In honor of game day, I have a new decoration for the motorhome! Go Arizona!
Arizona
Forest Bike Ride
Riding in the midst of the Ponderosa Pines is spectacular!
I had the opportunity to go on a Jeep ride and bike ride in the forest. I loved both of them! It is so beautiful to enjoy mountains and all the trees. The temperatures were cool, so it was especially nice to ride my bike through all the trees.
When riding my bike, I met an elderly couple from Litchfield Park and they were gracious enough to take my photo in the forest. I noticed they both were wearing University of Arizona caps and they thought it was fun that I used to work there. They asked me how I thought the football team was going to do and we talked some pretty areas around northern Arizona. I laughed at the end because the guy said “Go Wildcats!” loudly as they left to go down the trail.
RV Park with a Steak House
Wonderful steak! I need to come back here again!
Since we have had our motorhome, I have stayed at all kinds of campgrounds and RV parks around the US. However, today is the very first time when I stayed at a RV park with a steak house. The food was fantastic! I ordered my favorite cut of beef, fillet mignon cooked medium rare. It melted in my mouth. The restaurant had a range of beers, including quite a few local microbrewery beers. Keeping with my desire for trying new things, I order microbrewery beer that I have never heard of before. It was sort of a pale ale and I enjoyed it immensely. A unique feature with the restaurant was that a woman played the piano and the different waiters and waitresses took turns singing songs. My waitress was quite talented. We talked a bit and she told me she was born in Saudi Arabia. We compared cities we had visited in Saudi Arabia. The meal was great and I have enough leftovers for lunch!
Down and Dirty!!
We were very excited to start driving from Matt and Melissa’s cabin in a nice clean Razr!
Matt and I were excited to pick them up!
Today we rented two Polaris Razrs and had the time of our lives driving through the Kaibab National Forest. The Razr is easy to steer, does not require gear shifting, and has seat belts. There are 4 seats and room for coolers in the pack. They are especially fun to drive as they have a tight turning radius, high clearance, and an amazing amount of power!
We climbed this huge hill using four-wheel drive and the lower transmission case!
On the flat straightaway, our Razr went 60 miles an hour! It is amazing how fast you can cruise. The power was evident by how steep we could climb! We put the transmission in lower case and put it in 4-wheel drive and we climbed up an amazingly steep hill. The Razr just chewed it up like butter!
Melissa took a fantastic selfie photo with Charlene!
Melissa took a great photo of some excited people driving in the forest!
However, there is one key downside about renting a Razr for 8 hours: YOU GET UNBELIEVABLE FILTHY! I enjoyed getting each piece of dust on me, but after driving all day, typically behind the dust created by Matt and Melissa, you get filthy. We had such fun laughing at how dirty we became! I feel like I must be in middle school again. I cannot remember having so much fun getting so dirty!
Look at those dirty girls!
We got “dusted” and enjoyed every minute of it!
There is so much dirt coating our skin, it looks like we have changed skin color!
It was an adventure trying to wash off all the dust!
Great Wildlife!
Today we joined Matt and Melissa and their family and visited Bearizona. Jacob, Macy, and Ben were the stars of the day. It was a tremendous amount of fun to be with them as we saw all kinds of animals.
Great Horned Owl
Lonesome and looking for a friend.
The raptor show was probably my favorite. I especially loved seeing the Great Horned Owl! The birds were quite impressive.
Ben enjoyed petting the goat.
It was also fun to watch the kids in the petting zoo area.
Matt found a friend for life!
The love of a father and daughter is a very special thing!
There were many deer to enjoy. This one was licking his lips for a tasty treat!
I also enjoyed seeing the bobcat and the ram too!
The bobcat was on the prowl!
The rams were impressive!
The Forest is Beautiful!
We are getting ready to head out to ride in the forest!
I learned something valuable today. If you look up fun in the dictionary, it says the definition of fun is riding all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in the National Forest in Northern Arizona. It was so much fun!
Northern Arizona is so beautiful!
I have ridden an ATV one previous time a number of years ago in Rocky Point, Mexico. That was wonderful riding in the sand. However, there is something extra special about riding in the National Forest near where I grew up. In high school we would often drive around on dirt roads near Flagstaff. I remember those trips fondly. Today was re-discovering that memory by riding on dirt roads that weaved around through Ponderosa Pine forests, meadows, and lakes. It was gorgeous and I kept thinking about so many memories growing up.
Gorgeous scenery with the pines, lakes, and gorgeous sky!
We had a new variation by riding ATVs. Matt road his powerful ATV (that can go 70 miles an hour) and I rode Melissa’s (that can go about 40 miles an hour). We started out cautiously as I was learning how to balance around curves, shifting gears, and climbing over rocks. As I got more comfortable, we increased our speed.
Matt is waving from the top of the forest look-out station.
As we were weaving through narrow, small roads, I had a big grin on my face. When we got going faster, I knew there was testosterone flowing through my veins as we cruising through washes, climbing hills, going over rocks, and taking in the different landscapes.
Amazing views from the look-out tower!
One of the most surprising aspects of the trip were the number of elk that we saw. One group had to have had at least 30. We saw a large buck with a huge rack, standing in the sun, just watching us. It was magnificent!
After riding I was filthy. My beard was no longer grey, but tan from all the dust. My face was dirty all around my goggles!
The time flew past. We were gone for about 4.5 hours, but it sure seemed much shorter. I hope to do that again!
Macy, Matt, and I enjoyed some delicious hamburgers after our ride!
Graduation!
Charlene and Cheyenne celebrate her graduation!
We had a quick trip to Arizona to visit with Elizabeth and Dennis before their move to Germany and to attend Cheyenne’s high school graduation. Both were very special to us! It is so wonderful to be in Flagstaff in the summer! The pine trees are beautiful and it was nice a cool. The low temperature was 35 degrees, so it was quite brisk and refreshing in the morning.
We also had a chance to have a great visit with Matt and Melissa and their 3 amazing kids. It was wonderful to see everyone! Since we no longer live in Arizona, it is very special to visit with these people who are so special to us! Phoenix has some great RV parks, so maybe we can spend some time there during the winter?
Distillery Discovery
What a surprise to find a rum and vodka distillery in Kingman, Arizona. We took a tour of their facility, learned about the awards they have won, and sampled a flight of products. The vodka was much smoother than Russian vodkas we have tried. We also really liked their rums. We could not decide on our favorite, so we bought bottles of two different flavors.
Hackberry General Store
What a fun place to find all kinds of Route 66 memorabilia! Hackberry, Arizona is a one store town.
This is our Drive Willcox to Kingman.
Escapade in Tucson!
Although we have been members of the Escapees RV group for many years, we have never been able to attend any of the meetings. Finally, we were able to attend our first Escapade. There were more than 850 rigs! We loved our time meeting people, attending seminars, and discovering new places to visit.
Fiesta on Wheels 