A Visit to Oak Creek in Sedona, Arizona

"Experience teaches slowly and at the cost of mistakes." ~James A. Froude

June 19: I am getting a little burned out on the intense pace of my trip at this point. Drive, brew, blog, repeat. And I miss my husband like crazy. Only a few more days until he joins me.

It is all up hill heading north out of Phoenix on Hwy 17. I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get from Surprise to Prescott. Since the drive included very steep inclines up Mingus Mountain, and the ambient temperature was about 108, I had to turn off the air conditioner, roll down the windows, and turn the heat on high. Needless to say, I quickly became a cranky face.

There were so many mountain rises between me and my destination, that I had to crank up the heat lots of times and the going was slow. Grrrr! My Cingular cell phone lost service and still hasn't regained it as I write this post from Durango, Colorado.

I stopped at a McDonald's at the Hwy 69 turn-off to Prescott for something cold, and called Prescott Brewing Company's owner John Nielson on the pay phone to tell him that I wouldn't make it, and that I had to press on toward Sedona. Pay phones are a pain in the butt because they hang you up after two minutes. And it's so freakin' hot here! Grrrr.

Arrived at Oak Creek Brewing Co. in Sedona, and Brewmaster Jim Strelau was waiting for me. The photo above is of Jim showing off the company's 1929 Model A "C" Cab delivery sedan. It's fitted with beer taps on the sides. Jim gave me the tour of his hard-working brewery. He and two brewers put out over 4,000 barrels a year at Oak Creek's two labor-intensive locations. Don't try that at home, folks! Jim works way more hours than is healthy, and although working since dawn, he rallied for my visit.

Jim set me up with a sampler of all his beers, then went home to fetch his fetching girlfriend Casey.

We went to Oak Creek's brewpub (separate ownership) for dinner. The photo at right is of the pretty (and functional) seven barrel JV Northwest glycol-jacketed serving tanks behind the bar. Note the custom copper jackets and top-shelf liquor racks. Snazzy!

Jim helped me back Big Buddy up Oak Creek's sloped parking lot for the night. It was hot and my head was downhill, but I was pretty tired. The next morning I was up at 6:45 am and on the road at 7:15 am. The photo below is the view back toward the mountains surrounding Sedona as I hit Hwy 17 heading north again.

Surprise, Arizona

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth: the egg of the phoenix." ~Christina Baldwin

June 18: Got caught in a bit of afternoon traffic in Phoenix. In my opinion, the early rush-hour seemed more chaotic (and therefore worse) than Los Angeles. The temperature was a nerve-frying 113 degrees. Ventured to Surprise, Arizona, the farthest West and North suburb of Phoenix, to visit my Aunt Karen and Uncle Bill. Their daughter, my cousin Megan, lives nearby and joined us.

It was a nice chance to relax in a pleasant air-conditioned environment, look at the family photos on the walls, and do my laundry. (Maybe an extensive road trip would make a good reality show, because you have the reality of dirt and sweat all the time.) Uncle Bill grilled some good Wisconsin bratwurst, and after dinner Megan and I played three rounds of "Cathedral," one of my favorite games. A real shower and a real bed, and I slept great.

The next morning we went out for breakfast and I got a tour of the planned community section of Surprise. I was happy to see that the citizens are encouraged (perhaps required) to plant native desert shrubs and plants. Instead of green lawns, everyone has nicely sculpted gravel and rock beds out front. Very sensible folks, if you call living in a hot-as-heck desert sensible!

After updating my blog, I was off to Prescott, Arizona.

Pink Boots at Four Peaks

"Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings." ~Samuel Johnson

June 18: Last night Brewer-Owner Andy Ingram and his staff set me up with a prime parking spot right in front of the outdoor patio, and I plugged my 75 foot extension cord. Ahhh, air conditioning in the trailer. I wouldn't have had that in the teardrop!

As promised, here are the "washing her hair in a brewery bucket" photos. Andy was kind enough to set me up with 1/3 hot water from the liquor back and 2/3 city water for the event.

Andy manned the first of four batches of Arizona'a best-selling draft craft-brewed beer, Four Peaks' Kiltlifter Scotch Ale (6.1% ABV). Andy came in to start the brew at 4:00 am. Charlie Billingsley took over on the second batch.

Jim Roper handled their newish finicky filter. If any of you have a Velo FOF8, 8-meter horizontal DE Filter, please email Jim at brew@fourpeaks.com and give him your advice and secrets. Jim and Charlie have tried every variation suggested, yet still the filter wants to bleed through about half the time. I offered several suggestions based on my 3-meter vertical screen closed-erosion doser experience, but either Jim had already tried the suggestion, or we determined it wouldn't work on his open-dosing system.

Owner-Partner Jim Scussel joined us for lunch. (Photo above, L to R: Andy, Jim S., Teri, Jim R. and Charlie.) The food here is great. For lunch I had the Prime Rib sandwich with fried onions and red peppers on their house-baked beer bread (a thick soft pita-like roll-up bread made with their 8th Street Ale).

Four Peaks has swamp-cooler technology nailed down. Andy turned on the big cooler in the brewery at 5:00 am, and the brewery seemed to stay fairly cool until I left about 3:00 pm. Outside, the fog-misters made the patio feel like San Diego instead of 110 degrees.

Jim S. and Andy gifted me with a case each of their famous Kiltlifter and their 8th Street Ale. You know what makes the Kiltlifter such a great beer for Arizona? It tastes good cold and after it warms up. Unless you chug your beers, they tend to warm up quickly in Arizona. Four Peaks hopes to hit 16,000 barrels of production this year.

Drive: San Marcos to Tempe, Arizona

"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything." ~Charles Kuralt

June 17: I skipped my morning shower opportunity at Greg Koch's old house, and chose to make highway time instead. I was tired of driving on Interstate freeways, although for this marathon section of my trip, they are mostly necessary. I'd been given recommendations to take Hwy 8 or Hwy 10 toward Phoenix, but I picked some 2-lane highways to take me toward Hwy 10 in a more direct line to Phoenix.

If you are following along on your map, I took Hwy 78-East from San Marcos to Hwy 15-North to Hwy 79-South to Hwy 371-North to Hwy 74-East to Hwy 111-South to Hwy 10-East. Whew! Are you dizzy yet?

Hwy 74 was a beautiful winding twisting road through a pretty desert with lots of rocks, shrubs, and outcrops. Lots of motorcyclists were out enjoying a sunny Father's Day ride. The photo above is from the Cahuilla Tawanet overlook. Hwy 74 dropped me into the town of Palm Desert. What a change of scenery. Palm Desert and Indian Springs are possibly the most beautiful and unnatural creations of mankind foisted upon an arid environment. So much green grass you'd think you were in Oregon (except when you spy the barren hills on the horizon.)

Finally I made it to Hwy 10. What a long hot ride to Tempe! I watched the engine temperature carefully, and when it tried to creep above 235 degrees, I had to turn off the air conditioning and roll down the windows to keep the van from overheating. Good thing I didn't waste time going to get a shower this morning!

Arrived at Four Peaks Brewing Company in Tempe around 5:30 pm. Owner-Brewer Andy Ingram was busy enjoying Father's Day with his two kids, so I enjoyed a beer newspaper and a sampler set of 8 beers. Andy then joined me for dinner, and gave me the quick tour. Looks like I'll be able to park within extension cord distance tonight, so I can run Big Buddy's air conditioner. I'm happy about that because most of today's drive was at 109-112 degrees. Four Peaks doesn't have a shower for me, so tomorrow I plan to wash my hair in a 5-gallon pail of warm brewery water. Stay tuned for photos.

P.S. Thank you to Andy Ingram and Four Peaks Brewing Co. for letting me take over his office to update this blog.