Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

Well, now that I have seen both the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon it feels strange. Those were the two locations on our tour that I had never been to and was most looking forward to seeing. Many of the other places I had either been to already or did not realize how wonderful they were until I got there. So now I feel a little lost. We still have lots of fun things yet to come but they don’t loom as large in my mind as these two destinations did. One thing I have not mentioned as of yet is that our current location, Williams, Arizona, is on Route 66! You got it baby … we are gettin' our kicks on Route 66! We even had dinner at the Route 66 Diner last night, and we have the pictures to prove it. It also turns out that Williams is not far from Winslow. So, when I mentioned that name, how many of you out there started to think about an old song by the Eagles? Remember that familiar refrain,

Well I’m standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see …

The song is called, Take It Easy. As soon as I saw the sign showing how far to Winslow, it felt kind of special knowing that I was so close to that place I had heard about in that song so many times but never really knew where it was. Plus, it is also the name of an old, I mean, former high school buddy of mine. Anyway, we came very close to Winslow on our way to Flagstaff. We needed to bring the MoHo in for a second unscheduled maintenance visit, and for practically the same reason. Last time it was the gray water valve we needed to replace, this time is was the black water valve. Fortunately in both cases we had some warning before reaching a full failure. The plan was to drop off the MoHo and then take the Matrix for a day trip down to Sedona and back. It is supposed to be a beautiful drive and it is something we wanted to do anyway. As a matter of fact, we were trying to figure out where we could leave the MoHo while we made this trip since the road is not supposed to be well suited to a 48-foot vehicle that handles like, well, a 48-foot vehicle. So this was working out quite well. I do have to admit, though, that I was getting a little concerned when the Service Manager, who seemed to be a very nice but quiet fellow, asked us what type of MoHo we were driving. Since it is made in Canada, many people are not familiar with our Glendale Royal Classic. I wasn’t concerned that he had asked, I was concerned when I saw that he wrote down Glendail Roial Clasic [sic] on the work order. I was hoping that he was a better repairman that a speller. So off we went. It is about a 30 mile (50 km) drive along a beautiful scenic road that basically winds its way down into a canyon and emerges in Sedona. It was another gorgeous canyon ride which, in the greater scheme of things at this point, was somewhat superfluous. It was more subtle, and there were fewer highlights to punctuate the panoramic views, yet the quality of the experience was top notch. The resultant landscape is a much less difficult terrain to navigate making it much more accessible and habitable. Well, that is, if you are packing a wallet that is slightly larger than mine. Sedona has been discovered by the Hollywood set and that has put living there far out of reach of the average guy. But fortunately, anyone can come for a visit. One of the highlights had to be the Church of the Holy Cross which was built into the hills back in 1956 by a Frank Lloyd Wright disciple. We drove up to take a look and it did not disappoint. I must have taken 100 pictures of that place with the wonderful combination of colours in the hills surrounding this place of worship and the exquisite juxtaposition between the angular lines of the modern church and the both rugged and flowing lines of the deep, red rock. I know I did not take more than 100 pictures though because today was the day my memory card decided to play some tricks on me. I ended up losing an entire folder of images that were captured on the memory card and each folder holds 100 photos. As luck would have it, I lost every photo of this church as they must all have been saved in that particular folder. So instead I have grabbed an image from the web to give you an idea. I did get some wonderful pics of the beautiful Oak Tree Valley on our way into Sedona from Flagstaff and on the way back. The weather behaved nicely for us once again and the rain held off until we were just finishing our cruise. Last night it rained the whole time making it rather cool this morning. It was so cool, in fact, that I decided to wear jeans and a black, long-sleeve shirt. I have only had one chance to wear my black long-sleeve shirt so far so I was looking forward to this change of pace. But I found myself having lunch by the aforementioned church with the brilliant sunlight sending waves of heat down resulting in me roasting like a pig on a spit. These are the problems I like to have in October. Anyway, I must say, that has got to be one of the best ways to spend your time while waiting for an auto repair to take place. I highly recommend you give it a try. We picked up the MoHo and she was good to go so we hooked up the Matrix and headed to Phoenix to spend the night at Walmart. Little did we know that on our way we would be treated to some unbelievable solar artwork in the sky followed by a moonlight MoHo dinner.

Today’s word:

superfluous \soo-PUR-floo-uhs\, adjective:More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive.