Busy day today.....

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

(The last of my hiking photos)

 

 

A nice warm night in the history of our time here, we stayed above 50F/10C all night, yeah us. The sky didn’t look too promising this morning and so we decided to do a rainy day thing and do some errands. Little did we know that the day would turn out very warm, full of sunshine and spectacular.
 

The snow on that mountain peak is now gone.

 

After a ham quesadilla (of course with many other things as well, blended cheeses, salsa, celery, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and eggs too) for breakfast we loaded up the water jugs, garbage and ourselves heading toward Buckeye. I had an errand that wasn’t on the list but it was the first thing we did, I had the Big Dog’s tires rotated, I’ve been meaning to do it for a while now and today I just made up my mind. From there we headed off to Walgreens for water from their nice outside dispenser, and then to Fry’s for fuel ($2.65 per gallon), and some groceries. After that it was a Walmart stop for haircuts, and numerous other things, including groceries. We managed to find most things on the list and enjoyed the exercise. 

Not sure if it's a Saguaro family or a single, I didn't go check it out.

 

Heading home we veered off of I-10 before we reached our Tonopah exit and instead jumped off at Wintersburg exit. They have a Dollar General and I wanted to pick some cleaner that our friend Lorne (A Place Called Away) mentioned. We found it in the big bottles but not in the spray bottle. No problem we’ll just use one of our empty ones. After that it was home and time to unload the Dogsled. 

The shadows make the views so interesting.

 

When we got home the Igloo was swarming with flies, inside and out even before we got the groceries and water inside. We managed to get the groceries away and then I started with the swatter and the Raid can. I don’t normally use any bug spray but this was ridiculous, as it was last night just after dark, they seemed to find a way inside. So I closed the bedroom doors, vents, and windows, sprayed everywhere, and most especially around the slides. We didn’t spray in the living room/kitchen area as I don’t like doing so around food. Eventually I think we got most of them and then settled down to eat, do you know it was 4:30 pm? Where did the day go?

It's gravel or sand on those rocks.

 

After about an hour I opened the doors and vents to air the spaces out and sure enough it seemed to have done the trick. This evening I took the swatter outside and started around the door and took the spray to the underside of the slides again. Hopefully that helps us tonight. It’s crazy the number of flies here.

Look at all that yellow, it's all flowers.

 

So there you have it, our busy day and it was very busy. We hope you enjoyed your day where ever you were and doing whatever you were doing. Thanks for stopping by. 

Nothing quite like this view.

 

Until next time… take care, be safe,

Deb

End of the rain.....

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

(yesterday’s post)

More rain this morning, we’re beginning to think we may need pontoons if this keeps up. Maybe some life jackets or perhaps just some water wings will do the trick. The morning is a  repeat of yesterday, cold, dreary, rainy and windy. We’ve already made plans for today and are in no hurry. We enjoyed a hot drink, catching up with friends and then we start collecting things we need to take with us. Water jugs, garbage, return for Walmart and soon we are out the door heading for Buckeye. 

 

A gloomy type of day. I didn't enhance or brighten this picture. This how the day looked.

 

We stop to see if Jeannie needs any thing before we head into town. She doesn’t but she’s thinking of packing up and heading on to Catalina State Park where she is  meeting friends from back home on Sunday. Too miserable to ride here is her comment. So we wave goodbye and off we go toward Buckeye. 

 

Patches of blue showed through only to get lost and pop back out again.

 

Rain, puddles and grooves in the pavement make the drive interesting but uneventful. Our first stop is Love’s Truck Center to dump our garbage in their big cans. From there we head on down to Walgreens on Watson Blvd only to find the water dispensing machine is on strike and won’t take our money. No problem there are other spots around too.

 

If you look closely you can see water running down the mountain. Not much but some.

 
We head off to Fry’s Grocery just because we want to and enjoy the shopping experience. We like Fry’s, they have some amazing sales but the quality of their products and the friendly staff are what brings us back. Their stores are always wonderfully presented and while some of the aisles are a bit tight if it’s busy, there isn’t tons of stuff stuck in the aisles. I like that nice clean look.

 

Do you see the cowboy beside the Saguaro off in the distance? He's out our side window.

 

From Fry’s we headed off to Walmart to get a few things and return a pan we bought on our last trip there. I didn’t take a picture but we bought a flat pan with no sides for making grilled cheese sandwiches, burritos, etc. We already have one and like it very much so thought the second one would also be handy and it was a bit smaller which we liked too. After using it one time I couldn’t get it clean. Along one side of the pan there was a black mark that just wouldn’t come off. So we wanted to return it since I knew it wouldn’t get any better. While returning the pan I asked if anyone had turned in a couple of lost items, a pair of shoes and some wall ornaments. I pointed to the receipt and told her when we arrived home we couldn’t find them. Do you know it was my lucky day, someone had indeed turned them in last week. We did the return for the pan and she told me to go get the replacement items and come back. (Did you know you don’t have to wait in line for customer service if they tell you come back? I didn’t know that until the lady noticed me in line and waved me to the front and told me never wait in line when we’ve told you to return with the items. Another win for me as the line was moving slowly and quite long.) With the replacement items in hand stuffed in a bag at Customer Service I then headed off to find Riley. She had been filling our water jugs at Walmart’s water dispensing machine. 

It's not really a cowboy but it looks like one.

 

We pulled out our trust list and proceeded to find the necessary items and tossing in a few things that didn’t make the list. You know how that goes, you can’t remember if you need one or not but lets just be certain that we don’t and so you toss one in the cart. Soon you have about a dozen ‘you toss one in the cart’ items that weren’t on the list. If you don’t do that you are much more organized shopper than I am. Even with my list in hand I do  it, I think it’s a habit left over from living in a house when one has tons of storage space and where one isn’t the only cook.

This dark cloud threatened but didn't drop anything on the Igloo but a few drops. I think it probably dumped on the other folks in Saddle Mountain BLM though.

 We loaded everything in the Dogsled and headed his nose westward toward the Igloo. A stop in Wintersburg had us with two fully loaded up propane tanks, one big, one little for less than $38 USD. Can’t complain about those prices. That’s about the same price for an exchange of a big tank back in Ontario (when you add in the exchange), which means the little one was free. We travel with two big tanks (in the Igloo) and two small tanks. We use the small ones for the heater and the BBQ and if necessary I can use them for the Igloo as well. I noted they too have a water filling station but it’s more expensive than in town. In town is $1.50 for 5 gallons, $0.35 per gallon. In Wintersburg it is $2 for 5 gallons and $0.50 per gallon. Not outrageous prices but just a bit more.

The blue sky and the sun makes it look so much nicer and it's promising good things for the days ahead.

 As we crossed the cattle guard and headed toward the Igloo I noticed the paddock was down and Jeannie was hooked up and loaded up. She came out to the road and we talked for a few minutes about things. Magic the white Arabian seems to be catching cold and she wants to find a vet, she thought the Pima County Fairgrounds might be able to help her with that so she was headed there. Catalina State Park is closed due to flooding and so she will meet her friends elsewhere. We wished her well, safe travels and all that stuff before heading up the road to home.

 

Blue skies on every side of us now.

 

By the time we had the groceries inside, and the propane tanks all hooked back up Miss Jeannie was on the road and heading east toward the cut off for Gila Bend. Nice lady I hope we meet her again sometime in our travels and we just might. 

 

It looks like we're getting rid of all the clouds soon.

 

The rest of the day was spent putting things away, reading and resting. Of course I’m sure you all know the sun came out by the time we had the groceries away. The skies cleared and  the sun set was visible. A wonderful sight after the last few days without one. 

A rare sight here in the desert these last couple of days.

 

A busy day that we enjoyed. We hope you enjoyed your day where ever you may have been and doing whatever it is you were doing. Thanks for stopping by.

 

A wonderful end to a dreary day.

 

Until next time…. take care, be safe,


Deb

Another quiet day....

Our Location: Saddle Mountain BLM, Tonopah, Arizona


A bit cooler last night, sleeping with the vent open was okay but made it quite cool in the Igloo when I got out from under the covers around 7:30 am. Oh well, it warmed up quick enough once the shades were open. Since no one is near we open up all the shades including the day shades until the Igloo warms up then we close the ones on the west side, including the night shades, helps keep the Igloo from getting stifling hot in the afternoon. 

 

Cute General Store

 

Riley still isn’t feeling well so I left her at home and headed out alone. I kind of wandered around and I think I found a place to get rid of our garbage. There is a transfer station  on Salome Hwy and while it’s closed until Wednesday I think we can pay to dump our garbage there.

 

There is a house up there. Can tell they get no slippery weather.

 

I toured along and noticed a number of sights but since it’s just me I couldn’t take pictures as I drove, I did try once or twice but managed to get the sky. So needless to say, there are no pics of my adventure this morning. I ended up back in Buckeye but found a dump station (Love’s Truck Stop), it’s pay of course but I don’t know how much. You can fill your water tank for free if you dump. I also found a place to fill our drinking water jugs for 30 cents per gallon. A Walgreens on Watson Road in Buckeye has a machine outside on the sidewalk. So that’s also a good thing to know. I wandered around Lowe’s for a while, and drove around the area a bit. I’ve found a better way into Buckeye than taking the interstate. I’ll try it out next time I go. I stopped at Wintersburg General Store on my way into Buckeye, just a cute little spot with reasonable prices. I also stopped at the Tonopah Post Office to mail a few things as well. 

The beginning of sunset

Back home I unloaded the truck of our drinking water, changed into short pants, made myself a salad, heated up the soup and enjoyed lunch while Miss Riley is napping. She sounds pretty stuffy and miserable. A couple more days and she’ll be on the mend. I hate colds.

 

It was actually very red....

Warm today a high of 75F/ 23C, with bright blue skies but a slight wind. I’m going to pass on the walk today, with Riley sleeping I’m more comfortable sticking around, not that we’re uncomfortable here but until we’ve been here a while I don’t want to leave her alone too often or too long. 

 

Looks like the sky is molten lava...doesn't it?

She finally stirred around 2:40 pm and roused herself enough to have some soup and toast. She’s feeling a bit better but a cold is a cold. She has no energy and so she spent the rest of her time just resting and reading. I too spent my time reading and doing a little research as well.
 

Awesome...

 

Around sunset time I headed outdoors, talking to my Dad for a bit, and chatted with his sister Aunt Shirley for a while as well. While chatting I was snapping sunset pics too. After that I decided I’d have a little fire outside and so for about 20 minutes had our first campfire, burned a little bit of brush I’d collected and enjoyed the friendly reminder of our summer time campfires.

 

Those lights are along I-10

I snapped a few pics out of doors after dark, some turned out, and of course some didn’t. Oh well, it was an enjoyable exercise anyway. 

 

A little campfire.

 

So there you have it, our quiet day. We like these kinds of days with no agenda and just lots of quiet time. Visitors are great, chatting is nice but quiet time is something we truly enjoy.  We spend a lot of time reading and just sitting watching the world go by. It’s a tough job but we’ll take one for the team and do it. 

 

The End....

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit.

Until next time…take care, be safe…


Deb