Tues, June 21, 2005
Left this morning for my first stop, Sedona, on my way to Denver. While getting gas in Banning, west of Palm Springs, I could see smoke from a wild fire in the mountains near Idyllwild.
It would not be the last fire I would encounter that day.
Later, while trying to get up to Sedona on the I-17, the Highway was shut down north of Phoenix due to a fire there. The only way to get up the mountain was to the west through Prescott, or to the east through Payson. Both routes were long and out of the way. As I'd never been through Payson, I thought I'd go that way.
Almost as soon as I'd left Phoenix the terrain became very mountainous and a forest of Saguraos appeared.
This was some of the nicest Sonoran Desert I've seen, but the road was very steep and my truck, which had been acting odd for weeks, was not happy with the climb.
By the time I reached the top of the Mogollon Rim the Saguraos had given way to Pines. The delay getting around the fire forced me to reach Sedona after dark and my truck was definitly not happy. As I was only stopping there to sleep anyway I tried to put it out of my mind. I had to get to Denver by Thursday and the next day I would be heading for my second stop in Santa Fe, NM.
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