In Country (Posted on 4/25/16)

It all started with a beer....

was one of the first songs playing on the country music radio stations (at least in Texas) to make me smile. While most of the lyrics don't apply to Matthias and me, the gist of the tune – thinking back on the years spent together and how it all started (with a beer) – gives me a case of the warm fuzzies.   We're about to spend our thirteenth anniversary somewhere near the Grand Canyon and still enjoying the tunes about beer drinking and back roads (Maren Morris' My Church is our new favorite)..

Using the self timer at the Grand Canyon - I really need a selfie stick (but still resisting for some reason)

We left Florida with the trailer in tow on the first Sunday in April with an eye toward making it to the Southwest in about a week. On the first day, we drove about 500 miles to Open Pond Recreation Area in Alabama – part of the Conecuh National Forest. We spent two nights there so we could gather firewood and relax before the next leg of the trip. That also gave us a chance to visit a local BBQ joint in Andalusia, Alabama and have some delicious ribs. The next day we made it Clear Springs campground in Mississippi (Homochitto National Forest) where we spend the night before our next stop in the Davy Crockett National Forest at Ratcliff Campground. We spent an extra night there so we could (of course) gather more firewood and do some shopping. Our next stop was Hords Creek Lake, a campsite run by the Army Corps of Engineers not far from Abilene, TX. It would have been nice there for kayaking except for the fierce wind and on-and-off rain. But it gave us a quiet place to spend the weekend before heading into New Mexico the next day (Sunday), which in my book meant we made it to the Southwest in a week.

Our first campground in Alabama

Judy's idea of heaven - old fashioned trip planning

Our first campsite in New Mexico was near Carlsbad – Lake Brantley State Park – where we scored a campsite (with electric!) for just $14. It was our first taste of the desert, and although it wasn't terribly scenic, we spent two nights there and I assured Matthias we had “arrived” so no more super-long drives between destinations. Unfortunately, the day we set out from Brantley Lake, it was raining heavily, and as we neared our mountaintop destination in the Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft, NM, it was snowing! The rain/snow was expected to last all day, so we ended up continuing down the mountain toward western New Mexico. We drove through Las Cruces, which looked very nice, and after another 6+ hour driving day (really the last, I promised!) we ended up at City of Rocks State Park. Well, that turned out to be something really fabulous and unexpected! A beautiful campsite ($10 – Matthias loves to remember – including showers!) in a scenic location in the desert. We did our first real hike the next day – up to “table top mountain” - and Matthias enjoyed looking for snakes (I was happy to avoid them and was happy to have him in front of me looking for them). The next day, we drove to Silver City for supplies and up into the Gila National Forest for a scenic drive (and firewood). We liked the City of Rocks State Park so much we decided to stay for a few extra nights, and although it became too windy to build a fire, Matthias did get to see a snake (though not a rattler).

Campsite at City of Rocks State Park

Matthias, the rock-climber

After New Mexico, we made a quick stop at the Oak Flat Campground (Tonto National Forest) in Arizona before descending to Phoenix to visit our good friends Patrick and Keith! The Rpod fit perfectly in the driveway, and we had a great time catching up, eating, relaxing by the pool and enjoying the fabulous mid-April weather in Phoenix. Matthias even got to make a big fire in the back-yard fire pit, so he was quite happy. Can't wait to go back!

Lots of fun and laughter with Patrick - just like old times!

After Phoenix it was a short, pleasant drive through Sedona to the Prescott National Forest, where we had a lovely campsite in a canyon near a small river, which gave us time to run into Flagstaff for some supplies we forgot to get in Phoenix. Next stop was the Grand Canyon! Lucky for us, the Desert View Campground on the east end of the Grand Canyon National Park opened early in honor of National Park Week and we grabbed a decent spot for the first night (and a better spot for the second and third). We're here now, about 25 miles away from the hubbub of the Grand Canyon Village, and there's a quiet trail right from our site that leads to the Canyon rim. Yesterday, we drove into the village to see the main viewpoints and took our bikes for a short jaunt along the rim. Of course we had to stop by the Kaibab National Forest for some firewood on the way back to the campground.

Not far from our campsite at Grand Canyon National Park

Matthias at the Canyon

Not sure if I mentioned this in the blog for our eastward trip (Portland to Florida) last year, but it's clear that we're fond of national forest campgrounds – in fact, I build (what there is of) our itinerary around them. Camping is usually nice, not just cheap (and not always cheap, though sometimes free), but scenic, serene and almost always quite nice. In most, you are also allowed to gather dead and downed firewood for your campfire, so we're also big fans of that.

Matthias' idea of heaven - firewood!

Tomorrow, we're heading north to Lee's Ferry – technically still part of the Grand Canyon National Park but really part of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area which includes Lake Powell, Escalante and some other attractions that I'll report on when I see them. Unfortunately, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is closed until mid-May so we'll have to wait for another time for that, since we need to be back in Florida around the first of June. We're flying to Germany on the 9^th. No, our itinerary doesn't always make much sense, but it seems to work for us.