Day Five: We’re Bringing Switchbacks….Back
We’ve spent the last two nights at Rancho Sedona in Sedona.It’s gorgeous, outside of the murder ducks, and immaculate even if no one thereactually wanted to talk to any of us…. except for one husky female parkemployee who was always kind of near our camper and eager to chat. It waspuzzling, until Zack pointed out that my hiking boots, men’s REI shorts, andorange head buff might be sending out a vibe that I hadn’t planned for.
Anyway, when I made the reservation at this park over thephone the lady was super careful to tell me NOT to drive a certain road.Especially NOT if we were new to RV driving. “DO NOT DRIVE THIS ROAD!” sherepeated over and over while telling tales of terrifying switchbacks and swiftdescents. We had a little bit of panic driving into the park a few days ago,because I had warned Zack about this but because I cannot read a map I couldn’ttell him if we were headed for that road or not.
We made it. He eventually got over it. All was good.
This morning we got up super early to leave camp to head forSlide Rock, which was only about five minutes from where we were staying. We’dheard that it can get incredibly crowded so we made it a point to be the firstto the park. Like, the very first to the park. On the drive to the park theroad took a few minor twists and turns and we laughed about the switchback paranoiaof a few days ago.
Slide Rock is so cool. Originally an apple orchard, remainsof the tractors and packing center are still set up along with hundred-year-oldcottages for the workers. It became a state park when the powers that berealized that people will pay $20 a car for the experience of sliding down aslippery rock slide in frigid water. Nay, arctic water. Petey was the bravestof us all, not surprisingly, shooting down all of the narrow passages with Zackretrieving her by a foot as she sped by. I braved it once, to say that I didit, and almost have feeling back in all of my toes.
The park was packed with people within an hour, so we madeour way back to our faithful Sunseeker and hit the road. It was peaceful atfirst, until we realized that we were taking hairpin turns at an alarming rate.Cars lined up behind us and the whole thing started to feel a little bit likethe Road to Hana.
“I think….I think this is the switchback road….” Zack waswhite knuckled on the steering wheel. I fumbled with the map Rancho Sedona hadprovided but was still not helpful because I STILL CANNOT READ A MAP.
Just as the drive became truly terrifying we saw a signs andcones on the side of the road “One Lane Ahead.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Zack shot me a dirty look andsat up straighter in his seat.
Once we got used to the single lane, another sign appeared.“Fresh Oil” marked by more cones.
“What’s next? Banana peels?” My stomach turned as we woveour way out there. Evan slept in the back and Petey facetimed a friend,oblivious to the fact that we were hanging off of the side of a rock formationin our RV jalopy.
Who knew that we would wind up missing the sweet excitementthat near death brings later on as we endured the hours of driving to FourCorners. The only entertainment was getting the random core workout from tryingto make sandwiches for everyone while the RV shifted down the street.
We finally arrived at Four Corners, which is entirely underwhelming.Four Corners is located in Teec Nos Pos, which is Apache for “Convince WhitePeople to Come and Stand in Line to Take Pictures By a Cement Circle.” Weavoided the lines, snapped a few pictures, and bought fry bread from thesuspicious trailer in the parking lot.
Back in the RV, Evan fell asleep and we headed towardCortez. It was beautiful to head into town and see the Rockies in the background.Arriving at La Mesa RV Park we discovered that our RV Park luck has officiallyrun out. While there was a cat to pet in the office, and the guy checking me ingave me the military rate because “a police is close enough”, this park iswhere dreams go to die. Several campers are missing parts and have clearly beenhere for quite some time. Tired moms drag laundry baskets to the washingmachine while unsupervised kids ride bikes in circles barefoot. We are behind ajunk yard and surrounded by a chicken wire fence. I’m pretty sure that 60-70%of the residents here are on the lam from something.
Adding to my general dismay is that fact that although Mesa Verde Park, which has been on my bucket list for years and was the one thing I was determined to see, is only 9 miles away but looking like it will be inaccessible due to my lack of planning. I thought it would be similar to Red Rock, you drive in, you see the things, you drive out. The ex-felon who checked us in got nervous for me when I mentioned taking the RV into the park, which led me to start calling tour companies, which led to the discovery that every last tour is booked for tomorrow. Even the shady ones, run by locals. Petey has been helpful in suggesting that I just steal some images from Google and pretend we were there. Evan suggested we explore Cortez and then gestured at the junk yard behind him.
***Sidebar Nation – I taughtabout Mesa Verde for almost a decade when I was still in the classroom.Apparently I did not teach anything about modern day Mesa Verde or NationalParks in general.
Sadness lives here, but only momentarily. I’m going to makesome sausages and peppers on the grill and regroup.
Adapt and overcome!
Number of dogs pet so far: 15 & 1 desert tortoise &1 office cat