Autumn in Arizona

Today is Sunday, October 8th and I have been in Arizona for a week today! I left Bayfield, Colorado last Saturday morning and spent the night at Monument Valley, Utah. I had never been there and it was a good half-way stopping point between there and my ultimate destination of Camp Verde, AZ. Strange but beautiful landscape in that area -- it's almost like being on another planet after being in the Colorado Rockies all summer. I plan to do a lot more exploring in Utah next spring AND making a trip up to Riverton to see my niece and her baby boy who will be 6 months old on the 24th of this month! I keep up with her and little Chase on FaceBook and that little guy looks just like she did when she was that age! Cute beyond belief! I can't wait to meet him!
This was the view from my campsite in Monument Valley:

Just when everything was humming along nicely, my old laptop computer met with a fatal accident the day I got here. I always keep it here on the table and have had no problems so far. Well, when I opened an overhead cabinet to retrieve something last Sunday evening -- WHAM! a 4-pack of EAS Protein drinks must have shifted when I was driving and it tumbled out of that cabinet and whacked the laptop really hard on the front righ corner. Unfortunately, that's where the HARD DRIVE is. Yhe very next day, I took it to someone up in Cottonwood that Larry had recommended, hoping for the best. Unfortunately, it was DOA -- I lost EVERYTHING on the hard drive, including all my pictures from the last 2 years and all my accounting for the same time period. Ugh! The tech said perhaps the data COULD be recovered from the hard drive, but I would have to send it out to a specialist. THAT can cost upward of $500 and I'm not willing to spend that right now. The GOOD NEWS is that Chase VISA is going to reimburse me the cost of the original laptop AND what I spent to try to have it repaired. I had almost forgotten about the "purchase protection" they give when you use that VISA to buy something! That lessened the pain of having to run out and buy a new one.

Got settled in here at Zane Grey RV Village pretty quickly and started getting familiar with what's nearby. Camp Verde is a darling little town with a historic district and a big annual festival coming up next weekend. Cottonwood is larger and about 25 minutes from here. From what I have seen, it's about the size of the town where I grew up in Maryland but it's really spread out. I find that to be true for most of the towns out west. More space! There's a big super Wal-Mart up there and a SAFEWAY grocery store, too! When I was up in Evergreen, CO, I was tickled to death they had a Safeway. I always shopped there when I lived in Maryland and they had all the same stuff in the Colorado store (EXCEPT Maryland CRAB MEAT). I have enjoyed eating a lot of fresh salmon all summer, but could really go for a Maryland Crab Cake just about now.

My campground buddy from Florida got here on Thursday. She and her daughter (who just graduated from fashion design school) came up to Colorado to spend a week and then took off for Utah to explore all around. They will be here until the end of this month and then they're not sure where they are going. I changed my reservation to stay here until the end of November before heading farther south to Apache Junction (northeast of Phoenix). I did that partly because I didn't want to get to AJ while it's still real hot and because I wanted more time to get to know another fellow I met on Plenty of Fish. His name is Larry and he is a senior guide with Pink Jeep Tours in Sedona. Everybody in town knows him and he is the MOST REQUESTED GUIDE in the whole company! No wonder because he is like a local historian; has learned just about everything there is to know about the Native Americans who used to live here and how the red rock formations came to be, wildlife in the area, etc.

Anyway, Larry and I "met" on the POF dating site and then went from email to phone conversations in a 2 week period. We met in person last Monday and had a wonderful day! I told him I didn't expect a "private tour" on one of his few days off, but he insisted. It was pretty cool. I DID take a tour with his company when I was out here in 2011 or 12 doing a 5-day retreat with Vikki Stark, author of Runaway Husbands. There is something really mystical about Sedona; that's why it seems to have become a magnet for artists and a lot of old hippies. Larry and I got together again this past Friday and just spent the day talking and getting to know each other better. He is 65, not yet fully retired and has lived in Sedona for 13 years. Really nice guy who seems to have his head on straight and who is looking for someone to share the resst of his life with. I think that's what we're ALL looking for but it is really like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I'm having some fun with it, though, and want to "play the field" for a bit; have had a number of inquiries and email exchanges with my "top picks" so far. I am meeting someone else for coffee later this afternoon and maybe going for a hike up to Montezuma's Castle with someone else on Wednesday. There are so many things to do in this area, so I am going to maximize my time here.

So that's about it for this update. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Autumn weather. The leaves are changing here, so I guess the natural canopy over this campsite will be gone by the time I leave. This IS by far the most beautiful RV park I have stayed in -- very small (only about 50 spaces) and nicely landscaped. BIG campsites with plenty of room for your car and a picnic table at each one. The bathhouse/restrooms are huge and very clean and the folks who run the place make you feel like part of a family. That's always a nice touch -- feeling welcome in a new place.

Just when everything was humming along nicely, my old laptop computer met with a fatal accident the day I got here. I always keep it here on the table and have had no problems so far. Well, I went to open an overhead cabinet last Sunday and WHAM! a 4-pack of EAS Protein drinks must have shifted when I was driving and it came falling out of that cabinet and whacked the laptop really hard on the front righ corner. Unfortunately, that's where the HARD DRIVE is. Took it to someone up in Cottonwood that Larry had recommended. Unfortunately, it was DOA -- I lost EVERYTHING on the hard drive, including all my pictures from the last 2 years and all my accounting for the same time period. Ugh! The tech said perhaps it COULD be recovered, but I would have to send the hard drive out to a specialist. THAT can cost upward of $500 and I'm not willing to spend that right now. The GOOD NEWS is that Chase VISA is going to reimburse me the cost of the original laptop AND what I spent to try to have it repaired. I had almost forgotten about the "purchase protection" they give when you use that VISA to buy something! That lessened the pain of having to run out and buy a new one.

Got settled in here at Zane Grey RV Village pretty quickly and started getting familiar with what's nearby. Camp Verde is a darling little town with a historic district and a big annual festival coming up next weekend. Cottonwood is larger and about 25 minutes from here. From what I have seen, it's about the size of the town where I grew up in Maryland but it's really spread out. I find that to be true for most of the towns out west. More space! There's a big super Wal-Mart up there and a SAFEWAY grocery store, too! When I was up in Evergreen, CO, I was tickled to death they had a Safeway. I always shopped there when I lived in Maryland and they had all the same stuff in the Colorado store (EXCEPT Maryland CRAB MEAT). I have enjoyed eating a lot of fresh salmon all summer, but could really go for a Maryland Crab Cake just about now.

My campground buddy from Florida got here on Thursday. She and her daughter (who just graduated from fashion design school) came up to Colorado to spend a week and then took off for Utah to explore all around. They will be here until the end of this month and then they're not sure where they are going. I changed my reservation to stay here until the end of November before heading farther south to Apache Junction (northeast of Phoenix). I did that partly because I didn't want to get to AJ while it's still real hot and because I wanted more time to get to know another fellow I met on Plenty of Fish. His name is Larry and he is a senior guide with Pink Jeep Tours in Sedona. Everybody in town knows him and he is the MOST REQUESTED GUIDE in the whole company! No wonder because he is like a local historian; has learned just about everything there is to know about the Native Americans who used to live here and how the red rock formations came to be, wildlife in the area, etc.

Anyway, Larry and I "met" on the POF dating site and then went from email to phone conversations in a 2 week period. We met in person last Monday and had a wonderful day! I told him I didn't expect a "private tour" on one of his few days off, but he insisted. It was pretty cool. I DID take a tour with his company when I was out here in 2011 or 12 doing a 5-day retreat with Vikki Stark, author of Runaway Husbands. There is something really mystical about Sedona; that's why it seems to have become a magnet for artists and a lot of old hippies. Larry and I got together again this past Friday and just spent the day talking and getting to know each other better. He is 65, not yet fully retired and has lived in Sedona for 13 years. Really nice guy who seems to have his head on straight and who is looking for someone to share the resst of his life with. I think that's what we're ALL looking for but it is really like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I'm having some fun with it, though, and want to "play the field" for a bit; have had a number of inquiries and email exchanges with my "top picks" so far. I am meeting someone else for coffee later this afternoon and maybe going for a hike up to Montezuma's Castle with someone else on Wednesday. There are so many things to do in this area, so I am going to maximize my time here.

So that's about it for this update. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Autumn weather. The leaves are changing here, so I guess the natural canopy over this campsite will be gone by the time I leave. This IS by far the most beautiful RV park I have stayed in -- very small (only about 50 spaces) and nicely landscaped. BIG campsites with plenty of room for your car and a picnic table at each one. The bathhouse/restrooms are huge and very clean and the folks who run the place make you feel like part of a family. That's always a nice touch -- feeling welcome in a new place.

Wishing you all a great day and a good week ahead!