Author: Mike Pekrul

Mostly a slow day today, it was HOT. Odd to think 83 is all that hot, but we haven’t seen that in quite a while. Grocery shopping. Did laundry, played Rummikub, took a nap. All the hard stuff that retirees have to contend with. After the heat started to settle down a bit, I pulled…

We spent the day yesterday around Sedona AZ. One of the prettiest places I think I’ve ever been. The town is back in a bit of a notch in a ring of mountains, surrounded by towering cliffs colored in shades of red, brown and tan. Striped layers. Eroded peaks and spires. Pine and piñon and…

We spent the day yesterday at Petrified Forest National Park, including the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. HUGE park. Don’t even try it if you don’t have at least 2-3 hours. We were there 5 hours and skipped a few things. The painted desert stuff is mostly up north, and the petrified wood is…

After all of the rock hunting we did this morning, we drove a little way up the road to a place called The Little Painted Desert. Not to be confused with the Big Painted Desert where we’ll go tomorrow. Has to be seen to be appreciated, the pictures just can’t capture it. Afterwards, we drove…

I thought Susy was crazy about trees. Big old live oak trees. She swooned every time she was near one. But she might just be crazier for rocks. We’re exploring some hills in Homolovi State Park near Winslow AZ. I’m walking around looking at the view from the hills, off into the distance at the…

It’s 4am here and I’m awake, so let’s see what comes out of my brain… I sat in the sun yesterday, reading a bit, dozing a bit, and listening to the wind through the pines a bit, and just thinking about this trip, and my life. How different it’s turned out from what I had…

We left Manzano’s RV Park in Silver City NM and came to Show Low AZ. If you get a chance to make that drive on US-180 up through the Apache National Forest, do it! That was a beautiful drive, changing terrain from desert to mountains to grasslands to heavy Ponderosa pine forests several times. Along…

Nah, not that Rock City. This was City of Rocks State Park outside Hurley NM. It’s a cluster of rock formations dating back about 35 million years, to when a huge volcanic eruption blasted the area, on the order of 300 times the Mt. St. Helens eruption back in the 80’s. Volcanic ash and pumice…

It’s been more than a month since my last fix. Not sure if I can take it much longer, the shakes are getting stronger morning by morning. Looking at our route, I don’t see any relief in sight, and I’m having second thoughts about this whole adventure. What am I going to do? Eggs over…

So we spent the day driving in the mountains north of Silver City NM. We headed out this morning for Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument, up in the Gila National Wilderness area. Shortly after leaving Silver City, we passed the Chino Open Pit copper mine. An ENORMOUS hole in the ground with machines and excavations…