9/20/2014–An Exciting Day Trip

I’m going to catch up with the blog eventually, but wanted to get this one posted while the memory was still fairly clear.  This is our last day in the Monument Valley area and we decided to take a trip to Kayenta, AZ for lunch and to look around a bit.  We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant Amigos which was pretty good, fueled up the truck an headed back on Hwy 160 toward Monument Valley.  We stopped at a few pull offs to take some photos and had noticed 3 planes circling around the area.  At our next photo stop, one of the planes was dropping and headed toward us looking like it was going to land on the highway.

As it went by us, it raised up to miss the power lines and then eventually landed in the road about a half mile south of where we were parked.

We could see that it was finally able to pull off the road into an area that had recently been cleared off.

We called in a report to 9-1-1 and drove back to the scene.

In this photo, Ken is talking to the pilot and his tourist passengers are off to the right.  He told Ken that all passengers were totally quiet during this incident.  That would not have been the case if I was a passenger .  Actually, after seeing the results of this, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly in a plane with this pilot.

Ken plays traffic director until the Navajo police arrive.

One of the passengers is on the left directing traffic while Ken is back talking to the pilot.

Another police officer arrives.

Nobody was injured, but a ambulance shows up anyway.

The landing was due to the manifold pressure failed on the plane.  Once Ken exchanged emails with the pilot, we headed back to see what other kind of excitement we could find.  More to post later about the rest of our day as well as previous days I’m behind on due to iffy Verizon data signal.

8/29/2014–Day Trip to Holbrook, AZ

 

We drove up to Holbrook for the day to look into local tourist information and check out the Elks lodge.

We were greeted in Holbrook by the local dinosaurs.

We drove to one end of town and found a local shop where the owner modifies Volkswagons.

This one is a working RV.

The owner invited us to take a look inside.  It’s not very roomy as the bed takes up most of the space.  It looked like it would also be made into a dinette table.  There was a stove in the middle of the photo and the icebox is to the right.

His latest project seems to be a low rider VW van.

It looks like Ken would have a difficult time fitting into this car.

Another one of the shop owner’s project cars.

The visitor’s center was also the local museum which we took time to tour.

This is a machine that stencils lettering for crates.

A unique old safe.

The town’s old jail is in the basement of the building…did not look too inviting.

The courtroom and judge’s chambers were on the upper floor and there was an extensive law library.

This is a wooden book binder.

After picking up a few items we needed, we headed back to our camp by the south entrance of Petrified Forest National Park.

8/28/2014 - Show Low, AZ to Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

We left Show Low, AZ this morning on a 60+ mile drive toward the south entrance of the Petrified Forest National Park.  Here are a few photos of our drive to the park.

We arrived at the south end of the park and got set up in an RV area set up at a museum and gift center.  Later in the afternoon, we drove into the park and spent some time at the visitor center looking around and watching a video.  Here are a couple of photos from inside the park.

After spending some time at the visitor’s center, we drove north for a bit then headed back.  Ken got some great photos of this deer crossing the road.

This location is looking like a good place for the Labor Day weekend, so we should be here until Monday taking our time to explore the park and surrounding areas.

8/26/2014–Fort Apache, Arizona and Kinishba Ruins

We were ready to play tourist for the day and after getting a recommendation from a friend we headed to Fort Apache, Arizona.  The Army post was established in 1870 to assist the Apache people to remain peacefully on their lands and to stem conflict between Native people and incoming settlers.

This log cabin was the original commander’s post.

The next three photos are a few of the officer’s quarters.

Approximately 8 miles from Fort Apache, we drove to walk around the Kinishba Ruins. 

And just some of the scenery on our return trip.

 

Nick Russell’s 5th book in is Big Lake series is now available on Amazon:

1/21/2014–Arizona City to Quartzsite, AZ

We left Arizona City around 10am this morning and drove to join the thousands of boondockers in Quartzsite, Arizona

Along the way we passed a large prison facility between Gila Bend and Buckeye.

A view of some distant hills as we head toward Quartzsite.

As we got nearer to our exit in Quartzsite, we started seeing the many RV’s parked near the frontage road.

Choosing to avoid traffic at a busy intersection in Quartzsite, we headed north by Discount Solar and got on Hwy 95 north of town.

We drove north about 6 miles to Plomosa Road, then headed east almost 3 miles before turning to the left to meet up with Dennis and Carol.  They gave us a quick tour of their new RV and it is really nice and has a very fulltime friendly layout.  Once we got set up, we had to find a Fedex drop box so we drove back to one of the truck stops and took care of that.

Before heading back to the RV for the night, we called COD (our neighbors from Spring Branch, TX) and then visited with them at their campsite for a while.  Quartzsite must agree with them because they both look great!

Back at the RV, I broke out the can opener and we heated up some chili for dinner….a culinary delight!

We have no special plans for Wednesday so we’ll see what happens.

1/20/2014–RV Packed & Ready To Go–Quartzsite Here We Come!

The ATV has been loaded into the utility trailer behind the truck and is ready to go!

Unfortunately, we’re too late for Escapees Happy Hour due to having to wait on some paperwork to arrive via Fedex.  It got here today, so we’ll be on the road in the morning.  Hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with some others to get in some ATV rides while there.  We’re ready!