We’ll Be Back!!!

Travel Day Apple Valley, UT, to Cottonwood, AZ. We set the alarm for 7:00 a.m. but it was still dark outside. So we slept 1/2 hour more and it was at least light out. We headed out just before 8:00 a.m. and were glad we didn’t leave any earlier as the sun was straight in our faces! I glanced at Kevin’s iPhone and saw the time had changed. We were on a reservation so I thought that might be the reason. (Navajo Nation and a few other tribal lands stick with the US and daylight saving time back and forth. The rest of Arizona stays on standard time.) But then I quickly thought about it and was confused so what do we do? Google it. LOL And yes, Arizona is currently the same as pacific time zone (this is in Oct). Oh boy….Kevin has a training meeting tomorrow that starts at 5:00 a.m. MDT, which means 4:00 a.m. Arizona time. Oh we laughed! 

In Fredonia, we passed a business with lots of logs. What? There are no trees around here! Later, we saw the trees in Kaibab Canyon and a lot of logs were being picked up from a recent fire. Up and over Kaibab Canyon and wow, clear up to 8000 ft and lots of ponderosa pines. We see where the recent fire came through; it is the one that burned the Grand Canyon North Rim beautiful old visitor center just a few months ago. We saw a campground up there just before the turn off to go to the Grand Canyon. We also saw small trailers camping and some deer hunters. And then down we went. 

We stopped several places for beautiful looking and photos. We passed Cliff Dwellings and just as we went by we saw huge boulders on top of other boulders! No place to turn HOWE (footnote 1) around but…we will be back! This area is Lee’s Ferry, which I have read a lot about plus Autio (footnote 2) told about how this was the only Colorado River crossing for the area. In the 1990s a bridge was built but it wasn’t strong enough for heavy traffic so another was built in 1995. Wow!!! And we said…we will be back! Then we drove over the river where “the Grand Canyon starts”. No place to pull over big enough for HOWE so we said,…we will be back! Adding this area to our Places To See list. Plus, the Vermillion Cliffs, wow, straight drops sheared off rocks, different from other “cliffs.” I think we can come here and also go to Monument Valley. The thing is, though, this area gets really cold so as Kevin says, not in January! HAHA 

We stopped at Cameron, AZ, at a Chevron for fuel. This is a turn off to go to the south side of Grand Canyon. Thankfully we saw a pump with diesel open on the first pump. After pumping, Kevin pulled HOWE out of the way. As we came back from bathroom and drinks we saw another RV in the spot at the pump and oh my goodness, if they kept going, they would hit the awning! Kevin said we were very lucky he missed it as he turned out because we are as tall as that one. In fact, he went over and talked to the driver, who also hadn’t realized the awning was low. No measurement markings. But we did notice it is crunched in. The guy was very thankful to Kevin and said he would back up. 

Going through this area and around Flagstaff brought great memories of when we were here in the summer of 2022. Kevin said he thought the trees were taller. Down I-17 and more great memories. We got all set up at Verde Valley Thousand Trails Campground and sat outside in our new chairs enjoying the perfect weather. Yay!!!

Kevin had to get up at 3:30 a.m. this morning for 4:00 a.m. training. Poor guy, we laughed. Thankfully, he was able to get to sleep early last night and slept well. In the afternoon, we both sat outside in our camp chairs. The weather – couldn’t have been more perfect!!! And, for now, we don’t need to set up the Clam because there are no bugs bothering us. 

One day we stopped at CVS to get Kevin’s Amazon order. I waited in the truck and soon he came out with empty hands. He must have set it to mail to the CVS in Camp Verde, not Cottonwood. Oops. So we drive 14 miles/20 minutes past the campground and over to Camp Verde. It was fun to see a few more businesses have popped up since we were last here. Anyway, I stayed in the truck. I played with my new iPhone 17 Pro camera with the telephoto lens setting 8. I took a regular picture of the Maverik across the street and then the telephoto lens and wow, this is amazing! I can zoom in and read signs with the new setting. 

Kevin came out…empty handed again! He was on the phone talking to Cottonwood. When he went into the one in Cottonwood, he was told they don’t take Amazon, although it is listed as a Amazon Locker. Well, on the phone with them and oh, UPS drops Amazon off there. What? How rude that she didn’t tell him that when he was in there. So, a quick stop at Maverik for drinks and then all the way back, past the campground, and back to CVS in Cottonwood. We had a good chuckle about all the gas and time we were using up! HAHA Back at Cottonwood and oh yes, there was his package. My my my!

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. Autio is an iPhone app that tells all sorts of history and stories about places all over the country. It is narrated and with my iPhone on accessibility, it shows captions of the words being said. So thankful!