We left the morning of Wednesday, 5 August for

parts north in Arizona … after a couple of days of

running around crazy getting ready, that is. We had

shut the Bambi down for most of June and July after

returning from our trip to West Texas in late May/

early June … and alas, the rest of June and July were spent at home yearning to go again. When we completely shut down the Bambi it always takes us longer to get it ready to roll again. (That’s a good reason to go often, huh?) Usually the frig is running and the staples just need to be refreshed ... but this time we’d shut down the frig, etc., and had to completely load the trailer from scratch... It’s hard to believe that we hadn’t been out since 6 June...two whole months Yikes! That’s just not right! Talk about “cabin fever!”

But the dry spell was finally broken. We left home about 9:45 AM and drove north to metro Phoenix, avoiding I-10 and the Phoneix proper going up via Florence and Apache Junction, then taking the 101 Loop north around the city to I-17... and on to the red rock country of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. It was a long, hot trip ...109 degrees in Phoenix and warm in Sedona as well ... 103 degrees. Sedona is a beautiful place in terms of the scenery ... it’s really quite stunning if you have never seen it in person. The dramatic red rock

                                 formations are “right there” as you drive through the

                                     Village of Oak Creak and Sedona. Terry’s been going

                                        to Sedona since he was in college at NAU. In those

                                          days it was an undiscovered, charming, lazy town/

                                        wide place in the road replete with hippies and a few

                                       quaint shops and restaurants. Now, Sedona —  along

                                         with the Village of Oak Creek (which was then non-

                                            existent), have become major tourist destinations in Arizona ... and the impact on the area is horrendous from the perspective of what it used to be like. It’s still pretty and the scenery is breathtaking … but the crowds and traffic are awful and the area has become a high-end money mine. As beautiful as it is there, it’s essentially been ruined by acclaim. We feel recent development has made it is all a bit “Stepford-like” for our tastes ... everything is jsut a little too perfect … and it’s too bad. From just south of the Village of Oak Creek all the way to Sedona itself, there is a newly paved and widened road with round-abouts every mile or so … it all seems very controlled and restricted … a far cry from the “good old days” when a winding, narrow two-lane road meandered through the red rocks. Such is “progress.”

We didn’t stop in Sedona, but drove on through — that will be enough of Sedona for another 5 or 6 years. We proceded north through Oak Creek Canyon which lies below the the western reaches of the Mogollon Rim, with Flagstaff only 15 miles or so further north. There are several campgrounds in Oak Creek but only a couple where you can manage with a trailer. We thought we might stay in one of those for a couple of days. We drove through one to check it out. It was very very crowded with lots of kids and tenters (not bad things in thesmelves, mind you) … not so many RVs or trailers. The campgrounds are old national forest campgrounds so the sites are small and seemed a bit tired from over-use … one has an overwhelming feeling of being cramped with little privacy … topped off by too-narrow roads. The Canyon is

a beautiful setting, but the campsites didn’t hold much appeal for us … perhaps it would have been more inviting if it hadn’t been so crowded. We’ll have

to give it another go when it’s less crowded ... but we’re not quite sure when that might be because of the throngs of visitors to the area year round ... in winter perhaps?

So rather than camp there in a crowd in the heat (102 degrees in the Canyon) we decided to keep going and drove up the Oak Creek Canyon switchbacks taking us up and out of the Canyon toward Flagstaff. The switchbacks weren’t too bad. Terry remembered them from his youth (he remembered enjoying the thrill of the switchbacks in his VW bug, especially going down the Canyon) so he knew they’d be negotiable ... but we were not sure one would want to tow anything longer than 23’ (maybe 25’) up the mountain (though

we’re sure people have) ... lots of sharp curves, very

narrow roads and way too many people ogling the

beauty and not keeping an eye on where they are

walking or driving. But we made it without mishap.

At the top we stopped at an overlook where Greg went

to take pictures while Terry stayed in the truck with

the Girls ... there wasn’t anywhere to park the trailer,

so Terry needed to stay with it in case anyone we were

blocking needed to get out. It was funny — one lady took a picture of the Bambi on her way to the scenic view! Funny ... all that natural beauty and she stops to take a picture of an Airstream. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Once out of the Canyon, we drove on to Flagstaff where we gassed up and took Lake Mary Road southeast about 15 miles to Pine Grove Campground. in the Coconino Natoinal Forest. We encountered an afternoon shower, which is common in the Flagstaff area in the summer because the high mountains just north of Flagstaff catch the clouds and wring them out. It’s what’s left of the moisture that wasn’t dumped in the Tucson and Phoenix valley areas from the monsoonal air flow. Pine Grove Campground was originally going to be our second destination but got bumped up a notch when we decided not to stay in Oak Creek Canyon. We have stayed there a couple of times before and it has become a favorite campground in that area ... close eought to Flagstaff to run into town if we need so, but definitely out in the woods ... and great camp sites. Check out our earlier trips there in 2007,  “In Search of Cooler AZ Weather” and 2008, after the “Four Corners Unit Labor Day Rally” for lots more pictures and descriptions. We highy recommend Pine Grove ... and you can make reservations! Half the sites at Pine Grove are reserveable and half are first come first served. There are no hookups but potable water is available and there are clean restrooms with pay showers, and there is a dump station. The camp sites are immaculate with paved roads and pads and cement pads for the picnic tables. There are leveled sandbox-type tent pads. There are also several handicap sites with special fire pits and completely paved walkways … some  of the nicest sites we’ve experienced. We should mention that there are several other campgrounds in the general area along Lake Mary Road between Lower Lake Mary to Mormon Lake as well, all of which are more primative with

fewer amenities.

We got to the Pine Grove about 4:45 PM, almost 300 miles on the nose from Tucson (when taking the Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon route, anyway...it would be less using I-17 the whole way). Much to our dismay, there was a sign at the entrance that said “Campground Full.” And it was only Wednesday! The camp host came from her trailer under her umbrella to greet us ... she asked us how many nights we wanted to stay ... we said we had intended to stay four nights

                        at least, and that we were surprised it was full so early in the

                                week. She looked us over good and said, “Well, if you’d

                                    like, I can put you in a space for two nights until Friday,

                                    but it’s reserved for the weekend, so you’ll have to move

                                    by then ... but if you’re lucky a non- reserveable site will

                                    open up before then.” We decided on the spot that that

                                        would work for now. The best mindset when traveling without reservations in place is “be flexible”... and there’s a better sense of “adventure” when we don’t have reservations, it seems. So we went to the site she pointed out in the reserved section and we were happy to have it, if only until Friday AM. We didn’t “spread out” in hopes of being able to move to a permanent spot the next day. Soon the rain stopped, leaving the forest fresh and green and pine-scented. We had a light dinner, watched a little TV for the news, walked the Girls, then shut down for the night to watch a movie.  We were just glad we’d been able to stop for at least a couple of nights in one of  the nicest national forest campgrounds we know in that area.

Sure enough...when Terry got up Thursday morning to walk the Girls he ran into the host couple making their early morning rounds. They stopped

to tell him that a site in the non-reserveable area was opening up

that morning and we could take it if we wanted it ... he jumped

at it. They told Terry to finish walking the Girls, and they would

swing by our temporary site in their little electric golf cart, pick

up one of our chairs, and put it to the new site that was opening

up to make sure that nobody took it before we got ourselves

moved. That was so nice!

Terry finished walking the Girls and by the time he was back to the trailer, Greg was up. Terry fed the Girls while Greg put the inside of the trailer back together enough to move the 3/4 block we needed to go … and off we went! Sure enough, there was our chair holding the space for us. So if you get there and there’s no room in the inn because everything’s reserved for the next day, make nice with the hosts … they really did go out of their way to help us get into a site for the time we wanted to stay. They made rounds quite regularly while we were there and each time they passed by we all did that “howdy there” campground wave … you now what we mean. They were great.

Once in our more permanet site, we proceeded to spread ourselves out

proper-like ... the new site was actually a very nice one on the lower side of the loop and therefore sheltered a bit from the brisk breezes we had that day. It had shade in the morning and late afternoon from the tall Ponderosa Pines and good sun in the middle of the day when we could get the best sun for solar panel. We had gotten down to 65% through the night of TV with the fantastic vent and frig fan running all night ... and by early afternoon we were back up to 95%. We slipped a bit again in the afternoon because we were not in the direct sun anymore and Terry was on the computer ... but we planned to crank up the       new generator that evening for the very first time!

Let’s back up just a bit. Topic: generators. We finally made our minds up about buying a generator! Yes, it’s true! And this trip was it’s maiden voyage. We planned to camp in three or four campgrounds on this trip … all in national forest campgrounds, and none with electrical or water hookups. We planned to be dry camping the entire trip. We knew our friends in the Four Corners Unit of the Airstream club would be so proud of us! We were excited and already felt “liberated” by not having to plan to hook up to shore power every three or four days ... and the anxiety saved by not having to worry abot how much power we were or were not conserving left more energy for enjoying ourselves. The

                       solar panel does an amazing job of refreshing the batteries, but

                            the batteries do lilt downward over a number of days, and

                              eventually they need some “juice.”  Now we can power up

                               using the generator. For the record, we bought a Honda

                                EU2000iA Companion. This is a 2000 watt generator that

                            will run everything in the Bambi except the AC. If we decide

                               down the road that we need to have AC ability, we can buy a second 2000w Honda and run them in parallel giving us 4000 watts … enough to do everything we want to do — and all at the same time if necessary! But that’s down the road. The Honda is amazingly quiet and very easy to operate … with a great reputation. So besides getting out of the epic Tucson heat, our goal on this trip was to camp without hookups using solar and a generator in combination. We were totally jacked about it, too.

Terry started the generator up so he could toast a bagel for lunch ... it was so empowering! It just purred quietly along doing its thing in “eco” mode and when the toaster got turned on, we could hear it rev up a bit to deliver the necessary power ... very cool. Even Greg commented that he was glad we’d gotten the generator. He had not been so much in favor of getting one for a long time. But he had seen the light and was convinced it was a good decision. Terry is pleased. (Now to work on Greg for the 2nd generator!)

Friday we stayed in the campground all day Friday, just enjoying our down time, not doing anything, and settling into our new space. It was nice to relax and ground ourselves for a long weekend. We fired up the grill and cooked hamburgers … And oh, it was even better because we had good internet and    cell reception at Pine Grove, and a few TV stations, too. Life is good.

This was our first trip since the “big digital switchover” too … so far so good. The converter box we got worked. We think we are getting fewer stations, but those we do get are very clear. With cell, internet and TV who could ask for anything more? Some folks would not consider this “camping” … and admittedly, we don’t feel like we are “roughing it” … but that’s OK with us … we did the whole backpacking-and-camping-under-the-stars-sleeping-on-the-ground thing when we were much younger! For us, this is the perfect mode.

Friday afternoon we noticed the side of Annie’s face was swollen. At first we were afraid that there was a dental issue because her teeth are one of

her weaker points due to her other health issues. When we

examined her we couldn’t find anything in her mouth along the

gum line that looked like an immediate issue … and she didn’t

seem to be hurting anywhere inside her mouth. Then we figured

out what the problem probably was … the yellow jackets were

out in good numbers, and they are particularly interested in dog

food and soda cans. We think she and a yellow jacket were

interested in the same bite of food and she probably got stung

either insider her mouth on her face below her eye. We watched

her for the next couple of days and gradually the swelling went down.  But for a while there her face was very lop-sided looking. We are glad it was nothing more dramatic. When we are on the road with the Girls we always try to know where the neatrest vet is. And since much of our travel is in Arizona, our home vet is sometimes able to make recommendations for vets in other towns. It’s always so worrisome when one of the pups has something go wrong. Wish they could tell us where it hurts. Fortunately, once Annie’s face was back to normal she was her regular sweet self.

Saturday we drove into Flagstaff to look around. This was the day of the Cardinals’big exhibition game at NAU…and Flagstaff was crawling with Cardinals fans. It was pretty amazing. There were everywhere. We made the mistake of making a wrong turn and ending up on the NAU campus, which was not the right place to be. Terry had gone to NAU for undergrad school, but much has changed since he was there, including the streets through campus. (What? You mean things have changed after 30 years? What’s going on with that!?) We were just glad to get off campus and back on main streets.

We drove through town on old Route 66, which used to be another lazy place in Terry’s college day memories. No more — it’s very touristy these days. We drove to Bonita Campground near Sunset Crater about 15 miles NE of town to check out the campground as a possibe next stop. It was pretty nice and there were plenty of open spaces, so we decided to move there Monday for a few days and take in the Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments. More about that in the next leg of the trip.

Sunday was our last full day at Pine Grove… we were exceedingly lazy, took walks with the Girls, visited with another couple with an Airsteam — he had a

                    great German accent and was quite the character. We enjoyed

                        talking about Airstreams with him ... and his trips in the winter

                           snows to go elk hunting. That’s something we haven’t done

                           yet ... the snow camping we mean, not the elk huting ... (don’t

                        think that’s in the stars for us). And we played with the blue

                            jays. They were incredibly bold and pushy and eager for

                             whatever you fed them. We threw some bread bits out for them and you’d have thought it was a feast from the gods! They hung out in the trees around the camp sites and waited for an opportunity to swooped down and pick up the bits of bread. Are they fast! They’d swoop and we’d try to catch them on the camera, but it was difficult. As you will see in the pics below, most of the bird shots are blurry because they just can’t stay still! Either that or we are just not fast enough! It was great fun, and we thought the jays enjoyed it a lot as well. 

Steaks on the grill for dinner … and they were mm-mmm-gooood!

Click on the Slide Show icon below for pictures of the first leg of our trip, including Sedona, Oak Creek and Pine Grove ... and then click on “Sunset Crater” or “Kaibab Lake” to go to the other legs of the trip. Enjoy!