Road Trip - The Last Leg...

When we left Holbrook this morning

we opted to take a different route home, and avoid Phoenix.

This route took us thru a couple of communities

that we had not visited before.

Hwy 77 South was literally straight as an arrow till we
arrived at Show Low/Pinetop-Lakeside AZ

Snowflake, was founded in 1878 by Erastus Snow

and William Jordan Flake, Mormon pioneers and colonizers. It

 has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.  

Pop 5564, elevation 5682’

A Side Note...

Snowflake, Arizona gets 11 inches of rain, on average, per year. 

The US average is 38 inches of rain per year. 

Snowflake averages 13 inches of snow per year. 

The US average is 28 inches of snow per year.  

Today it had a low of 60 and a high of 89… 

while Gold Canyon at elevation 1762’ 

had a low of 78 and a high of 106.  That's

why so many people from the Phoenix Valley

area "summer" in the White Mountains where

we were today.

While in Snowflake I took this photo of 

Andrew Rogers 1878 cabin which looked very 

inviting, don’t you think?

And boy did I get my pine tree fix for most of
this trip.

After touring neighboring communities of 

Show Low and Pinetop - Lakeside AZ

 we took Hwy 60 towards Gold Canyon…

The road went up for 800' - 1000' and then down,
(for another like amount), then up and down again, all
the while

it was zigging and zagging left and right as shown
on the navigation system map.  

FINALLY we ended up at the Salt River Rest Area

where this beautiful bridge crossed the river and then headed
up the other side, following similar elevation gains
and zigging & zagging!!!

AHHH, a normal looking road as we headed west towards
Superior, where

we had a fabulous Burrito before heading the
last 25 miles to

Home Sweet Home.

The Rest of the Story…

We were on the road for  nine days for a total

 of 1587.4 miles with an average mpg of 31.5 in our

 3 month old Honda CR-V “Touring” model.  

It was rated 33 mpg highway and our best was 34.1

and as you can tell these were not "highway miles" 

most of the time.

Weather was good to us, some wind & partly cloudy skies…

 (always welcome) and about 127 raindrops.

We learned more than we can ever remember, 

that’s why I took so many photos/videos. 

Next on the agenda hours and hours of editing all

 that video footage…  about 870 clips averaging 10-14 seconds 

per clip which means I have about 3 /12 hours of video 

to look at, select the part of the clip (usually 3-5 seconds) that

 I want, add titles, effects, music, etc., and review the

 whole edited mess  3 or 4 times before I’m happy.

  I estimate a finished video about 50-60 minutes long.

As you can see, a lot hits the cutting room floor!!!  

Now you know how I’ll be spending the 

rest of these hot summer days…
We hope you enjoyed the ride, and yes Don did
all of the driving.