by Phyllis McCrossin
While we were stranded in Camp Verde, Ariz., last week, King and I decided to take advantage of the situation and visited several national monuments in the area. They are a part of the National Park Service.
It was probably a good idea because if the current administration has its way, national parks and monuments probably will soon be gone. That’s what happens when you elect someone who has no clue what there is out there in the United States other than golf courses, casinos and country clubs.
Montezuma Castle National Monument was my favorite. It is the third national monument dedicated to preserving Native American culture. (I’m probably not supposed to mention Native American culture either because that makes me “woke”). It’s a 20 room high-rise apartment nestled into a towering limestone cliff. OK, it’s actually pueblos and cliff dwellings.
To view the dwellings, it is a short walking trail (less than a quarter mile) looping past the remains of the dwellings built by the Sinagua people. It’s amazing to think this was home for the Sinaguas, who lived in the area between 1200 and 1400 CE. They were a pre-Columbian culture that lived in the Verde Valley of central Arizona and were skilled farmers, builders and traders. Up until the 1950s visitors could actually go into the dwellings.
The name itself (Montezuma Castle) is a misnomer as the Sinagua people lived centuries before the Aztec emperor Montezuma. The castle was abandoned when the Sinagua people migrated away from the area around 1400 CE.
The “castle” is situated in a really pretty valley surrounded by dry, arid desert. King and I were there shortly after the park opened (before crowds arrived) and spotted some deer in the creek that runs through the valley.
The Sinagua in this area were primarily farmers, planting corn, beans and squash for food. They also planted cotton for weaving and trading. The Sinagua from the Flagstaff area (north of Camp Verde) relied on rainwater for farming but the Sinagua of Verde Valley built irrigation canals for farming.
Visiting the sites was an interesting way to kill time while we waited three days to get our trailer repaired. King mentioned I didn’t have to go through the trouble of sabotaging the trailer to be able to spend time exploring. (He’s so funny).
I pointed out there are cheaper ways to explore than to stay at an RV resort (and motel one night) and spend $3,000 on a custom axle for a vintage trailer probably worth about $2,000. But that’s just me.
We left Verde Valley on Wednesday and kept heading east. The weather was really pleasant all the way through the rest of Arizona and then through New Mexico and Oklahoma, it cooled off considerably once we hit Missouri.
Today, a week after our initial disaster, we had another tire blowout outside of St. Louis. It took out part of the fender but didn’t damage anything inside the trailer.
We limped into a Circle K gas station and called a tow service to come change the tire. Turns out our spare is just a little bit bigger than the other tires, but it fit. We drove through St. Louis without mishap and right now we are settled in for the night in Vandalia, Ill., and are debating driving (slowly) the rest of the way home or buying one new tire.
We’ve already decided it’s time for a new trailer and King is not sure what to do regarding this hiccup. He is more inclined to drive slowly on the tire and hope for the best rather than buy a tire on a trailer we are not going to keep.
I have two opinions: 1) get a new tire so I don’t have to panic the remaining 350 miles home, or 2) scrap the trailer and rent a U-Haul and come home. King will win. We will risk the drive home.
I hope when the trip is over King can turn to me and say, “I told you so.”
Once again, remember, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, or makes your situation fodder for gossip and judgement.
