Relaxing our way through days 9, 10, and 11

Sorry there's not much to report. We've just been hanging out with relatives -- eating, drinking, and planning the next leg of our trip. Tomorrow we're going to be back on the road, headed more or less east. As always we'll be trying to stay off the interstate highways and exploring the lesser-traveled byways. Right now we're in Care Free, Arizona, and tomorrow we intend to head for the Petrified Forest area on Route 40 (old Route 66) around Holbrook, Arizona. Mapquest wanted us to head back up Route 17 toward Route 40, then going east on 40. But we'll be going a more direct route from Carefree, though we have to dip down a bit toward Scottsdale before we head northeast along routes 60 and 77.

Last night Concetta's nephew, Marc, and wife, Nancy, surprised us with an absolutely wonderful dinner near here at a place called the "Spotted Donkey." Don't let the name fool you, the food was crazy good. I had a dish called Pescado Veracruz, which was fish and Spanish rice. Others in the party had the fish tacos. One member, evidently not into Mexican food, had the meatloaf and potatoes. But before you say WHAT? let me tell you that it was done Mexican style with peppers and such and he said it was marvelous. If you find yourself in the Scottsdale area, look up the Spotted Donkey, you won't be disappointed.

After dinner nephew Marc and Nancy then had a further surprise for us -- a real life, bull riding, rodeo. Now I hadn't been to a rodeo since Moses was a pup. Concetta had never been. So, we didn't know what to expect. Long story short, we had a great time. There were so many cowboys strutting around with their sweat-stained cowboy hats and big-buckled levis I would have sworn that Nevada must be missing most of their supply. I don't think I'd ever seen bull riding and let me just say that you couldn't pay me enough money to stand next to one of those critters let alone put my butt on top of one. The best guy lasted a total of 11 seconds or so. The least experienced (or lucky) guy got knocked off as the bull cleared the chute.

Then the fun stuff started. They gathered up a dozen kids three to four years old and put them atop sheep. You would have died laughing.

Only one kid stayed on longer than a second or two, and this boy hung on so tight that he slowly revolved from on top to underneath the sheep as the critter ran around the ring. The rodeo clowns finally had to pry him off when the sheep quit running as he didn't want to let go. Naturally he got the prize for the evening.

Sorry that there's no photos. When we left Marc and Nancy's house I didn't realize that we were going to be running into any photo ops that evening.

So, see you tomorrow. We'll be staying (if everything goes right) in the KOA in Holbrook so we should have WiFi. Right now we have to get ready for the next meal which is scheduled to be a gigantic barbecue event for more than 25 people from around the neighborhood. They're having cheese cake for desert so I don't want to miss it.

Ciao for now.