Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Cottonwood, Arizona
Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men. ~ Proverbs 22:29
Our home church, The Chapel, offered a live-stream Good Friday service at noon, complete with communion. What’s noon in Ohio, is 9am here in Arizona because Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time. So 9am found us sitting at the kitchen table in front of our laptop, with a spot of red wine (used occasionally for cooking) and broken pieces of snack crackers.
There was a counter in the upper right corner to let you know when they were starting.
There were a few small glitches in the flow of the service, but overall, the video feed was good. And of course, the message was wonderful as always. It wasn’t so bad participating in this Good Friday service and partaking of communion at home, because it’s a time of personal reflection about the sacrifice our Lord and Savior made for us, but we suspect Easter Sunday service will be another story entirely.
Today, we packed a lunch and headed out to experience the Oak Canyon Scenic Drive. This drive is asphalted and lined and suitable for most drivers and their vehicles, although much of it’s very curvy, so we’d never take our 40’ motorhome towing a Jeep on it, unless it was closed to everyone else. 😊
What a gorgeous drive though! It was hard to take pictures because the mountains tower over you on either side of the road!
We ended up just inside the city limits of Flagstaff, and discovered that we’d just have to find a place to park and eat in the Jeep because everything was closed. Everything. There were still people out and about driving, and of course the grocery store parking lots were packed with cars (how often can people shop anyway??), but everything else was closed.
Wonder what rent is? Probably astronomical!
We’re sitting in a Car Wash/Lube parking lot.
The wash was closed, but we could’ve had our oil changed.
However, we saw no one anywhere.
And one Park is being used for COVID-19 testing. There was one of those huge rental electric signs at the entrance.
We did go off the main road and check out a National Forest road that was actually not blocked off, on the way back. All those roads had closed gates, except this one. There was some boondocking going on, but not much else.
Downed tree! : )
If they brought eggs or pop, they might be sorry. lol
Blaine suggested we check out the Schnebly Road Jeep Trail on our way back – the only one from our Barlow’s Jeep Rental maps that we hadn’t driven yet. Lo and behold! It was open! We still think that the locals took it upon themselves to close it the other day, but that’s okay.
It was a terrible drive! But we decided the reward was well worth it! As you know, we’ve been on some pretty rough Jeep roads in recent days, but this was extremely difficult because there were so many, and constant rocks. It was harder on Blaine who gave me the wheel after a bit. I know from experience that it’s easier on the driver than the passenger on roads like this. I let him drive back. 😊
Now it’s open! Yay!!
You had to be this close, in order to avoid the boulders in the road.
One hand says which way to turn the wheel, the other whether to move or stop. : )
To take on the entire road would’ve required driving about 6 miles. It sounded like there were some really nice stops along the way, but we found that after about 2.5 miles we’d had enough. Besides, at 2.5 miles, there was a hike called Cow Pies. After driving around all day, we were ready to do some walking. We didn’t really know what we were getting into because we had no information, but off we went with the thought that we’d turn around whenever we were ready.
We’ll never know what was down there, but they have it closed at mile 4 anyway.
Blaine is certain we were here when we rented Barlow’s Jeep 7 years ago,
but I don’t remember it, and I certainly don’t remember
bouncing down that road!
Maybe it was in better condition 7 years ago . . . .
They’re painted white marks on the rock.
If you look really close, you may be able to find two.
But imagine having to discern those white marks from all the lightcolored fungus growing on the rock . . .
Well, one great trail led to another! Hangover!
It’s a hiking trail, but also a bike trail for very experienced bikers we think. We did have one biker pass us, but truthfully, we have no idea how he managed a bike on a trail we had trouble walking on at times!
“But if the branch breaks, you’re going over the side!”
“It’s okay. Trust me!”
Crazy man! Heavy sigh . . .
And yet someone did, because he rode right up to us a little later on the hike.
He stopped and decided to back up and go down and around instead.
We had some fun there walking around amongst the rocks before moving on. : )
It’s sitting on a bed of small rocks.
Then I walked over to my right and walked up a much more narrow slope.
I told him to stop and forget it. : )
FYI – we were on the road and it’s trails for a total of 3 1/2 hours.
Back home, we had some dinner and settled in with a box of Kleenex to watch The Passion of the Christ – Mel Gibson’s film from 2004. Can you believe it’s been that long since its release??? Every viewing is just as emotional as the first time. What our Savior endured for us!
I’ve heard that someone made a show saying how inaccurate things were in the movie, but there’s no reason to nitpick. It’s not a documentary, and there’s nothing in the movie that contradicts Scripture. It’s a movie, and as such, they’re allowed dramatic license. They have to. The actual incident took place over 2,000 years ago. Plus, you’re talking about a movie portraying what people thought and said. The words found in Scripture, when appropriate were used in the movie. That’s really all you can do. From the research I’ve done in the past, the portrayal of the life, times, and means of the trial and crucifixion all seem to be pretty accurately portrayed.
I don’t know, but I think the purpose of the movie was achieved – an opportunity to bring to life that which we so often take for granted – the intense suffering that was endured for each of us by God Himself in the form of the fully God, fully man, Jesus.