We started the day at 6-dark-thirty and in the company of these real genuine rancher types:

and hit the road early enough to enjoy a desert sunrise:



Even though she needed to have her hair brushed, Dingo insisted on modeling the Saguaro NP unigrid:


It’s hard to believe you can get tossed in jail for up to 25 years for cutting down a saguaro, there are hundreds of square miles where they’re so dense you can hardly walk through them. Not that we’re advocating cactus-cide but 25 years seems kinda stiff and applies even if they’re on private property and you only want to move it from one place to another.

This garden at the visitor center boasts an impressive variety of all the cacti that can be found in the park.






Were suckers for airplanes so when we saw the Pinal Airpark off the highway we had to pull off and check it out. Pinal’s desert climate mitigates corrosion and makes for a great location for a boneyard and storage for commercial aircraft.




China Eastern Airlines MD-82:

A wingless 747-300:

We really had no choice but to stop when we saw the sign for Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch (images of John Wayne were conspicuously absent but apparently the family that runs this ranch are Coburns and related to the Rooster who was the basis for the movie). These folks figured out how to increase their profit margin by charging people like us $12 each to feed their osteriches, lorikeets, goats, deer, miniature donkeys, ducks, sheep, parakeets, bunnies, and stingrays (the rays cost extra). Regardless of the price, it was fun and the animals all appear to be well cared for so if you’re in the area, give it a try.


A miniature donkey:

A fallow deer:

A deer-ette:

Parakeets:

Desperate for attention, Laura gets kisses any way she can:

A bunny:

A bunny with spots:

St. Croix Sheep:

A dwarf goat:

A rainbow lorikeet:

Apparently my mustache is sweeter than nectar:

And finally, after a short but pleasant visit with Todd’s sister outside Phoenix, we finally came to the red rocks of Sedona…


and our campsite for the week at the Rancho Sedona RV Park: