On The Road Again - Winter 2015

On the Road Again…

Boy, it’s been so long since I’ve written on the blog, I’m not quite sure where to start…at the beginning I guess!

 

We left Spray Lake in mid September and went to Cranbrook to spend a couple days with  Lindsey…on to Castlegar where we visited friends and took a quick trip down to Spokane to see Kevin, Brenda and Rachel.  Then to Abbotsford and a good visit and Thanksgiving on the farm with Wilma and Jackie and my Mom.  After getting a few things fixed on the fifth wheel, we moved on to Idaho to visit with Alyssa, Matt, Wyatt and Barrett and with Marc.  It was wonderful to see everyone and be able to spend time with each of them!  We’ll do the whole thing in reverse in the Spring!

We headed south through Nevada staying at Mesquite for a few days.  We had a nice site in a very nice little RV park…palm trees and sunshine!  From there we travelled out to the Valley of Fire, an area formed by volcanic activity many thousands of years ago.  The rock formations there are really cool.  I climbed into this little cave like hole in the rocks and only afterward thought perhaps I should have checked for scorpions or spiders before I went in.

 

The Valley of Fire was really interesting.  We saw petroglyphs and hiked into a place where they’d made a cowboy movie years ago.  The hike wasn’t very long…only a couple miles, but it was steep in places and the sand was deep making it tiring to walk through.  At one point we drove out to a lookout and stopped to take some pictures.  We were up quite high so the vista was quite stunning.  On a ridge in front of far-away mountains a big horned sheep posed for pictures.  One fellow said he’d been there almost an hour and the animal hadn’t moved…he didn’t think he was real!  I don’t think sheep have all that much to do during the day other than just stand around so I know he was real…that and he moved his head a couple times while we watched!  He sure was beautiful!

The next day we decided to go on a Jeep-Tour of Zion National Park.  It sounded really interesting and we hoped to see sights that most visitors to the park don’t get to see.  Well, we were quite disappointed.  Though the guide was knowledgeable and spoke a lot about the area, we didn’t actually go into the park.  We went out onto the mesas and saw the park from a distance.  It wasn’t what we had hoped for.  Oh well, we’ll know better next time!

We moved on south and stopped at a resort/casino called Avi just south of Laughlin Nevada.  It really was a beautiful little RV park and the casino and area had just about everything a person could need.  There was a movie theatre, swimming pool, several different restaurants, and beach along the Colorado River, not to mention the casino itself…and yes, I shouldn’t have mentioned it.  We did not win!  One old fellow told me he never loses because he doesn’t go to win money…he goes for the entertainment value.  I guess that’s one way to look at it.

One day we drove over to Oatman, a little old west town way up in the hills.  Wild burros roam the streets looking for handouts and they walk up and down the sidewalks with the tourists.  One woman was telling us that there are usually about a dozen burros in town but more and more are coming into town and now there are about 30.  She said the town council was going to round some up and take them back out into the hills but so far hadn’t got to do that.  They were sure fun to see though.  A lot of babies in the group too. 

While we were there Tom was voted in as Town Marshall…unfortunately he got shot almost immediately and put in a box on mainstreet.  The sign above his head says “He was wearin’ his boots and a star on his chest when Jackass Bill laid him to rest”…ha, ha…don’t worry…he’s not as dead as he looks!

We went into the Oatman Hotel where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard went on their honeymoon.  You’d think movie stars, even in those days could have found a fancier place for a honeymoon!  Maybe Oatman was a beautiful vacation destination in those days…who knows!

A couple days later we went out to see some more petroglyphs in the Spirit Mountains.  A short hike lead us to a place where there were hundreds of etchings on the rocks and mountainside.  So very cool!

We moved on further south toward Phoenix and stayed a night in Buckeye.  There was a big storm that was rolling through Arizona and Texas…remenants of the hurricane that went through Mexico I think.  Anyway, we had some rain and it cooled off significantly that night.  (The temperature has been in the 80’s)  The next day was still coolish with dark clouds in the distance.  We decided to head for Tucson even though we’d arrive a day or so earlier than our reservation.  It was great to get here…sort of like coming home. 

Tom went for a jog our first morning here, I cleaned up my studio (I call it mine cuz nobody else uses it…nice big room set up perfectly for drawing/painting) and today I started painting…we’ll see if any masterpieces emerge this winter…ha, ha! 

We took a walk around the park and met up with quite a few of the friends we made when we were here last year…was good to see them and we’re looking forward to our winter here at the De Anza RV Park in Amado.