Good times -- good people

This week in the Congress, AZ, area has proven again that wherever we travel in this lifestyle there are good people that result in good times. A few days ago we decided to change our location about 120 miles northeast to the Escapees Park in Congress, AZ. We expected to park in the campground and, hopefully, see some friends for a few days. Well that just wouldn't do for Jerry and Dee Thomas who offered us space on their lot and have been the most generous of hosts for several days now. We've had gatherings in their "party house", played some nostalgic music, shared travel stories, laughed a lot, made a day trip to Prescott and cheered their Ohio State team on. (Sorry about that Buckeyes.) There just isn't enough we can say about their hospitality.

Today was another example of nice folks providing good times. We were invited by Jack and Danielle Mayer and Jerry and Sherry Adcock to make a 4wheeling run near Black Canyon City, about 50 miles east. The six of us were anxious to try out this trail that Jerry and Sherry would be leading at a rally in a couple of weeks. After all, it was a 4 rating on the 5 scale and we know these 4wheelers love a good trail. As we met about 9:00 a.m. to start our day's experience, something kind of ironic and laughable happened. All three of us gals had on the same t-shirt, a Jeeping Moab shirt that we had each chosen separately during visits to one or our favorite places. What are the odds?? Just good taste, I guess.

The ride over on the highways to Black Canyon through the Tonto National Forest was definitely outstanding on it's own, but we were all ready to get started on the trail. Well, to our great surprise, when we arrived at the entrance to the trail there was a gate across it. What's this about?! Perhaps there's a good reason, but some access to these areas is being denied by government agencies without any misuse or other problems. 4wheelers are fighting to keep the trails open everywhere. We tried taking the trail backwards but found no entrance there either. While searching around we enjoyed lots of nice scenery, thick forests of saguaro cacti, layers of mountains and rolling dessert landscapes. It was a great day.

Here are we girls, Nancy, Danielle and Sherry, at the dissappointing entrance to the trail -- showing off our basic good taste in shirts. Too bad the gate was securely shut.

Oh well, why not explore a little anyway while in this gorgeous location. I've posted a shot of the yellow cliffs near Bartlett Lake where we paused to take in the views. We did find one rocky place while exploring and Jack and Danielle's new Rubicon was actually balanced about four feet in the air on three wheels just right before this photo was taken. I hated to miss that shot. Thanks for the fun you guys!!!