After a week and a half camped in forest and visiting the Grand Canyon I spent one more night camped in a different area then headed home again to high temps and AC.  Zapped by the heat, frozen by AC, I can’t seem to find a happy medium while waiting for monsoon rain.

Sunday after lunch with a friend I headed out of the park with the intent to camp not too far south of Tusyan, and no intent to stop in town.  Except, I saw a sign for Chocolate Factory and fudge, a weakness of mine.  Price was pretty good so I bought lots because it freezes well.  I only nibble tiny bits at a time to make it last.

I then pulled onto FR302 but didn’t have to go far before realizing it’s directly under the flight pattern for the airport. No thanks!  So I continued south and found a nice camp along FR306 instead.  Not very busy out there which is just fine by me.  I walked around sniffing pines to create a sensory image of that special scent.  I believe the area is used as a hunting camp and will share more of that in a future video.

Early to bed and early to rise with a plan to stop for breakfast on the outskirts of Williams before heading home again.

I became sidetracked by the sight of a huge nest filling the top of a snag and turned around to check it out.  Sure enough, an Osprey nest with an adult and one large chick visible.

Sadly, the preferred restaurant in Williams is permanently closed.  So I got on I40 West figuring my next stop would be Chino Valley, by then time for lunch somewhere.  I’m very bad about making food to eat on travel days.

Wasn’t far to Ashfork and my exit south on SR89.  At the last minute I went into Ashfork hoping to find a restaurant and ended up at the Ranch House Cafe.  Looks falling apart from the outside but is newly renovated inside. Chatted with a friendly regular at the next table. Food was adequately OK, though I ordered scrambled eggs and got sunny up for $12, plus tip. When I went to pay I didn’t have my wallet and panicked a little when I couldn’t find it in the camper or truck seat, so paid cash. Then remembered where I’d stashed it.

I finally headed south on SR89 and stopped in Chino Valley for fuel, once again $5.53 at Safeway, and bought a few groceries.  By 2:30 I was home again unpacking with the AC on and enjoyed getting sprinkled on.

At 98° the next day, the poor AC struggled to keep it 85° inside so it was a rather lazy day.  Packages arrived while I was gone so felt kind of like Christmas, just not cold enough.  First to be opened, a tower stand for my laptop.  I mostly wanted this to set on a counter and stand at the computer as sitting gets old.  It’s a well made mostly heavy metal product and also works to raise the laptop at my desk so I’m looking more straight on to the monitor.  So far I’m liking it.   (If you want one use this link for me to make a few cents from Amazon at no extra cost to you.)

The rest not very exciting, a 2 1/2 gallon refillable water jug to set on the bumper for solar heating and hand washing when I’m parked is really cheap plastic.  We’ll see how long that lasts.  The lilly brush is rubber edged for scraping pet hair off the carpet and works better than just my fingers.  Even “pet hair” vacuums don’t do the trick.  And the red box is a 300 watt power inverter I’ll use in the truckcamper to charge phone and laptop off my solar charged battery.

Wednesday I had a morning eye appointment in Prescott.  Seems like I just got these glasses a year ago but they’re just not right, especially for close up.  Plus I have a few floaters and some fuzzyness, but still not ready for cataract surgery.  Using my existing frames for the new lenses that won’t be ready for about 1 1/2 weeks.  Thank goodness I had a pair of really old glasses in the camper that got me through the grocery store and home again.  The rest of the day was reflective as it was the fourth year anniversary since my dearest friend Berta died.

OMG! Thursday 99°, Friday 100°.  The AC is working overtime and at least keeping it tolerable inside, because it’s not tolerable outside even in the shade.

Only 92° Saturday under stormy skies with lots of rumbles but no rain.  Such a tease.

Finally, Sunday below 90°.  AC off and all windows open for the first time in almost a week. It’s humid but doable, cheaper, and not so noisy.  Later I had to close a bunch of windows because it rained hard and even created puddles.  That made me wonder if water flowed in the wash across my driveway, where it flows to, and if I leave will I be able to get back home again.

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After the major struggle I went through editing the last Rambling Road Trip video I can only say thank you for letting me know about the loud music.  I deleted it completely.  My idea was soft music in the background throughout but also to fill the quiet gaps.  YouTube didn’t get my message.  Hopefully the more recent video about climbing the 80 foot Grandview Tower is better, and of course much shorter.  Super BIG thank you for watching these videos as I’m learning and really appreciate your suggestions and support.  Sadly, my subscriber numbers are not going up like I’d hoped.  Feel free to share them.