Sedona Heatwave is not just a Thai entrée

I've spent the last few nights in Flagstaff. I can explain: Annie needed a slight assist to get the motorhome and her loaner vehicle up to Flagstaff to avoid authoritarian conflict. Since the loaner wasn't set up to be towed, it was a two-person job.

I am "borrowing" Annie's picture of the site, because my brain and clicky-finger were stunned by the temperatures. The rest of me was wondering what the H-E-double-toothpicks I was doing there when I could be anywhere but Flagstaff. Or IN Flagstaff, but indoors (thanks, Cousins!).

So, you know I have a patented, secret (I'll tell you) method for staying warm in Spud. I added some deluxe features to the package the past couple of days. I lay on a metallicized sheet, then add fluffy layers of down QUACK! on top. The final slice of blanket is another reflective sheet, with the reflection pointed toward me.

In cases of extreme cold, or need for privacy, I add a reflective panel to the hatch window, and the hatch gets closed. The Reflectix is covered with black fabric, so from the outside it doesn't look like you can't see in. It just looks like there's nothing to see. Then I add blackout curtains behind the front seats. This retains heat, but also moisture, so that I need to crack a couple of windows.

I won't go into my boudoir wardrobe. I'll leave that to your voyeuristic imagination. I'll just drop risqué hints, like "there are multiple layers," and "how do you like my insulated ski hat?"

Tonight I'm a couple thousand feet lower and forty miles souther, at a campsite WITH A TOILET - huzzah.

The following pictures are sad. They are the documentation of the death of my Pentax point-and-shoot. There was a nasty grinding sound that was too familiar, and the end of auto-focus as I know it.

If you have a suggestion for a durable, awesome, slim point-and-shoot camera, let me have it. No, the camera. Hand it over. When I get a replacement, you'll know it because there will be pictures on my blog again.

I met a nice man tonight who sized up my situation with a glance. That's both kind and disconcerting. I'd like to retain the look of a Lady Out Camping! as opposed to the look of a Lady Living in Her Car. I think it's because he's a full-timer, too, and so knows the signs. It's the way you can tell if an RV at Walmart is out for the weekend, or out for the duration.

It made me think about the question of being alright. I'm certainly alright tonight, with plenty left over to head over into excellent. There have been nights when I was not alright, but still fine. The not-fine part wasn't reality. But, that's true of you, too.

Then I thought about those nights feeling not-alright, and I wonder what would have happened if someone had asked me then. It was good they didn't; what fresh hell would they have unleashed on themselves? [shudder]

I drove through Prescott Valley and Prescott today, but didn't stop anywhere. I'll go again, and look really hard so I can draw you word pictures.

I hope you're all alright tonight.

Nothing to say, and then saying it: Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, and Flagstaff. And electronics.

I'm still camped just outside Sedona in a very satisfactory campsite that Annie found. I've been enjoying tweaking my sleeping arrangements in Spud for cold-weather camping (it has been consistently 28° - 30°F). The best, so far, has been sandwiching myself between two layers of "blankets" that are a film of aluminum on one side, bonded to a non-woven fabric (like stiff Handi-Wipes). While I am the tofuham, two down comforters are the lettuce and tomato.

Annie and I visited Palatki ruins

My life is perfect if I can raise Spud's hatch and put on her butt-tent. That lets me sit up at night surfing, or reading, or whatever else I want.

I've visited The Cousins for the past two weekends. It's about 1.5 hours through Oak Creek Canyon. I'm not yet jaded enough to speed through the switchbacks.

No vehicles over 50 feet long. Please.

I have just ordered a passel of gadgets for making my life even better. I'll tell you about them when I've received and enjoyed them. If they suck, I'll tell you about that, too.

Tonight, I activated my Command Center (in the footwell of my passenger side). I'm powering my Wilson Sleek 4G-V signal booster together with my Millenicom MiFi hotspot.

  

[I originally had some trouble with the Mifi cycling off and on every few seconds. Apparently, that's a thing. I called, got a real person right away, and the trouble was over.]

I'm also charging my telephone. I'll plug in my Nook, if I feel fancy.

Although most of my gadgets have their own battery power, the Wilson Sleek is the exception; it needs continuous power to boost a signal. This is where the Prius "generator" comes to my rescue. It turns itself on for a minute or two every so often (Suanne figured about 4 minutes every half hour for hers). That keeps the 12 volt accessory battery happy.

One of my new gadgets will hopefully bypass that necessity. I'll tell you about it soon. The Mifi has a battery, and when I don't need signal amplification I can use that very well. When I set up tonight, I got two bars of 3G without the Sleek, and four bars of 4G with it.

I just figured out that the same cable powers up my phone, Mifi, and Nook. Oh frabjous day!

I just got an exciting idea for my next trip! I'll tell you about it once I'm started.

Everything is ruined - Sedona, Arizona

You were expecting melodrama, and I'm going to give you Sinagua dwellings.

Sinagua ("without water") is an inaccurate, non-descriptive name given to the people who lived and farmed here, with plenty of water.

Conagua

The Palatki ruins "require" reservations to visit. If you show up without calling first, they'll probably still fit you in, but this is not the kind of higgeldy-piggeldy, willy-nilly lawscoffing I can promote.

See the handprints in the mortar?

 The scratches visible in the center of the picture are thought to be about 10,000 years old, made by settlers long before the Sinagua arrived. The later pictographs seem much more sophisticated, only because ballpoint pen technology leaped forward in those 9,000 years.

Snake!

The Grotto

Arizona blond tarantulas: do they really have more fun?

Quentin, you've grown!

I am not standing with my foot in this picture just to show off my cute hikers. For perspective, the Arizona blond tarantula wears the same size I do.

He was crossing the road as we approached, but once he lowered the flag we could proceed without tire damage. It's possible he was crossing the road to mate (one more question answered), but we didn't want to stick around to see him reach under the female to insert his pedipalp into her gonopore.

He could easily cover Annie's palm, if he relaxed. He could easily cover Annie's palm, if Annie relaxed. 

Weather feels pretty perfect at this elevation, at this time of the season. Flagstaff nights are too cold for us to deal with in the Duck, but here we're warm enough to sleep with the windows cracked. I always check under the covers before I get in. Sometimes I find Annie under there.

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Twice Nice Thriftique and Chimney Rock, Sedona

We love a good thrift store, where good = low prices + decent stuff. So, it made us nervous to read Twice Nice described as a Thriftique. It's hard for me to be snarky, because it's the income stream for a local women's shelter - a fine cause. It's hard, but not impossible, and I can push through it.

Already dressed in clothes not purchased at a thriftique, we felt underdressed. We started rifling through the merchandise like the unwashed masses. I had to put on my reading glasses, because I kept seeing extra zeros, but the glasses must have been dirty because the zeros were still there.

If you need to dress professionally, you'll do well here and you'll support a good charity while you're at it. If you dress like we do, meet me on Bag Day (somewhere other than Twice Nice, whose only bag is a Vuitton).

Chimney Rock. We circled it, but it did not become suspicious.

Javelinas were no danger to Ducks.

Vicki's pet was hurt by a javelina this week. We are now mad at all peccaries. 

Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness - Boynton Canyon Trail

Annie believed Jean and Skip when they said this trail was easy, so we wrapped our feet up in hikers and headed out. Those guys got flute music, but we met a friendly and generous soul who invited us to use a lock-out unit of her timeshare. We win!

Thanks, Pat! The hot tub is especially tempting!

We met when I thought she was a bear. I got over it.

It's waxing gibbous.
Yes it's waxing, and don't call me Gibbous.

Ducks on the rocks

Yesterday was Oak Creek Canyon and Chapel of the Holy Cross. So spontaneous!

Cholla 

The House. A guide said he has a Starbucks in there, and invites the neighbors. It would take more than that.

Oak Creek Canyon from the overlook.

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Excellent boondocking location...nah, I shouldn't say.

On the other hand, I'm going to. This is the first place we've stayed our full 14 days and still weren't tired of the spot. Ajo doesn't count, because we didn't stay 14 days.

• Route 17 (Arizona) to exit 298. 
• Go east on Forest Road 618. [If you go west, it's Rte. 179 into Sedona.]
• 0.4 miles past the first cattle guard, you come to a four-way stop. Go left (north). This is Beaver Creek Road and Forest Road something something.
• 1.3 miles later, you're there.
• Coordinates roughly  34.697493,-111.723889

We covered this road in the Duck (38.5'), but never did it with the toad attached. That was just circumstance, though, and Annie says she'd do with the car and dolly.

You could spend two weeks in this area without ever needing to go to town for entertainment. Beer, yes. If you parked at the green arrow, you could hike down the left tine of that fork, turn left at the edge of a canyon, and follow a road right down around to the floor. There are said to be petroglyphs there, but I didn't find them. FREE

 









If you want something a little further off the trail, explore the right fork. The road is better, and we considered a few camping sites down there, too.

The Arizona Safari jeeps passed us every evening at 7PM. Feel smug knowing you're seeing the sights for free. [Arizona Safari: NOT FREE]

 Or, you could follow F.R. 618 down to the same draw (Red Tank), park at a turnout, and take a few steps to more petroglyphs. FREE

 Or, tour V-V Ranch and see a huge and well-preserved collection of glyphs. Bring your lunch and eat under a big tree along Wet Beaver Creek. FREE, needs Interagency Pass or Red Rock Country pass to park.

 Or, Visit Montezuma's Well. FREE

 Or, pad on down to the creek and cool off. Bring your lunch to the shady picnic tables and your garbage to the big garbage cans. FREE

Park at the trailhead off FR 618 and take any trail. There are two strenuous trails, and one moderate. I took the easy trail to the pit toilet. FREE

Best of all, this campsite is on a dead-end (sort of). A few hundred feet down the road is a gate that serves as a cattle guard. People have to stop to open and shut that gate, and first-timers often just turn around there. Feel smug knowing you've hiked on the other side of that gate. Smug: FREE

You may see cowboys. You will probably hear cows. I never, ever knew there were so many cow-sounds. If you think they only moo, you're living in a fool's paradise. Fool's paradise: FREE

Head toward Sedona on Rte. 179, and you'll come to the USFS Ranger station. This is a worthwhile stop, because here is where you can get a copy of the new Motor Vehicle Use Map for this area. A ranger will want to explain it to you if you tell her you're interested in dispersed camping; let her do it.  The map itself is a little less than self-explanatory, as well as being actual-size. Will the rig fit in this spot? Let's pull up onto the map and see. So, a little help is a good thing.



The map is also good because you will be AMAZED at all the dispersed camping there is available in the local forests. I hated to settle without seeing all of them. Pick an altitude, then pick a site.

We've taken on fluids and headed for higher altitude and lower temperatures. That's one thing that will chase you out of town, but the hardier souls are now enjoying the quiet of a not-very-touristy Sedona, and perfect nighttime temps. And remember, it's a dry heat.