Great American Road Trip: March Spending Report

April 14, 2017 — Leave a comment

From the beginning, March was lining up to expensive as we traveled California and experienced its high-priced gas, food and camping, but we were prepared to deal with it as we explored the amazing state with the most National Parks (9). Then what do you know, I just finished our expense report, and it’s the cheapest we’ve had while fully on the road! Not only that, but the sites are some of the best we’ve visited. Let’s get into it.

Total March Cost: $2,977
Total days in the camper: 31
Total days out of camper: 0
Cost per day: $96
States Visited: California
Total Miles: 3,140

Summary

March was all about California, and for once, it wasn’t about the unexpected expenses that shot up our previous monthly totals. Our per day spending of only $96 was the second lowest month since January, but the lowest month while fully on the road. We’ve experienced four national parks so far, along with some other California dreamin’ locations. Overall, we’re really happy with our costs and hope to continue the momentum through Oregon and Washington!

Spending Details

The Good

We started our California journey the first week of March in Joshua Tree National Park. It’s one of those places I’ve heard about, but usually only from TV shows or movies where people go to eat mushrooms and “find” themselves. I can see why. It’s pretty trippy coming from the Los Angeles landscape of concrete and metal to one of the desert, with Joshua trees throwing their limbs in crazy directions and large boulders thrown around in piles like a giant little kid left them. It wasn’t as astonishing for us since we’d spent the previous two months in the desert and seen some similar sites, but it was still cool. Our favorite part was probably our neighbors who we ended up sharing our separate sites with. They had two kids, four and six who loved Lucy and loved playing. It was fun hanging out and sharing stories over s’mores.

After Joshua Tree, it was on to Death Valley National Park. It was only $1/day more than Joshua Tree, but still very cheap at only $16/day. Death Valley was like nothing I previously imagined – which my simple imagination had pictured only two small mountains with a sandy valley running through the middle.. and some rusted, broke down cars. Instead, the vastness of the landscape was hard to even take in as everything seemed larger than life. The weather was beautiful with highs in the 60’s-70’s, so we didn’t get the full desolate desert feeling the park presents in the summer.

We did get some major winds though, with dust blowing through the air and gusts over 70 mph refinishing our windshield. It happened while we were driving out to “Racetrack”, which is one of those places I always thought would be neat to see, but never knew where it was. Turns out, it’s in Death Valley! It’s a nasty 27 mile one way drive over sharp rocks that sometimes pile together to make it feel like a gravel road. It took over 2 hours, but the damage to the 4Runner will last much longer, mostly because the wind gust that showered the windshield with rocks that left many tiny pits! The Racetrack was really neat, with rocks seemingly sliding across the desert floors over years, leaving a small path behind them. Scientists figured out why a couple of years ago, but it’s more fun to imagine they are pet rocks who have been set free, as my brother hilariously commented.

We also met some cool people in Death Valley; maybe the person I want to be when I grow up! Steve owns a 1957 Airstream which he meticulously renovated over three years while providing hospice care for his wife who had early onset dementia and has now passed on. Okay, that parts really sad, but you needed to hear it to fully appreciate Steve. His new partner, Julia,  was a nurse her entire life before her husband passed, and she also helped with end of life patients and said she thought it was an absolute privilege to provide the final company and care for someone as they passed. So yes, they’re both saints. Steve and his previous wife also lived on a sailboat traveling the world for seven years, and before that, he was a pilot. He’s like Sir Richard Branson, but not as rich monetarily.

Steve and Julia told us about their favorite spot in California which we had to visit, Alabama Hills, just outside of Lone Pine. We decided to visit and it just happened they were there at the same time, so they made us enchiladas (Steve hand makes his own tortillas and bread, as you’d expect). Alabama Hills ranks as one of our favorite free camping site as it sits at the base of Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental US, and provides a stunning vista. If you’ve ever watched a western movie made before the 1970’s, it was probably filmed here as the location has doubled for sets in Texas, Nevada, Wyoming and even India and Pakistan! It’s beautiful and one we’ll always remember thanks to Steve and Julia.

After Alabama Hills, it was on to more National Parks, Sequoia and King’s Canyon. They’re right next to each other, so it’s appropriate to talk about them together. We weren’t as lucky with the weather as we were in Death Valley because it’s pretty early in the season and much of the parks are still covered in snow. In fact, most of King’s Canyon is closed until the end of April because of mud slides and ice on the road. We still experienced some beautiful hikes and got to see the thickest tree in the world (General Grant) and the largest tree by volume in the world (General Sherman). I love trees so it was amazing to walk through the Sequoia groves and think about how they’ve see the world change the last millenniums.

After the parks, we headed to the coast to get some warmer temperatures and beach time… but I’ve gone on long enough, so I’ll cover that below.

We kept our spending low thanks to lower mileage, longer stays and we controlled food expenses really well. Like I mentioned earlier, it was nice to finally have a month where we didn’t have an unexpected large expense.

The Bad

As we headed across California to the coast, we got excited to finally get some beach time and warmer weather, rather than the lower 60’s for highs and lower 40’s for lows we’ve experienced most of the trip. We packed a lot of summer clothes but hadn’t really used any yet!

We started in a small county park outside of Los Olivos, which was apparently the town “Sideways” was filmed. It was a rugged drive up into the mountains, but gave us some nice scenic views with wildflowers. However, it also gave us our first exposure to Calitrash, as I non-political correctly call them. We were woken up a 4:30am by a young man screaming at the girl who he was with, while she switched between yelling back and trying to get him to calm down. He continued until about 5:30am when she left, and then proceeded to yell at a national forest worker trying to collect payment the next morning. Luckily, he left later that day but we were still on edge the next night.

We hiked around the area and enjoyed the views of the central valley. The next few days I realized I took a little something home with me (in addition to the tick that bit me on the neck and left a nasty mark during the day)… poison oak. It was probably from a combination of Lucy running through it along with me brushing into it, but I probably compounded the issue while pulling numerous ticks off of Lucy as we we were hiking. I got it on my arms, legs and feet and it lasted over the next week. Yuck.

After the mountains, we stopped in Los Olivos for a delicious tri trip sandwich, before heading to Hobson Country Park on the beach which gave us quick access to Santa Barbara. As we pulled in, we identified more Calitrash and tried to get a spot away from them. They were three surfer dudes who were bleached out by the sun and burned out by the drugs. We were still too close as they kept us awake all night burning their piles of construction wood they probably stole from a wood shop… pieces of plywood, 2×4’s, etc. Luckily, they left… and then we got a new neighbor… a young couple whose quietness in the evening gave way to drinking all night, playing music and then getting sick outside their tent (in our view) the next morning. It was pretty amazing.

It wasn’t all bad though, as we enjoyed Santa Barbara, Ojai, San Simion and some other sites up the coast. We toured the Hearst Castle which was pretty amazing, but we weren’t able to go much farther up Highway 1 because of major washouts, including a bridge that had to be torn down. We’ll save that for next time.

The Ugly

Maybe I should factor in some additional expenses into the March report, as we suffered a heartbreaking accident. We try to keep our driving under four hours per day because it gets pretty exhausting pulling the camper. As we left the coast, we had the option to split the drive to Yosemite into two days, or drive hard and do it in one. The light at the end of the tunnel (Yosemite) shined so brightly that we went for it.

It was a lot of driving through some tough conditions as the area has experienced some major landslides, but we made it through. It wasn’t until the next morning that we realized at what price… I woke up and went outside to discover a major gash down the side of our precious Penny Lane. We’ll probably have to get the whole panel replaced along with some work on the door, but luckily it’s still functional. I guess some damage can be expected when driving a camper 30k+ miles in one year in some major rugged terrain, but I sure hoped it wasn’t.

Just so I don’t leave this report with so much negativity, I did want to share some wins. We pulled into Yosemite without any reservations (not advised) and scored a spot for six nights! The reservation system opens up five months in advance with most spots reserved out within a few minutes, so we got incredibly lucky to get our spot. The weather was also beautiful… but I’ll save that for next time. Let’s see if we can keep the spending low, keep finding amazingly beautiful sites and also limit any further damage to Penny Lane!

Hiking through Sequoia National Park where you can see the big trees everywhere. The picture of Jocelyn on the top isn’t even a named tree!


We were treated to some fantastic sunsets in Death Valley. The bottom left picture is “Racetrack” where rocks slide across the desert floor. Bottom right is the Saltwater Basin in Death Valley, but gives you a view of the vastness of the area.


To the coast! The top picture is from one of our favorite beach campgrounds, Jalama Beach. The bottom right is from Hobson County beach, where we met most of our Calitrash.


Various shots from King Canyon National Park – that’s Jocelyn in a tree! The bottom right picture shows how much snow still remained in Sequoia National Park… piled up very dangerously on this bridge.


The Alabama Hills on the eastern side of the Sierras and one of our favorite campgrounds! It’s BLM land so it’s free, and the sites are unbelievable.


Joshua Tree National Park, with some of Jocelyn’s finer pictures. Bottom right you can see me standing with one of our neighbors, four year old Lucy (and our dog, Lucy!).


More incredible pics from Death Valley. We didn’t see full super blooms as we always seemed to be a few weeks ahead of them, but we still saw some beautiful flowers.

In Airstream, Spending Summary, Travel
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The Untangling

April 5, 2017 — 2 Comments

We are the profiles we’ve created for ourselves with the help of outside influencers, but what happens when we either voluntarily or forcefully remove our profiles and no longer are the person who we thought we had become? How do we untangle everything that came previously and created our profile?

I’ve been actively exploring this question since I left my fancy corporate job last May. The first few weeks felt like nothing more than a vacation, with the feeling that email piles and conference calls would soon start up again. It actually took a few months to get untangled from the regimented work schedule where the rhythms of one work week often mirrored the next. Post-job, I no longer had a schedule or work plan dictating where I needed to be and what I needed to be doing. It was up to me.

It was easy to keep my mind occupied at this time because we were trying to finish the Airstream renovation and prepare our house for sale and/or lease. I thought about work now and again, but it was quickly fading into the past. My mind had pretty successfully become untangled from the knot that had formed over the two previous years.

The next untangling came when I had to figure out what I am now. I’m no longer a consultant, no longer corporate management, and I’m no longer in the high tech world. From some perspectives, I lost the identity I spent the last ten years creating.

Recently, I updated my Linked In profile to say “Explorer”. I was a little nervous doing so because it was such a far leap from what was there before. However, the title felt suitable because that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re exploring life on the open road as we take our Airstream across the US and Canada. We’re exploring different ways of living as we meet new people and hear their stories. We’re exploring our future and what we want to do with our lives.

I think untangling is a healthy process and biologically we have a deep need to do it. It happens automatically at night when we burn off the memories of the day which we sometimes remember as dreams. We also assist our natural untangling more purposely through meditation, yoga, running and other activities. Some religions or ways of life like Buddhism teach untangling as a very important exercise for our minds.

When I was in college, I was a co-director for Camp Cowboy, which was a freshman orientation camp to help students get ready for college life. My co-director and friend, Doug, had the idea to have each of the freshman write down what they were, or their “profile”, in high school. He then instructed them to throw it in the fire because they were leaving high school and the profiles/stereotypes that came with it (good or bad) and starting anew. Maybe it should be as simple as that.

Maybe in addition to an Explorer, I’m now an entrepreneur. As I learned in consulting, sometimes you just have to fake it until you make it.

In BREAK FREE, Work
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What’s Your Profile?

March 22, 2017 — Leave a comment

I’m an IT business manager. I know eCommerce and the online space. I’ve grown up in the consulting world and will always be a consultant. My wife and I have great careers and make good money. We live in a nice part of Dallas and don’t have to worry about unexpected bills or living paycheck to paycheck. We take fancy vacations and buy nice things for ourselves.

Now throw all of that away. Quit the jobs and jeopardize the future. Lose our main sources of income. Rent out the house and live in a small camper. Experience life among homeless people living in parks. Who are we now?

We spend the majority of our lives developing our profile. We start out of high school or college with choosing our profession and how we’ll make money. We work hard to become the best in the field, and we start to believe we are the person we’ve created.

My first career in consulting proved it paid off to build a strong profile. I never wanted to be a “SAP” guy (business software), but when I saw the bonuses and raises that were attached to the profile, I pursued it! It works out best for a consulting company to develop individuals with strong profiles because they can then bring them in to make the client happy and make more money. However, it’s not always best for the employee, because when that specialty is no longer popular, their value quickly declines.

Sometimes our profile is the creation of something we really wanted to become, but there are also big influencers from the outside. Your parents want you to be successful, your spouse wants you to be happy or rich (or both), companies want you to buy their fancy crap and society wants you to live up to its economic standards.

Whether we like or not, society and culture are two of the biggest influencers of our profiles. Why else do we all dress and act the same? I can’t decide if my next hairstyle will be the man bun or the one where you shave your head up to the sides and keep it long up top…. just like all the other hipsters! We may deviate slightly, but we’re pretty much all living the same. Our tour guide in Indonesia, named Putu, was astonished when we told him we moved away from our parents’ houses in the US and that we lived many hours away. In their culture, the families stay together, in the same compound, within feet of each other. That’s part of their profile.

But what happens when your profile changes? What happens when you decide you no longer want to look rich, but instead want to be rich? What happens when you purposely drive a car with over 200k miles on it, even though you could afford a shiny new one? Or on the other side of it, what happens when you get laid off and you can no longer find a job in your industry – instead having to go work part-time at Home Depot because that’s the only thing you can find?

We become so tangled up in our profiles that we can’t see a life beyond it. That’s why it’s so hard for lifetime “corporate employees” to become entrepreneurs. Corporate employees, myself included, are accustomed to earning paychecks by completing specific tasks and living within the bigger and seemingly safer ecosystem. It’s too scary to try to make money on our own without all of this support.

Profiles feel very empowering when we’re in the middle of them, but when we’re suddenly thrown out, we learn they can actually be quite debilitating. By saying we’re one thing, we’re admitting we’re not the other.

The one driving force of humanity that’s kept us around is our ability to adapt. When we’re thrown in new situations, we can survive and often thrive. We’re not the single profiles we’ve created, but instead a whole range of possible new profiles.

In BREAK FREE, Work
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Great American Road Trip: February Spending Report

March 18, 2017 — Leave a comment

February was the month we’ve dreamed of since we set out on our road trip. We spent 27 out of 28 days in the camper, explored amazing ruins and beautiful landscapes of the west and enjoyed cheap camping along the way. It should be just the start of an incredible five months that leads to our next big decision in life — when we return to Dallas and the real world — but until then, we’re off to explore.

Total February Cost: $3,181
Total days in the camper: 27
Total days out of camper: 1
Cost per day: $114
States Visited: New Mexico, Arizona
Total Miles: 208,009 – 211,770

Summary

We’re very happy with our $114 per day spending in February, especially considering our east coast months were more in the $150/day average! We even had some non-essential “upgrades” we were able to purchase this month that will definitely save us money in the future and allow us to camp off the grid even more. We’ll be in good shape if we can keep to this spending level, although I can already see it increasing as we move past Arizona and into California.

Spending Details

February Spending Report
The Good

There was a whole lot of good in February. If you read my New Mexico and Arizona trip reports and kept up with Facebook, you saw the exploring we were able to do this month. These two states are full of old archaeological sites from those who came before us, and those we shipped off their native land. Their surviving ruins show how integrated their life was with nature and how instead of trying to control nature like we do now, they lived according to it. Most of their structures melted back into the earth from where they came, but there are some remaining sites such as the Gila Cliff Dwellings and numerous cliff dwellings around Sedona, Arizona.

Looking at our expense categories, most of them are in line or below the overall averages. In previous months, we would always have one line item get way out of control which would skyrocket our per day total. The only line item a little high was goods, but I’ll cover that below.

The category we’re most excited about in February was our per day spending with campsites. We were amazed to find the state parks in New Mexico were only $14/day, even with full electric and water hook ups! On the east coast, we’d pay anywhere between $25-$45 per day, and of course the $95 per day in NYC! As we moved into Arizona, we found incredible camping in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Forest sites that were free!! Of the two weeks we spent in Arizona, we only paid for three nights in Phoenix and that’s because we loved the state park and we needed to clean up after so much time roughing it. On that note, we also spent one night at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass in Chandler with hotel points to really live the luxury life.

The Bad

I guess we did have one legitimate bad thing in February; we had a blow out on one of our trailer tires while driving through Santa Fe. It could’ve been really bad if we were driving on the highway because there’s horror stories of blowouts tearing up the sides of Airstreams, or even worse, causing a major accident on the highway. Instead, it was a minor annoyance as it happened late in the evening and most tire shops were closing, but luckily we were able to find some guys to help us out (if you ever need tires in the southwest, go to Peerless Tires!!). We spent some money on that and then decided to add a spare for the trailer so if this happened in the middle of Alaska, we wouldn’t end up like the guy in Into the Wild.

We also spent extra time in Phoenix due to another upgrade. After spending 8 days roughing it, our battery was pretty low and we learned driving doesn’t add much juice. If we wanted to continue living our off the grid life, we needed solar power. I started with a crappy 25 watt set up from Wal-Mart, but we learned pretty quickly it wasn’t powerful enough for our needs. As we went through Phoenix, Jocelyn found a solar store that gets great reviews, so we went there. We ended up with a 100 watt kit which included charge controllers and all of the wires (hey dad, they were 10 gauge, you were right) for right around $200! It was a hell of a deal and after researching solar for the previous month, we were happy to find a set up that works for us. It keeps our battery fully charged with all of the sun in the southwest, so the only reason we’re pulled back into civilization is for fresh water and to dump (the tanks).

The Ugly

We drove a lot between the two states and if you were to analyze our route on a map, you’d think we were crazy. In both states, we stayed mostly south, but then took a quick trip up north before heading back south again. This was by plan though, because we had two areas we really wanted to visit in the north of each state, and when the weather decided to cooperate, we shot up to enjoy 3-4 days in Santa Fe (New Mexico) and Sedona (Arizona) before plunging back south as the cold weather moved back in. We were happy to take on the extra miles.

Overall, our February travels were amazing. We were able to settle into our westwardly way of camper living, explored some incredible sites and did some great hiking along the way. We continue to outfit the Airstream to our needs, but we also think about what is next. We don’t know about the real world yet, but I think it’d be fun to start making bad ass camper vans… you know, the old conversion vans with 4×4 tires, grill guards and a roof rack? If we had that, we really could go anywhere…

These are all pics from around Sedona – this place is beautiful!

Cliff dwellings and Petroglyphs from sites around Sedona

Night time skies around Arizona and New Mexico

Some of Jocelyn’s great pics from around Arizona

Our flat tire and the great guy (Michael) who came after hours to fix it!

In Spending Summary, Travel
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Great American Road Trip: Arizona

March 6, 2017 — 1 Comment

After New Mexico, our westwardly route took us over to Arizona. While New Mexico has an easily identifiable profile – culture, food, geography, etc… I don’t feel Arizona has the same. Based on my previous visits, I knew it had some fancy stuff around Phoenix, some cool desert towns up north along Route 66, a racist sheriff in the south and apparently a lot of spring training for MLB teams.

After our two weeks through the state, I’m still not able to identify an overall profile, but I can at least add some more descriptors! The main ones would be: snow birds, lots of great archaeological sites, great free camping and beautiful landscapes. Let’s get to the trip.

As we headed to Arizona, we took the typical few hours before arrival to research where we should visit. Jocelyn found a national monument in eastern Arizona that was within driving distance, so we headed that way to Chiricahua National Monument. Have you ever heard of the place before? We sure hadn’t.

If you’ve ever visited Bryce Canyon National Park, you’d recognize some of the geographical formations, but in a more yellowish-tone, rather than the orange and red of Bryce. We completed a roughly 8.5 mile hike through the main highlights and were blown away by the natural beauty. Rock formations like “balanced rock” and “duck on a rock” didn’t take much imagination to name, because they were exactly that… big rocks that were stacked high upon columns and resembled different shapes.

The main campsites fill up months in advance, so Jocelyn wasn’t surprised when we arrived late in the afternoon to no availability. However, I was a bit surprised because she failed to mention this bit of information which might have persuaded me to drive in a different direction and skip it altogether! Instead, we started the first of many off road excursions with Penny Lane across Arizona. We took a six mile drive down a heavily rutted gravel and dirt road where the only other traffic were really, really interesting hippies in vans you’d imagine hippies driving. The best was the old school bus that was pulling a VW van… double cool.

We managed to skip the hippy camps which must have been farther down the road, and instead settled on a nice treed site next to a creek. Oh yes, and it was free. If we had a main theme in Arizona, it was “find the awesome BLM and National Forest sites six miles off the paved road where the amazing camping is free!“.

We headed out after one night and left the rough road, only to find another. This time we headed north to Tucson and found some more BLM land, six miles up a pretty steep gravel road with ruts, that’s not recommended for trailers. I guess we saw this as a challenge instead of a recommendation. We spent the next two nights waiting out some cold and rainy weather while enjoying good views high over Tucson.

After Tucson, we had to decide which direction to turn, either south to hug the border or north up past Phoenix and to Sedona. As with most of our destination decisions, weather was the deciding factor and a three day warm spell meant we were headed to Sedona! We heard good things about the city previously from friends, so we were excited to add it to our trip.

As we left Tucson, we stopped in Phoenix to hit up the outlet malls so Jocelyn could get some new pants. We had been roughing it for a few days and we were getting to the point where either our bodies fully fought odors and no longer smelled, or our noses gave up the fight and we simply couldn’t smell ourselves. Jocelyn headed in to the mall while I stayed out with Lucy (I wasn’t ready for that much civilization) and when she texted me that she was headed to the fragrance aisle to freshen up, I knew it was time to take action. As you might know, I traveled for work and know my way around hotel programs. There’s a Sheraton Wild Horse Pass that was only a half mile away, and the points redemption wasn’t too high, so I made the call that it was time to fancy up.

We timed our visit so we maximized our one day at the hotel, arriving right around the 1pm check in time. I used my method to guarantee upgrades – slipped the front desk guy a $20 bill with my license on check in – and we were paid back kindly with a nice corner suite with a separate bedroom and $20 in drink coupons! This is the forth time I’ve done this trick, and while Jocelyn finds it extremely awkward, it’s worked every time and has been well appreciated by the front desk agents!

We spent the next day in total luxury and soaked up as much free internet and hot water as we could. We hit up the casino next door, got our $10 each in free slot play for signing up to their rewards program, and cashed out $17 ahead! It wasn’t a big amount, but usually we lose, so we were pumped. The next day was in 70’s so we spent the morning poolside before timing our last shower just before check out. On to Sedona.

Sedona. Wow, let me just tell you about Sedona. It’s reallll beautiful – a small town surrounded by mountains of red beauty. We kept up our theme and drove 10 miles on a dirt road to find one of the most beautiful campsites of our entire trip – once again, free, in a national forest. We spent the next few days watching the sun set over the beautiful red rocks, exploring the town (this only took a few hours) and doing one of our most exciting hikes of the trip – the “Hangover Trail” which was around five miles on a ridge of a mountain overlooking Sedona and the surrounding beauty. We really enjoyed the town and will definitely go back.

Let’s talk archaeological sites. As you probably know by now, I’m fairly obsessed with them. We had some good ones in New Mexico, but I was also very pleasantly surprised by what Arizona had to offer. Just around the Sedona area there are at least five major sites to see cliff dwellings and petroglyphs – Montezuma’s Castle, Montezuma’s Well, Hananki, Palatki, and V-Bar-V. We hit them all up but the last, so that will be left for next time. These were all sites of the Sinaguan people and really shows how many people civilized the area pre-Columbus. I’m continually astonished by the number of Native American ruins in the southwest.

After Sedona we headed to Phoenix in search of solar. Solar panels are a pretty complicated deal and if anyone can easily explain them, you probably have a bright future. My first set was a cheap Wal-Mart deal with a 25 watt panel. We realized after a few days this wasn’t going to do much and we needed to upgrade. We found a great retail location in Phoenix (Solar Penny) and spent $200 to get a 100w panel with a charge controller and all of the hook-ups. It was a great deal, and I’m happy to say it’s kept the battery fully charged in the southwest sun, and we may never need to plug in to the electric again! It was a good investment that will continue to pay off in the future as we won’t need to pay for electric sites just to recharge the battery.

Our last stop in Arizona was the Kofa National Wildlife refuge, just north of Yuma. We once again dove south to avoid the next cold front, which isn’t great for gas expenses, but at least we are able to avoid the cold. We continued our off road theme and took Penny Lane down a seven mile gravel road, across a proving (bombing) range and over a small creek where she bottomed out and I had to build a small bridge of rocks to get her over. Yes, that all really happened.

The site in Kofa was once again, free and incredibly beautiful. We spent the next two days hunkered down to avoid the cold rain… and uh, the bombs. Apparently, it’s an active proving ground – and why they have it next to an active “wildlife refuge”??? We felt we were somewhere in the middle east, with the desert beneath our feet and the sounds of bombs dropping in the distance. While we enjoyed it, we knew it was time to head out to California… after, of course, I built a new bridge with wood and ramps to get us over the ravine on the way out!

Arizona was a lot of fun and even though we missed wide swaths of it, we were able to get a good feel and find areas we’d go back and explore again. I guess the state profile includes – lots of potential to explore and return. On to California!

Some highlights from the Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona

Some of my favorite archaeological sites in the US are in Arizona, Montezuma’s Castle (top) and Montezuma’s Well (bottom). Can you see the cliff dwellings in the bottom pic?

Pics from two archaeological sites very close to Sonoma, AZ – Hananki and Palatki, both ruins from the Sinagua people.

Our one night refresh in the beautiful Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort!

In Travel
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