A month in the Arizona Sunshine

We had a bit of a rude welcome to AZ with our trailer having two blow outs. The first blow out was outside of Yuma in the heat of the afternoon. As semi trucks flew by, we started to pull out our jack, only to realize that the trailer didn’t come with the correct size socket to get the bolts off the rim. So even though we had a spare, we didn’t have the tools to change it. After several hours of waiting in 98 degree heat (we kept our AC blowing in the truck), the roadside assistance finally found someone to come change our tire. By the time we were back on the road the sun was setting and we still had two hours before arriving at our destination in Tucson. Now that we lost confidence in our trailer tires, we weren’t excited to drive in the dark. We pulled off at a random RV park in Dateland, known for their famous date shakes. We ate gas station pizza for dinner and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. Exhausted from the intense detour, we tucked into bed early. 

We were already planning to get our trailer tires looked at and most likely replaced, once we got to Tucson the next day. Before we had a chance to figure out where to go, another tire blew! Thank goodness for the double axle trailer, both times, we just pulled off the shoulder with the aid of the other 3 wheels. This time, we happened to pop the tire right next to a shop that sold tires. The employee actually saw us pull over on the highway. As we were scratching our heads, trying to decide what to do, he pulled up and pointed us in the direction of his shop. 

We were close enough to Dave’s aunt and uncles house, they were able to come pick up the kids, so they didn’t have to wait for us to switch out all the tires. 

We spent five days in Tucson and spent lots of time with family. Dave’s mom flew down to visit his aunts house while we were there and his grandma came over to share meals, play games and even joined us to explore the Desert museum. 

We were very impressed with GGMa at 96 years old able to enjoy the Desert Museum with us, which was a big day.

We had a fun day walking around the University of Arizona campus. Dave showed us where he lived, the courts he played club volleyball, as well as the building where he took all his math classes. A highlight was stopping by the stadium to experience a spring football game! 

Tucson gave us an opportunity to experience all sorts of cactus. We were always on the lookout for the perfect three point saguaro. Such a beautiful and unique landscape to see the saguaro everywhere. Spring was a perfect time to see the ocotillo bloom as well as several other cactus had bright blooms among the otherwise dry, dusty desert. 

Another highlight of Tucson was spending time with another old high school/college friend Sven and Kelly Sandeen. They had a beautiful house, amazing yard and super fun kids too. Getting a glimpse at the current life of old friends, reconnecting and remembering old stories from the past as well as meeting their kids and watching our kids create new friendships is a super cool part of taking our time to make the rounds in Arizona. We enjoyed an amazing meal with the Sandeens and stayed up late chatting by the fire. 

Even captured this big bloom in Sven Sandeen’s yard, which opens at night and only lasts 24 hours. 

We were lucky to get a reservation at Kartchner Caverns so we could tour the magnificent cave and learn about how it was discovered and the story of keeping it a secret for 14 years before developing it in a way that would protect the formations inside. We weren’t aloud to bring in phones to take pictures, but man, the Kubla Khan formation was breathtakingly beautiful. Look it up! 

We spent the rest of the day exploring the towns of Bisbee and Tombstone. We walked the artsy streets of Bisbee and found lunch. Then we went to the gun show reenactment of the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holiday shoot out. It was a fun experience to get a glimpse of this touristy town showing off the stories of the Wild West. 

The next stop on our route was Ty Kelly’s cattle ranch. This experience was high on my priority list for the places I wanted to take the kids on this trip. Ty Kelly is one of Dave’s old friends from high school. He has lived an interesting life as an Alaska fisherman and Arizona cowboy working on and eventually owning his own cattle ranch. Before Dave and I got married we had chance to experience ranch life, this experience left an impression on me as well as a scar on my right shoulder.  We rode horses with Ty as he led us, or actually led the horses we were riding on, straight up steep hills and across miles and miles of the Arizona desert. At one point Ty’s horse got stuck in quick sand and he had to jump off and pull it out. 

Now Ty, his wife Megan and their three adorable children live way out on the border of AZ and New Mexico on a remote ranch which covers 80 square miles for their cows to roam. An hour and a half away from the nearest town, no cell service and just solar panels and a generator for electricity. It was an adventure to just drive our trailer to the ranch. We drove high up the roads past one of the biggest mines in the world near Clifton. It was dizzying to look at the monstrosity of the mining operation as we drove past. 

Then the steep curvy road just kept on climbing for miles and miles until we finally found Ty waiting for us by a cattle guard close to the entrance to his 3 mile dirt road driveway switchbacking back down to his slice of heaven. 

Boys got a lesson in lassoing.

We had a great time getting to know Megan and their kids. Once 5 year old Canyon got over her initial shyness, she showed the kids around her barn, the chicken coop and hiked them out to her fort in the trees. 

 

Ty was nice enough to saddle up a horse and let us try to get her to walk around in circles. 

 

 

The real highlight though was giving the kids a chance to drive his Polaris. They couldn’t get enough time behind the wheel. 

We also got some real ranch work done. The task was to locate the leaks in the plastic water pipe, cut and repair the pipe so he could get water from his well to the tanks across the highway for the cows over there. 

We were planning on branding a few of the baby calves, so the kids were sent out to try and round them up into the corral. They were able to lure a couple in, but the calves were already branded. So instead the boys got to practice their lassoing skills. Jett caught one baby around the back leg and he was surprised when Ty said “Now you gotta get the rope off his leg!” This was an intimidating task because the calf was pulling and kicking. Both boys had a hold of the rope and some how they got it off without getting kicked in the teeth. 

We had a long drive to our next stop which was our first boondocking experience. We followed directions from our friend Blake that had beta on a great hike and cliff jumping area on Clear creek, near the town of Strawberry. Unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy the experience because once we arrived, Dave and I came down with a stomach bug. :( We spent two nights here, but had no energy to explore the area. Kids were left to fend for themselves and found entertainment by building tree forts and tossing the football back and forth. 

Once we had a little energy back we found a full hook up spot in Camp Verde. It was a massive RV park with laundry facilities, a pool and clubhouse/game room. We were initially turned off by the 400 site, side by side RV parking spots, but it turned out to be great and a convenient location to explore Sedona. 

A highlight was hiking up bell rock, near Sedona. This was the first slick rock hike we came across and the kids were immediately fans of the grippy rock and ability to scramble high up the rock formation. 

Another day we decided to try out the “jeep trails” with our truck. The review said it was a beginner trail and not that exciting, but man oh man it was some serious terrain for our tough truck! Maybe too much for our rookie off roading experience, but we did get to 4x4 ourselves down the dusty bumpy road and shorten the hike out to a rock arch. It was a cool hike except for the hundreds of other people there to check out the same spot. We decided to skip the 45 minute wait to take our picture on top of the arch and instead found a side trail to take in the view from below. 

We didn’t realize it at the time, but from the looks of this picture that Jett took, we must have found ourselves in the middle of a Sedona vortex!

Slide rock was another crazy, packed with people, excursion we wanted to see. It kind of ruins the experience when we have to share the spot with hundreds of other people, but we have gotten good at finding other nooks to explore to make it feel like it’s just us there. For example at Slide rock, after sliding with the masses, we kept following the river up the canyon. This was the best part, and felt more adventurous the further we walked and climbed and boulder hopped until we found another swimming hole! 

 

The animal safari park was only 5 minutes away from where we were parked in Camp Verde. We got to feed the giraffes and have pretty close encounters with some beautiful animals. 

When we arrived in Cottonwood, got to spend a few nights on the banks of the Verde river while parking in the backyard of Mike and Sebrina Shaw. We shared meals, went on a kayaking adventure, laughed and told stories. We got to know their four dogs and enjoyed the ease of old friendships that can remain strong no matter how much time had passed.

We had another short drive back to Camp Verde, this time we parked at Dave’s Dad’s house (also on the Verde river).  The kids had fun cracking pecan shells from his trees and perfecting their technique to pull out the pecans as whole as possible. We hung out, made yummy meals, played in the river and explored the nearby Montezumas castle. 

We celebrated Piper’s half birthday with sprinkles on ice cream.

The last stop on our Arizona friends and family tour was Prescott, David’s hometown. We had the privilege of parking at Judah and Kristin Pifer’s house where our trailer fit perfectly in their park like setting of a front yard. The kids made fast friends with Ella (5th grade)and Preston (9th grade). We had less time with Preston and Kristin since they had to jet off it California for a hockey tournament. We still got in an amazing meal and the chance to watch Preston play hockey before they left. So fun. 

During the rest of our stay with Judah and Ella, we busied ourselves during the day visiting a few favorite Prescott hikes and driving by David’s old neighborhood. He and Judah were neighbors growing up so we saw his old house too. 

When Judah was finished repairing peoples knees, shoulders and ankles, he changed out of his scrubs and we simply enjoyed each other’s company. The kids had so much fun on the trampoline and adults had a chance to dive deep in conversations. 

Thumb Butte is an iconic fixture in Prescott so it was fun to hike up and get the view back down on the town.

We spent a month in Arizona and while we did see and do lots of cool stuff, the main reason was to reconnect with old friendships. Judah and Kristin are some of those special people that it was so refreshing to see and spend time with. The beauty of having the travel trailer is getting to park in the yard and spend lots of quality time with friends, but still give/have space to not be in the house interrupting daily routines. They can still go to school/work and we are perfectly happy going out to explore on our own. 

The other reason we stayed until the end of April in Arizona was to join in on the celebration of life party that was put on for Tony Shaw. He was a very influential person in Dave’s life as the Dad of his best friends Dan and Mike Shaw. Even our kids have heard many hilarious Tony Shaw stories and it was an honor to be in the room hearing even more tales of Tony’s life from the open mic opportunity at the party. 

We even had a chance to connect with Pat Shaw

The after party went late into the night at Judah’s house full of good hearted obnoxious behavior.