The following posting was prepared several weeks ago. We have a perfectly lame alibi – the computer ate our homework! Are you buying that? Actually, the laptop was showing signs of a nervous breakdown. A replacement was purchased but it took some time to get it up and running and to do a mind-meld with the older laptop. As all this was going on, we were hippity-hopping across Arizona, New Mexico and into the Texas Panhandle. Unless we get blown away by these extraordinarily fierce winds, we can promise another update in the very near future.
As indicated in our last posting, we had extended our stay in Mesa for an additional month in order to wrap up repairs to the RV and to ourselves. We continued with various sorts of socializing, plus lawn bowling for Howie and beading for me. Then, having pretty much decided we prefer the Phoenix area over other snowbird migration destinations, we decided to go ahead and make arrangements for next season by purchasing a small house in a retirement community. That was accomplished in a record-setting hurry. Now having a base, we were able to shovel a ton of cargo out of the coach and into the house; we heard an audible sigh of relief from the coach’s rear axle! And we discovered the Saturn has a back seat after all!
About this same time last year we had a new microwave-convection oven installed in the coach and it has never worked properly so we decided to return to Bullhead City and have it repaired while it was still under warranty. That little endeavor pretty much wasted two full weeks and when we pulled out we still weren’t sure the thing would work properly. By then the temperature had climbed into the low 90s and the last thing we wanted to do was test the oven, especially since we only had 30 amp service and couldn’t use both the oven and the A/C. A few days later, when we’d reached a cooler climate, a batch of muffins turned out more or less the way they’re supposed to so perhaps the oven really is repaired.
Our next stop was Williams, a small town which bills itself as The Gateway to the Grand Canyon. The town is also noted as being the final town on historic Route 66 to be by-passed by the Interstate. It had been several years since we’d visited the Grand Canyon and we decided it was worth another look so off we went on a lovely sunny day. We knew there were areas of the park which are beyond our physical abilities to visit but we were surprised to learn that we could drive east about 25 miles on Desert View Drive and visit…you guessed it…Desert View. That is also known as the East Entrance and is accessible from Flagstaff.
The Grand Canyon has five distinct ecological “communities”. The most common seems to be a forest of dwarf pinion and junipers which occupy the mid level. Some areas are desert and of course a riparian district inhabits the river’s bank. There are some stands of Ponderosa pine which thrive on the South Rim. The North Rim, being at a higher elevation, receives more moisture and supports a wider range of montane flora. The area supports a wide diversity of plants, animals and birds, including the newly introduced California condors.
After being pulled back from the brink of extinction, the condors were released into the park and seem to be doing very nicely. We had views of several pairs as they made good use of the thermals over the canyon.
We also stopped at the Tusayan Museum and partook of a ranger-led stroll to the ruins. There, framed between the trees, was a view of the San Francisco Peaks still wearing their snow caps. Mount Humphrey is the tallest peak in Arizona, topping out at slightly over 12,000 feet.
Flagstaff is an interesting city to explore. The historic downtown stretches out along Old Route 66 and many of the old buildings are now restaurants and boutiques. And, being a college town, there’s always interesting wardrobes to observe. I’m not sure the short-shorts and tank-top look with knee socks and fur-lined Ugg boots will catch on. But odder things have happened. In a relatively short time we were able to get a number of chores done, including the purchase of a new computer. This one is having fainting spells and it is making us nervous. So the trip to Flag was most useful.
Now we’re on our way to Albuquerque and points east.
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