I arrived Saturday June 3rd at Dairy Springs Campground, Coconino National Forest, after driving 7 hrs. During my drive along I-40 in Arizona, I experienced very hard thunderstorms. I had to turn my windshield wipers to “MAX”, and that wasn’t even sufficient. This was my first clue about “things to come“.
At that point, I wondered…. Will I have to camp during a springtime thunderstorm?… Nooooo …. of course not.
At 3pm, I arrived at my campsite, and setup my gear for dinner.
While I was setting up my tent, a boy about 14 years-old walked over from a campsite next to mine, and he asked if he could help me. I figure he was a Boy Scout, because that is exactly what we would do. (FYI… I was a member of BSA … back in the day)
I thanked him, and said that I didn’t need help…. I’m in it for the “adventure”…. He walked away confused, and probably told his parents I was a wierdo-cranky-old-man… which is true.
Before bed, I decided to take a quick ride. Here are the pics….
Does it get any better than this? I so enjoy the forest, the lake, and the endless sky.
When I was a kid, we always stopped to read the “historical markers”
By 6:30pm, the temperature dropped, and I was still 4.5 miles away from my campsite… I went home!
As usual, I went to bed not long after dark. But at 4am, 2 cars with 8-10 people in them, drove up to the campsite next to me and shined their headlights so that they could setup camp. They were college-age kids… laughing and talking loud. As an old-guy, I was grumpy about the whole episode. It took them 45 minutes to settle down. 5 minutes later… I was fast asleep.
At 6:30 am, I got up, made coffee and went on my morning bike ride. I went on a northern route and went places I had never gone before.
By 11am, I was already getting rained-on…. So I sprinted back to my campsite.
When I got to my campsite, it was raining really hard… thunderstorms and lightening… it rained for almost 2 hours. I huddled in my tent, waiting for it to stop. A few things got soaked, but it was all OK.
On Monday, Scott Rank biked with me. I know he slowed his normal routine significantly in order to hang with me, but it was fun to ride with him. I so enjoyed the comradery.
We went 35.7 miles that day. One of us pissed 4 times along the side of the road, bugs flew into our eyes, over-sized trucks with excavators blew past us, one of us puked on the trail.
At lunch, Dave and Marian, brought us Subway sandwiches, chips, and a bottle of wine. I was so grateful. I love a nice meal in the middle of a ride…. Not every “bike rider” agreed with me…. Hence the puking. Because I use an e-bike, I don’t require as much physical exertion from my body during bike riding. Other bikers work waaaay harder than me.
While we were eating, a bicyclist stopped and talked with us. His name was “Sel”, and he was a retired physical therapist. He and I got to talking, and we spent an hour getting to know each other. He’s a great guy.
After an exhausting ride, in the wind, through a few rain drops, against some car/truck traffic, eating too much lunch, and drinking some wine (not recommended on most biking events)…. We arrived back at my campsite!!!!!!!!
Previously, I had asked Sel what was the best BBQ within 50 miles, and he told us where to go. It’s called “Bigfoot Bar-B-Que”.
Scott, Dave, Marian, and I went there and it was truly magnificent. I had pulled pork, potato salad, pinto beans, cornbread, and PEACH COBBLER WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM.
On my way driving back to my campsite, I was driving along a narrow 2-lane road. The signs said, “WATCH FOR ANIMALS”. At 10pm going 40 mph, I met 3 Elk. I can tell the difference between deer and elk by how high their butts are. Deer-Butts are below the hood of my car, and Elk-butts stick up above the hood of my car. These were ELK.
After 3 days of intimate conversation and one-on-one bonding…. .we are still friends.
Lessons Learned:
Friends are nice to have
I can handle 2 hrs of thunder, lightning, and rain.
Ranking of this Trip: I love Flagstaff, AZ… I don’t want to lose that.
