We're back from our road trip early, and I'm actually relieved to say we didn't have any "mythic" adventures on this trip. Mythic, for us, seems to go hand-in-hand with finding unlikely places to sleep. Like when we got a flat tire in the Everglades and ended up setting up camp in a (very generous) stranger's back yard in the upper Keys, and the next night (still driving on the donut spare), sleeping in our car in a grocery store parking lot with roosters crowing every ten minutes all night long. Anyway, nothing too impossible happened on this road trip, for which I am thankful. (We only filled two tires with fix-a-flat sludge, and now they seem to be decent enough except for the butt massage that is guaranteed to happen between 60 and 75 miles an hour.)

We camped outside of Globe our first night after rock hounding for onyx. We watched the full moon rise, and woke early enough to see the moonset and the sunrise.

The second evening we camped outside of Payson at an actual campground called Flowing Springs. We had the campground to ourselves right next to a river, and were treated to the moon rise again.

Our third night we camped east of Camp Verde. We heard coyotes in the middle of the night, and some kind of rodent that meowed back and forth to one another at dusk and dawn. We heard wolves in the morning.

We met my dad, brother, and sister-in-law on the forth day and visited Montezuma's Castle (Cliff Dwellings) and Tuzigoot National Monument. We drove through Jerome and Sedona.

Montezuma Castle

Dwellings at Montezuma Well.



Veggie Dog and my dad resting from the sun.

Tuzigoot Nat. Monument

On our way home we attempted rock hounding/camping spots one and two. The first dirt road had a sign that was kind enough to let us know as soon as we turned onto it that it wasn't recommended for passenger cars; the second venture into the Tonto Hills just northeast of Phoenix captured our time for many more hours before we realized that the roads were not compatible with our old corolla. Same old story as usual.

We did see a snake, though, crossing the road, and discovered an unexpected oasis called Seven Springs in the middle of the desolate desert.

Water from Seven Springs.

After driving around in remote, arid areas all afternoon--and without an accessible, quick route to get to another place to camp, hike, or rock hound--we decided to return to Bisbee. We were tired of being in the car, so we're back.