Monday near Buckskin Mtn. State Park

Sunday afternoon we moved from our original site, to site 62, directly on the river.     People here call it the Buckskin shuffle.   Everyone seems to move almost every day - it seems hard to get more than a few days at any one site.    In our case, however, it was a move to a better view site.

We're right across the street from a big bend in the River. 

 The only problem came when Dave checked the power pedestal at the new site in preparation for plugging in our electric cord as part of setting up.    Always check the electric receptacle before plugging in....always.    This one was melted looking with black streaks all around it.      There was no way that Dave would plug Beluga into something that looked like that.   It had gotten too hot, probably burned something recently.   I immediately went up to the Ranger Station to ask for another site.   All full.   By the time I got back to Beluga Dave and a Ranger were evaluating the situation.

Within a half hour the Ranger had changed the breaker, receptacle, and all the attending wires with Dave looking on.     Happy to say that we're all settled in with no problems.

Yesterday was a nice, sunny day and we took the opportunity to drive around and get our bearings.   You saw a few pictures from that get acquainted drive in my last, short post.

So far, it has taken about an hour (Monday evening) to load the two above pictures so this will probably be another shorty.   Today we drove about 30 miles out into the desert to visit the abandoned Swansea Townsite.    The drive was pleasant, loaded with wonderful wildflowers.

look Pam, an arch!

We were by ourselves, in the entire drive we only passed (or were passed by) one vehicle and guess where it was from?    Yep....New York!

that guy was from Manhattan...and in a bit of a hurry!

The first part of the drive, on Shea Rd in Parker, was a very poorly maintained asphalt road.   Once that stopped and the dirt began the way was relatively smooth until we started into the hills.     After about 13 miles of that we arrived at the Swansea Townsite, which was more of a large mining operation than a regular town.    By the time we got there it had begun to rain, thus curtailing our exploration by foot.    We managed to peer down a few deep, unmarked shafts but the rain was unrelenting so we got back in the Jeep and headed home.   It's the journey, not the destination, right?

watch where you walk......

remains of the Copper Smelter and Dust Chamber

We passed a couple signboard/kiosks that were supposed to have BLM brochures telling about the area and it's archaeological sites but the holders were empty.   When we get back to a better internet situation I'll read more about this place, it looked like an interesting place to wander around, I'd love to know more about it's history and the people who brought it to life.

It rained all the way home, all night, and it finally let up around noon today (Tuesday).    Good for the flowers at least......

Tomorrow we leave Buckskin Mtn. State Park and head to Bullhead City, AZ for a few days.    Stay tuned.

Things

Things you might see along the roadside in Parker....

"what is.... the Colorado River"

"what are.... acres of wildflowers"

"what are......rugged mountains sloping to the water's edge"

"what is.... a dozing donkey"

Buckskin Mtn. State Park in Parker, Arizona

We had a great week in Wickenburg, Arizona at a "quirky" rv park along the sometimes running Hassayampa River.     Quirky because their reservation system isn't really a system at all.   Hard to get them on the phone, hard to pin them down as to whether they actually have a site available, which one it might be, etc., but exceptionally friendly folks that seem to manage to fit everyone in despite the confusion.

We've never really spent any time in this area of Arizona except for an afternoon here and there or simply passing through.   After spending a week there we find that this small town has a lot going for it and we look forward to a longer return visit next winter.

We did quite a bit of off roading, as you might expect, a little eating out, and a drive up into the mountains to Prescott to see the pine trees and snow.    I was able to schedule an appointment with the always busy Mr. David's A-1 Mobile Hair Salon and Grooming Service while we were at the Desert Cypress RV Park and he cleaned us all up nicely.

I didn't seem to take many pictures and that is probably a good thing because this State Park has very a weak verizon signal so they probably won't load for me tonight anyway.      If you see some, enjoy.....if you don't, that's the way it is!

Well, here are a couple photos at least!  On one of our back road drives we encountered a group of friends all heading to the small puddle of water directly in our path.  Bovine Happy Hour perhaps?    It took a little bit of doing to convince them to make room for us to pass.     They didn't invite us to stay.

Tonight we're parked in a nice site at Buckskin Mountain State Park, surrounded by rugged mountains and beside a sharp bend in the oh so blue Colorado River.  With no television and very limited WiFi we'll be enjoying simpler evenings this week.   Right now we're sitting here listening to some of our favorites - Rimsky Korsakov, Camille Saint Saens, Grieg, Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky, Brahmns.... (and possibly eating jelly beans)   

Lovely evenings in Beluga.

time to go again

Time to pack up and break camp again.    We've enjoyed our time here at Catalina State Park (we always do), even with the snowy interlude last week.

Monday was the first really nice day and, luckily, that was the day we had an appointment with the windshield repair shop.   They arrived right on time and made quick work of removing Beluga's cracked windshield and installing the new one.

Yesterday Gay and Joe came over and we had a pleasant hike on the birding trail followed by pizza back at our site.

The trail is an easy one through a lush mesquite bosque, up a ridge with expansive views and big Saguaro and back down along and through the sometimes dry, sometimes wet Sutherland's wash.

Joe tests the water 

Yesterday the wash was running full and very cold.    Very cold.   In an effort to keep our feet dry we tried a trick I saw Hans and Lisa use on FaceBook a couple days ago.   For the first crossing  we all put tall kitchen garbage bags over our feet and held on to the ties as we walked across the water.   I think Gay stopped to take our pictures, I'd love to see them!     Halfway across we realized that the bags weren't working for us.    We all arrived on the other side with varying degrees of wet feet.

I didn't get any decent bird pictures as we walked along.   The few I did take were purely for identification purposes.   Hopefully Gay and her big honking lens got a couple good shots!

At the next water crossing (there were 4 all together) we (Dave and I) decided to take our shoes and socks off and wade through the icy water barefoot. 

   
Gay and Joe chose to leave their shoes on and just deal with wet feet for the rest of the hike.

Much better.   And, actually, for the last bit of the hike Dave and I just continued with our feet bare.   The footing on the trail was soft sand (it's part of the bridle path) and it felt quite nice for a change - don't judge.

Gay and Joe came back to Beluga for pizza and conversation before heading back to the KOA and their pups.

That's about the only exciting thing we did while we were here.   Mostly, we just  enjoyed our beautiful surroundings and those blue skies.

behind our campsite is the equestrian camping area often filled with beautiful horses

 

round tailed ground squirrels

We enjoyed the antics of our little neighbors, the ground squirrels.   They hustle about and dart in and out of their holes.   Often they sit on the edges and chatter to each other.    Sometimes they seem to just gaze at the scenery and enjoy each other's company.    One Happy Hour we sitting in our chairs, watching two little guys sitting outside their hole in companionable silence.   We laughed and said they looked like us, talking about who knows what and just enjoying themselves.     All of a sudden, out of the blue, a hawk swooped down and grabbed one of them and flew off!    The other one just sat there looking up and then it started peeping.....like it was calling the other.   Peeping like it was crying!   It carried on for quite awhile.....   It made us feel really bad.
  I know, I know...... Hawks need to eat too, anthropomorphism is dumb, I know.  It just seemed sad.

Today as we were coming back from Safeway we saw a beautiful Coyote in the field quite close to the road.   It seemed to be rooting around the base of a Mesquite so we stopped to watch.    Yep, you guessed it!  We watched it grab one of those little ground squirrels, give it a quick shake and then - down the hatch!    It's a tough life for a Round Tailed Ground Squirrel. 

burp....

Tomorrow morning we're off for a week stay in Wickenburg, Arizona.

Catalina State Park

We moved up to one of our favorite places on Monday afternoon.   Catalina State Park is hard to get a spot in but we were lucky enough to score a 2 week stay in a choice site.

Rain and cold temperatures were forecast for this week.   When we arrived the Ranger on duty gave us a slip of paper telling us that the dry wash, located across the entry road, may flood, trapping us in the campground at any time.    With heavy rain in the near forecast, we quickly set up camp and then headed out to the grocery store for some necessary (mayonnaise, cookies, asparagus, you know - staples) supplies.     

The sky threatened for most of the first day, spritzed a bit the next, the clouds over the mountains advancing and retreating ominously.

I had one off road drive planned and we decided we'd better do it before the weather really closed in.   We've driven part of Reddington Pass Road with Jodee and Bill and then again by ourselves - starting at it's beginning off Tanque Verde Road on Tucson's east side.   We enjoyed the road and the views but never got a chance to take it all the way to the end, near Oracle and I really wanted to do that.      Wednesday was the day.     

The road was paved all the way until just past San Manuel, an early Del Webb planned community surrounding a now defunct mine.   Shortly thereafter we dropped down onto dirt and continued through a veritable forest of huge, old Saguaro, over several dry washes and into vibrant green Mesquite bosques.

a sweet little crested Saguaro

tire bracelets on one arm!

After crossing the dry San Pedro River bed we parked the Jeep and took a lovely long walk down it's beautiful white sand bottom.   Birdsong kept us company as we walked along marveling at how completely flat and level the course was.   No rocks, no snags or erosions to mar the soft footing.

San Pedro River bed beckoned us 

We came to a running wash that didn't look too bad, too deep, so we got out and walked past it a ways to see what we'd be getting ourselves into if we went ahead.    

It was decided that, while Rocky could make it through this part of the wash easily, what came next would be too much of a challenge.   Deep, black, sticky mud waited for us after this stretch of running water.    That we didn't want to experience so we turned around and headed home.   

One wash evidently had fast running water in it often.   Someone had piled old cars at it's curve to try and keep the stream within it's banks. 

We had a lovely sunset that night and that was the end of our good weather...... 

It rained hard, all night long.    We woke up to a snow covered landscape and the realization that the park was now closed to incoming and outgoing traffic.    The wash was running.   Our surroundings had become a study in black and white.

bedroom window view

lark sparrow

flat Lewis was bored with nothing fun to do

While we were kept inside, we did a bit of cooking.  One thing was our version of the famous Sonoran hot dog.   We used one of our favorite western New York hotdogs (Sahlens) for the delicacy but the other ingredients were more or less traditional.   A soft Bolillo roll, beans, onions, pickles, tomatoes, jalepenos, etc., etc..    They were good.

Tonight we are under a hard freeze warning.   The expected night time temperatures are expected to be in the 20s.    That means that poor Dave must unhook and take in our water hose before bed to keep it from freezing.    Our outside compartments have heat ducts from the furnace so nothing else should freeze.     

To help the propane furnace keep us toasty warm and happy we run a small electric heater most all day.   Just on schedule, it stopped working a few hours ago.    The coldest night we've had so far and it stopped working.

workman at his workbench

Dave was determined to fix it, tonight.    He altered one of his screwdrivers to the necessary configuration and took the little appliance apart.   He discovered it was an easy fix.

Simply vacuum all the accumulated desert dust from the inside and it was humming along happily a few minutes later.    The little red light is glowing now and we're enjoying the heat that is pouring out.    Thanks Dave.