Sunday October 22
On
the road again. planned on a short hop down hwy 87 from Winslow,
AZ to hwy 260 then end the day at a
national
forest campground east of the town of Camp Verde. (Clear Creek) Would be
a distance of about 90 miles.
But
things never go as planned.
Got
a good start and were on the road shortly after 9:00 am, and the drive
south was enjoyable, we were steadily
gaining
altitude as we approached the Moggollon Rim. We had been on this
portion of the road before and knew
what
to expect, a nice easy drive.
Once
in the National forest we began to notice a lot of people camped out on
both sides of the road, each little
cluster
of campers having several units in it, and a lot of ATV's.
Learned later that Elk season has started.
When
we turned onto Hwy 260 we relearned a fundamental lesson of mountain driving,
what goes up must come down.
We
had started the morning high on the Colorado Plateau, and had gained altitude
as we approached the Moggollon Rim
country,
now we were headed towards Camp Verde and the Valley floor. There were
a number of sections with steep down
grades
of 5 and 6 %, the longest being nine miles in length, got good
fuel mileage on those sections.
Shortly
after turning on to hwy 260 we had a close encounter with a large bull
elk. The Bull came to the edge of the
oad
right in front of us and looked like he wanted to cross the road, then
at the last moment turned back.
It
was exciting to see such an animal, and scary when we thought about how
close up we could have seen him,
right
through the windshield.
With
no further adventures we arrived in the Clear Creek campground about 11:00
and discovered that the campground
while
advertised as grassy and flat with shade provided by tall cottonwoods was
in actuality crammed into a very small
space,
and overgrown with trees, no chance of solar and satellite working.
Since it was only 11;00 We then decided it
was
to early to quit for the day so we moved on.
Went
down I-17 truned off on State Hwy 74 heading west.
We
ended up in Wickenberg AZ, boondocked at the City Rodeo grounds campground
for $5.00 a night.
It
is on a bluff overlooking the town. A great place to stay, large
level sites. And the price is right.
We
stopped in town at ACE hardware to get directions.
We
signed up for two nights, and will be going out for pizza later.
.
Monday October 23
A very
slow day, We got up late, hade a simple breakfast then went in search of
a newspaper, which we found
in
a dispenser in frontof the local Basha's grocery store. Spent the
rest of the morning on the paper and catching
up
on the web.
Finally
went out and explored town about 1:00 AM. Had to go to the post office
first thing and mail in our absentee
ballots,
thenoff to explore downtown Wickenburg.
First
stop was the Desert
Caballeros Western Museum, Its not the largest of museums, but
it does a good job.
On
thefirst floor they have a nice collection of western art, Cowboy saddles
and equipment, a gem and mineral
room,
a collection of Indian artifacts sorted by tribe and region occupied in
Arizona. You can then take the "only
passenger
elevator in Wickenburg" to the basement where they have several pioneer
rooms set up.
From
the museum its a short walk to Wickenburgs two block long strip of tourist
shops. Did not take long to explore,
and
no have to get items. Its suprising what you can do without when
confronted with limited space, and reduced
desires.
Tuesday October
24
For
some unkown reason we were up early today, and with the threat of rain
looming along with an occasional drizzle
we
packed in record time. We had planned on breakfast at McD's, but
decided we could not get in and out
with
the trailer in tow,so we were off to the Safeway bakery counter, picked
up a couple of Muffins, and hit the
road-
- Destinjation Quartzsite. And all of this before 8:00.
Drove
through rain for a major portion of the trip, mostly a light drizzle
with occasional heavy rain. Quartzsite got a
very
nice rain, which puddled in the desert, and even had some of the small
draws filled with running water. And
while
it only rains oncea year, we hit the rain.
The
most important decision of the season had to be made this morning in the
rain, Our ideal site from last
year
was occupied so down the road we went looking for a site. After much
consideration and the inspection of a
half
dozen options we found a site not to far from the road, with a tree, but
not an ideal match for our trailer,
had
to drive into the site, and after unhooking drive the truck through
a small draw. Finally got to get rid of the
firewood,
and accumulated stuff frome the back of the pick up and loaded up the water
barrells for a trip to the
well.
We then decide to treat ourselves to lunch in town, and settled on the
Grubstak bar. got a hamburger
and
fries, and fries and fries and even more fires, they must have used
a bag of potatoes between our two orders,
way
to much to ever try to eat.
We
were pleasently suprised to see that the site we originally wanted to occupy
this year was empty when
we
got back with water, we then decided that we had to move before some one
else would come along and take
"our"
space. It was then pack up and move time, a new record twice in one
day. Our home is now happily setting
in
our most wonderflu dream site. Tomrrow we will continue to unpack
and settle in.
Wednesday October
25
Todays post by Terry - so you know its good.
Spent
the day settling in, unpacking, adjusting and arranging. First order
of business on Wednesday morning was
to
get a newspaper, so at the crack of dawn Terry was sent out to find and
bring back the days paper.
After
Breakfast we adjusted the tilt of the solar panels, unpacked and
reassembled the Bikes, and later in the day
went
to the Hdwe store/lumber yard for a supply of wood pallets to cut up for
firewood.
Your
public power company at work to serve you better
It
was a beautiful day, nice and warm with a slight breeze and
a show to boot. The Power company is changing
the
power poles that run along the Hwy, putting in new aluminum poles
and rerouting the power line to go around
the
town of Quartzsite rather then run through town. Watching them work
kept us amused for a good portion of the
afternoon.
We
sat outside watching the sunset for some time, and it well after dark when
we finally went in for supper.
We
would have stayed out longer if we could have had a fire, but fire restrictions
are in effect until the first of
November.
A
picture of our camp before unpacking and moving in for the winter.
Friday October 27
We
got set up and missed a day posting... So today we went over to Blythe,
CA to get supplies
and
stuff for building a picnic table. We spent time just driving around Quartzsite
to see what has changed
and
what has not.
Terry
building the table.
Now
doesn't that look a great picnic table!
Notice
the wood palets we got for firewood when they lift the campfire ban on
Nov. 1.
They
were $1 each and if they are not woody enough they give you
extra
ones for free. So we got 12 for $10 not a bad deal. We found two
real nice ones and used them for
our
5er step and one in front of our basement door. You should see what firewood
goes for in the desert.
We
thought this year no
tomatoes but what can you do, we changed our minds.
Watch
in the next few days as we came up with a way to grow
them
upside down on the front hitch of the 5er.
Terry is repotting a couple
of mums and a geranium.
So now time to stop and
watch Bill Maher on HBO, it is Friday night after all.....
Later... Ron
Saturday October
28
By your roving reporter
Terry
We were up early for some
unknown reason, just in time to see the sunrise above the mountains
to our
East. It was very
peaceful and the colors of the sunrise were spectacular, unfortunately
I did not plan ahead
and get a picture, so you
will just have to use your imagination.
The Morning was occupied
volunteering my time to help ready the Quartzsite
gem and mineral club's
shops for their opening
day on the 30th. Lots of sweeping, dusting and scrubbing. It
was also necessary to evict a
few squatters from the premises.
On particularly large lizard kept returning, perhaps it was hoping we would
take
pity and let him back in
to what was a nice cozy home. Next week play time commences. There
is even
going to be a sand box session
(field trip to collect Rocks) planned.
After the building
was fit for human habitation some of the volunteers made up a few silversmithing
kits. Lots
of parts and pieces to sort
through and put together.
And finally the debate,
solving the club. and the worlds problems. Of course the only reason
they were waiting
around was for the potluck
lunch that was being set out.
Have to run back into town
this afternoon for filtered drinking water, and a few bolts from the hardware
store to finish the
picnic table. May
even get started on the hanging bracket for our tomato plant, but
more likely will wait for tomorrow
for that. Can't cram
to much content into one day, might run out tomorrow.
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