If any of you have ever driven from the Grand Canyon to Sedona, you will understand how difficult the drive is to do in a rv. I had lines of cars following me because it is a twisting, turning, slow, difficult drive where you have a 7% grade and drop 2000 feet in a couple of miles. I was scared to go over 15-20 mph because I didn’t want to be responsible for driving us off a cliff. Occasionally I would pull over and let the train of cars pass me (I know if I was driving a normal car, I would be none to happy to be stuck behind a slow rv). Although at one point, I had a car continuously ride up on my tail and start honking; let’s just say I didn’t pull over for them. In fact I went even slower and Chris took care of the rest (imagination at work).

So once again a 2 hour drive turned into a 3 or so hour drive. The only problem with that was we HAD to check in at the rv park before dark. Unfortunately, we didn’t know if dark meant sunset, headlights on, or pure blackness. Well anyways we made it and got the pleasure of following a fire truck down into Lo Lo Mai rv resort.

Don’t worry; there wasn’t a fire, just a rattlesnake that they wanted to get rid of. So we checked in and decided to order some yummy pizza because we were too tired to cook and too hungry to go without eating. While waiting for our food we saw lots of wildlife. The rv resort has a huge pond with geese and ducks (missing our own little Koozie Duck), raccoons, dogs, cats, skunks, snakes etc. (the owners liked feeding wild animals). It was actually pretty cool. There was a creek nearby and lots of trees (shade is always appreciated. It was 32 dollars a night but the park was very secluded, clean, friendly, and had good bathrooms and laundry area.

We were soooo tired but we still had to set up camp. Our neighbors were impressed that we still even hung our cool outdoor lights even though we just hiked up the Grand Canyon. The only downside to Lo Lo Mai was that we had NO cell phone service. No calls in or out and no internet. That wasn’t too bad for us because it was the weekend so Chris didn’t need to answer calls and we were too tired to talk to anyone. We could still send and receive text messages so we weren’t completely disconnected. Chris tried to put a movie in but we basically just fell asleep.

Ah, a bright new day and OW we are SORE. Man you think you are tired after the hike but try walking the next day. Sedona is known for their amazing red rocks and the Jeep Tours that you go off-roading on. Instead of paying $150-200 to have someone else ride us around in a Jeep (Chris’s Jeep is sitting at his parent’s house in Spartanburg) we decide to take the dirtbike out

We change into grungy clothes, fill up our camel backs (small backpacks that hold 2 liters of water each) and head off to the trails. At first, the trails aren’t how I remembered them. I had been there with my family some years ago and I remembered it being more extreme (trust me we hit those just a little later on). We stopped first at some old ruins that we had to hike out to. They were really cool and built under this cliff. After seeing those, we asked the woman at the beginning of the trail where the best places to go were. She sent us off on 60 miles of fun riding (although I am sure Chris wished at some points that I wasn’t on the back, it’s much easier to ride with only one person.)

We finished riding and we were hot, thirsty and dirty so we decided to go into Sedona and check out the downtown area. (Lo Lo Mai is about 8 miles south of actual Sedona) We got smoothies and checked out some of the tourist shopping; most of it was out of our price range. Instead of eating there, we drove back to West Sedona where we saw a nice Mexican restaurant that had happy hour specials from 4-6.

We go it and sit at the bar because we were still dirty from riding. We get $4.00 big margaritas, chips and salsa, and calamari. The drinks and food were delicious but the best part of our night came a little later on. A couple came in and sat down next to us at the bar. We ended up small talking about the food and drinks and then Chris and I find out that they have been living in Sedona for 7 years. We ask them what else we should see or do before they leave in the morning and they proceed to tell us about this amazing, secluded place to see the sunset.

After getting detailed directions, we start to tell them about our trip and explaining how Chris runs his own business from the road and was South Carolina’s entrepreneur of the year this past spring. Well that must have set of a light bulb in Terry’s head, (the couples names are Terry and Jeanette). He is a venture capitalist, and he and Chris started talking business and cars. We continue talking, finishing our drinks and they remind us that we have to get going if we are going to catch the sunset. We go to leave and they say “instead of driving all the way out to that other place, why don’t you just come back to our house and watch the sunset from our balcony.” Chris and I of course agree.

We follow them back and pull up to an amazing house (even nicer than the houses we had driven around looking at earlier). They have a fountain in front, two very friendly dogs, a donkey that lives next door, and a view that is breathtaking. We couldn’t believe how friendly and nice they were! Inviting two dirty strangers inside their beautiful house to hang out with for the night. We pour some wine and tequila (not mixed of course) and go upstairs to sit on the top balcony and watch the sunset.

We stayed there until past 11 o’clock just talking, looking and the view, having the guys look at some amazing cars Terry has, and feeding carrots to the donkey next door. At the end of the night, Chris of course gets their information (venture capitalist + entrepreneur = hopefully a good idea and a lot of money some day)

We had such an amazing night, probably one of the most entertaining we had so far on this adventure. Who knows, Chris might even have found a future investor in his business.