Got on the road , we are now in Williams, AZ again.

A couple of videos from our ride up Schnebly Hill. I couldn't hold the camera too steady with all the bouncing around. 

Saw this t-shirt and thought it was approx. for our last ride.  

Beautiful morning in Cottonwood, but plans changed! We are now back in Williams, AZ. The morning sky in Cottonwood. Very pretty. 

So what happened? Well we had to change sites. The one we were going to move to was in the area of the park that is quite crowded, very close to each other and lots of trees. So once we packed up to move we decided to continue on towards home. We will get our money back for the week we paid for.

We are now 100 miles closer to home. Will be staying here in Williams at least until Saturday. Beautiful Passport America Park. Good Internet. Only problem is it is 6500 feet high. 

Here is a neat little trailer that is here in the park. 

Went to McDonalds for lunch. Remember the commercial, “Where’s the beef?” $15 for two #1s. I got more pickles (3 - after I sniched Bills) than beef. - it is less than 1/4 inch thick.   

Started sprinkling just as we finished eating. Lots of black sky up there. Thought we were going to get heavy rain, but it never materialized. Sun came out and it got warm. 
Walked around Williams late afternoon. Neat little town. Really like this mural. He looks like he could step right off the wall. 

Took more pictures but will save them for later. 

Mr Willie's Wild Ride up Schnebly Hill

Woke up to a beautiful day. So we had several choices on what to do. Finally decided on driving up Schnebly Hill. We have done it a couple of times in the past. Always a beautiful scenic drive. However it was very different this timed. Our original plan had been, we'd drive up it to the vista point and then drive back down the same way. About half way up our minds changed. We would come home by continuing on to I-17 and coming home that way. Our total round trip was 82 miles from campground to campground. From about #4 to #5 is the Schnebly Hill road.

A little closer look at Schnebly Hill Road. But it doesn't begin to tell the tale. I think it is 17 miles from Sedona to the I-17 just south of Flagstaff. Seemed much longer than that. 

Getting off of 179 in Sedona on to Schnebly Hill Rd. The first little part is paved. 

Scenery is unbelievably stunning. 

The end of the paved road, now the fun begins. 

Looking off to the side of the road. Like I said beautiful scenery. There are a lot of hiking trails here too.  

Hummm...The last time we were here all the drainage pipes were under ground. Been a lot of erosion on this road. The dirt goes away but the rocks don't. 

A off roading tours in a Hummer. We followed him a little ways. I was surprised to see that the tourists weren't wearing seat belts. He had a much wider wheel base than us. 

We had just come over a really rough section of rocks. They were about six inches higher than the dirt. 

More scenery. Didn't take as many pictures of the scenery as I usually do as we were still planning on coming back this way and I would be on the picture taking side. Looking out into the canyons. 

Following tire tracks to figure out the easiest way over the rocks on the narrow twisting road. 

After we were through this part we decided we wouldn't come back this way. But by then we were closer to the top [or so we thought] than the bottom so we continued on. Looking out my side window. 

Don't get too close to the edge! Watch out for that rock! Actually I kept very quiet. 

We did stop at a couple of pull outs so I could take some pictures when the car wasn't moving. Had a lot of blurred pics today. Hard to focus when bouncing from side to side and up and down.

And more of the "road."

Got to love the view down into Sedona. 

 It is a good thing we have a lift kit on Willie. And we have a metal skid plate underneath protecting the gas tank. I heard it scrape more than once today. 

 Hum...which way to go? Right or left. Drop off on left, rocks and bushes on right.

 Another view point. 

 There goes the road in front of us. No guard rails and not real wide. 

 At the top. Enjoying the view. 

We were talking to a couple who had come in from the I-17. They were driving a 4x4 GMC. Not lifted. We told them the way down was really rough, much worse than in previous years. She told us the way they'd come in was rough too. So we didn't say any more. Wonder how they enjoyed the trip down?

 Just past the vista point on our way out. My heroes: Bill and Willie. They both were probably thinking at first, "Wee what fun." Then "Crap this is taking too much work."  Both of them are cooling down. 

The "rough" road out. Actually it too was much rougher than the last time we took it. But not near as bad as the way up. 

 Again pretty scenery but different. Lots of level land and trees. 

Soon we were on the highway on our way home. Bill cleaned up and then went in to read his book while I sorted through my 125 pictures from today.

A walk on the trail

Yesterday was the first day since we got here that it didn’t rain during some part of the day. Not a drop. But lots of humidity, everything is wet through and through and when the sun is out the steam comes up.

First thing today I want to wish our 2^nd oldest son a Happy Birthday, he is 56! Where did the years go? And how did they go by so fast. It wasn’t that long ago when I was 56.

This morning there is not a cloud in the sky either. Bill is sleeping in so I took a walk up the trail I started on the other day. This time I went clear to the end - round trip 1.5 miles. Well to where there is a fence saying no trespassing. I surprised myself that I didn't get out of breath going up hill. Guess my walking is helping me. 

 The little bit of mountain WAY in the background is Sedona.

 And more up hill. 

 End of line. State property beyond fence. 

Only wild life I saw were two birds and a butterfly/moth.

Sure was quiet and pretty up there. All kinds of tiny flowering plants growing in the desert. 

 From a distance these look like tiny puffy balls.

 But are really individual flowers. 

Stopped and got gasoline for Jeep this morning. Last week it was 1.99 today it is 2.15. Goes up a whole lot quicker than it comes down. Labor Day weekend gouging or real price raise?

Lifes little pokes.

Sunday morning has dawned bright and almost clear. It is nice to see sunshine when I get up. We finally dug out the little electric heater last night and plugged it in. So it is not so darn cold in here this morning.

We had quite an adventurous evening last night. Not of our making, well most of it wasn’t.

I think I mentioned another storm was heading our way last night. It arrived with a bang. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such bright and continuous lightening.

I set at the dinette right next to the window to use the laptop and to watch TV. [I miss my recliner – no room for it in here.] Anyway, that gives me a good view of the weather. We were watching TV when CLICK – no TV. I looked at Bill, did you turn off the TV? No. Then we realized the power had gone off. There had been a big bolt of lightning and clap of thunder just before the click. It must have hit something. Boy is this campground, down here in the valley DARK when all the power goes off. I’m funny about electricity – I unplugged my computer, phone and MiFi – didn’t want any nasty surprised if/when the power came back on. Soon the rain was pouring down again. Bill went to bed to read his Nook and I continued to watch the storm and read my Nook. What great inventions with their back lighting. About an hour and a half later I heard another click and then the satellite dish started to move. Yippee – the power was back on.

I replugged all my stuff back in, including the little heater, finished the chapter I was reading and headed to bed. Stopping first in the bathroom…Oh, Oh! As I took my second step in the bathroom my foot landed on the sopping wet rug! Well crap. I turned the light on to check out what was going on. The whole back, toward the outer wall, side of the rug was soaked. Had the wind been enough to force the rain in through the open window? Checked around the window and the wall – nope it wasn’t even damp. First things first. I had to pick up the sopping rug. Thought I’d throw it in the shower for then. But realized if I did that I’d get the laundry bag, who resides in the shower, all wet. Didn’t want that to happen.

WELL CRAP – the power just went out again!!!! And it was starting out to be such a great day.

Back to last night…So took the laundry bag out of the shower put it on the counter, picked up the dripping rug and threw it in the shower. Grabbed a couple of wash cloths and started mopping up the water. Took three washcloths. As fast as I mopped it up it got wet again. Not good, not good at all. So I started looking for where it was coming from. The only obvious place was the toilet. Sure enough the supply line to the toilet – thank goodness the supply line and not the take away parts – was all wet. Couldn’t feel anything loose, but it was definitely coming from there. Had to make a decision – wasn’t hard to make as we’d be floating if it was left to morning. So I woke Bill up, gave him a flashlight and pointed him towards the bathroom. He did some checking then headed outside. Turns out that when he was trying to figure out why the water heater was no longer heating one of the things he did was take the pressure regulator off. [This didn’t help the water heater situation.] So by late last night the pressure had built up enough to make the toilet line leak. So he shut the water off, turned the pump on and went back to bed. Problem solved until morning.

This morning the laundry is residing in the passenger seat and the bathroom rug is outside slowly drying out. Pressure regulator is back on. Hopefully end of problem.

With the power out we decided to go out to breakfast. Any excuse right?  Not a cloud in the sky, and the view is magnificent from the main road. No smoke or dust or mist in the air today. WOW.

Coming home from breakfast the clouds are already building over all the mountains.

We are having our typical Sirimarco Sunday. This is Messi - Barcelona's star.

Bill is watching a Barcelona soccer game and I’m watching a NASCAR race and during commercials the soccer game. 30 minutes into each, Barcelona has a goal and Kyle #18 has spun and is already 1 lap down. 

Power went off again this afternoon. Bill decided to turn the generator on. Except it decided not to come on. Another thing on the list for dealer. Sure hope we don't need it for the next week.