TravelStream™ news feed for member cantinero on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cantinero en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:05:23 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantinero/1/1214060580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantinero/1/1214060580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantinero/1/1214060580/tpod.html Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:05:23 -0400 THE PEACEMAKERS INDEPENDENCE FIESTA ROAD TRIP WEEKEND

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Glendale, Arizona, United States

Brenton, Jami, & I loaded up 'Maggie', our 1988 Fj 62 Toyota Land Cruiser, and pointed her nose north towards Flagstaff on Thursday afternoon; a much need break from the heat and a chance to see my favorite band RCPM laid ahead. It was not a typical early July afternoon in Phoenix, instead it was the kind of afternoon you would expect later in July. An afternoon where everything slows down because of the heaviness of the heat and the oppressiveness of the humidity. The monsoons had come early this July, so the three of us were just eager to get our trip underway. We had secured the keys to Jami's aunt & uncle's cabin in Pinewood earlier in the week and had completed what local shopping we needed for food and cerveza for our arrival. We figured we would head into Flagstaff at some point to complete the bulk of the shopping over the next few days. All that was left was to fill 'Maggie' up with petrol, and make our way to the freeway. Luckily, we would find that we were just ahead of our holiday weekend, rush hour traffic, compadres.

The three of us were to meet Ian & Gioanna and their two girls Molly and Talia at the cabin, as they had left earlier in the day. This made things even more anxious for us as we had already gotten a couple of weather updates from Ian & G porch side with their cervezas in hand. Jami and I had never stayed at Greg & Gail's cabin, even though it had been offered to us countless times before. As most of you know, Jami and I were usually south bound to Mexico any weekend we had free. Since this summer has really taken it's toll on us here, we decided a trip north to beat the heat was well in order.

We departed our casa in Glendale at about 2:15pm and had already reached cooler temperatures just to the north of Black Canyon City at about 3:00pm. This made things a little more bearable as the Air Conditioning does not work in the Land Cruiser. I am fairly use to not having A/C, but Jami was suffering. Combine the no A/C and the myriad of G's weather updates she was receiving via text... Well, I'm sure you get where I was going with her mood. The trip to Flagstaff was uneventful and we had no mechanical problems. 'Maggie' hated the climb ever upward at 75mph, and showed it by her ever persistent 45-55mph limit it the steep grades. I can't blame her as she was loaded down, and has larger tires than stock, but she did let me know how thirsty she gets when she needs to climb at speed by her 10MPG avg.

We hit several thunderstorms, off and on, as we whittled away the miles up the hill to Flagstaff. That was until about 20 miles south of Munds Park where the rains would settle in on us for the next few hours. We pulled into Woody's Gas n' Food to top off, a very thirsty 'Maggie,' before the final leg of the trip back through the majestic pines to the cabin. The quick stop also allowed us to grab some ice and to do a quick stretch in cool wet weather for a change. We had arrived safe and sound.
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Munds Park, Arizona, United States

We arrived in Munds Park around 4:00pm to a light afternoon thunder storm. I must say it was good to finally be there and to see the friendly faces of our campeneros. It wasn't long before holas n' hugs were exchanged, the truck was unpacked, and I had killed the first of many limes that weekend. I quickly assumed a comfortable position in a adirondack on the front porch, with my cold Tecate in my hand, to watch the remaining showers from the heavens above. Ian, Brenton, and I laughed at one-another's tall tales of our road trip to this ever so peaceful place amongst these silent, majestic, silhouetted pines that surround us. It wasn't long before the rains had dissipated and dusk was starting to fall upon us. We, being the men of the group, were called upon to make our way to the back deck where we would fire up the BBQ. With that task swiftly behind us, all that was left was to pick our well chosen spots around the table under heaven's canopy, where we would reside for the rest of the evening. As los tardes surrendered to los notches and the BBQ cooled down, so did the weather. I soon found myself, through Jami's prompting, rummaging through our luggage for her jacket and a poncho for myself. The cool night weather was a welcome, and we celebrated it for as long as we could. Over the next few hours one by one the laughter and conversations grew softer until there were just two left. G & I decided it was time to take the path of our loved ones and turn in, for we had a full day ahead of us in the morning........
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