A photo kind of day....

Our Location: Empire Ranch, Vail, Arizona

 

The bad weather hasn't really happened. A little rain, with a few pellets of snow, and of course the wonderful ever present wind with huge gusts that would rock us a bit. We pulled the slides in about half way for the entire day and night. This morning there is little wind but it will rise as the day goes on. Looking around the neighbourhood. 

 

 Riley noticed this rainbow yesterday. 

 If you look closely to the left you will see it was a double rainbow. The outside rainbow is very dim. 

 

 They moved the big machines in yesterday to continue to remove a lot of scrub trees. 

 Can you see them better now? 

Lots of clouds over there.

 

 

 The rig on the top is at the far edge of the group site and furthest away from us. The two below on the right are friends and friends of the top photo (Air Stream), as well as the rig(another Air Stream) that can't be seen because it is behind the motor home in the left hand photo. The bottom left is the Air Stream directly across the road from us, you can see the Igloo nose in the photo. These folks have 4 kids. The photo on the bottom right shows the final rig on this stretch of road and he is way off in the distance near the kiosk. Earlier before I took these photos there was another motor home in the turning loop by the water tanks which are south of us and van parked between the guy way far off and the first Air Stream.

 

 

 It was an interesting sky off in the distance yesterday in the late afternoon.

 For all that darkness, we didn't get much of anything here. 

This morning it looks much less ominous but still not sunny and bright. 

I snapped this as I looked out the door. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

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

Deb 

Wagoner, Oklahoma....

Our Location:  Walmart, Wagoner, Oklahoma

We both slept well after we fell asleep and didn’t wake up until after 7 am. Rare for me but I needed the rest I guess. We did a few little chores, which included me unhooking to fuel up the Dogsled. It’s easier to do it this way sometimes and the gas bar was tight quarters so I was an extra 10 minutes hooking and unhooking before we started off. Tomorrow we’ll do the same thing. 

The green is showing, I think spring might be coming soon.

 

We headed off on I-40 East once again and enjoyed our drive today. We actually enjoyed the slightly overcast skies and then some brief sunshine which was once again swallowed up by the clouds. We had no rain and a slight wind but nothing much and it was a nice quiet uneventful travel day. We all like those kinds of travel days.

We stopped a couple of times to stretch and check things over but all was good. We found that I-40 EAST in the stretch we travelled today doesn’t have a lot of rest areas, we stopped at the only two we saw. We may have missed one but I don’t think so. 

 

We passed through Oklahoma City this morning on our travels. 

  

Today we travelled about 250 miles/ 402 KM, most of it on I-40 E. The road was okay but rough in some places, humpy, bumpy and down right ugly in a few others. The roads in Oklahoma leave a lot to be desired.

We passed through numerous Indian reservations including Creek, Kickapoo, Cherokee and a number of others. They all seem to have a small casino in their midst. None were big splashy buildings just small dark structures that one could spend a great deal of time and money in if they so desired.

 

We passed by Tinker AFB and this is one of the many planes on display. 

 

At exit 264B near the town of Checotah, OK we hung a right on to US 69 North and headed toward Muskogee. We changed our minds about stopping there for the night and headed past to Wagoner, which is where we are now. It wasn’t too much past Muskogee and we’re closer to our destination tomorrow. We are both happy about that. I will say that US 69 N is rough in some places, grooved and not the best travelling but the towns are the worst. The rest of road seems to be no worse than others we’ve travelled but not great. However we aren’t doing it for long or far, so it’s not a big deal. 

 

We pulled in at the Walmart around 2 pm local time and parked near the end of the lot. We visited The Dollar Tree, an ATM, and Walmart just to pass some time and get a bit of walking as well. A call to my dad to let him know we are safe and off the road for the night. He was happy to hear from us. 

Near Tinker AFB. Not sure what the hat is on the yellow one.

 

Tomorrow we move on to our destination and meet up with our good friends. We are excited about that and are looking forward to it. We have less than 80 miles/ 129 km to go. 

 

Blossoms along the way today.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

Don't ya love the name of this road? Haha. It was Lake Eufaula.

 

Until next time… take care, be safe,

Deb

Merry Christmas.....

Our Location:  Near Borrego Springs, CA


Merry Christmas to everyone! We noticed Santa streaking across the sky in the wee hours, or at least I assume it was Santa, he seemed to be doing a zig zag pattern as I watched and truly the low flying object wasn’t an airplane or they had decorated it with antlers for the holiday season. 

Christmas morning Sunrise, Borrego Springs, California

The moon on Christmas Morning.

 

Morning found a few rain drops falling, just a patter, patter, patter, nothing too much. The wind has picked up and has been pretty steady most of the day. Not a lot of wind but enough to make us know it’s around.
 

Out the living room window.

 

The morning sun playing in the fog/clouds. 

 

A few morning pictures of the sunrise before starting to call back to the winter wonder land that is Ontario. Calls to Rick & Barb, Dad, Jan & Rick, Bradey & David, Courtney & Matt, Linda & Randy and Janet & Dennis here in California all filled a few hours this morning. Snow on Manitoulin Island, a few fine flurries in Lively, nothing in Castor Centre nor Toronto/Hamilton area. Seems Santa found his way to the homes of the above mentioned and it seems they fooled him for another year by being on the ‘good’ list. Either Santa can’t read or he’s getting some bad information regarding which lists some of these folks should be listed on!

Can you see the rainbow?

This is a different rainbow.

 

Riley and I had no plans of any kind and so we just kind of lazed about. No hikes today, a day off. We did journey into Borrego Springs and sure enough there were things open, a gas station, a grocery store, a convenience store and the laundromat had folks in it as well. A quick stop at Christmas Circle to rid us of some smelly trash had us seeing numerous leaves on the green grass. The wind has been tearing them off the trees there. It looked so odd to see them as the grass is usually pristine with nothing marring it’s beauty.

Fog and clouds hung in and around the mountain tops for most of the morning.

Love the shades, shadows and the rainbow as well.

 

 The day was overcast until about 2 pm. We had some rain for 10 minutes, nothing too much but one would have been damp had they been outside in it. The clouds/fog in the mountain tops kept me snapping photos off and on all day. The sun playing it’s wonders with shadow and shade on the mountains also kept me amused. We witnessed at least 2 different rainbows as well. Lots of pictures today. 

 

I love the sunlight in this picture.

 

Such a difference in the mountains depending on the light.

 

Riley and I played Battleship this afternoon for an hour or so. It’s a new game for us and Riley is working at the strategy of the game. We were going to take it with us into town and play a game or two at the tables in Christmas Circle but the wind and over cast skies kept us from doing so. Perhaps tomorrow or another day.

One could almost imagine that might snow way up there on the mountain top, but it isn't.

This looking toward Rockhouse Road, those mountains are usually dark and stately.

  

Lunch was a salad of course, followed by mashed potatoes, stuffing and ham. We had no desire to do anything much and we were quite happy with our limited menu. We of course had Strawberry Jello to finish off the meal. Simple easy lunch. 

Amazing the difference sun, fog, clouds and shadow's make.

The same mountains as above.

 After that we read, watched out the window and just enjoyed the peace of the afternoon. So a very quiet Christmas here in Borrego Springs, California. I hope you all had a most joyous day no matter where you are or who you are with. Great family, good friends, health, love, peace, a roof over your head, and food in your belly. What else could we ask for? 

The sun is starting it's descent.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.
 

It slips behind the horizon.

 

Until next time…take care, be safe,

 

The fire is fading.

 

Deb