Happy 4th of July, fellow Americans! Hope you’re having a safe and relaxing holiday as we celebrate the birthday of our country!
July 4th just happens to also be our wedding anniversary, and today marks 28 years since we tied the knot on a hot summer day in Houston, Texas. We’ve had a lot of adventures and we’ve taken some big risks in those 28 years, but nothing like what we’re currently doing! The fact that we have enough love between us and faith in each other to risk selling our house and all our possessions to go traveling around the country in a little RV–that says a lot, doesn’t it? We’re having a grand old time, and we’re both looking forward to many more years together, sharing life wherever it takes us!
We’re still loving the wildflowers that continue to bloom in “our yard”
We don’t have anything special planned for today. Andy took the rig into Flagstaff this morning to dump the tanks and refill the fresh water. When he got back we fixed our usual lunch–a huge chopped salad with homemade cashew-herb dressing, a cup of pinto beans, and a graham cracker with marshmallow creme for dessert. This afternoon Andy’s getting a shower while I work on the bookkeeping and the blog. This evening, we’ll have some Thai peanut noodles that I made last night, along with a bottle of wine that we’ve been saving for a special occasion. We thought about going out to dinner, but we don’t like to leave the rig unattended at night when we’re boondocking.
We’re still parked in the Coconino National Forest just northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona, enjoying the beautiful alpine summer weather. It’s pretty quiet most of the time, but with today being a holiday, there are a lot of dirt bikes, ATV’s, bicycles and just regular traffic going by, raising the dust. I even saw a big Class A go by a few minutes ago, the first one of those we’ve seen since we’ve been up here. But Andy said that he saw a lot of empty camping spots further down the hill when he drove into town this morning, so it looks like most of these people are just up here for the day.
Another colorful sunset last night–everything had a pink tint!
We had a good time this past Sunday, attending the second day of the Flagstaff Folk Festival, held on the grounds of the Pioneer Museum. We weren’t really sure what to expect so we didn’t plan to stay more than a couple of hours, but if we’re here next year at this same time, we’ll definitely plan to stay longer. They had five different stages with different acts performing for about 30-45 minutes each. They also had places set aside for workshops and jam sessions, along with food vendors and arts/crafts.
We heard all types of music, mostly with acoustic instruments, played by people of all ages. Some of the venues were outdoors, one was in an old barn, one was in the art gallery. We thoroughly enjoyed (almost) all the music, and we applaud the people of Flagstaff for hosting this enjoyable event!
I recorded a few clips from some of the performers and strung them together into a short video:
Otherwise, things are pretty quiet around here. I took a longer-than-usual hike on Monday on a trail I hadn’t been on before, and saw several groups of deer along the way. I had planned to go 45 minutes out and then turn around, but at the end of 45 minutes, I could hear traffic sounds, so I kept going to see where I came out, and it was on Highway 180 north of where we’re camped. It ended up being a two-hour hike and I was pretty tired by the time I got back to the rig, but thoroughly enjoyed the scenery.
Beautiful greenery along the hiking trail
Yesterday we treated ourselves to the lunch special at Fratelli Pizza (our current addiction) and then did our grocery shopping for the next five or six days. Real exciting stuff!
Speaking of excitement, we had a little jolt this morning. We had just sat down at the table to have our cinnamon rolls and coffee (a little anniversary treat), and when I opened the blinds over the dinette, we saw about five or six Forestry Service trucks parked across the road from us. One truck was marked as a fire-fighting truck.
We were immediately concerned because this is the season for wildfires here in the Southwest, but we didn’t see or smell any smoke. We didn’t want to be nosy so we didn’t walk over to ask them what was going on, and after about twenty minutes they all left. However, later this afternoon we did hear that there is a small (just over 3 acres as of last report) wildfire between here and Flagstaff.
I have subscribed to the Twitter feed for the Coconino National Forest, as well as the wildfire incident reporting authorities, and I get text alerts whenever they post any kind of updates on wildfires in the area, or anywhere in Arizona. If you’ve been reading the blog for awhile, you might remember that we got evacuated from the Hilltop Campground in the Prescott National Forest due to a nearby wildfire back in April. Things are a lot drier now, so we keep a close eye on weather conditions and news reports. And that’s another reason why we don’t leave the rig unattended for more than a few hours at a time–if anything happens, we want to make sure we can respond quickly and take appropriate action to protect the rig, the kitties, and ourselves.
It is illegal to use any kind of fireworks in the National Forests, so we’re really hoping that the people who are playing or camping in the area around us today will do so safely and leave the pyrotechnics out of it. I would hate to have my anniversary ruined by some idiot with a bottle rocket!!
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Safe travels!
Just Call Us Nomads 
Exciting July 4, eh? Us, too. Stayed home all day, sheltered from the heat, and splurged (coupon for $7.99) on a large pizza for “lupper,” and ate half, saving the rest for tomorrow. Sometimes it’s nice just to be quiet and read. 😊
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