NuNomad Blog

In Part One of my recent nomadic narrative, I left off that I was on my way to the great State of Arizona (“The Speed-Trap State”) as soon as I cleared my calendar of client visits: clients that I generally see only once a year during my annual return. (Clients whom travel vicariously through me since they are too absorbed in their location-bound careers of making the world a better place for city folks to live in.) Anyway, about a month or so after my more pressing professional obligations were taken care of, I was now free to nomad around some very interesting Southwestern locations.

My first destination was Prescott (pronounced “Press-kit” by those who don’t know why exactly), Arizona. Prescott is the home of Prescott National Forest, several amazing bike trails, Whiskey Row (where Wyatt Earp had caroused in), migrating Sun Birds (retirees from the northern states and Canada), as well as the hamlet for a lot of laidback college students whom refuse to ever leave home. And though one might find Prescott a bit on the touristy side at times (the Fourth of July weekend is but one Yankee-Doodle example), it’s not a bad place to call “home base” for awhile—which was my reason for going there.

It was a long-time friend of mine, Micki (a children’s book writer/editor and local playwright), who had offered me a most excellent living and working environment (cozy bedroom, adjoining bathroom, quiet office with a view, Internet) for what amounted to as a token amount of rent money. Of course, I accepted her offer and hospitality. Although my client visits were pretty much behind me, I still had a couple of writing projects to complete and a new website to create. Having a Zen-like, comfortable, and Nomad-friendly place to work in is always welcomed. But, as soon as my day’s work could be called done, I immediately went on bike rides through the abundant nature there, made meals from what was harvested from her garden, or congregated at The Raven Tavern—bboasting more than 400 hard-to-find beers, and free WiFi (for when I wished to work within a different vibe). Oh, and sometimes I’d actually research possible road trip options.  Micki, being an Arizona native and traveler, of course knew all of the “must see” places—as well as those little finds that only a local would know about. However, with my friend arriving soon (the French one coming in from Thailand), I thought I would delay any real research until she was there with me to share in the planning. (In other words, I was having too much fun to be distracted with research—and I knew I could hand-off that task to her soon.)

Sometime in September, I returned to California to pick up my charge, Dao, from the LAX arrival terminal. After the perfunctory visits to the local sights—a visit to Huntington Beach (“Surf City”), Hollywood and Santa Monica—as well as to a couple of garden parties, I returned to Prescott, Arizona, with my slightly jet-lagged world-traveling visitor. It would be from this northern Arizona location that we would soon begin our long awaited and talked about road trip.
The (official) first day of our road trip took us to Flagstaff , Arizona first. Flagstaff (or as the locals call, “Flag”) is a quaint mountainous town in northern Arizona, now known as an interesting place to visit on weekends rather than the lumber and railroad hub it was founded on.  It was a nice to place to visit and hike in. It was, however, the well preserved Anasazi and Sinagua Indian ruins of Wupatki National Monument (3o miles north of Flagstaff) that was the first place to really impress us. It was Dao’s first glimpse of an Indian pueblo—setting the scene for what was to come in the coming days.

(End of Part 2. More on this story to come. Images of the Road Trip.)