Last day in Sedona

Hello Everyone,

So I kinda lied about last night. There was actually an outhouse where I stayed, so it wasn't completely without services. It’s a nice amenity, actually, I highly recommend it. But otherwise, it was an overflow parking lot in the hills south of town, used by horseback riders mostly.

There were a couple of other rigs there, one RV and a couple of guys using their trucks. And it was absolutely beautiful. The night was very quiet and the sky was as clear as I've ever seen. I’ll try to take some pictures tonight, but it might be a couple of days before I can upload them.

In fact, this might be the last email until Friday. There are very limited services in the Mojave, so I doubt I’ll get the chance to send out an update until I'm out of the park and in San Diego. I'm sure the suspense will be hard to take.

Today was an errands day. Groceries, gas, the post office, very mundane things. But I figured I should get Arthur out for a bit of a walk at least. I wanted to go near the one creek that runs through the area so that he could go for a bit of a dip. I chose one of the trails we hadn’t done yet and went for a hike. It was a complete bondoogle.

First, hiking is slow. I don’t mean to belittle what is a great pastime, but honestly you barely moving and Arthur stops and sniffs the plants and bushes every couple of feet. What’s worse, your life is never in danger, so the excitement just isn’t there.

Secondly, the trail didn’t go anywhere near the creek as I had expected. I wasn’t up for a 5 mile hike in the middle of the day, with the full sun beating down on us. We turned around after about 20 minutes and walked back to the truck.

Lastly, I paid for parking for the priviledge of this excursion. As I said, a complete bondoogle.

I was very much ready to leave Albuquerque when I did, but Sedona still holds a lot for me. There are trails I haven’t ridden and bike shops I haven’t explored. There’s always a trade off on a trip like this between travelling more to see new places versus staying in one spot and getting to know it better. Though I’m looking forward to California, that trade off weighs on my mind.

wes