Sunday, Jan 29…
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| Five cats traveled in this rig. Three of them were happy to escape to the outside thru this wire mesh tunnel and play tent. |
As predicted, 2 nights at Quartzsite sufficed. Off to
Prescott (another place I visited back in October) via I-10 (briefly), then AZ
60 to 71 to 89. Before 89 the scenery was vast, colorless, mostly uninhabited (except
for occasional permanent-resident RV parks) and kinda boring. Shortly after we
turned onto 89, however, we climbed the apparently infamous Yarnell Hill (lots
of switchbacks) and crossed the Weaver Mts into Peeples Valley. Suddenly the
road was lined with beautifully maintained ranches. At bit later we were
climbing again, summiting the Bradshaw Mts at 6100’. Many more twists and turns
(w/ the usual useless guard rails), snow on the surrounding mts – it may be the prettiest pass we’ve been
through (at least today 😃).
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| Peeples Valley Ranch |
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| At least one of us can enjoy the view. |
By 1:30 we had settled the rig outside Prescott and headed back into town for a late lunch at "The Palace" (the oldest saloon west of the Mississippi). Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday played poker here. The building was destroyed by fire in 1901, but the bar was removed & salvaged and is still in use today.
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| view from our MH: desert - cliff - Fain Lake Park - upper ridge homes - mountains - (my thumb) |
BlogThoughts… Tumbleweeds. We’ve been thru umpteen deserts over the last several weeks,
and I’ve seen exactly 2 actual
tumbleweeds (actual meaning in motion –
I’ve seen gazillions of wannabees still firmly anchored in soil). For some reason,
I have fond memories of the Sons of the Pioneers crooning “lonely but free I’ll
be found, drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds” and was looking forward
to humming a few accompanying bars as they swished across the highway.
One
other highway sideline. As I mentioned above, the early part of today’s drive
was miles and miles of the same dry desert landscape. Eventually I wasn’t
paying much attention… suddenly I noticed a huge field lined with
California-straight rows of deep green (maybe spinach?) in beautifully tilled
dark soil. And then we were past it and the desert returned.
I'm really starting to wish I was there. You've got me itching to take a road trip, and remembering the ones we took before. Stops at the Flying J (or somewhere near there) for breakfast in Idaho on the way to Utah. And nighttime driving when you're munching to keep awake, and switching drivers every few hours, and waking up groggy at each gas station, and the silence in the dark when I wake up on the road, and my voice penetrates the silence when I talk to you. I remember some of the trip across country to Grandma's. We had some great times.
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