Today we drove up to Prescott, Arizona to visit with Rod and Jan Wills, friends we knew from Jacksonville who now live in Prescott.  I also got to meet Rod's lovely 94-year-old mother.

Rod and Jan graciously showed us around the Prescott area.  There is an old central downtown area that looks like something from the early 20th or late 19th century, but is very busy today with modern traffic and shopping.  On the more distant outskirts are new retailers like Home Depot, Target, Costco, etc that reflect an extended growth outward.  It is a place of changing elevations, where you can drive along one street and the next street over is so far overhead that you cannot see what is up there.  Or it could be so low that you are looking down on top of them.  Many of the views from these various parts of town provide stunning perspectives.  It seems like a working town rather than a celebrity or artsy town such as Sedona.  There was little if any conspicuous consumption or flashiness.

The topography of the land makes it more of an effort to go places here.  Large trucks strain either to climb up the incline or struggle with the dramatic decline, flashing their warning lights as they go down.  On a two lane road, things really get bogged down.   It was very noticeable as we drove back to Cottonwood.

Tomorrow we shall leave for Pahrump, Nevada where the RV tour will begin on the 28th.  This ends phase one of our trip.  Phase two will be the RV tour.  Phase three will follow the RV tour, leading us north for the first time through Idaho and Montana, then continuing east through North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan as we start heading south and travel through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, then home to St Augustine, Florida on November 1st.

Thanks again to all of you who follow us on this blog and email us now and then.