Pinnacles to Peoria

Pinnacles to Peoria – 8/26/24 to 9/15/24

We were more than ready to leave Pinnacles after 2 days. After all, we had explored all 5 miles of road and taken the “big” hike in the park.

Though we had told our AZ monthly camping friends we would not be camping with them in September, we made the decision about 3 weeks prior to surprise them at their campground in Sitgreaves National Forest in Northern AZ on September 12. So, from Pinnacles NP in CA, we started making some miles toward AZ, traveling longer days than normal across some amazingly boring country (at least compared to where we had been traveling).

We traveled to a Harvest Host in Shafter at Minter Field which had a WWII Air Museum. It was a Friday, and it turns out the museum was only open 8 hours a week, 4 hours on Friday and 4 hours on Saturday. But we arrived 2 hours after they closed. So, we picked our parking spot next to the Quonset hut where it looked like others had parked before. Had to run the generator until we went to bed for A/C against the heat.

The next day we planned to stop at Harvest Host Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner in Yermo, CA, but after stopping for a late lunch, we decided we didn’t want to spend the night in the heat in their dusty parking lot with freeway noise. So, we continued on, and drove a total of 288 miles to Needles, CA right on the CA-AZ border on the Colorado River. It was our highest mileage day of the entire summer. It was also another hot day, and Tom took the plunge in the clear, dam-controlled Colorado River after we arrived. Though Paula did not join him, he said it was very refreshing.

We started our trek to AZ on I-40 but thought, “Why don’t we drive Historic Route 66 instead?” So we turned around and went back about 10 miles to it. Paula soon regretted her suggestion. As we traveled through the desert, we wondered how the wagon trains survived the terrain. Then we saw a sign that said, “No vehicles over 40’”. Well, WOW was only 35’, but with the Jeep attached, we were 60’ long. We had only been averaging about 30mph on a not-so-great road for quite a while and it was next to impossible to turn around.

Then came the first civilization – Oatman. As we neared Oatman, we saw a car stopped alongside the road with two burros at the driver’s window. We had to slow down even more for other burros that walked right down the middle of the road. At each car that crawled by, the burros walked up to the driver’s window seeking handouts. There were some “interesting” homes as we got close to town (right). As we got into Oatman, we discovered a narrow road through a tourist town of about 20 stores selling trinkets and T-shirts. As we passed one, Paula noticed 2 burros on the elevated sidewalk while a third was entering the shop, his tush blocking the doorway. He was doing a little more than “window shopping!”

On our way out of town, able to progress at only 5 – 15 mph, at a tight hairpin turn where the road was cambered very steeply, Tom wondered out loud, “Is this thing going to tip over?” At one very narrow point, a guy coming from the other direction yelled at us, “What are you doing here?” Believe us, we were wondering the same thing. And at that rate, it was going to be days before we reached our destination. But finally, we hit I-40 again just west of Kingman, AZ.

That evening, we spent the night in the same campground in Flagstaff where we spent our first night out of Peoria at the beginning of the summer on June 3.

The next 2 days, we were able to begin cleaning WOW. We had not washed the rig since leaving home and it sure was filthy. Fortunately, we came through some light rain on our way into town because once there, we could not find a truck wash with a bay tall enough for us (13’). We had bought a waterless wash-wax system at the RV Expo that promised great things, and we were about to test its truthfulness! We broke up the chore, washing the top, back and front the first day, using a 1-gallon garden sprayer to wet WOW down and knock off the worst of the dirt. Then, using the extension pole with microfiber pads and the Wash Wax All product, we went over the coach section by section. By the time we wiped it with the dry microfiber pad, it was slick and gleaming!!!

Day 2 we were going to do one side, but it went so well, we decided to just finish it off. (One side only took about 45 minutes.) We could see ourselves in the reflection! On day 3, we tackled the interior, with Paula dusting and polishing all the wood surfaces. Tom cleaned all the windows, stainless, countertops, and other surfaces. By the end of that day, the entire coach had been cleaned (less the head, which we wanted to do at the end of our trip).

We also enjoyed some time socializing in Flagstaff. We got to have lunch with our Canyon Ministries Executive Director, Nate, and tour our new office facility at Moonshot, so named because it is where the astronauts trained for the moon missions. It was a huge improvement over our small rental office at a Flagstaff campground. In addition, we got to have dinner with one of our board members and his wife one evening. A nice mixture of work and relaxation.

On Thursday, we headed toward Canyon Point Campground at Sitgreaves National Forest. We arrived there early in the day, thinking we would get parked before anyone in our group. But we saw one of our friends stop at the office 3 vehicles before us. Fortunately, they didn’t see us. When we did get to see everyone, it was truly a big surprise! And fortunately for us, they acted like it was a good one (well all except one, who said that was a “fearful” face rather than a “surprised” face). Over the next 3 days, we had meals together, played games, and on Sunday, gathered in front of our outdoor TV and worshipped and watched our home church service.

We attended 2 ranger talks while there. One was on some of Arizona’s raptors (including live examples) and the other was on the sheep brought to the rim to graze in the summer. Both were very interesting.

We ended up deciding to leave Sunday afternoon to avoid packing up and departing in the forecast rain and wind of up to 20 mph on Monday. After all, we had only departed 1 or 2 days the entire summer in the rain. Why not end on a good note? We arrived home just before sunset.

We were richly blessed to have made the journey this summer and see so much of God’s creation. Along the way, we shared the truth of His creation when the opportunity arose. Only the Lord knows what seeds were planted that might grow into mighty trees. We look forward to adding more states to our map and patches to Paula’s jacket. Who knows? Alaska may be on the agenda for 2025.