On Wednesday we left the Grand Canyon to head toward Flagstaff where we would be attending the Overland Expo that weekend. We stopped along the way at the Lava River Cave in Coconino National Forest. This cave is actually a lava tube that formed from a lava flow about 700,000 years ago. It is almost a mile long and one of the longer ones of it’s kind. It didn’t have the typically stalactite and stalagmite cave formations obviously, but still a neat little snippet of geological interest to visit. Perhaps I have an overactive imagination, but I feel like you can’t help but feel a bit like an intrepid explorer when you enter any cave. Other people have been there before, but you are discovering all the new dark corners for yourself. The quiet and coolness inside is at once unnerving and invigorating. That night we pushed on to Flagstaff proper and camped on a teeny tiny bit of forest road that was a few miles from Fort Tuthill County Park, where the Overland Expo was being held and we would be camping starting the following day. There were a few other overland rigs already set up there.
The next day before we checked into the Expo we explored Flagstaff a bit including going to the Riordan Mansion. The mansion is actually 2 homes joined together by a sort of reception room that was built for 2 brothers in the early 1900s. The brothers were very prominent Flagstaff citizens early on. It’s a very craftsman sort of mansion, which is just the type of structure Zack Attack and I most admire. It was also designed by an architect whose credits also include the El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon – another of the Canyon’s grand, old structures that we took a peak at while we were there. The mansion had a library to be envied with some lovely old books. I spied some Dickens works along the shelves. We checked into our campsite at the Overland Expo later that day amongst a throng of other folks. The just sort of cram as many people as they can into the park, but we managed to eke out just enough space between the other campers and the trees to put out our awning.
The next couple days were spent visiting vendors at the Expo and talking about fixes and tweaks we needed to make to the Grolar Bear, specifically the frame, as the camper was much heavier than we had originally anticipated it being and after a short period of use, the frame had torn. We looked at other rigs and talked to lots of folks. We also got a peek inside the Flagstaff Model Railroad Club’s building which happens to be right in the middle of Fort Tuthill County Park. One night we went into town and saw a fun little band called the Shaky Hand String Band at the Flagstaff Brewing Company. After the Expo we headed back to San Diego to work on a rental property, travels to be resumed in July after a stint in San Diego and also getting some work done to the camper frame in Arizona. I’ll catch on those travels soon which include Colorado and Montana adventures.
