OH What a Drive!!

Yesterday morning we awoke to a rainy day in Vegas, a very unusual sight! DH took the car for an oil change and then we had to check out of the condo by 10AM. We loaded up the car and went to get pedicures. Our usual girl wasn't there so we decided to skip it. We picked up some items in Wal-Mart that are cheaper than at home. 
We noticed that because of the rain the flowering trees were in full pink bloom. The dark clouds were moving away from the Strip.
We did a quick grocery trip as we have a Smith's discount card and picked up enough for dinner tonight and breakfast. 
Then it was time to say good-bye to Vegas.

As we left the city it started to pour and visibility was reduced. 
We crossed over the bridge at Hoover Dam. It was not a day for visitors.

We were hungry once we reached Boulder City but didn't want to waste time as it is a five hour drive to Sedona.
We grabbed a quick hot dog and got back on the road.

I amused myself taking photos of the mountains and the skies once we crossed the state line into Arizona.

At one point we stopped so John could get a panoramic view of the grey white striped mountains.

We were amused by this warning.

Continuing to be amused...

 Not so amused...

It is now not funny at all outside Kingman where there are numerous accidents on the northbound portion of Highway 40 and nearly always involving a jack-knifed semi-trailer causing personal cars to run off the road.
We decide it would be a good idea to fill up and go to the bathroom (in our flip flops and shorts).

From Williams to Flagstaff we are driving at a crawl. The temperature is now -4C or 25F.


We are climbing to 7,000 feet above sea level as we approach Flagstaff and the weather just worsens. We exit onto I-17 and the road appears clearer and we pick up speed as we head down to Sedona.

All of a sudden we are stopped in bumper to bumper and we don't move for over an hour. We are thankful that we have groceries in the car as well as lots of clothes. I manage to eject my running shoes from the suitcase on the back seat so I can at least walk if it is necessary.

We watch the sun set on the snow-laden trees.

Finally we start to move at a crawl, everyone is being very careful and we proceed down the 30+ miles to Sedona and then on to our final destination arriving about three hours later than the original estimate. Once we dropped down to Sedona there was not a flake to be seen.

We get checked in to our unit and put our feet up!