Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Cottonwood, Arizona
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. ~ Proverbs 23:12
so she texted it to me. Thanks, Gail!
I realized last night that since we’ve not had access to any museums or visitor centers, etc., I’ve taught you nothing whatsoever about Sedona – other than their fascination with vortexes, of course. So here’s a very brief history lesson.
How Sedona got its name
By the turn of the century, about 15 homesteading families called this area home. T. C. Schnebly was an enterprising young man from Gorin, Missouri who had married Sedona Miller. T.C.’s brother, Ellsworth, had moved to Arizona for health reasons, and convinced T. C. and Sedona to join him in red rock country. The Schnebly’s built a large two-story home that also served as the area’s first hotel and general store. T.C. saw a need for regular mail service, and organized the little village’s first post office.
T. C. suggested the names, Oak Creek Crossing and Schnebly Station, to Washington, D.C., but the Postmaster General at the time had a prejudice for one-word names for postmarks. Ellsworth advised him, “Why don’t you name it after your wife?”
When Amanda Miller’s little daughter was born on Feb. 24, 1877, in Missouri, Amanda “just thought up” the name Sedona for the child because she thought it sounded pretty. So, the name Sedona isn’t Spanish, nor Native American.
The greater Sedona area has always straddled two counties – neither much interested in providing services to this remote and rural place. The City did not incorporate until 1988. Residents got used to doing things themselves. Today, this is still prevalent in the strong sense of volunteerism and pride held by citizens.
And now we also know how Schnebly Road got its name! (that rough and rocky one we Jeeped last)
In other news, Blaine received some ‘signs of the times’ cartoons today. Some were pretty cute, some were funny, some were crude. But only one made me laugh out loud. Picture this:
Two aliens are looking down on Earth and talking. One says, “What happened to all the people on Earth?”
Drumroll please . . . . . . . . . . .
The other says, “They consumed too much toilet paper and it wiped them out.” Hahahahahaha!!!!!
We tossed around the idea of staying in this Park for two more nights – it’s close to Sedona and a nice State Park. Our site is available. But when Blaine called them to request two more nights, they refused him. Said their policy is still two weeks and you’re out. Crazy! Wouldn’t you think they’d want the business? Plus, I thought they were making some concessions due to coronavirus stuff. Guess Blaine wasn’t nice enough to them when they called to check on us . . . .
Are you tired of all the red rock hiking and Jeeping pictures yet? We had an absolutely marvelous two weeks! Unfortunately, with everything closed, God only knows what’s around the corner. We may be returning to Deadhorse Ranch before too long. In the meantime, we (and you) had a pretty thorough tour of the Sedona area – – but there were still some things we didn’t get to! We’ll be back. And like it said, it may be sooner than we think if things don’t open up in the next couple of weeks.
Munds RV Park Resort, Munds Park, Arizona
For now, we’re only a 52-mile, 70-minute drive up the road. As the crow flies, it’s only 24 miles, but there’s no direct road that we could take the coach on, so we had to go down and around to go up. 😊
And it’s about 10⁰ cooler up here. Higher elevation = lower temperatures.