Hustle, bustle, nice walk and beautiful sunset...

Our Location: Saddle Mountain BLM, Tonopah, Arizona

A cool night again, right near the freezing mark. The day didn’t dawn with bright blue skies, instead it was overcast and somewhat drab and dreary. The sun could be seen as a hint up there somewhere but the temps didn’t go up as high as hoped either. The overcast kept the temps down to about 60F/15C but not any higher. The absence of wind was wonderfully helpful today to at least make us feel somewhat warmer. 

Holiday Decorations in Buckeye, Arizona

Daughter Courtney sent me a text message around 7 am this morning telling me that she truly enjoyed the musical Bat Out Of Hell with her friend Jodi. She sent me a couple of pics of her and Jodi posing on the ‘bike’. It looks like they had a fantastic time.

Riley rolled out around 8 am and we chatted about what to do with the day. We both agreed we needed to get out and about but we couldn’t really decide what we wanted to do. We needed some drinking water and so Buckeye was our destination. We spent some time just touring around and arguing with the GPS but finally managed to find the places we wanted to go. I know, I know, you are shaking your head asking me if I’m sane or not. It’s a Saturday, 2 days before Christmas. Well it wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be but it was still busy enough. Our first stop was at the Visitor Centre we’ve been trying unsuccessfully to find for the past few days. Obviously we finally found it. It wasn’t the easiest thing to find. Of course it was closed but we did manage to grab a couple of little things but after getting home and looking at them, one is totally unless to us as it shows only RV Parks. Since it was listed as a camping guide I assumed it might show us some BLM spots as well. Nada, nothing, zippo. Oh well it was worth a try. 

Cotton in the fields...

Our next stop was at Walgreens to get some drinking water. They have an outside machine that is easy to access and pretty much the same price as Walmart’s but Wally’s is inside the store and you have to go through the register to pay. At Walgreen’s it’s a pay at the dispenser type deal so no line ups. It wasn’t working. No problem, another Walgreens just up the way. Sorry, out of water. Hmmmmm…..okay we were going to Fry’s Supermarket anyway. They have TWO outside the front door. One…sorry out of water. Second was good. I put in our big jug, put in our money, it dispensed not quite a gallon and stopped, gave us back most of our money. Sorry out of water. Hmmmm…this is not a good thing. So we braved Walmart and it only took us about 20 minutes to get parked, get the water, pay and get back out. Not too bad at all. We only filled up the big jugs. A nice lady told us that Circle K has a machine as well. She’s correct but there were a couple of ‘scruffy’ looking fellows with two dogs between where we parked and where the water dispenser was, we opted to by pass that option. So instead on the way home we stopped at Wintersburg and topped up the remaining smaller jugs for 20 cents more a gallon. We don’t like taking all the small jugs inside, it’s cumbersome and time consuming, so if we can’t do it outside then we just don’t do it. We use the smaller jugs for quick things water for hot drinks, or cooking, instead of using the water from the tank. It’s just simpler that way. 

Looks like oranges....

So finally home we managed to get everything put away and I started prepping lunch by 1 pm. I made my green salad of course, Riley declined one today, and I chopped up assorted veggies for a vegetable medley (fresh green beans, celery, sweet peppers, fresh mushrooms, spaghetti squash, carrots)  with fresh ground Italian Seasoning, and I also did a garlic potato for Riley. To that we added a ham steak. It was very good, if I do say so myself. 

After cleaning up the dishes we grabbed our walking sticks and headed off for a walk. Riley went for maybe 15 minutes while I headed out for a bit longer trek. Riley stayed on the road way and I headed off cross country. I climbed up, up, up on one of those hills I’ve showed you so many times, walking completely around the ridge under the rocky peak. It was an interesting walk, lots of things to see and numerous interesting sights I may not have seen otherwise. Very, very, very rocky. I had to be very careful not to twist an ankle. I did manage to get some great pictures. Riley even managed to blindly get a pic of me waving my bright orange sweater. I’m a long way from the Igloo. I managed to make it back home after about an hour and half. So I truly did get in a good walk today. It was certainly a work out.

I chatted with daughter Bradey upon reaching home. They were returning to their apartment after having had a family meal with David’s family, I believe Mom’s side of the family was there for this for this meal. Last week it was Dad’s side for a meal. According to Bradey, it was turkey at both meals so Christmas for the immediate family will be Ham and Lamb. I think probably everyone is full of turkey by now. They are enjoying the festive season as Bradey is very much filled with Christmas Spirit. 

Back inside the Igloo I edited pics from our morning excursion and from my trek around the hilltop. When I finished that I grabbed the camera and headed out to catch the sunset. A call to my sister had her off visiting some folks so I promised to call another time. She and her partner Rick will be heading to Sudbury tomorrow to spend Christmas with Jan’s children/ grandchildren. A busy time I’m sure. 

I spent the rest of my time outside snapping pics of the sunset. A beauty tonight with the sky on fire over many parts of the land. Truly a magnificent sight. Riley even came outside at one point to ohh and ahhh over the sky’s ever changing colour palette. After that back inside to write this post and edit the sunset pics.

So there you have it, our busy type day. A bit of fun, a bit of hustle and bustle, and touring around. Today marks 14 days here at Saddle Mountain. We like it but we’re getting restless and are looking forward to moving a few days after Christmas. Not sure where we’re headed exactly but a few ideas are being tossed around.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you had a fantastic day as well. Feel free to drop a comment if you like, I read them all. 

Until next time…take care, be safe, 

Deb