Erasing Arizona - Day 2

By noon, I was out. Three hours across the desert on the I10, and I am now a former Phonecian and former Zoner. New Mexico couldn't come fast enough.

(Actually, New Mexico did come faster. I was once again tripped up by the crossing of a time line. I had most of what I wanted to do time out pretty well so that I could complete dinner and be back in my hotel room with plenty of time to get comfortable for Survivor. By the time I turned on the TV, they were already voting for the evictee. Damn time zone lines!!)

Shortly after entering New Mexico, I left the interstate and headed for Silver City, and the start of a scenic drive that had me criss-crossing the continental divide. I passed a town called Pinos Altos, or "tall pines" for you gringos, and that is exactly what appeared as I entered the Gila National Forest.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I really had a great day. I am on vacation (or is it retirement or unemployment) and doing whatever I want, so it should be great. But once on the scenic drive, all stresses evaporate, and the beauty of the scenery takes over.

The road narrowed, and the center line disappeared, as the drive ran up, down and along the crest of small 6,500 foot elevation mountains. Tons of hair pin turns, striking panoramas, and ever changing flora; I even had a little skid producing run in with a deer that was eyeballing me like he wanted to make a suicidal run across the road. It was GREAT to get out of the desert.

Two hours deep in the middle of the journey, I came to the main attraction. The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. There, a mile long loop trail led me past ancient "condos" built into a cave about half way up a cliff. Why people intelligent enough to build these "rooms" would choose to build them half way up a cliff is beyond me. Apparently they figured out there was easier living elsewhere, because they only lasted on generation before checking out. However, I give them some credit for picking a room with a view.

Though just a mile, the steepness of the hike taught me that my Snack Master legs need to be retrained to hiking again. There were also a few ledges along the way that kicked in my fear of heights adrenaline...an added bonus.

Back across the mountains, and down past a few scenic lakes, and finally into Dening, NM. Dening is like many of the towns and cities I passed through today. The best days are behind this town, and it seems like more than half the businesses are closed down, and it appears many were abandoned. Windows are boarded, and there isn't even a "For Rent" sign to be seen. Sad.

Tomorrow if all goes well, I will be camping out (thus no blog) not far from Carlsbad Caverns National Park with the goal of seeing as much as I can of the park on Saturday. This will be the first National Park I've visited that has elevators.

I'm Road Tripping Again!!! - Day 1 (Trip 2)

By noon I had the South Mountains of Phoenix in the rear view mirror, and I am once again Road Tripping. I only made it as far as Tuscon, AZ, but I did get to a National Park and eat at a Road Food recommendation. So while I am still working out the kinks of being on the road again, I had a pretty successful first day.

About an hour and a half outside of Phoenix, I took the turn off for Saguaro National Park (NP). And 30 minutes later I was a the visitor for the western portion of the park. I don't know why I have never been here before. It would have been a simple day trip or camping weekend.

This desert park is not much different from the Phoenix surroundings. Lots of cacti, including the namesake Saguaro (pronounced Swarro). The saguaro is the cactus most people think of when they think of cacti. The cactus grows straight up for 75 years before it ever starts growing the arms that make it iconic. They live to be about 200 years, before rotting out.

With such a late start, I took the scenic drive, and did a short hike to see some 800 year old petroglyphs. It's great to be back in a place that is so removed from civilization that you can hear nothing but nature. All and all, Saguaro NP was pretty cool, but I wouldn't go planning a vacation around it...go to the Grand Canyon instead.

I followed that up with a stop for dinner a Pico De Gallo taqueria in South Tuscon. Signs indicate they make the best pico de gallo in America. I didn't really know what p d g was, but in their version there were huge chunks of watermelon, papaya, pineapple coconut and jicama sprinkled generously with a unique chilly powder. Loved the first 3, but I could have done without the coconut and I disliked the jicama. I followed that with two carne asada tacos, and the star was the homemade corn tortillas.

So that's it. Day 1 is in the books and I am excited about travelling for another long vacation.

I Think It's Tomorrow

Both of these statements are true: So much to do, so little time. So little to do, so much time.

I am really hoping that sometime tomorrow morning I will be finished with storing my stuff and be out roadtripping. But there is still a handful of tasks, mostly manual labor, that may take a few hours, and not give me enough time to hit the road. However, there are not so many things to do, that if I get an early start, I can make it. Just a lot to accomplish, and I need to get it done.

The opposite is also true. I'm not exactly in a rush. It'd be fun to speed out tomorrow, but there is no pressing deadline. Whenever I am done with the storage, I will have nothing on the schedule. Nothing. Well, I suppose SixPack is getting married in May. (Congrats Jack!) But I can't really think of another mandatory scheduling requirement before then. I've got time.

And space. I probably will transverse the country a couple times in the next couple of months. Pre is primed, though still could use a complete cleaning. I still have all the accoutrement's from the last trip, so I am well equipped. I bought the latest edition of the Road Food book (200 new entries...in NJ, they are up to 10 entries and only 8 of them are hot dog stands).

After posting this, I will be disconnecting my computer to move to storage. One of the handful of tasks. I have to disconnect the TV and Tivo (how do I love thee Tivo!) Do some final vacuuming and cleaning. Connect with the Treasons one last time to pass off my unfinished jars of mayo, pickles, soy sauce and a half a box of otter pops. Put the last items into storage. Pack Pre with the pile of roadtripping materials. Lock the door. And go.

Oh, and plan a route. Since I don't have any real plans for the first couple of days, I'll let you know what I decided after I've done it.

This should be fun!

RT

10 Days and Counting

I held a yard sale this weekend. I'd never held a yard sale before. I spent the last week filtering through each room and closet moving all my potentially sellable items to the garage. It was an empty garage finally because I got all the stagnant vending machines moved to new Snack Master Phil's garage. So I have been able to focus on the tasks remaining before I can resume the road trip.

The yard sale was successful and brought in nearly $500; more important, it cleared away more than half the volume of my stuff. As I go through the rest of my accumulated goods, I need to figure out what to do with the stuff I want to keep. Storage worked for the first trip, but as I may not be residing in Phoenix after this go around, it'd be best if I could get it to a place I am sure to return...Mom's.

BTW, Happy Birthday Mom!

I have a To Do list, hand written, with check boxes and all. It gets longer and shorter each day as I complete some tasks and think of more. But with the yard sale completed, I feel the biggest task is complete, and now it is just a lot of little finishing touches to get through. Then I am on the road again.

Where to go? I haven't given it too much specific thought yet, but it has been a long time since I was last on the east coast, so I am heading home first. I think I'll take a southern route home, and plan to hit the Big Bend National Park in Texas along the way. Other than that, I am open to chance and suggestion. I'd estimate it will take between 5 and 10 days to get to Jersey, which will probably depend on how much I am enjoying being on the road again.

I assume I will love the travel as much as I did two years ago, but that is yet to be determined. Given the assumption, I would like to connect with friend and family in NJ and CT, and then perhaps head a bit quickly toward the west coast and meet up with Bro in Portland to see the Willamette wineries. I'd also connect in Portland with bCollins. Following that, I'd make sure to see the family in SF and Battlestar in Seattle. At least that's my current speculation...it's all up to interpretation.

So, in at most 10 days, I should be back Road Tripping. Care to join me?

On The Road Again

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again.
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

I ended the blog before.  I am re-starting it now.

Sorry for the long delay, but I had a job to do.  I was Snack Master.

Today, I am not Snack Master.  This week, I initialed and signed and dated the documents that made me the late great Snack Master.  Removing that title leaves me simply as the Road Tripper, whom once again I shall be.

Thusly, I blog again.

Catching up, I bought the business, ran it for a year and a half, and have now sold it.  I sold it for about 55% of what I bought it for.  Quite a big loss indeed; however, had I kept my stock and condo two years ago, it probably would have been at least as big of a loss.  And considering a lot of my stock was Citigroup, I probably made out better owning the Snack Master business rather than the stock.

I liked the job and being my own boss, but I felt I wasn't making as much money as I wanted, and was also feeling the tug of going out on the road again.  Even if it is just for couple of months.  I really have no idea what I'll do after this trip, but I'll try to figure that out on the road.

I am moving out of my rental house here in Phoenix at the end of September.  I will be training the new owner for the next week, but after that I will focus on all the tasks I need to do to be able to drive out of Phoenix and start seeing the country again.  And the tasks are many.

My 'To Do' list currently has 29 items.  Most are mundane like submitting a change of address form or changing all my bills to be online bills.  But some of the tasks are going to be more time consuming, like running a yard sale or moving all my accumulated keepables into storage.

Anyway, I just wanted to re-establish the blog, and let anyone who checks in every now and then that at the end of September, I will be Road Tripping and posting again,

Cheers,

Road Tripper