AN OASIS IN THE DESERT

Friday night, we stopped at a town called Gus, AZ to gas up and get some sleep. At 4a.m. Saturday morning I got the "old girl" back on the road heading South. Passing Page, AZ 10 miles south of the border, the truck behaved itself and I even got it up to 55-60 mph., until I started climbing. After a slow go up the mountain (20-30 mph),I reached the sea level of 6000 feet and climbed a bit more. Once we reached a level of around 7200 feet, she got us to the summit, then got a good rest by almost coasting down the other side of the mountain. Once we reached Bitter Springs area at the bottom, the truck was refreshed and kicked back into high speed 50-60 mph. From Bitter Springs to the valley north of Flagstaff, the truck did well. The old girl and I stopped to rest fpr about 40 minutes. Everything was okay, until we started climbing up the mountains north of Flagstaff, AZ. That was a very tough climb for the little Mazda B3000 v6. Once in Flagstaff, I stopped to shower and rest for a while. About an hour later, we got mack on the road again. Working hard, the truck did her job again, then got another break going down the south side of the mountains. The elevation continued to drop, then back up another 2-3 steep grades on some hills. The old girl really didn't like that at all. A few times, I thought she had about come to her end, but she kept going, getting a few rests here and there as I stiooed to take pictures or check th fluids. We finally arrived in Scottsdale around 3 p.m. I drove around town getting lost a few times, finally finding my RV park by 4:30 p.m. 5 was so glad to be there.

It is now Sunday evening as I post this blog. This morning, I found the tent location and met Susan Morrow Potje, the Director. I also met some other artists fro Utah.

Tomorrow, I plan to get up before sunrise, then go plein air painting not far from the Celebration's big tents. I have to then show up at the tent site by 8a.m. for orientation and getting our studio / gallery ready. I'm looking forward to it!