The Good, The Bad and the Stinking

Flagstaff, Arizona

The Good:
Arizona is a little like Puerto Rico. They don't observe daylight savings time, so right now our clocks are the same as Pacific daylight time. In the winter they are in sync with New Mexico. The high here at altitude will be in the seventies. The evenings will drop to the low forties.


Our RV park is called "Black Bart's". They have a great steakhouse. We can do day trips to the big meteor crater, stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona or visit the Grand Canyon for a hiking trip. The mountains are nearby.

Yesterday we went to Glenwood, New Mexico and hiked up a canyon where gold, silver, copper andxicozinc were extracted from about 1869 to 1913. I'm not very pleased with the pictures. The good news is that the new Z-coil shoes allowed me to hike with minimal heel pain.

The Bad:
Our van air-conditioner died on the 350 mile trip across the Arizona desert today. That one runs off the Ford V-10 engine. We turned on the RV 50 amp generator and the two RV air-conditioners, but the cool never reached the driver's seat. We're heading to Death Valley and plus 140 temperatures, so I need to fix it or get it fixed.



We encountered very high, gusty winds on the last 200 miles into Flagstaff. In addition to white-knuckle buffeting which made it difficult to stay in my lane, one of the awnings started to flap and bang badly. The combination of uncomfortable heat, banging noises, mechanical failures and a sense of highway danger became even more ugly when we encountered a sandstorm crossing the desert that severely reduced visibility. Once I was impolite to Mrs. Phred. I blame it on heat and stress and hope to be a better spouse in the future.

I think I can move a picnic table near to the RV and adjust the flapping awning. I'm not sure it would be a problem except in high and gusty winds.

The Stinking:
To top off a great day, I just stepped in a great pile of fresh, stinky dog poo and tracked it all over the RV. The dogs are not at fault. It's the redneck, ignorant, stupid, trashy, inconsiderate $%&*#@ owners....GRRRAGH!.