BOX CANYON, BURGER KING, BIC MAC MISTAKE AND BIG FRONT SEAT MESS AGAIN

Under a clear sunny Sunday morning sky Pheebs and I rolled out the driveway with my IPod plugged into the Jeeps sound system playing those wonderful harmonizing sounds of the ‘Sons Of The Pioneers.  Remember ‘Gunsmoke’ with James Arness years ago?  Remember Festus?  Well Festus, aka Ken Curtis was a member of the Sons Of The Pioneers and here he is singing, ‘Tumbling Tumbleweeds.  Who knew……….. It was a fitting morning for Cowboy songs as we cruised our way back on down towards Wickenburg again.  Not really intending to go into Wickenburg just yet we turned left off busy highway 93 onto Scenic Loop Road. and stirred us up some good old desert dust again. 

MAKING OUR WAY ALONG THE DRY HASSAYAMPA RIVER BED TOWARDS BOX CANYON

OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE RIVER AS WE BEGIN TO HEAD UPSTREAM

Had it in the back of my mind to swing us around to Rincon Road then head south along the sandy gravel and rock strewn Hassayampa River bed to Box Canyon.  Figured it had been long enough since recent rains for the river bed to be firmed up again and I almost figured right.

THE SCENERY JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER THE FURTHER YOU GO

MAKING OUR WAY THROUGH BOX CANYON

For anyone in the Wickenburg area this Box Canyon drive is a must but it’s best to come in a 4 wheel drive vehicle just in case.  I’ve been to Box Canyon maybe 4 or 5 times now and have never had occasion to use 4 wheel drive but people have been known to get stuck in the sand here.  Reaching the box canyon section I did notice a bit more water ahead than in previous drives but being careful to follow vehicle tracks ahead of me we were fine until I detected some soft wet sand under us.

JEEP IS FACING UPRIVER AND THAT IS A WATER LEVEL GAUGE ON THE FAR BANK…..DURING SUMMER’S MONSOON SEASON THIS NARROW CANYON WOULD BE A ROARING TORRENT OF TURBULENT WATER HEADING SWIFTLY FOR WICKENBURG

EVEN MANAGED TO GET THE [SHADOW COWBOY[ INTO THIS DOWN RIVER PHOTO

The further one goes into the canyon the more it narrows and the narrower it gets means more driving through the shallow flowing river.  We were about two thirds of the way into the canyon when I stopped at the point where the sheer rock cliffs on both sides begin to close in.  I have driven through this narrower section several times before but this morning as I looked ahead at the water I figured I had better not push my luck and decided to turn around.  Only problem was I really didn’t have enough room to turn around without driving into the shallow water flowing beside me and I knew by doing that turning of wheels back and forth I would greatly increase my chances of digging into the wet sand and becoming stuck.  The watery sand at this point was already beginning to feel a little soft under my tires.

IT WAS AT THIS POINT WHERE I DECIDED TO TURN AROUND

I’m a real darn good back upper so that is what I did.  I simply retraced my tire tracks  backwards criss-crossing the stream a couple times until I came to a wider dryer patch of solid gravely sand.  A bit of wiggling back and forth and we were soon on our way back out of the canyon.  Passed a couple big tire Jeeps heading the other way as we made our way back to Rincon Road.

HEADING BACK DOWNRIVER TOWARDS WICKENBURG

HEY DAD I THINK I SEE A MOOSE OVER THERE

NO PHEEBS THERE ARE NO MOOSES IN THESE HERE PARTS

MUCH OF THE HASSAYAMPA RIVER FLOWS UNDERGROUND BUT HERE IN BOX CANYON IT SEEPS UP AND RUNS ALONG THE SURFACE

It’s been about 10 months since Pheebs and I last Whoppered ourselves and it’s been on my mind for the past couple weeks to get ourselves on down to Wickenburg’s south end to get Whopperized.  Turning left onto Blue Tank Road we set us a course for Burger King.  Oh how we were both looking forward to sharing a big Whopper.  Slipping into Wickenburg we hung us a left turn onto highway 93 for the short quarter mile run down to Burger King.  Hauled myself into the left turning lane and between a couple of oncoming maniac speedballs whisked us into Burger KIng and almost crashed us into a fence across the driveway.  WHAT!!!!!!!  Couldn’t believe it, big wire fence up and BG looked like it had gone out of business.  For sure it was closed!!  ‘Arrrrggggghhhhh’  Maybe they are in the process of renovating or something, don’t know.  Pheebs and I just kind of sat there for a few seconds looking at each other with our disappointedly sad faces on.  Well no time to dither about it so snagging a rare break in the Fireball 500 traffic we smoked up the tires and headed the quarter mile back the way we had come.  Dashed ourselves in a bone jarring right hand turn into the sanctity of McDonalds parking lot.  Whewwww, that highway traffic between Phoenix Arizona and Las Vegas Nevada is totally insane!!

THEY ARE EITHER OUT OF BUSINESS OR THEY ARE RENOVATING

Wedged ourselves into the drive-thru and with a burger on my still confused mind I dumbly ordered us up a Big Mac.  Well that was a big mistake.  I’ve never been a Big Mac fan and those things are loaded with a million pieces of shredded lettuce all gooed together with some kind of salad dressing or something  so once again you can imagine the mess we had going on as we sat in the parking lot trying to decide who gets what part of what.  Pheebs was practically in my lap but we somehow managed to get the big Mac dissected enough in a somewhat half civilized fashion so that nobody got hurt.  Cleaned ourselves up best we could and set off for home.  We were in Congress about 23 minutes later.

IT’S QUITE A MESS WE GET OURSELVES INTO SOMETIMES AND I’VE ALREADY CLEANED IT UP A BIT FOR THE PHOTO

No wind today and with the sun’s warming rays bringing temperatures up nicely both Kelly and I sat on our back patio for awhile reading.  First time since being here we’ve done that.  Oh how nice to feel that warm sun.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  With our drive through McDonalds drive-thru this morning I thought this appropriate for Groaner’s Corner tonight…….’The Twelve Days Of Fast Food’

On the first day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
A Big Bacon Classic with cheese.

On the second day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Two Happy Meals,
and a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the third day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the fourth day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the fifth day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the sixth day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Six chocolate milkshakes,
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the seventh day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Seven pints of cole slaw,
Six chocolate milkshakes,
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the eighth day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Eight bowls of chili,
Seven pints of cole slaw,
Six chocolate milkshakes,
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the ninth day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Nine polish hot dogs,
Eight bowls of chili,
Seven pints of cole slaw,
Six chocolate milkshakes,
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the tenth day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Ten baked potatoes,
Nine polish hot dogs,
Eight bowls of chili,
Seven pints of cole slaw,
Six chocolate milkshakes,
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the eleventh day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Eleven pounds of blubber,
Ten baked potatoes,
Nine polish hot dogs,
Eight bowls of chili,
Seven pints of cole slaw,
Six chocolate milkshakes,
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with cheese.
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Twelve bags of Pepto,
Eleven pounds of blubber,
Ten baked potatoes,
Nine polish hot dogs,
Eight bowls of chili,
Seven pints of cole slaw,
Six chocolate milkshakes,
Five onion rings,
Four Egg McMuffins,
Three Biggie Fries,
Two Happy Meals,
And a Big Bacon Classic with Cheese