A HOT day on the road...

Breakfast in Telluride

As we dropped down out of the CO mountains, we knew it would get hot again, and there was no chance of rain in the forecast.  The cooler was fully stocked with ice and drinks.  We had our water bottles full with rocky mountain spring water from Telluride, so we felt we were prepared.

We reached 4-Corners by noon, and paid a visit and the fee to see the silly "monument", but it seems like a tradition, and Joe was picking up a note left for him by friends who had passed through a week before.  With all the time we spend on text and email, it seemed pretty cool to get a real hand written note - a sort of Geocache.  Not much to see, and not dining or other options at the monument, so we moved on quickly, looking to find lunch at the next town about 30 miles down the road.  We did meet a man from CT traveling across the country in an RV.  He was interested in the car and chatted for a few minutes and we told him our story - "you are living in this?" he asked.  No AC and pretty small next to his RV.  As I have said to others, I lived out of a canoe for 3+ weeks last year, this car has more room than a canoe and neither has AC.

As usual on this trip, we have miles to make each day, but want to see things along the way.  Today, we mostly took photos from the car as we passed through the desert valleys and past the mesas.  With no shade at the rest stops or in the parking at the restaurants, keeping moving was the best way to keep us and the car cool.  As usual, we watched the gauges carefully.  When we stopped at 4-corners, we noted the usual rise in water temp that comes when you stop and engine in the heat, but 10 miles down the road, the temp had dropped back to it's normal operating level.  Through the entire desert crossing from 4-corners through Tuba City and on to the Grand Canyon, the water temp held at the same level as it did in the mountains of New York, and the planes of Kansas.  The oil temp ran a little higher than typical, but that was to be expected.  We did opt for the Sonic Drive-in for lunch, not for the food selection but for the shaded parking.  During that short stop, everything cooled down nicely.

As we took the turn and began the climb into Grand Canyon National park, the trees and shade were a welcome change of scenery.  It has been 25 years or so since I have been to the Canyon, and other than the iconic images we all have of the canyon, I don't recall much and the visitor centers etc have changed I am sure.  We passed through the entrance gate paid our park fee and chatted with the very nice and friendly ranger - no lines at the entrance we thought was a good sign that we would not be fighting crowds and that was true, but there was one down-side.  We arrived and the main visitor center as they were lowering the flag and it had closed just 5 min. earlier.  Oh well, we can see the canyon better from outside than in the visitor center.  Truth is, we were just looking forward to a cold drink and an air conditioned place to relax for a bit.  We did pull out and view the Canyon for a while.  I think you could sit and meditate on that scene for hours.  We had to plans or means to do a hike while we were in the canyon, but Joe has committed to coming back with friends in the future to do a canyon hike.  I realized today how quickly we are passing things by, but we have had the luxury of the long visit in Telluride, and this was just a side trip enabled by the family gathering tomorrow at my Dad's place in Oracle, so getting to see the canyon at all was a sort of bonus.

We continued out of the park looking for a place to eat dinner before continuing to our final destination for the day - Flagstaff AZ.



The drive from the park to Flagstaff turned out to be quite scenic, and the temp dropped significantly.

We arrived in Flagstaff just after dark and found another of these old time motels that I am really beginning to like.  AC, Cable 2 beds, clean and you can park in front of your door - all for $47.  How can you beat that?  The people who are keeping these places alive deserve a lot of credit for keeping this service affordable and available for the road weary travelers who don't need the big Hotel chain features that to me are negatives - you can wake up in a new city each day, but not know it...  We are right on historic Rt 66 and will do a tour of the NAU Campus after breakfast this morning.  Then we head out on the secondary roads avoiding Phoenix, and passing through the small towns and past the big lakes (Roosevelt), through Aravaipa Canyon and into Tucson on Rt 77.

We will be staying with my brother and his family - can't wait to meet my new niece - 2 years old, but I have not seen here yet.  Tomorrow is the family party in honor of my father and sister who both passed away in the last year.  In memory of Tony Hille we do this trip, and we will have a "Taco Party" in the house he built in Oracle AZ - what we now call Million Acre / Chaos Ranch.  Each name has it's meaning for us, but I cannot pick one, so I use both.

We proceed from the family gathering headed across another desert span and into Southern CA.  Really looking forward to the costal roads and ultimately the cooler mountains and forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Mileage Check - ODO = 37,705  Total miles = 3,298 - time for an oil change.