Although it's hard to believe, we are now in our fourth week. We've survived a month out of the 12 we have planned!

The day started with some small joys, since after haggling with the lady in charge of the campsite she informed us that breakfast was included in the price. This was amazing news! Apart from being the only customers around the place was super cool, decorated in an American 50s style and surrounded by old cars of time. It made for a truly unique atmosphere. After breakfast we set off on our planned route for the day which was to be the longest yet, no less than 82km! This would take us to the edge of the Kaibab National forest which meant we could legally free camp without paying a penny. So that was our objective, to be able to reach the edge of this forest and look for a quiet spot to put up the tent and spend the night.

The day was pretty uneventful and in keeping with the plan but as we reached the final stretch, that we had to cycle on the motorway due to lack of options, the road surface ended up being pretty rough and bumpy. With this and the fatigue after a long day the truth is that it was pretty tiresome, and what happens when you're tired? You make dodgy decisions... When we had a measly 4km to go until reaching the forest we decided to get off the motorway and find an alternative way that was a little more pleasant, sounds good right? Following the phone's map we headed down a dirt track where cows were munching away happily with their calves and the only soles around were those folk returning home from work in their cars. Everything seemed pretty normal until we reached a point where the road joined a river which, although it wasn't exactly a torrent, had some pretty steep banks considering we had our bikes to get across, with their panniers and all. Even still, after contemplating our options we saw that the road which led to the national forest was just the other side of the river along with a house, which we thought we could edge around to get to the road. So picking a spot with as shallow a bank as posible it seemed totally doable.

As we were now so strong and fit, in a flash we had crossed the river and naively thought that we were over the worst of it... We were now faced with the house. It had lots of land with horses on that got a little frisky when they saw us mounting their river bank and that's when we caught sight of the owner observing us from high up in her humble home, without muttering a word. This put us a little on edge as our only wish was to cross over to the other side, so we headed down one of the dirt tracks to achieve our mission, a track which was pretty badly looked after and steep. We followed this for some 20 minutes to the end where we uncovered the surprise that it was a dead end... (you can imagine our thoughts about that lady, watching us head down a dodgy track to nowhere...) So we had to turn around and try our luck going round the other side of the house. Fine, this way was a path, which seemed to only be used by the odd cow, that turned into open country but ended in another darn fence! At this point we had no time or energy left since the sun was setting and Rob said "That's more than enough!" and in the blink of an eye he'd disassembled the bags from the bike and was chucking them over the fence. And thank god for that as in barely 5 minutes we were on the long awaited road!

We cycled along for a few more minutes until we saw a sign welcoming us to the national forest we were after and without any more messing around we got off the road and set up camp behind some trees that hid us from view of passing cars. So the day ended a little crazier than it started but leaving us with the sensation that one can always achieve what one sets out to do with a little determination.

And here we found ourselves, in the final day of March and, after nearly a month of camping out during nights that were much colder than we'd expected, we started to reconsider the little things that may make a difference. The first of which was to find a solution in our camping gear and so we started to look for a down blanket to have an extra layer in the sleeping bags which weren't quite up to scratch for the temperatures we were experiencing. The second was to feel the comfort of a room all to ourselves once more, with a shower and clean bed sheets. So we had a look at Booking.com and to our surprise in the town of Williams there was a Motel for a similar price to what we had paid for camping... About $30 a night! For sure we had slight concerns about what we'd encounter for that price but at that moment, at least for me, that was secondary to sleeping in a bed without the cold of the night pressing down upon me.

With this goal on the horizon we set off on what was to be a short but intense cycle as all of it was up a steep hill, but I must say that the motivation of a warm night really did help in overcoming the climb. As a plus we found along the way a road named "Dog Devil Road" which became our favourite to date (this is what our lives have been reduced to...). We also came across the charming town of Seligman where we stopped for lunch. Part of the historic Route 66, it had a lot of character including a little jail from 1860 (from which Rob managed to break out of ;)). We'd also read about a restaurante that made delicious cakes, so of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity! We entered the family establishment, which had three generations working for it, since a nice chap and his grandad served us up some carrot cake and chocolate cream pie, which his grandma had spent years perfecting for passing customers. Once you try them you understand just why they had become famous, they were finger licking good!

Then after a few more hours on the road we arrived at Williams and, shortly after, our beloved Highlander Motel where Mark, an interesting but helpful character, gave us the keys to our humble home for the night. We were the only clients, since the tourist trade was being hard hit by the Corona virus so we had room number 1. And when we opened the door... what a great place! It was a ground floor room (standard American stuff) with a big bed, super clean sheets, a recently renovated and clean bathroom, a TV, fridge and even a microwave! The latter was really handy since it meant we could cook in the room and enjoy all it had to offer, and have little doubt in your mind that that's exactly what we did.

We enjoyed it so much that we decided to stay an extra night and plan the next few days. This allowed us to get to know Mark a little better and ask him the favour of getting the aforementioned blanket delivered to be able to continue camping. So we ordered it and had 5 days to burn until it would arrive, therefore we had to plan around this. We were very close to the Grand Canyon but it would have to wait... Then we saw Flagstaff, a town we'd seen in the infamous Lonely Planet guide which made us leave our planned route through the States for the first time. It seemed a worthwhile visit as it had a lot going on in the Warm Showers community, so we got in touch with a couple, who seemed super lovely, to see if they could have us stay for a couple of nights. We were pretty doubtful that we'd be hosted given the virus situation but these guys had a separate apartment that they normally rented our on Airbnb and were more than happy to offer it to us as a place to stay. This was great news and we finished up our day of planning more than satisfied, as well as rested.

To be honest, one of the reasons that made us think where or not to go to this city was its elevation, since the route wasn't excessively far, although it was pretty arduous... Even still, as the lodging promised so much, we set off. Rob woke me up with a surprise letter of encouragement from my friends, they are so great that they left me a new letter to start each month with lots of their energy, if from a distance. I must say that it's helping a lot (as you well know, whoever has a friend has a treasure! (Spanish expression) And in plural that only gets amplified amplified, right? :)) Over the course of the day we went through various stages of motivation, as the road got more tricky switching from gravel to tarmac we became more and more "grumpitinos" (this word is a combination of "grumpy" and "guaptitinos", which is our pet name for each other). But nothing that couldn't be solved through a quick break and eating a snack :). As we made progress we could see in the distance some beautiful snow capped mountains and what we didn't realise at the time was that Flagstaff was to be found just the other side.

After a while with no setbacks we arrived at Dave and Sharon's house at 5 in the afternoon, our lovely Warm Showers hosts! They gave us a really warm welcome to their amazing home on top of a small hill from which you could see those brilliant mountains with their white tops. What stood out to us most of all was that the town was built in amongst a pine forest, without doubt the city most connected to nature we had ever seen! It turned out that due to the Corona virus our hosts were looking after their small grandchildren, since their parents worked in a hospital and they considered it would be safer for them, so Dave and Sharon had their work cut out returning to the role of being parents again! Therefore we had plenty of time to settle into the apartment joined onto their house, which was absolutely perfect for recovering from the journey and resting up.

After a marvellous night in the cosy apartment, while we sipped our morning tea we started to investigate the route up to the Gran Canyon as we'd seen on the motorway signs that it was temporarily closed. Our worst suspicions were confirmed, they'd closed the park and pretty much all the others we had planned to visit on our way north... :( After spending the day thinking about what we should do given this change of events, and not getting anywhere, Dave and Sharon invited us up to their house for a beer after supper (and when the kids had gone to bed). And we had a great time! They were planning a trip to Europe in the summer, if all went well, and we shared ideas and experiences together. It's super exciting to talk to people who are so enthusiastic; helping and inspiring one another. They gave us a great deal of help sorting out our plan, which was in tatters at that point, and offered us some extra time in the apartment. We really appreciated all of this. Well, after discussing our options we decided that burning some time in the local area and waiting till the end of the month was the best idea, to see how the Corona virus situation evolved and, hopefully, they begin opening up the parks once more. So we set on the idea of spending some time to the south of Flagstaff as it was a little warmer down in the valley and according to Dave and Sharon is really pretty. As a further plus we had the option of free camping in the woods which are filled with footpaths, so I didn't think we were going to get bored!

We started the day all motivated and with a more definite plan for the next few weeks, this allowed us to concentrate on fixing a few things which had become indispensable during our nomad lifestyle, and which had seen some punishment over the last few days... These were the laptop and recently acquired radio! We took the laptop to a electric shop and they let us know that it had been damaged by water intake. No complaints, this happened in the Highlander Motel when we were making a coffee in the coffee machine and without realising it most of the water destined for the water container ended up all over the table where our laptop was quietly sitting... So finally Rob decided to try and fix it himself, with the help of various tools that Dave had kindly lent us. After a few hours of concentration and dedication to the cause, he managed to fix it!

After this amazing success he set about trying to fix the radio... and you'll be wondering, what on earth was wrong with the radio? Well, I am the main culprit as in the days after buying it every time you had to tune the station I assumed that the antena could spin a full 360 degrees, and not the mere 180 degrees it could manage in reality... So you can imagine me every time I had to tune it (which was quite often) forcing the poor thing round in ways it really didn't enjoy. Eventually it ended up completely lose and I still don't understand how it didn't break entirely! So we went out and bought some super-dupa-mega glue which we applied to the inside of the radio and left it to set overnight, hoping that the following day it would be as sturdy as it once was. After such a productive day we were left to say our goodbyes to those routine commodities which you will all be enjoying in your homes right now, ending the day with a full belly after a baked potato, stretching out on the sofa under a blanket and watching the new series of La Casa de Papel.

Inevitably the day had arrived to leave and start our new planned route, so after checking that the glue holding the antena to the radio was set we headed out on our new adventure! We said our farewells to Dave in the garage, thanking him for all the support and good vibes (it was a real pleasure to have met them). Although this was a "see you later" as we will almost certainly pass through Flagstaff in a few weeks and so we will perhaps see each other once more, but for now, thanks so much Dave and Sharon for having us!

The excitement of the day resided in our arrival in Williams and picking up our beloved down blanket, which truth be told didn't take long at all to arrive. So after several hours on the bikes following the same way as a few days ago, so we knew just what to expect, we arrived at the motel where Mark was waiting for us with our parcel. Once in our hands we set off into the forest where we had to find a little corner to ourselves to put up the tent and spend the night. Although, at the start of the road which went up into the mountains passing an artificial lake in which a family were making the most of the final hours of the weekend, we couldn't find anywhere that wasn't excessively steep. But after a little cycle we sighted a flat area and without much deliberation we headed straight for it. It turned out to be the perfect spot, even if quite close to the road it was sufficiently hidden away to be able to camp without a worry, and there was evidence of others having spent the night there before.

With the final rays of sunlight beaming down on us we prepared some "emergency noodles" which we always have to hand for when we have no desire or time to cook. I have to say that this batch was somewhat special, as you well know, the supermarkets are finding it tricky to stock up on certain products and this seems to be one of them (I think they are on the same level as toilet paper and baking power). When we went to buy them only the super spicy remained. So here we had Rob, who refuses to throw anything away (even if a small bag of spices...) adding the entire bag into his single bowl of noodles and ending up not being able to feel any of his face it was so hot! With the heat from the noodles and the new blanket we headed into our tent for what promised to be one of the warmest nights so far.

For now I only hope that the nights remain as cosy, that we don't break more of our things and that we can continue with new plan while everything returns to normal. Hugs and kisses to everyone, keep looking after yourselves!