Bring on the PARADE!!!!!

We are now in the parking lot of the Santa Anita Race Park with about 75 other RV's patiently awaiting the 5PM Beer & Wine Get Acquainted party before they feed us dinner. Many of the RV's are the "upper end" of the RV spectrum. We are nestled in amongst a couple of large units that will give us good shelter this evening when the winds pick up from the coming Pacific Coast storm. Rain tonight but forecast good weather for the parade:)
We killed some time this afternoon by visiting a really good quilt shop in the Montrose area of Glendale. Lou found some neat fabric to add to her collection she has been collecting for a quilt for the RV.
Here are some sunset pics from Senator Wash BLM, South Carlsbad Beach and the Santa Anita Race Park hopefully in that order.

Merry Christmas from Carlsbad, CA

We left the highly recommended Senator Wash BLM Long Term Visitors Area just North of Yuma on the 21st to get provisions in town and move toward the West side of town for a quicker start toward CA. After a noisy and wet night in the desert at Pilot Knob BLM (along side I-8 and a railroad track just beyond) we made it to beautiful Carlsbad, CA. We have decided we are NOT candidates for Long Term desert occupation. It is a means to an end if the end is strictly to save money but we are not really geared too that.
Perched on a high bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is the South Carlsbad Beach State Park where we now sit. We had a truly wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and games with Peter and Gabby at Gabby's parents house. The gracious acceptance of the Salazars was awesome:) After dinner, we played "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and "Jeopardy" to assist staying awake until midnight when the family opened their presents. It seemed as though very few of us were smarter than a fifth grader:D Tomorrow we meet with Tom Jr. and his family for lunch and then will prepare for our jaunt up I-5 to Pasadena for our next adventure with the Tournament of Roses festivities. I'll take lots of pics and post what I can along the way.
Happy Holidays to all!!!

Wilderness Pics

Attached are some of the pics I have taken of sunrise, sunset, good and bad desert camp sites. I'll try to figure out how to label and organize them:)

OK, I don't know how to label the pics in the posts yet.

Top 2 are sunrise and sunset at Pinal County Park near Casa Grande, AZ.
Next 2 are out of sequence. On the left is Quartzite in December. Nearly empty but will be packed in Jan & Feb. The right is our camp area at Pinal County Park with plenty of Saguaro cactus.

The last 3 are where we are now at the BLM area North of Yuma, AZ at the Senator Wash South shore campground. Very nice and very quiet which after our previous night we both needed:)

Out of Arizona

We have left the safe environs of Arizona and are now in California... sort of. We left the great campground in Arizona, went up to Quartzite and got "solarized" with a solar panel on the roof to keep the coach batteries happy. After the install, we headed down to Yuma. After all the Westerns I have seen about Yuma with the desert, sand, rocks and nothing, it was a very pleasant surprise to see verdant green farms growing a myriad of farm crops including cabbage, lettuce, dates and much more. With water, the desert is rich and abundant. Without water, it's just dirt and rocks:)
We spent the first night in Yuma in a small BLM spot behind a VFW lodge. It is "conveniently" located next to a highway with lots of trucks. Right across the highway is a railroad track. And behind us is a crop duster that flew from 10PM to at least 2AM spraying (or watering???) the local crops. Very nervy and noisy. Did I mention there were LOTS of trains all night long?
We are now at a BLM site called Senator Wash North of Yuma. Very nice and quiet... so far:)
In a few days we will begin our sprint towards Carlsbad, CA for the Christmas Holidays and are looking forward to seeing our nephews Peter and Tom, Jr and their families.
No pics in this blog. I'll attach some later.

Desert Sunsets

We are now at the Pinal County Park South of Maricopa, AZ. Beautiful sunsets in the desert as the pics will show. We'll be here for a week or so and then move Westward once again. No sewing tonight, no electric power unless we crank up the big Onan Generator:)

Various Hummingbirds

Many species of Hummingbirds (wrens & woodpeckers) Winter in Arizona. Some seem to be a little larger than the average hummer as the pics will indicate. Must be something about the desert air:) The red headed hummer has been a very regular visitor. At first, I thought it was a Ruby Throat like we see in Spokane (in the summer). However, the whole head and neck is a beautiful and flashy red. The woodpeckers are quite a sight to see through the window as they crash land onto the feeder. The cold temps in the AM really get their feeding habits generated. They share the feeder better in the cold Am and late afternoon but during the day are very territorial about "their" spot.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have had a great Thanksgiving meal among some really nice people that were nice enough to include us in there family gathering. Our nephew, Mike Burns, and his wife Eva invited us to join them at Eva's sister's house for dinner. The company and the food were awesome! Our sincere thanks to them for sharing.
Yesterday, we took a drive up to the Salt River Canyon about 75 miles East of AJ. It is truly a scenic route and the canyon was spectacular. Not as big as the Grand Canyon but beautiful in it's own right. It is 5 miles across and up to 2000' deep. The pics are various views from a viewpoint on the edge of the West (South?) ridge.
On the way back, we searched out what quilt shops we could find that were still open. The best of them was Julie's in Miami. Miami AZ of course.
Last night, we went out for our 45th Anniversary dinner to the Mining Camp Restaurant up towards Superstition Mountain. The restaurant is at the base of the mountain. As imposing as the mountain is from a distance, it is dramatically more so at the base. The Indians had good reason to think it a special place.
We are here in AJ until the 2nd of Dec and will begin migrating around once again. We will visit with Mike and Eva for a few days and then work our way down to the Casa Grande area for a time before we head out to Yuma.
There is Fall foilage still on display in the countryside here. The Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park on the way was advertising a Fall Foilage Festival Nov 27-28. We did not have time to stop but the colors in the park as we drove by were beautiful.
There are LOTS of various hummingbirds in the RV park here. This one is a very regular visitor. It has a ruby throat and head and in the sun sort of "explodes" with color. The feeder is occasionally visited by other birds like small wrens and a woodpecker or 2. The woodpeckers are as big as the feeder and it looks really strange to look out the window and see one draped over the feeder trying to get a drink. It is the desert for real!

Live from Apache Junction

After a nice 1/2" rain last night, the day started out cool and sunny. I did some polishing on the RV and Lou worked on her Drunkard's Path quilt project sewing small pieces into larger pieces. This afternoon, we took a trip up to Tortilla Flats near Canyon Lake NW of AJ. The scenery in AZ is stunning! Going by Superstition Mountain on the way gives a different perspective of its size and appeal to the area. Lots of hills of varied colors and shapes abound in the area. Here we were, driving along in the desert mountain beauty enjoying the vastness of the country with so few people around and then... a large marina on Canyon Lake with hundreds of boats in their slips! It really seemed out of place. Especially since the road up there is very windy and narrow with a 25 MPH speed limit most of the way. I can't imagine what it looks like in the summer when everyone is heading for the lake:(
I took lots of pics on the way so here's a few of them. Hard to choose the best ones so I'll just guess. If its blue, its the lake. If a boulder or hillside has a slight green tint, it fresh lichens growing on the rocks. BTW, I'm sitting outside in the cool air so the modem will work.
And we got an ice cream cone at the Goldberg Mining Ghost Town on the way back. Cherry Chocolate Chunk was pretty good:)

Jet Airplanes!!!!

Sitting outside in the cool 60 degrees to keep the Aircard cool so I can do the blog. Replacement arrives this week. A little cloud overcast with the cold front coming in. Possible showers today but not likely. Hummingbird keeps buzzing me to get at the feeder. Tough life on the road:) Went to the local flying field yesterday which was only a couple of miles away. Great facilities with an 800x85 foot paved runway and 250 feet overrun areas. The local club was having a Jet Fly-in with over 60 planes in action. The planes were of all types including scale warbirds (my favorites) and many factory special hotrods doing 200 MPH and maneuvers to match. Large turnout of spectators as well as the parking lot was quite full at $6 per car. Amazing what you can do with a large population and money:) I took lots of pics but will only bore you with a few. The scenery around here is really pretty with the foothills and Superstition Mountain in the distance.

Apache Junction

Lots of RV Parks in this area including the one we are in, the Santa Fe RV Park. We can stay here at Passport America rates for 2 weeks... so we will do just that. It will allow us to visit with our nephews and friends in the area and replenish our "wanderlust" for moving on to "somewhere else". We are waiting for a new Verizon aircard to arrive which will, hopefully, correct the issue we have been having about the premature disconnects.

Some more random pics attached. I'll quit now so the modem doesn't die before I can publish.

SEDONA, AZ At Last!

While in Camp Verde, we went up to Sedona. As pretty as everyone said it would be. Lou went to the Quilt Shop & Gallery and had a great time looking (and shopping) for some different and really neat fabrics for future projects. I, however, just sat around and enjoyed the scenery:) Sedona is an artsy, eclectic community of rich, spiritual (lots of crystal shops) and art shops from the lower "class" to the "upper class" of art offerings. Many of the sculptures were really beautiful and amazing. From Sedona, we went back toward Camp Verde which is near the Montezuma Castle. This was built in the early 1100's by the Sinagua Indians. Really amazing what they could do with what was provided by the land without destroying the land. We should have learned something from them but sadly did not.

Made it to Apache Junction

I'll keep this one short. Having issues with my Verizon Aircard. It thinks I'm on-line too long I guess as it keeps turning off before I can publish.

Fallon was cold in the AM so we went down to Pahrump,NV West of Vegas and spent 2 nights there so I could rest up. We visited a "boutique" winery and I was able to wash the deicer off the truck and RV. They both look much better. We then set sail for Flagstaff, AZ with the intent of stopping overnight in Williams just short of Flagstaff. However, after a tough climb up to the 7,300 foot elev. we decided that it would be too cold at night. Upper teens means that it will be VERY cold in the RV when we wake up. So, we continued on down to Camp Verde, AZ which made it a LONG 350 mile day. More in the next post.

Making Progress

We have made it to Fallon, NV in good shape. The driving was much easier with no major mountain passes to contend with. The scenery is not as good as the mountains which made the mountain passes well worth the effort. Most of the mountains around us were dusted with snow but the roads were clear and dry:) High desert scenery has it's own beauty but not much in the way of variety. Tonight, or tomorrow AM, we will plan the next leg of the journey. Lou did find a nice quilt shop here in Fallon. Lots of unique fabrics to peruse. We know that we will be in Arizona for Thanksgiving and it will most likely be in the Phoenix area. First, we have to get past Vegas:( We will do a "short stop" before we get there so we can get through, or around, our least favorite town the next day. After that, we have the world to ourselves at Quartzite if the other 50,000 or so visitors there will let us in. We'll see:)

Crystal Crane Hot Springs, OR

Here we sit after a pretty long day driving through several mountain passes at the Crystal Crane Springs campground. Water and electric included at $9 per night. (Passport America rate) Plus, an 88 degree pond to swim or float in. Really cool place. It's in the upper 30's now and going down to the mid 20's tonight. But NO SNOW! We did see some up at the top of several passes above the 4500' levels. The highest pass we crossed was 5400'. A really pretty drive but with LOTS of twists and turns and ups and downs. The RV handled it all quite well:) Fortunately, both Lou and I feel that the "journey" is worth a little more effort driving. I'm tired but still happy we decided to come down from Hermiston via US395. Tomorrow we will continue our travels toward the South. We may stop in Winnemucca or go on to Fallon,NV. We'll see how we feel when we get to Winnemucca, NV to decide the next stop. We may just stop overnight at both of them. We are NOT in a big hurry now that we have left SNOW country:)

One More Time!!!

All Right! Here we go again:) We have departed Spokane without seeing any snow and have arrived in beautiful (well, convenient) Hermiston, OR. We will be watching for any weather systems that may cause a variation of our travel route. Nothing worth photos so far so none posted. As we progress, we will be going through some very pretty country and I will try to get some pics worthy of posting. For now, it's time to light up the BBQ to finish killing a chicken breast for dinner.

El Nino 1, Downeys 0

It has been an interesting and wet trip. The weather indicators are that the weather will continue to bse "less than favorable" for the areas we had intended to visit. We experienced the NW Pacific storms with the rain and winds. Not bad but enough is enough! I easily get cabin fever so it was not going to be all that pleasant cooped up in a 28' (or 90') RV for me or Lou. So, we decided to turn the bus around and return to Spokane where the weather has been mild and overall, much better than OR of CA.
On our return trip, we stopped at the Cape Lookout State Park for a night. The Oregon State Parks are really nice to visit. The surf was quite active, to say the least! The beach is very flat so you have to beware of the sneaky waves that can quietly run up on the sand all the way to the dunes. This is even at low tide. One minute there is 50-75 yards of sandy beach, the next you could be ankle deep in COLD water with no warning! Perhaps that's why it's called Cape Lookout:)
The pics attached are hopefully in order from stormy afternoon to quiet morning after.
On the return trip, Lou visited quilt shops in Newport and Tillamook plus the Latimer Quilt and Textile Museum in Tillamook. We took the Washington side of the Columbia River route rather than the I-84 on the Oregon side on the way back. A very different look to the Columbia Gorge and really very pretty and curvy too. All journeys end eventually. This one concluded quicker than planned but was safe and got us to places we had not been before. Therefore, it was a successful journey after all.

Still Standing

We survived the big blow last night. It was a beautiful storm with high winds plus Thunder and Lightning. Our location here in the park sheltered us pretty well from the winds so just a lot of little twigs, needles and branches scattered all over the rig and pickup. The attached pics were taken this AM to show an even more angry looking surf. Tomorrow we head down to Newport to get the distributor checked out. Hopefully, it is just the timing advance mechanism that is stuck and not a catalytic converter issue causing "pinging" of the valves under a load. We are hoping that will get us back on the road southward where there is even more rain:)

WET and WINDY!

We are still in the Devils Lake State Park and awaiting the arrival of the forecasted "heavy rain and high winds". 40MPH with gusts of 70 are expected from 5PM tonite to 6AM tomorrow. The attached pics were taken this afternoon along the coast between Lincoln City and Depoe Bay. The wave action will get significantly more active this evening but I won't be on the beach to take pix. Sorry about that:) Tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll head south towards CA with at least one more stop somewhere along the way on the Oregon coast.