We moved.....kind of....

Our Location: Las Cienegas Grassland, Vail, Arizona

 

(yesterday's post)

 

A cool crisp morning but the sun warmed us up rapidly and by 11 AM we had the door open along with the windows and vents. The day warmed up considerably reaching into the low 70's/ 21-23 C from the overnight of 37F/ 3C. We went from shivering to sweating in the course of a couple of hours. Not a complaint, just stating the facts. 

 

Over by those trees nearest to us is our old spot. Cheryl, Beth & Hubby are in those rigs over there across the road. Cheryl  has a van with a utility trailer behind and Beth & Hubby have the big 5'er.

 

Our driveway is now just past that water hole to the left. It is a 30 second walk from the old spot.

 

We changed our minds and instead of going into town we stayed home and rested. A good call on our part as Nick & Pattie (from Nevada but I can't remember the name of the town) who occupied the big spot next door were packing up and heading out. Riley and I walked over to chat with them for a few minutes and learned they are pretty new to this whole thing. Only had the camper a few months. We chatted about various things and soon they headed out for home to get a few things worked on, fixed and bought before they give the boon docking another try. I'm sure they will continue in the future, they were pretty excited about the whole experience, but disappointed that things didn't work better this time. We wished them well and a safe journey before hurrying back the hundred or so feet to our spot and starting to pack up for a move. 

 

Much bigger spot. Closer to the back it is not very level so we opted for half way through.

As you can see it's a huge spot.

 

We are pretty quick to pack up but I grabbed our leveling blocks in the blue bags and walked them over to the spot, putting them in the driveway to signal someone was using the spot. I had just set them down when a silver truck drove by with a lawn chair sitting up in the back of the box (no Granny wasn't in the chair) and they watched me closely as I stood up leaving the the blue bags there, I could see the look on their faces, disappoint. I hustled back home and soon we were hooked up, pulling into the new spot. Much bigger, we can get outside without being in the grass tufts and the trees, the truck is no longer squeezed in beside us. It's all good!!!

 

This is the view out the living room window.

A much nicer space.

 

As we were setting up Cheryl and Beth stopped by. Cheryl is a former truck driver that was parked kitty corner to us in our last spot. She's very friendly and talkative. She offered congratulations on two well done parking jobs. Beth and her husband arrived later Monday afternoon to set up beside Cheryl in the big spot she had blocked off.   Which is the first reason I actually chatted Cheryl to see if it was her stuff in the big pull through beside her or someone else's. 

 

Cheryl, Beth & Hubby over there. You can see we haven't moved far.

 

If we keep going down this road we come to a gate which I think we'll check out today.

 

We were all set up and relaxing before 10:30 AM when it started getting much warmer outside. After that it was a pretty lazy day, we didn't walk but just kind of puttered around doing a few little things. 

 

Just looking around from our yard.

The back of our spot.  Too unlevel to park back here. Plus an ant runway, so we opted to avoid it.

 

The coyotes are very vocal here and active as well. I've heard them at various times through the night both nights we've been here but this morning even after sunrise they were yipping and yapping, I wonder if they pulled down a calf or some other animal. They were pretty excited. The party only lasted a few minutes before they once again went silent. 

 

I think I see a cowboy way off over there, rounding up the cattle or is that just a 'look back in history' idea.

I can't imagine what life was like back in the day when the ranch was a cowboy working ranch.

 

So that was our day, a quick short move into a better location with the same views and the same interesting neighbours. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all had a wonderful day. 

 

Home sweet home for a while. Soon time to get the outside stuff set up. Mat, BBQ, chairs, etc.

 

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

A visit to Parker....

Our Location: Quartzsite, Arizona

I had no trouble dropping off to sleep last night but woke up around 4 am. I cat napped from then until 6 am when I thought the clock said 7 am but alas I was wrong. So here I am starting my post before I read any blogs.

 

It’s pretty quiet here in our new spot except for the coyotes which howled off and on over the evening, sometimes pretty close, some times further away. We have a few things on the agenda for today, nothing major but a couple of little things. One of those things is a trip to Parker since we’ve not been there yet. It will be nice to get out and about to see something new. We haven’t done much exploring here but we’ll eventually get to it. 

 

Sunrise in behind there...can you see it?

I was outside just around 7 am, the horizon was just starting to glow and yet it was still going to be a while before the sun made an appearance. I donned my mini gloves and my fleece sweater to keep me warm and the truth is I needed both until just minutes before the sun came up, I could then unzip my fleece but still kept my gloves in place. 

 

With very few clouds in the sky there wasn’t much to see as the sun came up but it was still pretty nice. The surrounding hillsides heralded the sun’s coming with splashes of light here and there and soon more and more showed off their morning glow until finally the sun showed itself over the top of the mountain. It was a nice start to the day. 

 

I managed to capture a few pictures for this post, some a bit more creative than others. However I did enjoy playing around with the camera so that time spent waiting for the sun to show wasn’t wasted. 

 

Back inside the Igloo, Riley and I confirmed our plans to go to Parker today. Mostly to just get out of the house but also to do a wee bit of shopping. We needed a few grocery items and some other non essential things and opted for a visit to Parker. Since we needed the GPS to find Parker we started with Bella taking us the wrong way out of the BLM land. I knew it was the other way, just instinct I guess but I followed her lead. I will say that it was15 minutes later that we went back past the front driveway we’d recently just left. I managed to find Parker on my own without Bella’s help and found our way home again as well. Some days we all need a little help from our friends and today our US GPS Bella needed our assistance. Not a big deal.

 

I think these may be buds.....

We arrived in Parker and made a couple of stops. One of them being Spanky’s. We checked out his RV furniture and enjoyed the store. Clean, bright, and very big. We found a spice rack that I’ve mounted already to help free up some cupboard space. However the spice rack was all we found there, or at least all we purchased there. 

 

We headed out to Walmart to pick up a few things we needed. We also managed to find some carpet for the steps along with the groceries. We of course forgot the list in the Dogsled but managed to get everything except cotton balls and Lysol Wipes, but of course we also managed to get more than what was on the list. 

 

We have sunrise...

Heading back home we enjoyed a pretty easy drive except for the fella in front of us was pretty irregular in speed and weaving a bit as well. At the next passing lane Riley noticed he was on his cell phone while driving. Now doesn’t that just figure. I should have pulled over and let the big semi behind me settle in on his bumper, that might have gotten his attention. Oh well, we made it home safe and sound before 2 pm.

 

Aren't those just the hairiest legs you've ever seen?

We unloaded the groceries, putting things away, while the chili was heating up. Riley opted for a roast chicken and shrimp that we purchased at Walmart, and I slurped up the remaining chili. It was even better today but now it’s all gone so we’ll have to cook tomorrow. 

 

Flower garden in Parker..

After cleaning up the dishes I truly just didn’t have the energy to do much of anything except sit and read. I even found myself waking up from time to time between pages. Not sure how that happened but it did. 

Shortly after 5 pm I headed outside with the camera to snap some pictures. Not a spectacular sunset but I did manage to get some walking in as I ventured around the neighbourhood looking for good spots to take pictures.

 

 

 

 

As I was heading for the Igloo I heard Riley come outside. She wanted to have a campfire and so I explained how to place the wood, the starter, etc. Before long she had herself a nice little fire. Lasted about a half hour and that was long enough for her. Still warm outside 58F/14C at just about 7 pm. I was even outside in just a little pull on sweater, not my fleece. You know it must be warm if….

 

We liked some nice swivel rocker recliners here...

So there you have it, another day here in Quartzsite. Nothing earth shattering or life altering but we enjoyed it all the same. So thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. We hope your day has been a fantastic one for you. Feel free to leave a comment. 

 

Not much sunset tonight...

Until next time….. take care, be safe, 

 

Riley's fire with Jim's wood.

See that blue coloured flame?

Deb

New place to call home, amazing sunset....

Our Location:  Saddle Mountain BLM Land, Tonopah, Arizona

A trip to the clubhouse last night to post my blog, no one was there. It was quiet but the net lagged so I used my own jet pack to post but for just doing face book and email the free wifi was great. 

The view out our front door.

Up this morning around 4 am, think I'm finished sleeping for the day. Read some blogs, made some comments, did a little internet surfing.  The coyotes are howling at 5:30 am, not yapping, just howling. Sound pretty far off in the distance but who knows. 

Coyotes hanging around Why Not Travel Store

Not as cool this morning as it has been lately. The wind has died away now and that's always helpful with over night temps too. Today is moving day so we'll be up and about earlier than usual. Or at least Riley will be, I'm usually up between 4 - 6 am here. 

HRH Miss Kitty

I think I'm kind of getting used to the time zone thing. I'm usually an early riser back in Ontario as well. At 4 am here it is 6 am back there, which is usually when I'm getting out of bed at our summer location. I'm out the door, walking the 1/4 or so mile to Dad's house for morning coffee by 6:15 am. I think the 4 am thing makes me tired just thinking about being up so early. Know what I mean?

Near Buckeye, Arizona, very green....

We left Coyote Howls East around 8:30 am, after dumping and dropping our tag off at the office. As we just finished dumping George popped around the corner to wish us safe and happy travels. Bye George, safe travels ahead for you and Suzie!!

Barry Goldwater Air Force Range area....

 
We stopped around the corner at the Why Not Travel Store for propane, filling our two small cylinders. It took just about the same as the big tank did, and we were happy to leave with all four propane cylinders full.  Two coyotes hanging around the gas pumps weren’t easily scared away and kept returning hoping for a hand out. They were still there when I last looked in my rear view mirror. 

Look more like jagged teeth and mountains.

We pass through the little town of Ajo (Ah -ho) and continued along AZ-85 toward Gila Bend, (He - la) we were enjoying the amazing scenery. We passed through the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range and the mountains were literally standing on end, looking more like jagged teeth than anything else. It was an amazing sight to see. 

Standing on end ....

We neared the suburb of Buckeye (out laying area of Phoenix) and missed the turn for Salome Hwy, but no worries we just picked up I-10 toward Los Angeles. The interstate isn’t the smoothest ride we’ve been on but it wasn’t the worst either. Lots of big trucks passing us by at a very high rate of speed. 

Medium between the two roads....

We pulled off in the little area of 441 Ave in Tonopah. I was surprised there was no public area with an outdoor spigot and we finally asked at a fuel station if we could fill with water and they agreed. Seems they are all on wells in this area. Another time I’d fill in Buckeye, I’m sure it would have some where public to fill up. Needless to say we will be frequenting that fuel stop while in this area. 

We aren't far away now....

Off we headed down the road looking for Courthouse Road. From there it was easy to find the BLM land at the base of Saddle Mountain. We checked out all three roads and settled in the first spot we had liked on the first road taken. Isn’t that just the way?  We have a strong AT&T signal here, and first thing after setting up and starting the Weber to heat up,  I called my Dad, chatted for 15 minutes. 

Sunset shining on the mountain behind us...

We have an amazing spot with a breath taking view out our side door, and all around us in fact but the view out the door is truly the reason we picked the spot. We can see I-10 from our location but can’t hear a thing. A few noises here and there like shooting or something way off, but nothing to bother us. We have a huge site all to ourselves, with our nearest neighbour more than shouting distance away. 

Looking toward the north east....

We went for a walk after lunch, I have no idea how much distance we covered but we were gone for about an hour. When we returned home I started doing some clean up around our site but broke my little folding rake so I had to stop. I’ll pick one up in Buckeye on our trip in there and continue at another time. The roads here are pretty good, with a few that are unfit for long rigs to traverse but they are far back near the base of the mountain.  I think these roads join each other back at the base of the mountain and aren't necessary to travel as each road can be reached from Courthouse Road. The only other issue of any kind might be the exit from the hardtop to the dirt road. Like most of the BLM lands I’ve driven in so far there is quite a lip from the flat surface to the dirt road. However there are a number of different kinds, shapes and heights of vehicles here including some large and small motor homes, some tow behind campers and of course a few 5’ers as well. As they all seem to be parked and staying perhaps the lip is not a problem. Lots of spots, most of them are pretty good, maybe need a wee bit of leveling but nothing too drastic. 

The sun is heading down....

We’ve seen no evidence of coyotes but I’m certain they are around. It’s quiet, peaceful and inspiring. As it is BLM land we can only stay 14 days but according to a fellow we chatted with, no one has been around to check and he’s been in the area for a while. I didn’t ask what a while is but it sounded like at least a week. 

Sinking further and further...

It is now 5:40 pm, the sun has gone down and I’m still sitting outside in shorts but with a fleece sweater typing my post. The windows and vents are shut but the big door is open. The temp reads 63F/ 17C. Not a bad way to spend our first evening here. 

Streaks of red in the night sky...

Our first impression, excellent. I’ll let you know in a few days if our first impressions were correct but I’ll tell you right now I can hear absolutely NO noise from any of the rigs parked here. We can’t hear the Interstate and nothing except maybe a few crickets. Should be nice sleeping here.

Sunset over the Dogsled and Igloo

So there you have it, our travel day. We left Why, Arizona around 9 am and arrived  at Tonopah, Arizona right around 11:30 am. We traveled a bit over 100 miles/ 160 km. It took us a while to select a site, set up and set the Igloo to ‘home’ status again. However I was cooking lunch and chatting with my Dad by 2:15 pm. The drive was easy, no major towns, or no major interchanges to deal with and it was scenic as well.

The last gasp.....

Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment.

Until next time…take care, be safe,

Deb