As is becoming my usual practice, I decided to take the slightly-longer way home from Estrella. This year, I decided I’d take the side road up through Sedona (instead of heading straight for Flagstaff), and then see what I could find to do in the general Flagstaff area.

It was a beautiful day, and I had the window down a little bit and Loiosh on my lap. I should have known that it couldn’t last, but I’ll get to that…

I got a couple slightly better pictures of the flat, desert-ey part of Arizona, though I still didn’t really get a good cactus picture. I love the awesome tree in this one:

Here’s a view of the mountains from the same spot:

The drive through Phoenix was fine — it’s a city, yeah, but traffic was light — and then I started heading uphill. Took a side road towards Sedona which took me up through the Prescott National Forest — gorgeous! It was getting towards sunset so I didn’t stop at all, but it was simply beautiful.

…until I hit a rock going around a turn on the switchbacks coming down the mountain into Sedona, and blew my right front tire and rim.

I offer an excuse for my distraction:

…cos that’s what I was driving down into.

It was still pretty awful, though. There was no cell reception, and I would have had to unpack basically my entire car (including the roof) to get to my spare. So I grabbed keys, wallet, cell phone, and the cat, and did what any red-blooded American (or, well, most anyone in the same situation) would do: Stuck out a thumb. Shortly thereafter I arrived in the small and beautiful town of Jerome, Arizona, thanks to a kind couple visiting from Germany.

Where I found that AAA really, really thought I should have stayed with my car. Despite the whole ‘no cell reception’ thing. In any case, they told me that they could only go to my car, and couldn’t come to get me, only two miles away.

I gently explained that I knew nobody in the entire state to get a ride from, that while my car was only two miles away, it was up a windy mountain road just before sunset, and that I had no plans to attempt the walk and probably get myself killed in the process. After several repetitions of this (interspersed with ‘but can’t you just call a friend?’) I finally got the lady on the phone to agree to ask the local tow truck driver if he’d be willing to pick me up. And, after a brief delay, was assured that he was.

Fast forward two hours. It’s dark. Jerome has entirely shut down. I’m sitting on the side of the road, shivering, with my cat, who’s getting quite bored. (I didn’t even mention Loiosh to AAA, on the theory that it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission.) No truck. No truck. There’s the truck! Which drives right past.

…fifteen minutes later I get a call, explaining that the truck has found my car, but where am I?

So I go through the whole song-and-dance again, this time in a lovely three-way with the AAA rep and the dispatcher from the local towing company. Yes, I’m in Jerome. No, I can’t just get a ride to my car. No, I am NOT walking (the local dispatcher was in firm agreement on this point). The dispatcher proposes that the tow truck driver just come and pick me up, and while the AAA lady isn’t real keen on the idea, she agrees.

(I still don’t know what AAA expects one to do when one breaks down outside of cell range…)

So the tow truck guy shows up. Says not a word about Loiosh, other than ‘looks just like my Bob, only half the size’. Turns the heat in the cab way up because I’m shivering, offers me a bottle of water. We chat about Jerome, about the valley I was driving towards, about the vagaries of running a small business. Since I’ll need a place to stay the night, he takes me to a repair place that’s within half a mile of a hotel, drops off the car, and then drives me and Loiosh to the hotel.

I wish I remembered his name. I did call AAA back to put in a VERY good word.

The car was repaired (at a very reasonable price — they found me a used rim and tire, which saved me a BUNCH of money) and I was on the road again right on noon. I think I used up about ten years’ worth of good karma, but wow, could things have been worse.

Cos what’s a travellogue without a whole lot of pictures of the cat?

He slept a lot.

I mean, he slept a LOT.

He didn’t just sleep, mind you; I just don’t seem to have gotten pictures of him doing much of anything else. We went for a walk every morning, though, and most evenings as well.

The battlefield was close enough that I could easily wander that way with him before opening the booth, and empty enough in the morning that I felt okay dropping the leash and following him around. He hunted bugs, and climbed around on haybales, and ran at top speed until he was SO EXCITED his tail was poofed, and generally had a good time.

I wish I’d gotten a picture of the crows picking on him. I was probably fifty feet away and they kept swooping to within a few feet of his head — he’d make that funny chitter and go all ‘I KILLZ YOU’ and then realize how BIG they were and crouch down and holler for Momma.

…I laughed pretty hard.

He did sleep a lot, though. I love this picture of him hugging his catnip toy:

By Saturday morning he was getting pretty bored with being in the tent so much, so I found a friend who was willing to take him for a walk. About five minutes later Morgyn came back with Loiosh draped over her arm — not unusual, but this time he had a LIZARD in his mouth. He’d caught it all by himself!

He was SO smug, and of course we praised him and told him he was Mighty Hunter of the Veldt. It was around this point, of course, that we also found out that said lizard was in fact not dead in the least, at which point there was a lot of shrieking (on my part, Morgyn was very calm about the whole thing). I picked up Loiosh (who was ready for Round Two) and Morgyn took the poor traumatized gecko back outside. Near as we can tell, it was mostly okay.

I’m very proud of my boy — his first real catch, and desert lizards are fast. He was pretty proud of himself, too. :)

I will leave you with one last thought:

I got to the site at around 4PM — much better than last year! I’d hoped to get there with enough time to set up the tent before dark, and I managed it.

Setting up the booth went a lot more smoothly because of that — and thanks to a friend who wandered by just as I pulled up to my space, and proceeded to help me put up my new tent. (Thanks Dharma!) Since I’d gotten there so much earlier I was in less of a hurry than last year — always a plus! — and so after unloading everything into the tent and setting up my bed, I could take a break for the rest of the day.

I spent Monday getting everything arranged, putting product on the shelves, and doing a better job of getting up my bed. I had time for several long breaks during the day, and even took the opportunity to take Loiosh for a long walk before dark. I made this a habit for the rest of the week; it makes him happy, and lets me actually sleep at night.

I also got to put up the AWESOME banner my Laurel made for me:

…cos WOW. It’s silk, and it whips in the wind like anything. It is gorgeous. Plus behind it is my new tent!

I’d put it up once before, last summer, but I still didn’t really know what it’d be like to wedge in the rather large volume of STUFF I brought along to sell. I had a couple of ideas, but I had to rethink nearly everything I’d planned. I’m glad I had all day Monday to do so.

Have a couple pictures of the setup:

I’m pretty happy with this side — I feel the bath and body stuff is displayed well, the backdrop fabric actually hides my living space, and the garb I was selling really brightens up the white tent.

I’m less happy with this side. The books look fine, but the jewelry display leaves something to be desired and the ‘yard sale’ stuff I had behind it didn’t get any attention at all. Fortunately once the ‘yard sale’ stuff is gone there won’t be any more of it, and I’ll have a little more space back there for things like ‘the cash box’ and ‘a table to eat on’.

Lastly, Loiosh, in one of his usual spots.

…he needs his own chair.