Day 27
The clouds were all around, but plenty of sun too this morning. We didn't know if the weather would cooperate with outdoor attractions so we took the morning slow. Headed to Costco and Walmart for a little restocking, then back to the RV for a quick lunch.
The weather looked okay, so we headed out of Apache Junction to travel up part of the Apache Trail, a scenic highway ( I use the term highway loosely) that winds through canyons, mountains and around lakes, , east of Phoenix. I've been on the 'easy' part a couple of years ago, from Apache Junction to Tortilla Flat on our 2008 visit here. That is what we planned to do today...but we never hold fast to plans, now do we?
After a stop at the shops in Tortilla Flats, we decided the weather was good enough to travel 'a little further' before we turned around to go back. Apache Trail is an eighty mile loop, doesn't sound like it should take long, but 23 miles of that is dirt...rutted, washboard dirt. Oh...and it's not level either. Most of the dirt portion is one lane, hairpin turns, precipitous steep grades and clings to the edge of the mountains.
Jim checking out 'The Duke' at Tortilla Flat
Every inch of the walls are covered with dollar bills
The first of three lakes on the drive
One lane bridge
Taken from that one lane bridge
Dirt...
I've finally stopped twitching here
Finally pavement! The Roosevelt Dam
Bridge near the Roosevelt Dam
I don't know what possessed us to venture onto the unpaved section, maybe it was because had the 'Quadra-Drive' Jeep that we've never taken on anything worse than a gravel driveway and we felt infallible.
Only a couple of miles in, I started to realize that we probably were in for more than we bargained for. I kept thanking God that we were on the inside edge every time we encountered another car. The cars going in the opposite direction were clinging to the edge of the cliffs and it was straight down. I thought about asking Jim to turn around, then realized that doing that would shorten the trip but meant that I WOULD BE ON THE OUTSIDE EDGE! Nope, going on, even if it meant many more miles of this type of road, would be much more preferred than going even a few miles ON THAT FREAKIN' OUTSIDE EDGE!
The fact that I am blogging this means that we did indeed survive the ride. The dark clouds held and it didn't pour and knock us off the mountain, another concern. I kept seeing newspaper headlines *South Carolina couple washed over side of mountain in rare, April flash flood* And must admit it was a wonderful experience. It was one of the three scary, but worth it, mountain drives we've ever done. One was in Maui and the other was Hwy 550 in Ouray Colorado. The Colorado road is the only road in the country that I REFUSE to ever, ever, ever drive on again.
It's chilly and raining tonight, but we had a good time today.
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