Nov 5: Happy Vanniversary!

Exactly one month after our departure date, we had completed all of our commitments and were starting to feel the true freedom of vanlife, when we woke up in western New Mexico to the scenery that we had both been yearning for. In the distance we could see the rolling start of mountains, framed in big white fluffy clouds and a brilliant blue sky. Ignoring the fact that we were in a parking lot in front of a plain white building labeled "Wal-Mart", I jumped out of the van and started snapping photos.

View outside a Wal-Mart in Grant, NM.

Eager to see more of the incredible landscape up close, we quickly got back on the road. After just a couple hours of driving, we were so amazed by all of the colorful rock formations that we both excitedly pointed out a billboard leading us to a hiking trail at Red Rock Park. We parked right next to the Church Rock trail in the deserted lot and investigated the information signs before trotting off down the trail.

The view of Church Rock at the beginning of the hiking trail.

As we hiked, we took in all of the details of the landscape: the terrain, the plants, the soil, the colors, the textures, the shadows, the sounds, the wind, the sun. (We had spent way too much time inside cars and buildings over the last two weeks.) It was an amazing first taste of the American Southwest, with an incredibly blue partly-sunny sky, some technical hiking up steep rock slabs and over small boulders, tiny cacti, coyote scat, and lots of footprints. After a rejuvenating trek with lots of stops for photos, we dawdled back to the van and continued on, excited for our next stop.

Teeny cactus!

Someone had carved steps into the steep, smooth rock sections to aid hikers in getting to the top.

Mike pausing to show off how steep the trail is!

We cautiously followed the trail along the edge of a few fragile sandstone cliffs.

The only signs of wildlife we saw were a handful of footprints scattered across the trail.

As we continued our drive through eastern Arizona, the landscape flattened out and became covered with brown grasses and dark green scrub brush. An imposing mountain erupted up out of the flat prairie as we neared Flagstaff, where we turned south and followed highway 89A toward Sedona. As we dropped elevation into Oak Creek Canyon, the terrain changed dramatically. We were now surrounded by incredibly tall pine trees and the canyon walls started forming and closed in, growing taller and more jagged as we continued down.

After a few weeks in prairies and high desert, it was exciting to see tall pine forests again!

All of a sudden our slow easy decline ceased and the land dropped off steeply as the road snaked it's way down the side of a cliff. The countless switchbacks were challenging in our big lumbery van, and I was very happy we had clear weather on our side as we white knuckled our way through hairpin turn after hairpin turn.

The reveal was totally worth the terrifying drive. Finally, the road straightened out again and the pine trees dispersed, revealing a breathtakingly beautiful array of red and orange softly rounded rock formations lazily towering out of the ground above a green blanket of scrub brush.

This is the only photo I snapped - pictures cannot do this place justice, so instead we put down the phones and just enjoyed the view!

We drove through the red rocks to the south end of town where we met up with friends to hit the trails. Sedona immediately topped my list of favorite places to ride - the trails were challenging, interesting, and rewarding, the weather was perfect, and anywhere you stop you are surrounded by magnificent vistas.

Breathtaking view from Chicken Point.

After an amazing afternoon of riding, we ended the day with good food and great conversation around a campfire at our first official boondocking site! This was a perfect way to celebrate our first month of traveling full-time.

...next stop: Sedona!