JEEPIN WITH THE PHEEBS TODAY

IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE, NO….IT’S SUPER PHEEBS:))
It was a hat, winter jacket and hands in your pockets kind of morning walk with a slight breeze bringing cooler temperatures to the area.  Could be in for some cold and cloudy days now until next week sometime.

OUR THURSDAY MORNING SUNRISE
Wind gusts always sound way worse than they really are when your in an RV. Seems every little nook and cranny on the outside of the rig sets up it’s own howling and whooshing. The winds weren’t that bad in the night but of course they had me up at 1 a.m. sitting in my chair with the computer on my lap. Yep, still having my usual sleeping problems:((

IT WAS A COLD ‘HANDS IN YOUR POCKETS’ KIND OF MORNING
The Pheebs has taken to this desert living like a fish to water and loves racing up and down the washes through the Mesquite trees and Saguaros.  Only one pesky sticker so far and she seems to have learned quickly to avoid them.  With the rocky surface here her paws are toughening up right quick.  She is just the happiest little girl bounding over hill and dale.

PHEEBS LOOKS BACK IN THE DIRECTION OF OUR MOTOR HOME TOP LEFT
The skies were alive with roaring thunder this morning as the A-10 Warthog fly boys out of the Davis Monthan Air Base in Tuscon criss crossed our area in low level passes.  They had their deadly air to ground twin turbine jets just a whining.  I love watching these guys in their aerial ballets.  Unseen and much higher in the sky were the F-16’s, F-18’s and probably the new F-22 Raptor fighter jets.  They could be heard pulling their roaring and erratic high speed G turns in mock combat with each other.  Rare for them to ever come down to the deck where they can be seen but I did see one pulling a high speed low level turn near Hickiwan Trails a few years ago.  Got a picture of him too.  This whole southern end of Arizona is a huge aerial training ground for the American Air Force.  Being an airplane kind of guy I don’t mind the roaring thunder in the skies and I especially like watching their aerial combat maneuvers at night as their blinking lights dart among the stars. 

SOMETIMES THE LITTLE MOTORMOUSE RUNS OUT OF GAS ON OUR MORNING WALKS
Our Verizon signal has been better since putting the modem on the roof and we are not having the problems we first did when arriving here. Our speeds are a bit better.  I would say for anyone new to boondocking, this Darby Wells area is a great place to get your feet wet because it’s a short drive into Ajo for supplies and you will be hard pressed to find a more scenic example of the Sonoran desert in a natural peace and quiet setting.  Nearest major shopping centers are either Casa Grande or Buckeye with Casa Grande being 103 miles and Buckeye being 77 miles.  Buckeye is the easier drive straight north up through Gila Bend.  Ajo to Gila Bend is 43 miles with another 118 miles to Yuma.  And, that’s our little geography lesson for today:))

LOTS OF NICE JEEP ROADS IN THE DARBY WELLS AREA
We did fight with the satellite stuff again this morning and re-instituted our new receiver.  Kelly spent a lot of time on Skype again talking to the Shaw Direct satellite TV people.  Ever since beginning our RV days back in 06 I wished we had a dollar for every minute we have spent on this satellite stuff because for sure we could probably go out and buy us a brand spanking new snappity-doo 40’ Diesel banger:))  We did manage to finally achieve TV satellite success around noon today.  About time too because I was about ready to just load the whole thing up, drive it into Ajo and throw the whole kitnkabootle into a dumpster!!

THIS IS NOT MY IDEA OF A SECURE OR EASY TO USE SATELLITE DISH SET-UP
Mike from MIKE AND PAT'S TRAVELS  sent us a link to the place where he bought a logical leg adjusting tripod a few years back and after checking the tri-pod out on line we are going to order the medium heavy duty pod.  Don, from Manitoba also sent us the same site so that confirms the quality of the adjustable leg tripod.  Our previous tri-pod was leg adjusting and if your out boon docking in places like we are where the ground can be very un-level or rocky it is important to be able to adjust the legs.  Flat based tripods are fine for flat ground in RV Parks but not so good out here in the boonies.

By 11 a.m. the cloud cover overhead was solid and the temps had dropped to 59F.  At 1:25 it began to rain.  Not nice!! Couldn’t get myself warm no how for the whole day.  Due to a small problem I’m having with my left leg I stayed in my Poang chair most of the day under a warm blanket.

STAYED INSIDE TODAY KEEPING WARM
The Bayfield Bunch welcomes new blog follower Johnna today.  Don’t know where you are Johnna but could you send us a little warm air over here to southern Arizona.  Thanks for dropping by.

Close call for our Verizon modem this afternoon.  We had put it on the roof of the rig a few days ago in an attempt to improve our weak signal.  Remember me mentioning earlier about it raining today…..yep we forgot the modem was up on the roof.  About 6 tonight we were rather suddenly and totally ‘off line’.  Kelly remembered the modem and I scrambled up on the roof, unplugged it and brought it in.  The two lights on it appeared normal so Kelly plugged it in and we were once again back on line…..barely.  Climbed back up on the roof, flashlight in hand this time, plugged the modem back in and put a plastic container over the modem.  And a rock on the container to keep it from blowing away.   Kelly hollered up that we were on line again so it looks like we dodged a nasty modem melt down.  Oh these forgetful Senior moments.

OUR INDOOR VERIZON MODEM…..OUTSIDE ON THE ROOF
I have been taking the Pheebs out for a walk before supper most nights but with today’s rainy drizzle Kelly suggested Pheebs and I go Jeeping instead.  Great idea. 

HI-HO HI-HO IT’S OFF A JEEPIN WE GO
There are some great Jeep roads running through the Darby Wells area so Pheebs and I headed out in full four wheel drive mode to see what trouble we could get ourselves into.  Pretty hard to get into trouble with the sure footedness of a Jeep though.  We had a great time, mainly in first gear, making our way slowly over the ruts, boulders, dry washes and rugged ridges.  Picked up some cool new desert pin striping as well. 

PHEEBS HELD HER PAW ON THE BRAKE WHILE I HOPPED OUT TO TAKE THIS PHOTO
 
We were bouncing around so much inside the Jeep that sometimes Pheebs was in the driver’s seat and I was upside down in the back.  But, we made it and had ourselves a great time covering maybe 5 miles way back in the middle of nowhere. 
 
Pheebs loved the ride but by the time we got back I think Pheebs was a little ‘green’ from all the rocking and rolling. 
PHEEBS WAS FEELING A LITTLE ‘GREEN’ BY THE TIME WE GOT BACK TO THE RIG
I did just delete a comment from Mr. Anonymous again regarding my Wednesday post.  Somebody obviously still has a very big chip on their shoulder.  Thank you Rick and Elaine for your response to Mr. Anonymous before I deleted it.

SUNSET AT OUR HOUSE
GROANER’S CORNER:((  A police officer stops a woman for speeding and asks her very nicely if he could see her license.
She replied in a huff, "I wish you guys would get your act together. Just yesterday you take away my license and then today you expect me to show it to you."
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The only thing better than right now  will someday be the memories of
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A GOOD TRAVEL DAY & A GREAT CAMPSITE

SUNSET WEST OF CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA

I had put the solar panels down, & pretty well stowed all the gear away late Wednesday afternoon so there wasn't much to do this morning except hook the car onto the back of the motorhome & hit the road. Didn't want to stay another day because I couldn't stand listening to my own complaining about the crowds in Quartzite any longer.

We rolled north into Q & I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of traffic. Snapped a few pics out the window. It was about 9:30 a.m. when we waved good-bye to Quartzite & headed eastward to Interstate 8. Traffic was light & we rolled right along with no problems. Mornings are my favorite driving times because I enjoy the way the morning sun always lights the landscape & this morning was extra special because there were a lot of varying cloud patterns & that added a moody character to the sky. Distant mountains on both sides of the road looked stately, especially the ones to the south cloaked in a dark shadowy haze. Great lumbering Goliaths with high jagged peaks reaching for the clouds. Just the kind fairy tales & old western legends are written about. A beautiful morning. The other thing that became immediately apparent was the ever greening of the desert & hillsides the further east we went. More & more Saguaros began appearing, Palo Verde trees, cholla, & I'm sure there may have been some early flowers here & there had we stopped & looked. We passed the RV campground near Tonopah where our water line froze up two years ago, passed a service station that we remembered from last year having huge craters in it's parking lot that would have put a B-52 bombing raid to shame.

We had been driving about 2 hours when we saw it. The large tall sign appeared out of the horizon & steadily drew closer. Can it be....could it be?? Yes, yes, it is!!!! "CRACKER BARREL:))))" For us this was a true oasis in a long driving desert. There was a Cracker Barrel restaurant ahead just east of Buckeye. No decisions to be made here, this was an automatic YES!! The large fairly new mall is located about 5 miles past our turn off for Gila Bend but that was ok, we were starving for some good old country kitchen cooking. Had been over a month since we were last in a Cracker Barrel in Yuma. Can you tell this is our favorite place:))

I had a sausage skillet & Kelly had the newer Santa Fe skillet but we both agreed the sausage one was far better. Check the web album later for a picture... http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

KELLY CHECKING THE MENU AT CRACKER BARREL

By 12:15 we were back on the road & made the big swing south for Gila Bend. We knew we could dump tanks there & take on fresh water plus propane or gas if we needed it....which we didn't. For anyone traveling, if your coming into Gila Bend from the north, watch for the Shell Station on your right. There is free water & dump right behind the station & we noticed they have just paved the huge parking lot. No problem for big rigs getting around in there. There is also an RV Park right next door as well. Only took us about 20 minutes to do our business in there & we were back on I-8 heading east again. THE BEDROOM PAINT JOB

Herb had told us about a great little free camping place between Gila Bend & Casa Grande so that is where we headed. Jim Kortsen West Pinal Park is located in the V of the fork of I-8 & highway 84. This is a great little gem of a camping area. Well maintained with some sites having a concrete pad with picnic table & covered roof. It's all dry camping & lots of room & greenery between the sites. Not many rigs here so we were able to find a great little spot where the dogs (or us) wouldn't bother anyone. Only slight downside is a bit of traffic noise from I-8 to the south & some traffic on 84 north of us. Nice Saguaro cactus in here too. Right now as I'm typing this I can look out through our big windshield & see the dull glow of Tucson on the low cloud cover to our southwest. Across the whole horizon running north to Phoenix I can see the un-ending twinkling of lights. I'm guessing much of that is Casa Grande about 20 miles to the east. OUR NEW DIGS WEST OF CASA GRANDE, AZ

A fellow RV'er out walking his dog noticed our Canadian flag decals on the rig so came over. He's from British Columbia, & wouldn't you know it........his brother lives in Port Elgin Ontario which is a about a 90 minute drive from our place in Bayfield.

Our weather has been fabulous. It was a warm night in Quartzite last night & even warmer when we got up this morning. I could feel humidity in the air as soon as I stepped out of the coach. When we stopped in Buckeye around noon there was a warm wind blowing & our outside thermometer was saying 80F. It seemed even hotter than that by the time we got to our campsite west of Casa Grande. The sky was dark over Tucson & I think they got some rain. Also, we were surprised at the many crystal clear television stations we can get here with our antennae. And, our Verizon card works grrrrrrreat!!

All & all, it was a good day & we're happy to have a nice quiet & private campsite for a few days. To-morrow morning we'll drive into Casa Grande for a few groceries & things. And what a relief it is for me not to have anything to complain about to-day. Ok, ok, a little traffic noise but what the heck.......................... OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/