2nd post today....

 

 

Our Location: 

North of MM 4, Ogilby Road, Winterhaven, California

 

A much different day today. Rain overnight and some early this morning, very cool and damp today. Possibility of more rain later in the day. I do however see some blue sky peeking out here and there. Hopefully it clears up and things are warmer. 

 

We were riding a ridge top. You can see it's not very smooth in the desert.

You can see the road way over to the right and a bit lower down.

We went over in the direction after a while.

We followed the ridge top for a long way.

Chatted with Janet last night for a while. Things are going well. Chatted with dad as well, seems like colder weather and more snow are on the way for them. Well it is still winter up there on the Rock. 

 

So many layers and colours.

We eventually ended up driving not far from those lighter colours of sand. Long way to get there.

No photo can do this justice.

A bit of a wider view than the pic above.

More photos of my ride with Jerry. I hope you are enjoying the trip. 

 

The roads were rough in places but the views made it all worth while.

Lots of cholla and ocotillos.

Rough country, glad I wasn't walking.

We are heading down that opening in the hills.

 A quick storm rushed through this afternoon, lasted for about 15 minutes. The sky was very dark, the wind picked up quickly and the rain fell for about 30 seconds before it started to hail along with the rain. A few photos for you to see. 

 

The white dots are hail.

You can see hail on the mat.

Lots of water fell in a short period.

You can see the water rushing by, not deep but fast.

Hail by the fire pit.

 

Until next time....

 

Take care, stay safe, 

 

Deb

  

Dinner out, friends, no bangs....

Our Location: Empire Ranch, Vail, Arizona

 

We are enjoying our time here at the ranch, despite the wind and the cool temperatures. Although we are battening down the hatches so to speak, as the beginning of the week doesn't look very nice, but after that things improve greatly. So we think we will be hanging out here until a week tomorrow. 

 

All of today's photos were taken with my  phone. 

 

 

 That is us down there.

 A bit of a closer look. Blurry due to cropping a phone photo.

 The sea of grass goes on and on and on. 

 

We waited Friday to see what would happen with the 'bird placing' but we didn't see anyone at all. Late Friday night a truck turned around in the space just in front of the nose of the Igloo and a motorhome once again came back to the turning loop, but nothing else happened. 

 

 

 That is the main road into the ranch, the kiosk I mentioned is behind the tree on the left. 

 I love the natural plants that grow in the desert. 

 

Saturday morning we held off on a few things expecting to see all of these birders come along and tell us to move. One vehicle showed up and parked for about 20 minutes, and before 9 am he left too. The big shoot must have taken place elsewhere on the ranch because there wasn't a single sound here in our neighbourhood. The motor home and the Igloo were the only excitement here. Just before 2 pm our area got really busy with rigs coming from further back in the ranch. I would guess that the shoot was taking place not far from their area and the noise drove them out. That is a guess of course but I'll have to wander up and chat with Brian and Trish (met them on Friday) to see why they came back to this area. 

 

 

 

Riley and I were invited to dinner last night at Deb & Tom's ( Celebrating the Dance ). We had a fantastic time, the meal was excellent but the company is always the highlight. We laughed, we chattered, we had an excellent time. Thanks for dinner folks!! 

 Sometimes those rolling hills end like this, a sudden drop into a wash.

Can you see the pronghorn up there on the ridge? I was out for a walk and he ran across in front of me but at a long distance. Since I only had my phone, this was the best I could do.

Riley and I chatted on the way home about the many times we've driven after dark this year, which is something we very seldom do even at our summer location. A total of 5 times already when normally it's zero. We haven't had trouble finding our way (except one time with Doug, it took us a few minutes to find the correct road) like we did last year at Q.  

 Deb, Tom & Riley

Riley centered between the Debs. 

 

A birthday wish to my future son in law David as he celebrates the big number 30 today. David is a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan (hockey for those that don't know) but wasn't yet born the last time they won the cup. I guess that's what you call a die hard. Happy Birthday David. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all had a wonderful couple of days. 

Until next time.. take care, be safe, 

Deb

 

A short stroll yesterday....

Our Location: Saddle Mountain BLM, Tonopah, AZ

 

 

A couple of R & R days for us. This cough is lingering and making me tired but I think I've pretty much gotten past the half way mark as I think I'm coughing less and getting a bit more energy again. Only an hour nap today. 

 

 

 

 

All of today's photos EXCEPT the sunset photos were taken yesterday morning on a short stroll that I managed. A small hill not far away was the point that I decided I couldn't go any more and turned around to come home and fall into bed for a nap. The sunset photos were taken from my chair out the dirty window at sunset last night. 

 

 

Texting with Doug (Miss Adventure Travels) every day, it seems like we are both getting over this cough like thing, although I think he may have something different. Mine isn't a cold or flu, simply a cough, which of course makes my throat sore and my head ache, but I have no congestion, fever or runny nose. I'm trying to stay away from everyone to keep this thing to myself but I think Miss Riley may be coming down with it as she's now starting to sound a bit like me. 

Today we had some sun, some cloud, some wind, some rain and then some more sun, with the clouds slipping away and the wind dying down again. The temps dropped rapidly losing 10 degrees in about 30 minutes.

I'm sure some of you may remember the above saguaro from last years photos. It is located not far from us and it was the purpose of my stroll yesterday. I wanted to see if it was still doing well as it appears to be fading from a nice green to a yellowish colour. It appears to be about the same as last year. It is located very near a number of power lines but I'm not convinced that is what has caused it's interesting growth as the other saguaros in the area do not appear to be like this one. It must be extremely old and I'm sure the stories it could tell would amaze us all. 

The photos show the difference in the desert floor and the edges, as well as the sides of the mountains by the different colour of green. If you look careful in the photo just above this paragraph you can see the odd shaped saguaro at the very edge of the tower. 

 

Some colour in the desert as well.  I'm not going to make it back to the box canyon this year for a couple of reasons but I'm sure the colours there are starting to show too.  I've missed the hiking here but it just wasn't meant to be this year.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have all had a wonderful day. 

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

Deb