3-9-2010 - Flagstaff to Cottonwood, AZ

We woke up to a second day of snow on our car and all over our bike. We left Flagstaff and headed to Sedona on 89A. John and I have driven this stretch of rode before and know what a beautiful drive it is with the river following the road along the way to Sedona. When we left Flagstaff it was snowing lightly but by the time we were about 10 miles from Flagstaff it was snowing very heavily and we ended up pulling into a wayside to clear off the windshield wipers as they had a lot of snow on them. John went out to do that and it was almost like a blizzard outside. As we drove along and got more down into the valley the snow wasn't quite as heavy and then turned to rain. What is this - it is suppose to be beautiful in spring in Arizona? We didn't even stop in Sedona because it was raining so hard and continued on to Cottonwood.

Upon arriving in Cottonwood we decided to drive around and look the town over. Cottonwood is really a very pretty area with the Mingus Mountains in the background. We went to a gated community area and actually went and spoke with one of the realtor's that showed us a home that is currently for sale in the community. Actually as we drove around we found out that there are a number of homes for sale in this community. There are a total of 700 homes in the community and probably 20 or 25 homes that are for sale. It was interesting looking at the home and then finding out about the area. It's to bad it is so far from Wisconsin.

Afterwards we went to Dead Horse Ranch State Park and had a picnic. We had to cut the picnic short as when we first arrived it was sunny and by the time we had our sandwiches made you could just see the black clouds rolling in and covering up the mountains. All of a sudden where there had been a mountain within our view it would disappear and be hidden in the dark clouds.

Tomorrow we will head towards Jerome and Prescott, AZ. We heard from Lynn and Dick today and we will plan on spending Saturday and Saturday evening with them. Then on Sunday we will head to Bill and Dana's (a biking couple that we have met at some rallies) and bike with them on Sunday afternoon. Bill and Dane have invited us to stay in there motor home on Sunday evening so we will stay with them in Surprise, AZ and then head towards Utah on Monday morning.

Happy Trails!