A jeep ride to the east....

 

 

Our Location: 

Road Runner BLM, Quartzsite, Arizona

 

This morning we had plans to head east toward the Saddle Mountain area looking for a better place to park without flies. The Little Black Limo motored along carrying the Deb's, Tom and Riley, while the Little Silver Streak carried Doug and Yuma. I won't bore you with the details but we found some interesting places with the draw back being no or spotty cell service. They are a little off the main path but still would be a nice place to park for a few days if you can do without cell service.  

 

I love the cloud play on the Harquahala Mountains.

 

A beautiful view to park here but little to no cell service.

The view is stunning.

Literally a forest of saguaros.

A few of the photos I took today are in tonight's post and I will be using the others as the days go on and I need some photos. The views were wonderful and the saguaros couldn't be photographed if I had a few years to do it. Lots of cholla and even some Ocotillos, some green but most not. A few cattle, a few rigs, lots of cloud shadows on the mountains. 

 

A very roller coaster like road....

Saguaros every where we looked.

Amazing how different they all are.

 

We stopped in Salome for lunch at Don's Cactus Cafe. A very nice little spot, the food was very good, the place was clean and I would go back again. From there we headed on home, stopping in Q for a few minutes and we arrived home just in time for happy hour. 

 

The clouds always make the mountains more interesting.

 

A call to my dad, cold weather and of course wind there too. He and brother Rick are off to Jesse's to pick a tractor that won't run or won't run well. It will give them something to do on those days that they can't be outside but don't wish to be stuck in the house. 

 

Chauffeur Tom drove us up to the top of this big hill, below us was the next photo.

We were parked on the top of that ridge way up there.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the views! Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Until next time....

 

Take care, stay safe, 

 

Deb

  

Travel day ending in rain at Saddle Mountain...

Our Location: Saddle Mountain BLM, Tonopah, AZ

Thanks for the break last night Riley. Another new hat for you to wear on occasion. 

Our last sunrise on Bouse Road BLM, was quiet dark and menacing...

Yesterday our last day on Bouse Road was a busy one. I talked to my middle daughter Bradey in the morning, catching up and all that good stuff. She was saying they were expecting more snow (it's been snowing for 2 days) and the possibility of freezing rain or sleet. So not a nice day by any means, but at least it was milder than it's been for a while. 

A few hints of the sun began shining through....

A trip to Parker netted us a full fuel drinking bowl for the Big Dog, full cupboards for the Igloo and 2 full salt free water jugs. Plus a few little pieces I need to do a small project over the next few days. It also has us now knowing we want rocker recliners instead of theatre seating in the Igloo. We've been debating but a few things about the theatre seating just didn't work for us, so now we know. 

However we didn't see much of it today.....

We spent the rest of the day packing a few things and just enjoying the much cooler temperatures. 

Not too promising...

A call from my dad as I was outside taking sunset pictures brought the news that his lady friend Marion is in the hospital with two fractures, one to the shoulder bone (collar) and one to the pelvis. She somehow stumbled and fell inside the house on Saturday and that was the end result. So get well wishes goes out to Marion.

A few bright spots....

Now on to the news for today....  

Construction on Hwy 72 had us stopped at this location for about 15 minutes.....

I figured out the 'time' issue and why I missed the sunrise the other morning. I didn't read the clock wrong, or at least the clock I was using. I was using my iPad which hadn't automatically corrected from PST to MST but my cell phone which I checked upon waking was in MST. Mystery solved.

Mural at the Bouse Rest Area...

I didn't miss the sunrise this morning, or actually I was outside in time for it but the heavy cloud cover prevented pretty much all of the sunrise except for a few stray strands of light here and there. A little back drop behind a cloud would hint but not much really showed up. 

Looks pretty dark over that way and we are eventually heading in the direction....

The clouds were dark and menacing looking and I thought definite rain clouds and in the direction we were heading as well. Oh well, we'll see what comes of it. Back inside we had our hot drink and Riley was excited to check for comments on her post last night. Thank you every one for the wonderful comments and encouragement, the compliments and the enthusiasm with which you welcomed Riley into her first foray in to Bloggerland. She was very pleased with herself and her effort and thinks perhaps she may do that again the future. 

Amazing how low the clouds come....

We finished packing up the Igloo and hooking up, hitting the road at 9:04 am, taking a right onto Hwy 72 toward the east. It was a bit more of the rocking and rolling but we managed to get through without HRH Miss Kitty getting ill. I believe that was due to a few stops we made along the way. The first two stops were for construction. The first stop seemed quite long but I'm sure it wasn't more than 15 minutes, the second was only about 5 minutes, so all things being as they are, it wasn't too bad. The next stop was at the little town of Bouse where we found a spot to leave our trash, and to check out their small rest area. It's a monument to their veterans with a tank and a few other pieces of equipment around, some murals and numerous plaques. A very nice spot. 

Wonder where the top of that mountain is?

From there we argued with Pheobe (RV GPS) as she wanted to take us to I-10 but we wanted to stay on Hwy 72. We took a left and kept going arriving at the little town of Salome. We toured the town, found the pavement gave way to dirt and that some subdivisions have no other exits. Nice town though. Back on the straight and narrow we once again continued on our way, this time on Salome Road. A very nice road which we have seen many times before but didn't know where it went it. We passed over top of I-10 with Phoebe once again trying to take us onto the Interstate but by now I knew where we were and we simply turned her off. 

And here come the clouds again....

Within a few minutes of crossing over the Interstate we were slowing down for the familiar driveway at Saddle Mountain. Wow, lots of folks here now compared to last time. Not a problem, our original spot was empty but we didn't stop there, the spot we hoped for  at the back is full so we took another spot between the two places. I'm not sure if being so close to the mountain will be an issue or not but for now we're settled. 

Thicker'n pea soup......

 I called my dad to say we've arrived but he wasn't home and so I left a message. We then proceeded to have some lunch. Riley made herself some taco's and I had a large salad, followed by two small wraps with a few fixings. After that we both headed off to rest for a bit and enjoy just doing nothing. 

There are mountains behind there....I think....

I can tell you that the drive was under cloud cover, very dark at times, very menacing at other times. As we travelled on Salome Road the pavement was kicking up water from a recent down pour but we didn't have any where we were driving. We did hit a few spits here and there but nothing that one occasional swipe of the wipers wouldn't clear up. We drove into a headwind pretty much most of the time, although once we got onto Salome Road it was more a direct hit on the front passenger side corner as the road was angling a bit. 

Glad I"m not flying....

We stopped at one point so I could take some photos of the mountains. It was a visually stunning sight with heavy gunmetal grey clouds layering on top of the mountains. In places it seemed to slide down the sides like a slow moving ooze, obscuring the peaks in dense cover but allowing one to view the lower reaches of the outlines that hinted at mountains or maybe the trick of an eye. It was as if a wall of fog was hovering but was trying to blow away in the wind. Wisps of mist or vapour almost seeming to float past the outline making one wonder if perhaps it was truly there.  The landscape was also faded in colour and views. More of a dull melancholy feel to the air, as if the brilliant blue of the sky and wildly fierce yellow of the sun will never return, and leave this once sun drenched land in shadows and mists. 
 

I wonder if some of that is dust....

We would see bright sun lit patches ahead or off to the side but before long the dark low hanging clouds would cover that up and once again we would be left in a dull dreary shroud. Even as I write this post it is still dreary outside with what appears to be dust clouds far off in the distance, although I'm sure if I were off in that distance it would look the same in this direction. The wind has picked up more since we've set up home camp here but so far it's not too bad. I think the wind is trying very valiantly to blow away the clouds but even the small patches of blue that it manages to spring into view are shortly covered again with in minutes. 

Love this green, I wonder if it's cotton....it sure is green....

A message left for my oldest daughter whom I couldn't reach on the phone. Haven't talked to her for a few weeks and would like to just catch up for a few minutes. Oh well, tomorrow I'll try again. 

Can you see why it's called Saddle Mountain?

We have had some stronger wind gusts and even some splashes of rain since setting up here at Saddle Mountain. My favourite mountain has shown splashes of colour off and on all through the afternoon but is once again dark and cold looking. The clouds seem to be clearing a bit and perhaps we'll manage a sunset tonight but I'm not really counting on it. 

I took this picture standing in the doorway....

The temperature has dropped 5 degrees since we arrived but only reached 64F/ 17C today at it's highest. With the sun once again starting to show it's wonderful bright self it promises to be an interesting evening with all this cloud cover. 

This one was also taken standing in the door way...

Thought I'd end this post with a few pictures of our immediate location. 

That's our fire pit....

 Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. I hope your day has been as enjoyable as ours with lots of fun things to amuse and excite you, or at least to keep you busy and out of trouble. 

We are much closer to the back this time....

Feel free to drop a comment, I enjoy reading them and will reply. Once again thanks to my guest writer Riley for the wonderful job she did while filling in on my day off.

Just stepped around the nose of the Igloo....

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

Last time we opened our door to see this view....

Now we see it out the living/dining room windows.....

Deb

Too windy to go any further for more pictures tonight....lots of dust blowing around too...