USA calling 7.6.07

Well we arrived in the USA on the 16^th May crossing over at a place called Douglas, the first stop we had was in a small old mining town called Bisbee, we had a little walk round and found a wonderful little coffee shop, I had peach lemonade and a lovely home made brownie, I asked how lemonade could be peach and was told the drink was a whole peach and a whole lemon liquidized with ice! It was delicious. The town had an old English feel about it, we continued on our way spending the night at Tombstone - the main street here just looked like a film set. We are heading north, going to some friends Kim and Don whom we met on the road in Chile, they live in Prescott. Les still has an oil leak which he is trying to get repaired. In Tucson we found “Camping World” this was an Aladdin’s cave to us and by the far the largest camping/caravanning store I have ever been in, trouble is (or may be a good thing) I am so overwhelmed I end up buying very little!!! I hope to find another one I am a little more prepared for the size of American stores now. We had a free night park at a service area, this proved to be very noisy as we were between the highway with very large trucks and a very busy railway line!!! Early next morning we press on to Prescott, then at a lunch stop Les’s starter motor failed, I prayed I would not have to tow him, my prayers were answered Les got the starter going. Whilst they were in a garage trying to get the starter fixed I stopped at a burger king with free wireless internet.!!! We enjoyed our burgers as well!

We arrived at Kim and Dons, who live in the cool of the mountains and have a nice large garden drive for us to park in, a beautiful wooden house with adobe inside, with lots of nooks and adobe shelves full of wonderful treasures they have collected from their travels, the white walls are lined with photos from all the wonderful places they have been. Our visit with them was great we talked non-stop about the world and our most favourite subject - over-landing. It is so good to spend time with like minded folk, and we stayed with them for 5 days. Whilst we were there we were invited by some friends of theirs to go on a raft picnic! We all went to the lake with what I would call a boat and K&Ds canoe, rowed around the lake a few times drinking wine, then parked the boats and had a lovely picnic and more wine! AND we saw a Bald Eagle actually we saw 2! And apparently they have babies, I was so excited, what a lovely evening we had. Les got his repairs done, we booked our flights home, found storage for the trucks and hotel accommodation for the nights before and after our flights.

Prescott is a lovely example of small town America, everyone is so very friendly, it is also very clean, tidy and interesting, this has made a very nice welcome into the America, which does just get better, with the odd funny bit. In the post Office I went to collect some things I had sent “general delivery” there was a long queue I looked around, seeing a short queue I joined it to ask how I collected my mail, the chap said I had to get in line I also needed identification; I showed my copy passport asking if that was ok, he said yes but get in line, then a guy who was in line strode over and demanded had I been in line. No, said I, as I was unsure what to do so had asked the kind gentleman at the desk who had told me I needed to get in line, he said he was sorry but thanked me for the explanation, but it was others in the line who had complained about me, To which I apologized to the whole queue explained that I was British and we had invented the queue, queuing was what we did. Silence no one else spoke the whole time I was there, it was very funny. Kim and Don reckoned that was because no one knew what queuing meant!! However I enjoyed my stay had loads of lovely chats with lovely people. I will return in July for my flight home.

We left Kim and Don’s going for a 3 or 4 day trip before Les and Margaret go home, there are some very interesting early Native American ruins quite near also Camp Verde which is now a historical site/museum and of course Sedona, which Barbara has told me, is beautiful.

Well we started off on our little jaunt looking for a campsite in the National Forest (which are either very cheap or free) near a place called Cherry this proved a little difficult and some of the road was not good but rather “corrugated” however we found the site and had a very nice peaceful night causing much interest with the volunteers looking after the camp, I put my foot in it up to my hip, but I will tell you about that, cannot write it down, may upset someone else!! We wanted to travel on a very scenic road to a place called Jerome and then on to Sedona, looking at the map we found a small road cutting through the forest. Wow! This turned out to be the worst road EVER, I was in front in case I had to give LnM a tow as the sand at the beginning of the road was pretty deep, then it was very uneven rock with very steep inclines and of course DUST (thought we had seen the last of that) infact every thing we hate ‘cause it was hot as well. We stopped on a flat piece of road (there was no traffic) for a tea break, then Les had a flat!!! The inside wheel of course, Les keeps his spare wheels on the roof, so us three “girls” (Les did say that) had to get A) the wheel down from the roof, B) both of these very large and heavy wheels off the truck, C) jack the truck up on a very sandy uneven road. D) Change the wheels over E) get the wheel back on top of the truck. Oh dear! I have an airline on my truck, so plan A was blow the tyre up. Plan A failed, so it was all of the above. The hardest was getting the thing back onto the roof, after many failed efforts (we are getting weaker) Les threw the rope he was pulling on down and I was swinging on this with all that was left of my might; Margaret was pushing Les was pulling Margaret was pushing with her head! Les said (to be kind) 'rest a minute'. Well Margaret (who by now is 4in smaller) screamed 'keep going, keep going', I wish some one could have taken a photo, had I the energy I would have laughed. BUT we got the job done. Only took us 3 hours - it was now time for lunch!

I have to say the road was awful but the scenery was beautiful and we did manage to find some very nice free camping, they call it “Boon docking”. The next day we continued onto Jerome; this is an old mining town with a population of 15,000 at one time, in the 1950’s it became a ghost town when the mine closed, then the 60’s came and the hippies arrived giving new life to this charming town which clings to the mountain side. Now the saloons and brothels have been changed into shops, galleries, studios and museums making this a lovely town very much on the tourist trail. The family who owned the mine was closely related to Winston Churchill’s mother, she was someone's sister but I forget who’s! Also given to the family (I guess by Winnie) and on display is a gargoyle from the Houses of Parliament broken off when the palace of Westminster was bombed. Just a little bit of home in the middle of Arizona. We followed the twisting climbing beautiful road to Sedona, Barbara was not wrong this place is stunningly beautiful the town is nestled between the massive fire hued rocks of Red Rock State park and the lush gorges of Oak Creek Canyon. You have all seen this wonderful countryside - the whole area has been used for dozens of Western films. The light, the blue blue sky and the wonderful colourful terrain makes this a place that makes you gasp at every corner. The rock formations are so amazing it made me think a giant had played at building sand castles. It was holiday weekend when we were there and parking for 2 big trucks was impossible so we just drove through the town. However on my solo tour I chose to return to continue the beautiful scenic road up to Flagstaff, I was able to park and spent some time wandering around the town, speaking to folk, a guy from England who has lived there 30 years and spent his holidays in Scarborough that was fun, a lady took me under her wing - she had been married to a Navajo who is a guide in the Canyon de Chelly National Monument, she told me how wonderful the canyon is and a lot about the Navajo Indians. I am going on a trip with him tomorrow I hope, although she says some time they just do not turn up, I have booked at the visitors centre so I guess if he doesn’t someone else will.

Les Margaret and I continue our trip through the Red Rock Country side (Awesome) then going to the Montezuma Castle which is a 5 story Sinagua Indian dwelling built in the splits and caves in the rock around the 12 century and was origianally reached by ladders. We also went to the Montezuma Well. Which is a limestone sink caused by the collapse of an immense underground cavern long ago. The Sinagua Indians lived near and used this water sauce. Our next and last stop for the day was Camp Verde; this was founded in 1866 as Camp Lincoln by the Arizona Volunteers to defend the pioneers from Apache raids. It was renamed by the U.S. Army a few years later when they took over and the area became more peaceful (so the guide said) It is very interesting as the original buildings furnished to the period are still there as is the parade ground. We were able to spend the night in the car park, and visit first thing in the morning, good sleep. From here we went to the Tuzigoot (Apache for “crooked water”) another Sinagua Indian dwelling, we were able to walk around and in here as the place was much more stable then Montezuma. We spent this night in the forest on a cheap campsite “potato camping”.

The following day back to Prescott for Les and Margaret to get ready to fly home, (he also still has an oil leak) We stayed in the National Forest camp site for the few days, Kim and Don came to visit us bringing a bottle of wine which was nice. I have a few things I would like to have done to the truck a couple of small repairs and a waste hole in the shower room. I took the truck to a very large RV sales and service place; I got some covers for the wheels and a new toilet from a couple of very nice guys then asked about service, so went to service where I was told in no uncertain terms by a guy with a big fat cigar, whilst looking down his nose that they do not work on such vehicles. I laughed and left! Kim and Don were very cross.

I have now found a mobile R.V repair man who will come and repair me when I get back to Prescott.

We continued to potter around Prescott doing jobs and just hanging out, the 5 of us had a lovely meal the night before L&M left for the UK.

Then its just little old me, from everyone that left the UK 2005/6 at the moment I am the only one left on this continent, Clive and Ann who are the last of the PANAM group at the moment are on the high seas heading for Tilbury.

My next ramble will be the excitement of solo travel…………………….