Welcome to Clarkdale, well sort of…

First, Happy 50th to my brother Jimmy!  May the next 50 bring you lots of joy and happiness.

The 2 ½ hour drive from Phoenix was really very pretty.  I took the scenic route instead of the interstate and went through the small town of Payson, where famous writer of western novels, Zane Grey, had a cabin.  Once up over the Rim, I found lots of snow still on the ground from the storm the week prior.  I must say it was refreshing to see snow and big Ponderosa Pines instead of cactus and tumbleweeds.

In the last post I mentioned The Rim which I have since learned is an escarpment defining the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau.  A big thanks to friend and blog follower TomANoble who provided the following informative link along with great photos of the Rim:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogollon_Rim.  So this is what causes the great difference in temperatures between this area and Phoenix.  Good to know.

You may remember I had arranged to park Dora for the duration of Massage Therapy School on a local artist’s property up on a shaded bluff overlooking the Verde River.  This is what I found upon my arrival behind an 8ft chain link fence with large chain and padlock:

To the left is the “studio” and to the right is the trailer which turns out was 5 feet from Dora’s living room slide.  And next we have the 5 ft distant neighboring housing.

Did I mention the Hold Harmless Agreement about molds that may or may not be on the property that I was asked to sign?  And below we have what I like to call, the water feature, located about 8 ft from Dora’s front door.

And finally, to get a flavor of the immediate neighborhood, a photo of the buildings across the street.

Needless to say, I have made other arrangements and am now happily ensconced in one of the local RV Parks.  While on the hunt for new digs, I visited every local RV Park and learned something interesting.  Up until now, I have been staying in Parks that do not allow long-term parking, two weeks is usually the max.  Well, the parks in this area all allow long-term parking, so the look and feel is quite different.  Instead of sites being open and well spaced with lots of green natural areas and nicer rigs (for the most part), I find that long-term parks fall more into the category of standard Trailer Parks or mobile home parks with all manner of rigs from a tarp covered, ancient, passenger van with flat tires and cobbled together front porch to…well….Dora and the like.  So here I am, in a local trailer park in Cottonwood 4 miles from the Massage School where the people could not be nicer or friendlier, AND where no one even locks up their bikes.  Sweet!  I have already fenced in my little area so Misty and Mosely can roam untethered.

As you can see, there will be plenty of shade in the summer.  Oh, I’m number 10 and have a black bear sign.  The number 11 wolf is my neighbor to the left.

I can’t wait til the threat of frost has passed, so I can get some flowers and herbs and a tomato plant.  Won’t it be a treat to have fresh, homegrown tomatoes after living in AK for so many years?   Lovely.

I’m scheduled for a complimentary massage at the Massage School later this afternoon and will be hiking with the hiking Meet Up group out of Sedona on Saturday.  There is so much to see and do in this area.  The Grand Canyon (south rim) is only 2 hours north, for example, so stay tuned