Hello, friends!
Last month, we landed back at our desert oasis after a blissful summer spent hanging around northern and central Arizona avoiding the Quartzsite heat. I promised to share some more of the pictures and stories that made this summer really special after we arrived back home. Unfortunately, we have been crazy busy since we got back, and alas, I am behind on this part of my writing life. Please forgive the delay. As it was still in the high 90’s/low 100’s when we landed, unpacking has been slow, but we aren’t concerned about that. We know where everything is. If it is needed in the house, it’s in the van or cargo trailer. If it’s needed at either of those places, it has already been carried in the house. It’s just part of the half here half of the year, half somewhere else the other half of the year lifestyle. There is always arrival and reintegration whether we are coming or going so this is just the part that seems endless, kinda like packing it all up to bolt in the first place. Half-packed is half ready to vamoose, I always say. For now, it’s home season, so home we be, although we will probably camp locally at some point. Why not? We are still (mostly) packed.
One of the small towns near where we spent a considerable amount of time camped this summer was Williams, Arizona. Williams was the last Route 66 town to be bypassed by the I-40 freeway. After waging court battle after court battle to resist this action, Williams surrendered on October 13th, 1984. The downtown retains the nostalgic flair of a classic old-fashioned tourist-trap with its “authentic” Route 66 souvenirs and small-town charm oozing from every pore. Their current and most revered claim to fame is vintage Grand Canyon Railway, a whistling steam engine that departs the Williams station and arrives at the Grand Canyon every morning from December through March. The trip is a scenic two-hour journey that allows for a three-hour layover to explore, then a return trip the same or the next day. We didn’t accomplish this bucket list check this time because we didn’t want to board the dogs. After so many years of travel, we realize that we can’t do and see everything on the list every trip. Gotta save something for next time!
For us, Williams was a laundry, grocery and dollar store shopping, and occasional restaurant meal destination every week or two. After finding out that we had to shower WITH OUR CLOTHES ON at the Williams Aquatic Center, it lost its charm in that department. Check out my review on Google maps. Did you know you can follow me there as well? With over 500,000 views, you will discover my honest reviews, with photos, of some of the scrumptious meals we have enjoyed during our travels (that we didn’t cook ourselves), plus lots of tips for places to see and things to do along the way. You can also access that kind of Camp Cordray bits and baubles on my travel/inspirational Facebook page, “The Sunny Side”.
Vintage vehicles seem to be a theme in this part of the previously wild West. We enjoyed a car show in Williams one weekend and saw many other cars used as display pieces all along Old Route 66.
The Cordrays were particularly fond of the chuckwagon and might have wrestled it away from Bigfoot given half a chance. He was on his way to grab a beer and a pizza at Grand Canyon Brewing Company and didn’t wish to be bothered. We could understand that. It was a favorite haunt of ours as well. Not to miss are their glorious wood-fired pizza pies…yumm! Dan’s kryptonite is da pizza-pie and the hot glazed donut. Neither of us were disappointed!
With so many memories of this fine summer loaded up as drafts, you may very well be taking a ride on the way-back time machine with me as you enjoy my upcoming posts. As we always say, it is hard to write about it while you are living this hybrid mixie of a nomadic and desert life. I will say, as always, that the road calls in a big way as we slow our roll for the chilly season. As the snow falls in many of the places we spent our summer, we will tuck in right here and be grateful to not be there. We are where we need to be in every moment.
Watch for another post about Williams, Arizona, and others that will hopefully describe more of the grandeur of the higher elevation prairies and forests that we called home since we left Quartzsite in April. Until then, waving a warm-hearted but chilly hello from the frigid Sonoran Desert, current temperature 47 degrees. I know many who would give anything for those thermometer digits so I will not complain about having to wear long johns and two pairs of wool socks. Brrrrr!!
Best wishes and wee tiny fishes,
Brenda Cordray
“The Desert Rose”