Wednesday, November 30/2011

Heading out I 40 W AZ

Cinder Mountain

Wow, it is the last day of November.  We have been on the road for over a month now and have finally reached Arizona!!  Of course when one thinks of Arizona, they think warm temperatures but hey - it was
-5C here last night!! ( In Northern AZ ) We have to get into the lower elevations to hit the warmer weather and we should be there in a few days.  John wants to stop and cut a bit of wood before we leave the forest south of Flagstaff so that will delay us another day and of course I need to stop at a Walmart before we hit Wickenburg as well.  Chopping and Shopping!!
The sun is shining this morning and the temp has risen to a balmy 25F (-4C).  We will have a tail wind as we continue to travel west into Flagstaff.
I called Jan today and it was great to actually hear her voice after not hearing it for so long.  Casey also has texted us this morning as well.  He has started working again as a welder and was on a break so texted us.  He seems happy to be working again so I hope he has finally settled into his life.
We made it into Flagstaff and was able to find the battery place without any difficulty.  For once that stupid GPS took us to where we needed to be.  With the batteries safely ensconced in the trailer, we continued south to Willard Springs Road (where we stayed for a few days on the way home last Spring and managed to get the motorhome stuck in the meadow) to cut a bit of firewood for the desert.  The meadow (for the most part) was pretty dry but that doesn't mean that John didn't find a wet spot to attempt to turn around in and managed to have the tires get all greasy and loose traction.  Well now, haven't we been down this road before!!  Out comes the jeep and the tow rope and with a bit of a pull (although towing is not one of my stellar moments) the bus manages to back out of the wet and onto solid ground.  I think this meadow hates us!!
With the bus "unstuck" we get the chainsaw and head down the trail to find some wood.  We managed to cut up two downed trees and filled the jeep with them.  Now that should hold us for a couple of campfires.  We will however have to find more wood along for the coming months but at least this year we have a working chainsaw!!
With the jeep loaded back into the trailer, we once again point South and continue on down the road.  We are now looking for a Walmart so that I can get the final supplies needed to sit in the desert for the rest of the winter.  Things are usually cheaper at Walmart so will stock up on a few items.  We found one in Cottonwood Az (which actually was 12 miles out of the way) and decided to stay the night at a boondocking site on Thousand Trails Road.  We had stayed here once before and for a night or even a weekend - it is good enough but leaves much to be desired if one is going to stay longer.
We pulled into a site and called it quits for the night.  I had been slow-cooking a roast all day and supper tasted great.  John chatted with Keith and Charlotte and we will be seeing them soon.  Another good day.