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Published: November 30th 2017
We left Moab rather hurriedly, after a few great bike rides, when the nighttime temperatures were threatening to dip down to 19 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 7 centigrade I think!), and spent a very windy night at Goosenecks State Park, close to Monument Valley. Our camping spot was just a few feet away from the edge of an incredible gorge, which plummeted more than 1000ft down to the San Juan river below, a tributary of the better known Colorado river. I spent most of the night terrified that either the collapsible roof of Tortuga would indeed collapse, crushing us in our bunk, or that the wind would somehow disengage the parking brake and send us hurtling into the dark chasm of the gorge. Ken was worried about neither possibility and slept like a baby!
For a while it seemed as though we were constantly fleeing from wild weather, as we hightailed it from the windy Goosenecks campground to Flagstaff in Arizona, only to find the temperature yet again well below freezing that night. Since we were burning through a disproportionate amount of propane to keep our heater going each night, we looked at a map and figured that Sedona, down
Don't do it, Goldie!
Goldie peeks over the edge, Goosenecks State Parkin the desert, would be a more pleasant option. And so it proved to be! Finally we were in warm sunshine, with gorgeous deep blue skies and no nights below zero. It was the start of Thanksgiving week, so everywhere was pretty busy, but we were able to find a nice campsite out on a Forest Service road, just a few miles out of town. We shared the spot with Jeff and Emily, a great couple from Denver, who early in the year sold pretty much everything they owned, bought a travel trailer, and have been touring around ever since and enjoying a much more simple lifestyle. They're off to New Zealand in January to continue their world travels, and we really enjoyed spending a night around the campfire with them, and doing a bike ride with Jeff on the nearby trail system.
From Sedona we drove just a short distance to Dead Horse Ranch State Park, near the town of Cottonwood, which is a place we've been to several times before and always have a great time there. The mountain bike trail system is pretty fun, though strenuous, and there are some nice hiking trails alongside a river,
which Goldie greatly enjoyed. We would have liked to have spent longer there, but had already made an appointment for the day after Thanksgiving in nearby Prescott to get Tortuga properly tied down on the truck (Ken had devised a homemade system back in Pagosa which was working ok, but we were always a bit nervous going uphill, in case the whole rig might slide off the back!!). Somehow the installation of what, to me at least, appears to be just a lump of strong metal and a few links of chain, took almost 8 hours and cost about half of our monthly living budget, but we do feel better knowing that Tortuga can't go for any travels all by herself. Thanksgiving itself was great: Ken's biggest desire, given that he couldn't be with his folks and sister in Greenville this year, was not to spend it in a Wal-Mart parking lot (Wal-Mart lets campervans and RVs stay overnight in their car parks for free, and we took advantage of this several times last year in Casita, but it's hardly an atmospheric setting!). So we found a great National Forest campground at Yavapai, near Prescott, and spent several days there,
Monument Valley
Ken says this is a scene from Forrest Gump?! riding the trails, hiking with Goldie, and going into town to get Tortuga sorted out. Dinner wasn't roast turkey with all the trimmings, but a good campfire and a bottle of wine made it festive nonetheless!
Prescott is probably our favourite place in Arizona, and we were reluctant to leave, so spent another few days hiking around stunning Lake Watson and then camping in National Forest land up at White Spar campground, where there are yet more good bike trails. Today we headed northwest and are treating ourselves to a cheap motel in Kingman, Arizona before heading to Lake Mead, and then the central California coast. So far everything is going well, living in Tortuga is a lot of fun and we've already met some great people, including a Chilean couple who are driving from Alaska all the way back to their home in Concepcion, Chile. I expect we'll see them again somewhere along the way down south...
Thanks for tagging along, I hope you enjoyed this entry and if you scroll all the way down to the bottom there should be a bunch more photos. ~ Fi
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Mops and Flops
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That's the life!
Well done. Keep living on the edge but don't go too near the edge !! Meaning... take care and don't overdo the biking !Have fun and love to you all. Fabulous start to summer in NZ if you decide to change direction ! xx