For the last stretch of my trip, I would be staying on the outskirts of Phoenix until Dan flew back two weeks later. Then we would spend the last of our time before heading home in Sedona with some friends and for a work meeting.
Leaving Saguaro National Park, I stopped in Oro Valley on the way towards Scottsdale to shower at the Planet fitness and do a Target resupply. I was eyeing an iOverlander site near there which was right off the highway. I tried to find it, but it was so dark I could not even see the road I needed to turn on. I got a bit scared and kept going down the road. I found another spot on Trust Land along highway 79 that I felt a lot better about. I stayed there and set up Starlink for the morning to get some work done. After morning meetings, I drove to Apache Junction to do laundry and finish work for the day. After finishing chores and work, I drove about 20 minutes west into the Tonto National Forest to find camping for the night. It was 20 minutes in the opposite direction of where I needed to go the next day, but I wanted a peaceful place to sleep. I did not want to get too far off route, so I went to the first pull off marked on iOverlander. It was a big spot right off the highway, which was not busy but motorcycles and fast cars went through there pretty quickly and loudly. The spot was big but not very flat and pretty rugged. No one else was there at first until a jeep joined me and parked to watch the sunset. I woke up at 6am for meetings and to drive back to civilization. When I took my window covers off I found 2 vans and a small car joined me for camping.
First Week in McDowell Mountain Regional Park
I drove to Fountain Hills to do errands and park at Safeway to work for a while. Sometime after 1pm I drove to McDowell Mountain Regional Park where I would camp at the Ironwood campground until Friday. After I checked in and finished work for the day, I hiked from camp to the showers just to check them out. The showerhouse was at the Pemberton Trailhead, not the campground. There was a block of showers under construction at the campground but they were not open yet. I really enjoyed my time here, but it would have been perfect if the campground showers were open.
The next day and a half it rained the whole time so I hung out in the van working. I was able to get a little more hiking and running in that week, but it was mostly working in the van.
Weekend in Tonto National Forest
After work on Friday, I drove to the Arizona Train (AZT) Mcfarland trailhead in the Tonto National Forest. I camped at the trailhead and prepared for a nice out and back on the AZT the next day. I did a hike called the McFarland Canyon Out and Back on Hiking Project – described as a nice overnighter – as a long day hike. There were a few other groups I saw closer to the trailhead, but it was a pretty quiet and remote day overall.
After the hike, I opted to check out a new area and headed to another iOverlander spot in the Tonto National Forest on Theodore Roosevelt Lake. The next day I drove to the Tonto National Monument. It was a short hike to the cliff dwellings there.
After that, I hung out at their pretty picnic area with a lake view for several hours, which I mostly had to myself. I did some exercises, had a picnic, did some journaling, and relaxed.
Next I parked near the Dam and walked around the lake and then moved to the other side of the bridge where you can access the AZT and did another short hike.
I found a great campsite with a lake view and cell service. I stayed there all day to work the next day and hiked on the gravel road from there.
Back to McDowell Mountain Regional Park then Sedona
I camped the rest of the week at McDowell Mountain Regional Park again with better weather this time. I was able to get a couple of bike rides and a long run in this time.
Dan flew back on the 16th, along with some other friends who we met in Sedona for the weekend before a work meeting. From Sedona, we drove to Paige to meet for a tour of Antelope Canyon. You can only visit the canyon on a guided tour. It was a cool experience, but it was totally a massive amount of people getting shuffled through to get the “perfect” picture.
We also stopped to check out Horseshoe Bend. It was also touristy and you had to pay a small amount per car to park, but you could walk around on your own. We even did some scrambling around.
We were still staying in the van, but parked at an AirBnb in Sedona where our friends were staying. We could access hiking trails from the neighborhood and we hiked to the Seven Sacred Pools and an alcove off Soldiers Pass.
Our hike was followed by a delicious and boozy brunch at Creekside Restaurant, Sedona shopping, and back to the AirBnB for dinner. The next day we went on pink jeep off road tours as part of the work meeting our friend group was there for, followed by days of meetings.
After the meeting was over we stopped for a day in Santa Fe, NM to visit a dear friend.
And then tried to beat the snow storm home. But the weather was trying to keep us west. The moisture in the air was freezing to our windshield and it was no match for the van’s defrost in the 5 degree F weather. We stopped at a gas station and got some rubbing alcohol which we put on the windshield to help with the ice accumulation. Dan drove through the night and then we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for a morning nap just outside of St Louis, MO. After we got up, we fueled up, got some Starbucks and back to cruising the interstate. We were just driving along and out of nowhere the van lost power and would not go over about 50 mph. We pulle off the interstate and turned off and restarted the van and tried to drive some more on back roads. The check engine light came on so we went to an O’Reillys to get the error code checked. The code had something to do with the turbocharger and we called roadside assistance to get advice. It was a Saturday and a major snow storm was just starting. The closest Mercedes was back in St Louis and although normally open on Saturdays, it was already closed due to the storm. Roadside assistance suggested finding a place to camp nearby until Monday and then getting a tow back to St Louis. They said it was safe to drive on backroads for a short distance but not to drive more than 30ish miles and stay on backroads. Our dog was boarded back home and we both had work to get home to, so we decided to get a tow to St Louis that day, drop the van at the closed dealership with a key box, Uber to the airport where the only car rental was open, and continue towards home.
The roads continually got worse, as did our sleep deprived mental state. We ended up pulling off to stay in a hotel in north Evansville, IN. We finally got some sleep but woke up to three feet of snow and snowed in at a cigarette smelling Super 8 hotel room. The snow continued into the afternoon and the side street to the hotel wasn’t cleared until then. We did finally get back out and back home around midnight when we had to break the ice and dig out the driveway before we could park. It has been nearly a month since then and we are still figuring out everything with the van. We ended up having to go back to St Louis twice to pick her up. The first time, the dealership said the van was fixed and we were still in the original rental car. We dropped the rental at the airport and got a ride with the Mercedes shuttle. We picked up the van and barely made it over the state line before the van went into limp mode again. Following the previous advice, we got off the interstate and routed ourselves back to Mercedes on backroads. The check engine light had not come back on, it just would not drive over 50 mph. However, by the time we were close to the dealership again the van would barely drive after stopping at red lights and sounded like it was about to stall every time we stopped. They were confused when we came back in. We grabbed some lunch while they checked it out again, hoping it was something small that was missed that needed to reset.
We were all shocked when they realized that there had been gas in the diesel tank. It had now been a week since we last got fuel and the van had been driven quite a bit and our diesel heater ran for several hours and none of the professionals, from road side assistance to Mercedes, realized what happened. After the realization, they told us that there had been fuel stations in the area that had fuel types mixed in their tanks. After checking records we did identify that the last station we went to was a BP, so it also could have been an accident due to their green handles on regular gas. We still have not figured that out, but Mercedes did successfully flush the fuel system and our girl is running fine. She is now at a Winnebago service center to evaluate any damage to the house heater. Fingers crossed all will be well and she’ll be back home soon.
Then came the warning light, the loss of power, and the slow realization that the final leg would be the hardest of all. Snow piled high. Sleep ran thin. And the fix was something no one expected. Adventure rarely ends where you plan it to—but it often leaves you stronger than when you began.
What began as an unusually smooth and sunlit winter—miles of open desert, quiet camps, steady workdays, and strong legs on long trails—eventually demanded its counterweight. The final stretch reminded us that ease and challenge rarely exist in isolation; they trade places when we least expect it. The same season that gave us stillness, solitude, and wide horizons also delivered snowdrifts, warning lights, and hard decisions made on little sleep. In its own way, that balance feels honest. The road gave generously, and then it tested us. And perhaps that is the rhythm of both travel and life—periods of flow, followed by resistance, each sharpening our gratitude for the other.
