Arizona !

We left Deming on Wednesday and headed for Surprise, AZ to visit with Tad's mother-in-law, Cathy.  Found her house with ease (Serenity II) and enjoyed a nice visit, catching up on the news and loving the chicken caesar salad she had prepared for our enjoyment.  A fun and welcome break!  Left Surprise in time to drive with time to spare to Verde Valley Resort in Cottonwood, AZ.  At least we thought so....  As we travelled, two guys in a truck came alongside and waved frantically and pointed to my rig - another flat!!! We exited quickly (and they followed us off which I thought was very gentlemanly).  The tire wasn't just flat, it was totally shredded.  Good news... no accident, no harm except I had to order a trailer tire and change our itinerary (yes, I can be flexible if it is planned) and stay two extra days in the Sedona area.  Pam will miss the Hualipai Indian Shelf over the canyon to make up the time.... but she is agreeable.  We are using the time wisely - some R & R, laundry, cooking "ahead", swimming and blogging.  We'll hit the tire place first thing Monday morning and then be on our way West once again.

We spent our first day in Sedona touring around the back-country roads.  Considered a Pink Jeep Tour, but I've found the Chevy Truck Tour to be cheaper and just as much fun.  I don't mind driving and there are pull-over spots for photo opportunities.  We had checked in at the Chamber of Commerce and got suggestions for drives that would give us the "biggest bang for the buck". 

We also splurged and took a train ride on the Verde Valley Canyon Railroad.  It was a four-hour ride through the canyon affording us spectacular views not seen any other way, methinks.  Although I'm always ready for anything, imagine my surprise when about 1/2 way through the trip they asked everyone to take their seats in the inside cars (not the observation cars) while they assessed fires both in front of and behind the train!!!!!   We were just a bit nervous as we knew there had been canyon fires last week and the canyon road from here to Flagstaff is still partially closed.  But "our" fires it seems were merely tiny brush fires started by sparks from the train wheels .... when the engineer saw smoke, he pulled together all staff hands with gallon jugs of water to extinguish them.  Whew!  We continued the trip with no further problems (but definitely a heightened adrenaline level). 

We also toured a neat mining town way up in the hills.  Founded by a mining man and his investors, it was the largest copper mining town in the West for some time.  We saw his house and some of the old mining equipment and watched a well written and filmed movie about the history of Jerome, AZ.  Time well spent. 

The green machine above is a central vacuuming system found in the mino owner's home....pretty snazzy for it's time!   We're heading back into Sedona this evening as they say the sunset views from the airport are spectacular and not to be missed.  Since we don't have Wi-Fi at the rig in this campground, I'll next update you from somewhere 'round Hoover Dam.