"So different to what I" a Arizona Travel Page by hansash

I came to Arizonia on a mission. Sedona! We drove in on US 10 and came into Pheonix and stopped and I was in awe the Catcus and the earth ,the bareness, it interested me! It was Hot! And it was November,I'm used to the colder weather haveing just come from northern CA were it was a mildly cold but tolerable 57 degree and wet.
I knew it was time to head north on 89A while traveling north the landscape started to change the earth was darker in areas and layered the tall catus started to get fewer and fewer. I got out of my first ride I had caught in Pheonix on a stop in Montazuma. At US17, I believe , I started walking and hichhicking again,taking in the awesomeness and at the same time wondered how anything could live in such a unusual climate and terrain. I went into a town I don't even know the name right now it wasn't that unusual but I remember Mt. Magnus and the Del Monte Wash....A Wash is where the water comes off the Mtn. and washes out a furrow in the earth hense the name.It's kinda like a dry river bed most of the year or until it rains good. This was my first close up look!I was gonna camp in there ,but, had gotten a ride just in town by a great couple of guys and they offered to put me to work for the next day for $40.00 and a room , which turned out to be trailer that was as cozy as could be! As they gave me their phone number and we parted after haveing built a retaining wall for an elderly couple there(only a couple of hour work).I was picked up and dropped of by a friendly Native American who was on his way to work just at the pass heading into Sedona. Next I was riding in a white corvette and enjoying what I had come for! A white corvette you say...Yup! What a ride to be picked up in when hitchhicking,the Gentleman was a Doctor and suggested since time was limited (I had to be in Flagstaff in less than 24 hrs to catch a greyhound bus)that I check out Sliding Rock. Oh my what an amazing place! It was late in the season it was perfect it was everything I could ever imagine without spending a weeks or more time. Which you could throughout AZ ,easily.
I spent the day and I ate in the oak grove and rock climbed.He couldn't have suggested a finer place.
Some say the vortex in the area can make your head swim. At lunch I had meet a KIND couple and at dusk they drove me to Flagstaff where because of the elevation I believe it may have been below freezing! BRRRR! It had been in the 70's all day...I wasn't expecting that! As I pulled away in that stale bus,I fell asleep warm and dreaming of the red rock canyons and the fall colors and the crystal clear water and my new freinds! I plan on returning someday.