Arizona

We crossed into Arizona by way of Quartzsite, a town seemingly located on the surface of Mars and occupied by two-dozen RV sites, all of which were empty. The night we spent parked up in an open desert gave us a spectacular light show as storms raged in the distance and then overhead, turning the mountains into ghostly silhouettes.

Apparently Arizona isn't just desert. Prescott, which is pronounced Press Kit but I refuse to do so on account of common sense and being able to read and talk correctly, is a pretty little town in the mountainous central Arizona. Much of central Arizona is +7000ft above sea level, a fact our van chose to take note of when struggling to start due to lack of oxygen in the atmosphere. We spent a couple of nights at a free campsite on Copper Basin Road (site number 7). It was less of a campsite, more of a wood on a mountain with a dirt track; the type of place where doggers meet and kids let off fireworks. Another mouse (Zachary Allen) made its way into our van but scarpered before I was able to send it to the same fate as Chad Allen from Washington.

We set about exploring central Arizona for the best part of a week before going on to Scottsdale in Phoenix to stay with Emma’s family friends – David and Gill. Central Arizona, wow, who knew! The only reason we headed into this area was to waste some time before David and Gill were ready to host us. It turns out this was one of the most spellbinding places we could have visited. We drank on whiskey row in Prescott, visited the Lowell observatory in Flagstaff as well as the exceptionally friendly Mother Road Brewery where local Engineer, Andy, paid for all of our drinks without us knowing. Further south in Sedona we hiked (and climbed) up Cathedral Rock, an epic red-rock monolith overlooking Oak Creek, before sunning ourselves at the ridiculously picturesque Buddha Beach along Oak Creek’s meandering route. I don’t usually like cold water but this place was too beautiful not to swim. After 30 minutes of easing myself into the cold mountain water (I totally disagree with jumping in – it is disgusting and serves only to make me immediately want to get out again) I lounged under waterfalls, slid down rock slides, sat in bubbling pools and splashed around like a child for some of the happiest hours of my life. Emma tanned herself like some sort of river goddess on the hot rocks with a smile on her face which told me she had all but forgiven me for making her climb up the violently steep boulders leading to the summit of Cathedral Rock.

This reminds me of the occasion that Emma took us on a GPS (mis)guided route to Yosemite which lead us down a one way dirt track called Ward’s Ferry Road. On one side of the track a sheer cliff rose a thousand feet above our heads, on the other side a sheer cliff plummeted a thousand feet to our indisputable death. I drove swearing, Emma sat there crying. For an hour I negotiated this road to hell, hating my very existence, before the road broadened and we made it out alive. Testament to checking the map as well as the GPS route.

Scottsdale is a heavily manicured place to the north of Phoenix. A land of cacti and golf courses it seemingly had little to offer intrepid travellers such as us. What I hadn’t counted on was David and Gill being such wonderful hosts. Emma’s dad had sent word ahead of us for David to ‘get the beers in’ which David duly provided. Most of our three days there were spent talking, or rather listening, to David and his fascinating stories of his career and life’s ups and downs. He wouldn’t mind me saying that his family has been through a lot with both of his sons having suffered drug addictions. This would be enough to spoil most dinner conversations but David has taken it upon himself to acquire his insurance brokers licence and set up a company with his sons to provide addicts with a service to help them get the right rehab treatment supported by the right insurance policies. What is amazing is that David has taken his knowledge of an adverse situation and turned it into an advantage, creating a way to keep his boys clean and in work as well as helping others in the same situation. I found our stay a very inspirational one and, having met one of his sons, I am confident that the work they are doing will help a great number of people.

Climbing to the top of Thumb Butte in Prescott.

Running over a disused mine shaft in "ghost town" Jerome - deeper than the length of the Empire State.

Keeping his old ticker going with a few tweaks.

Pastel coloured sunset through Flagstaff forests.

Top brewery in Flagstaff - Motheroad. Top folks.

Working up a sweat by hiking up Cathederal Rock in Sedona - the views were worth it!

Playing in the river by Budda Beach.

Luke working up the courage to go in the river.

We came to the Grand Canyon to see...nothing! Snow clouds galore.

That's better. Miles and miles of canyon.

Artwork inside the watchtower at Desert View.

A stop along Desert View Drive.