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| Montezuma Castle |
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| Montezuma Well |
We also met an nice couple there with whom we have kept in contact, even spending a couple of winters in the same parks. She and I have jewelry-making in common and always have plenty to talk and laugh about. In the spring and summer, they travel to Bryce Canyon for the season working in either an RV park or at the rock shop. Then they take the winters off. They've been work-camping like this for (I think) something like 12 or 15 years, traveling all over the country. But this will be their fourth year at Bryce. Like us, they love the west.
After our winter in Camp Verde, we had the reservation at Meteor Crater in the spring waiting for us, so at the end of April we departed the Verde Valley and headed 'up the hill' toward Flagstaff. Hmmm, it sure took a lot longer to get back up that grade than it did coming down! No 'wheeeee!' there, boy howdy! We made our usual 'Flag' stop at Olive Garden, then headed east.
We reached Meteor Crater RV park in the early afternoon, checked in, set up and settled down. This place is out in the middle of nowhere and is not really the kind of park people come to for a month. It's an overnight or weekend place; a week's stop at most; there for the convenience of travelers stopping to see the crater. The only other places around are Winslow to the east, a casino to the west and the remains of an old ghost town called Two Guns. But some of the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets I've ever seen!
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| Meteor Crater |
I think we had the most fun at Two Guns; we went twice! I gathered a bag of junk (glass, metal bits, rocks and such) to make funky jewelry with and the place is just eerie. My imagination kicked into overdrive and I envisioned the old watering holes, brothels and other shady places that made up the notorious town of Two Guns. Of course, we went to the crater, too, and it is pretty amazing to see this gigantic hole out in the middle of nothing but desert and to touch a remnant of the meteor that you learn is over 50,000 years old and came from outer space. I'm enough of a geek that things like that still boggle my mind.
And we went into Winslow (location of the nearest Walmart) to poke around several times. On a corner (not that corner, though☺) there was an old gas station converted into a shop selling Southwestern jewelry, Indian rugs and pottery. One day we pulled in there; it looked closed. But as we started to pull away, a car roared up next to us, a guy jumped out and offered to open up the place. Of course, we went in and browsed and the man did his dead-level best to sell, sell, sell. He did have a beautiful selection of jewelry, my favorite thing in these shops. I felt sort of sorry for him after hearing several tales of woe, so I finally picked out a bracelet that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I handed him my card but he couldn't take it because there was 'a problem with the machine'. So we dug around for enough cash, paid for the bracelet and left. Patrick then pointed out what I didn't catch on to--that there were no lights on in the place. It wasn't that the machine didn't work; the poor guy apparently hadn't paid his electric bill. Much of Winslow is like that--kind of sad and shabby; another Route 66 town laid to waste by I-40.
One day a lady and her mother, driving a nice Class C camper, pulled in next to us. They were very friendly and we soon struck up a conversation. They admired my little Ruby-Deaux and when I explained it was the bead 'wagon', they were very interested in seeing my 'wares'. In turn, I learned that the younger woman was Robin Martinez Rice, a writer, and they were on their way to New Mexico to a book signing. We had a very nice time bartering jewelry for books! As well, her mother makes some extremely nice cloth totes. They picked out some necklaces and I got 2 of Robin's books, signed and a beautiful cat-themed patchwork tote bag. I have to say Robin's book 'Imperfecta', (which I believe Robin told me was based on the life of her grandmother), is a really good book. I highly recommend it, as well as Robin's other works. You can also follow her on Facebook here.
The only other remotely exciting thing that happened at Meteor Crater was the one night I took the trash to the dumpster in the dark, and lifted the lid to find a surprised mouse perched on the ledge. I screamed my favorite curse (one that involves a duck) and let the heavy lid slam down resoundingly. My bloodcurdling swear/scream and that banging lid echoed through the silence of the park like thunder. With head hanging, I walked back over to the RV to find Patrick sitting outside laughing silently but hysterically. When he could catch his breath, he asked, "Problem?" "Shut up." I said.
I'm here to tell you, the lady who reserved our spot for us the previous September sure wasn't lying. You could set your watch by the wind. It started blowing around 9 a.m and roared all day till about 9 p.m. In other words, it was heat driven. We rocked. We rolled. By the end of May, I thought I'd go stark raving mad from listening to the wind howl. I could not wait to leave!
Till next time,
"I have a very powerful sense of place, but I have a very powerful sense of being a migrant, so it's both. It seems like I'm always leaving my home." ~ Junot Diaz
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