Desert Damsels in Distress and a Wild Four Wheelin' Ride

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I’m starting this entry on Thursday and we are set to fly out tomorrow at 6 p.m. So today I will pick up from our last entry and catch you up on what we’ve been doing while here in the Phoenix area. We’ve been winding down, but not completely, so we still have a few stories to tell . . .


We used Sunday as a day to rest, relax, and recharge our batteries. That evening we joined Uncle Bob, Aunt Joan, Karen, and Kelly at a Tuscan restaurant called Sassi’s to celebrate Aunt Joan’s birthday. It was a beautiful place with Old World style surrounded by views of the desert and nearby Pinnacle Peak. We had a great time visiting over three courses of delicious Italian dishes.


That takes us to Monday, when we took off in our rental car to travel the Apache Trail, a scenic route that begins a few miles outside of Phoenix. The Apache Trail was once an Indian raiding trail that was developed into a road while the Roosevelt Dam was being built back in the early 1900’s. It has many points of interest along the way, including four man-made lakes, the Superstitious Mountains, Lost Dutchman State Park, an old gold mining ghost town, an old-west style settlement called Tortilla Flat, and Tonto National Monument Indian cliff dwellings. The road, in some parts unpaved, is full of steep inclines up and down rock cliffs, winding passages through narrow canyons, and several single lane bridges. It travels through Tonto National Forest, giving splendid views of Sonoran Desert plant life.


We determined to make the drive as far as Fish Creek, the most scenic and “thrilling” part of the route. Along the way we stopped to walk out the short trail to view Weaver’s Needle, a place that figures into the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s mine. Our next stop was Goldfield Ghost Town, where gold was mined in the 1890’s. We took the tour of a reconstructed section of the old mine and strolled the streets of the old West town. The mine tour was pretty dadburn hokie, but we did learn a few things. Our next stop was Tortilla Flat, a former stagecoach stop, now inhabited by a whopping total of six people. The restaurant there is quite a hoot, with saddles for seats at the bar and dollar bills lining the walls. I had the biggest plate of nachos I’ve ever laid eyes on, and Nick had his fourth hamburger (if Elk burgers count) of the trip.


Next, we were off to tackle the hairpin turns and ups and downs to Fish Creek. We were totally enjoying the views when we were flagged down by two women who had pulled off the road to an overlook. Somehow, they had gotten their vehicle situated in such a way that two of their tires were lifted off the ground and they could not move. So, it was Nick to the rescue. Since he’s had experience with a similar situation involving a ditch and a certain unnamed daughter early in her driving career, he knew exactly what to do. He had them out of their predicament in no time, and then we were off to finish the 1,500 ft. plunge to Fish Creek. Once we made the drive down, we got out and explored a little….still no arrowheads and no fish either. In fact, the creek bed was completely dry as are most of the rivers in the valley this time of year. We made this our turnaround point, stopping on the way back at the Fish Creek Hill lookout to take some pictures of the valley.


The rest of the day we lounged around the condo, napped a little, and went for an evening swim. Before long the wind was kicking up and there was lightning in the distance, so we called our pool visit short. We gave ourselves an early bedtime because we had to leave the house in the morning very early to meet our guide for the next day’s adventure—an ATV tour of the desert. Originally we were going to do an ATV tour in Sedona, but by now we were running out of steam and losing interest in another long drive. So, we opted for their other tour not too far from Phoenix, which we were told was a more fun trail. As it turned out, we ended up with a private tour, just us two on one ATV and the guide.


The town where we had to meet the guide is not really much of a destination, as it is home to numerous maximum security prisons, but we did hear it had a good Greek restaurant and a Greek Orthodox monastery that can be toured. (Not sure what forces bring 14 prisons and a Greek monastery to the same town, but so be it!) Anyway, we had thought we might try the restaurant and the monastery tour while we were there, but that didn’t pan out, as you’ll soon find out why.


We started out by meeting Brian, our hard-nosed, no-nonsense tour guide, who barked out commands and made sure we followed all the rules. We were commanded not to touch anything because everything in the desert will hurt you. Before long he had us in line calling him sir and obeying his every order. Once he saw Nick was going to handle the bike okay and do his best to play follow the leader, Brian lightened up a little and turned out to be a fun and informative guide. Since it was just the two of us, he threw in a few freebies, like taking us into an old mine shaft, showing us some Indian petroglyphs and an old 1800’s post office, and taking our picture at a few stopping points. Along the trail Brian pointed out wildlife and plants of interest, including a tarantula web, a roadrunner, a red-tailed hawk, and various types of cacti. He said they sometimes sight rattle snakes, scorpions, and bobcat, but we weren’t so fortunate! The ride itself was a blast, as we went up and down hills, through narrow canyons only 10 ft. wide, on roads, trails, and dry river bottoms.


The trip was a total of 40 miles, and as we were driving back for the last few miles I was thinking what a fun day this had been, when I smelled something smoky. Suddenly Nick was slowing the vehicle, then turning it off, and looking down. “What’s burning?” I asked as we both scrambled off the bike, realizing our legs and ankles were getting sprayed with hot oil. Once off the bike, we saw that the oil cap had come off the engine. We both were doused pretty generously with oil on our left sides. So, we dutifully did what Brian had instructed us to do if we had any trouble—sat and waited for him to come back for us. Brian showed up shortly and reacted with a comment to the effect of “holy *$#@” and then, “Are you guys okay?” After we mopped the oil off our arms and the bike seat, Brian ended up towing in Nick on the conked out bike and I rode on the back of Brian’s bike.


After assessing our condition—oil-covered and dust encrusted with burns of unknown degree on Nick’s back thigh and Joanna’s ankle, not mention helmet hair (this last item was not an issue for Nick, but was a definite problem for Joanna)—we decided to forego any public appearances. Joanna was able to inspect her ankle and the burns were small and minor, but we couldn’t assess Nick’s without him dropping his drawers, so we put one of our handy dandy frozen water bottles under his leg and headed back to our homestead. After drinking three bottles of water on the trail, we were in desperate need of a bathroom, but not wanting to be seen in public we vowed to hold it until we got back to our place. Then about 20 minutes into our trip back I remembered I had left my bag (with wallet and some other things in it) in the storage compartment of the oil splattered four-wheeler. SO, we turned around and started making phone calls in hopes of catching Brian before he left. After a few calls, wrong numbers, and more calls, we finally caught up with Brian and were able to retrieve the bag. By then “holding it” was no longer an option, so we swallowed our pride and went into a convenience store looking like a couple of convicts who'd escaped from one of the local prisons and been hiding out in the desert for a few weeks.


When we got back in our car and continued on, we started getting a bunch of voice mail messages on our phones. Apparently family back home had read about a big dust storm in Phoenix and were worried about us. We let them know that dust was not our problem at hand, oil was. In fact, we didn’t even know about the dust storm, but apparently the wind and lightning that had chased us out of the pool the night before was the tail end of it. We learned later that the worst of the storm had been south of where we were staying. Finally we got back to our place and inspected Nick’s leg. The burns were probably 2nd degree, about the size of two silver dollars, so we doctored him with more cool compresses and later, ointment and a bandage, and decided he’d survive without genuine medical attention. He was however, considering calling my cousin, who is a lawyer here in Phoenix!


So, that’s the last of the desert rat chronicles, the rest of the story is pretty tame. On Wednesday, Joanna spent the day with her cousin Karen and her two sweet little ones, Kade and Madde. They went to Karen’s fitness club, called Lifetime Fitness, which has to be the Lexus of gyms. The place was huge, with state of the art facilities for children, a café, a workout room that is about quadruple the size of the gym we go to, and then there’s the pools. It has a beautiful pool with a wading pool for kids, a lap pool, and two swirly slides, an outdoor café, and views of the mountains in the distance. But that’s not all--everything that is outside is duplicated indoors, with the addition of two giant hot tubs with waterfalls. The day was not totally uneventful as I managed to get Kade and I reprimanded by the lifeguard for playing on the pool ropes. What can I say? Everything that was fun when I was kid is now a big no-no!


After the gym, we had lunch and Coldstone, visited two of Karen’s favorite shops, and ended at Karen’s home, where Nick picked me up. In the meantime, Nick had used the day to rest and recover from his big Fat Greek Four-wheeling Ordeal, thankful to have someone else keeping Joanna on the go instead of her keeping him on the go!


Thursday was another day for relaxation, as Joanna got a massage from a lady who works out of the clubhouse at Rio Verde, and then she made some pasticcio to share with the Breslos that evening. Nick did some soaking in the hot tub and lots of sleeping on the sofa. Joanna was totally amazed at Nick’s capacity to do nothing, but he said, “I’m on vacation at last!” Our last evening was a very enjoyable visit at Karen and Kelly’s house and our time to say our goodbyes to the relatives in Phoenix. As we retired that evening another storm blew in, so we peeked out the window to witness the rare sight of rain in the Valley of the Sun. Looks like the monsoons may finally be showing up in Phoenix.


And so concludes the Southwest Travel Tales of JoNick. I will probably make one more post with our final thoughts on the trip, and link to the rest of our pictures on Picasa. So that’s it for now. Thanks for your interest in our trip. I hope all of you are fortunate enough to have a great summer getaway too!

JoNick

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Photos

Apache Trail
The Long and Winding Road

Awesome pool
Can you spot the mountains in the distance?

Our party at Sassi's
Celebrating Aunt Joan's birthday

Weaver's Needle
Legend says the Lost Dutchman's Mine might be out there!

Miners
Posing at an old Mining Ghost Town

Comments

[Hilda]

Glad you're okay
Wow! What a trip. What wonderful adventures. I'm glad you're okay after the fourwheelin' ordeal. Have a safe trip home. Hilda