Day 7 – Cottonwood, AZ

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Found my Happy Place! I didn’t even think there’d be one here in a small town in northern Arizona. I went to get my haircut at Great Clips, and on the way I passed right by a combo Dunkin/Baskin Robbins. Guess where I went after?

Looks like 981 W On The Greens is the winner. Turns out the new 1072 Nelson Place doesn’t have a space for a dining area, and this is a deal breaker. The first furniture that Donna and I bought when we got married in 1976 was a rattan dining set: a table, four armchairs, a sideboard/buffet thing, and a hutch that have followed us ever since. Now I just need to figure out how I’m going to buy it.

This afternoon’s entertainment was a visit to Jerome, AZ, that is less than 10 miles from Cottonwood. It was a boomtown in the late 1800s and early 1900s when copper was discovered in the mountains there. In the ’50s the mine closed, and it became a virtual ghost town. A resurgence happened in the ’70s when artists discovered the place. They have turned the old high school’s 3 buildings into places for artists to open small shops. I bought a future Christmas present for someone in one shop and a digitally manipulated bicycle print for myself.

But the real reason I was there was to visit a spot that I can’t believe isn’t listed on Roadside America’s website, The Skullatorium: Skull Museum and Oddities Parlor. A kid at ten years old found an intact coyote skull and brought it home; it became an obsession. There are over 1500 real skulls on display. There are also a lot of oddities, including a couple of “alien” skulls, a display of miniature 3-D printed skulls, and other weird things. As my favorite Vulcan would say, “Fascinating.”

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 91.4%

 

Day 6 – Cottonwood, AZ

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House Hunting Day Two. Viewing just the 2 places in the older section today and like yesterday, I eliminated half of the houses looked at.

First stop was 840W On The Greens, and I liked how it was painted in my favorite color, blue, but it sort of went downhill from there. It felt very dated in a weird way even though the home was built in 2006. It has the toilet in its own little room, like normal bodily functions were somehow shameful. And the online photos omitted a view of the wall your living room furniture faced because they knew it was negative. And it became its downfall with me. It had 5 recesses, two-one-two, and that middle place where the TV would go was probably as wide as you needed back in 2006, 36″ or maybe 40″.

981 W On The Greens was the keeper of the day. It too, in some ways, felt a little dated, built in 2007, but in different and less off-putting ways as the one up the street. It is brown, which really is more suited for the desert vibe. It had little decks in front and back. The front is for watching your neighbors go by, and they’ll be going by because the house is one home away from the community center. The back has a view of mountains and some of the golf course that I’ll never use.

When I got back to the AirBnB, I tossed out two of yesterday’s three newer places. Texted the agent and asked if we could go back one more time because I’d like to see that new place, 1072 Nelson Place again and then go right back to the older 981 On The Greens home and pick one. The new home is kind of a blank canvas inside and out, but that might be fun to personalize. The only negatives are it is $10k more initially, and there is zero view on the back deck, just the back deck of the house opposite it.

Stay tuned…

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 92.8%

 

Day 5 – Cottonwood, AZ

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House Hunting Day. Below is a copy of my report I emailed to Santa Fe Sally:

Ok, looked at six places and eliminated 3 right off the bat. I didn’t take pictures, but I’ll link the Zillow page for them.

The most expensive at $299,900, which is really more than I want to pay. Probably why the price is what it is: there is nobody behind it, and nothing will be built there because there is a wide wash and then a 2-lane road. 635 Couples Drive

The next two are in the mid $200k range and practically neighbors. They are both 2/2 but they have a possible 3rd bedroom (AKA no closet): 1072 Nelson Place and 1082 Nelson Place. Both of these are brand new; Couples was occupied.

All these places are in the newer section of the community. I think I’d rather be in the older section, so I’ve asked the realtor to get me in a couple over there tomorrow. Her actual office is in Sedona, but it turns out she lives across the highway from the community in real houses that are like $4-500k, so she had no problem with a repeat visit. Both are on W On the Green, 981 and 840. 981 is similar to 635 Couples in that there is and will not be anything behind it.

For those of you who might be keeping track of the status of the Red Sox’s chances of getting to the wild card round of the playoffs, you’ve noticed that the number took a dive compared to yesterday. This is not a bad thing because their chances of getting in the playoffs went up because their chance on winning the division and getting a first-round bye has gone from 6.3% to 11.1%.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 88.2%

 

Day 4 – Cottonwood, AZ

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On a random, mostly residential, street corner near downtown I found this statue. It looks like they are welcoming the rising sun or maybe worshipping the stop sign.

I went for an early morning bike ride at 6 AM to beat the heat. I actually rode up a mile north of Old Town Cottonwood to the community I’m interested in and did some exploring. Everyone who was out and about waved or smiled or said, “Mornin’,” as I passed by. I came across a trio of ladies walking their morning loop, and I slowed way down and asked how they liked living there, and they were all very happy.

But, so far, getting a realtor is an issue. I emailed a realtor that was selling the one of the ones that I was interested in. She emailed back to say she wasn’t available to show anything until next week, which I took to mean I can’t be bothered to drive over the mountains to get here. She is based in Chino Valley, which is over an hour away. She did give me the phone number of a local agent, so I called her and left a message. If I don’t hear from her before noon tomorrow, I’ll try the agent that Zillow has paired with me. But she is located in Prescott, which is over the same mountain pass and about the same hour away.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 92.5%

 

Day 3 – Cottonwood, AZ

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Today was the shortest day ever on the Interstate. I got off I-15 just 15 miles south of Beaver, UT. The majority, 331 of 367 miles, was spent on some form or another of US-89. And unbeknownst to me, that road is a hotbed of national parks. I past by signs for Bryce Canyon, Zion, and the Grand Canyon (both north and south rims.)

I did stop briefly at the Glen Canyon Dam welcome center (picture above) and the rapidly dropping Lake Powell behind it. The water level has dropped below its previous record and hasn’t been this low since they started filling the lake back in the 60s.

I was planning on going back a different way that would take 4 days, but now I’m considering going back the same way and using the fourth day for an overnight in that area and going to Bryce Canyon. I’ve got to check how that affects the travel days.

When I got to Cottonwood, I saw the entrance to the 55+ community’s subdivision and just kinda rolled through. Saw a few For Sale signs, but I didn’t look real hard. I did stop at the Community Center and took advantage of their restrooms. Tomorrow I’ll see if I can get a realtor to take me into a couple places. Pictures on Zillow don’t tell a real story…

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 91.7%

 

Day 2 – Beaver, UT

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Thank you random Subaru with Washington plates on I-25; you tried.

Somewhere along I-84 near where Idaho ends and Utah begins, cruising along at 85 MPH in the 80 zone, passing some and being passed myself when a Subaru Crosstrek started riding right next to me, keeping pace. Finally, I looked over and the passenger was waving at me, making gestures that looked like pouring something. They dropped back out of view for like 30 seconds and then came back alongside, and the passenger had her phone pressed against the window with some large letters. I couldn’t make out what it said. I had on sunglasses, my windows are tinted, and there was no way I could take my eyes off the road long enough to make out the word(s). So I nodded at them and they slid back.

My first thought was, maybe they like the color of the car. I had a compliment about it just this morning at the coffee drive-thru. Second and more likely, the bike was not secured on the rack. I did check it before I left, and it was looking secure through the rearview mirror. So when I took my snack break about 20 minutes later, I went back and looked; everything was fine. When I got back in the car a couple hours later after lunch in Salt Lake City and started the car, on the dash, in the spot where the MPH shows, it said, “Check Gas Cap.” Huh? So I got out and looked; the flap wasn’t closed, and the cap was dangling.

Wow, that is what my Subaru friends were trying to tell me. I had filled the car about an hour into the drive this morning. While it was filling, I was washing the dead insects off the windshield and emptying my trash. Senioritis. I just didn’t put it back, and because the filler neck is on the passenger side, I just didn’t see it when I checked the bike earlier.

I did a repeat of yesterday’s trick. After lunch I hit the “Avoid Highways” button. From SLC to Beaver was an hour and a half on I-5, but backroads came in at two and a half. The views were very different, hardly any farms, but chock-full of desert views and even a couple small mountain pass windy roads.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 91.8%

 

Day 1 – Mountain Home, ID

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First leg of this mini road trip. It was all I-84 heading east until I got to Idaho. My last trip through Idaho, I spotted a gas station called Stinkers that has a skunk mascot, and I wondered if it was like a Buc-ees and had stickers of its mascot. I didn’t stop then, but this time I did. They had t-shirts, mugs, etc, but no stickers.

When I got back in the car, I plugged in this evening’s hotel, and it showed 2-1/4 hours still. That didn’t seem right, but I noticed I still had “Avoid Highways” on. Ahh, took that off and it said 1-1/4 hours. But the shorter route took me through Boise. I got nothing but time, so I put “Avoid Highways” back on. It was a nice zig-zaggy route through farm fields and small towns.

I have dragged along my new bike so as to check out any cycling stuff in Cottonwood. So on arrival at the hotel, I figured I’d take a small ride to shake off sitting in the car for 8 hours. I needed to mail a postcard to my neighbor with the second line of our third collaborative effort in limerick writing. It is only a little over 2 miles away, perfect. When I checked in, the weather looked fine, but when I went back out to ride, there were ugly thunderstorm clouds overhead nearby.

They looked as close as the numerous ones I dodged on my back road route. I decided to ride anyway. Less than a half mile in, the wind picked up and random drops were hitting me. I continued. On the way there those winds were in my face, so I figured at least they would push me home, and that is what they did. The sprinkling did change in intensity to real rain until I was back in the hotel room. Pheeew.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 93.9%