Arizona Desert Skies

There weren't a lot of clouds in the sky today, but the ones there were made for an interesting sunset. We were outside draining the grey and black tanks preparatory to traveling tomorrow and were able to watch quite a show. First some of the high clouds began to show a tinge of pink --

Then some of the larger ones picked up a little orange to go along with the pink --

While the lower clouds were turning pink and lavender --

As it got darker, the cactus showed up as a silhouette against the colorful sky --

And the rest of the sky just got wilder --

If nothing else, Arizona has some absolutely beautiful sunsets!

We went to the post office in Salome today to mail some stuff and then stopped at a small produce market set up beside the local beauty shop (open Monday and Tuesdays) for some fresh vegetables for tonight's supper salad. We did a little birding but didn't see much beside Say's Pheobes, sparrows and phainopeplas. Along with the phainopeplas who were enjoying the seeds of the mistletoe, we also saw a couple of small mammals up in the bushes eating the seeds.

SNOW!

As I posted yesterday, it rained hard last night. This is the same view I tried to take through Auntie Violet's window yesterday. There were some pretty good puddles this morning.

It got pretty cold last night. Our recording thermometer said it got down to 35 degrees sometime during the night. BUT, the hills above the valleys surrounding us were all covered with SNOW!

That's entirely too close! It was actually a pretty nice day today though. The sky was blue, but the breeze was chilly. I walked down to the end of the row to the dumpster with our garbage and was certainly wishing I had put a jacket or a sweater on. The weather forecast had been predicting snow in Hollywood which they didn't get. Sounds like kids were pretty disappointed.

RAIN!

There was a heavy thick overcast all day that just kept getting lower and lower. Late this afternoon, it started to rain. And it rained hard enough that I could hardly see the shrubbery through the window to across the parking area --

After dinner, the rain and the wind both picked up and we had about an hour's worth of really heavy rain. Forry had to go out and secure both the lawn chairs and the outside rug. He ended up getting pretty wet!

It was too wet to even go out for a walk today. We spent all day inside. I got the sheets washed as well as a couple other loads of laundry, but other than that didn't do a whole lot. The wi-fi reception here is not very good until fairly late in the evening, so I can't even spend a whole lot of time on the computer...

Petroglyphs?

In the description of Desert Vista RV Resort in the RPI (Resort Parks International) book, it mentions "Petroglyphs 2 miles from Resort." We asked in the office about them when we checked in, but they didn't know anything about them. (We found out later that the resort has new owners, who haven't been here very long.)



Today we set off to do some exploring and stopped down the road on Hwy 60 at a little store that sold Buck knives and jewelry. We asked the proprietor about the petroglyphs and he knew right where they were, directing us back down the highway past our RV park a couple of miles. This area is mostly greasewood and palo verde trees with some saguero and ocotillo cacti amongst the rocks.

Alongside the old Highway 60 is a large pile of big boulders. This one is the one in the middle --

While the next two pictures are different views of the boulder on the top --

It's kind of a strange situation. These petroglyphs are not listed on any of the Arizona tourist sites or maps. The boulders are just off the road with no protection not signage whatsoever. When I looked them up on the Internet, I got several hits, but they were all reports from tourists or visitors -- one stated that some of the pictures looked to be Spanish in origin, while the rest were Native American...

An interesting mystery.

Salome, Arizona

Today we headed south on Highway 95 down past Parker Dam; then took 72 southeast to Highway 60 over towards Salome and Desert Vista RV Resort. We are back in the desert again!

This little burro was pulling an ore cart in a neighbor's garden along the road where we went for a walk this evening --

This RV park is very different from the very tight, very crowded park at Lake Havasu we've been in the last week. There are no trees, but lots of space. The sites are very spacious and almost forty feet wide.

We had gotten up quite early this morning, not only to get ready to move, but because I had an hour and a half conference call this morning. So after we got here early this afternoon and all set up, we both took a nap. We have TengoNet wifi service here. It's not real great, but it's better than no service at all like we did yesterday.

No Internet connection -- therefore NO blog! ;-(

A Sunny Day and MAIL!

After the last few days of overcast skies and wind, today the sun was out! It was a beautiful day, not real warm, but nice and sunny. I was able to sit outside at the picnic table with my Kindle and read for quite a while.



We were expecting mail -- Daughter Mary Mae had sent off a box last week -- but since there was no mail delivery yesterday, the mail was really late today. The lady at the office said it always came between eleven and three, but it was almost four o'clock when it finally arrived. I had walked down to the office twice to check. Forry walked down just at closing time and came back with an absolutely packed box. I swear that MM can pack more into a box then anyone I know.



It was pretty full as life at MM's house has been pretty hectic the past week or so and she hadn't had a chance to send mail off. Grandson Varick's school puts on a major play every year. Varick helped with it last year and this year he really wanted to be one of the student producers. It is a highly competitive and coveted position which he actually had to apply for. The program says that "those chosen have displayed great dedication, dependability, talent and leadership skills. We could not do what we do on stage and behind the scenes without these incredible students. We are proud of our selections this year for Cinderella." In addition to his tasks as one of the two student producers, Varick was also in charge of Lights and Props. We are so proud of him!

Auntie Violet's New Light

We installed the new motion detector light over Auntie Violet's front door over a week ago, but today was the first time we came home after dark and could see it in action.

As we drove up in the Toad, the light came on just like it is supposed to --

It was quite nice to have light to see to unlock the door. On rare occasions, we would realize we were going to be home after dark and would turn the old light on before we left. Most of the time, though, we'd leave in the bright daylight and not even think about it.

We went back to take another look at the area around the London Bridge this evening. Bill had told Forry about some shops at the base of the bridge that we wanted to check out. There are a few, but most of them are not open this time of year. We did check out the Javelina Cantina and had some pretty nice tacos. I had an carne asada one with cabbage while Forry had a broiled shrimp one.

Lake Havasu RV Park

Lake Havasu RV Park is part of a group called Colorado River Adventures. They have a hundred or so sites on this side of the road that can be utilized by RPI members and a couple of hundred more on the other side of the road that are only available for their own members. The sites on this side of the road are very tight and close together.

There is very little space for tow vehicles. The parking crew ends up knocking on doors and asking people to move their vehicles out of the way every time they move a new rig in.

The Jeep Liberty is actually parked with its front wheels on the rug by the table...

It rained again during the night and it was overcast most of the day today. We went walking out in the field behind the RV park this afternoon (after the golf matches were over on TV) and I was surprised to see that the puddles had already dried up and it was actually dusty on the road where the off-roaders had been driving.

Lake Havasu

Yesterday was gorgeous as we drove around Lake Havasu. There was enough of a breeze from the approach of the rain that hit last night to make for brisk sailing on the lake and there were several sailboats taking advantage of it.

There is a group of local citizens who are committed to making navigation on the lake safer. They have built replicas of lighthouse as navigation aids. All of the lighthouses that we have seen are anywhere from 1/16 to 1/3 the size of the originals on the Great Lakes, East and West coasts.

I'm not sure how many of these lighthouse replicas there are around the lake -- the references I found on the Internet said there were at least a dozen. They are actual working lights. We are going to have to make an evening expedition once of these nights to see them in action.

London Bridge -- Is NOT Falling Down!

We've driven through Lake Havasu City in Arizona a couple of times, but have never stopped and spent any time here -- and we've NEVER gone to see London Bridge! Our good friends Bill and Leslie spent some time here earlier this winter and made us curious enough to go take a look.



According to the brochure: "This bridge in Arizona is a reinforced concrete structure that is clad in the original masonry of the 1830s London Bridge that spanned the River Thames. That bridge was dismantled in 1967 and was bought by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London. McCulloch had exterior granite blocks from the original bridge numbered and transported to America in order to construct the present bridge in Lake Havasu City, a planned community he established in 1964 on the shore of Lake Havasu. The bridge was completed in 1971 along with a canal, and links an island in the lake with the main part of Lake Havasu City."



So much of the city has grown up around the bridge that you really can't get a good look at it from land. You can walk down across a parking lot and get a better glimpse --

It's hard to believe these massive spans were built in the early 1800s --

Up close you can even see the remains of last year's swallow nests --

It is a hokey tourist thing, but it is impressive and worth taking a look at! Thanks Leslie and Bill for shaming us into going to take a look!

Traveling Day

We were up early this morning and left the Colorado River Oasis RV Park and drove north on Highway 95, a two lane road through the Colorado River Indian Reservation. There's a great deal of rill irrigation along this road. We drove through fields of stubble that may have been rice?

Many fields had recently been burned off in preparation for spring crops --

Then we came to acres and acres of alfalfa fields --

Before we climbed out into the more rugged typical colorful Arizona rocks --

And down to where the river behind Parker Dam becomes Lake Havasu --

It's a long haul through Lake Havasu City and its many, many, many, unsynchronized stop lights. The RV park we are staying at is Lake Havasu RV Park which is located at on the far northern edge of the city. It's one of the parks we can stay at for a week for $10 a night through our RPI (Resort Parks International) Preferred membership. It's affiliated with Colorado River Adventures (another membership club). The sites are really tight together -- we had good entertainment this afternoon watching a couple of large fifth-wheels being backed in.

Grumpy's Gourmet

What a surprise to walk down the middle road of the RV park on Sunday evening after dinner and see this trailer sitting at the end of the road --

We thought about getting a pizza for Valentine's Day, but they were closed on Monday. ;-(
But on Tuesday when we walked that way, they were open for business. You could smell the pizza from a long ways away!



It turned out that it was a lady from the Idaho Falls area in Idaho who really wanted to get away from the snow and cold. She has to give the RV park a cut (and not be open anytime they are serving food at the clubhouse), but she's planning to be here for the next month or so. We had a really good pizza -- bacon, artichokes, olives, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes! Forry also had a cup of -- what he said -- was really good chowder (you'll not catch me eating that stuff!).



We are going to be moving tomorrow up to the Lake Havasu area, so spent part of today emptying tanks and cleaning up a bit. I walked back down to to the river, but didn't see anything but a couple of coots. It was supposed to rain today; it clouded up; the wind blew; we had some dust; but by the time evening came, it was all clear again.

Checking Out the Old Ehrenberg Cemetery

We've noticed the old cemetery just across the road from the entrance to River Oasis RV Park every time we've driven by. So today we decided to walk over there and take a look. It looks like other very old, no longer used cemeteries in this part of the world. From what we were told, it was pretty much abandoned and forgotten for a long time. The local community cleaned it up a few years back and put up some signage.

The rock pillar in the middle is topped by a rock with petroglyphs. It was erected by the Arizona Highway Department in 1939 --

The graves are marked only by mounds of rocks --

An occasional cacti grows among rocks; any name markers have long ago disappeared --

No one here at the RV Park seems to know anything about the cemetery other then "it's always been there." If you look on the Internet, there is a reference in "Ghosthunters" about the ghost of a little girl in pioneer garb "often seen flitting back and forth by the gate."

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Like many other long-married couples, Forry and I don't do too much in the way of gift-giving. It seems like if we want something, we usually just go ahead and get it (though we often rationalize a large purchase as being a combination birthday/Christmas present). For Valentine's Day, we usually do give each other cards, often one funny one and another sappy one. This year I decided to make Forry a cherry pie as a special Valentine.

That doesn't sound like much until you think about the logistics of trying to make pie crust and pie filling from scratch in the limited space of our RV kitchen. We had the kitchen table removed last year when the fellows in Oregon built in my desk, so there really isn't much space to roll something out. Fortunately, the little pull-out cutting board above the silverware drawer is just the right width.

The pie did manage to survive without being dumped or spilled until dinner time -- though it did get moved from place to place to place while I was fixing dinner. We had spaghetti made with some of the frozen tomato sauce Sister Sherry and I made last fall while we were at the Touchet farm.

It was laundry day today, and it was so nice and hot that the clothes dried very quickly. The wonderful warm weather we have had for the past couple of weeks is supposed to be supplanted by rain within the next day or two.

And the Sun Keeps Setting....

The eighteen plus years we lived in Spokane, I missed two things. One was the sight of hawks in the sky and perched on the telephone poles as I drove back and forth to work. The other was the wonderful Adams County sunsets. Our house on Spokane's South Hill was in a thickly treed area area (there were 26 trees on our lot and a half alone). You could only occasionally get a glimpse of a sunset from the west upstairs side of the house.



But here in the desert portion of Arizona, the sunsets are absolutely gorgeous! Especially on a day like to today that was partially overcast --

Looking to the west, the sky tonight was brightly orange --

While to the east the colors were more pastel and gentle --

Wasn't this lovely?

We had gone into Blythe for groceries (out of blueberries and orange juice again) late this afternoon planning to eat out. I've been hungry for Popeye's chicken and had noticed a stand at the far edge of town. But wouldn't you know it, all they had was "spicy" chicken -- which wasn't what I was craving. We ended up going to KFC, but it just wasn't the same.

We watched the Grammys this evening -- not sure that we could relate to a good share of it. Gosh, it's awful to hear my parents' comments about music coming out of my mouth...

Motion Sensor Light

One of the few purchases we made this year at the RV show in Quartzsite was a motion sensor light for Auntie Violet. It's been sitting on the couch for a couple of weeks waiting for the right time to get installed. Yesterday we made a run to Ace Hardware to pick up some silastic sealant for the light, so today it was time to put the light up.

First of all, Forry had to check the polarity of the wires on the new light -- it's "reverse polarity protected" (whatever that means), so he had to make sure he had the right wires from the rig to the right wires in the new light.

I loved this shot that showed his intent look in the reflection of Auntie Violet's window. And the next one shows the reflection of his hand with the screwdriver.

We had put a bead of the silastic around the inside perimeter of the light like a gasket in order to keep water out. It sealed to the wall of the RV pretty well, but we decided to also put a bead of silastic on the outside top side as well. It was going pretty well, but slowly, when all of a sudden I felt a big blob of silastic coming out of the bottom of the tube! So much for making a neat bead around the outside... I ended up using my finger to smooth a layer of the stuff around the top and sides of the light.

But, we finally got the job done, although it's a good thing you can't see the workmanship on the top of the light unless you climb up on a ladder!

And Sheep Too!

We saw several large flocks of sheep on our way to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. Most of them were pastured in alfalfa fields. I was sort of surprised at that, thinking that the alfalfa might be too rich for them, even causing bloat. But, we saw several hundred of them on several different fields, so I guess it's common practice in this area. This portion of a flock had wandered away from the main group and were fairly close to the road. This band seemed to be all adult sheep --

This group has LOTS of lambs. They were very curious and all came over to the fence when we slowed down to take a picture --

Forry started on one of his projects today. He bought a motion detector light to replace the light over Auntie Violet's front door. When he took the new light out of the box and actually read the directions, he discovered that it asked for a silicone bead to be put on around it to seal the water out. Of course, he didn't have any in his tool box, which necessitated a trip into the large Ace Hardware store in Blythe. I don't know that he has ever done a project that didn't require a purchase of some kind...