Arizona - Day 1 - Getting There

My trip to Cave Creek, Arizona started on Tuesday ~ 4 September 2007 ~ the day after Labor Day.

I woke up at 5 in the morning. Maybe saying "got up" is more accurate. After all, I barely got any sleep the night before, getting up at 1 in the morning to rearrange my luggage and carry-on.

This is the day that I had been waiting for since March. All my arrangements had been made. I had a massive check-off list for my family to follow for every day that I would be gone. And I did almost all the morning tasks so that Neil and Ariana would have an easy morning the first day.

Ariana got up early to see me off. And 40 minutes after I got up, my ride had arrived to take me to the airport.

My ride, Leo, was a pleasantly chatty fellow. The easy conversation made the nearly one hour ride to T. F. Green Airport in Providence (which is actually in Warwick) fly by.

When getting my boarding pass, my suitcase weighed in 2 pounds over the 50 pound limit. However, because I was the only one in line, I was able to open my suitcase and transfer the excess weight to my carry-on.

I made it through security with just one beep through the metal detector. It was my watch.

Now I was free and clear to make it to the boarding gate for Northwestern's out-going flight to Detroit. Wow! I was actually on my way!

Because the Jetway was broken, we had to walk down the stairs, onto the tarmac, and climb the portable stairs ~ like the ones that former President Gerald Ford fell from ~ to the airplane itself.

I had an aisle seat, which was not a good thing because of all the turbulence we ran into on our way to Phoenix. I cannot read in moving vehicles, and there was sufficient movement from the turbulence to make it difficult without getting sick. And just think, the captain said that our flight actually lucked out with the turbulence.

It was a short flight to Detroit ~ perhaps one and a half hours, give or take.

However, it was long walk from the arrival gate to the departure gate. I arrived at Gate 64 and had to schlep my increasingly heavy carry-on all the way down to Gate 12. It must have been easily a mile.

There was a mono-rail tram that would have made things much easier. But it was up on another level, and I could not see an obvious way to get up there until I was nearly at my destination.

Through that whole walk I kept shifting my bags trying to find that very elusive comfortable spot for hauling heavy objects that feel more like dead bodies.

And as I walked, I kept counting down the gates.

50 more.

Nearly half way there.

30 more.

Oh good, 20 more.

Getting closer, 10 more.

Ahhh! Finally there!

It was a short wait until boarding. I got the window seat this time. Yeah!

Next to me sat a Canadian-transplant couple returning back home after bringing their son to college in eastern Canada. I talked with the wife in between reading Jon Katz's A Good Dog - The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life.

It was a long flight ~ a bit over 4 hours.

Looking out the window I got to see the landscape change from the familiar crowded cities to the vast watery expanse of Lake Michigan to large patchwork squares to brown canyons deeply gouged into the earth.

And at times, flying above the clouds revealed a cloudscape that looked as though it could have been a barren Arctic landscape.

The plane was making its descent, and I got a slight fluttery sense of anxiety about having to make my way alone in a very unfamiliar place. But that quickly evaporated in the dry Arizona heat.

Touch down came around 1:30 PM, Arizona time.

But why were there palm trees in Arizona? That's the first form of vegetation I noticed when we landed. They're certainly not a native species.

Now to claim my luggage, which took forever. I've already lost count of the number of times that grey suitcase went around. And while I was waiting, Ariana called me. She had just gotten out of work.

After getting my long-awaited suitcase, I had to make my way to the entrance of that particular terminal to catch a shuttle that would take me to the car rental place.

Once I got outside, I got my first blast of Arizona heat. It was hot, but not too bad. I did have to take off the light shirt that I wore as a jacket over my sleeveless top, however.

Good thing there was that car rental shuttle service, because the car rental place was easily 2 miles ~ maybe 3 ~ beyond the airport. Can you imagine trying to schlep your luggage all that distance, crossing major roads and thoroughfares?

I had reserved an economy car with Pay-Less. However, they were all out of sardine can cars. So, rather than up-grade me to something more decent, they had me step over a couple of windows to E-Z Rental for that little matchbox car.

Boy! Those car rental places do try to skin you by telling you of all the scary and dreadful consequences you'd be facing if you don't throw more money their way by purchasing all these add-on options.

No, I don't need extra liability insurance. I have the highest safe driver rating that one could get in my state.

No, I don't need GPS. I know how to read a map and have a good sense of navigation.

No, I don't need to pay you $35 to avoid having you charge me 6 bucks for every gallon below a full tank of gas when I return the car. I'm going to have to stop at a gas station anyway.

Next came having to find my way to Cave Creek and the Spur Cross Bed and Breakfast where I was going to be staying.

It's unfortunate that I did not think to read the directions that were on the B & B's website. They were a lot easier than the ones from the car rental place. And I probably would have not come close to having to eat my words about my safe driver rating in a couple of unexpectedly jammed up spots on the freeway.

Being very unfamiliar with the roads, there were a couple of times when I found myself in a wrong lane. That's where the Massachusetts bad driver bag of tricks came in useful.

But once I got out of Phoenix proper, the driving was getting easier, and prettier while cruising the Desert Foothills Scenic Highway. It was pretty much straight all the way with one left hand turn and then one right hand turn. The only tricky part was finding the B & B because residential zoning does not allow for signs on the street.

In fact, I drove right by the Spur Cross the first time. For some reason, I though the numbers were going in the opposite order. And there's a lot of numbers to keep track of, because it seems that everyone has a 5-digit street number.

So, when I came to the end of the road, I knew that I had to turn around and check the numbers more carefully.

Finally I found it ~ in the dip in the road just past the sign that warned against going down the road in the rain.

I parked that crappy Ford Focus with the rear spoiler that spoiled my visibility and the oddly placed headlight switch that nearly got me into 2 rear-end collisions as I tried to figure out how it worked. There were no other cars in the lot.

Walking up to the office there was no one there except for that little doggie in the window.

I called the number of the B & B and could hear the phone ringing inside.

Then I called the cell number listed on the web site. That number now belonged to someone else. Fortunately the fellow on the other end of the line was kind and patient. And it was obvious that he received many calls like this before.

According to Mr. Kind & Friendly, the B & B had changed hands a few months earlier. And he assured me that the new owner must have just stepped out for a moment and will be back soon.

So, seeking what little shade I could find, I called Roma to kill some time. At this point, I was hungry, thirsty, and dealing with an empty stomach. While it may have been 3:30 Arizona time, my body was still registering 7:30 east coast time.

Finally, after waiting for 30 to 45 minutes Carolyn, the owner, had arrived. Apparently she had left my room unlocked. Duh!

Carolyn first got me a bottle of cold water and then showed me to my room ~ all while introducing me to her cocker-poo Saffron, Saffy for short.

And because I was starting to feel really nauseous from hunger, thirst, and the rigors of 6 hours plus of flying, she was kind enough to bring my bags out of the car. I was especially concerned about my carry-on which contained my new camera and lap top.

Not only that, she got me a plate of cheese, crackers, veggies, and grapes because I was way too out of it to go look for a place to eat.

Here I was in Arizona. I was torn between wanting to explore right away and decompressing from all that traveling. When you think about it, I had been up since 2 o'clock in the morning Arizona time. It's been a long day for me.

Thus, the demands of my body won out.

The rest of the day was for settling in, munching on Carolyn's plate of snacks, and reading the various menus and activities in the visitor's guide in my room.

My adventure will have to start tomorrow.