Winter in Arizona

We left Colorado right after Christmas and drove I-25 south through New Mexico on to Phoenix. Most of the way we had clear roads but got into a huge snow storm in Flagstaff. An 8 hour drive turned into a 12 hour ordeal. There was no where to pull off and wait out the storm as Arizona has closed all their rest stops. This storm was just the beginning of a lot of rain and snow for Arizona during January. We arrived in Phoenix just before New Years and were able to see all of Jim’s kids for New Years. We parked at Mike Clark’s; he was Jim’s best man. He still lives on the same street that Jim lived on for many years, so it was old home week.

New Years day we christened AJ (our jeep, named for Allie) by driving up to Crown King in the Bradshaw Mountains. (History and pictures of Crown King) You would never imagine that there is a Ponderosa pine forest up there with trees too big to get your arms around.  Crown King is an old mining community that is still in existence. The oldest brothel in Arizona sits on the “main street” and after having a New Years beer we set off on the Senator Highway, a stagecoach road that ran between the valley and Prescott. I think it was a better road a 100 years ago. (Youtube video of a 4X4 trip along the Senator Highway) (Brief history of the Senator Highway) Many miles into it, 4 wheel part of the way but mostly just rough, Jim finally exceeded my narley factor (I’ve 4-wheeled in the Telluride & Silverton mountains) when we got into very deep snow and had a 50/50 chance of going off into the ravine or sliding into the mountain. He is a very good off road driver and got us out of there, but it was touch and go. Thank god for air lockers! We had to detour to a different route and came out in Mayer and I got to see his house that he lived in after moving from Phoenix. We weren’t able to have Sushi in Prescott but did see an amazing sunset on the way back to Phoenix. Unfortunately while I was taking pictures I accidentally erased everything on the card, so I lost everything from Christmas and New Years!

We were trying to decide when to go to Mexico and ran into delays because of the jeep. It was not recommended that we tow the jeep into Mexico without plates and we would not receive them until mid February from Colorado. We also had to back to Denver for an important doctor appointment in mid February. ( Believe it or not we went back for the appointment and were in Grand Junction when they called us and cancelled! Doctors!) (Arizona and Utah in the snow)

So we moved up to David Mishler’s house. He is Jim’s ex-nephew in law. He has 7 acres up against the mountains in Cave Creek, north of Phoenix. What a beautiful spot! We had water & electricity, quail & doves, horses & coyotes and every kind of cactus. 
(Arizona, Jan and Feb 2010). It was just what we needed. Someplace quiet and laid back, to relax & unwind after the craziness of the last few months. 

We kept pretty busy though, meeting Jim’s friends and family, traveling in the area, jeeping and visiting places that Jim loves. I shared Colorado with him and now he has introduced me to Arizona.