Passin' by the corner

We've done the obligatory "standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona", and have no need to repeat that, but that didn't stop us from heading up that way again to see the sights.  What else is to be seen there, you might wonder, but trust me, there's a whole huge world out there waiting to be explored - sights just over the next rise, around the next bend, and just beyond whatever is in your vision right now.  And I just realized that I was meaning that as much metaphorically as literally.

But first, I must digress to put this three-day jaunt into some perspective.  I leave on November 1 for a ten-day tour of Israel, one of those bonuses that life occasionally tosses one's way.  As a relatively inexperienced international traveler, the occasion has raised swirls of questions for me; they continue to float to the top of my consciousness, and I must snatch at an answer at that moment lest they sink back out of reach. Thus, the past few weeks have been ones of some intensity as I attempt to resolve one thing after another.

Probably absurdly early, I gathered appropriate luggage and packed, packed and repacked, changed my mind endlessly, added, subtracted and exchanged what I would take along, working hard not to overpack, as is my wont.  Throughout the process, I was determined to continue with my usual filled-to-the-gills schedule, and managed it fairly well, at the possible expense of my sanity.

Or perhaps all those occasions, events and visits helped me to maintain some semblance of whatever passes for normal in our lives.  Certainly we wouldn't have missed celebrating Gail & Normand's nuptials and visiting with them and their families from near and abroad.  As always, I was happy to delve into local history and genealogy when Nancy stopped by with interesting Yavapai County documents, and another highlight was a visit from dear friends-of-my-youth Pat from Wisconsin and Kathy from Phoenix.  Managed to fit it all in without a hitch - well, perhaps a bit of hitches when I packed for the Winslow journey and left behind a few minor things, like toothbrushes (justification: we needed new ones anyway).  

I mean really, think about it: I had to partially unpack the Israel luggage amidst all those swirling, rising and falling thoughts, questions and concerns.  At any rate, Tuesday morning early saw us off and gone, and even the señor was caught up in it all; we had to return for the fishing bait he neglected to put in. Wonder if we'll ever get around to fishing . . .

. . . and the answer is . . . not yet, at least.  Really, it is surprising that we even made it to Winslow, what will all the twists and turns along the way.  Good thing we eventually arrived at our destination; after all, we had anniversary celebratory dinner reservations at La Posada's Turquoise Room.  When, and more importantly, why did I ever begin taking photographs of meals?!  Anyway, this one was fabulous!

 

 

Dine & drink we did, and then returned to our snugly satisfactory lodging at the Route 66 Delta Motel.  (Highly recommend, by the way, for their individually theme-decorated rooms, exemplary service and absolutely immaculate housekeeping, so much so that everything looks brand new.)

That's the cart before the horse, now for the horse . . . our day consisted of a whole lot of back-road wanders north of the Mogollon Rim country as we took our time exploring before arriving at Winslow.

Prior to getting into forestland, we traversed a lot of high grasslands and stopped for some birding at a tank with snow-dusted San Francisco Peaks off to the southwest.  Tracks of every ilk gave evidence of the many critters that utilize the waterhole.  

Birds we identified there and nearby were red-tailed hawk, dark-eyed junco, black phoebe, raven, American robin, chipping sparrow, savannah sparrow, white-crowned sparrow and yellow-rumped warbler.

Wide open vistas gave way to forests as we headed for Lost Eden (a mysterious dot on the back roads map), but it lived up to its name and remained unfound.

No matter, the scenery was stupendous as we drove through beautiful ponderosa forest and saw an amazing amount of surface water; clearly, that area has also gotten a plethora of rain through the season and very recently, too.  Yaeger Tank, seemingly an ephemeral lake had many acres of water glistening in the sunlight.

Near there, we stopped to examine an abandoned corral that turned out to include a stock scale.  I've never seen one out on the range like that.  I love to photograph the beautifully weather-scarred wood of those long-unused catchpens, with their geometry of leaning and listing posts and poles where once there were the calls and whistles of stockmen amidst the bellering and bawling of cattle and now only the wind whispers. . .

. . . and I have evidently long had an especial affinity for loading ramps; I have a photo I took of Darren as a toddler over 50 years ago when I posed him at the top of one.

Nearby, we found a cleverly unique stock tank made from an old truck bed.  The rancher had welded the tailgate shut to prevent leakage.

Lining the banks of washes the Gambel's oaks' leaves were illuminated as the sun shone through.

In our zeal to avoid Interstate highway travel, we transected a part of the Flying M Ranch and came out at Mormon Lake, where we anticipated seeing elk that are known to gather there.  Perhaps they knew we were coming; nary a one was in sight.

We made sure to encourage a hefty four-foot bull snake off the road where he was torpidly sunning himself in the coolish weather.  I wondered if he was trying to spell out a message for me.  I got as far as "I" . . .

"U" . . .

. . . but when I reached down to gently stroke him, he moved into an unfamiliar alphabet, and expressed some displeasure at that molestation, so I allowed him to proceed off into the brush cover without finishing the message.

Closer to Winslow, we crossed Jack's Canyon and called another halt for a walk along the rim.  It was a beautiful chasm with huge cave-like overhangs.  At first, we thought it might provide an intriguing gorge-bottom hike, but a closer look revealed what seemed to be a channel impassable due to water, rubble and a floor covered with thick grapevines.

 Someone hardier than I has clearly made it to the bottom where they chalked a message on the rock face: "Be kind to nature", a lovely sentiment, but perhaps not living up to its own intention.

Along the way, we spotted a couple more common birds: rock dove and Stellar's jay.