Red Rock Galore

On Sunday we made the trek from Havasu to Camp Verde and caught a glimpse of the snow covered San Francisco peaks just north of Flagstaff.

We took I40 and from Kingman to Ash Fork the road was quite bumpy and in need of resurfacing.  Lori was trying to take pictures of the scenery and every time she snapped we hit a bump and her picture turned out blurry.  I rescued a few of the drive.

Here they cut 2 channels through the side of the hill.

In addition to snow on the far off peaks we saw some in the ditches and tree line.  As we drove the temperature dropped from 90F to low 60's as we gained elevation.










Our initial plan was to turn at Ash Fork and take 89 down towards Prescott and on to Camp Verde.  We made the exit on I40 and within a 1/2 mile we saw a sign that said no trucks over 40 feet and we are about 52 feet.  We decided discretion would be the wise choice and took the first turnaround.  Later in the week we visited Jerome, which is a mining town built on the side of a mountain with narrow winding roads.  We most likely would have been driving right through the downtown so turning around was definitely the right choice.

Changing our plans at the last minute and trying to book in the Sedona area proved to be more difficult than we expected.  The last 3 weeks of March and the beginning of April are spring break for the schools in Arizona and many get out camping with their families.  We did manage to find a spot at Distant Drums RV Park just outside of Camp Verde and other than bad wifi, which is fast becoming the norm, the campground is very nice, centrally located and suits our needs.

I had to look for a garage to do an oil change on the truck as a message popped up on the dash indicating I should change the oil within 500 miles.  Our internet search located a Ford dealer in Cottonwood just a few miles down the road however when we got their it was closed.  The GMC dealer next door was also closed.  Turns out both dealerships were owned by the same company and they went bankrupt during the recent recession.  Both buildings look almost brand new.  The lady working at the tourist info centre directed me to a local garage and booked an appointment to get the oil changed the next day.  Came back on Tuesday and waited while they did the work.  When I got the bill I had to gulp hard.  $193. US.  They only charged $25. for labour but used Synthetic instead of Dyno and since the truck takes almost 4 gallons of oil the total was bit higher than I had anticipated.  We are good to go now for another 9-10k KM and since we are towing 14,000 pounds the Synthetic is probably a good choice.

We spent Monday and Tuesday driving around the Sedona area taking in the views.  The spring break crowd on top of the snowbirds meant that there were lineups for everything.  We plan on coming back to this area next year but will definitely be out of here before Mid-March.

The views are amazing and I can see why its rated as one of the most scenic places in America and is so busy.  In many respects its a tourist destination much like Banff or Lake Louise are in Canada.  Interesting though that we have seen more Arizona license plates here then in the rest of our travels.

 Our first view of Sedona nestled in a valley between towering peaks.

 This cathedral is built high above the town and has some amazing views.   The lineup to get into the small tight parking lot was quite long but we waited our turn and pulled in my mirrors and got shoehorned into a tight little parking spot.  Good thing I didn't get the dually.

These are views from the platform in front of the cathedral.

Not sure who owns this house at the base of the cathedral however they obviously have a few bucks.  The house is large and beautiful and is only outdone by the landscaping.

 We did manage to stop at a couple of tourist shopping traps.  This one, Tlaquepaque, had so much character with many different courtyards like the one below.  We did have lunch at the Secret Cafe but there were no bargains in the shops.

 

We had wanted to take a couple of hikes but most of the parking lots were packed so we will defer to our visit next year.  Wednesday and Thursday we are going to check out some RV Parks for next year and take a trip up to Jerome.

Later.