Day 2: Sedona to Meteor Crater

I got a late start due to being up so late the night before....so I ended up leaving Scottsdale around 2PM...the hottest part of the day. I'd been outside all of 60 seconds and I was dying...it was 104 out. I remembered at the last second that I had brought an evaporative cooling vest with me...so I dunked it in water and put it on. Wow, what a difference. I love that thing...

Anyway, I got going out of the Phoenix area and headed up the 17 North towards Flagstaff. Met a nice woman named Heidi at a gas station that suggested I meet up with her friend in Austin. The bike and my outfit get a lot of attention and are a really easy way to meet people. Usually they approach me....commonly at a gas station or when I'm stopped for a moment to eat.

I detoured towards Sedona, as I'd been there before (last year) and I knew the roads were beautiful. The couple that took the shot below said I was a "real life adventurer".



Had a great lunch in Sedona and headed north towards Flagstaff. The roads were some of the best I'd ever ridden. So beautiful.




As I proceeded east out of Flagstaff on I-40, the sun was setting behind me. That really is a nice part of I-40...I drove it so much in TN going back and forth to college and to visit family. It's neat to see a part of that same road so far away and so different.




I got into camp just as the sun had gone down...the crater would have to wait till the morning. I stayed at the Meteor Crater RV park...just a few miles down the road from the crater. RV parks are usually pretty nice but are expensive as camping goes. I paid $19 to camp in a tent. But it was on manicured soft grass and I got to take a hot shower.