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Published: October 8th 2012
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Hung out at Michelle’s for quite a while this morning – talking with her, checking email, searching for blank CDs in my car (Michelle offered to burn some new music for me), talking with Dave from Adams Stove and making final decisions about that project, and looking at the map to plan my course for the day. I finally left the house close to 11am, and having decided it was time to let someone assess the damage from my little Ooops on my Bryce Canyon day (see post from Nov 23rd), I stopped at the bike shop in town.
I thought this guy would straighten out the handlebars and brake grip, look the bike over, and send me on my way saying it was perfectly safe to ride and all was fine. Well...Mr. Bike Guy felt certain the bike had taken a pretty hard hit and the integrity of the stem (where the straight piece of metal and the handlebars meet) was compromised and needed to be replaced. He admitted that many others would say it was fine, but he believed in playing it safe with such matters, and went on to describe potential scenarios of future events – impalement
Giant Kokopelli
Enroute to Cottonwood, Az through the chest, head first wipeouts. Pretty compelling.
I pulled up beside the "Nightly Tours" sign, and entered the shop. It's a small shop, but packed with...well...UFO stuff. I browsed at the bumper stickers, bendy aliens, t-shirts, and the newspaper clippings on the walls. Soon after I walked in, however, a Canadian couple entered (I know, because I overheard them say so). And for the next 20 minutes or so, I feigned interest in a number of objects but had my attention largely on the conversation between the couple and the shopkeeper. They discussed all things alien - activity, what they looked like, their purpose when they visited Earth, recent sightings, orbs, local hot spots, and the nightly UFO tour – replete with campfire and marshmallow roasting. When I realized I could stand there all day listening, I snapped to, bought ought a pocket alien (everyone should have one, no?) and the $1.00 map to the Bradford Ranch – a piece of property purchased by the US government after a series of sightings and other alien-related happenings, now a sight of various underground experiments and an active portal (contrary to commercial portrayals, most aliens travel through portals and don’t
actually land spaceships).
The shopkeeper shared not only information (about government as well as alien activity), but warnings about visiting the ranch. "Our bodies are not prepared to deal with the energy of portals, and we don’t have the proper protective wear to make going through or even being around them safe". Further, the land is now owned by the US government (purchased for over $1,000,000), is posted as off-limits, and a bunch of testing of various sorts goes on under the ground there. Surely a drive to the ranch was in order! Off I went.
Beautiful, but bumpy, dusty drive. 4-wheel drive is a wonderful thing. The bike rack is taking quite beating on this trip! Sorry to say, no sightings, odd feelings, or occurrences, but it was a nice drive and fun being on the quest.
Eventually I got back on 89A headed South toward Cottonwood and ultimately Jerome.
Along the way an extra-large Kokopelli caught my eye. Didn’t go into the building so not exactly sure what was inside, but outside there was a nice homage to Mother Nature, some other extra-large fun things, and signage about the earth, humans, connectedness, peace and
compassion.
Next stop – Old town Cottonwood. Cute main street. Great little coffee shop. Wonderful coffee, and incredibly warm, smiling, inviting faces on everyone in the place. A little “Stepford” – but only in the best of ways!
I tried to find the Riverwalk trail that runs along a river and alongside a state park. I never did find it, but had a nice stroll and got to see some very cute ponies hanging out in a field.
Back on the road, I headed south and eventually ended up in Jerome. What a cool town!
Built into the side of mountain – tiered main street
I found a spot along the road in front of an a couple of very cool metal sculptures and parked. The woman in the shop was with a retired school teach from New York (Queens originally, then the Finger Lakes area). She told me she and her husband decided to move out there, loaded up their car with their kids, dogs, and cats, drive straight through in 46 hours, and never looked back. We talked about New York, education, small town living, and life changes. A lovely encounter.
I got
The Asylum
Jerome, AZ back in my car and headed up to the main street, parked, stepped out, and a voice behind me said "Welcome to town!" Scotty (as I soon learned his name was), was something of self-appointed town greeter. He told me he's lived in Jerome for almost - he's lived in Jerome for over almost 40 years, is proud of what he sees as his involvement in 'saving the town in the 70s.'
Okay it's not Oct 8, 2012 - I signed on to the blog to see where I'd left off and to encourage anyone still interested in following my whereabouts to come over to my website - just started that a week or so ago. So...some day I'll go back and perhaps fill in some of the gaps between Jerome and...was this before or after the Grand Canyon? Roswell? Yikes...I'll catch up one of these days...
okay - come on over....
www.justjilltoday.com
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