A warm sunshine filled day....

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

A coolish night but no wind or at least none to speak of, hardly even a breeze. The day dawned wonderfully beautiful with the promise of warmer weather again today, warmer even than yesterday. This is the weather we’ve been expecting all winter and we are now finally getting it. 

 

That's Riley way down there, she's heading off toward the plateau following that path.

 

 

I'm walking up the spine of rock that sticks out of the mountainside. This is a very deep valley on the left.

 

Way over there is the sleeping giant I mentioned a while ago that guards the hole in the stone.

 

After morning routines and some breakfast Riley headed off in the direction of the plateau once again today, while I finished catching up with folks this morning on line. I wasn’t too far behind her and I too headed out the door following in her footsteps as we headed for almost the same location.

Keep note of that saguaro cactus you see. I'm climbing upward and it's much steeper than it looks.

That same Saguaro is on the left, so you see I've climbed much higher. The flat area I climbed to the other day is about the middle of the photo.

 

The sun was warm but the morning kept things cool until around 10:30 am or so and then it started heating up. A slight breeze kept things from getting too warm but it was sure nice to feel the sun’s rays and the heat provided. I veered left of the trail and climbed up the spine that you can see in so many photos, it runs along but a bit of a distance from the roadway Riley would take to reach the plateau. At one point I saw her standing down below on the roadway and we had a short conversation before we both continued on our way. She along the path and me upwards to the mountain top.

 

That same Saguaro down there as I keep going upwards. The motor home at the foot of the mountain is that small dot at the edge of the brown dirt patch off in the distance.

I'm still going upward, we are off in that direction but I can't point us out.

 

I hauled my hoodie off and continued to climb with bare arms, it was pretty warm up there and the breeze kept me from overheating. The climb was steep, very steep in some places and just steep in other places. I scrambled over some rough ground and continued to make my way upwards. Soon I realized that I was on the ‘mountain goat’ path that I had mentioned when I had climbed to the plateau. I wondered if I could make it across in time to meet up with Riley and we could walk home together and so I headed off across the peaks. It was pretty rough going in some places but I finally made it only to find the place empty. 

Higher up and that white dot way off in the middle is the Igloo.

There is no where to climb up over in that area so I'll just admire it from afar.

 

My feet followed the downward path until I passed the road that leads to the folks with the ‘too big to handle’ dog and from there I headed off cross country home to the Igloo. It was pretty easy going and I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the bright blue skies. A wonderful day for certain.

That is a baby Saguaro on the right, the other one is way below me.

So this will give you an idea of how high I am. That is my sleeping giant guarding the hole in the rock.

 

Back at the Igloo I arrived shortly after noon and enjoyed sitting down for a nice long drink and chatting with Riley about her hike. She did indeed make it to the top of the plateau and enjoyed the views. I’m so proud of her for her achievement. It was a tough climb up and down but she made it and is looking forward to more exploring. I walked just a little under 4 miles but most of it was up or down hill, I was gone for about an hour and 45 minutes. All together not too bad for a Sunday morning stroll.

I have reached the top and am looking down into the valley in behind the mountains we see out the window.

 

I headed across these peaks to the whitish spot over on the far right.

Lunch over, we cleaned up and then I headed outside to sit in the sun and read a book. A breeze made it cool and so I parked myself beside the Dogsled out of the wind and enjoyed the warmth for about an hour before it became too warm but sitting in the shade isn’t an option as we are having an issue with flies. They seem to love the shade and you just can’t sit there, they also bother you in the sun but not as badly. So back inside for a while with the windows open but soon it started to cool off and so while I edited photos and write this post the sun is sinking and bringing to an end a glorious day with warmth, sunshine and hiking. No complaints on this end of things. We are enjoying our little piece of desert dirt and look forward to more exploring tomorrow. 

 

I walked along here too.

 

It was tough going in a few spots.

 

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

 

I'm heading for the whitish spot just beyond that brown outcropping in the lower middle of the photo.

What a view.

 

Until next time… take care, be safe, 

Turning around this is what I witnessed.

 

I climbed way up there to that peak and crossed over to the right and out of the photo before coming back down.

 

Deb

What a beautiful day, a hike and a chat with dad......

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

 

A wonderful day today, warmish, sunny and blue, blue, blue skies. Riley headed off first for her hike, she headed back toward the dead end plateau but didn't make it all the way, although maybe tomorrow she will or so she said. 

There is indeed snow on that mountain over there.

The stately Native American Indian standing guard.....do you think?

I'm heading for that flat looking ledge in the middle of the photo.

You can see us way off in the distance in the middle of the photo. 

 

Riley and I met on the roadway, she on the way back and me on the way out. We chatted for a minute and then each off in our direction of choice. I hiked just over 3.5 miles today, I was out about an hour and a half.  Similar views as I'm hiking in the same general area. 

That trail leads to the dead end plateau over there. Riley didn't go this far today but maybe tomorrow.

That motorhome way  down there is at the base of the mountain.

That brownish dirt looking area just over that little hump of rock in the lower middle of the photo is where Riley and I climbed the other day.

That's us to the right of middle way off by those short little peaks. The folks with the dog too big to handle is the rig on the left side of the picture.

 

A chat with my dad today had me hearing about more snow coming their way, strong high winds as well (100 KM/60 mph), and as soon as the storm is over the temperatures will drop like a stone from the freezing mark which is where they sit now. 

This was as high as I climbed but I did go further to the north from this location.

From higher up, that's us on the right, a semi truck on Salome Highway  (that long slim white line) and the dog trailer on the left. Way off that line of slim white lines which is transports moving along I-10. Those two paths that you can see in the bottom of the photo are easily walkable but otherwise suited mostly for off roaders.

This is right on top of that flat looking area, which wasn't so flat and filled with small stones that would roll under foot, I stayed way back from the landing and was actually higher up than where it sits. The motor home down there on the brown patch of dirt.

 

Riley and I enjoyed a nice BBQ lunch and tried our new Jack Daniels Kentucky Bourbon BBQ sauce. Oh my, I think we may just put in a glass and drink it. It's very yummy!!!! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your day, we certainly did ours. 

My favourite mountain just over top of that Saguaro. This is looking north, north east.

I followed that hint of a trail which is more likely a water way.

I was up as high as that large black looking rock outcropping on the left and over behind that Saguaro you can see on the flat rock.

 

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

A rainy day.....

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

I woke this morning to the sound of pitter patter on the roof. The forecasted rain arrived right on schedule and I could see that the brightness in the sky wasn’t blue or bright, more of a dull iron grey colour. A phone call from my Insurance Agent back home at 7:30 AM had me pushing  myself out of bed. No issues just a few questions. Those answered I started doing my morning routine. 

You can see the water laying on the ground.

A little bit more over here in this side of our yard.

 

I can tell you the rest of the day was spent lounging around looking out the windows as they steamed over and unsteamed only to steam over again. The quick change in outside temperatures was like a roller coaster all day. The rain came, it stopped, it came back and stopped again. You get the idea right? At one point there was water laying on the ground and before long it was gone only to reappear and disappear. You get the idea. I read a little while, annoyed Riley for a little while, read some more, had a nap, etc. You know how it goes. The clouds shifted and the sky brightened, lines of blue appeared here and there but soon the clouds covered the sky once again and the day once again loomed dark and ugly. Thunder could be heard off in the distance but no lightning was around, or at least we never witnessed any.
 

A small patch but it was gone within a couple of minutes.

 

The water is gone again.

A call to my sister, we chatted for about an hour and it was nice to catch up. They are both feeling better although Rick is still not feeling great. He is a diabetic and having a hard time with his sugar right now. It is a never ending struggle for some and not so hard for others.

 

Looks brighter over there.... maybe, kind of...perhaps. No, just wishful thinking.

 

With a long, dark dreary day behind us, we have another one to look forward to tomorrow but after that it appears to be heading in an upward direction. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had an enjoyable day where ever you and doing whatever you have been doing. A few photos taken from the door step today.

 

Dry again but no let up, this was as bright as it got for the rest of the day.

 

Until next time.. take care, be safe,

 

It's just dreary looking out  here. Cold, damp and miserable but warm inside and we're waiting for better things.

 

Deb