Week 2 of our NOMADS project at Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat started on May 18th and was much like Week 1. We continued all our projects with our Nomads friends, finished some and started some new ones.
On Monday we discovered a railing on one of the camp buildings was very loose, so the team stabilized it.
The team continued in one of the men’s bathrooms by installing the new vinyl plank flooring.
Anne cutting flooring
Bathroom at the end of the week
Bathroom entrance floor
LuAnn and Steve working on the gaga ball pit
Another big project we started this week was tearing down the old wood shed to build a new camp store.
Removing the old roof
Taking down the old wood shed piece by piece
Finally on the ground
Building a wall the old-fashioned way
The rest of the team helped with raising the first wall.
Bracing the first wall
Doyle anchoring a wall
New camp store at the end of the week
The weather has been the same as last week. Lows in the low 50’s overnight (didn’t bring enough warm clothes) and climbing into the low to mid 70’s during the day with a few days in the low 80’s. There has still been NO rain! No threats of rain. The only clouds are the white puffy ones, otherwise it’s just beautiful blue sky. There is no dew on the ground in the mornings. No change in the forecast for this week. Very different from what we are accustomed to in Alabama. Also, we have friends in Alabama that have had tornadoes this week and are now experiencing flash flooding. Please say a prayer for them! Don’t think we told you about the elevation. We are at 7,600 feet so that explains the cool evenings. Friday when we were in Prescott Valley doing laundry the temperature was 84 and it was 74 when we arrived back at our campsite on Mingus Mountain.
On one of our hikes around the camp we found this agave in its “death bloom.” Agave live for 10 to 30 years, bloom once, then die.
Our last post on May 8, we drove through some beautiful scenery to reach our home for the night in Cottonwood AZ. After refilling the refrigerator and the propane we had a good night of sleep. We really appreciated hospitality of the Methodist church. On May 9 we began our drive to Mingus Mountain, our home for the next 3 weeks. It was a beautiful although harrowing drive. We drove up through Jerome, but it was before anything was open. We plan to stop there as well as Sedona when we leave. Both areas are interesting and beautiful, but it was time to just get settled in after eighteen days on the road.
The drive from Cottonwood to Mingus Mountain was another interesting …
… but beautiful drive.
Our home for three weeks
The fireplace detail in dining hall
The outdoor worship center at the camp
This deer herd walks through the camp frequently.
They look a little different from the deer back east.
We arrived at Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat before lunch, found our place to park and set up our campsite. We were greeted by our NOMADS leader Suzanne and later that afternoon the rest of the team, Steve, and Doyle and LouAnn arrived. Suzanne went ahead with our opening meeting since we were all gathered together and asking her questions. It was nice though since it gave us all a free day Sunday. Monday we met the camp director and program director when they joined us for devotion. After a tour of the facilities, we began our work for the week. We made a lot of repairs. Repairs to the entrance signage and painting it, the pump house roof, the heat strip on the pavilion roof, a door, lots of painting, built a trash can enclosure, an entry ramp for the dinning hall, repaired the 9-square game and began working in the men’s rest room which is a big three-week project. We began by removing all the tile, preparing the flooring for new vinyl laminate and started the painting. By the end of the week we had it so the rest room could be used by guests for the weekend.
Preparing the entrance sign for painting
Steve and Doyle repairing the pumphouse roof
Doyle and Steve re-installed a door that was blown off by the wind.
Repaired 9-square game
Doyle and Steve made the dining hall more accessible.
Suzanne painting the men’s bathroom.
Removing the old floor tile …
…took a lot of scraping.
Repairing heat tape on pavilion roof. We were probably the only people in Arizona working on heat tape this time of year.
The camp director wanted enclosures for the trash cans to keep animals out.
Steve working on the trash can enclosure
Finished trash can enclosure
Over the weekend we visited Prescott Valley. Wow! Another steep drive with minimal side rails. You can see the roadway, way, down below. We also bought groceries and visited Culver’s while there. Saturday, we hiked to the top of the mountain where there is an area for hang gliding. No one jumped off the mountain while we were there but the scenery was beautiful.
Up the road from the camp is a hang glider launch. We’ve seen hang gliders in the air, but none were launching when we walked to the launch.
One of many wild Rocky Mountain Irises on the mountain
One of the ancient alligator junipers we found around the mountain
The Claret-cup cactus is sometimes called strawberry cactus. Many are starting to bloom at the camp.
Claret-cup cactus and alligator juniper
On Sunday, we streamed our 8:30 am service from our home church, Lester Memorial Methodist. By the way, that was at 6:30 am here.
Enjoyed working with this hardworking team this week. We have accomplished a lot. Two more weeks to go.
When last we left you, we had just departed Winslow on May 6th. From there we drove about 60 miles to Cinder Hills Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) area near Flagstaff, AZ. It is a national forest service dispersed camping area with free camping. The road was a little rough going in but BB handled it just fine. This would be our home for the next two nights. We weren’t sure what we were getting into but wow it turned out to be a great stay. We were just looking for a quiet spot to catch our breath. While there we happened to check our geocaching app and located a virtual geocache here called “Cinder Lake History”. That led us to checking into the history of this spot. (That’s one of the best things about the way we travel. We learn such interesting things we would have never known.) The Cinder Lake Crater Field is a historic man-made copy of the lunar landscape. It was constructed in the late 1960s by NASA using hundreds of pounds of dynamite. After the build, the Apollo astronauts used the site to practice navigating the simulated terrain, walking on the rough surface and testing equipment like the lunar rover. Today they are still using some of the locations for training for the modern Artemis missions. How cool is that. We have now walked/hiked in some of the same steps where our astronauts have trained.
Found us a place at Cinder Lake dispersed camping area
One of the NASA built craters
The NASA built craters are still visible in the satellite imagery of Cinder Lake.
Snow-capped mountains from the camping area
Cinder Lake is now a OHV Area
Charging our batteries since we were staying 2 nights
Only about ten minutes down the road is the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument – a monument to the most recent volcanic eruption in Arizona. A volcanic eruption occurred here approximately AD 1085 with the two largest vents being Bonito and Kana-a flows extending 1.6 miles and 6.2 miles respectively. These lava flows were also training sites for the Apollo astronauts. Today vegetation is covering some of the flow areas, but other areas are still visible. What would you expect after 1000 years? Hiking to the summit is no longer permitted because of erosion caused by hikers. However, there are a few nice trails that are still accessible and a 35 mile scenic loop drive.
One reason this is now a National Monument
Where the astronauts walked
Walking where the astronauts walked
Checking out a small lava tube
Splatter cone
How do these trees grow here?
After spending a beautiful morning enjoying God’s creation and a quick shower in the picnic area we headed south, getting closer to our NOMADS, Volunteer Mission assignment – enjoying more of His creation along the way.
On May 6 (yes, we know that was a week and a half ago), after our morning excursions in the Petrified Forest (see previous post), we said goodbye to the peace and quietness of the National Park. We elected to drive another section of the old Route 66 road where it was still intact. When we were back in Texas, we did the Route 66 section in Adrian, TX which was the midpoint of the entire route, Chicago to Los Angles. Today we did the section that brought us to Winslow, Arizona.
Between Cadillac Ranch and the New Mexico state line we crossed the midpoint of Route 66 in Adrian, TX.
Before arriving in Winslow we saw several Route 66 attractions, like this arch in Holbrook …
… and the famous Wigwam Motel.
Anne’s brother Jim’s request was that we send him pictures “standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ.” We discovered there was a lot more to see than just Winslow ‘s corner. Our first stop was the visitor’s center. It was also a very nice museum, and the hostess was very helpful. She recommended that we just leave BB in the parking lot and walk the downtown area. She gave us directions to a number of attractions. Of course, the next stop was at “the corner in Winslow AZ.” We took several pictures and took several pictures for others gathered on the corner. We were there on a Thursday morning and were surprised at the number of people standing on the same corner.
Standing on the Corner
The Flat Bed Ford
World’s Smallest Church
St Joseph Church in Winslow
We also went to another museum that housed the “Big Rug”. In 1932 Julia Bha Joe and daughter Lillie Joe Hill began a journey to create “the worlds largest Navajo Rug” for Lorenzo Hubbell, Jr’s Winslow Trading Post. With a lot of help from family and friends, they spent the next five years working on the project. It took 2 years to spin the yarn and then 3 more years to weave the rug which is 21’4”x32’7” and weighs 250 pounds. If you are interested, the Big Rug has a very interesting and touching history. Winslow had more to offer than we anticipated but soon it was time to move on.
RVing With a Purpose 