Sedona, Phoenix, the Flu, & Quartzsite

After an invigorating experience keeping warm at the Grand Canyon, we were definitely looking for warmer weather. The day we left involved driving down several intense mountain passes to complete our day. Thankfully, most of the time, I was on the inside of the road going down the mountains. I get a little white-knuckled looking out my passenger window at the edge of the road & lots of air below. Jeff just gets giggly driving little,  curvy mountain roads (pulling the trailer).
Highway 89A south from Flagstaff descends thru a gorgeous little canyon before arriving at Sedona. We spent several hours driving around viewing all the red rock formations. I wanted to check out a vortex area, but didn’t find one. I definitely loved the red rocks tho. Click on this photo to go to the entire photo album.

We continued southwest on Hwy 89A & descended another steep area leaving Sedona, getting into the valley town of Cottonwood. While crossing the valley, I noticed a town, community, business, or something high up on the side of the distant mountains. As the road continued, we got closer & closer to the base of the mountain where those buildings were located. Unbelievable!! The highway goes up, up, UP the mountain, wiggling around threw Jerome AZ [which seems to just hang there on the side of the mountain], & continues up & over that mountain. The distant red rocks in this photo are above Sedona to the northeast. We just came up the road on the left side of this photo. Our little Casita just followed along without a word or worry, but there were warning signs for no RVs more than 40’ long to continue. I think the summit was 6,000’ before we finally headed downhill into Prescott AZ. With each descent today, we’re getting warmer & lower.

Our final mountain descent was southwest of Yarnell AZ where Hwy 89 has separate lanes ascending & descending the mountain. The road just clings to the side of the mountain! And the valley below is Congress AZ where Al & Kelly live (of Travels with the Bayfield Bunch blog).
 
So we really did make it down many mountains today to end up in Al & Kelly’s yard for the night! We all had a great visit over pizza & went to sleep early & happy. Here’s the morning sunrise behind the two beautiful, mature Saguaro cacti in their front yard. That’s the moon just above the far arm.

The next day, we headed to Phoenix to visit my cousin. Unfortunately, somewhere between all that cold & snow, & the crowds at the Grand Canyon, I apparently got exposed to the flu. [Yeah, the big one. No, I haven’t gotten a flu shot in 30 yrs & I don’t remember the last time I even HAD the flu. . .until this time.] First I came down with an annoying tickling cough the first night at my cousin’s. Then the chills & aches. No vomiting or diarrhea tho like previous flu attacks. Aspirin would knock down the fever for a few hours & ease my headache, but all I really wanted to do was curl up & sleep. . .in between coughing. It’s taken me a week to finally care about reading email or blogs. I lived on apple juice, not even wanting coffee for 5 days! We’ve been camped at Hi Jolly BLM north of Quartzsite four nights now & today was the first time I remotely cared about looking around town. We needed, found, & bought a new patio mat. Kira went with us, but she was such a brat that she’s not going along again! She does well walking in campgrounds — not so much in busy flea markets. We have a few other items we’re hoping to find here.
We got a second 90W portable solar panel from CEA Solar while in Phoenix, & the two panels are doing an excellent job of keeping our 4 new 6V batteries charged all night with the furnace on & our 19” flat screen TV on 5-7 hrs a day (I’ve been sick, remember. Bored, tired, listless, but not sleepy). We’ve managed to keep our cell phones, laptops, MiFi, & a few other small items charged also. Oh, & today Jeff fixed us coffee by heating water on our propane stovetop & pouring the water thru the filter on the Mr Coffee. Almost makes better coffee this way than with electricity! Overall, boondocking hasn’t been difficult — just a little different in some ways.