What’s Your Name

 

After the madness of Sedona and Jerome, we headed to the serenity of Camp Verde, and the peaceful Zane Gray not a RV park but a village.   I had stayed here a few years ago. In the office they have prominently displayed hard-bound editions of every book Zane ever wrote. Zane lived nearby in Payson, but I can find no evidence that he owned a RV or ever stayed at his namesake RV village.

Zane Gray And Unidentifed Horse

Last time I stayed here it was a weekend and the park had live music and a fire pit filled with fire. Everyone was enjoying themselves and they became elated when I demonstrated my superpower of having the smoke from a campfire instantly be attracted to me. They cheered me on, and I coughed gagged  and smelled like smoke the next day.

Come To Me Smoke

This time there was no live music, but we did get very posh adjacent sites, separated by a hedge with a cut through to make visiting easy.   We sat out on our camp chairs, and eventually we made a excellent dinner of grilled lamb chops, and a salad.

For the next day we made careful plans, as it was to be a busy day and our last day of camper convoy.

We started our morning at Montezuma’s Castle, where there was actual parking. Well, the parking wasn’t in the lot near the castle because they do not allow rv’s to park there. But we didn’t know that until the Park Service Ranger told us we couldn’t park there.  Since we couldn’t park there, I was forced to turn the  6.4-meter-long van with a name  around in a space about the size of a Subaru. Our maneuvering was perfect, and then we drove a ways up the hill that I determined when  walking back up that it  was as steep as a cows face.

The path around the castle is level, and the castle itself has be preserved and protected by the National Park Service.

Montezuma’s Castle Is Built Into The Hill

Our next stop was at    Wupatki National Monument that is,  just a ways north of Flagstaff. Now Flagstaff is a strange name for a town. Not as strange as Livermore, but well different. It seams the town got its name because way back at amerika’s centennial someone climbed a tree stripped  it of all of the branches and hoisted a flag up to the top. Apparently back in 1876 flag polls hadn’t been invented,  hence the name Flagstaff.

The road loops through Wupatki, it is smooth and paved all the way. We started at the north, stopping at the historic sights.

Sinagua People Building

The stonework reminded me of the buildings of the ancient roman city  Pompei. 

Before the road hooks back up with highway 89 it passes  near  the Sunset Crater Volcano. We stopped and took in the sights and explored the lava tubes.

Collapsed Lava Tubes Of Sunset Volcano 

On this day, our weather was perfect about as good as you could expect for Arizona. A comfy 70, a gentle breeze, and walking around the lava tubes made me wonder how terrible a day it was back in 1085 when the volcano was erupting and spewing molten boulders. Oh well timing is everything.

Back on 89 we caravaned south towards Flagstaff then turned west and did a run on I 40. The semis were racing and passing us by and I was glad to turn off on Route 66 at Seligman.

Seligman 

Seligman is the classic Route 66 tourist town, but still is a fun place to visit.