Camp Verde AZ

Finally made it to Camp Verde, we held over in Goodyear while the snow and storms went through over the weekend. We ended up unhooking the jeep, and I drove it through the mountains to get here.   My internet connection is very poor, not enough power to download pictures, may have to walk up to the office to do that. There is still snow up here, roads were clear, but it is laying along the side of the road and on the mountain tops. Cool, but sunny. We are staying at the Distant Drums campground, nice cement spots, beautiful scenery. We can take a free shuttle from here to the casino, about 2 miles away.  We are on the Yavapi Apache indian reservation, nice thing...no state or city tax here. Took the shuttle to the casino tonight, Tuesday is prime rib night, everything was very good, a very nice buffet, ate too much again !!!!

Yuma Arizona

We are getting ready to leave this part of Arizona and start heading north and east. Our rent is up on the 26th, so will be moving on to another spot, gradually working our way towards home, but everything will depend on the weather to the north., we are under a winter storm watch right now, snow to the north, but just some rain here, very windy, the dirt is blowing until we can't see the mountains behind us.
 They have been cutting and baling hay across the street, and are flooding the field at night. It seems funny to see tractors and hay bales, they have been starting to harvest cabbage and carrots also. We will be seeing John & Joan and Randy & June this next week before we leave here.
Yuma is as far south and west as we will go this year. Located on the Colorado river, it is the crossing point into California.  On the way, we passed fields of date trees and a town named "Dateland", that sold date shakes..yuk !!!

The Territorial Prison was built in 1875, and when it was full, housed 400 prisioners, including women. It was closed in 1909, because it was overcrowded, but the space was later used by the Yuma High School, who to this day are known as the "Criminals".  Imagine going to school in a prison !!







  The guard tower was built on top of the water tank

The walls were 8 feet thick, and everything was built by the prisoners.  There were only 2 men that escaped and were never found.

Wickenburg Gold Rush Days

Wickenburg really comes to life during Gold Rush Days...we have been here the last two winters, but never during one of the town celebrations...thousands of people, lot of arts and crafts..classic car show & temps hitting 80* with plenty of sunshine.
Wickenburg itself is basically a gold mine town..Gold was descovered by Henry Wickenburg in 1863.They claim that the rock he picked up to throw at his mule was gold. He named the mine "Vulture" and it
 yielded more than $200 million in gold.  The gold rush that started after his discovery basically started the town.

Still standing in the center of town is the 200 year old mesquite "jail tree".  Lawmen chained their prisoners to this tree, which served as the town jail..everyone was so busy prospecting for gold, they didn't take the time to build a jail. From 1863 - 1890 outlaws were chained to this tree...escapees were unknown.

Classic Car show..lots to look at..

This was one of my favorites..can you see the foot hanging out of the door ??

Gila Bend and the Painted Rock Petroglyph site

We decided to drive west today, about 75 miles, to Gila Bend.  I had read about the Painted Rock Petroglyph site, but reading about it and seeing it were two different things. I was not prepared for the Hundreds of figures carved in the rocks. I had packed my hiking boots, not sure how far we would have to walk in, and was surprised to find it quite close to the parking area.  This is BLM land, they will also let you drive in and dry camp for $8.00 a night. We will have to keep this place in mind for another time.

Hundreds of figures stand out against the dark basalt boulders, there are animals and humans, sun and moon, and many geometric figures, but no one really knows what these figures mean or why the ancient indians took the time to make them.

I was in total awe !!











We came past a dairy while out there, nicknamed it the "Nowhere Dairy.".on a road that comes from nowhere, goes nowhere, and is in the middle of nowhere.

Thousands of holstein cows, the milking parlor was huge, what we could see of it, too bad we could not get closer.  The open sheds have hundreds of fans blowing down on the cows to try and keep them cool when it hits 114*

Stack after stack of hay bales, they look brown, but where they have been unloading from the pile, it is a beautiful green.  We saw acre after acre of irrigated alfalfa fields, tractors in the field, grain bins with elevators and harvestor silos.  I have never thought of this part of Arizona as farming country.


On the way home, we stopped for lunch at the famous Gila Bend landmark, the Space Age Outer Limits Restaurant..You'll know it by the 28 foot wide flying saucer on the roof.

Even the dishes had flying saucers on them..the food was "Out of this World". this must have been one of the sites of the famous "Extraterrestial Sightings" Now go back and look at the pictures of the petroglyphs again..see anything ??

Goodyear City Market and Ballpark

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY DAD !!!

Super Bowl Sunday...time to catch up on all of the stuff I should do..(I only watch the commercials)

We have had a week of "not so good" weather..(nothing compared to the rest of the country, but we are in Arizona..the "Valley of the Sun").  We spent 2 days inside (except for dog outside time) with COLD&WIND..water froze up 2 nights in a row, even though Wally had the pipes insulated and a rug over all..had the slides both pulled in because of high wind.  You have not lived until you have the 4 of us (Moko & Mya included) claustrophobic from being stuck inside, but we had plenty of good books to read.  Thankfully, the weather has cleared, the temp is coming up, and the sun is out again.
There was a Goodyear City Market on Saturday, so we drove over, it was only a few miles from us. I had hoped we could find some fresh veggies, but it is the wrong season for local produce..There was not a lot there, but we did buy a bottle of "Lil Sassy's Salsa (Sassy says it all) Pineapple Margarita...The person who sold it said it was really good on baked chicken besides chips, I will let you know once we try it out.

The market was held in the field right next to the Goodyear Ball Park, which is the home of the "Cactus League"  This is the spring training field and ball diamond for the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds.. Spring training starts 02/13 and the first game will be 02/25..

This 60 foot sculpture is in front of the ballpark enterance, surrounded by gardens and water falls.
the height of 60 feet equals the distance between home plate and the pitcher's  mound..

Quartzsite AZ, and the week in review

Bernie and Marsha camped next to us at Cotton Lane on Saturday the 22nd, had a good time just sitting out in the sun, and having supper together. Sunday morning they packed up and moved on to Quartzsite AZ.








I have wanted to see Quartzsite for years..this is a town out in the middle of nowhere. this is a TDS TELECOM site that I took calls for while working in Winsted  while I worked for TDS (telephone data systems). Population goes from 3,000 to well over 1 million over winer, I would like access to their main frame, just to see what it looks like compaired to Winsted's..don't think I could understand the modern technology anymore !!

Main problems with Quartzsite:
TOO many RV's..
TOO many people
2 Stop lights in town
Thousands of people and cars
RV's parked for miles out of town in the dessert
Think of the MN State Fair X 100

This is NOT for me !!!

Today, Tuesday, they have the water shut off for line repair right next to us...how many men (I'm counting 5 or 6) does it take to fix a water leak ??? Believe me, this would never work in Minnesota..think Wally & Mick at Codger's Cove.
Wally is helping Randy fix some auto problem today, hope he brings home left-overs..June and I had girls day out last Tuesday..now it is their turn.
Weather is great..70 today, cooling off into the 40's overnight.







Ghost Towns and Gold Mines

Road trip time with Bernie and Marsha......picked them up this moring in Mesa. They knew of a ghost town out of Apache Juction, right at the foothills of the Superstition mountain..home of the famous "Lost Dutchman" mine, about which much has been written.

Goldfield was a town back in 1892 when they discovered millions of tons of gold ore. At one time the town had 5,000 people with 50 working mines in the district.

The buildings you see today are all re-creations, supposedly built on the original foundations. After 5 years, the ore vein was played out, and everyone left.  5 years later, with new technology, the town again had a boom time, but that did not last long either. It was fun just to walk around through the buildings and learn some local history.  stopped for lunch at the saloon !!







All right...let me OUT !!!







Too much Arizona sun!! must have been before sunscreen was invented.









One of the most beautiful and tallest  cactus I have ever seen !!





Superstition Mountain

 We also drove over to a campground right at the base of the mountain...talk about a beautiful back yard !!!