SOUTH TO SEDONA

08.05.14

The GF recovered after a day of rest, no food and children's rehydrating fluid which I located in the Seligman  general store, there being no pharmacy or indeed a horse but lots of route 66 memorabilia gift shops after I walked the mile to town from the campsite in the teeth of a ferocious wind as a cold front moved in........the temp dropped overnight to 32 from 102 two days before and is apparently quite normal but not at this time of year.
Anyway all was well on Wednesday morning so after exploring the delights of emptying the waste tanks which in fact is an easy operation and better than the European version and I refilled the LPG tank which will be reimbursed.
Cloudy day but very scenic drive to Sedona, Arizona which surprisingly involved a very unexpected 25 mile mountainous section which was more than a little hairy around the old mining town of Jerome.
Sedona is fantastic and was the setting for over 60 westerns from the 1920s to 1970 and every cowboy you can mention filmed here. In fact, it had the only film production unit permanently built outside Hollywood.  The town is surrounded by huge red bluffs, worn into fantastic towers and as soon as you see the view you think westerns. It also houses a church, the chapel of the holy cross which rises between two red cliffs, originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1930s but not completed until 1957.
So we stopped at the nearest camp site in town at a massive $50 a night....it is so expensive here but sites are nearly all full, spent the next day driving around the views before heading to Flagstaff in the afternoon.
The TomTom that I hired for a huge amount of money is proving invaluable as it is preloaded with thousands of campsites , rated by stars and giving last year's prices, but wanted to take us to Flagstaff on a 64 mile route whilst the signpost said 27. If you come here in an RV, trust me, take the 64 miles........the 89a through Oak Creek is not for the faint of heart, especially when 5  miles is under repair and single file.
We only made a short distance as D&M had to call in at an RV repair shop to have their water heating system overhauled as they could only get lukewarm water.. ... it was a 5 min job  as the winterising override switch had not been reset which is another stupid oversight by El Monte who are being let down by stupid oversights. ..... we have 2 sets of crockery.... one plastic,one china; we have no dishcloths or cleaning materials and when we buy them, most of it will be thrown away unused. If we leave the unused items in the van they won't be passed on so what happens to them ?
Anyway, KOA campsite at Flagstaff, $44  even after the 10% discount we get but at least the 5 litre wine box of Californian Burgundy from Walmart at $13.99  is proving more than drinkable and I'll need another one soon.
And Americans are So nice. At the checkout in Safeway's, when the bill came to $ 80, the cashier asked if I had a loyalty card, which of course I hadn't. At which, the lady behind us said please use mine, I just luv your accent, my names Amy  and I have a friend who lives in Suffolk, England ( like,wow, small world), and the cashier swipes her card and knocks $8 off our bill !!!!!!!
And in the car park at the holy chapel a guy walked back and moved his car so that I could park without having to perform contortions. I really do like them, everyone has been polite, helpful, funny and wanting to talk to us.