Day 23 - The Great Schnebly Hill Road Caper

The Great Caper gets off to a ripping start, much to the disapproval of the dog next door.

Of course, we must head into Flagstaff to steel ourselves for the rigours ahead. We are tempted to bail on the promise of sensible rates, but the rest of this business looks less sensible.

Once again the modern missionary chooses SUV - white.

We continue our study,"Behavioural frequency of proper shopping cart return". Some of you may remember the chronicle of the "Benders" a couple Spring Road Trips back. Let's see how the Flagstaffers do. So far, so good - carts in slots - what more can you ask?

Perfectly aligned cartss - not one astray anywhere in view.

In Flagstaff the carts really do "go back".

We temporarily interupt our study on cart behaviour. For the second day in a row we note the careful practise rituals involving the mechanical giraffe. Those tourists are a troublesome lot.

OK - Benders: zero - Flagstaffers: a landslide win!. You NEVER see this behaviour in Bend.

And then some choose to just bag it - and skip the cart all together. Meantime the cart on the left was carefully unloaded and returned to a rightful cart slot.

And then onto the adventure! The World-Infamous Schenbly Hill Road looks innocent enough at the top. The sane, Interstate way back to Sedona is about 40 miles. This way, 16 miles. Straight off a cliff.

The road placidly winds through the Ponderosa forest, past the impressive Foxboro Lake Hydro-Electric Project.

The remains of Foxboro Lake. The cows drank the rest. They don't need electricity nohow.

As we reach the edge of the escarpment, the warning signs start. They say nothing of the impending lumpiness.

The red rocks of Sedona appear over the horizon.

This is the World-Famous Last Tree Standing.

With a snort, Schnebly Hill starts throwing road at us. We haven't seen a Prius for hours.

Waaay down in the valley below is Sedona. You can just see the nice, paved Oak Canyon Road we drove to get out this morning at the right edge of this picture. The work at hand, however, is that dusty trail on the left.

Uh yeah, we knew it would be squirmly.

Between banging my head on the roof as we bounce off rocks, there is a view to behold.

Occasionally, there is a place to pull over and drink it in.

We just figured out how to get around this quicksand pit, when a jeep full of tourists piled right in. "Floop!", suggested the quicksand in appreciation.

That is the World-Famous Vortex Thunderdome in the distance, also a fully-authenticated UFO landing site and a place of mysterious psychic energy. This has all been soberly documented and notarized on Facebook, by Knowledgeable Sources.

Finally, Sedona appears. 16 miles, 3 hours.

The last sprint to the pavement is mercifully kind to our backsides.

If all that wasn't challenging enough - now we have the Sedona traffic circles to contend with. You could wait here for hours to get a break in the flow.

Of course, waiting for us back at the ranch is our insanely huge plunder of cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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