Day Twenty Five

Grabbed some breakfast and took it back to our room to eat. Packed up and headed out. Fuelled up and started the journey south west to Yuma.

The only incident of note was the unfortunate death of a chipmunk which decided to run into our front tyre when we were travelling at 75 mph. I hoped that it had missed us but when I looked in the wing mirror, I saw the two halves of it flying through the air.

For lunch we stopped at a rest stop and ate a packed lunch we made using the leftovers from last night. Saw this.

Don't get this at Gordano or Taunton Deane

Arrived at the hotel in Yuma at about 4pm. The temperature was 113°F or 45°C. We sat in the room for a while. Skyped Paul and Helen.

We then went out for a swim. It hadn't cooled down at all. The water in the pool was boiling hot as well. Spent a fair time swimming before going back inside to air conditioning.

Hot tub

Headed out to Penny's diner for tea. I drank two milkshakes.

Yum

Felt like I was going to explode. Went back to the hotel to die. It was still 107°F/42°C at 9pm.

Last proper drive tomorrow ending at San Diego. It is cooler there.

States Visited - 17

Day Twenty Four

Before I start, here is the view from our room as promised.

Red Rock

Got up late. Missed breakfast at the hotel, although the reports are it isn't that great anyway. Instead we headed out for breakfast at the Red Planet Diner. It is a sci-fi themed place, hence the name.

It was out of this world

It looks like it is owned and run by men. It lacks that bit of finesse that having any woman involved in any capacity would bring. Food was ok, staff were pleasant enough.

We headed back and then went for a wander around Sedona. It became apparent very quicker that there are only two types of place here, restaurants or places selling tat. Not much else of any note. Lots of places offered psychic readings and the like. What a load of absolute bollocks. Really is a tourist trap.

After getting bored of looking at the same old bloody thing we went back to the hotel. We had decided to keep today as a low key day, so we went for a swim in the hotel's outdoor pool.

Cool Pool

It was lovely, the sun was out, the water was just the right temperature. We stayed out for quite a while, before retiring.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV as the sun had gone in. Went out later to get some food from the best Safeway in the world. Now watching some film in Japanese.

States Visited - 17

Day Twenty Three

Got up late and spent some time using the Jacuzzi in our room. There was no breakfast included with the room, so we eventually packed up, checked out and went for breakfast at Denny's. On the way we nipped to a street corner just down the road from the hotel where we saw this.

Taking it easy

This has been put in place by the city purely as a tourist destination. The song 'Take It Easy' by The Eagles has the line 'Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona', so they have finally decided to cash in. It is actually very good. The mural on the wall is all painted, there are no windows. You can see a reflection of the flat bed red truck being driven by a blonde that is also in the lyrics. The irony is that neither of the two men who wrote the song had ever been to Winslow.

Anyway we carried on to Denny's and as ever with the chain, the food was fine, the service was terribly slow.

We fuelled up and then headed east for a change. We drove towards a massive thunderstorm which happened to be hanging around our destination.

We ended up at the Petrified Forest National Park.

http://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm

To describe it in a quick and simple fashion, millions of years ago trees fell down, got covered with water enriched with volcanic minerals, they gradually replaced the cells of the trees, leaving tree shaped coloured rock. You drive through the park and can stop at points to see things.

A big log...er....rock

It is quite fascinating to see all the colours of rock trapped in tree shapes. There are other things to see as well. Petroglyphs (Rock carvings) and ruins from 600-800 years ago as well as the painted desert.

Say what you see

We left the forest and headed back west, past Winslow and then stopped off again. This time we stopped to see another famous site, Meteor Crater. Formed about 50,000 years ago by an estimated 150 metre wide meteorite the crater is 3/4 mile wide and 550 feet deep. We watched a film and looked at the museum before heading out to see the crater itself.

Big hole

There were lots of annoying French people there. They seemed to follow us about. Got annoying. We stayed for a good while before setting off towards the next hotel.

Our journey along I40 took us past another thing we wanted to see, the iconic Twin Arrows Trading Post. It is situated on Route 66 and was a major attraction back in the day, but when the Interstate took over it gradually lost business. It has been abandoned since the late 1990s and the arrows had all but disappeared, but in 2009 they were replaced. It is another Forrest Gump tick for us, as it was used as a location during the running scenes, specifically the one where he wipes his face on the yellow t-shirt.

Run, Forrest, Run

We carried on west, passing our old friend, Flagstaff, before dropping south towards our target of Sedona. I'm not sure what I expected to see on the route but it certainly wasn't the steep drop down in between cliffs that eventually took us to the town. There were hairpin bends and everything.

Rocky Road

Eventually we made it to our destination http://www.orchardsinn.com/ in Sedona. It was dark by the time we arrived, so tomorrow I will include a photo of the view from our room. Sedona seems a very pleasant, picturesque town. Ann tells me it is a very expensive place.

Ate the final remains of food from our stay at Pagosa for tea, cheese rolls, crisps and cookies. Waste not, want not as they say.

Now watching more films as I type this. Tonight it has been Armageddon and The Dark Knight.

Not sure what we will do tomorrow, but there are plenty of options.

Hole Watch - Large

Arrows seen - 2

States Visited - 17

Day Twenty Two

Had to say goodbye to the perfect cabin this morning, which wasn't easy. We could have easily stayed for another couple of years.

As if to say thank you, a couple of deer turned up to wave us off.

Oh dear, Oh dear

We headed back down to the town to fuel up and then we set off. It seemed to take an age to cover the first sixty or so miles due to traffic and road works, but eventually we started moving.

We travelled all the way to the edge of Colorado, in fact the edge of New Mexico, the edge of Utah and the edge of Arizona as well.

It was the Four Corners monument where the four states all convene. There is nothing there other than the monument and a few stalls selling tat. We stopped and had a look.

Monumental

We then sat in the car and ate our packed lunch we had prepared with our leftovers from the cabin.

We soon set sail again and only stopped once more very briefly before we reached our destination.

That stop was to use the facilities at a Burger King in Chinle. The plan was to walk in, use the toilets and walk out again as we didn't want to buy anything. As we parked up, Ann noticed some suspicious characters lurking about not far from the car park, for example, someone lying asleep in a doorway but also others more active. We thought about moving on as we had all the stuff in the car, but knew how unlikely we were to see another place to stop for another fifty odd miles.

We decided to be quick. The first part was fine, but as we left, some bloke wandered over to us and introduced himself. He was called Carlos. We didn't care. We ignored him and walked to the car. A quick glance over my shoulder showed that he was following us across the car park. We got in the car, locked the doors, started the engine and put it in reverse in about one second. He appeared by my door and started to talk, as I floored the accelerator and shot back, put in drive and burnt off.

He probably was harmless, just begging or something, but it being America where everybody is seemingly mental, we took no chances.

We carried on and eventually made it to our destination of Winslow, Arizona. We are staying here http://www.laposada.org/ . It is a hotel that was built in 1929, closed in 1957, gutted and used as offices for the Santa Fe Railway company before they left in 1994 and it was going to be demolished. The current owners bought it in 1997 and have gradually renovated it.

It is a very nice place, looks great at night from the outside, but it is a bit odd on the inside. The wife of the couple who own it is an artist and her crap artwork is all over the walls. Not really in keeping with a Mexican inspired building. It even has a museum of her work and a documentary about her playing on loop all day long. Talk about blowing your own trumpet.

Anyway, we checked in and then went out for dinner.

Back now, and ready for bed. Arizona is on Pacific time in the summer, so we have gained another hour today and are now eight hours behind the UK.

States Visited - 17

Day Twenty One

Slept very well last night. Probably the best since we've been over here.

Ann got up at 8am as she had three way Skyping to do. When she finished we got ready to go.

We headed out at 9.30am and arrived here at 10am.  http://www.astraddleasaddleinc.com/

This was Ann's payback for me making her quad bike yesterday. Two hours of groin muscle and knee agony sitting on a bloody horse. We got introduced to our horses, mine was called Laredo, Ann can't remember what her horse's name was. Laredo was a big grey beast, the horse with no name was smaller and a chestnut colour. We got saddled up and off we went.

The Pony Express

We were with a group of about ten riders with the owner of the company leading at the front and her mum at the back. I got pole position and Ann was behind me. We rode for an hour up a trail to an overlook point on the side of a mountain. Laredo did a good job, keeping up at the front, no name was a bit slower behind me. He would then take a sprint up the hills, which worried Ann the first time he did it, but then she knew how he operated. It went without much incident, except for one bloke behind whose horse decided to try and gallop forward ahead of others in the line. There was a commotion and cries of 'Oh god' as he didn't know how to stop it.

 

I tried to film some clips but it was difficult due to the terrain and slopes plus trying to hold on and guide the horse. This is the best I could do.

 



We stopped for a short drinks break before heading back. It was getting quite warm and having to wear jeans made it even hotter. Halfway through the second leg it started to get painful and sweaty.
Eventually we made it back. Getting off the horse was a challenge, as was walking away.

We headed back to the cabin for lunch and to relax our aches for a few minutes.

Then we headed out for our final activity with this company http://pagosaoutside.com/. This is where our earlier purchases of cheap shoes came into play (Day fifteen).

We had already booked online, so we turned up, handed over the paperwork and then waited to go. We got on a minibus that took us a mile up the road. It then dropped us off with an inflatable ring each. We walked a few feet to the San Juan river and then got in. The activity was tubing. You get in the ring and float down the river. When you get back to the main part of town, you get out, get on the bus and go back up and start again. Takes about an hour. You are advised to not take anything with you due to losing it in the river, so we left everything back at the cabin except the car keys which we left with the company.

We wanted to capture the moment, so we had planned ahead. We bought some double zipped sandwich bags a couple of days ago to help. We took the Flip Camera with us and put it in a sandwich bag and zipped it up. That way it was splash proof and we could film. It does however make the footage slightly misty at times. Also, as with the horse riding, it is difficult to hold on, try to keep the camera dry and film something steadily.

And another one.

It was absolutely brilliant. We had such a laugh. The river was a lovely temperature and the sun was out so it was very hot as well. We did two runs, so spent about two hours splashing around. I have to report that Ann capsized at one point, but I didn't manage to film it. I spent most of the time rotating for some unknown reason.

We dried off and then headed home to the cabin. Saw a family of mule deer as we drove. Got back and showered, had tea and did some more clothes washing.

Just been out on the deck to do some stargazing. It is so dark outside which makes the stars shine so brightly. Absolutely magnificent. The fact it is so dark means you also can't see anything more than about three feet away. I think I heard a snort somewhere out in the darkness and seeing that bears and mountains lions live around here and have better eyesight, we decided to come back in.

What a way to spend our last night here. We are gutted that we have to leave tomorrow. Been absolutely amazing. Would recommend Pagosa Springs to anyone.

Horses dominated - 1

Rivers defeated - 1

States Visited - 15

Day Twenty

Couldn't sleep last night. Not sure why. This is the quietest and darkest place ever. Eventually got up at 6am. Had a look outside, saw a few deer. Ann got up to have a look as well. She hadn't slept well either. We decided it was because it was too cold so put the big duvet back on and switched the fan off. Went back to bed and actually slept. Dreamt that there was a tiger outside killing a deer.

Got up again at about 7.45am. Had a quick shower and put Everton's game on TV as it was on live in the USA. Same as ever. Only got to watch the first half. Quite glad really, it was awful.

We headed out just before 9am as we had our first activity at 9.30am. Headed down in to Pagosa Springs and then a short distance west.

Arrived here. http://www.outbackatvrentals.com/

Their website isn't much, but the reviews on Tripadvisor were all good. I phoned them last night to book up, so we were expected.

The couple that run it were great. Explained everything, gave us a map of the routes, told us what perils lurked around. We saddled up on our ATV or quad bike and set off. Ann didn't want to drive her own one, so we got a two seater. We followed the lady to the beginning of the trails and then she turned back and we were off.

We spent three and a half hours exploring. Some parts of the trails were dirt roads and others were just piles of rocks. We completed an 11 mile trip to the top of one mountain.

A view from the overlook

When we got there, there was a bloke there with his young son. He started being American and telling us all about all the trails and that he had shot eleven elk on one of them. At this point I could sense Ann was thinking the same thing as me, but neither of us had the guts to actually push him off the edge. He said he was going and that we could follow him back down and he'd show us some other routes, but we politely declined. We waited until he was well gone before we left.

Ann asked me to drive more slowly on the way back down. I said I couldn't promise anything. Covered her in muddy spray. We went back down and then took another route. We had been warned about big ruts in the road and they weren't kidding. We managed to negotiate them with out falling down a gap and tipping over. Burned along a bit and stopped at this view.

Another mountain

It was now time to head back to base, so we turned around and set off. I made Ann drive a bit, which she did, before stopping and making me drive the rest, Back through the ruts and then on then onto the decent roads. Managed to open the throttle up a bit and top 50mph.

Dropped the ATV off and then headed home. It was fairly expensive but worth it. Could have stayed out for hours as it was so much fun. Not sure Ann agrees.

Got back to the cabin and had lunch. Cleaned ourselves up and headed out to Pagosa itself. Went here.

http://bogeyq.com/mini-golf/

The second tournament of the trip. It wasn't as nice as the last course, but it was much cooler. A woman shouted at me because she liked my NASA t-shirt. Bit odd. It was the slowest game ever, as there was a group of five lads ahead of us. They seemed to take an age because they were terrible.

Final scores were:

Roffe - 51
Knightley - 44

We then headed to what only can be described as a woman's shop. Basically had lots of expensive natural food that nobody would ever want. Seemed to be there for an age.

As we left I noticed that I had sunburn just above the knees, caused by sitting on the quad in shorts.

We headed back to the cabin and then into the garden for a game of horseshoes.

Then we made use of the a relaxing bit of kit.

It's a hard life!

Later on we saw more wildlife, more mule deer, hummingbirds and chipmunks. Had tea, watched the highlights of the Everton game which were on TV. Still woeful.

Tomorrow we have more exciting activities planned. Can't wait.

Moose watch - low

Chipmunks everywhere

States Visited - 15

Day Nineteen

Was sleeping well last night, until my phone rang at 6.30am. I say rang, it buzzed as it was on silent. I ignored it, presumed I could follow it up later. Then it rang again immediately. Thought it must be someone back home urgently trying to get hold of us because of an emergency. Got up and ran to phone. It was Wembury Grasshoppers Cricket Club. I declined to answer it. Presumed a message would be left. It wasn't. No idea why they interrupted my sleep, we don't play them again this season.

Tried to sleep again.

Eventually got up. Put Ashes on. Saw that we had scored just shy of 400 and now were struggling to take wickets, with Australia 100 for 0 not long before tea. Watched for a bit, before heading down to breakfast.

Came back up, put cricket back on, Australia had lost 4 wickets. Gutted.

We didn't have to check out until midday and seeing as we couldn't get in to our next place until 4pm, we lazed about in the hotel. I watched more Ashes, Ann read a book. We also printed some stuff out for an activity in a couple of days.

Eventually we packed up and headed out at 11.45am. Set the sat nav and headed north-west.

The journey was under two hundred miles, so we wandered along and admired the scenery. We started to feel we were really in the Rockies.

More mountains

We stopped for lunch in Chama. It was the largest Subway we've ever seen. It even had its own radio station, KZRM FM 96.1. Unfortunately, they weren't broadcasting, so I couldn't put some tunes on.

We kicked on the last sixty odd miles crossing into Colorado. It now means Ann is one ahead of me in states visited as she's been to Washington state and I haven't. I had Colorado as my equaliser, but now she's been there too.

Arrived in Pagosa Springs. We needed to get food as we are staying in a self catering place. Ann had been going on about stopping in Walmart before we headed up to the cabin. So when we reached the town I told her to get Walmart onto the sat nav. The car sat nav said the nearest Walmart was 45 miles away. We discussed why Ann had thought there was a Walmart in Pagosa Springs. She said in was mentioned in the literature of the cabin. It said all you need to worry about is stopping at Walmart. We came to the conclusion it meant go to Walmart on your way.

Looked on the sat nav for other grocery shops. Only two appeared. Set in the nearest one and went to it. Got there and parked up. It hadn't finished being built. Set in the other one. On the way we suddenly see a sign.....Walmart! There was a massive one neither sat nav knew about. We stopped, bought a load of supplies and then headed up to the cabin. It was another 12 miles or so north of Pagosa.

Eventually the road turned into gravel and got quieter and quieter. We kept going further into the wilderness. Then we saw the cabin. Pulled up into the drive only to scare a mule deer away. Gutted.

Got out the car and looked around. Oh my god. It is amazing. We let ourselves in (We had the code to the key press) and unpacked. I couldn't stop beaming as we looked around the cabin.

Awesomeness

We got everything in and set about familiarising ourselves with everything. As we did we kept gazing out at the views. We spotted wildlife. Also it rained heavily, the first rain of the trip.

My hum'bird

Alvin, Simon or Theodore?

Then a bit later we saw another mule deer. Took some photos before it went off. Then even later we saw two deer.

Doe a deer or two

Made ourselves some tea and sat and watched Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2. It was now dark out, so no point watching for anymore animals. Research shows that black bears are in the area, so here's hoping.

We also finished finalising our plans for the next two days. We are quite excited about what we are doing. Hopefully it all lives up to what we imagine.

Now going to bed, in order to get up early to see wildlife and watch Everton play. Also going out for a 9.30am start.

Chipmunks seen - 1

Bears seen - 0

Deer Watch - high

States Visited - 15