Hello Everyone! What a difference a week makes, especially when there are planes involved. I’m writing to you this week from sunny San Francisco, where I’ve been since Sunday as I begin my new guiding job with Incredible Adventures. It’s definitely been a transition, but a good one and one I’m excited about, especially as temperatures climb and the days get longer. Summer’s creeping in and I’m thrilled to be back in the saddle and showing international tourists around our beautiful country. It’s a job that suits me and one that, while stressful and intense, is something I truly enjoy doing. While I’m starting with a new company, my manager from my old company is my manager here and many other guides have come over as well which means there are a lot of familiar faces around. It’s been wonderful to be back in a big city as well and to not have to worry about parking and sleeping and the stresses of van life for a few days. My company has put me up in a nice hotel here for the last few days and that alone has been a sort of vacation for me. On another note, I found it amusing that while filling out my paperwork I have been writing the year as 2021 and felt surprised yesterday to look down and remember it is actually 2022. I guess my mind has been focused on other things since the New Year. All in all, it’s been a great week and while this will be a short recap this week, I want to keep my newsletter coming out as regularly as possible through the coming work season. It will be difficult at times because this job is pretty full on and runs seven days a week, but I will do my best.
When I wrote this post last week, I was in tiny Camp Verde and had a very quiet night when I wrapped it up. Thursday morning I was up early and off to Prescott which was less than an hour away. I had a lot of things I needed to get done when I got there – unexciting things like laundry and a tire rotation, but things which were quite necessary. I did manage to spend a few hours in the Sharlot Hall Museum, a central museum complex named for the lady who founded it. It was a fascinating place which included several original town buildings and a few purpose-built exhibit halls. It was a good day to be there as there were several school groups at the museum on field trips so there were interpretive volunteers stationed in several of the historic buildings around the museum. In the evening, I went for a nice prime rib dinner to celebrate a successful winter and spring on the road and to look ahead to a great summer back at work. Then I headed downtown to Whiskey Row, once a notorious Old West entertainment district and now just a fun stretch of bars and restaurants. Prescott seemed to have a nice mix of students, hippies and cowboys and there were plenty of people out enjoying themselves on a Thursday evening. I especially enjoyed the open-mic night at the Birdcage and the history of The Palace, Arizona’s oldest standing saloon which once served the likes of Doc Hollywood and the Earp brothers.
I spent Friday morning packing for my flight and cleaning my van – both of which were easier in the cool Prescott morning at 5000’ than they would be in lower and warmer elevations. Around noon I headed over to visit a very old friend of mine who was finishing up his work week at a popular bronze sculpture workshop there in town. I met Jefferson back in 1992 between my junior and senior years in high school when I worked at a summer camp in Virginia. He was in his twenties at that point and had been working at the camp for several summers and was one of the camp rangers. It was my first summer there (of two) and I helped run a high ropes course that summer. It was quite a formative experience in my life and I still remember how much I enjoyed working there and looking up to Jefferson (who we knew as “Slim” back then). He admitted when I saw him that he didn’t really remember me, but when I showed him a picture of me at 16 he remembered that guy and we could certainly reminisce about mutual acquaintances from camp. He showed me around the shop and explained the process of creating the bronze sculptures they were working on. The artists create the molds, but when they are cast they are far from a finished product. Jefferson’s shop assembles the different pieces, touches them up, grinds and polishes them and then adds color and texture using chemicals, fire and specialized tools. It was quite a fascinating process and one I had no idea was so complicated. The finished products they were turning out were magnificent and their shop is apparently in very high demand which is always a good thing.
Jefferson knocked off for the week and we headed over to Bill’s Pizza on the main courthouse square for a delicious pie and a long conversation. When we finished our lunch, he invited me out for a hike and we headed up to the beautiful granite mountains outside of town where we embarked on a pleasant 3 mile loop through the woods. Jefferson knew a lot about the plants and trees and insects and I appreciated learning from him as we went as we continued to catch up on the thirty years since we last met. After the sun went down, he invited me to spend the night at his place and have dinner with him and his partner, Colette. They had a lovely home and we sat up chatting about all kinds of things into the night.