USERY MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARK….AWESOME!

Wednesday, March 1 – All systems were GO for our departure from Sedona this morning. The truck seemed to operate very smoothly after our recent repair. Surprising the number of friends that informed us that they had their vehicles serviced or repaired at that same dealer. Must be those Sedona vortex causing problems.... :-)

It was a smooth trip down the mountains to Phoenix. Pretty much down hill the entire way.

We said our good byes to the snow-capped mountains.

We are at Usery Mountain Regional Park in Maricopa County.

We have a beautiful site, #32, with 50 amp electric and water. There is a dump station available which we used on our way into the park. We had no where to dump in Sedona so we brought our…“stuff” with us. The sites are gravel and very widely spaced. Very private with grills, picnic tables and huge backyards. The streets are paved and wide enough to make backing the 5^th wheel into our site relatively easy.

Looking right.

Looking left.

We are here to mostly relax and do a little hiking. There are an abundance of hiking trails in the area. We intend to give them some use. We also hope to do some easy mountain bike riding too!

Marsha had a wonderful time watching the sunset and took numerous pictures. She loves the quite and peaceful environment and so does Bella. Neither one of them wanted to come inside tonight. Guess we'll have to get some firewood and have a campfire in the near future.

Do you see the plane on the right side of the photo?

The moon and Venus.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

WE HIT A BUMP IN THE ROAD

Monday, February 27 - We hit a little bump in the road today in Sedona, AZ. Truck problems! In preparation to depart, Paul filled the fuel tank yesterday. When he went to start the truck, it wouldn't start. Thinking maybe it wasn't in park, Paul applied the brakes and shifted gears several times. It eventually started. Unfortunately, their was a wrench icon warning light flashing on the dash display center. Checking the owner's manual, we found it indicated the engine has defaulted to a “limp-mode” operation or a transmission problem has been detected. Darn!

This morning, we found a Ford Service Center in nearby Camp Verde, AZ. We checked with the service manager, and he recommended having it towed to the dealership. Understand, we are in a pretty secluded area and there aren't many choices for diesel truck repairs. They will undoubtedly plug the truck into their computer to diagnosis the problem and get back with us later today or early tomorrow.

A sickening feeling.

To add to our woos, the Elks Lodge campground here in Sedona does not have full hook-ups. We have 30 amp electric and water. No sewer. We've been careful not to overdue the use of water, but we expected to depart today and dump at a station about 15 miles away. If we need to sit here for more than a couple of days, we'll have to get a septic service to come pump out our holding tanks. Jeesh!

Paul's upset of course. He tries to take good care of our equipment to avoid problems like this but stuff happens! We'll relax in Sedona, AZ, for a day or so until we hear from the Ford garage. Unfortunately, it's raining and snowing in the higher elevations so we aren’t doing much sightseeing.

Beautiful before the snow.

Just as beautiful with the snow.

We'll update you on our truck problems when we get word for the repair facility. We want to have it in the blog for historical reasons. Guess we have to take the bad with the good in this lifestyle!

Just heard from the Ford Dealer Service Department. We need to replace the low pressure fuel pump. They also recommend replacing fuel filters. Good news! Repairs can hopefully be done on Tuesday, and we can head to Phoenix on Wednesday.

We thought we would need to rent a car to go pick-up our truck after repairs but the Ford Dealer said they would send a curiosity car.  They picked Paul up about noon on Monday, and he picked up the truck and was back to the Elks campground by 2 o’clock.

Marsha is a happy blogger again. After searching for a week, she came across a discussion group that had the solution. It seems Google Photos only allows 2,000 photos/album. Once it reaches the magic number, no more photos can be sent to Google Photos. She needed to go back into Google Photos, create a new album entitled “Open Live Writer.” It worked! She heard from many followers who said that they weren’t having any problems. Now she knows why. Once they reach the 2,000 and are using Open Live Writer, they will have to create a new folder to be able to continue using OLW and Blogger. After she found the solution, she a quickly emailed several people that she knew had the same problem. She hopes that they are able to use OLW again too.

We’ll pull-out in the morning and head to Phoenix. Usery Mountains here we come.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

FINAL DAY IN SEDONA

Saturday, February 25 - We took a ride to Cottonwood this morning. Before we arrived at our destination, we stopped for breakfast at Pepe's Cafe. What a great place to eat. The staff was great, and the food delicious. The price is right too. Much cheaper than eating in Sedona.

Driving along SR 89A, we came to a place called Simply Amazing, and boy was it. This place had so much stuff, it was difficulty to know where to begin. It was a combination Mexican, antiques and plain old junk. We didn't purchase anything, but enjoyed just walking around an seeing all the owner's treasures.

There was a section of free stuff. Nothing there we could use either.

Upon arriving at Old Town Cottonwood, we found out that we might be arriving too early. It was 10:00 a.m., but many of the stores were still not open. We walked the street up one side and down the other. We were able to visit a few shops. Marsha found some agates she has been looking for so all was not lost.

The highlight of our visit was the Hippie Emporium. This place was a blast from the past. Just about anything you can image from the 60's and 70's. Yes, they had bongs, beads, tie-dyed clothing, etc. We both remembered either having or using most the stuff in the place. Lots of laughs.

There is some money here in Sedona. As we drive around, we see the biggest houses. We know land is very expensive which makes these homes even more expensive.

Marsha wanted to take a few more photos of some rock formations. She was able to get pretty close to them and took some great photos.

Coffeepot rock.

Chimney rock.

And then the rain appeared. In the next photo, do you see Cathedral rock way out there. She was disappointed at missing this one.

Because we knew we would be doing some more sightseeing, Marsha taped the opening day of the Cleveland Indians Spring Training. We think we can say that Tribe fans are looking forward to another super season. The answer is....Yes, we won 8-2.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!