Grand Canyon Trip

This is a three-day trip to the Grand Canyon going via scenic route

Day 1
Phoenix
US 60 to Wickenburg
North of Wickenburg turn right on AZ-89 [North] to Prescott.
(This whole area was originally mining communities. Was it coal mining? No, but copper, gold, and silver.) You’ll go through Congress (old mining) and Yarnell (old mining). As you drive up the ridge to Yarnell, you notice below the old mining towns of Octave and Stanton.

In the community of Peeples Valley you will pass a huge horse farm on the east side (right)
From Kirkland Junction to Prescott you will climb over the Bradshaw Mountains.
(Now, if I was driving and having done it many times, from Kirkland Junction, I’d go to Kirkland then onto Skull Valley.) Mainly, it is ranch country.

You come to Prescott. Do you know where the first capital of Arizona was? That’s right, Prescott. If you have the time, you can visit Whiskey Row and/or Sharlot Hall Museum.

From Prescott, you continue on AZ-89 North.

Just past the junction with AZ-69 (back to I-17), you will pass the Veteran Administration Hospital. Back in the Indian War days it was the headquarters of the Army in Arizona, known as Whipple Barracks.

Past the Phippen Museum and near the airport, you will come to AZ-89A (North). Go right and head towards Sedona.

You will go up over the mountain range. There are some lookouts. Looking north to Flagstaff and the San Francisco Peaks.

Jerome. Do you know who the town was named after? Would you believe Winston Churchill’s grandfather? Winston’s mom was an American.

From Jerome you drop down into Clarkdale and Cottonwood. If you stop enough times and spend time sightseeing or shopping, you might want to stay in Cottonwood. There should be a number of inexpensive motels and plenty of eating places in Cottonwood.
From Cottonwwood, you continue on AZ-89A North to Sedona. There might be some shopping places on the south side of Sedona, however, the big time area is on the north side of town. You could basically drive to Sedona and spend most of you time here.
You might want to stay in Flagstaff that night..

From Sedona, you will continue on AZ-89A (North) to Flagstaff. It’s only about an hour drive. If you really want to have fun, deep in Oak Creek along the route is Don Houle’s Cabins. I don’t know the cost but she may really be impressed.

Anyway, if you stay in Flagstaff, don’t stay along old US 66. I think near NAU is the best. Do you like to hear train whistle’s night and day. If you don’t care, you can stay anywhere.

Day 2
Flagstaff to Grand Canyon and back to Flagstaff.
From Flagstaff go to the canyon on US 180 (North). You will go by the entrance to the Snow Bowl.

Continue on US-180 to the junction with AZ-64 North. Take AZ-64 North to the Grand Canyon. It should be an 1-1/2 to 2 hour drive. (Depends on sightseeing.) At the canyon, go to the left and go to the main area. Who designed most of the older buildings at the Grand Canyon?

To return to Flagstaff , head eastward on AZ-64. Don’t return the way you came. You want to go to the Grand Canyon’s East Entrance. You have a number of lookouts on the route. However, the Desert View is an area I like. The tower is beautiful and worth the route.

Continue on AZ-64 East to Cameron on the Navajo Reservation. The route goes through he Little Colorado Gorge.

At Cameron and the intersection with US 89. Turn south toward Flagstaff.
About half way to Flagstaff, you will come to several national monuments. They included Wupatki, Painted Desert Vista, and Sunset Crater Volcano.
Return to the place you were staying.

Day 3
Return to Phoenix.
Come back I-17.
The lookout near Mountainaire may be worth the stop. It looks out over the vista toward the Red Rock Country near Sedona to the west.

You come to the Montezume Castle National Monument. Guess how old the cliff dwellings are?

Nearby is Camp Verde. I’d drive to the Fort Verde Historical State Park. You don’t have to visit. Just turn around in the parking lot. It was an old military post during the Indian Wars. Who hasn’t watched cowboy movies when the Indians attacked the post? From the walls around the post, they defended the post. Wait, in real life what is missing at the fort?

History, the Truth

How important is it that we know history and geography. This weekend I heard a scary statistic that only 23% of college graduates know where Iraq, Israel, and Iran are on a map.

I thought of the FedEx commercial where a guy was asked to stick a pin on China. He doesn’t know where China is. Yes, I think it is a funny commercial because I guess I knew the 23% is probably true. Just think of the four people in the commercial, really only one knew where China was on the map.

The goal of this Blog is to put history and geography back in our lives. History is about the truth. Or, that should be our goal. We hear the argument that the American Civil War was really a War Between the States. We hear the argument, it was a war never about slavery. Even today, I had a friend tell me that the Civil War was about “states rights.”

Again, history is not right or left. It is about the truth.

We read about Custer and the Little Big Horn. What is the truth? Where Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse these American Indian military geniuses? Was Custer trapped into battle?
Did you know that in the Army movement against the Sioux and the other tribes organizing, that Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse fought another Army general at Rosebud. They did not wipe out his command. But, General Crook had to reorganize his command. The two fights were only about 30 miles apart and a week apart. Both men came up upon a new situation in the American Indian fight. They were not used to fighting large forces in the American Indian wars. After the Little Bighorn, the American Indian tribes separated and went back to small unit fighting. Even though they had two major military victories, fighting in large units.

Going through school and studying American History, I knew about Custer. Moving to Arizona and reading about Crook in Arizona History and his biography did I learn about Rosebud. Why was Crook and the Rosebud not taught with Custer?

Chuck Yeager

For my work, I spent time staying at the hotel across from the Burbank airport. There you were on the grounds of Lockheed and the birthplace of one of my favorite World War II aircraft, the P-38. In fact, the crew at the hotel wore P-38 pins (that I would have loved to have).

I was there when famous pilot Chuck Yeager was trying to attempt an aircraft speed record. That Friday night I was having dinner in the hotel’s dinning room. Who was sitting across the room? Yes, there was the famous Chuck Yeager and his flight crew. My wife was with me and like Chuck Yeager is from West Virginia.

A little later, we were taking the elevator to my room. No, Chuck was not going up with us. However, his co-pilot was. We had a little conversation with the co-pilot. When we got off at our floor and the door shut, I shook my head. The co-pilot knew we had a West Virginia connection and I love airplanes. I could have easily given my name and room number to the co-pilot. I was to shy to have asked to meet Chuck Yeager.

As I write this, overlooking my desk is a model of Chuck Yeager’s World War II P-51 Mustang.

Dad in WWII

During World War II, my dad served in the US Army Air Force. I know he was stationed at the air depot between Manchester and Liverpool, England. One of first stories is when he went on active duty.

Dad began college in 1939. About two and a half years in school, he left to attend Roosevelt Aviation School on Long Island to become a certified aircraft mechanic. At the time, his sister Mary was a secretary for an air force colonel in Harrisburg, PA. She told him about her brother, the new aircraft mechanic was waiting to be called up in the draft. Dad had returned back home to Williamsburg, PA and put his name to be drafted.

Aunt Mary tells one morning her boss comes in and asks her if the draft board called up her brother. She told him no. He said, call him and tell him to get down here. They were setting up aircraft mechanics for duty in England and they needed certified mechanics.

Next thing dad knew, he was on his way to Kelly Field in San Antonio for basic training.

Uncle Bob WWII Vet

My Uncle Bob was a World War II combat veteran. He was born in Houtzdale, PA on Apr. 13, 1926. He graduated from Williamsburg (PA) High School in 1944. He a few short weeks after graduation he was in combat in Southern Europe with the U.S. Army.

For 40 years, he was the manager of the Millersburg, PA’s Greenberg’s Clothing Store on Main Street.

He was active in the local VFW and American Legion. In fact, he was a member and commander of the VFW Post #5507. He was also the past Dauphin county VFW council Commander.

I can remember mom telling the story of him diving for cover hearing a car backfire. I recall him telling about taking some captured German soldiers back to headquarters and him being nervous. However, for the most part his story was not history. Maybe it was taking history in school, high school, and college, we forget that combat soldiers like Uncle Bob were the true story of history.

I loved my uncle very much and I know he’s reading this up there. I’d like to tell the US War History through the eyes of Uncle Bob, my dad and other uncles. Here is a link to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and help support our Vets.

History Lessons from Granddad

My love of history began on the front porch of Grandma and Granddads home in a small town in Western Pennsylvania called Williamsburg. When we came to visit while growing up, I was Granddad’s shadow. One thing he did (you can tell it was many years ago), he smoked his pipe while sitting on the front porch.

While he rocked in the rocking chair, he smoked his pipe. I sat there talking with him. I don’t know when we started talking history. I’m sure up until 8 or 9, it was about Westerns. I’m sure we talked about dad’s service in World War II in England with the US Army Air Force and my uncle Calvin in the Navy over in the South Pacific. My aunt Francis’ husband also served in the Navy in the Pacific.

What was memorable, we talked about the Civil War. Over the next ten years, our history talks were important. He taught school one year after attending college. The big plant (ok, the only plant) in Williamsburg was the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company’s paper mill and he worked there all his adult life until his retirement in 1948. With a wife and growing family, the money from the paper mill was probably greater than as a schoolteacher.

Granddad and I also loved to play checkers. Funny, I could beat granddad. Then one time, dad had to butt in. He loved beating me. Then granddad told dad, they’d play. I can remember amazed that I could beat granddad. Dad could beat me. Granddad could beat dad. For granddad and me, winning at checkers was not the issue. For granddad, it was teaching me to play the game. For me, it was learning from granddad.