CONGRESS AZ TO THE NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT WEST OF KAYENTA AZ

We did forego our usual pre-dawn departure & took our time tying up last minute loose ends until well after daybreak.  Trying to get ourselves off on a nice slow & easy relaxed pace.  A last walk around the property & a last walk through the house saying goodbye to everything.  My comfy chair, the TV, my favorite porridge pot, my bedroom, my shower, our shed, our front porch, our front yard cactus garden, & all my clothes I leave here hanging in the closet for the summer, not to mention my socks & underwear drawer.  Said goodbye to my favorite drinking glass & Roy Rogers coffee mug as well.  Gonna miss all you guys.  Yes indeed it was quite an emotional experience for me again & if I wasn’t one of these darn supposedly unemotional Man things I might even have got myself teared up a bit:((  Relax fellas, you will all be happy to know I kept up my end of the great Charade:))

 

A FEW LAST GOOD-BYES

It was finally time to go & we rolled through our South gate at 8:49 a.m.  Bye bye house.  It was actually hard to comprehend we were finally on our way.  Nice clear cool start to the day with a high thin cloud cover & diffused sunlight made for a good driving day.

OK DAD, ME & DUCKY ARE READY TO GO

IN MINUTES THE YARNELL HILL AHEAD TWISTINGLY LEAD US ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE WEAVER MOUNTAINS

With Kelly along there is no getting through Yarnell without stopping at the bakery.  Four donuts found their way into the coach but no coffee.  We knew we could pick up coffee later at McDonald’s in Chino Valley & that is exactly what we did. 

ROLLING INTO QUAINT & SLEEPY LITTLE YARNELL

 

I CAN SEE MOM GETTING THE DONUTS DAD:))

ROLLING NORTH THROUGH THE SERENELY PEACEFUL PEEPLES VALLEY

A fuel fill-up in Chino Valley as well & we were on our way heading for Ash Fork at I-40.  Always a relaxingly pleasant drive between Chino Valley & Ash Fork.

Been about five & a half months since we last traveled I-40 & not much has changed.  Traffic was lite as we rolled into & through forests of Pine trees at Flagstaff.  Nice to see the San Francisco Peaks snow covered. 

ON I-40 HEADING EAST FOR FLAGSTAFF ARIZONA

 

AND YES WE DID SEE A BIT OF SNOW ALONGSIDE THE ROAD, BUT ONLY A BIT

Picked up highway 89 on the East side of Flagstaff & headed off in a North-Easterly direction.

THIS WAS THE LAST WE SAW OF THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS AS WE SWUNG AROUND TO THEIR EAST SIDE & HEADED NORTH

 

SOME SNOOZIN & SCMOOZIN ALONG THE WAY

How nice to be traveling through country we had never seen before.  I always like that.  A long slow & very straight 6% grade easily descended us from Flagstaff’s 7,300 foot altitude into warming temperatures & a completely different landscape.  Pine trees quickly gave way to wide open plains of yellow grass.  & we could see for miles & miles.  Buttes & mesas on distant horizons.  Color & texture began appearing in rock formations & once we turned off 89 onto highway 160 we found ourselves entering red rock country.  Nice.  Reminded me of Utah & some of the red rock around Sedona.

HEADING NORTH FROM FLAGSTAFF ON 89

 

A DOGGY PIT STOP IN RED ROCK COUNTRY

 

NORTH EAST OF TUBA CITY

We knew Tuba City was the last place for cheaper gas in the direction we were headed so we topped off our tank & picked up a few area brochures.  Distance can be a factor between gas stations out here as well.  After a bit we turned off 160 onto road 564 leading to the NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT a short scenic 9 miles from the highway.  We were encouraged on our way to the campground at the monument by the fact we never passed another single vehicle either coming or going.  In our books that is always a good sign of things to come.  And we weren’t disappointed.  A quick stop at the Visitor Center soon pointed us to Sunset View campground.  It was 2:45 p.m.  RV SUE had recommended ‘Canyon View’ campground but it was not open for the season yet.  Luckily there were only 2 other RV’s here in the Sunset campground & they were far enough away not to bother us. 

‘Sunset View’ is a small campground & definitely not a place to be in peak season with it’s closely spaced small sites.  There is a 28’ RV limit here & I can see why.  No problem to drive around the loop but the ‘pull over’ sites are definitely meant for 26’.  Our Jeep hangs out a bit but we’re OK & things aren’t crowded right now in the campsite anyway.  By the way it is free here & the campground is clean as a whip.  No water or electric but they do have a nice central washroom facility.  We have 3 bar Internet but no antennae TV stations. 

 

RV Sue also recommended some trails & we are close enough to walk to them.  We will stay here tonight & tomorrow night unless the campground fills up with week-end Warriors. 

  

It has been so nice to be back on the road going somewhere again today.  Just love all that great Western scenery rolling by the window mile after mile.  Snow capped mountains, sweeping panoramic vistas, gently rolling grasslands, red rock canyons, mesas & buttes.  It’s just always so great to be out here traveling anywhere in the great American West:))))))))

WE KINDA EAT WHEREVER WE CAN IN HERE

 

NOT OFTEN WE GET TO BOONDOCK ON PAVEMENT

Now back to my Thursday post for a minute..I’m the only one I ever met who once got 8 out of 100 in a high school math exam.  Guess that might explain how I had the numbers wrong in my Thursday post about the $40 Kelly gave me.  Thanks to a comment from sharp eyed & math guru BOB for pointing that out.  Actually I would like to think it was a typo error but maybe 8 out of 100 tells the true tale eh.  With Kelly’s smarts I have made the correction:))

VIEW FROM OUR CAMPSITE

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Ever wonder what all those advertising terms really mean? ----------------------------

NEW - Different color from previous design.

ALL NEW - Parts are not interchangeable with previous design.

EXCLUSIVE - Imported product.

UNMATCHED - Almost as good as the competition.

FOOLPROOF OPERATION - No provision for adjustments.

ADVANCED DESIGN - The advertising agency doesn't understand it.

IT'S HERE AT LAST - Rush job. Nobody knew it was coming.

FIELD TESTED - Manufacturer lacks test equipment.

HIGH ACCURACY - Unit on which all parts fit.

FUTURISTIC - No other reason why it looks the way it does.

REDESIGNED - Previous flaws fixed - we hope. DIRECT

SALES ONLY - Factory had a big argument with distributor.

YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT - We finally got one to work.

BREAKTHROUGH - We finally figured out a use for it.

MAINTENANCE FREE - Impossible to fix.

MEETS ALL STANDARDS - Ours, not yours.

SOLID-STATE - Heavy as hell.

HIGH RELIABILITY - We made it work long enough to ship it.

ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO FOR TAKE-OFF IN THE MORNING……….10-4

PHEEBE RESTS UP AFTER HELPING ME MOVE ALL OUR PORCH FURNITURE INSIDE
Coincidentally turns out we will be leaving for home the exact same day we left last year.  With the death of my Uncle Harry our trip home was rushed last year.  The year before we also made a quick trip home after our little Cora (Motormouse) died the very morning we left.  This year we hope to stop & smell a few roses along the way.

WE ARE ALL HOOKED UP & READY TO ROLL
Nice to wake up to clear sunny skies this morning.  Only 41F but we knew our day would warm up quickly in more ways than one.  Today was crunch day with all the last minute loose ends to be tied up before departure in the morning.  I kinda like occasional crunch days because they are a welcome break from the sometimes too many back to back routine days.
 
PHEEBS MET A NEW NEIGHBOR THIS MORNING & IT WAS SMOOCHES AT FIRST SIGHT
Well I’m feeling just about the way I figured I would be feeling on the eve of any major departure either North or South.  Excited & anxious to go but always sad to be leaving wherever I happen to have been for any length of time.  Two years ago, last year, & this year again I feel sad about leaving our Congress house.  Again the house & property have provided us with so many great memories over the past five & half months.  So comfy & cozy here & yet in a matter of hours we will turn out the lights for the last time this season, walk out the door in the morning, drive away, & leave our old Ghost Town Road house all alone by itself again.  And that makes me sad.   As I have said before I somehow get more attached to things than I do people it seems.  Even throwing an old pair of blown out running shoes in the trash is an emotional experience for me.  Threw away my old torn pair of Jammies a couple months ago & almost had go for counseling.  Don’t know what it is about me about that but it is what it is.  My sadness will begin to lift after we get ourselves a few miles on down the road & the business of getting us home becomes foremost in my mind.

<<< HAPPY TO SEE ABOUT 90% OF THE CACTI I PLANTED THIS PAST WINTER ARE DOING WELL
Air was cool enough for us to take a last morning walk out into the desert & have us a look around at the surrounding mountains we will be so happy to see once again when we return sometime in October.  Funny but I’m already anxious to resume our morning desert walks in the Fall & we haven’t even left yet.  With temperatures due to be in the 80’s & 90’s next week we are getting out of here just in time.  Don’t like the cold we are going home to but don’t like that high heat either. 

HOUSE/INDIAN ROCK CAN BE SEEN DEAD CENTER OF THE PHOTO….SEE YOU IN THE FALL:))
I have $7.64 left.  That’s it, all I got.  When we arrived in Congress back in late October of 2013 Kelly gave me $40 in American money with the stern warning, “now don’t you dare spend this all at once or in one place.”  I didn’t, but somewhere along the line I did manage to spend $32.36 of it.  And I didn’t even buy myself one single darn hot dog at the gas bar this year.  Can’t remember where I obviously squandered the rest of it but if Kelly asks me how much I have left I’m a gonna tell her $36.45.  And I know I am going to have to come up with a pretty darn good excuse for what I bought with that $3.55 I spent.  And I’m not good at remembering to keep receipts either………. Oh woe is me:((

Pat & Mike McFall dropped in this afternoon to have a look at our Winnie Wagon.  They were curious about the floor plan & general layout of Winnebago’s Access Premier Class C.  Always nice to see these folks & glad they dropped by.  All the best to you both:))

A comment on my Wednesday night’s post led me to the sad story of a couple losing their RV in a storage facility fire along with another 30 or so RV’s.  GOING RV WAY had been happily planning a trip to Alaska but those plans have now gone up in smoke.  And it was a sad goodbye for TIOGA GEORGE when he went to see Ms Tioga after he was released from hospital.  The accident brought a final end to George’s beloved Class C Tioga Motorhome.  Reading his latest post I felt sad knowing how he truly is feeling inside.  A sad, sad, goodbye for a couple of best Pals who spent all those adventuress traveling years together.  So many memories for George & Ms Tioga.  And such a sad end.

Our T-Mobile phone arrived at the Congress Post Office this afternoon so we are cleared for take-off in the morning.  Drained the house’s hot water tank late this afternoon.  We will shut off our own electricity in the morning & the Congress water department will shut off our water Friday afternoon.  Walked around the property & through the house umpteen times making sure we had not forgot anything.  Rigs loaded, Jeeps hooked up, Pheebs toys are on board, & we are ready to go…………….

JUST TAKING A WALK AROUND THE PROPERTY TO MAKE SURE WE HADN’T FORGOT ANYTHING
 
ME & DUCKY ARE READY TO GO DAD
 
Watching the news this afternoon I see where we have luckily dodged a major weather bullet in the mid-west.  Tornados along the very corridor we often use coming & going to Congress.  As I’ve said many times before when we leave here at this time of year knowing how volatile & deadly the weather can be along our usual route we never dally or lolligag along.  If the weather’s good we push hard for home.  Hoping our route further north this time will carry us above that weather.  We did have hard rains & a tornado warning one time when we overnighted in Hope Arkansas.  We were fast out of there first thing in the morning & kept the pedal to the medal all the way to the border. 

 
ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO FOR A MORNING LAUNCH
Topped up Winnie’s propane tank this morning but not the fuel tank.  No need to pull a fully loaded gas tank up the Yarnell Hill.  We will fill up later in Chino Valley north of Prescott.  Our 300 mile destination for the day will be one of two free CAMPGROUNDS at Arizona’s NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT. 

OUR BIRDS ARE SURE GOING TO MISS US
The area we are heading for Friday is in Arizona’s MONUMENT VALLEY North-East of Flagstaff & West of Kayenta.  We have heard there may be little or no internet service out there in those far reaching expanses of wide open Hopi & Navajo Indian lands so if you do not see a post from us for a few days do not worry.  I will of course write my daily post or posts but it may be a day or two before I am able to publish them so we’ll see y’all whenever……………..:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  After being retired for a couple of years and completing all the jobs my wife had lined up for me, I began to feel somewhat useless and decided to enroll in a couple of courses at the local adult-education school.  I noted, upon registration, that there was no tuition fee for a person over 65.  As I handed my tediously-filled-out papers to the clerk, I announced, "I'm 68." Then, pulling out my wallet, I asked if she wanted to see my driver's license.  She replied, "No, that's okay."  A little surprised, I asked, "Oh, do I look honest?"  "No," she answered. "You look 68."