PEACEFULLY ASLEEP TONIGHT AT THE FOOT OF SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN

THERE ARE A LOT MORE FLOWERS IN BLOOM HERE THAN THERE WERE IN BORREGO SPRINGS

Despite a good night's sleep, the day did not start off well.  The gunfire started up about 8:30 a.m. & traumatized the dog's all over again.  I wasn't happy with our spot anyway because of all the usual garbage left scattered about by the locals.  I could launch into a huge rant about that right now but what's the point.   Kelly thought maybe we could change spots but I just wanted to get out of the whole area.......period!!

A group of ATV people rolled in & unloaded about half a dozen ATV's.  They told us the gunfire was coming from a gun club just up the road so that explained that, so the writing was on the wall.....we had to move!!

    (click on pics to enlarge)

Drove the rig back out the bumpy & dust covered road to the pavement.  Found a place to pull over & leave the Motorhome while we took the car & scouted out highway 60 towards Superior, Arizona.   Our 'Free Camp Grounds' book by Don Wright told us there were some spots along the highway for boondocking but we only saw a couple & they were full of ATV trailers.  We continued into the mountains & eventually came to the town of  Superior.  Continued on about 10 miles towards Globe.  Very scenic with steep mountain grades & a tunnel.  Fair bit of traffic on this road but fortunately they had many passing lanes & one run-away road in case of brake failure.  We would have continued to Globe but we knew we had to find a place to stay Monday night & turned back for the rig.

SOME MOUNTAIN SCENERY EAST OF SUPERIOR, ARIZONA

We returned to the area about noon & drove around looking for boondocking spots but just didn't like anything we saw.  Drove through the picturesque little town of Queen Valley.    Finally decided to leave Florence Junction & move on to Apache Junction.  We knew of a State Park up that way.   Figured we would take a long shot & drive up & see if we could find it.  State Parks are our second choice to boondocking & we knew because of our proximity to the large megapolis of Phoenix it was unlikely we would ever find any respectable boondocking sites.  Kelly led the way in the car & I followed in the Motorhome.  

IT'S KELLY WAITING FOR THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL TO COME THROUGH

Traffic was heavy & I kept thinking, how the hell did we get ourselves into this.  Not my idea of RVing that's for sure.  Urban sprawl everywhere.  Just south of Apache Junction Kelly spotted a mall in a place called Gold Canyon.  We had agreed to find a spot to park the rig before getting into Apache Junction & take the car to find the Lost Dutchman.  Luckily for us we pulled into a basically brand new & almost totally abandoned spacious mall.  Lots of room to leave the Motorhome.  The mall looked like another multi-million dollar business venture gone bust.  Left the doggy guys in the rig & off we went with the car.

Didn't take us long to get ourselves tangled up in Apache Junction.  And why didn't we use our Garmin GPS to find the State Park??  Because we never thought to bring it along.  OK, lets check our map.  Never brought that either!!  At one point stopped for a traffic light Kelly hollered over to the next driver, "are we on the road to the Lost Dutchman?"  The driver hollered back some directions & off we went totally lost all over again.  Another stop at a convenience store got us turned around & pointed in the right direction again & finally after about half an hour of floundering around we were on the road to the Lost Dutchman State Park.

SNAPPED A FEW QUICK PICS OF SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN AT THE PARK'S MAIN GATE FIGURING IT WAS THE ONLY ONE'S I WOULD GET

It was about this point when a very real & practical thought occurred to me.  I knew there were only 35 sites at this Park.  It was Spring Break & we were in a condensed area with millions of people.  What were the chances of finding a vacancy.  Zero to none I figured.  In fact when we pulled into the Park office parking lot I got out of the car with my camera figuring I might as well grab a few shots of Superstition Mountain before we have to turn around & leave in a few minutes.  Meanwhile, Kelly, ever the optimist headed into the office.  She was at the counter with one lady ahead of her who was renewing her stay.  Kelly asked the Ranger over the woman's shoulder if there were any sites available.  Yes, he said, one site left.  A big Class A rolled up to the window at the exact same time & the driver asked the Ranger if there were any sites open.  Kelly quickly hollered over the ladies shoulder to the Ranger...."we'll take that site!!  Had Kelly walked in that office 30 seconds later we would have been sleeping in  a parking lot somewhere tonight.  Yaaaaaaay Kelly:))  But you know what.....I still felt kinda bad for that guy in the Class A.  I knew the disappointment he was feeling as he had to get his rigged turned around & headed back out of the Park.

The Ranger suggested before we go pick up our rig we should drive to our RV site & put something there to give it the appearance it has been spoken for so that's what we did.  Had a couple lawn chairs in the car so placed them on the site before leaving.

                            

Next problem we had was to find our way back to wherever it was we left the rig.  We had been so messed up coming through Apache Junction that we didn't have a hope of finding our way back through there.  Luckily the Ranger came to our rescue & told us off a short cut that avoided Apache Junction altogether so we happily hopped into the car & headed back to the Gold Canyon area, retrieved the rig, & followed the shortcut back to the State Park.  Yaaaaaay Ranger:))

This park has no water or electricity at the sites but that's fine with us.  Only $15 a night & we totally lucked out getting a pull through site on an outside loop.  For having to be in a Park we couldn't have a better spot.  Superstition Mountain towers over us with it's 3,000 foot spires.  Saguraro Cactus, Palo Verde Trees, & all kinds of assorted greenery surround us.

So, that brings me up to right now.  It's 8 o'clock Monday night, I've got my eyelids pinned to my eyebrows with a cactus needles trying to keep them open.  I am about 3.2 nano-seconds away from complete unconsciousness, I'm behind on my email correspondence, behind on my blog reading, & just so plum cranky right now I could eat a big ugly rock!!  But you know what...... despite a frustrating start to the day we sure lucked out by the end of the day & for that, we truly are Happy Campers tonight..........:))

OUR DIGS AT THE FOOT OF SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, ARIZONA

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

FROM THE SOUNDS OF QUIET BIRDS TO THE SOUNDS OF NOISY GUNFIRE!!

OUR TEMPORARY NEW DIGS SOUTHEAST OF PHOENIX SOMWHERE

This post is coming to you from somewhere in the Sonoran desert southeast of Phoenix, Arizona.  We do not have a strong Verizon signal so I hope I'll be able to get this post published.  We do have about a dozen TV channels with the antennae, & cell phone coverage is good.

                          

MUST HAVE BEEN ABOUT A HUNDRED OF THESE MILITARY VEHICLES ON THIS TRAIN NEAR YUMA TODAY

We did not have a good night back in Yuma last night because of the miserable wind that harassed us again beginning about midnight.  The winds were bad all afternoon but backed off around 7 so we thought that was the end of it, but 4 ours later we were scrambling to get our slides in again!!

The winds brought in cooler air instead of warmer air so we had to dress warm this morning before heading out.  I had put things away & hooked the car up Saturday afternoon so by 8 a.m. California time we had the big wheels rolling eastbound.  Twenty five minutes later we crossed the Arizona/California State line in Yuma & never looked back.

We had the wind at our backs & the traffic was light on Interstate 8 all the way to Gila Bend.  Not a cloud in the big blue sky & the temps were soon up into the high 70's.  It just felt sooooo great to be on the road again heading somewhere.  I love watching the scenery going by & I'm always scanning the mountain tops for familiar landmarks.  This was our 4th time on this stretch of road but the first time heading east.  Kelly was at the computer desk behind me handling emails, the dogs wandered around with lots of room, & I enjoyed hot coffee with a tuna sandwich that Kelly brought up from the galley.  Aw yes, ya just gotta love this whole Motorhome concept:))   Yellow & purple flowers abounded along the roadway & it was really nice to see the greening hills & mountains of spring.

Gila Bend is always an oasis stop for us because the north end Shell station is so easy to get into for dumping tanks & taking on water.  We picked up a load of gas here as well.   First fill up in a month & it relieved us of $150.00.  It was high noon & by 12:30 we were headed east for Casa Grande.

There is a nice boondocking spot called, Jim Kortsen West Pinal Park about 20 miles west of Casa Grande right on I-8 & that's where we were headed.  We stopped here for an overnighter a year ago & also back in February this year on our way west.  But, by the time we got to Jim Kortsen I had already changed my mind.  It was only 1:30 in the afternoon, traffic was still light & we were rolling right along so figured we might as well head on through to a place southeast of Phoenix called Florence Junction.  Kelly had found a boondocking spot on the internet just of highway 60 so after a Safeway grocery stop in Coolidge we turned off the highway onto Queen Valley road.  This road led a few miles to a bumpy dirt road & we followed this for a mile or so until we finally found an even more bumpy spot to pull in.  We were proudly able to add some nice new desert pin striping to the sides of the rig & car as we wiggled & squiggled in amongst the creosote bushes & mesquite trees.  We've got more dust & dirt on this old rig than they have in the average gravel pit.  Give me that good old weathered look any day as opposed to that squeaky clean looking dealership lot look.  Yesireeeeeeeee:))

This is also the first 'new territory' we have been to on this trip & oh how nice that is.  As soon as we got east of Casa Grande today I once again felt that tinge of excitement returning as I looked around me with that little boy wonderment at new horizons, mountains, valleys, & canyons.   I just love seeing new stuff.

This is one of those good news/bad news sites.  First the good news.  We are surrounded by green hills, mountains, Saguaro cactus, flowers, & all kinds of green vegetation.  No people, no RV's & the scenery goes on forever.  Now, the bad news!!  We are also surrounded by gunfire at the moment.  This whole beautiful area is obviously a hang out for younger people & a popular shooting range.  Shotgun shells litter the ground as well as all the other usual litter & paraphernalia we always associate with younger people.  Broken glass & garbage strewn about.  Shattered bits of clay pigeons are everywhere so that tells us it's a popular area for skeet shooting.  As I'm typing this I can hear shotguns going off somewhere to our right & to our left someone is firing with a high powered rifle.  So instead of birds & the quiet sounds of nature, we have that horrid sound of buzzing ATV's, dirt bikes, shouts, & of course the old American standby here in the west................ gunfire!!  But, am I complaining....................??  Well, of course I am!!  And do we wish we were in an RV Park right now.....not a chance!!!!!!

Tomorrow we plan to not stray far from the rig.  We'll climb back aboard the internet & see if we can find ourselves a better spot because we plan to do a bunch of day trips in the car around the area & we would feel more comfortable leaving the rig in a more humanly mature place.  We have  Apache Junction, Superstition Mountain, Lost Dutchman Mine, the 120 mile Apache Trail Loop & other spots in mind.  I will also try & remember to put in our location co-ordinates tomorrow.

And just wanted to mention something else about the 'Blogs We Follow' post I had in last night's blog.   I never flush anybody's blog down the drain, I just drop them into a desktop folder.  I should have been more clear about that last night. I often pop in there, pull up somebody's blog, & see how they're doing & what they are up to.  I also have people's blogs in that folder who I've never had on our site too.  If you were on our list & don't see yourself on there now, it just means I've dropped you into my desktop file for awhile.  You have not been flushed:))

And one last word about contentment.....I'm just one of those people with a restless soul.  Never content for very long wherever I am or with whatever I'm doing.  I've always been like that & it looks like I'm just stuck with it.  But, it's OK.....I just like to complain about it once & awhile to keep myself on track.............10-4:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  What do you call a mushroom who buys everyone drinks and is the life of the party?
A fun-gi.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

OUR LAST NIGHT IN THE YUMA AREA

CITY OF ROCKS STATE PARK, NEW MEXICO  (didn't have any pics for today so have thrown in some previous trip photos)

A second beautifully calm morning had us out of the rig early but by 11 we were driven back inside by high winds & blowing sand.  A warm front is moving into the area & it's the big winds that are bringing it here.  Had put the flags up earlier but had to get them down again while they were still in one piece.

No Blue Angel jets out this way from the El Centro Air Show so maybe they were all blown over into Texas somewhere.  We spent all afternoon inside reading &  doing computer stuff.  Wow, talk about exciting times.

RICK had a good post in this morning about why he likes his RV lifestyle just the way it is.  I sure wish I had some of that contentment stuff he has.  A lot of other RV'ers have it as well but it seems I was out to lunch somewhere the day all that stuff was passed around years ago.  You would think by the age of 65 I would be getting myself slowed down a bit & catching up on some of that there contentment stuff, but ya know what....I don't think it ain't never gonna happen:)))))

CITY OF ROCKS STATE PARK, NEW MEXICO

Had a question about the pile of rock's photo in last night's blog.  I had positioned the sun directly behind that pillar of rocks & noticed it shining through a couple holes in the stones.  That gave it the fiery eye effect.  Many miles directly behind lay the Imperial Sand Dunes & with all the kids out there with their ATV's, Dirt bikes, & dune buggy's yesterday there was a fine dust cloud on the horizon.  The sun sitting on the horizon filtered through that dust giving the sky an orangey  look.  Photo was taken at 200mm & F/9.  A little assistance from Picasa 3 helped refine the color & contrast as well. 

MORNING WALK NEAR OGILBE ROAD, YUMA

I am always in a bit of a dilemma about our 'Blogs We Follow' list.  I try to keep it reasonably short for simplicity & ease of reading sake but after I read Donna's post from 2 TAKING A 5TH today about having 300 sites on her list I guess that should tell me I have lots of room to expand my list.  Aw no, I don't think so!!  Every once & awhile I will come across an RV'er just starting out in the blogging world.  If I find it interesting I sometimes put it into our list for awhile hoping to give the new blogger a jump start on their blog.  I remember well when I first started out, the feeling of anticipation as you check your SITEMETER about a hundred times a day to see if anybody read it.  A couple hits, maybe 10, & then holy smokes after a long while your all the way up to 25 & on a roll.  WoW!!  I like to think by sometimes putting a new person's blog on our site it can maybe add 40 or 50 hits over night for the new blogger giving their blog a nice boost .  And, that makes me feel good.

 

THIS 'TOY HAULER' TRUCK SEEN IN YESTERDAY'S BLOG IS ACTUALLY FOR SALE........GOOD LUCK!!

However, there is a more troubling side to the 'Blogs We Follow' list that bothers me.  In order to keep the list short, & to keep the emphasis focused on fewer blogs as opposed to blogs becoming lost in a multiple blog list, I have to let some go & that is always an agonizing decision for me & not something I take pleasure in doing.   If I wasn't a sensitive person I wouldn't give a hoot about dropping blog sites........but I do, & I'm sure other bloggers have thought about this as well.

I have some regular blogger friends  who have been on my list almost from the beginning & others who have drifted away.  I can always tell when feelings are hurt though because folks blogs I have decided to drop, & who used to leave comments, immediately stop leaving comments & just seem to drop right out of sight.   Oh well, just one of the little on-going bumps along the old Bloggerville road:((

CITY OF ROCKS NEW MEXICO

We have been monitoring the weather carefully & it still looks cold for going anywhere too far north so our 4 corner States visit is still off the drawing board.  However, tomorrow morning we will have the big wheels rolling eastward again heading for somewhere over in Saguaro Cactus country.  Where too??  Dunno.......that just takes all the fun out of it.  Now, let me see....how do I spell contentment!!

NEW MEXICO

GROANER'S CORNER:)) 

Harvey's grandfather clock suddenly stops working right one day, so he loads it into his van and takes it to a clock repair shop.
In the shop is a little old man who insists he is Swiss, and has a heavy German accent. He asks Harvey, "Vat sims to be ze problem?"
Harvey says, "I'm not sure, but it doesn't go 'tick-tocktick -tock' anymore. Now it just goes 'tick...tick...tick.'"
The old man says, "Mmm-Hm!" and steps behind the counter, where he rummages around a bit. He emerges with a huge flashlight and walks over the grandfather clock.
He turns the flashlight on, and shines it directly into the clocks face. Then he says in a menacing voice, "Ve haf vays of making you tock!"

 

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

MORNING CAMPFIRE & COFFEE OUTSIDE ON A BEAUTIFULLY QUIET SUNNY MORNING

SPOTTED THIS 'FAIRY DUSTER' ALONGSIDE THE ROAD

What a treat it was this morning to open the Motorhome door to quiet & calm air.  The mountain sunrise & warmer temperatures had us outside within minutes relaxing in our pajamas with coffee in hand.    Cactus Wrens were twerbling in the Mesquite trees & a hummingbird dropped by to say hello.  Dragon Flies were in the air & we saw several butterflies.  Wasn't long & we had nice little morning campfire going.  Just might delay our Saturday departure for another day or two now.

GOLD ROCK RANCH LAUNDRAMAT

Happy to report that Kelly's Dad has been moved from the hospital to a re-hab center & is doing reasonably well.  My Uncle Harry is still in the hospital & is slowly regaining strength.  With a little bit of luck he may be back to his 'assisted living' facility sometime early next week.

   

SOME MEMORIES FOR OLDTIMERS

Having been in this area before we are familiar with where things are so headed up the road a few miles this morning to, GOLD ROCK RANCH RV RESORT.  We had a load of laundry to do & we've used the laundromat there before.  A lot of mining artifacts have ended up here in this RV Park & I took a lot of pics of things in December of 08.  You can see those pics here at...GOLD ROCK PHOTOS & the blog for that same day here at...GOLD ROCK BLOG   I also took a few more this morning while we were there & I will include them in this blog.

  

Last time here we also explored what was left of the old mining town of Tumco which is about 3 miles up the road from where we are camped now.  An organization in El Centro later emailed me seeking permission to use some photos I took that day & I said yes.  Never saw their project so I don't know which photos they used but you can see the photos of that day here... TUMCO PHOTOS (check out the large Cyanide tanks & old graves) & you can read my blog from that day here... TUMCO BLOG.

We've decided to stay another day so tomorrow we might see a few jets in the sky as the Blue Angels perform at the El Centro air show west of our location.  We won't see the heart of the show but we might get some F/A 18 Hornets making some rather loud & sweeping turns out over the desert here closer to Yuma.  I went to a lot of Air Shows years ago in London & Hamilton Ontario but I can't take the crowds anymore so we'll watch from the desert.  First aerobatic team I ever saw was the Golden Hawks flying F 86 Saber jets way back in the 50's.

All & all we had a quiet afternoon just relaxing under the awning & soaking up this beautiful wind free & warm California day:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know that England doesn't have a kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

BIT OF A NOTHING DAY:((

The winds took a break last night to recharge their Galactic turbines & were back in full force  this morning again.  We're not as much out in the open here as we were in Borrego but some of the gusts still rocked the coach pretty good.

NICE TO HAVE A FEW TREES NEARBY FOR A CHANGE

We fired up our generator after supper tonight just to top up the batteries.  After about 20 minutes I noticed the sound of the generator changing.   Almost like a rhythmic knocking or deep rattling sound.  Not a good sign!!  The noise got louder & I figured it must be a hole in the muffler & it was coming off.  I started to get out of my chair to turn the generator off when it really got loud & I thought, oh no it's run out of oil & the motor is seizing up.  I was about half way across the floor in a panic to reach the generator switch on the dash when all of a sudden there was an even louder sound.......but by now it was a sound I finally recognized.  It was a helicopter going by low overhead & the sound of the blades had fooled me into thinking it was our generator coming apart.  The military base in Yuma fly's a lot of helicopters out this way.  The whole episode only took about 10 seconds from start to finish but I was convinced about the 9 second mark that our generator was done.  I had just checked the oil in that thing late last week.  Whewwwww, close call.

OCOTILLO BLOOM

Our coffee percolator gave up the ghost earlier in the week so Kelly was anxious to get that problem resolved & headed off to Yuma about 9 this morning.  I wasn't feeling in 'mall mode' so stayed with the guys.  Turned out to be one of those mentally tired days with no energy or interest to accomplish anything constructive.  Resigned myself to watching morning television which of course is about as moronic as things get.  Would you believe they were running back to back 'Beach' movies with Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon.  Those movies are sooooooo bad & should be locked away in a deep dark cave forever!! 

                               

FREIGHT TRAIN ROLLS BY THE IMPERIAL SAND DUNES - MILITARY HELICOPTERS FLY OVERHEAD - A CURIOUS PILE OF ROCKS

We are pulling in about a dozen channels with just the antennae so didn't bother setting up the dish.  Eight of those channels are Mexican!!  If you like loud accordion music this place just might be your cup of tea.  Not mine!!!!  Most exciting thing I did all day was (in the words of DOUG DUBROUILLET) go for a little dodder in the desert.  Kelly was back about 3:30 with a boat load of groceries but no coffee pot.  She is fussy about her coffee pots.  I figured we could just punch a few holes in an old juice can, throw some coffee grinds in, & drain some hot water through it.  Apparently not!!

Working on some more travel plans & we will probably roll out of this area Saturday morning.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Two boll weevils grew up in South Carolina. One went to Hollywood and became a famous actor. The other stayed behind in the cotton fields and never amounted to much. The second one, naturally, became known as the lesser of two weevils.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.