Happy Easter all!

It’s been a week since the last post as we’ve been laying low a bit more as we decide our next move. However, some highlights:

Prescott, AZ

First off, we learned it’s pronounced PRESS-kit. We heard a local newsperson say it when we first got here and thought they were just being stupid. Then we heard it again and realized that’s just how they do it here. It’s like Arvada, CO is Ar-VAH-duh… not Ar-VAW-duh. Think soft “A” not soft “O.” Arv-ă-da, not Arv-ŏ-da. Seriously, I’m having a hard time making sure I’m explaining this right. Ask someone from Denver, they can explain it.

But yeah, it’s PRESS-kit. Why? No clue. Because they say so I guess.

We went out to Willow Lake Park which has an awesome path around the lake.

We entered on the north side of the lake headed counter-clockwise, and somewhere near the southwestern side of the lake there’s a pile of rocks you can climb up and overlook everything you just walked. (And get dramatic, pensive shot — YAY DRAMATIC PENSIVE SHOT!)

It went a little downhill from there though. (Literally, I guess?) There’s a path that goes all the way around the lake, hiking through some more rocks and getting back to the truck. And I decided I very much wanted to climb more rocks. But unbeknownst to us (because we didn’t pay attention to the map) the very important section of the trail that gets you to the other side of the lake is only there when the water is lower. And it was not low. It was high. So we got to that part and the path just kinda went into the lake.

Instead of just turning around, I decided there must be another way around. Long story short… there was not. We ended up walking down a road, crossing a highway, trespassing through an RV park, and starting down a trail that took us to a completely different lake. WE WALKED TO THE WRONG LAKE.

To reiterate, there was no way to get around the lake. (The first one, I don’t know anything about the second one.) And now it’s two hours later and we have to walk all the way back. Through the RV park, back over the highway, down the road, and all the way back to the truck. What we planned to be an easy mile hike turned into an all day event. After that we got a bunch of booze and some sandwiches for dinner and called it a day.

Route 66

Yesterday we decided to just hop in the truck and take a drive. Back when Jenny and I had first started dating and were living in New York, we took a random drive to Cleveland, OH to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The destination wasn’t even really the main goal, as all along the route through Pennsylvania and Ohio we stopped at just the most ridiculous things we could find.

You get the point.

Being as most of the really cool stuff is closed up (Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, anything worth hiking in Sedona, meteor craters, etc) we decided to just take a drive down “Route 66” (aka highway 40) and see what we see.

We drove out to Holbrook, AZ first. There’s a dinosaur museum…

… a wigam motel (strangely enough called Wigwam Motel) where you literally sleep in a wigwam with a classic car parked out front…

…one of them being Sir Tow Mater.

Next we stopped at the only place that seemed open for some Mexican food. We’re pretty sure it is a family establishment considering the entire family was in the establishment. Seriously, the entire dining area was cleared and four generations of this family were sitting around watching Power Rangers The Movie. I guess there’s not much else to do on a Saturday afternoon in bublef**k Arizona in the middle of a pandemic. 

Also, as we were sitting eating our very delicious burritos we see this guy show up. At first we a little confused / disturbed, but then we saw the previously mentioned children run out of the restaurant to wave and say hi. It looked like it was the first moment of happiness these kids have had in quite a bit. Bravo guys, spreading some goodness.

We hit the road headed back towards Flagstaff, and eventually stopped at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post. Now, I’m sure Jenny explained to me at least twice what this place was, but these days it’s a just place you can buy alcohol that has a big rabbit out front you can mount like a racehorse. And just in case you happen to forget where it is…

Moving further west, we stopped at Winslow, AZ, and I swear nobody would give a crap about this town if Jackson Browne* hadn’t decided that “Arizona” and “corner” rhymed enough to put in a song. But I guess this town has nothing else better to do that erect monuments to it and name a corner of the town “Standin’ on the Corner Park.” 

*Yes, I know, it is an Eagles song. Jackson Browne had started it and wrote THAT line, but was unable to finish it. Glenn Frey came over and wrote the rest of the verse. Browne liked it and they wrote the song together. Thanks Wikipedia.

I wish I had the words to express to you how this is absolutely just a random small town street corner that had one line in a decent song back in 1972, and they’ve spent 50 years bragging about it. But hey, we came out to see it so… f**k us, right?

Next stop was a place called Two Guns, AZ. This is an abandoned “ghost” town that has a crazy history from everything Jenny told me. There’s an old gas station, shop, remnants of a friggin zoo, an “Apache Death Cave” (that we unfortunately did not find), and an old RV campground that you can apparently still stay at. Tons of graffiti and tons of old broken down buildings. Totally weird and totally cool.

After that we headed into Flagstaff to grab some dinner and went home.

---

At this exact moment Jenny is making cupcakes for the first time. Also for the first time, she’s realizing making cupcakes is a pain in the ass. Check out the Instagram as I’m sure we’ll have some pictures up of her resounding success. Who needs granulated sugar* anyway?!?!

*We forgot to get granulated sugar. We bought ingredients for cupcakes, and forgot the sugar. SUGAR. Thankfully we had molasses and the mathematical formula to substitute it. We’re never laughing at people on Nailed It ever again.

We’re leaving Arizona end of next weekend and starting our trek east. It’s crazy to say we’re moving around this much at this moment in time, but doing the math the risk is pretty low. If we play this right, we could get across the country and not interact with a single person. We’ll pay for the gas at the pump (wearing gloves and immediately disinfecting). And almost all RV parks are doing check-ins over the phone now. We’ll pack lunch from food in the camper so we don’t have to go into any fast food places. Outside of that, it’s just Jenny, me, the cats, and the open road.

Speaking of the cats, we don’t know exactly what date they were born but we were told sometime in April. So… happy 8th birthday boys. You’re annoying as ever, but we love you.

Stay safe everyone!