Christmas 2009 Roadtrip Part 5

Along the way to the Yavapai Observation Station, the lovely maidens conversed with many fellow tourists, and met a family from Australia, the teenage daughter of whom had the courage to wear one of the funniest hats the maidens had ever seen. Please view the pictures to appreciate this act of courage. They also walked behind two teenage boys for a while, whose pants were two sizes too big and they were having to hike them up every 10 steps or so. The lovely maidens wondered why they didn't at least have belts.





As the lovely maidens grew tired of walking, they began to ask those they met walking towards them how far the Yavapai Station was, and they received the same answer every time, "About 3/4 of a mile." This went on for a good quarter of a mile, until they reached the sign that said, "Yavapai Observation Station .75 mile". Then they knew all those people were either pulling their legs, or had no sense of distance.





Once they reached their destination, they were greatly anticipating the promised view of the Colorado River flowing through the Grand Canyon. However, their hopes were quickly dashed when all they could see were a few small visible spots of water.





The lovely maidens rode the free shuttle back to the Grand Canyon Village so Joanne could find the penny squisher before they had to reboard the train. Their only regret in visiting the Grand Canyon was that they did not spend the night there. Three hours at the Grand Canyon is only a teaser for such a magnificent place.





The sunset on the train ride back to Williams was one of the most beautiful either lovely maiden had ever seen before. Upon their arrival back to Williams, they encountered about a million ankle-biters all dressed in their pajamas, waiting to board the Polar Express train. This is an experience the Grand Canyon Railroad does for kids that reenacts the Polar Express story. They take them to the North Pole and other places in the story and serve them hot chocolate and cookies. They don't really go anywhere (but don't tell the kids that!). The train just pulls forward, stops, then goes backward, stops, then forward and stops, and so forth. Since it is dark, it creates the illusion for the kids that they are going somewhere and they all really enjoy it.





And so it came to pass that the next day the lovely maidens pulled up stakes and vacated the deluxe campground which they had enjoyed for two nights. Before leaving they filled the motor home water tank so they would have extra weight since they must needs travel through the mountain passes and it was undesirable for them to consider applying chains to their tires. The motor home did not slide through the snow at all, so they found it unnecessary to apply the chains, to their great relief. However, had it become necessary, Joanne had a plan: she would stand outside the motor home and pretend not to know what to do so that some nice gentleman might offer to apply the chains for her. It was a relief for her that this plan became unnecessary as well.



The final destination for this day was Payson, Arizona, where Joanne's former German professor at Biola lives. In the fall of 1977 Dr. Reinhard and Priscilla Buss led a group from Biola to Europe for a semester of studies. Joanne was privileged to have been a part of that group. Dr. Buss, being the ultimate tour guide, advised the lovely maidens of worthwhile places to stop to view the scenery along the way to their residence. They spent about an hour in Sedona, not nearly enough time to see all there is to be seen in such a beautiful place. Unfortunately, there was a lot of fog that day, and most of the rock formations were blurred by the fog. However, some views that they wanted to take pictures of cleared off a little so they could get the pictures, then the fog rolled in immediately afterwards. They considered this a gift from God. Raisa was the main photographer in Sedona as Joanne drove to the next viewpoint.



The lovely maidens found the chapel built into the rock, and as they approached the entrance to the same, they passed a crossroad. About 20 feet past the crossroad was a sign that said, "RVs and buses prohibited past this point". The placement of said sign proved to be illogical, since neither before nor after the sign was sufficient room for RVs or buses to reverse course. So the lovely maidens continued on their prohibited way. Fortunately for the maidens, there was a parking attendant at the entrance to the parking lot behind the chapel, who opened a small roped-off area in which these prohibited vehicles could attempt to reverse course. The parking attendant advised the lovely maidens that he would not direct their course direction, so Raisa took on the job, as she normally did upon entry to the various campgrounds the lovely maidens frequented. The lovely maidens had previously devised a method of teamwork for backing up the motor home, which they implemented at this point. Raisa stands behind the motor home while Joanne drives, and with her headset, Joanne receives instruction from Raisa over their cellphones as to which course of action to take. As this interchange was occurring at the entrance to the chapel, various individuals were walking to and from the chapel, and though these people could not see Raisa, she could hear them commenting in this fashion, "Wow! Look at her maneuver that thing!" So although Joanne would love to take credit for her great maneuvering skills, she is totally indebted to Raisa's wonderful instructions for said maneuvering.

The lovely maidens were unable to view the interior of the chapel since the only place they were allowed to park offerred merely 5 minute parking. So they snapped their photos, rolled their videos and were on their way in probably 10 minutes. So they fudged a little on the time...at least they didn't get a parking ticket.



As the lovely maidens followed the instructions Dr. Buss had given them to their residence, they drove right past the McDonald's restaurant where they were supposed to turn. When they drove completely out of town, they knew they had gone too far, but it was impossible to turn around, since it was a divided highway and the next place to turn around was about 3 miles out of town. When they got back into town, the townspeople had miraculously built a fully functioning McDonald's restaurant in the time it took them to turn around! Apparently, both of the lovely maidens were looking at the same side of the road and missed the McDonald's as they passed it coming into town the first time.



Of course, it was dark (again!) when they arrived at the Buss residence, and they were greeted by the two beautiful people that Joanne appreciated so much, since they helped her dream to travel to Europe come true. She also grew to love them as surrogate parents while on the trip in Europe. They had a German supper prepared for the lovely maidens upon their arrival. The foursome enjoyed a lovely evening of reminiscing, story and photo sharing, and hearty laughter. The Busses made the maidens feel so welcome and at home that they hated leaving the next day.

Dr. Buss made the mistake of mentioning he had the slide show that her 1977 group produced of the overseas program upon their return from Europe. Joanne begged him to show it to them, so in the morning he granted her wish. Since the 1977 trip, other slides have been added so it is an overview of the overseas program in general. (Dr. Buss's job was to take groups from Biola almost every year for a semester and teach them German, history and other general studies classes, while also touring many of the historical sites in Europe. He and Priscilla (his assistant wife, as he called her) did this for about 30 years.) The slide show brought back many wonderful memories for Joanne. Many of the slides were photos Joanne had taken. The Busses have a room in their home in which they display photos of the various groups they took to Europe. It was wonderful for Joanne to see her group's photos on their wall.



After the slide show, the Busses took the lovely maidens to their favorite Chinese buffet restaurant, where they were treated to some of the best Chinese buffet food they had ever tasted. Then it was off for some sight-seeing. One of Priscilla's dreams was to live near a lake, and so the purchase of their property fulfilled that dream, since they live across the street from a little lake. They took the lovely maidens around the lake, and also to the airport, where there is a small neighborhood of large houses, each of which has a hangar in which to park the occupant's small aircraft. The street signs in this neighborhood are all next to the ground, as they would be on the taxiways at an airport. The airplanes have the right-of-way, should one ever encounter the same. It was unfortunate that at the time of their visit, no planes were visible, neither in their hangars, nor on the taxiways.

To be continued...