As we pulled out of Death Valley we knew we were beginning the trip back east to Rochester even though we still had six weeks or so before our planned return. The usual questions confront us, northern route, Colorado, Kansas and so forth or a more southerly route. We had already set ourselves more northerly than usual by going to Death Valley so we vamped by going to Boulder City NV again. This still leaves both the southerly and northerly routes open. I really had to fly to Rochester for a few days and we decided that Phoenix would be the better place to fly from, Carol did not want to hang out near Vegas again. So we sat and booked reservations, me from PHX to ROC and back and us to Jersey Boys while we were near Las Vegas. We really did not want to hang out for three days either in Boulder City or Phoenix so we ended up stopping in Wikieup AZ which is half way between Kingman and Phoenix along US 93, another way of saying almost no place.

Dazzo’s Restaurant and RV Park was about as rustic as you can get. Check out the pictures on Picasa We pulled in not knowing what to expect and found a pleasant place to spend some time and to explore the surrounding desert by car and on foot. It was a treat to have the large old Saguaro cactus right near our coach with many birds occupying the holes. We took several drives on dirt roads using GPS and little else to find our way. Although we never got lost we did get tangled up a couple of times and were grateful to have all wheel drive and plenty of clearance. We never ate at Dazzo’s largely because Carol felt sure that there was no way to be comfortable that the veggies had not been cooked with the meat, or on the same grill. I must admit that the sandwiches were tempting and we had a report that their pizza was superb.

Eventually we had to move on to Phoenix so I could fly to Rochester on Sunday the 22nd. This brought us to a very different sort of “camping” experience. We pulled into Sun Life RV Resort in the midst of more huge resorts than I wanted to know exsted. This place has over 700 sites many of which are occupied by “park models” trailers not unlike the house trailers from the 60’s, but much more high end since these are winter resort escapes and not permanent homes. We have all the amenities and a price to go with them. I must admit it is nice having a fitness room and a billiards room and a very large computer room and pool and, and, and.

The best part is the resources of the Phoenix area. We have been to Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation home and school and today we spent most of the day in the Phoenix Art Museum. Yes they do have a Donald Judd piece mounted. They also have the Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe show “Charting the Grand Canyon”, and so much more. They also have a lovely cafe where we had lunch. We wrapped up the day with a visit to the State Capitol Museum.

I guess in all of this I forgot to mention our trip with Dan and Beverly Armstrong to Organ Stop Pizza. Check out the site yourself http://www.organstoppizza.com/ The ambience is Theater Organ and the pizza is pretty good too. Carol lost a necklace there and when she called, it had been turned in and they held it for us to pick up tonight on our way back from Phoenix.

The weather to the east of us and to the north looks dreadful so we still don’t know what our route will be. Monday we will have to decide before we start the engine. Hope we see an opening in the weather by then. Pesach will be on the road, just the two of us this year unless fate intervenes.