Arizona Quilts

As we penned in last week's edition of our newsletter, "And Sew On", we took a long weekend and got out of dodge for some R&R in Prescott.
On our return trip down the I-17 we purposely pulled off the interstate at the Sunset Point rest area. The first and maybe obvious reason was to "rest" and the second was to shoot a couple of pics and to reminisce about this long time landmark and its special meaning to our family.

The story begins when my parents bought a used camper for my dad's Ford truck when I was just a kid in the 60's. We spent countless hours and many a mile in that Clarkson's home-away-from-home! This meager, but efficient, little 1/2 cab-over camper was outfitted with a stove, a true "ice box", sink with running water when you pumped the handle, a kitchen table that folded down to a double bed and an overhead single bed that when pulled out became a second double bed. This "Little Camper that Could" traversed thousands of miles across the western US in places such as Lake Powell, Arizona and Utah, Bryce Canyon, Utah, Ouray, Colorado and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, just to name a few.
Her longest and most amazing adventure was to the city of Anchorage, Alaska. On this trip to the 49th state she had the distinction of spending some of her miles resting in the belly of the MV Matanuska, a ferry vessel for the Alaskan Marine Highway System. I remember waiting, in a typical Pacific Northwest drizzle, to see her be driven on board the ship by the loading crew before the people passengers could come aboard. The MV Matanuska, named after the famous Alaskan glacier, was the biggest thing I had been that close to in my life. As we sailed north out of Prince Rupert, BC, the skillful captain and crew navigated Alaska's inlet passage until we offloaded in Anchorage, Alaska. From Anchorage we headed to the town of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory to embark on a 875 mile hike down the Alaskan - Canadian Highway to mile 0 at Dawson Creek, BC. From Dawson Creek we kept heading South till pulling into the driveway of our Phoenix home some 30 days later! Needless to say "The Little Camper that Could" had been a part of a fantastic adventure that I will always cherish! With thousands of miles and many amazing destinations under her belt, by far the most meaningful trip she ever took was on September 7th, 1980 when she added "Honeymoon Suite" to her resume! Yes folks after spending our wedding night in a downtown Phoenix hotel, Debe and I hopped in "The Little Camper that Could" and headed to a secluded campsite at Big Lake, AZ for the duration of our honeymoon! To these 2 crazy kids, pictured in front of her above who were madly in love, spending 3 days in the forest alone was the perfect honeymoon! This was a unique beginning to a life-long adventure we are still blessed to be living today!

Now to circle back to where we began at Sunset Point. My mom and dad were wonderful salt of the earth folks who lived a very simple but full life.
I vividly remember many a Saturday afternoon hearing my dad say " Mrs C., let's head up to Sunset Point and cook a steak." So you guessed it, they would gather up any provisions necessary and hop into "The Little Camper that Could" to make the almost 1 hour trip up I-17 to Sunset Point. Sitting at 3,400 feet elevation the several degree break in the heat was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday night with the amazing sunset as an added bonus!
So in memory of my mom and dad, we took the opportunity to spend a few minutes remembering them, "The Little Camper that Could" and how blessed we are to live in such an amazing place!

Now to finish up, we hope you take a look at our November - December class schedule as it is full of several fun, challenging and somewhat unique opportunities. Many are listed below, but for the complete fall schedule, please click on the link to our new website's calendar page.

https://www.azquilts.com/calendar