Honanki Ruins

At 6:00AM I awoke and immediately began thinking about the impending sunrise.  The opportunity to see the sunlight play against the buildings and cliffs could be a good one, so I rolled out of bed, grabbed my Fuji camera gear and began wandering around the Enchantment property.  I got a few shots that I found interesting.

Today the four of us began searching for a breakfast locale that could give us our required "shared pancake plate".  A local recommended Nicks which was adequate, if not delicious.  We'll do better tomorrow.  Still, we all stuffed ourselves with eggs and bacon and sausage and potatoes and gravy and biscuits.   And pancakes.

KC and I dropped Karen and Sherry off in the heart of Sedona for a two hour shopping spree which resulted in the acquisition of shiny objects, this time it was silver and turquoise bracelets.  KC and I scouted out a second retail center which will be ground zero for tomorrow's shopping exercise.

By noon, we were arranging for our four seat/four wheel drive Polaris Razor and I was getting mapping instructions on an off road trip on which we spent the afternoon. 

High jinks ensued with KC bombing us down some rough and rutted desert trails...though none were extreme enough to really cause much anxiety among the passengers.

The highlight of our trip was arriving at the Honanki ruins.  The ruins were named by archeologist Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes who gave them the Hopi name Honanki or "Badger House".  These  ancient cliff dwellings were home to the Sinaqua tribe, ancestors to the Hopi, between 1150-1350AD and we were able to follow a trail that took us directly to them. 

Close enough to spit on.  The ruins were nestled in a natural concavity in the cliffs that sheltered them from the elements and provided a natural roof over them. 

It was an amazing experience...none of us had ever seen cliff dwellings up close before.

By 3:00PM we were cruising back to town and after a few missed turns and re-routing exercises, we arrived back at the rental store by 4:00.  After riding on red dirt roads all of us were covered with red dirt and badly in need of showers.  Dinner tonite is at the hotel's best restaurant.  Since we ate no lunch today, I think our appetites will be in full bloom.

Update:  Our dinner last night at the Enchantments' top restaurant, Che Ah Chi (means "Red Rocks"in Apache) was incredible.  We began with a shared plate of freshly made spaghetti with a cream sauce and Kobe beef meatballs and we licked the bowl clean.  Soups, salads, dinners and desert that followed

were spectacular...the best food I've eaten in recent memory.  It capped off a wonderful day in a spectacular setting with dear friends.

Sedona

This morning KC and I left the hotel around 8:30 and drove to the Phoenix airport.  Karen and Sherry's flight was on time and we picked them up without drama.  Once on board we headed north to Jerome, AZ.  Jerome is an old copper mining town that was built on the side of a mountain. 

After becoming a ghost town, it began attracting free spirits and bikers.  Today, it is jammed with restaurants, bars and shops of every description. 

We had lunch at The Mile High Grill, famous for its gourmet burgers.  Following lunch we strolled the streets looking for...let's see, what were we looking for?  Actually I wasn't looking for anything, though I did find a handsome Jerome hat. 

Karen and Sherry had spotted an Olive Oil store (yes, Virginia, they have olive oil stores) and they bought a freighter's worth of oil and balsamic vinegar. 

The store was set up to allow oil and vinegar tastings and the sales guy was masterful at pairing certain oils with certain balsamic vinegar.  Actually, he was most masterful at separating vulnerable women from their money.  Whatev.

From Jerome, we drove on to Sedona and The Enchantment Resort.  The resort is situated at the base of some massive red rock cliffs and is an absolute five star resort. 

The hotel has three different restaurants , each with outdoor seating that treat the guest to these spectacular views of the cliffs. 

As the sun set and the light shifted, the views of the red rocks changed dramatically. 

The temperature gradually dropped from low 80's to low 70's and the four of us had drinks and appetizers overlooking the pool and the cliffs. It was magic.

Albuquerque to Phoenix

Today was the final truck driving leg of this segment of the tour...Albuquerque to Phoenix.  KC and I departed the hotel at about 7:30AM and began hunting for a Carl's Jr.  With our arsenal of smart phones, GPS and finely tuned senses of smell we made a bee line for a wholesome breakfast of sausage, egg and cheese biscuits.  After trying subsist on Hampton Inn breakfasts for the past three days my digestive system needed some grease.

Since the drive to Phoenix was only 450 miles, KC and I agreed to take a more scenic route, which this map approximates,

and began with a leisurely stroll down Central Avenue which is the old Route 66.  Central Ave makes a straight line trip through Albuquerque and leaves a traveler with no doubt about the route's history.  The street has ample examples of historic art deco Route 66 motels, restaurants and gas stations...some showing their age, others looking like they'd been lovingly restored.  You could easily imagine families touring through here in the Chevy station wagon in the 50's and 60's...before the interstate highway system sped up and sanitized long distance motor touring.  Following two and a half days of nothing but interstate, it was a welcome change of pace.  It left me with the impression that Albuquerque was a happening place with a pretty active economy.  I like it a lot.  At the end of town, we hopped on I40...but only briefly.

Old Route 66 Bridge

A short ways out of Albuquerque we stopped for a bio break at a Route 66 gas station which doubled as a Laguna Burger stand.  As I came out of the station I spotted a young lady walking a large black animal...clearly not a dog.  As I got closer I could see that it was a pig on a leash.  

I approached her and asked, "Is that what I think it is?".  

She said, "Yup".  

Boone the Pig

The pig, named Boone (as in Daniel) was a house broken pet that she said was very smart and very clean. Boone discovered the remnants of my bag of ice that I'd dumped on the ground and was devouring the ice cubes as we pulled out.  Reminded me of Buck, our Golden who passed on...he loved a good ice cube.

At Grants, NM we turned south on Hwy 53 and headed through the El Malpais National Monument known for the black lava fields that run along side the road. After El Malpais we entered the El Morro National Monument which gained altitude steadily and became more isolated. 

El Morro Nat'l Monument in New Mexico

During a road side break,  KC claimed that he could smell the carcass of a dead mule deer we'd passed a quarter of a mile back.  In the still air we both heard the noisy buzzards working on the road kill.  The skies were clear and blue and the temp was in the low seventies.  What a wonderful place.

Adobe Oven...not my photo

Throughout the drive we were in and out of reservations, notably the Navajo and Zuni tribes.  In one of the small "rez" towns, we noticed how indescribably decrepit the housing was.  The other thing we spotted was the nearly universal red dirt adobe ovens in everyone's front yard.  My research says they use these ovens to bake bread.Our consensus was that the Zuni tribe got the shitty end of the stick when it came to the quality of the land on which the reservation was sited.

Los Corralles in Show Low, AZ

In Show Low, AZ we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant named Los Corrales.  The food was great and the decor was astounding.  Every single chair, table and booth in the place had a hand carved scene in it and they were painted in incredibly bright colors.  The place was a sensory overload.  Loved it!!!

Los Corralles

Our route eventually took us to Hwy 60 and we entered an area that is known as the Mogollon Rim...a 200 plus mile long escarpment that runs from northeastern Arizona to the New Mexico line. Its elevation runs from 4,000-8,000' and offers some gorgeous vistas.

Mogollon Rim

Mogollon Rim

Tonite we're at a Hampton Inn at the Phoenix Airport and will be picking up Sherry and Karen in the morning.  From here we'll head towards Sedona and some very luxurious accommodations at Enchantment Resort.  Nothing but the best for Lucy and Ethel.


I received a text from Sherry at around 9:00PM EST alerting me to the urgent news that she and Karen had to make a room change at the hotel.  Apparently neither room met their needs and the hotel staff was scrambling to accommodate.  To add insult to injury, the Georgia game was NOT available on their TV system.  

Oh, the humanity.

Albuquerque

Today was a 650 mile shot eastward on I-20 out of Fort Worth to Hwy 84 West in Roscoe, TX and then Westbound on I-40 to Albuquerque where we dropped the trailer (and the GS's) off at a secured storage area. 

The drive took us about 11 hours on great highways with little traffic, almost no construction, in for the most part, very good weather. 

Leaving Fort Worth this morning at about 7:00AM we dodged a pretty serious weather system...really just caught the tail end of it...and experienced very light rain for just a short period.  By mid morning we played tag with another small weather cell around Abilene.  At Ranger, TX we left the interstate and picked up Hwy 84 pointed towards New Mexico.  It was a nice change of pace from two day on I-20, traveling through lots of small towns, past huge ranches growing cotton and corn and grazing cattle.  We began seeing huge feedlots and massive farm equipment dealers...most centered around the booming metropolis of Muleshoe, TX.

Approaching the small town of Ft. Sumner, NM we noticed multiple police cars ahead with blue lights flashing, stopping all traffic in both directions.  I figured someone had spotted Elvis streaking through town but it was really to allow a Friday afternoon parade to get started.  Out from a side street emerged a series of floats, girls on horseback, boys pedaling bicycles and a Kiss tribute band...all showing teen spirit for the coming of the Bobcats vs the Wolves football game.  That's right, it was Friday Night Lights in small town Texas.  It just doesn't get any better than this.

After a 20 minute parade break, we snuck through the back streets of Ft. Sumner and soon found Hwy 84 West again and put the Bobcats in our rearview mirror.

Twenty miles east of Albuquerque we pulled off the interstate for a bio break and realized just as we did so that traffic had come to a grinding halt. 

Drawing on his immense navigational skill set, KC re-routed us onto the old Route 66 which paralleled I-40 and we skirted the accident.  Minutes later we were pulling into our storage area where we quickly parked and unhooked the trailer.  It will stay parked until Karen and Sherry head back to Atlanta on 9/24.

Dinner tonite was at a fabulous Mexican restaurant called Sadies.  The waitress promised "three meals on a plate" and she wasn't kidding.  KC and I could have fed a family of six with what they brought us.

Unsavory Characters

Last night the hotel security guard called KC in his room and recommended that he move the truck and trailer from the side of the hotel to the very front of the hotel because he was concerned that someone was lurking around the trailer.  So, at around 11:00PM, KC obliged him and came down to move it to the front of the hotel.  He told KC that there were lots of "unsavory characters" around the area.  Turns out there wasn't really much of an issue...more likely the guard was bored and wanted someone to talk to.  Now chatting up strangers is not really one of KC's long suits and so in mid sentence he thanked guard, turned and walked to the elevator.  The guard was still chatting as KC walked onto the elevator and closed the door.

KC and I debated whether "Unsavory Characters" are more or less problematic than Deplorables.  A question for the ages.

This morning we got an early start and drove roughly 650 miles, every bit of it on I-20, through the rest of Alabama, all of Mississippi,

From Mississippi Rest Stop

From Po' Monkey's Juke Joint

all of Louisiana and well into Texas.  Traffic was light and fast, the weather was perfect and we arrived in Fort Worth around 6:00PM.

Our entertainment for the day was listening to the audiobook rendition of Bill O'Reilly's book "Killing the Rising Sun" which is an in depth description of the events leading up to the dropping of the atomic warheads on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan which, of course, brought a rapid end to the war against Japan.  Pretty graphic account of the brutality of the war and the enormous impact of "Little  Boy" and "Fat Man"...the names given to the warheads.

An Early Jump

Yesterday afternoon KC pulled up beside my garage/shop (a facility that he refers to as "The Shrine") with his truck and trailer.  Thirty minutes later we had my bike and gear loaded and ready to depart.  The plan was to leave Thursday morning but after debating which of us was more ready to leave than the other, we hatched a plan to leave early. 

At 6:30PM I pulled into KC's driveway and by 6:45 we were headed west...well, actually we were headed south towards Atlanta.  Traffic was smooth until we hit the connector, but even then it was moving.  We turned onto I-20E and headed for Alabama.  Around 11:00PM we decide to declare victory and found a reasonably nice Fairfield Inn just off the interstate in Bessemer, AL.  In spite of a noisy air conditioner (I wish Bill Gates would spend his foundation's money solving the problem of noisy hotel rooms), I slept pretty well and bounced around 5:00AM.

KC just joined me in the lobby for a typical hotel breakfast...so bad.  The plan is to make it to Fort Worth tonite...easy for a couple of steppers.

Spot Tracking

 I plan to use a Spot Messenger tracking device on our Four Corners Tour.

The Spot device allows me to automatically upload my position using satellite technology every 10 minutes.  Spot offers the ability to see these positions on an online map...so anyone who's bored enough can just click on the link below and see where we have been and where we are.

The Spot also allows me to send a canned text/email message (like "I'm OK" or "Stopping for the day...all's well") which is helpful in areas with no cell coverage (and believe me, we'll be in lot's of places with zero cell phone coverage) and also to send out an S.O.S. message which the Spot Message Center will receive and will then scramble emergency help using my satellite position.  Very Jetsons.

Here's the link you can use to track me:  Spot Map

And this is what the tracking page should look like (with a single tracking point from my driveway this morning).