Accommodation

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Fun in Sedona, AZ

Driving around Flagstaff last night gave me the impression that it’s not an easy city to drive in. I kept on missing my turns and had to do long detours to get turned around because of the railroad that divides the city. This morning, in the light of day, it wasn’t any better.

There wasn’t anything I particularly wanted to see in Flagstaff, so at reader Sandra’s suggestion, I decided to go spend part of the day in Sedona, a short distance away. Well, it took longer to get out of Flagstaff than to actually get to Sedona!

GPS directions and the paper map told me to take Beulah Blvd, or route 89, to Sedona. So far so good. Until I hit construction and a sign that said, ‘Road ahead closed, take I-17 and exit 337.’ I was at a dead end and had to reverse until I could find a place to turn around. Had I been in the rig, I would have had to unhook and reverse a giant motorhome for about a quarter of a mile!

I finally got turned around and looked for detour signs. There were none. I could see I-17, but no on ramps. My GPS was of no use. The paper map wasn’t detailed enough. Siri had no idea what I wanted. I finally pulled into a parking lot and saw a police officer standing by his patrol car sipping a coffee. I asked him how to get to I-17 and he told me that the gas station over there could sell me a map. Gee, thanks! *rolls eyes*

On the way to the gas station, I passed a lady walking and asked her. She had no idea how to direct me. I made it to the gas station and asked the attendant. He said the on ramp was near Walmart. So I drove around Walmart a bit and finally found the on ramp.

I drove down I-17 until I got to exit 337. Guess what was there? A sign that said, ‘Sedona detour, exit here.’ Seriously, Flagstaff?!

Had I been in the motorhome today, I really doubt I would have made it to Sedona as I would have been caught in dead ends several times and would have been fed up with having to unhook and get myself turned around. For a tourist destination, Flagstaff has a lot to learn about road signage.

When I finally got on the way to Sedona, I enjoyed the drive down a very steep twisty road (the kind that I hated in the RV). We dropped several thousand feet in elevation quite quickly.

I was surprised upon entering Sedona to find tons of signs announcing free three-hour parking all around the main tourist strip. Quite unexpected! I parked and then walked up and down the main street looking into shops, checking out restaurants, and eventually came to the visitor info centre. The city itself is quite unremarkable, but the surrounding landscape is very beautiful! Sedona had a good vibe to it. I felt very relaxed there.

A very helpful lady at the visitor centre gave me some info on hiking trails to check out in the afternoon, telling me that I needed to stay longer to explore Sedona’s 300 miles of trails! She also told me that there is $5 per day fee to hike in the area, but that a number of other passes are accepted, including my interagency pass! She gave me a hang tag for it, something I could have used at Craters of the Moon.

I then headed across the street to the Life is Good store, hoping to replace my now much too big ‘All who wander are lost’ tee-shirt. I found several shirts with the phrase on it, but the only one that had a colour and cartoon on it that I liked was a lady’s size L. The sizing is ample, so I needed at most a medium and didn’t feel like paying $32 for a tent I wouldn’t want to wear in public. Oh, well. I pass Life is Good stores every so often and will keep trying.

It was only just past 11:00 by this time, but I was ravenous, so I decided to hunt down lunch. When I found a well rated restaurant serving rattlesnake, my decision on where to dine was quickly made. That’s all I have to say about that in this post with respect to those of you with sensitive constitutions. For the curious, here’s a review of my lunch.

After lunch, I wanted ice cream seeing as the temperature was now infernal. Most places wanted $5 or more for a small scoop, but I finally found a place that wanted a more reasonable $3.75. I got a scoop of espresso and it tasted exactly like a Tim Horton’s iced cap!

I was then ready to walk off my lunch, so I headed off for a trail head. I wasn’t really dressed for the climate (denim capris and a cotton tee-shirt) and only equipped to carry half a gallon of water, so I didn’t have any ambitious goals except to explore the hillside. I found myself in a warren of hiking trails, all poorly marked, and eventually turned back, certain that I would get lost. I mean, after a few turns, one cactus and pile of red rocks looks pretty much like another! 😀 I still managed to spend about an hour before making my way back to the trail head.

There, a man came up to me and asked if I was visiting from out of town. I cautiously said yes. He said that if I didn’t mind going all the way back up the road to the first round about and coming back down the other side of the divided highway, I just had to do the short Yavapai hike up to a scenic viewpoint. Thank you!

I did exactly that and found a short, but still a bit technical, hike up to a fantastic viewpoint of Sedona’s red hills. I am so grateful to that lovely man and his beautiful and sweet German shepherd! And thank you, Sandra, for making sure I didn’t miss out on this lovely town!

Sedona really charmed me and was much more affordable than expected. I could have easily found a hotel under $50 a night in the area. But unfortunately, border day is coming up fast and I had to make tracks. Yet, there was more magic to be found a short distance down the road.

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An Adventure En Route to Flagstaff

From Pipe Springs, I returned to Utah so I could take route 89 through the southern edge of the Grand Staircase – Escalante Monument, an area famed for its beautiful multicoloured hills. I pulled over at an information sign that indicated that the ghost town of Pahreah and an abandoned movie set from the 1930s, as well as the Paria cemetery lay six miles away in an isolated valley. The sign warned that the road is only passable to high clearance vehicles in dry conditions. Well, this was certainly not something I could do with Miranda or my old toad, a subcompact Accent!

Off I went down the twisty clay road and it was good going at first, but the road became very twisty and steep. I came down one twisty slope into sandy and got the first niggle of worry that maybe my plan wasn’t such a good idea. This is the kind of feeling I was expecting to get on the Angel’s Landing hike, but never felt once. I continued on for a long while and finally got to something, a sign indicating that the ghost town lay ahead and that the old movie set had burned down and what’s there now are replicas. There was also, to my surprise, a clean pit toilet.

I continued on and found the cemetery. There were names and dates on a plaque, but all the gravestones were unmarked.

Shortly after the cemetery, there was a sign that said, ‘High clearance 4×4 vehicles strongly recommended beyond this point.’ The ugly feeling returned to my stomach with a vengeance. It was surprising to feel it there and not at all on the hike the other day. The scenery down into the valley had made the drive worthwhile and I made the decision to trust my gut. It was late and I didn’t even feel like walking the route to see what I might be getting myself into. I had to reverse almost a quarter mile before finding a place to turn around. I have no idea why the sign was placed where it was. 🙁

The trip back up was something! Sure enough, I came this close to getting stuck at the bottom of that steep sandy slope. It was really tricky because I had to make a run up the hill in very low gear and turn at the same time to avoid going over the edge of a cliff. After that, it was smooth going.

Even though I did not make it to the ghost town and movie set, I am very glad I took the detour! The scenery was so beautiful and I got to see what my truck is made of!

From there, I pushed on to Page where I got fuel and discovered that… someone stole my brand new gas cap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought fuel yesterday before going to Kolob Canyons and I most certainly remember putting my gas cap back on. I am not impressed. 🙁

Page has a really impressive dam. There was even places to park around it for photo ops.

From Page, route 89 was closed and I had to take a detour that was very, very, very slow going . I was glad when I reached Flagstaff as I was started to feel a little faint from hunger. I pulled into the Cracker Barrel at 5PM local time. BTW Arizona is like SK in that it does not change the clocks, so right now it’s on Pacific Time. Cracker Barrel is a guilty pleasure and this was only the second one I encountered on this trip. I enjoyed their apricot glazed pork chops with pecan wild rice, the special of the day, which made for an inexpensive meal.

It wasn’t even six when I got done with dinner and the evening stretched on ahead. I found a Starbucks where I did the last blog post, but didn’t realise that they closed at seven! I thought to go see a movie, but Flagstaff has only one cinema and there was nothing appealing playing. It was way too early to crawl into my bunk for the evening.

So I went to Walmart to kill some time and picked up some fleece pants since it’s going down to almost freezing tonight and all my warm PJs are in the laundry basket. Yes, it wouldn’t have killed me to wear smelly PJs tonight, but I could afford $8 for a clean new pair. 😉

From Walmart, I drove around for the better part of an hour looking for an overnight spot. Flagstaff has a dizzying amount of motels and hotels, but finding one that met my requirements took ages. I’m happy with what I found, although the train that passes frequently might be an issue.

I’m not sure what I’m doing tomorrow. There’s a few things in Phoenix that are of interest, so I might head there. There isn’t really anything around or in Flagstaff that I particularly want to stick around for, plus the weather here is quite cool since we’re at almost 7,000 feet of elevation and I put away most of my warm clothes! 🙂

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Hunan City Restaurant, Hurricane UT

By 6:30, my ice cream was very far away and I was starting to feel a little faint, so I headed off in search of dinner, hoping to find a little cafe that serves burgers and beers. Siri found one about 15 minutes away (walking), so that was perfect and off I went. I found it strange that so many things were closed that early and I finally clued in that it was Sunday night! Yikes! Every restaurant I had passed saved for the fast food joints were closed, as was the café and the grocery store. My options were Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and Subways. And then I saw a little light in an otherwise dark strip mall. I went to investigate and found a small Chinese restaurant called Hunan City.

Chinese is the last place I go to for sustenance, but I was famished and, having conquered Angel’s Landing, ready for more adventure! 😉 So I went in and was greeted warmly. There were a few other patrons, all speaking Mandarin, which I took as a good sign (I’ve studied Mandarin and can recognize it compared to Cantonese). The menu was small and not very descriptive. I’m sure that people who eat a lot at Chinese places would recognize all the dishes, but the names meant little to me.

I found a ‘dinner special’ section starting at $9.99 and decided to go with that. It included soup of the day, noodles, rice, an egg roll and a main dish. I glanced at all the main dish options and settled on cashew chicken. I know I like those two ingredients, but had no idea how they would be cooked, if there would be sauce or veggies, etc. and the server didn’t seem to speak much English so there was no point asking. I eat raw fish, surely I could handle whatever Hunan City put in front of me!

My soup choices were egg drop or hot and sour, which wasn’t a choice at all for me (no eggs, remember?). The soup looked quite off putting, crunchy somethings I initially thought were noodles with mushrooms and tofu in a viscous broth that was indeed hot (both in terms of spiciness and temperature) and sour. It was rather like that Iranian soup I had in Montreal, strangely comforting and perfect after a long cold walk from the hotel. I didn’t finish it because I suspected that there would be a lot of dinner, but I didn’t not like it.

When dinner arrived, I was optimistic. The plate of food was huge, but there were brightly coloured vegetables and I could tell that the chicken was all white meat with no gristle. I started with the ‘ham fried rice’, which was okay and hugely improved with soy sauce. Next, I sampled the noodles and, oh my! I think they might have had some sesame oil on them. They were just yummy. As for the cashew chicken, WOW! Yes, I just said wow and capitalized it. The dish was cooked in a savoury garlic sauce and had tons of tender crisp veggies and it didn’t skimp on the cashews. I really enjoyed it! There was also a spring roll rather than an egg roll, which I found disappointing since I prefer the dough on the latter. But there was nothing wrong with the spring roll. It was crispy and had lots of nice veggies in it.

I was too hungry to divide all the food into two meals, but there was definitely too much for just one meal. I ended up leaving most of the rice and eating everything else. It was the perfect mix of protein and carbs after a very active day.

I am really glad that circumstances brought me to Hunan City tonight. I don’t see myself seeking out Chinese food on a regular basis, but now I know there’s much more to it than what you get at the all you can eat buffets.

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Motel Thoughts

I’m doing a lot of motel stays on this trip so that I can work. I don’t have the kind of work that can literally be done from anywhere. I need to sit at a proper desk and quiet surroundings, so working out of a coffee shop or even my truck isn’t an option. With the way I’m being paid for my current contract, it’s really worth it for me to take a motel room to work. With other clients in the past, the profit margin would have been too slim to make the expense worthwhile.

My motel stays have thus far been at super inexpensive economy places. I could afford more if I needed to, but the rooms I’ve had so far have perfectly met my needs. The most important thing is that the room needs to feel and look clean, especially for an extended stay. I know that a place can be worn and clean, but it’s hard to get past the mental barrier that grunge does not include filth. I have stayed at higher end locations, but, really, I don’t appreciate the difference and I’ve had actually had less for a lot more money. Inexpensive doesn’t have to mean the roach motel. I have in the past only been able to afford something like that, and it’s fine for one night, but I wouldn’t put up with that for an extended stay nowadays.

I’ve stayed in three motel rooms on this trip and they’ve all been very fresh. The two for extended stays have even included a fridge and microwave, which means being able to stay in for some meals, bring back leftovers, and, most important, make my own coffee. These lower end motels have even had super nice pools!

The only thing these lower end motels don’t have that I got at a more upscale hotel in Vegas in ’07 is a cute cabana boy in tight red shorts who hands you towels and margaritas. I only ended up at that hotel because I got an insane online deal. Gorgeous as he was, he wasn’t worth the $100 plus the room would have normally been worth. 😉

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Truck Camping Thoughts

I haven’t had to sleep in my truck as much on this trip as I would have had I left a week earlier, but I’m glad to have saved a couple of nights at a hotel and will do a couple more nights in it on the way to Mexico and one night in Mexico (as per information received from two people about a very safe location to do so).

I have the back of the truck set up with a cheap cot from Cabella’s that I had to shorten to fit. Over that, I have a mattress my step-mother picked up at Costco that folds up into a square for storage. It’s the perfect length for the truck bed. The two items combined make for an incredibly comfy bunk, a huge improvement over the slab of plywood on crates that I used up to and including to this summer’s camping trip. I packed a huge pile of bedding, anticipating several cold Montana nights, but I left later than planned and haven’t had to use all the bedding the two nights I’ve slept in the truck.

The truck isn’t usually as full as it is now, so I usually have room for a little bucket to use as a porta-potty, but I have to do without on this trip.

Sleeping in the truck leaves me rather vulnerable. I do have a way to secure the tailgate from the inside, but I feel a lot less secure than I do in the RV. So I do not advertise where I am staying for the night nor do tell anyone that I am sleeping in my truck. A good overnight spot in the RV is not the same as a good overnight spot in the truck, but the same principles apply. I can recognize a good one and just know that it’s the right one.

The main thing is that I need to find a place where a truck parked overnight will not look suspicious and where I can have a modicum of privacy. It’s nice to have a bathroom nearby, like at a McDonald’s or Starbucks. So the logical place to look for an overnight spot is a large hotel or motel with overflow parking at the rear that is well-lit and has a retaining wall or some other obstruction that I can back against.

This sounds like a tall order, but it’s really easy to find a place, surprisingly enough. The first places I tried in Billings and Pocatello on this trip were pretty darn near perfect.

I have blackout curtains, so I back up right under a light. Backing up means that my license plate is not visible, especially important in the States (I don’t think I’ve ever seen an SK license plate outside of Canada except in northern Montana and North Dakota!). This is all part of trying not to be conspicuous. It also means that no one is likely to walk behind the truck and that I’m less likely to be spotted clambering in and out of the back.

Speaking of clambering, I used to put the tail gate down to get in and out, but have stopped doing that because it’s so heavy that it makes a racket going down and is hard to pull up. I’ve gotten very good at climbing in just through the topper window part!

I visit the nearby bathroom before bed to brush my teeth and change into my sleep clothes. I sleep in something that can be seen in public should I need to make a quick getaway, including a comfortable bra, so that I can get up and go in the morning. I keep slip on shoes handy as well as my phone. I make a note of my location in case I have to call the police in the middle of the night. I think that if you’re prepared for an emergency, you’re less likely to encounter one!

In the morning, I head back to the nearby bathroom, wash my face, and brush my teeth. If I’m going to encounter a rest area very soon (like this morning), I wait for then to change into my clothes for the day. I have had times where the truck wasn’t full and I could relatively easily wash and change in the truck, but I don’t mind not having that option on this trip.

Finally, I try to arrive at my overnight spot not too late, but still under the cover of darkness, and I don’t dawdle in the morning. If at all possible, I try to have everything sorted so that I can park and immediately get into the back. My theory is the quicker I get from the driver’s seat to the back with the door closed and the curtains in place, the better as I’m less likely to be spotted.

Once I am settled in the back with the blackout curtains, I am invisible, so I can easily wile away an hour or two on my iPad reading or watching a movie on Netflix (with earbuds) to relax before going to sleep. I’ve been told that turning over in bed doesn’t shake the truck, but other movement does, so I try to be still!

I definitely don’t sleep well or deeply in the truck because I do feel a little vulnerable. But it’s still enough sleep and the cost savings are worth the risk to me.

I do like having the option to sleep in the truck, but wish I had more room. I’m keeping my eye out for a slightly taller topper. I don’t mind the coffin-like setup I have now as I find it very cozy, but a taller topper would give me a bit more room to move around.

One of the main reasons I bought a truck when I was forced to replace my car was to use it for camping. I am happy with that decision even if I had to compromise on space to get a truck with decentish gas mileage that could be towable behind the motorhome and available with a manual transmission. My truck is really comfortable for road tripping and a joy to drive. I continue to be very happy with it!