrived.

We spent an evening at the Gilbert Days Festival. This was held at one of the local city parks with a concert presenting many of the local bands, multiple local vendors, games for the kids and food trucks. We spent a day fishing at Lake Roosevelt with nothing but fun to show for our efforts.

Throughout the summer you may have learned that Sarge is not an indoor cat. He loves to be outside and becomes obnoxious when he doesn’t get his outdoor play time. We have an Apple AirTag on his collar so we can attempt to keep track of him. Generally it works pretty well, until he travels too far. He is pretty good about coming back to the coach when we clap our hands and sound the signal on the tracker. On this particular day, Teri was out running some errands and I was trying to find Sarge. He had wandered outside the tracker range and wasn’t responding to hand clapping. There was a group of 4 people lounging in chairs with 2 dogs sitting with them across the road from our motorhome. They were snickering and actually laughing as I finally found Sarge and convinced him to come home. I went over to them in a huff at being laughed at…. not really. It was a great ice breaker. Devin and Megan (who you’ll hear more about), Derrick and Chris were all sitting around. Copper, a brown dachshund and DaKota, a grayish australian shephard were with them and started barking furiously as I approached. Copper belongs to Chris and Kota belongs to Devin and Megan. They became good friends and joined us in our shenanigans. The dogs warmed up to me immediately and became our surrogate pets. Sarge still isn’t too sure, but he’ll sit under the coach or on the steps and stare down the dogs.

Next up was the 12 Hours of Fury mountain bike race held at McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Fountain Hills. This is, as you’ve probably guessed, a 12 hour relay race in which many crazies will ride solo. A 16ish mile loop completing as many laps as possible inside 12 hours. After 4 laps, I was in 3rd place in the 60+ age group. As I completed lap 5, I was astounded to see Teri, Megan and Devin at the lap/finish line yelling their heads off and holding signs urging me on. The sign that drew my attention was the one with the words ‘Don’t Suck’. Hahahahaha. As I pulled into my pit area for a short break, I almost fell when I put my feet on the ground, the legs were that tired. My nose was running constantly and the last lap was one to remember. The race started at 11am so guess what, we were racing until 11pm. Lap 6 started around 5:30pm and lights were required as the sun was setting and it was getting dark, especially in the desert where there are no street lights. I had 1 light on my handlebars and 1 on my helmet. I finished the lap and got ready to head out for lap 7. I was checking the status of my competitors. #1 and #2 were a lap ahead of me and there was no way I was going to catch them. #4 was a lap down. As I watched the live online results, I saw #4 just finished his lap 6. It was time to go and I hoped he’d stopped for a break as well. He had been an hour behind me on previous laps but was closing in. I checked the battery on both lights. I thought I might have enough juice to finish the lap, but I put another light on the handlebars as a precaution and threw a second helmet light in my pocket just in case. The lights are not interchangeable due to the mounting systems so I couldn’t put a helmet light onto the handlebars. There are a couple of reasons for riding with multiple lights. One is the adage that 2 is 1 and 1 is none. The other is that the handlebar light shines directly in front of the tires on the trail and the helmet light allows you to see further up the trail when approaching turns or if you hear unusual noises in the dark. :). At about mile 5 the handlebar light starting flickering and a mile later it died. I turned on the spare bar light, but it was dead. I had taken it off the charger when I left home to head for the race, so I don’t know what happened. I’m down to my helmet light. It’s not as bright as the bar light and I had it on the brightest setting but it was still not as bright as I would have liked. I tried the spare helmet light but it wasn’t any brighter. Remember, the lights are not interchangeable so the spare helmet light couldn’t go on the handlebars. Onward I went. My mantra at this point was ‘just get to the finish line’. I didn’t know who #4 was and I didn’t know where he was. As riders passed me (I was dead tired) I tried to keep up to use their brighter lights, but I just couldn’t. They were all younger and were racing on relay teams so they were much fresher. Onward I went, just staying on the trail, keeping a steady pace in the black, quiet, desert night. With 100 yards to go, the helmet light blacked out. I rolled across the finish line in 3rd place, ultimately I beat #4 by about 15 minutes. Yes, I learned a few lessons. 7 laps, 108 miles and 3rd place with the pleasure of standing on the podium made it all worthwhile.

Then I was back to training for the next race and doing some cross training by hiking and walking with Teri. We learned that although Devin is working remotely and therefore tied up during the weekdays, Megan is available to cause trouble with us. Teri and Megan went for a hike looking for the Broadway Cave in the Superstition Mountains. They didn’t find the cave and Teri’s proclivity for going off path became evident. They didn’t get lost and they didn’t find the cave but they had a great hike and story to tell. Next they went to Fat Mans Pass on South Mountain while I rode the Desert Classic trail there.

Teri’s story: Fat Man’s pass is my favorite hiking trail. There’s a mile long road for admiring pets and socializing before you ascend the actual trail. Near the end of it, there are rock building ruins left over from the trading post era. Then you climb to the National trail, mostly flat, until you reach the signs for Fat Man’s Pass/Hidden Valley. Then a lot of boulder climbing and a wide valley until you reach the actual Fat Man’s Pass. Usually, the climb is just gnarly and a steady push to get warmed up. On this occassion, however, Megan and I had to stand off trail several times as crazy mountain bikers came down the trail at top speed, often without much warning. We saw probably 6 waves of 10 or more bicycles all the way to the turnoff for the valley. While hiking through the valley, I think Megan thought I was kinda nuts because when we came to the boulders, I’d take a different route from the trail. But in my defense, it made for some amazing views and better workout. When we reached Fat Man’s Pass, as expected, Megan was pretty sure she couldn’t squeeze through. Everyone I’ve taken has said that no matter how slender they are. We were briefly stalled by a church group and preist who were sliding down that rock face. Then we passed through to the other side and started the return trip.

One weekend, the 4 of us went to Natural Bridge State Park north of Payson. This is an amazing natural rock bridge. The trail is not long in mileage but it takes time. It is a slow hike. At the bottom of the valley as you are progressing under the bridge, you are traversing the natural stream bed and the natural terrain. Climbing over tree limbs and rocks, snaking your way between large rocks, trying to stay out of the water, sliding down a steep, slippery rock face that is made further slippery by the naturally falling water from the bridge you finally reach the ‘out’ and a climb out of the canyon. It is a must do type of hike if you’re in the area.

We all planned a surprise birthday party for Chris who was completely unsuspecting. A banner on the front of his trailer greeted him when he awoke in the morning of his birthday. Later that evening we all had ‘Better Than Sex’ cake that Megan had made. As a single young man, this was one of the highlights of his birthday.

Devin and Megan were gearing up to end their months long stay in AJ but Megan wanted to get to Sedona before they left. Teri and Megan took the day and drove to Sedona where they saw the sights and went for a hike. About this time you should be playing the tune for Gilligan’s Isle. Yep, they started the hike with a destination in mind and planned, however they deviated and ended up doing about 3-4 miles more than planned. They both had a great day. They were feeling it in their leg muscles the next day.

Teri has always loved playing Texas Hold ‘Em poker and plays constantly online for practice (no money involved). She has played several live games and generally does well even in she doesn’t make final table. As a way to take up her time, she started playing poker tournaments at the local casinos a couple of times per week. Imagine my surprise and pride when she called and said she had made final table and won $500. That more than made up for her buy-ins for the week and several more tournaments. A week or 2 later after several games, she won another $400.

One weekend I volunteered at the MBAA Enduro Race at the Hawes Mountain riding area. It was a gray colored day but I didn’t expect any rain. A pair of shorts, t-shirt and a fleece-hoody should be fine for the day. I was teamed with 2 others to record the finish times of one of the multiple legs of the race. The first racer came through at about 9:30am. That is about the time the rain started. It was never a heavy rain, but it was non-stop until we trudged back to the car at 2:30pm. My clothes were soaked. It rained for 2 straight days. When the rain stopped, I had to re-level the motorhome as the stabilizing jacks had sunk into the ground.

As a surprise birthday present for Teri I had purchased tickets for us for the Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert. We had attended the concert last year and it was amazing. As the date approached, she suggested we get tickets for my kids and grandkids as a gift. When she saw the weird look on my face, she said ‘you already bought tickets, didn’t you?!’. Yep, so much for a surprise. Oh well, I tried. As it turned out, all 11 of us attended. It was another fantastic show.

As my birthday expired, Teri offered me a chance to start working with a trainer. I knew I needed some accountability for keeping a training/weight workout routine as well as a nutritional program, so I accepted. Kevin became my new trainer. 2 days in the gym, 1 day discussing nutrition and planned riding progression was on the list. To further up my game, Teri suggested I talk to the trainer about a single speed bike. She’d talked to a few friends who found training with a “struggle buggy” made them a stronger mountain bike riders. So just before Thanksgiving, we started the program and ordered a single speed.

Thanksgiving was a time for the family to get together and relax and enjoy everyone’s company. We went to Culinary Dropout in Gilbert as a family and just enjoyed the company and food.

I had been working with Kevin for about 2 weeks when it was race day again. Dawn to Dusk, another 12 hour relay race. I had high hopes of finishing well but also knew there was tough competition. The race started at 7am in the dark, cold morning at a temp of about 36 degrees at McDowell Mountain Park. Same park, similar course but the opposite direction from the 12 Hours of Fury. I finished lap 1 in 9th place of 13 in my age group. My legs were feeling unusually tired. Lap 2 and I wondered how I was ever going to get my goal of 8 laps, much less the 7 I had done previously. Out for lap 3, still in 9th. On lap 4, Teri sent a text and asked me to call her when I could, nothing urgent. The next text said she was going out to an event with Megan and Devin for the evening. I finished lap 4 just dead with legs that ached in a way that I don’t usually feel this early in a race. I called Teri and I told her how I felt. She asked if I was having fun. I told her it’s always fun riding my bike, but this was not particularly fun. It hurt too much. We chatted and I decided, there was no training value to continue and I definitely was not going to be in the top 3 finishers. I also knew that if I continued, I was just beating a tired body into the ground. I called it a day with 4 laps, 65 miles, 9th place as a finishing place. She met me in Scottsdale with a change of clothes at the Planet Fitness where I showered and cleaned up and then joined everyone for a night on the town. Megan and Devin had invited Teri to join them and his nieces at the Medieval Times for dinner and a show. Medieval Times is an event venue that features Knights competing in skill events as well as sword fights and jousting. The young men and women actors were quite entertaining and provided 2 hours of entertainment. Dinner consisted of a 1/2 chicken, baked potato, soup and a dessert. The kicker is that you eat with your fingers, there are no eating utensils. It was a wonderful evening with great friends.

As November came to a close, Megan and Devin began preparations to leave AZ. Their last stop was Bisbee where Devin had to do a job. After a bit of easy discussion, we agreed to accompany them south for a few days. We all packed up and headed south and spent 2 nights in Tombstone and a day drive to Bisbee. We didn’t want to pull the motorhome out of our site so we rented a cabin at the RV park while they were in their 5th wheel trailer. The skies were dark with clouds and there was snow in the forecast. On our 1st day, we walked the streets of Tombstone checking out the various stores that were open. It was a Monday and many of the stores were closed as they cater to the weekend tourist crowds. We took a quick drive to Bisbee and walked the streets of Historic Bisbee before heading back to Tombstone. The next day, Devin had to work so Megan, Teri and I headed back to Bisbee. There was about 1 inch of snow on the ground in Tombstone that was doubled in Bisbee. Who knew that Bisbee is a mile high city at an elevation of 5300 ft? The snow plows were out as we drove into Bisbee and our first stop was the Queen Mine where we took a mine tour into the old mine. This is another must-do in our book if you get to the area. This was our 3rd trip into the mine and our guide provided some information that we hadn’t learned on the other trips. A drive to the south side of the mountains took us to several communities that are part of Bisbee that we had never seen before. Our final stop was the historic Erie St in the Lowell community. Several motorcycle shops which included Indian and Harley Davidson models, some antique cars, the old Police Dept and Greyhound bus depot are all part of the attraction. We then drove to the overlook of the open pit mine. The size of the open pit mine is mind boggling and just reading about the old time mining and the strength and determination of the miners of that era is awe-inspiring. No ‘safe space rooms’ for those generations and they are not offended by words.

Teri and I headed back to AJ on the 3rd day while Megan and Devin headed east. We will be connecting up with them in 2023 somewhere on the road.

Just so you don’t think all is rosy I came down with a cough and stuffy sinuses post race. Several days later Teri came down with the same. A week later and I was starting to clear up. Another week passed and I was just about over it, but Teri was still coughing. A trip to the Dr. determined it was not covid or the flu. It certainly affected our ability to breathe, but we pushed through.

As we are parked for a few months, it was time to do some annual maintenance on the motorhome. We have a tankless water heater system that also heats the motorhome. It runs on electric and/or a small diesel generator. It requires annual maintenance and didn’t seem to be operating as efficiently as expected. A mobile RV repair business, Cruz RV Repair arrived as planned and serviced the unit. He found that the controller was not working properly and ordered a new one for us. It’s nice to not run out of hot water now.

Remember the dog park? Well we met more friends, Sheri and Gary, Piper and Terry. Teri and Sheri took off for a hike on the Petroglyph Trail. With Sheri in the lead, Teri didn’t have the opportunity to stray off path. Teri’s breathing was hampered by the illness but she pushed on.

Sarge still stares down the dogs in the park and dares them to come on his property. Copper tried to one day and scampered back behind Chris when Sarge raised the hair on his back and hissed.

As Christmas Eve arrived, we all met at my daughter, Melanie’s house and had a wonderful family Christmas Eve brunch. Melanie, Tom, Kennedy, and Brooke. Nichole, Landon and Cooper. Monica and Tim. Teri and I. The grandkids all tore into their gifts with glee while the adults watched and were entertained. As the party wound down, we took our leave. Teri, Monica, Tim and I went for a Christmas Eve dinner and invited Sheri to join us as Gary and their daughter were both out of town. A nice, quiet evening with family and friends was a wonderful way to spend Christmas.

As 2022 rolls to an end, we hope you’ve enjoyed our journey as much as we have. We finished the year having visited 34 states, 11,000 miles and made new friends and re-acquainted with family. It was an amazing trip. We have realized that we did too much too often. We have vowed that when we identify our destinations next year, we will spend a minimum of 2 weeks before moving on. We will be re-visiting several areas where we want to explore more as well as visiting new areas. We look forward to the new year with excitement and anticipation. Thanks for traveling with us.

Happy New Year.